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- [00:00]
Zena Kada
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- [02:19]
Zena Kada
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon Prime. I'm Zena Kada. Joining me is Law Murray. Coming up, Jared Weiss is going to join us to discuss how the spurs were able to outlast Detroit's physicality. We're just going to talk a little bit about some contention around the NBA. Let's get into it. What up Law? Law. It's been so long.
- [02:43]
Law Murray
That's because I'm bouncing between all these neighborhoods in Los Angeles Figuring out which game I'm covering on a given day. Sometimes I cover two of them. So I'm glad we got a free night to talk.
- [02:57]
Zena Kada
I know, and I love it. And I'm happy that we got you here on a Monday. We got the power rankings that came out, and I think this is one of the most interesting, consistent pieces of news that we get on the Athletic. I do some power rankings. Sabrina scale on the women's basketball side during college, and I always ask her about her process of how does she go about taking the top 25? This doesn't always match up with AP poll. And I know that your top 30 teams and how you break them out is so interesting. The top contenders in a good place, the bubble. And each week, you don't evenly distribute them. They switch and they move, et cetera. So I want to ask you, how do you go about creating your power rankings?
- [03:40]
Law Murray
I feel like, first of all, shout out to Sabrina, one of my favorite people ever. She was definitely hitting me up about some other stuff earlier, and I read so many other people's power rankings. You know, the power rankings at other sports, at the athletic, Everybody who does their power rankings across the NBA. Like, I want to have a feel for the conversation because I actually enjoy putting this together. You know, describing it is like Dennis Rodman talking about the angle of a rebound. You know, like, you have to have a feel for this thing. And I think there are so many people who read this, and this is going to upset people anytime I put a number next to their team. And I got over that real quick. I mean, we can argue, and if y' all want to argue about this, we're going to do that. And for me, it's like, I do look at the standings. I do look at net ratings, But I also look at how are teams playing who is actually got a reason to feel they can be better with what we're given. And I'm also. I gotta. I gotta find a theme every week. Like, I don't like static power rankings, because quite honestly, that would make it easier. It would be easy to just get through 25 weeks of the NBA season. Yes. I count the weeks out. That's how diligent I am. I'm like, I'm going to hit this on this week. I'm going to find a way to hit this. It's like a video game for me, you know, and it's like, sometimes if you ever played the Mario games in the past, and it's like you dealt with a pipe level you dealt with a water level. It's like, oh, you gonna see this again, but it's gonna be harder the next time.
- [05:19]
Zena Kada
Yes.
- [05:20]
Law Murray
And we're at the point Xena, where it's hard because, you know, there's not a lot of movement in the standings. You know that teams have revealed who they're going to be to a certain extent. Some of these teams didn't make any, any real changes to discuss as far as their personnel. So it's like they're not integrating, you know, wholesale changes. They have the same group of dudes that they rolled out in, in October. So how do you separate certain things? And so the tiers help a little bit. I really just. I look at how teams are playing, I look at who's played who, I look at what's coming up, and it's like, oh, I'm going to put this team here. But I know that these two teams are going to play each other like the Pistons. It's like, oh, I can put them here, but they're literally going to play the number two San Antonio Spurs. They're going to play the number three Oklahoma City Thunder. Am I going to have a week where I learn a lot about this team? Yes. And I feel like broadcast partners do the same thing. They put these teams and it's like, there's two weeks where it's like, oh, we ignored this team, but then all of a sudden, oh, shoot, we need to feature the Minnesota Timberwolves this week because they about to play some dudes, they about to. We about to learn some things. And so there's going to be some litmus tests. Yeah, there. There really is. And so I just try and put teams where they are, have a position, but tell everybody. Don't, don't think that this position is, is. It might be a little sticky, but it's not going to be permanent. I have a right to change things every week. And so that's, that's how I've tried to approach it.
- [06:50]
Zena Kada
Well, we love the fact that it isn't. It's sticky, but not stuck. And that's really important because a lot of these teams, especially after All Star break, some teams did make some moves, right? Look at the Cuban Cavs. You saw them come out. James Harden joins their team. They win six in a row. Yes, they got a loss. They were able to. They. That streak was broken, but it was still something to be said about. Okay, Cavs could maybe move, make some moves in the East. I'm looking at your power rankings this week, and I bring up the Cavs because they're in tier two in a good place, yet I feel like there were some moves that could get them unstuck from where they were before. You also look at, you know, the Houston Rockets. We saw their kind of fallout against the Knicks. That fourth quarter meltdown was real bad. As well as the Denver Nuggets, Cavs, Rockets, Nuggets in Tier 2 in a good place, the Knicks crept to number five in your top tier, the top contenders. What did you see in the Knicks that made them in that top tier versus being in tier two? And what do you need to see from the Rockets, the Cavs, and the Nuggets to get them to move up?
- [08:00]
Law Murray
I'll start with the Knicks because they actually slipped a bit where I could have. I could have kept them over the Celtics. Now, for most of this month, I had the Knicks over the Celtics. Why? Because they beat the Celtics in Boston in Boston on Super Bowl Sunday. And that was kind of a statement win. But it's like, since then, what has Boston done? They played extremely well. They are in the 40 before 20. Well, they are still eligible for the 4420 club, which. The Knicks, great win over the Celtics, but they've had some losses that are. That. That are a little concerning. It's not that you lose to the Pistons, it's that you lose again and you get blown out again. So it's like, all right, I'm gonna slip. I'm gonna take you down. But I look for statement wins. That win against the Rockets, it's like, look, I remember the convo we had this time last year. The Knicks couldn't buy a win against a bona fide contender. And what did they do in the semifinals? They stole games against a Boston team that none of us saw coming. Based off of what? It's also. It's like, all right, let me give the Knicks a little bit of equity. Xena, can I tell you something? I stared at that little triumvirate between the Cavs, the Rockets and the Nuggets for a long time at an ungodly hour. And I was. Cause what happens is sometimes you take the power rankings and you're looking at two teams, and that's easy. Hey, have they played especially recently? Who's playing better? What's the record looking like? Are they blowing teams out? That kind of thing. But when it gets to be rock, paper, scissors, and you know that one team is better than the other, I mean, the Cavaliers, it's like, oh, yeah, big win against Denver, but it's like, okay, but what about the Cavs and the Rockets? That makes you a little bit more uncomfortable because here's the thing, the Cavs and Rockets, we're not going to see them play each other again. And the Rockets had double digit wins against the Cavs both times. So that makes you uncomfortable. It's like, oh, well, the Cavs just beat the Nuggets. But if the Cavs didn't beat the Rockets and we're not going to get an opportunity to see that matchup again, do you feel good putting them over them? And ultimately I said yes, because the Cavs are a different team now than when they were playing the Rockets. They have James Harden now. And so now you're just taking the guesswork out of it a little bit and you're just saying, all right, I'm going to trust the Cavs. And then you gotta be like, okay, so how do you feel about the Rockets and the Nuggets? The bottom line is I didn't like the Nuggets weak. They lost a close game to the Clippers. That was a coin flip. It was a little bit less of a coin flip. How they lost in Golden State. And the theme to both of those losses is the fact that their defense does not make me feel good. Do you feel good about the Denver Nuggets? Yes, because they have championship equity. But what they don't have is the kind of defense that makes you think they're going to repeat that. And the health. Everyone loves and this is a big thing with the power rankings. Everyone loves to say, oh, we're not healthy. I'm sorry, I still got to rank you. I can't, I can't rank 20 teams this week. I got to rank 30.
- [11:11]
Zena Kada
Right.
- [11:12]
Law Murray
This is. How often do fans do this? They say you, we're, we can't be fully judged because we don't have our whole 15 man available roster.
- [11:24]
Zena Kada
That's part of it. That is a factor that has to be folded in. I mean it's true. I see it all across all types of basketball. It's like, oh, we don't have our starting this, we don't have our starting that. Or so and so has been missing for 30 years. Like, well, yeah, that's basketball. Like, that is a part of the season that. I mean it's, I imagine that it's an incredibly tough thing to do for the fans to watch their teams maybe slip or maybe not be ranked over others. But overall I do appreciate you. One, watching the games and finding the themes and two, really Taking the time, it seems, to assess movement and growth in these teams. Because especially after All Star break, that is when it seems to be the part that everyone's kind of forgetting what was happening in October, what was happening in November. People are just like looking at a team in that moment. It's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. They've come a long way though, or they've actually regressed.
- [12:21]
Law Murray
You have to establish some things. Those games earlier in the season, you might not be that version of team anymore, but that game is going to be relevant if you see that team again. And you have to remember that. And the thing with this, the thing I like about the schedule because we talk about all the things we don't like. That's one of the many gripes about NBA coverage. 82 games. No one talks about 82 games because it's a good thing. But the thing with 82 games is in a 30 team league, everyone will play each other. Right? You don't see this in college, you don't see this in the NFL, for instance. NFL, you got people being like, we haven't played them in three years. Oh man. So like, no, in the NBA, a league where there's a lot of different play styles and a lot of different approaches. It's like you are on a moving train and those stations on that subway train are the teams you have to face on your schedule. And you know what? They're. That, that the door might, might open up and it might, it might stank a little bit. It might be a lot of people getting off. It might be a little empty because it's the second night of a back to back. I take this analogy so many ways. That's how I look at it though. It's like, yes, you do have to consider when you're playing these teams. But the thing is, the train is going to stop at all of these stations and I, I have to be aware of that. And we're going to have some takeaways. Some are going to be more significant than others. This is a league of small sample sizes that have to eventually, you're going to have to eventually come to some kind of conclusion. And so it's, it's, it's a lot. I look at these box scores every single night after these games are over and I look at who's playing and I look at who's playing well and I have my questions and I go to these games because every now and again I get to ask some questions. But it's a weekly process. I reset it every week.
- [14:22]
Zena Kada
I love this and I love this analogy and I love the basketball brilliance that always comes out of law. And you know, you talk about small sample sizes where one sample size started last night when the Pistons finally took on the spurs on the other side of this break, we're going to talk about that with Jared Weiss. Don't go anywhere, y'.
- [14:37]
Jared Weiss
All.
- [14:42]
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- [14:57]
Jared Weiss
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- [16:54]
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- [17:39]
Zena Kada
Now. We've got Jared Weiss here in the building. Jared, you had a breakdown how the spurs were able to get out of that boxing match over the Pistons winning 1141 03. What's up, Jerry?
- [17:54]
Jared Weiss
What's up, yo? I mean, Mitch Johnson talked after the game about how the Pistons are like these boxers that are kind of just like working every little corner of the ring and they're beating the crap out of you no matter where you are on the floor. And that game, you know, the refs are just like, you know, if somebody dies, somebody dies, whatever. This is playoff basketball. We're going to simulate it tonight. And it gave us a great game.
- [18:15]
Zena Kada
It really did. I mean, it got so physical. You thought maybe, maybe would there be a Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, like, re inventation of like a reinvention, excuse me, of the game, but just a little bit of a scuffle and we're right back to it. But for the most part, Detroit had to find a way to play despite the fact that they were super physical and play and fight offense. But San Antonio's defense overall was tremendous. And they had somebody named Devin Bissell. Talk to me a little bit about how Basell's game has just opened up another lane for this burst team offensively to dominate teams.
- [18:55]
Jared Weiss
Yeah, you know, this. It's kind of been the story of his career. You get like two good fsel games every two weeks, and when he's on, he's really on. And this game, he was just completely lights out in the first half. And so the spurs had that three point shooting advantage, like, really, really fast in this game. And they were pretty much, it felt like playing from ahead for most of the game as Wemby tried to kind of figure out how he wanted to get back involved because Wendy killed them in that opening, like, you know, four or five minutes before that TV timeout in the first quarter. And then Detroit just went into like wrestling mode and it was really hard for him to find his way. And Fiselle really carried them through that. But then eventually, like Steph Castle of Victor Wembanyama's defense was just unbelievable in this game. Like, that was what really, really told the story of this Game was Castle was an absolute monster guarding Cade and then Wemby. I assume Wemby altered somewhere around 15 shots in this game. He had six blocks. There was probably close to 10 other shots that he just completely ruined. Like, this was one of Wemby's. Probably one of his best games of the season, even if he only shot 6 for 16 from the field.
- [20:01]
Law Murray
Yeah. Just looking at how that second half went, Jared, like, I wanted you to get more into why Steph Castle was as good as he was. I mean, K being 1 of 15 after halftime is extremely loud and you had a front row seat to it. So what were you seeing with. Especially with how. How Castle was able to disrupt Cade.
- [20:27]
Jared Weiss
It's crazy that Cade went 5 for 26 and this, I don't think this was even the most misses he's had in the game this season. Like Kate is, is really making that case for MVP because he just will not stop taking shots. But Castle is turning into one of the best point of attack defenders in the NBA because he's very, very strong, super quick, but his balance is just amazing. And there were all these plays where Cade looked like he was going to turn the corner on him and Castle just kind of kept gliding backwards and. And then once Kate hit the brakes, he was back right up in there in between Castle. Fox had a few steals in this game. Like, they just kept getting hands on the ball whenever the Pistons tried to like sneak something through. And so the Pistons just never, their offense never got comfortable for more than a couple minutes there. And then, you know, in the fourth quarter with Cade sitting on the bench for way too long, Durin sitting on the bench until like a couple minutes left in the game. And Paul Reed was out there and I mean, Reed had a good game, but like Bickerstaff, leaving those two best players out for a little while, just let the Pistons really gain control because Castle was just doing it on both ends.
- [21:32]
Zena Kada
What did this team learn about themselves, the spurs, in a win like this tonight? When you're able to come up against someone like the Detroit Pistons that are going to try and beat and make, I don't know, slow down the game just by making it sludge, by trying to hold on to you, trying to be aggressive on the glass. Like, what does this team learn about being able to be able to beat a team as physical as Detroit and where does it put them in the contention conversation?
- [21:59]
Jared Weiss
They're at the front of it. Like the. They passed the 40 and 6, like the 40 wins in 60 games. Mark already. So they're a bonafide contender. Once you do that, like that is guaranteed. That makes you a contender. Now we have to start thinking about the spurs of whether they're the favorite to win the championship at this point because they've done enough against the Thunder. And the Thunder have kind of been lacking ever since those teams met that the spurs, they're hot right now. Wemby is healthy and finally playing like up to MVP potential. And you know, as he put it after the game, this game was a confirmation of who they are. It wasn't a discovery. This was a confirmation. It was a confirmation of their potential. Because this was, I mean, this was it. You want to get a playoff game? This was the playoff game that they have played so far this season. Like there's, you know, Houston was one that was like this, but this was the game where like it was just all about who could control the physicality and who could live above the physicality. And Wembley was able to handle both.
- [22:56]
Zena Kada
Law, I want to know on the opposite end of this, these are the two teams they had met up in the season. This is their first game of the series this year. Last year, Detroit swept them twice. And we know that Detroit coming into this game, they were on a five game winning streak. Spurs were on an eight game winning streak. It felt like it was time for them to meet up and be able to say who's the better team, regardless of record, regardless of what's going on. Detroit wasn't fully healthy. I say healthy because Isaiah Stewart wasn't available. Right. But it felt like the spurs were able to take full control of this game just plainly because they outmastered this game. They played defense cleanly, they played offense cleanly, and they were just able to outlast the boxing match. What does this say about Detroit? Do they have to pivot in the way that they're playing when they're going up against teams like the Spurs?
- [23:47]
Law Murray
I really liked how Detroit responded because they got punched in the mouth early. But in the first quarter they're leading. They were playing with so much energy. I mean, Jared, like, I definitely am going to want to hear more about what that environment was like in Little Caesar's arena because it clearly felt like Detroit played off of that, especially their bench, especially Ron Holland. I feel like this was just more about skill. I mean, Detroit outscored San Antonio by 18 points in the paint. They were even in the mid range. Detroit made more free throws even though they attempted the same number of free throws. But if you're going to have Devin Vassell make as many threes as your entire team by himself. One dude, I think that's your. That that's where you have to look at. I think Detroit is going to want us have this game again. And what's happening next Thursday, right there in deep in the heart of Texas, these teams are going to play again. So I'm not going to overreact to what this says about the Pistons. The Pistons are going to have their shot. I think it's great for the Spurs. They went in there and they did their job. Now, Detroit, they know that they have to show that they can respond because that's playoff basketball, too. You get a game and then we see the same teams play each other in a short time frame. And in the regular season, the following week is pretty short. So I want to see what the response is. I want to see what those adjustments are. You're going to get hopefully a personnel adjustment with Isaiah Stewart coming back. But also San Antonio gets to have their home crowd ready for this. And I think that's great regular season theater right there.
- [25:30]
Zena Kada
Ooh, I like this. I like this. Okay, Jarrett, play chess for me with Stewie. Beef Stew coming back. I was going to say Stewie. I'm WNBA right now, but Beef Stew coming back. Play the chess game we saw when Wemby was off the floor, Luke Cornett had his moments where he was looking soft up against Jalen Duran and Paul Reed, what's going to be the answer for the big position just down low on the glass when they get a chance to match up again? And Detroit is at, quote, unquote, full health.
- [26:02]
Jared Weiss
You're right, because Paul Reed did have a good game. But Stu, not only is he going to shoot the ball, but he's going to be like an absolute terror down low. His defense has been amazing this season. And you know the spurs, their offense has been designed to live in the floater range. For the most part, they don't get to the rack a ton. Honestly, in the half court, it's mostly in transition. And Victor getting to the rack is actually kind of new. Ironically, for a 7 foot 6 guy, he hasn't been getting to the rim all the way until really the last few weeks. So, you know, having Beef Stew out there, who's just another guy that's going to try to break one of Wemby's ribs and send him to the ground, another guy that's going to be boxing him out over and over again, is going to make a difference. So that's why we can't take too much finality out of this game. Also, a SAR Thompson didn't have much of a game. He only played 18 minutes. Like, he's been huge for them so much this year. So Detroit can do a lot more than they did in this game. But the same time, what Victor did defensively was just like, it might not matter what Detroit does defensively, they might not be able to score 100 points against this defense.
- [27:07]
Law Murray
You know what I liked about Victor's game, Jared? And I want you to shed more light on it. The first three quarters, it looked like he was getting worn down from Detroit's, just what their intention was, to take him out of his game. Offensively. I think he still had a double double three quarters, but he made only one shot through three quarters, and I'm pretty sure it was alley from Steph Castle. The fact that he was able to have this is his fourth quarter stat line. 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks, 5 of 6 free throws. So he's drawing the fouls as well. He drew Cade's fifth personal foul early in that fourth quarter, and I know that had a lot to do with how Cade finished the game. I mean, what do you think that says about Victor's ability to understand how a game is going and to still assert his dominance before the final buzzer?
- [28:05]
Jared Weiss
I think we've seen at this point the healthy Victor, which has been about a month or so now of him being, like, really, really healthy. He usually gets off to these hot starts where the team's just like, what the hell do we do with this guy? He'll come up with, like, eight points really fast, and then he kind of disappears from the offense for a little bit, and he just focuses on defense at that point. And that's where you just see him really lock into, zoning off the paint. Teams are just not getting there. And as time goes on, they get more stops, the guards get out running. Castle really takes off. They get champagne and Vassell and Barnes shooting, and the team tends to be fine through those moments. And then he comes back in the fourth, and that's where he's like, all right, I'm forcing it. And that's when usually it's been going pretty well for him. So he's kind of got a bit of a formula down here, which is what most stars have, right? Like, a lot of stars, they're. They're huge early. Maybe some of them carry you in the late third quarter with the second unit, and then they're huge in the fourth quarter. Like, that's. That's generally how it goes. And I think he's got a pretty good rhythm going now of how his impact is going to be now. He's not scoring at the level that he needs to to, like, really be the mvp. There's still another couple steps he needs to take. He still is sloppy with the ball at times, and we saw in this game he had a few of those kind of wacky turnovers he'll have where he tries to drive through traffic and then the ball just like, shoots like 30ft up in the air because somebody got a hand on it. Like, there were a bunch of those. But he kind of got a feel for how to draw fouls as the night went on. And you saw the game that he had, like, he had a really good complete game. And so I think we're going to see more of these where he kind of slowly feels his way through the game, knows what he wants to do in the fourth quarter, and then he puts his foot on the gas and it works really well most of the time time.
- [29:46]
Zena Kada
Jared, the spurs now are seven and one against top five teams. What else do they have to learn? You talked about Wemby saying that this was a confirmation and, and I really would say an affirmation, probably, because I don't know how much of a question they had about it, but just being affirmed and how good they are and how good they're. They're. They are in the Western Conference. But overall in the league, how. What else do they still have to learn? Especially after we've seen them go up against OKC in the way that they have go up against these other. The Knicks, go up against Detroit. What are you still looking for and maybe what are they still looking for in this season?
- [30:27]
Jared Weiss
They have nothing left to prove at this point. Their championship credentials are pretty much locked in. Like we. We can see it. They are playing like a championship team right now, at least relative to the rest of the league. You compare this to, like, what the Thunder were last year, what the Celtics were the year before. There isn't a team that's playing at that level right now. They're not quite at that level. They're not a great team. They are a very good team in an incredibly deep league. This is what we get in the parody era. We've got incredible parody. There's like, there's like nine teams that you can see winning the championship right now, and that's even before Jason Tatum, it seems assuredly comes back with the amount of, you know, marketing that they're doing for a Jason Tatum comeback, like if he doesn't come back, it's gonna be ridiculous. So I think he's gonna come back and say this point, right? So I, I don't know what happens with the Celtics at that point. That's the only team that's like an unknown. But we've seen what they can do against okc. They can match up really well against them. And I don't know, I don't know if I can give, okay, if I can give them the edge over the Thunder just because of who we know the Thunder to be. But they've done enough at this point of the season to be like, yeah, we probably should give it to them. They've earned it at this point. They have now shown that they can beat the Pistons. We'll see what happens if. Is Beef Stu gonna be back for that second game? I think he's gonna be back. So we'll see in that rematch. But like there's not a lot more for them to do. Castle's pretty clearly established as a all star caliber point guard right now with those two way impact. Fox has been good this year and you know, in this game he went 4 for 17 from the fields. But watch the way he controlled the tempo in the second half. Like his, his tempo control is. That's why he was the all star for this team also. Maybe because Adam Silver had to give it to him. But like Fox's feel for how to control the tempo of that offense is so good. His defense has actually been pretty good. Like his defense was very good in this game. They have like, they have a few guys are established. We know Champagne, Barnes, Fassell, John Keldon, Johnson. They're going to get decent shooting nights from two of those guys most of the time. That's usually enough for them to win. The games where they have nobody hitting shots, that's when they lose. When they have a few guys hitting shots, they tend to win just because Victor's defense is that good and their point guard play is that good. So there's just. I don't, I watch this team every day and I don't know, I don't think there's anything else for me to learn at this point. I think we just need to see them play in the playoffs. It's as simple as that.
- [32:44]
Law Murray
Yeah. The playoffs thing, Jared, is what I'm fascinated by because it's not like, like even the veterans have a limited number of playoff games under the belt. Fox has played one series his entire career. Barnes was on that Kings team that Fox was on. And obviously Barnes has a ring. But also Barnes has not played in a lot of playoff games and series over the last decade. So knowing that you've seen this team and been around this team, it reminds me of the Thunder from two years ago when they were the one seed. But they got through their first series against the Pelicans no problem. And then they ran up against the Mavericks and the Mavericks wound up lasting them in six. Are there, is there anything that these next six weeks can do, these next six, seven weeks can do, where they can prepare at all for the scrutiny of that, of that stage other than just play the games?
- [33:49]
Jared Weiss
Yeah, I mean, the big question mark for them is it's Castle and Wembanyama who have this huge roles in the offense. Running offense is unbelievably hard in the playoffs. And you know, this team, I, I would feel pretty confident about them winning a first round series right now. After that, you have no idea. Because like, let's say they get Denver in the second round and they're going up against Jokic and we know jokic can play 15 minutes a night and average 50 points a game in the postseason. It's not an exaggeration. We've literally watched him do it. Like it's, it's insane. Wemby isn't, Wemby's not on that level. Like, that's why when it comes to the MVP conversation with him, like, he's not, he's not playing at that level yet. He's, he's going, it looks like he's going to get there. I'm not too concerned about him getting to that level one day. But he's not there yet. He's only in his third season. His offensive game is still a huge work in progress. He does not have the control, the comfort, the variability yet to just seamlessly go through a game and make adjustments the way guys like Jokic and Shay do. And that's why those guys are championship level players, because you can't take them out of the game. Like, they adjust as fast as you do. Victor is not that player yet. Castle's not that guy yet. Fox is the one guy in their top of their rotation that I trust to be able to handle that responsibility. But like, they're, they're going to get, they're going to fall off. They're going to, they're going to be down in the series at some point and we'll see if their talent can get them back in it. That's, I guess, the question. And we've seen them win a lot of these games over and over. This is a good example. Like they were down at one point in this game. They really seized control in the second half. They got the stars in foul trouble. They took control. I don't know what happened with Duran in the fourth quarter there and why he wasn't playing for a while because he wasn't in foul trouble and he was having a great game. I don't know. But either way, clearly they're a matchup problem for teams to the point that they'll take their second best player out of the game. So they're doing everything they can and this is just like we just got to see what happens when their feet meet the fire. And I expect them to struggle in the postseason, but they do have the talent that they can still get through it.
- [35:51]
Zena Kada
Well, this matchup is coming up very shortly, as our boy Law just pointed out, literally this week. We'll see what happens when they get a chance to play again to close out the series. Thank you for your basketball brilliance as always, Jared, for joining us. Anything you got for us to read? Coming up on the yeah, we, well,
- [36:10]
Jared Weiss
we just talked about I got a story coming out on the Athletic. By the time people are listening to this, that should fit into it very nicely.
- [36:16]
Zena Kada
Jared, thank you as always. Go read him at the Athletic. He's got a story on last night's game. As well as Law Murray. Thank you both for joining me. This has been the Athletic NBA Daily presented by Amazon Prime. Have a great day. Are you really buying a car online on Autotrader right now?
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Jared Weiss
Really?
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Zena Kada
At a playground?
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Zena Kada
I think your kid is walking up the slide, Kyle. Again?
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Jared Weiss
Really?
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Zena Kada
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