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New cars, used cars, electric cars, even flying cars. Okay, no flying cars yet, but as soon as those get invented, they'll be on autotrader. If you see a car you like, it's probably on Auto Trader. That's kind of their thing. Auto Trader thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Tuesday. Man, there is a lot happening in sports live. It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. Well, there was perceived controversy, though. The New York Knicks looked like the real deal. The warriors are done. NFL schedule release Coach K. Mike Shashevsky stops by Nick Wright an hour from now. Stops by. Wild night. Like so many different storylines. Just a completely wild night in the NBA. Yeah, you could say that, Colin. Conspiracy theorists running wild. It's a great night day to be a conspiracy theorist, isn't it? Well, several minutes before that awful injury to Jason Tatum, several minutes before you could see it. I could see it. I think people in Boston could see it. The Knicks are going to win this series. They're the better team. They're better coached. They're more relentless. The home crowd clearly elevates this team. They're dominating the boards. Their bigs are playing better. They're passing better. Less standing around, better decision making. More points in the paint. Tibbs took the Celtics head coach Joe Missoula to the cleaners. The Celtics in the second half. It was ISO standaround. Basketball coach pull some levers. Do something. What happened to Peyton Pritchard? Isn't he good? Why'd he only play 20 minutes? It was just hard to watch. Missoula coaches like he's got a checklist. That's not. That's not what NBA playoff basketball is about. It's about pulling levers. You can see Steve Kerr do it, though. He's outmanned. You really see a Chris Finch doing it for years. Eric Spoelstra. Joe Missoula has got like one club in his bag. When the three point shots don't fall, he's out of luck. But this series really has not been about the Celtics. It's been about New York. If you didn't know better and you just turned into that thing last night, you would think the world champion New York Knicks were defending their title. Their ability to execute in crunch time. Everybody's touching the ball. The shot making from Cat Brunson, OG Bridges, the toughness coming back. Multiple games, all of them from 20 points down. Their leader, Jalen Brunson. Let's just be honest. He. He is like the new Jerry West. He is Mr. Clutch. Tatum played great before the injury. It was a Great game. But in terms of clutch, is there any small player in this league you trust more with the ball than Jalen Brunson? I'm including Steph. I know he's undersized. I know he's a second rounder, I know he's not a premier athlete, but, man, he finds good shots. He has been, and I've said this for the last two years, the best quarterback New York has, his decision making. You can tell he's a smart guy that went to Villanova, dad played in the league. Fearless player, totally trustworthy. But again, it's not just that New York's winning, it's how they're winning. New York is making Boston look fragmented, disorganized, poorly coached, confused and passive. If you'd never watch basketball and you tuned into that game and I said, find the champion. It looks like the Knicks, they've got a swagger, a confidence shot making, an attitude. Even before the Tatum injury, which was obviously awful. And he. We're not going to speculate, but that looked really bad. We'll find out more today. An mri, New York. It's only three to one, Knicks. It felt like it was over five minutes before the Tatum injury. The confidence, the shot making. I'm sitting here watching. Everybody on that team dependent on nobody. Great ball movement. Josh Hart didn't need a bunch of points. He'd touch it, get it to somebody who's hot. Here's Brunson after. I think it was a sense of, like, urgency, desperation, just knowing that we have a great opportunity, we're playing a really good team, and I don't even think we're playing our best basketball yet. We have a team who's fairly new this year, and we still have a long way to go to be the best thing we can be. It is. These windows close fast. I was talking to a friend last night in a podcast and I said, remember when the Seahawks were great and then they won a Super Bowl, Blew out Peyton Manning. They go to another one, should win it. Russell Wilson throws a pick. People thought Marshawn lynch should have gotten the handoff. They lose close to Brady and the Patriots. It screws with the culture in the locker room. There's doubt, there's finger pointing. Never the same franchise good, but never great again. And with Boston, the injury, $500 million bankroll, needed new owners. They're getting old. What happened to poor Zingis? I don't know. I know the west has better teams, younger teams, but when I watch the Knicks all year long, I've thought, you know, they've got to solve this. They. They need another shot maker. I'm watching this series and I'm like, they. Maybe they need a tweak, a more dependable big. But I don't think they need much, at least to win the East. All right, let's talk Golden State. Golden State's in trouble, not just this year, but for the foreseeable future. They brought in Jimmy Butler, as we talked about yesterday, to squeeze every last bit of juice out of Steph. And Steve Kerr, again, excellent coach. But just like the Lakers series, where old LeBron Luca and Austin Reeves kind of felt outmanned that Minnesota was getting more out of more players. I'm watching the Timberwolves. That's the opposite of the Celtics. That team doesn't have. As this team doesn't have as much talent. They're pulling every lever. I mean, Julius Randle, he's a legitimate two. He was never a good playoff guy. He's been excellent. 31 last night, 52% from the field. His assist playmaking has been fantastic. He's finally a dependable playoff guy. And Edwards, unrefined at times. Anybody notice in the series, he averages seven points in the first half, 20 in the second? Something the staff is doing and tweaking is changing the way he plays in every game in the second half. It's remarkable. This is an odd, disparate roster full of guys that shouldn't fit. 7 foot 1. Rudy Gobert, who can't really shoot. Undrafted. Nas Reed, who's a good athlete, but what else? Julius Randle, who's a tweener and an emerging superstar who sometimes can't find his shot. It's just a bunch of guys who we've never trusted in the playoffs. And now for the second straight year, we do. I mean, LeBron Luca and Austin Reaves look completely outclassed. A little bit of Steph Butler and Draymond. Similarly, it doesn't feel like they're close. And this was the clear value of coaching on display. You look at this Minnesota roster, you could argue there's five or six better rosters. Cleveland's roster is better. I mean, OKCS is obviously better. I could argue Golden State when Steph is healthy. Healthy is close, but it's. It's. They have transformed all these different pieces that shouldn't necessarily fit. Julius Randall didn't really fit early in the season. Now at the end of the season, what a great, dependable number two. We've never said that about Julius Randle, and it was a halftime speech by a newly formed leader, Ant Edwards, that changed the game. I told him we only got two wins. I've never seen a series and two one. So I told him, you know, we got to get two more wins and right now we playing like we already got four wins. Like we playing like they gonna lay down. And knowing this team, knowing their head coach, they're never gonna la. So we had to, we had to figure it out, man, because if we would have kept playing like that, we would have lost tonight. So during the dynasty and the great run by Steve Kerr, he has always been known. The warriors have had some of the great third quarters ever. A little tweak, add this, subtract that, change that, tweak that the warriors would take close games and come out with an 18 to 4 run and end it. That's what Minnesota has been doing. Especially Ant Edwards. He is a totally different player. First couple of games in this series, shots didn't fall. Couldn't get the close ones to go either. He's been in this series transformed. That is along with Ant, Randall, Gobert, Nas Reed and the rest. That is coaching on display. So J. Mac, the. Listen, I don't care what people say about market size, the defending champs are in big trouble. Minnesota is going to beat the most popular player, Steph Curry. Lakers have already been extinguished. OKC is a small market, but nonetheless, Americans are absolutely sure the lottery was rigged. Well, Colin, first of all, I don't know that the Timberwolves are beating Steph Curry since he's barely played in the series. They're beating a Warriors team, which doesn't look like, I mean anything resembling a playoff team without Curry. It is amazing how far they've fallen without a superstar. Yeah, I mean it's, it's. I think Boston will show up the next game without Tatum. Yes. The warriors can't do anything without Curry. Yeah, I mean he is their gps. They are kind of a directionless offense. He's the, you know, we've said this. There, there, there are certain players, LeBron in his prime and, and Steph Curry, where they're kind of the, the ecosystem like the offense goes through them. It looks different, the pacing is different, the ball movements. That's why Kaminga is flourishing without Steph. And then the offense totally changes with Steph and he just looks lost. So there are. The good news for Golden State is they're going to be able to move Kaminga, who looks like a 20 game, 20 point a game guy against a very good defensive team. So Kaminga, his value shot up. That's the only thing if you're the warriors, because I don't think Curry's going to play. He acknowledged yesterday as what's the point of risking it? Hamstring, as you've noted, is a rest injury. But Kaminga's play has created a market.
