← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Hoops Tonight - LIVE: Warriors Win Game 3 Over Rockets + Nuggets Win Game 4 THRILLER
00:46:26
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- [00:00]
Ryan Reynolds
T Mobile stats are as impressive as your favorite athlete's highlight reel because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now. Keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines of your virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service support in 90 plus days device knowledgeable carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.
- [00:31]
Jackson
Every morning brings a fresh new energy.
- [00:34]
Jason
And no matter what the day holds.
- [00:36]
Jackson
We come to the Today show for all of it.
- [00:38]
Jason
We get the best start to the day because we started together.
- [00:41]
Ryan Seacrest
Watch the Today show weekdays at 7am on NBC.
- [00:47]
Jason
Oh tasty high note oh hi, don't mind me.
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Unknown
I'm practicing my new baritone sax.
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Jason
I just heard PayPal's paying for people's stuff every day for 100 days and there's 10 million up for grabs. All you have to do is use PayPal checkout online. So there's never been a better time to buy a few things off the old wish list like this leaf blower PayPal could pay for your purchase. The Great PayPal Checkout no purchase necessary. Ends July 18th.
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Ryan Reynolds
See official rules@paypal.com TheGreatPayPalCheckout Terms Participating merchants only must use PayPal Checkout online coverage of up to $100 in eligible purchases per cart. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies?
- [01:18]
Unknown
Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days?
- [01:21]
Ryan Reynolds
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Jason
Discover is accepted at 99% of places.
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Unknown
That take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover.
- [01:38]
Ryan Reynolds
Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, the volume.
- [01:49]
Jason
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Make it a playoff run to remember with DraftKings. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code HOOPS. That's H O O P S. That's code hoops for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY to 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void In Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG Co Audio. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Saturday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great weekend. What an incredible night of games that we just were treated to. Jackson and I were just joking before the show started, like this is our eighth consecutive night going and I think we've gone six of those mornings, too. So it's been like this crazy blur. But at the same time, like we're Jackson says I'm riding a high from those two incredible games, and I am too. Like, it's just so much fun, at least in this time of year. Despite the unending train of just incredibly good basketball games, we're going to be breaking down tonight. We're focusing on the final two games in the slate, so we're going to be hitting that absolutely bonkers Clippers Nuggets game. And then the Golden State warriors end up pulling out a game on the strength of their defense against the Houston Rockets. Some key contributions down the roster. With Jimmy Butler out, we're going to break those two games down from the perspective of both teams. Then after that, we're going to do a mailbag from the chat and One of the things that I like about that mailbag is it allows you guys to kind of direct into certain parts of these series that you guys are interested in that you guys want to talk about more. So come into the later portion of the show, drop your questions in that chat, any other questions you have about these series, any other series around the league, make sure you guys hang out for the mailbag at the end. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at_jason nlt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating in a review on that front. We also have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook where Jackson's doing some great work. Make sure you guys follow us there. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions and YouTube comments. We can keep getting to them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I was confident coming into into this two game home set here for the warriors that even without Jimmy Butler, they should be able to get the job done, mainly because of two things. The simple fact that Steve Kerr, as he openly said in a timeout in Game one, these guys can't score on us in the half court if we can keep them trapped there. Three times tonight the warriors held the Rockets to 22 points in a single quarter. That is going to keep things close enough. And then at home, I just believe in the warriors role players finding enough ways to ride the energy of the crowd and find ways to contribute offensively. That's kind of been the story of the Steph Curry era is especially when they're at home, even when guys are out of the lineup is if Steph's out there and if Draymond's out there, they're going to get enough stops and they're going to get enough advantages to be able to win a game like this. And, and they were just incredible. We're going to be going down the line here talking about all their individual contributions. I do want to start with Step though, because what was actually interesting about this game is Houston controlled it early and one of the big reasons why was that idea that I talked about with the warriors role players being able to ride some of that energy of the crowd and their defense to be able to provide offensive punch that wasn't there to start the game, no one could make a shot to save their lives and to kind of compound the issue. Steph for the first, basically till the middle of the second quarter was just like kind of easing his way into the game, not bringing a ton of aggression. I thought he was coming off of his screening actions, telegraphing that he was looking to pass. He had a couple of turnovers, he wasn't being aggressive enough. And then right around that middle of that second quarter, Steph turned it up and there's a certain amount of, like, even with that level of defensive attention, there is a, there is still a, a certain amount of panic that you can induce by providing the necessary scoring pop. And as we saw in game one, like Steph, even in this scheme, even with the face guarding, even with the double teaming, even with the grabbing off ball, even with the blitzing of the ball screens, even with all of the physicality, Steph can cut these dudes to pieces. He's capable of doing it and he demonstrated that in resounding fashion over the course of the last three and a half quarters of this game. It all just started with turning up his aggression. As he started curling off of screens, instead of curling off of screens and immediately looking to get rid of the ball, he started trying to force the issue a little bit. Jay Billis was talking during the game about how he was like putting on his cape, so to speak, trying to take on multiple defenders, curling those actions and taking scoop shots in traffic, taking floaters in traffic. He started to look, to look to be aggressive for the first three point shot, pushing it a little bit further out, taking some more heavily contested shots. He found some ISOs, some isolation situations that he liked working against, like against Dylan Brooks there at the end of the game, that quick crossover into the pull up three. And because he brought the requisite scoring pop, 36 points tonight, that is what started to induce the final sequence of the game, which was Gary Payton the second starting to get downhill out of keepers and like fake dribble handoffs and slips of ball screens. Even got free on a backdoor cut off of a classic screening action where both guys ended up running with Steph. That comes from the scoring pop that Steph brings throughout the game. 36 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists. Like he has been absolutely fantastic in the two warriors wins in this series. I can't say enough about it. I want to skip ahead to Gary Payton for a second because, you know, one of the things that was kind of standing out over the course of the early Portion of the game was nobody really had anything going offensively. Brandon Pajemski had some good looks from three. He wasn't knocking them down. Jonathan Kaminga, you know, Steve Kerr places a bet on him to start this game and takes Buddy Healed out of the starting lineup, puts Quentin Post in there, tries to set Jonathan Kaminga up with some more cleared side isos, and just Jonathan Kaminga couldn't get anything going. He was struggling with the physicality of the situation. The game seemed to be moving a little too fast for him. He wasn't able to get anything moving. And so all of a sudden it's like, what do we have here? And, you know, there were a couple guys who stepped up, specifically Buddy Heald, who we'll talk about in a minute. But one of the things that stood out to me in that second half was Gary Payton specifically saying, I am going to the rim. He was decisive. He wasn't coming off of those fake dribble handoffs or slipping out of those screens trying to look to pass. He was looking to score the basketball. He went to the rim over and over and over again in that stretch. And like, that was just. That was such an important bit of rim pressure in a game like this where without Jimmy Butler, it was difficult to come by rim pressure. I thought, I thought Gary Payton was fantastic in this game. Finished with 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Hit two massive threes as well. Massive night for Gary Payton. The second Buddy healed, though, it was a little bit of a weird shift in the early third quarter where he just, when he checked in, where he looked like he was just a little lacking that intensity. But aside from that brief stretch to start the third quarter, I thought Buddy was fantastic all night, just bringing that requisite level of aggression. Obviously, Steve Kerr was going to have to bump his minutes up under the circumstances, he ended up playing 29 minutes tonight. A lot of situations like that, a lot of post, a lot of Gary, a lot of Buddy Healed trying. Jonathan Kaminga, they're doing that because they're trying to, like, inject some offensive firepower into the situation. Counting on the fact that Draymond and the rest of those guys, Moses Moody, Gary Payton, all those guys would be able to get another enough stops to be able to get to keep this game within reach. And Buddy, every single one of those five threes that he hit was super, super important in this game. He's plus 14, 29 minutes. Had three steals as well. Big time game from Buddy Heel. Quinton Post had a really difficult job Tonight. You know, sometimes you get handed a job that you're going to lose, but your job is to just try to shrink that gap as much as possible, to try to lose by as little as possible. I remember I played in this money tournament once up in Phoenix. It was three on three outdoor money tournament in downtown Phoenix. And we ended up winning it and winning the money thankfully. And there was a semifinal game where we played and I had to guard this guy named Michael Craig. And some of you Hoopers might recognize the name, he played at South Mountain Junior College in, he played at South Mountain Junior College up in Phoenix and then he ended up playing mid major D1 somewhere out in the, in the south if I remember correctly. But he was just this behemoth of a man like 6 foot 4, like 260 pounds of just solid muscle, freaky athlete. And my job in that game, in that three on three was you're going to lose some battles to Michael Craig. Like he's going to bully you, he's going to get some layups, you're going to take a bunch of shots to the chest, you're going to be in pain after that game. But all you have to do is just try to not lose by that much. And that was literally the job that, that Quinton Post was handed tonight on the defensive glass against Stephen Adams. He got thrown around sometimes. He gave up some offensive rebounds. He was just, his legs were destroyed. He couldn't make a three point shot to save his life. He was leaving everything short on, on in his shot making situations. But he did the job. He won enough of the battles. Nine defensive rebounds, three offensive rebounds, plus seven in 27 minutes. Quinton Post took the assignment to just get his ass kicked by the Houston front line tonight. And he stood in there and he just, he just held his own and did his job, battling for those possessions. Some nice tap out rebounds too in situations where, you know, other guys were engaged in box outs. I thought Quinton Post was fantastic. And then just the defensive effort all night. I mean Draymond Green had about as bad an offensive game as you'll ever see him play. Making some misreads, some sloppy turnovers, struggling to finish around the rim, blaming it on the refs when he wasn't getting fouled. Like Draymond had a nightmare offensive game, but he did a ton of damage defensively around the rim, especially to Alper and Shangun. How many times did you see Shangun miss a shot within like three feet of the rim tonight? Many of those were because of the disruption that Draymond was providing on Shangun's base. He was battling down there and just winning. Like again, this is the thing with basketball. Doesn't matter how bad of a game you're having if it's close late. Just make a play. Find a way to make a play. Do something that will help your team. And Draymond made several defensive plays down the stretch of this game. And then honestly, on the Houston front, there's just too much inconsistency in the form of their shot creation. You know, Shangoon kind of got figured out towards the end of the game by the warriors front line. You know, Jackson and I were talking last night in the mailbag about just the inconsistency with Jalen Green. Jackson and I talked last night. We were like, if the if, is it more likely for Jalen Green to score less than 15 points tonight or is it more likely that he'll score more than 25 points? And both Jackson and I said he'd score less than 15. He had nine points and 11 shots in this game. Fred Van Vliet hit a couple shots early, but went right back to the same inefficient shot maker that he was in the first two games of the series. They just don't have anything that they can rely on offensively. And ultimately that's what's going to get them beaten this series is that if the warriors give a concerted effort on the defensive end of the floor, they're not going to be able to score. And over and over and over again they got the stops they needed. The warriors were able to get the stops they needed to pull this game out.
- [15:23]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [15:54]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [17:56]
Ryan Reynolds
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- [18:26]
Jason
All right, we're going to Talk some Nuggets Clippers for a few minutes and then like I said, warriors fans, Rockets fans, if you guys have any questions surrounding that series, bring them to the mailbag portion here in about 10, 15 minutes. So after two very close games in Denver, it looked like we were going to get back to back blowouts in Los Angeles. The Nuggets completely took control of that game in that third quarter. They outscored the Clippers 35 to 17. I thought Jokic was absolutely amazing orchestrating things in that stretch. He had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists just in the third quarter. He got Michael Porter Jr going catching James Harden being lazy off of him in off ball situations. Just, oh, you're sitting with your right foot by the lane line. I'm just going to rifle this pass to Michael and he's just going to go up and shoot it. He caught Harden in a very sloppy switch where he tried to just like shove. I can't remember who it was. I think it was Derek Jones, but he tried to like shove one of the Clippers other perimeter defenders out of Mike wasn't ready. Jokic rifled the pass, he knocked it down. He had a variety of insane shots. Just the shot making from Jokic in that stretch. He hit this like crazy, hierarching, running floater going through the lane off of his screening action. A lot of Jokic attacking off of off ball screening actions to try to get Zoo caught up. Trying to chase somebody through screens, which is something that you don't see bigs do very often. He had a tough movement three running to his right, same sort of thing. Off ball screening action. Just ran up to the right, got his feet set, quickly knocked it down. He had a break rhythm. Pump fake three out of the left corner where he same sort of thing, a baseline screening action that got Zoo caught up on it. Caught on the corner, clean pump faked. Guy ran by. He was able to just settle into the shot and knock it down. He did damage on the offensive glass. The, the passing was insane. He had this feed to Peyton Watson underneath the basket where he got Ben Simmons in a kind of a one on two situation. I can't remember who it was in the corner. I think it was, I think it was Peyton Watson. No, no, Payton Watson was under the basket. And then I think it was Michael Porter Jr. Somebody else might have been Aaron Gordon, somebody in the right corner. And Peyton Watson's the real threat, right? Like he's a good athlete who's got a easy like vertical spacing window that he can just go up and dunk. And Jokic literally just looked Ben Simmons off, just looked towards the corner, and Ben Simmons lunged the wrong way. Jokic rifled it to Peyton Watson and he got a dunk. You could literally feel Jokic suck the life out of that arena. The Clippers started to miss a lot of easy shots, like clean looks for guys like Nick B. That just weren't going down because you could just feel it in the arena. You could feel the momentum slipping away from the Clippers. The Nuggets also doubled Kawhi to great effect during that third quarter stretch in large part because Chris Dunn kind of had his first really, really rough offensive game in the series. He made some tough reads on short rolls where he just kind of botched advantage situations. He was unable to knock down his open catch and shoot threes. And like, that's the thing. You got to make Chris Dunn beat you. And that doesn't mean beat you once. Like he's going to beat you once. Like he had a game in the series where he went 3 for 3 from 3. Like, Chris Dunn can beat you, but can he beat you four times in two weeks? That's the question. And you have to at least force him to do that. And they were able to actually kind of play him out of the rotation to where Ty Lou ended up closing with Bogdan McDonovich. But the Clippers really came apart and it looked like the Nuggets were going to get out there with a comfortable win. But then the Clippers went on a completely insane run of their own to start the fourth quarter. Really started pushing the pace. You can see on the very first possession. They just were running up the floor to try to get something going. They got their pick and roll game going finally with James Harden. James Harden just started to bring more energy. A couple of Nuggets like Michael Porter Jr. And Yo and Nicole Jokic both like really relaxed on defense during that run. And you know, it's not one of those things, you're up 20, you don't want to. You don't want to just blow through a ton of energy. But they almost lost control of the game during that stretch because it just was over and over and over again. James Harden getting into the teeth of the defense for layups and kickouts to guys for easy shots. Then on defense, the clippers ran a 2, 3 zone where they use the opposite guard to deny the high post catch, which kind of baited the Nuggets into some tough above the break threes. They ran five Possessions of zone in that fourth quarter and got five stops. That was a big part. But really it was the ball pressure. They just upped their overall level, level of intensity and ball pressure. They forced a bunch of turnovers. They turned Denver over five times in the fourth quarter. And it was like one of the craziest momentum swings you'll ever see because it just, it was like, stop bucket, stop bucket, stop bucket. Crowds going absolutely insane. They were even able to weather some shots like Jamal Murray hits like a tough elbow jumper. Aaron Gordon ends up hitting a. A three above the break. Like. And even then it was just. But then it would be like, stop bucket, stop bucket, stop bucket. And it just was out of control freight train towards the Clippers until the final sequence when Nicole Jokic was able to seize back the momentum. So the Clippers go up by one towards the end of the game. And on the final sequence, we get this weird, we get this weird kind of set of plays where Nicole Jokic gets called for an offensive foul and a play where he gets. Gets called for hooking Nicole Jokic his arm. Now my biggest issue with this has just been the total inconsistency in the way that this has been called. Like, I watched James Harden hook a guy like with that inside arm on a drive and get three free throws out of it early in the series. So like, what's the deal, refs? Is it the arm hook is an offensive foul or is it we give James Harden three free throws. Like, let's get some consistency in the way that we're calling that. So Jokic loses his mind, gets pissed off. They go to the other end after that play though. Nuggets up by Nuggets, down by one. Jokic, I thought this was a genius play on his part. Just goes right back to the same damn move. Just quickly makes a right handed drive against Zoo. This time he doesn't hook. He just keeps that arm in and tries to blow up that shoulder. Kind of snaps his head back, gets the call. He's going to get that call. In that situation after what happened, you just get called for an offensive foul. You complain like crazy. There's a psychological element to this sort of thing. And I thought that was a genius play by Jokic to quick get himself to the free throw line. Smokes the first free throw, nearly smokes the second, but it goes in, ties the game. They go down to the other end of the floor. They get a stop, they come back the other end. Jokic hits this insane left shoulder, turnaround jump shot right Over Zoo. That puts him up too, obviously. Zubots ties the game on the offensive rebound off of the James Harden. James Harden was right at the front of the rim and, like, smoked a layup, but Zoo comes in and taps it in. And then Aaron Gordon wins the game, dunking. Kind of a weird sequence from Yokich. I didn't love the shot Jokic got there. He kind of turned into the somber shuffle, just sprinting out to the right wing. It was a very weird final possession from Jokic, but Aaron Gordon, the man in the right place. James Harden ends up missing a box out. Aaron Gordon dunks it. And that was as close of a buzzer beater as I've ever seen in terms of it being released in time, like, at the buzzer. Like, it's like the top third of the ball is above the rim and the bottom 2/3 of the ball is below the rim. I thought it was the right call to allow the bucket, but that was about as close as it could possibly be. And. And, man, like, what an. What. It's impossible to overstate how important that win is for Denver. They don't play again until Tuesday. This is a team that is beat up. Michael Porter Jr. Is in Rough shape. He's. He's been dealing with some issue with his feet. He's been dealing with an issue with his shoulder. Aaron Gordon told. Told an NBA reporter that he can barely jump right now. Like, they're beat up. They. They need to go home and sleep in their own beds and they need a couple of nights to relax. They. They need to get their legs back underneath them. And so for them to pull that game out and to. Because they were losing by one, that could have been an absolute catastrophe. Heading home down three to one. This is. This could have been like. It felt like the entire series was hanging in the balance there and now. Now the Nuggets get to go home, get a little bit of rest, home court advantage the rest of the series. They just have to win two out of three. Much, much stronger position for Denver to be in after that incredibly insane finish. Another clutch win for Denver, too. Shouldn't have been clutch. Should have been more of a comfortable win. But I still trust Jokic more than I trust Kawhi and James Harden in a close game late. I didn't like some of the shots that Kawhi got late in the game. He took a. He had Jamal Murray on a right wing ISO late, where I thought he could have worked more towards the elbow to try to get like a right shoulder or left shoulder fade away. That's more of like a 50% shot for Kawhi. He ended up taking a pretty tough off the dribble three that I didn't particularly like. Like in crunch time. I I do trust Jokic more obviously, game two notwithstanding when they ended up making their mistakes. But it's just a reminder that these series are decided by the tiniest of margins. That game could have literally gone either way and now, now the Denver's in a much, much more commanding position. They lose that game, Clippers are going to win the series. Denver wins that game. Now it feels much closer to that 5050 kind of spot that we were in after game one and that's kind of where I feel at this point. I'm still feeling like this series is very much a coin flip, but LA had a chance to close it there and it just couldn't close the deal. Some Clippers notes James Harden's overall level of intensity and focus was just off for the first three quarters. Didn't really bring aggressiveness or decisiveness and pick and roll until the fourth quarter which I thought hurt the team. His off ball defense has been bad all series, but it was especially bad tonight made several mistakes during Denver's third quarter run. I talked about Kawhi needing to be able to operate a little bit closer to the rim towards the end of games. This is it almost feels to me watching that Kawhi is a little afraid of double teams at the end and he knows that if he works into the mid to short range he knows he's going to get attacked and he's going to have to use his passing ability and it almost I've seen this dating back even to the the warriors game on Sunday right before the play in tournament like Kawhi is seems to be more comfortable at the end of game settling for further jump shots to try to avoid double teams and he just needs to embrace that. He needs to embrace set it up Ty Lou needs to set up the spacing a certain way that makes Kawhi's passing reads easy so that he doesn't have to stress about it. But Kawhi needs to operate closer to the basket at the end of games and the Harden pick and roll is still their best action. It just depends on James Harden bringing the necessary pop. And as we know James Harden is known for having that type of game like oh massively important game opportunity to take complete and total control of the series and James Harden just half asleep for three quarters of the game which we've seen over the years that like the, like it, you know, there we go back to that spurs series and there's the concussion that people point to, but there are just so many different examples throughout his career where like massive important game and just the energy and competitiveness isn't there the way that it needs to be. And that's one of the main reasons why like, you know this Clippers team, they're very, very good. I ended up putting them fifth in my contender rankings before the postseason started, but I had them below that top tier. And the main reason why is just there. There's the aggregate playmaking talent piece that I've talked about a lot, but there's just so many wild cards. It's like, are you going to get a focused, intense Harden? Are you going to get kind of like a sleepy Harden, right? Like Kawhi has even had an up and down nature to his game over the course of the tail end of the season. It just, I don't feel like I can count on the Clippers to be the best version of themselves night to night, and I don't think they have enough margin for error to make up for that sort of thing, which has kept me just a little bit lower on the Clippers than many of my peers that cover the league are.
- [30:14]
Ryan Reynolds
T Mobile stats are as impressive as your favorite athlete's highlight reel because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines of your virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualified unlock device, credit service report in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption. Required card is no cash access and expires in six months.
- [30:44]
Unknown
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- [31:14]
Jason
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- [32:15]
Jason
Right, let's bring Jackson up here and let's take some questions about.
- [32:18]
Jackson
Let's do it. Let's do it. We got a lot of questions about, you know, this Warriors Rockets game. Naturally. First question you said Steph's this was written wrong. Sorry. Steph's game one performance was one of his better playoff games because of what he was facing in the supporting cast. How does today's game compare the Steph.
- [32:36]
Jason
Didn'T have as crazy of a shot making game tonight. I didn't think in terms of like that. That game one he hit four or five of some of the, you know, top tier tough shots that he's hit in his career. Also that game one feel too like you never know what you're going to get in terms of the defensive level of intensity, what the whistle is going to be like. I don't think it quite rises to Game 1, but I did think that that was a classic and fantastic Steph Curry performance.
- [33:01]
Jackson
100%. 100%. Next question that we're getting a lot of from this game is is this the end of the Jonathan Kaminga experiment? If it's not the end, what are your not if not the true, true end? You know, what are your thoughts on Kaminga sort of generally on the team as well as specifically in the rest of this series?
- [33:17]
Jason
Well, tonight was the latest example in a very, very long line of examples that Jonathan Kaminga has some potential as a one on one player, but in dead serious basketball games, he's not good enough at it to be able to really give him a lot of leeway to try to drive that part of his game. And you know, in the big picture it's tough because there are the realities of Jonathan Kaminga being at a point in his career where a franchise needs to invest in him and it's just tough to make that sort of decision when the development at this point at his age hasn't really come to fruition. And again, on this team you can crack into the rotation earlier and more solidly as a reliable read and react player who also plays defense soundly, both on the ball and off the ball. Then you can crack into this rotation as an on ball player. If you're going to crack into this rotation as an on ball player, you got to be really, really efficient because you're not going to run a lot of on ball sequences alongside Steph Curry. Alongside Steph Curry, the majority of the work you do is going to be operating in his ecosystem. And so Jimmy Butler has shown a wonderful ability to kind of shape shift between connective attacker, playmaker, rim pressure guy, but also be able to command a unit for these very short stretches. Like here's a three minute stretch where we're going to give you the ball a bunch of times. But right now Jonathan Kaminga is just not good enough at it to be able to justify that kind of role on a dead serious team. And so here's the thing. He, he might be 26 before he's ready for that role. So if he's 26 before he's ready for that role, there are some realities about him being effectively useless on this team relative to what he could be somewhere else. And so I've been saying this since the trade deadline. This is. He just needs to be. It's in the best interest for all parties involved to send him somewhere else this summer.
- [35:10]
Jackson
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I feel like there was a period of a year or two there where it felt like maybe Steph Curry didn't have the championship ceiling, that we thought he might have run out of that from a gas age standpoint. And it was like, well, maybe we need to keep coming around. But now that it feels pretty clear that at least for another year or two years or three years, but at least another year or two, Steph Curry is capable of being the best player on a championship team, you got to what's the point of Jonathan Kuminga on this roster?
- [35:37]
Jason
There was a bunch of buzz last Year in the middle of the season before the trade deadline where some warriors fans would say things to me like, like, well, you know, the Clippers traded away Shay, Gilders, Alexander and look like I, I, Jackson and I were talking last night, we find, I find the Jalen Green, John, the Kaminga type of athlete to be tantalizing in a lot of ways because of just how physical these games get and the ability to get to your spots is a real asset in super physical basketball. But at the same time, like, we can also admit, even though Kaminga has potential, like, I think he has potential to enter into that like somewhere between the 25th to 35th best player in the league by the time he's in his late 20s, I really do think he has that potential. Like a guy who could like make an all star team one day, maybe one. You know what I mean? Here's what. He's not Shake Hill, just Alexander. So like, let's just, let's take that and set it aside. You're, you're not, you're not giving away the future here, even to your point. Jackson, I talked about this at the time. Like, like, I'm sorry, but like, I like, I like a lot of these young players, Pajemski and Kaminga and Moody are not competing in the Western Conference. That, that team is not good enough. You're, you are going to rebuild when this is all said and done. Accept that reality and act accordingly.
- [36:55]
Jackson
100%. Next question. If Jimmy is a 50, 50 call by Monday, which, you know, the reporting tonight was that he had a lot more swelling than maybe they expected. He was struggling to move, which is why it wasn't just a pain tolerance thing going into tonight. If he's a 50, 50 call on Monday, does tonight's result impact Golden State's decision to play him next game? Should their this result impact it?
- [37:17]
Jason
I think that if Jimmy's in a position where he genuinely feels like another couple of days off could be very good for his. Actually, Jackson, can you do me a favor while I'm saying this and just look up how many days are off? I think they play Monday night, right? So they get one day, they play Monday, they play Wednesday, so they do go every other day for the rest of the series.
- [37:38]
Jackson
They're going every, they're, yeah, they're playing Wednesday back in Houston.
- [37:41]
Jason
Okay. So that is a pretty quick turnaround. But like if you could somehow get away with sitting him on Monday, you give him an additional all day Sunday, all day Monday, all day Tuesday. Most of the Day Wednesday to rest before he has to play again. And in theory, I feel like Jimmy and Steph and Draymond with a mobile, Jimmy can go into Houston and win a game five if needed. If it was two two and then close the series out in six. So, like, if Jimmy's not feeling like he can be a real asset on Monday, I would sit him.
- [38:15]
Jackson
Yeah, it's a tough call. I mean, it's so hard to say without knowing the. How bad it actually is, but it's going to be an interesting decision. Next question. This is sort of a hard one to answer, sort of off the, off the cuff, but is Draymond Green the most clutch defensive player of all time? It does feel like he gets a lot of big stops late. I can think of a bunch up the top of my head.
- [38:34]
Jason
These. Yeah. So to. To the. To the question. The. When we. We talked about this a little bit last night, like, it's really hard to do an all time list right off the cuff. So that. That might be more of like a. A long form mailbag for the summertime, but I. Draymond in general is a wonderful clutch defender because of the physicality. You know, the playoffs are always physical, but they get exceptionally physical when you get into the late game situations. And like, they even, you know, they're, they're. They. You'll even see that in the. In that last layup that Shangoon missed. Like, Draymond fouled him on that play. But like, that's the thing. Like, there's fouls all over the court and like, in a game where fouls are allowed to a certain point, Draymond is like one of the. Like. And even just in a vacuum, take away clutch defense, take away any of the details that we're specifically referencing, just Draymond is the most gifted legal Fowler I've ever seen. Like, this dude in regular season games in February will come out and he's going to find a way in the early part portion of the first quarter to kind of like probe the extent of what the refs will allow. And he kind of like finds that barrier and then he operates within that barrier. And like, he's just. He's just so smart and he's so the, the physical strength element to me is so important. Like, I, I got into this argument with the guys from the. And I should say a discussion with the guys from Basketball Illuminati. So, like, I'm in. And Tom Haberstrough and we were discussing the defensive player of the year debate and like, I was trying to emphasize him. Like, the big reason why I think Draymond's a better defender than Evan Mobley is. Like, Evan Mobley can win a lot of battles in the air as, like, a shot blocker and is, like, a guy in rotation, but I have always been more drawn to the shorter, stockier defenders because I think winning battles on the ground is actually the most important part of basketball. And Draymond just does a wonderful job of disrupting your base and keeping you off balance and bringing the appropriate physicality, using gamesmanship to his. To his effect, to like. To positive effect, manipulating the refs. Like. Like. Like. Draymond knows that he can get away with enough for a certain. Like, that the play where he ran up on the ref after he clearly didn't get fouled, which was hilarious. He. That's like. It's part of his gamesmanship. It's part of how he gets away with stuff. And, like, I just think. I just think he's. I just think he's the best defender I've watched in this era.
- [40:55]
Jackson
Yeah. And I think the clutch thing, I mean, I think most of the time, but on offense as well, the best clutch players are usually just the best players. And the things get. Everything just gets heightened and more challenging in the biggest moment. So it requires the best players to be able to succeed in those moments. But so, because of that, Dre's unbelievable blend, like, singularly unique blend of physical strength and that stocky aspect that you're describing, incredibly long wingspan and incredibly high iq just makes him so hard to score on at the end of games, and it allows him to cover up for mistakes he's made, cover up for mistakes other people have made. It's crazy. Like, all the stops he's gotten off the top of my head that I can think of. Got the big regular season stop against Kevin Durant. He got that block against Daniel Gafford in the playoffs against the Mavericks. He's getting these all, and they're all different types of stops. He's able to do so many different types of things defensively that it's. It's really challenging. I would just. It's hard to imagine going at him.
- [41:53]
Jason
That point you made about how the best clutch players are just the best players. I love that. I'm stealing that. That's fantastic stuff right there.
- [42:01]
Jackson
Like, they're just the best players. Speaking of the best players, where does Steph Curry rank and the best players in the world are ranking right now? Because according to this commenter, nobody's playing better than him right now. I think the important context of the question we should attack here is not on a 82 game regular season basis. No one is going to argue he's better than giannis on an 82 game basis. Right? But for four playoff series that you have to win, where would he, where would he sort of fall in that pecking order?
- [42:28]
Jason
I don't think he's playing better than everyone right now. There are a lot of guys playing really good basketball right now. But I do think Steph is operating at that tier. Like, I mean giannis is averaging 36 points a game right now. Like Jalen Brunson is averaging 34 points a game right now and has like executed the Pistons in the clutch over and over and over again. Like there are a lot. Like Nicola Jokic was playing at an insanely high level tonight. Shakers Alexander just like eviscerated the Grizzlies today. Like there's a lot of guys playing at a really high level right now. I just think Steph is operating at that tier, which is the key. Like you don't need Steph to be the best player in the world. You just need him to be able to go toe to toe with the best players in the world. That is what it will allow. Golden State's number one ranked defense post all Star break and the overall IQ advantage and the coaching advantage and like Jimmy Butler's playoff upside and that's what allows all of that to operate. And like the, it's been abundantly clear to me pretty much since the all since the Jimmy trade that Steph has had that top tier superstar ceiling still. And that's the key. Like, and there's a difference. Like there are guys in the league, like LeBron for instance, is a guy that like on any one given night in the, in the, in this playoff run can reach that level. He reached that level last night. But like he wasn't at that level in game one, for example, right. And you know, had a great defensive game too, but wasn't able to really assert himself offensively in game two. And like the thing is, is like Steph is night in and night out right now providing the superstar offensive upside that this team needs to reach their ceiling, which is really all you can ask from him. But like, as far as like actually officially ranking these guys, like, I just want everyone to know, like we, that is what we do in the summertime and we take it very seriously. We will do extensive detailed rankings of where these guys rank in the league after what They've done this season what I would, you know, rank them going into next season. Here's the thing. It's been what, four playoff games or three playoff games for Steph? Four for a couple of these guys. It's hard to really like parse them out ranking wise until we have a larger sample.
- [44:39]
Jackson
Next question. As you sort of alluded to in the, in your answer to the last one, does this win say more about Golden State and their championship ceiling being able to win without Jimmy, or is it more about the Rockets just not being on, on their level?
- [44:53]
Jason
Tonight was championship pedigree. Tonight was we need to get this win against this team under these circumstances. I don't think it's even like a style necessarily that the warriors will play in future games when they're healthy and put together. Like, you're not going to see that much Quinton Post. You're not going to see that much of, of Buddy Healed. You're not going to see that much of Jonathan Kaminga. That was just like, that's just championship pedigree just getting through a tough circumstance in a series. I have been pretty consistent about how I feel about Houston throughout the entire season. I viewed them as a non threat to upset the warriors in this series. Like I, like I, I, I was like I told you Jackson in a mailbag one of these last few nights that I thought they'd go to a 20 in Golden State even without Jimmy. So like to me the, this entire series is more about surviving the Rockets and next round when they face either Minnesota or la, it's going to be a better indicator for us of where they're at in relation to their championship ceiling.
- [45:59]
Jackson
Yeah, I think winning games like this is sort of like in the regular season, most championship teams beat up on the bad teams. They don't just beat them by a little bit. Right. Like it's an indicator of high, high level basketball, but it's not as necessarily an actionable thing. You can take and say this type of game means they're going to win the bigger ones. It's a good piece of evidence, but it's not necessarily predictive.
- [46:23]
Jason
Totally agree. And like, and that's the thing, like we need to see where like both LA and Minnesota present very different types of challenges to the warriors. And so in that round we are going to get a better look at them again. Like, let me just put it this way. When I ranked my championship contenders, I didn't even put Rockets in the top 10. Like they, like I didn't even have them on that list. So like Minnesota and LA are both legitimate second tier championship contenders. So like that is going to be a much better indicator. Like if Golden State smokes one of the teams coming out of that, that series, that would be to me like the holy shit, they've got a real chance to get this done type of series for sure.
- [47:00]
Jackson
Let's say a couple more questions first. I wasn't really going to ask this question, but since we are on the topic, you know, I'm not trying to jinx anything. If the warriors are making able to make it past this series. We had quite a few questions about who would be the better matchup, easier matchup for them in the second round, the Lakers or the Timberwolves?
- [47:17]
Jason
This is a really good question. I think Minnesota's, I think, excuse me, I think Golden State's defense and you and I talked about this the earlier in the series, I think Golden State's defense because of Draymond, because they're just a little bit faster, they're a faster team. I think Golden State's defense would be able to do a lot more damage to Minnesota's offense than this Laker defense can do. Like the Lakers defense is very much a smart positional connected group. Since December 8th, which is a 59 game sample, the Lakers are 9th in defensive rating. They're a good defense, but they're not a great defense. They're just a good defense and they specifically are a defense that depends on IQ and a 40 year old anchoring everything for them on the back line. So like there are obvious times where you can see them just completely overwhelmed by Minnesota's athleticism. Like Jaden McDaniels last night, just over and over again getting into the teeth of their defense at the end of the game. Their complete inability to hang with Anthony Edwards. So like there's no doubt that Golden State just athletically is more set up to grind Minnesota's offense down into the mud. And that's what's crazy is like guys, the Lakers, I just emphasize all these details about how their defense is not as good as Golden State. The, the Lakers are having more luck stopping the wolves right now than the Celtics are having stopping the Magic. So everything I just said, still the Lakers are doing a better job. Like still the Lakers are able to stop that Minnesota Timberwolves offense. But that's in reference to half court offense by the way, per cleaning the glass. But the point I'm trying to make is I think Golden State could do some real damage to that Minnesota offense. Like, I think, I think they could, I think they could win that g, that series with their defense in a similar manner to what they do against Houston. But I think the Laker offense can present some issues to them with perimeter size. So it's, man, it's really tough. Jackson. I, I, I think that Golden State would have a better chance of beating Minnesota. What do you think?
- [49:30]
Jackson
I don't know. I, it's a very hard question. So different. I, my, my gut was they'd have a better chance of being the Lakers. Thinking on the, the thought process being. The Timberwolves present a lot of similar challenges to the Rockets in terms of size and athleticism, but they have an actual go to scorer on the offensive, in actual offense, they have multiple scores who are better than, you know, the Rockets have. But I don't know. I mean, I think it could go either way.
- [49:59]
Jason
That's tough now that you put it that way. I do think I'd, I'd rather play la, but it's close because, you know.
- [50:07]
Jackson
Have this size and athleticism thing. But they're also not as good of a defense statistically as Houston.
- [50:12]
Jason
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, man. That's a, it's really tough. Also, like the, the, the Shangoon problem. Like, the Rockets offense has looked its best when they go through Shangun, as you know, and the Minnesota, like, Changun's a, in my opinion, Shangun's a better offensive player than Julius Randle. So like, I, I think he could cause more problems there. Here's the other thing too. Like, I, I think the, I think the Lakers are going to win tomorrow. I, I could be wrong about that and everyone could take another victory lap on me. We'll see. I think the Lakers are going to win tomorrow. Like, I mean they played like absolute shit in the two losses. Like, they played like absolute shit. And if we've learned anything from Clippers, Nuggets, it doesn't matter if you're up to one, it's check ball. You got to beat us again. And so like, I, I, I do think that this, I think that series is still, I have it like 55, 45 in favor of Minnesota. Like, I think Minnesota is a slight favorite for me in the Jason Sportsbook, that, that's where I have it. But like, I, man, I think, I think the point you made about Houston's physicality plus a better offense would make them a slightly more dangerous team to Golden State than the Lakers should be. So I guess I'm saying Lakers fans or Warriors Fans should be rooting for the Lakers to come back and win. Come over to the dark side.
- [51:22]
Jackson
Tempting. You're tempting. The YouTube chat with the I think the Lakers are going to win tomorrow. Let's take one more question and then call it for the night. If Joker continues to show this is just the commenters words, not mine. If the joke if Joker continues to show that he's the actual head coach of the Nuggets so obviously like in the game tonight, parenthesis sees Yoko was calling in subs for context. Does that mean that is that a bad sign for David Adelman's future as the head coach there?
- [51:47]
Jason
No. Guys like you don't think Steve Kerr sits down with Steph and Draymond sometimes and asks them their opinion or that Draymond is never Steph has ever run over to Steve and been like get him out of the fucking game. Like, like guys like that's just if you're a. If if. Newsflash it. Just because you're a coach doesn't mean you know everything. Players are also very, very smart and every smart person that I know, every like smart, humble, like you know, kind of like well grounded person I know leans on other smart people to try to, to try to answer problems. It's not I'm the coach. You shut up. I solve all the problems. Like Jokic is a basketball genius. I would recommend talking to him as much as possible.
- [52:23]
Jackson
Let's call it there.
- [52:24]
Jason
All right, that's all we have for tonight guys. As always, we sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. I'm going to do a quick film breakdown that should be up in the morning that is going to cover just like some details from the two games. Might hit some Shake else Alexander stuff in there too. So keep an eye on the feed tomorrow morning for some film and then we have four two one series tomorrow. So tomorrow is going to be an old fashioned show like last weekend where we have to hit four games at the same time. So be ready live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Pacers Bucks tomorrow night. I'll see you guys then. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
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Ryan Seacrest
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