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That's code Hoops for new customers to get $300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. When you bet five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling Problem Call 1-800-Gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY 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. Bet must win to receive reward. Minimum minus 500 odds required bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng co Audio Foreign welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. Well, as promised, today we're going to go through the top five storylines of the 2025 NBA Finals. We've talked a lot of basketball over the last couple of days. We're going to get into some of the narratives that are surrounding this series, some of the debates, and some things to keep an eye on. In terms of stories to follow in this series. 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@_jasonlt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast fee. Wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, it's also super helpful if you leave a Rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tick Tock. Make sure you guys follow us there and then keep dropping mailbag questions in our YouTube comments so we can get to them in our mailbags throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the first storyline that I think we've already seen quite a bit of talk surrounding in the week leading up to the Finals, just people complaining about small markets and the ratings, right. Like I saw there was kind of already a theme heading into the conference finals as we had the Knicks alongside a Minnesota Timberwolves team and Oklahoma City Thunder team and an Indiana Pacers team. But this to me is the inevitable part of the NBA cycle. There's a lot of talk about like having small markets and that being the driving force behind low ratings when that simply is not the case. They We've seen so many examples of teams in every sport be able to overcome whatever perceived limitations sit in their market to become a very like a very resonant team in among NBA fans. Like classic examples we talked about recently, like Golden State wasn't viewed viewed as that type of team. Steph made them into that type of team. Cleveland wasn't viewed as that type of team. Cleveland was one of the biggest rating draws in the league for a while because of LeBron James. There is a. You build that tor that sort of ratings monster in the NFL. Teams like the Kansas City Chiefs. You think the Kansas City Chiefs were major ratings draws 10 years ago. This is something that you build through exposure in high stakes moments like this. Very similarly, we remember after MJ retired, there's a phase there where it's like, oh man, like who's going to be the next guy? Who's going to be the next face of the league? But then it just builds in momentum and all of a sudden it's okay, here comes Kobe, here comes Shaq, here comes Tim Duncan, here comes LeBron. And all of a sudden we have a very healthy trove of stars to drive the league forward. Right. It's all part of that natural kind of ebb and flow. We're in a weird spot here. LeBron and Steph are aging out. Some of these younger stars like Tyrese Halliburton and Shagiel Just Alexander don't have a ton of exposure to casual basketball fans yet. This is their opportunity. It is through play style and resonating with people and being the type of culturally resonant basketball force that Steph was that LeBron was combined with sustained success in late May, in June. That actually provides the foundation to have a strong set of ratings moving forward for the league again, ultimately, the NBA Finals, the goal of them is to showcase the two best teams in the NBA. This series may only have one top five player, maybe only three top 25 players between Siakam and SGA and Tyrese Halliburton. Depending how you feel about Chad or J Dub. I haven't done my player rankings yet. Maybe J Dub lands in the top 25, but like maybe as few as three players in the top 25. But it does showcase the best basketball that has been played this season. And specifically within the realm of what works in the modern game. As we've talked about so much, you can increase your offensive efficiency by like roughly 20% every time you push the ball in transition. Pushing the ball in transition is low hanging fruit that exists in basketball for you to take advantage of. It is there for every everybody. And the Pacers and the Thunder have been two of the best to do that. Ball pressure is a simple market inefficiency that makes ball handlers uncomfortable, forces them to work later into the shot clock on offense, potentially forces turnovers by speeding up those players and can lead to easier transition opportunities going the other way. This is low hanging fruit that is available to everybody in the league and the Pacers and the Thunder have just been the two best teams that actually taking advantage of it. This is a showcase of the right way to play basketball in the modern NBA, regardless of who is on your roster. And if you have the ability to replicate these things, you can actually drive more success for your team. And in that case, I find it to be a very interesting series. It's not going to crush in the ratings. It never was going to. But that doesn't mean that teams like this and that players like this can't eventually drive ratings. There's a version. If I would have told you in 2008 that in the 2017 NBA Finals we were going to see the Golden State warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, all of you would have been bitching at the time about how it was going to be a low ratings type of situation, that's not the case. These guys can build juggernauts in the ratings with their presence and their ability to capture the hearts and minds of basketball fans. Number two, Tyrese Halliburton in the line of embarrassment perpetuated by this Oklahoma City defense. I've talked a little bit about this on the show over the course of the last couple of weeks. But Oklahoma City has done some serious damage to some really good players in this postseason run. So I wanted to actually give you guys a rundown of just some of the specific, truly damaging performances their defense has done to some respected players around this league. In the first round, Desmond Bain had a game where he went 3 for 12 with four turnovers. Another game where he went 3 for 14 with five turnovers. Jaren Jackson had a game where he went 2 for 13 with just four points. Four points on 13 shots as a power forward in the NBA. In the sweep game, he went just 3 for 12 from the field. I talked about Nikola Jokic playing three of the worst games of his career in rapid succession in that second round series. In that series in game two, three and four, Nicola Jokic shot just 33% from the field, just 18% from three, and had 16 turnovers to just 15 assists. How often have we thought of Nikola Jokic as a guy who only makes a third of his shots over a week of basketball games, or as a player that has more turnovers than assists? That was the type of damage that Oklahoma City did to Jokic during a stretch where they won two out of three games and regain control of the series. That is the damage they were able to do to the best player in the world. Julius Randle had almost entirely rehabbed his playoff image through what he did through the first two rounds, like on both ends of the floor against the Lakers, and then just successfully breaking down Golden State's defense over and over again the way that he did. He had a 2 for 11 game for just six points in game two against Oklahoma City. And then in game four, a pivotal game at home where they desperately needed him to be good. He was just one for seven with five points. So this is a long list of really good players that Oklahoma City hasn't just had success against, but is flat out embarrassed. Like even with Jokic in those games, relative to what we usually see from him, that is quite literally the lowest end of the Jokic spectrum that Oklahoma City's defense showed us. Tyrese Halliburton at various points in his career, especially in the postseason, has shown that things went when things get really intense in terms of ball pressure and physicality, he can have a problem with maintaining his aggression and engagement in the game. And I think it's very possible in this series that Oklahoma City could bring out some of those really embarrassing stat lines for Tyrese Halliburton. He's susceptible to those under any circumstances. Against this particular defense, I think we could be walking away from this series talking very differently about Tyrese Halliburton than we did after the first three series. That is a storyline that we have to keep an eye on. Number three, Shay Gilders Alexander, if he can finish this off by winning this series in winning Finals MVP is putting together one of the best guard seasons in NBA history. Even if you want to take that guard part and set it aside to win at least 68 games, to make the all star team, to win the scoring title, to make first team all NBA, to win MVP of the league, and to tie it off with the Finals mvp, he would be just the second player in NBA history to accomplish all of those things in a single season, with just Michael Jordan in 1996 being the other one. Now, I. There's always a natural pushback to this sort of thing, and I totally understand it. It's just human nature. We start talking about, it's like, holy, this is one of the best seasons in NBA history. And then we all immediately want to start bringing other guys up. And I totally get that. It was like that. I mean, I'm a LeBron fan. It was like that with LeBron. I remember it was like, oh, my God, he just won his second title. And the jump shots he was hitting against the spurs in game seven and just the way he played down the stretch of Game 6. And everyone's like, is this the greatest basketball player ever? And what did we see? We saw this, like, natural pushback from everybody as it became like, no, no, no, no, no. Make him earn it. Michael Jordan did this, Kobe Bryant did that, and it just becomes part of that, like, natural pushback. I understand that that's part of the deal, but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge what we're seeing in the moment. Shea has an extremely talented roster this year. He has one of the more talented rosters in recent NBA history. This would not be as difficult as some other championships that other stars have won. That goes without saying. But over the course of his career, those circumstances will shift. I don't think any player in NBA history has had a more talented roster than Steph Curry did in 2017. But he had another opportunity in 2023 or 2022. Excuse me. To demonstrate that he was capable of leading a championship team that had less talent, that was actually operating at a talent deficit in the NBA Finals. And so over the course of Shays career, we'll see more of those challenges that arise. Maybe as. Maybe as this Oklahoma city roster gets more expensive. Maybe if he forces his way out to some other team hoping for greener pastures one day he ends up on a more limited team that's maybe too star laden and doesn't have the necessary depth. There's so many different ways that Shay's career can go, and this is just one part of the story. AI is redefining what's possible for your business. Are you up to the challenge? Microsoft is helping leaders like you get AI ready faster with unified data and simplified platform management, unlocking up to 150% improved output. Cross industries leaders are turning to Microsoft's AI tools and guidance to rise to the challenge. 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And yeah, like if he wins the finals this year and has this incredible season put together but over the course of the rest of his career is underwhelming, Then he's not going to be remembered with mj and he's not going to be remembered with Steph and LeBron and Kobe and the greatest guards that have played this league. It's all about sustaining and it's all about putting all of those feathers in the cap of your story. I talked about this with Steph just a minute ago. Like if Steph only won the two Kevin Durant titles probably gets remembered differently. But he didn't. He won two others, right? LeBron. Same thing. If he only won the 2020 title alongside Anthony Davis, you know, different type of story. If he only won the two titles with the Heat. But that's not what happened. We saw in 2016 him overcoming adversity in a different way in 2013, a couple of seven game series down the stretch of the postseason. That 2020 title, clearly his easiest one. It's not the one everyone goes and tells the story about when they're talking about how great LeBron James is. But in the part of the, in the journey of being a basketball player, there are going to be years when things kind of pan out for you and it goes easier than you're expecting. They're going to be years when things don't go your way and you face more adversity and you have to dig deeper and you have to reach a different level as a player. In this season, things have gone pretty smoothly for Oklahoma City. But even in that context, Shays had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history and he deserves credit for it based solely on the fact that no one's ever done it other than Michael Jordan in 1996, and it would be an excellent first feather in his cap. No one's going to put him as the second or third best player of all time unless he sustains this for the better part of the next decade. But this is the first step in that direction and it's been an incredibly impressive season from Shake Osis Alexander, obviously pending him finishing the deal. Number four is Oklahoma City an all time great team. Now, as I've said multiple times, you do not earn that status, at least not in my book, unless you win multiple championships for all the reasons that I just said. Circumstances change. It's like Boston this year, Boston this year, have a couple guys get injured, don't play as well as they typically do. Right? Poor Zingis is dealing with an illness, Jaylen Brown's knee isn't quite where it used to be, and you run into a tough matchup. What we didn't think would be a tough matchup, but it ended up being a tough matchup in the second round and all of a sudden things were a little tighter. All of a sudden we had some close games. We didn't have to see Tatum and Brown make super surgical clutch time decisions last year in the postseason in high stakes situations. This year we did. They didn't do the job. New York actually beat them. Right? It is through multiple seasons that we see teams overcome adversity. It is through multiple seasons that teams can attain that status of being an all time great team in NBA history. But in this single season, would we consider this to be an all time Great single season in NBA history. Well, they right now are 80 and 18. If they won this series in five games, let's call it, they'd be 84, 19 in that particular case. That puts them pretty far up the list in terms of best records in single seasons. This postseason run has been pretty impressive for them. We talked about the Western Conference being an absolute bloodbath, and it was. They were the one team who got a favorable first round matchup. They earned it by winning all of the regular season games that they did. I thought there were seven good Western Conference playoff teams and obviously Oklahoma City got to play the eighth, but after that, they beat the 2023 champs, the best player in the world, a team that I viewed specifically as a tough matchup for them. And guess what? They brought some adversity to the equation. And we got to see Oklahoma City overcome that adversity. They were down 2:1 in the series and trailing by eight in the early fourth quarter of game four. They're trailing by nine early in the fourth quarter of game five. They overcame that. That. That Timberwolves team is a very, very good team that has beat a lot of really good teams. That Timberwolves team beat Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. They, they beat Nicola Jokic last year. They beat Luca and LeBron this year. That is a team that has done some damage and Oklahoma City survived them. And if they beat this Pacers team, that's a Pacers team that just won an Eastern conference that had two 60 win teams in it. So Jackson and I were having some fun before the show. We were trying to figure out how we would rank the top five teams since 2010. So I'm calling that like kind of the end of that era when Kobe won his last title in 2010. So I'm going from the 2011 Mavs all the way through to this theoretical 2025 championship Oklahoma City team. If they were to win, where would they rank? I thought the 2017 warriors were the obvious number one. That is the most talented roster ever assembled in the history of the NBA. I don't think it's particularly close. They had the second and third best players in the league playing on the same team. They had Klay Thompson, who at the time was one of the highest level starters in the league, an elite defensive player, the second best shooter to ever play the game. That was a phase of his career as well, when he was really starting to come together as a more consistent playoff performer. Klay Thompson was ridiculous. Draymond Green, the Best defensive player of our era, Andre Guadala. One of the most gifted role players of our era. The 2017 warriors clear the field. In my opinion. I think they're the greatest basketball team ever assembled. Even counting the 90s Bulls, even counting the 80s Celtics and Matt and Lakers. I don't think anyone's come close. I. I just think they're far and away the best team in NBA history. Simple way to put it. They were in that bloodbath of a Western Conference and they literally swept them. They swept the entire West. They won 15 straight playoff games before the Cavs finally were able to beat them once in a game in Cleveland. In Game 4 of that NBA Finals run, the 2017 warriors clear the field. I think there's actually a gap between them and everyone else. Number two for me, the 2025 Thunder would land right there. 68 wins, beating the types of teams they would beat on the way. To me, that clears the other teams that are on this list. Where it gets interesting is starting to talk about those teams. Number three for me was the 2013 Heat. They won 66 games. They were a defending champ, which is another layer to add to this as well. And beating that San Antonio spurs, they have back to back seven game series in the playoff run. They beat that Indiana Pacers team in seven in the conference finals. And then they beat that San Antonio spurs team in seven in the NBA Finals. That San Antonio spurs team is also on this list as the 2014 Spurs. I have them at number four. They beat Dirk's Mavs in the first round, they beat Kevin Durant's Thunder in the conference finals, and they beat LeBron and Dwyane Wade in the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Not as successful of a regular season. I think they only won 62 games, but a more impressive playoff run. So I put them on that list. And then the fifth best team since 2011, the 2024 Celtics, kind of a weak playoff field. They kind of just coasted through and beat everyone. I thought the only real tough teams they played were the Pacers in the Mavs, but they handled both of those teams and in four and five games respectively. But they had an incredibly dominant regular season, especially statistically, which put them on this list at number five. So in short, among the last 15 champions, if Oklahoma City closes this deal, I'd put them in second place behind the 2017 Golden State Warriors. Then our last storyline to follow in this series. Is this series a sign that you need to win with depth in the modern NBA? Yes. And no, there is more than one way to win a championship. We were talking about this the other night on playback. There's a bunch of different ways to win any singular basketball game. Don't underestimate star impact. Yes, these are deep teams, but Jay Gilder's Alexander, 40 points in the pivotal Game 4 against Minnesota. Multiple games where he was very good in clutch time against the Denver Nuggets. Tyrese Halliburton, three games that he straight up stole with game winners, one of them that ended up sending the game to overtime. These guys single, their singular talent is a big part of why they are where they are. The depth to me is all about that low hanging fruit. In order to ball pressure full court for an entire game, in order to push and transition as much as these teams do, in order to capitalize on every little detail in every single possession over the course of a 16 game playoff run. You do need depth. And so if you have less depth, you can't capitalize on as much low hanging fruit. That puts more pressure on your stars. But we have seen stars carry the, carry the load on teams that have, you know, six or seven players that they trust in their rotation and get it done. So yes, to me what it's proven is that depth certainly is very valuable in the modern NBA. It's not the end all be all. I don't think the Thunder make the finals without Shea. I don't think the Pacers make the finals without Tyrese Halliburton. If you replace them with like, like kind of like league average types of players at their position, let's just say, you know, like if we're looking for a kind of like a playmaking guard to fill in for Tyrese Halliburton, like if you take like Chris Paul at this point in his career, that's not even close to the same team. If you take Shay Gil just Alexander and turn him into just a scoring guard, like call it Devin Booker. I don't think the Thunder are nearly as good as they are with Shay Gilgis Alexander right now. Right. So like don't underestimate the star power and the way that those guys elevate these teams. The low hanging fruit just helps you win basketball games. And if you have depth, you have a better chance to capitalize on that low hanging fruit throughout each season in postseason. All right guys, that's all I have for the show today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We have Colin Cowherd coming on with us live after every game. In this NBA Finals run. We will be live after game one tomorrow night after the final buzzer on YouTube. I hope to see you guys then. AI is redefining what's possible for your business with more unique challenges to solve and higher stakes than ever, Microsoft helps you stay ahead. Our trustworthy AI tools and guidance can empower leaders like you to drive greater impact. And with Azure's simplified platform management, we're helping businesses go further and faster by unlocking up to 150% improved output. Whatever challenges come next, let Microsoft help you keep pushing forward. 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Podcast Summary: Hoops Tonight - Top 5 NBA Finals Stories
Podcast Information:
Introduction In this episode of Hoops Tonight, the hosts delve into the top five storylines surrounding the 2025 NBA Finals. From player performances to team dynamics and television ratings, the discussion offers a comprehensive analysis of what makes this Finals series particularly intriguing.
Key Discussion Points:
Market Size vs. Team Popularity: The conversation begins with addressing the ongoing debate about whether small-market teams negatively impact TV ratings. The hosts argue that team market size is not the sole determinant of a team’s popularity or the league’s viewership.
Building Ratings Through Success: Historical examples, such as the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, are cited to illustrate how success on the court can significantly boost a team's national profile, regardless of their market size.
Current Finals Teams' Potential: The current Finals feature teams that may not traditionally draw high ratings due to their market sizes, but the hosts believe that the presence of emerging stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) and Tyrese Haliburton can elevate the series' appeal.
Notable Quotes:
Key Discussion Points:
Defensive Impact: The hosts analyze the Oklahoma City Thunder’s exceptional defensive strategies, highlighting how they have significantly hindered key players from opposing teams during the postseason.
Player Performances Affected: Notable performances severely impacted by Oklahoma City's defense include:
Potential Challenges for Tyrese Halliburton: The discussion emphasizes the possibility of Halliburton facing similar defensive challenges, which could lead to underwhelming performances in the Finals.
Notable Quotes:
Key Discussion Points:
Record-Breaking Achievements: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) is spotlighted for potentially finishing the Finals as MVP, marking one of the best guard seasons in NBA history. The hosts compare his achievements to Michael Jordan’s historic season in 1996.
Career Trajectory and Sustainability: While acknowledging the impressive stats of this season, the discussion touches on the importance of sustaining such performance levels over the next decade to cement SGA’s legacy alongside NBA legends.
Team Dynamics and Future Prospects: The conversation explores scenarios where SGA could either remain with a similarly talented roster or face challenges if the team’s dynamics change, such as roster adjustments or increased team expenses.
Notable Quotes:
Key Discussion Points:
Single-Season Greatness: The hosts debate whether the 2025 Thunder can be considered an all-time great team based on their stellar regular-season record of 80-18 and their impressive postseason run.
Comparison with Historical Teams: Oklahoma City is ranked alongside powerhouse teams since 2010, with the 2017 Golden State Warriors holding the top spot. The Thunder are proposed to take the second position if they secure the championship.
In-Depth Team Analysis: The team’s ability to overcome adversity, including tough matchups against other elite teams like the Timberwolves, is highlighted as a testament to their greatness.
Notable Quotes:
Key Discussion Points:
Depth vs. Star Power: The discussion emphasizes that while having star players like SGA and Haliburton is crucial, the depth of the team plays a significant role in sustaining performance throughout the playoffs.
Utilizing Low-Hanging Fruit: Teams that excel in ball pressure and transition play benefit from having a deep roster to capitalize on every possession, as demonstrated by both the Pacers and the Thunder.
Balancing Depth and Star Performances: The hosts acknowledge that while depth is invaluable, the ability of star players to elevate their game remains a critical factor in winning championships.
Notable Quotes:
Conclusion The episode wraps up with a preview of future content and encourages listeners to engage via social media and other platforms. The hosts reiterate the significance of the discussed storylines and their potential impact on the NBA's future landscape.
Upcoming Segments:
Final Remarks: This episode of Hoops Tonight provides listeners with an in-depth examination of the current NBA Finals, offering both statistical insights and narrative-driven analysis. The discussions not only highlight individual performances and team strategies but also explore the broader implications for the league's popularity and future star dynamics.
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Notable Quotes Recap:
This summary provides an extensive overview of the key topics discussed in the Hoops Tonight episode, ensuring that listeners and non-listeners alike can grasp the essential narratives and analyses presented.