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The Pistons Are in Trouble, and More Top-Line Takeaways for Every Game 1 | Group Chat
01:20:27
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- [00:00]
Announcer
Foreign.
- [00:14]
Justin Varier
Hello and welcome to Group Chat. I am Justin Varier and joining me, Rob Mahoney. J. Kyle Mann coming to you after a raucous playoff. First weekend, Rob, how you feeling?
- [00:26]
Rob Mahoney
Exhausted. You know, we're. We're one weekend in. I'm already sapped of all of my energy. I'm already low on sleep. But I will soon be buzzing and alive with the, you know, the spirit of the playoffs once again.
- [00:38]
Justin Varier
Kyle, you got that dog in. You got that fight still going.
- [00:42]
J. Kyle Mann
You know, I'm not gonna act like this is a difference in, in fatigue or sleep or anything like that because I have a kid. So. Welcome. You know, I'm always a little under arrested, so really, honestly, I'm in my element right now. I should be thriving. So.
- [00:53]
Rob Mahoney
Wow.
- [00:54]
J. Kyle Mann
Um. I don't know.
- [00:55]
Justin Varier
You're built good.
- [00:57]
J. Kyle Mann
I don't feel good about some of the optionality for some of these teams which we'll get into. But. Yeah, yeah, man, I'm. I'm down here wallowing in a, in a. In a squalor that I'm used to in terms of sleep and basketball. So let's go.
- [01:09]
Rob Mahoney
I've always said that having a kid is like having, having to watch the Rockets all the time. You know, that's just where your energy level is and where everything is being pulled from you slowly. But we support you, Kai. We'll prop you up when you need.
- [01:21]
J. Kyle Mann
I'm basically like Pig pen from, from Peanuts. You know, I'm used to having this dirt on me. So let's go.
- [01:26]
Justin Varier
I was going to say you're used to playing in the mud. Quite literally when it comes to kids,
- [01:30]
J. Kyle Mann
I was born in the darkness.
- [01:33]
Rob Mahoney
The Ringer NBA show is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA postseason is here and FanDuel knows the only thing better than watching your favorite team win is winning along with them. FanDuel is the best place to bet the teams, players and plays during their playoff run. Build the same game parlay or try live betting and jump in after tip off. Don't forget, with FanDuel, you get paid instantly when you win. Download the FanDuel sportsbook app now and play your game 21 plus in select states. 18 plus for DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. A gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by Ferrero. Soccer's international tournament is here and Ferrero is going all in. Enter for your shot at a range of prizes. Just by buying your favorites like Tic Tac Fresh Mints Cool minty and simple or Halo top ice cream loaded with crave worthy mix ins in every bite and half the calories of leading competitors. Go all in. Buy any two Ferrero brands and you could win $1 million. Official rules apply. Learn more at goallinandwin.com ETIQUETTE all right,
- [02:41]
Justin Varier
we're going to go through every single first round series, every single game one. We're going to talk about some top line takeaways going forward. So basically recording this Monday, early Monday on the Pacific coast, we're gonna talk about what we could take from these game ones going forward. I think we gotta start with Magic Pistons. Probably the big game of the first slate of games. Speaking of fight Rob, the Orlando Magic. All of a sudden after an entire season of NBA basketball, starting to show some of it.
- [03:11]
Rob Mahoney
What a world. Do you think they know who they are? Like I know we're all wondering like where's this team been? Is this just them getting healthy at the right time? Ex.
- [03:19]
Justin Varier
We all ask the same thing.
- [03:21]
Rob Mahoney
That's kind of what I'm speaking to. Like, yeah, even the idea of oh this was a foxhole, nobody believes in us kind of team. I think the problem was over the last couple weeks it didn't seem like the Magic believed in the Magic very much. And then they just show up, they punch the Pistons in the mouth, they take away everything that Detroit does well and now we have to take them so much more seriously. But also, I think the Magic are taking themselves so much more seriously.
- [03:45]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, there's not a lot of space for middle fingers up and I haven't really heard much of it from Magic fans because if you follow their Twitter and all of their prominent fans, they were all like, can this end please? So I think it was just a pleasant surprise for we're all on the same team in this one because yeah, it's odd that they came out and just Paolo, Paolo really, really looked like he had a, he had a look in his eyes like he was mad. I said, I was saying he looked depressed. He, somebody maybe got in his ear and was just like, are you really going to let them. It was the Mark Jackson, you know, tapping on the chest thing, which good, I'm glad it was, it was nice. But they, they were definitely the aggressor in that game and Detroit was kind of backpedaling and like looking for, for options and it'll be interesting to see what they, what they go to in these next few games.
- [04:30]
Justin Varier
Yeah. I mean, it's one thing if Suggs playing all over the place like, he's an absolute maniac. He was playing with boundless energy like he was in. Like he's doing his own parkour videos out there right from the jump. Knew that was going to happen.
- [04:42]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah.
- [04:42]
Justin Varier
But the fact that Paulo and Franz were playing with, like, the advantages that you hoped that they would have, that they built their entire franchise around, and led to a lot of belief in them going into the season to begin with. Rob, what was kicking in my head the entire time was that I think it's a Zach Randolph quote where it's like, this is where the bullies go to get bullied. And it felt like the. The Paulo Franz combination in particular.
- [05:06]
Rob Mahoney
Yes.
- [05:07]
Justin Varier
Was the bigger, stronger, more adv combination when that was supposed to be the pistons whole M.O.
- [05:12]
Rob Mahoney
here completely. And that's why I think my main takeaway from this game is, for one, I, I still believe in the Pistons long term, but I do think this game brought out all of the criticism, all of the skepticism about what their offense looks like and what the reality of it is, which is Cade is going to do superstar stuff. Tobias Harris is, like, just solid enough to contribute in his way, and everything else is apparently up for grabs. And that's why I'm kind of falling back on the idea that Jaylen Duran feels like the most important Piston right now, because we. We know what we can expect from Cade. But I, I can't remember the last time that Jaylen Duran felt this invisible, where he felt, like, completely irrelevant to the flow of play, not just in terms of not scoring, but not rebounding. I can't remember all that many plays, if any, that he affected. Defensively, he was technically out there, but he has to be so much more of a factor in a series like this to register any kind of impact whatsoever. Especially when, like, Wendell Carter Jr. Is having a great game across the board or the Orlando Magic have that size you're talking about in that physicality, Duran is supposed to be like the totem, like, really, really like the. The signifier of that part of Pistons basketball. And it was just absent in game one.
- [06:24]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, the crowded elevator is back. Unfortunately, we. We saw a revert. You know, the. The Magic dealt with that for years, but Kate Cade, you know, finally got some space to work with. And, you know, in this game, the Magic, we're just kind of like, we don't. We don't believe that anything really changed. And if you. If you were going to have a team pack Pack the pain against you. The idea of the Orlando Magic all year that we were expecting them to become, they are sort of the prototypical team that I would not want to see if they are hitting that idea of what we think they are because they are so big, they are so lanky, they are so athletic. You got Suggs flying around. Parkour is a perfect. Suggs absolutely would be a Parkour guy. I can even say, like, that's so perfect. But honestly, I was just going to say this. I had this thought when I was watching the game. I was like, I know for all the frustration we've had with the Magic that, that, you know, they. They haven't lived up to what we wanted them to be. I think it's made us lose sight of the fact that I do kind of think the Magic have more talent pound for pound than the Pistons, top to bottom. I do. Because I think if you looked at, you know, Detroit would love to have any one of Bain, Suggs, Anthony Black, they would love to have just one of those guys, right, to run some ball screen to do something. But speaking to the Durham part of this, Rob that you were talking about, I think packing the paint is really shining an ugly disinfectant light on some of his challenges when he has a lot of space to sort of catch it, drop step, be one guy, bump one guy. I tweeted out like, I had a. A dozen screenshots of the pain against them. It was super, super packed. I want to hit this one stat and I'll move on in this game. Detroit. I sent this to Rob last night late. Detroit ran 39 pick and rolls in this game at 0.564 points per possession. That's a packed paint where guys are being dared to make shots. Jalen Dern is in a crowd.
- [08:17]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah.
- [08:17]
J. Kyle Mann
And it's leading to fart sound. And they got to figure out how to figure it out.
- [08:22]
Justin Varier
For the more layman crowd, I have a pretty simple stat for you guys. Cade was 13 for 27. The rest of the Pistons were 18 for 50. So the rest of the Pistons only had five more field goals in there. And like, it's kind of typical of the Pistons, the lack of creativity outside of Cade just leaves a lot to be wanting. If they're not hitting their threes, what else are they going to be doing? I think that's one problem. Right. On the flip side of this, it didn't feel like they had the right combination of defenders in order to stop what the Magic were doing. Because the Magic have So much strength in that wing core where they're basically centers and power forwards with the mobility and versatility of wings. And it's just like, who do you throw on them if you're the Pistons? Because 1. Cade obviously has a lot to do offensively. He had a ton to do in this one coming off of the collapsed lung, obviously probably not himself. And they started slow, and Cade in particular seemed to start slow, perhaps as a result of that. That's one option, right? Asar just looked small, especially trying to guard Paulo. Tobias Harris, not that guy. And so, like, you're kind of cycling through, like, where are the matchup advantages for a big physical team? Seem like they all, like, were on the Magic side, and I feel like that's the type of thing that they can keep pressing on. To what end? I'm not sure. They have to really bring it in the same way they did in this game. But, like, that's a pretty good advantage for an 8 versus a 1, for sure.
- [09:37]
Rob Mahoney
I think. Especially because if, like in watching the Pistons this season, yes, they have specific physical advantages, right. Against certain bigs. Jalen Duran feels like an absolute monster out there. Isaiah Stewart is pushing people around, turning things away at the rim. Assar Thompson could be smothering in the right matchup, but it's really like a cumulative effect, right? It's all of their physicality building on itself in a way that leads to something that I think can be like a really formidable overall defense more than it is a position by position, airtight defense. I. I think the most dispiriting thing for the Pistons in this is that the Magic first quarter, like, first initial run aside, didn't shoot crazy well. This wasn't like an aberrational Orlando shooting game that broke things open. It's exactly what you're talking about, Justin, which is their creators out muscling and outscoring and even guys like Tristan Da Silva getting inside and just looking so much bigger and lankier than the Wings who are being tasked to guard them. And so when you have that kind of across the board right now, yes, it does ask more of Cade because he is one of their bigger and more physical defenders in that kind of slot. It asks a lot of guys across the board to kind of find ways to contribute beyond their size. It's just going to be a tough series, and I think it's going to be a tough series so long as Orlando plays with this kind of energy, this kind of intensity. Those are not givens we've seen that Come and go all season and also move the ball as well as they did. And this is where, you know, like, the tracking data on this game is not out at the time that we're recording. I would bet a lot of money that Paolo Banchero's overall time of possession is way down in this game relative to average. And I. And you can kind of disagree as to far as, like, is that the. The reason that the Magic offense looks better or is that a symptom of the Magic's flow being better overall? I'm open to both interpretations, but there's really no question that Orlando hits better and overall looks like a better team when the ball is pinging around the court in this way, coming off of those advantages and creating other stuff out of it.
- [11:33]
Justin Varier
Yeah, I think the question, Kyle, going forward is how do the Pistons kind of correct this? Did you see any obvious opportunities where, like, oh, they do this. That. Cause they did feel like they were sear already in that fourth quarter. Like, we got some, like, Dern Stu front court minutes going. And I thought that was a little surprising. Like, you saw Herder and Jenkins in pretty big moments down in the fourth quarter. Like, clearly they were looking for some sort of jolt. I don't know if they found it. Did you see anything that seems like they can go to this and maybe tilt things a little bit more in this game, too?
- [12:04]
J. Kyle Mann
Nothing jumped out to me is, I mean, guys need to make shots. That's the first thing that they need. I mean, they need Tobias, they need Dannis, they need. They need. That would be a great starting, you know, proposition. And I think it'll. It'll even it up a little bit. It'll bring it closer. But I think one of the problems that they have is, you know, you see this in playoff series is that, you know, as you start to get, you know, your opponent starts to push the buttons of your vulnerabilities, like, what does that do to your level of desperation? And where does. And what is that? What trade offs do you talk yourself into? Because the Pistons are in this situation with their. Where they're like, all right, man, we need some more, you know, we need some more spacing. We need a little more creation on the. On the floor. And who are the candidates to do that? And you're looking at, you know, you're looking at throwing out there some. The Butcher's boys, some Kevin Herder, throw him out there a little bit. You're talking about, you know, throwing the keys to Danis Jeakins and the Problem is that the Magic really feasted on those and they. Their physicality. It's amazing the change in the physicality off ball. I was even watching like Suggs, the way that he was bear hugging Duncan Robinson on in ball screens and he was just like, he did this a couple different times where he was, he was basically bear hugging Duncan going into the, into the screen, knowing that that was going to force Cade to go middle in the pick and roll. And then he like swooped in and just broke up the lob. They're like, there's all these kind of like off ball physicality things that are going to be tough for the Pistons because the guys they want to get on the floor, I think are physically vulnerable, which plays into Orlando's hands, assuming that they continue with their aggression the way that they did.
- [13:41]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, I mean it's one of two things with all those trade offs, right. It's either do you create new trade offs by shaking up your rotation or do you find ways to manipulate the balance of the trade offs that already exist. And that's one area where like I love what Orlando did defensively overall. Basically using Jalen Suggs like a roving rim protector, almost like put him on guys like a Sar Thompson, have him just like hound people, fly around the court, create chaos. And Franz is big enough and physical enough to guard on the ball against someone like Cade. So it all kind of clicks. But then if that's going to be the state of play and Asar Thompson is going to be a good but not ultimately great defender, given the size disadvantage that we already talked about, his minutes might have to come down. And so you have to find ways to use him offensively to tilt the balance of what he's able to bring you. And I think the same thing is true with guys like Danis Jenkins too, who, yes, he's being targeted. He also felt, I mean, hit his first shot out of the gate and you could tell he was like really into the moment and the intensity. But after that I think got a little lost in the sauce of like how loud and urgent playoff basketball can be. He looked a little rushed. He looked a little frenetic in a way that he wasn't in the regular season. Maybe a game two to kind of settle in does him a lot of good and by extension gives the Pistons like another viable ball handler.
- [14:59]
Justin Varier
He's a two way guy. Like he started the season that way. And so if he's a little over his skis right now, I definitely understand it. I guess the question though, is how realistic is an upset at this point? I know we can't do predictions off of one game. We're already kind of going down the road in terms of, like, wild overreactions at this point. This is what we do after game ones, basically. But, like, how worried are you if you're a Pistons fan right now? Is it like, we're in DEFCON? What do we do? We go backwards or DEFCON 1? Like, where are we on DEFCON scale if you're a Pistons fan?
- [15:30]
Rob Mahoney
I mean, it feels more realistic than every other one, too. Right. Of all. Of all the matchups that we saw on Sunday, this is the one that, yes, flipped because it was an actual upset in game one. But also just the state of play for what the matchup is feels a little bit more vulnerable. I still think the Pistons are considerable favorites. I still think they're going to figure it out. And most importantly, I just don't trust even this version of the Magic for as much as I would like to. I think the charitable case for Orlando is that they are getting healthy at the right time. They are complete at the right time. Like, honestly, genuinely shocking how little their starting five actually got the chance to play together during the regular season. And so maybe just by virtue of having their best guys together right now, and that group was like plus 34 net rating in this game, that's going to give them a shot. But I still think it's more of like a, like a 2/3 to 1/3 kind of probability in terms of how this series shakes out.
- [16:24]
J. Kyle Mann
Well, they just lost game one at home. I mean, and you're talking, you're. You're listing out all the reasons to be pretty concerned. I mean, they're. The Magic are getting right at the right time. I mentioned the talent thing. The problem is that, you know, overall, Kate is still the best player in the series. The problem is just that the Magic have this. This area where they can really stress him and take away the core intrinsic thing about what makes the Pistons work in a way that would concern me if I'm a Pistons fan. And I don't think that this is a shock. This is a carryover from the, The. I'd be. I'd be pretty concerned, granted. I'm, I'm just kind of a. I don't know. I'm not going to say I'm a pessimistic person. I'm just going to say I, I try to look out on the rise and be aware of the danger, and I'd be pretty Worried about the danger with this. If I were a Pistons fan and just because I don't know, is Jenkins ready to, to take, to take a step up in the way that they need him to? I know we praised him all year for, gave them in a pinch. I don't know. We saw a little Caris Lavert. I'd be pretty worried. I would personally. Justin, what about you?
- [17:28]
Justin Varier
Yeah, I mean, what are the options from here to juice your offense? It's like it is that right there. And that's been the big concern that everyone has had about the Pistons, why we've been so critical of them going into the postseason despite the fact that they're a one seed.
- [17:41]
Rob Mahoney
Just.
- [17:41]
Justin Varier
And for the Magic, I get it where it's just like, how many more games do they have this in them? Because they probably only had a handful in the regular season, but it did feel like Jamal Mosley just brought out the smelling salts for everybody and now everybody is back in. Maybe they're just like the type of team that is only like built for the playoffs, but they also didn't have the regular season success. You know how like a, a veteran team that's had these moments like, ah, we'll just get to the playoffs, we'll, we'll flip a switch. They flip the switch, but it was never on during the regular season in order to get them even like a halfway decent seed. And so like, if they just show up again, this is at the very least going to be a long series, which is like, it's so tough to square those things.
- [18:19]
Rob Mahoney
I do think this is going to be clearly a long, physical, drawn out series at this point, regardless of who wins. The thing about the smelling salts is like, that is a very short term kind of boost and this has been a very short term boost kind of season for the Orlando Magic, where speaking from experience, Rob? Well, I mean, just anecdotally, you know, yeah, I think we've been, we have been saying so many times, oh, if they just have another one of those games, like they had that one time a week ago and literally two games ago, we were ready to leave the Magic for dead. And again, the Magic looked like they were ready to leave the Magic and this season for dead. So I give them full credit for coming out with the energy and intensity necessary and the game planning necessary to really stick it to the Pistons. But this is not a team that has warranted the benefit of the doubt as far as sustaining that kind of effort. So I guess we'll talk again after game two. Or three and kind of see where things stand. But for now, I'm kind of operating under the assumption that this is not the Magic team we're going to see all series.
- [19:17]
Justin Varier
The biggest loser of the first round might have been, like the Orlando Magic's travel agent, because this very much looked like a Cancun situation a week ago. And here they are. It's wild. Let's go to the next game. On the Sunday docket. We'll go through all the Sunday games, then we'll get to the Saturday ones on the back end. Playoff. Wemby has arrived. And I mean, you can kind of tell in the big picture conversation about, like, oh, who's the face of the NBA? Like, who's the future? Da da, da. Well, it's the guy that they put in primetime on Sunday night with the entire arena rocking and has all those awesome colored shirts going on there. Like, what a just incredible job by the PR team or the marketing team or whoever does that to just like really bring it. Because Wemby has been trying to build an atmosphere all year to the point where he has his teammates bang that fucking drum. You got to see Devin sell at the end of a really hard fought playoff game. Like just having to go through the motions of doing that shit. I thought this was very much an arrival moment. Even though, like, you can say, like, oh, Wemby had some, some, some hiccups here and there. But why don't we start here? Because Wemby did ultimately have 35, 5 and 2. What was your favorite moment from Wemby's first game? I have a few down here. He was, he was introduced as a 74 forward, which I thought was funny. As if, like, if we're not calling him a center, I just, I ultimately don't know what we're doing with the position of this revolution at this point.
- [20:41]
Rob Mahoney
Fair.
- [20:42]
Justin Varier
He goes behind the back in transition almost as if, like he just does this all the time. I think that was in the first quarter. The corner three on the move, kind of like falling out of bounds as if he was fucking Steph Curry. Or how about my personal favorite when Jeremy Grant just slammed into him, Almost as if he was like sumo, like belly bumping him. And Wemby, undeterred, still blocks him because he's unmovable and is just so long. Any of those, Rob, or is there something else on your list?
- [21:12]
Rob Mahoney
It's. It's the corner three. Like, that is a ridiculous shot for, for literally any human being. And it's the kind that I think Anytime a big starts to show, like any sort of movement shooting, we're like, oh my God, New Orleans Anthony Davis, they're using him like Klay Thompson running around these curls. Isn't that crazy?
- [21:29]
Justin Varier
Me for two years, yeah.
- [21:31]
Rob Mahoney
Also guilty. But there's like a little bit of like, okay, it's like this thing, but it's not this thing. That was just a straight up, like Klay Thompson, Ray Allen type shot in terms of the footwork required. And then you think about the physical realities of that foot fitting into that corner three slot. Like, I just genuinely don't know how he got lined up to even take it. And it was absolute cash for all the fawning we do about Wimby and all of the exaggeration we do about what he can be and the unicorns and this and that, like, that kind of shot is why that kind of shot is unprecedented for a person his size to hit on the move. So the spin moves, the behind the backs, all that stuff was sick. Both blocking and dunking people while still having his feet on the ground. Crazy game, crazy player, but never more so for me than that corner three.
- [22:16]
J. Kyle Mann
He just. You. You were talking about labeling him as a forward. He just defies all labels. He's, he's beyond. I was joking about it on Twitter. He's just beyond everything. He. I always think about this last night, man. I mean, he's seven foot four. Isaiah, our producer, thinks he's seven six. Who knows how tall he is? Truly, he. His proportions are just really off, off the, off the charts in all different kinds of ways. He doesn't have a weakness. He doesn't have a weakness. He's 7 foot 4 at least. And it's like shooting. His weakness is his physical vulnerability is weakness. Time and time again, we've, we've seen people try to bully him. Like you said, there was when they, they showed that play. I'm pretty sure it was the same play when, when Grant went baseline on him and tried to. Was it when he drove baseline and bounced off of Wimmy? They, they showed Jeremy Grant's face and he was just like, he had this look of total despair on his face. There was another one that I'll just say, just for some variety, it was Kumar. Kamara was coming down the lane and Wimby didn't even jump. Wimmy just went. He just kind of like nonchalantly held his hands in the air knowing it was a right handed layup. And Kamara is a lefty and obviously he's better with his left Kamara just like, like aimlessly jumped from really far away. Like further away than he should have. And. And when we just kind of like stifled it nonchalantly. It's a shame we use the Stifle Tower nickname on Rudy because it fits Wimby so much better. He just, he. He just. We knew that this would happen. This is going to be tough. I don't know, man. He defies everything that I've ever seen as a basketball fan. And he does scare me a little bit though, sometimes when he lands.
- [23:57]
Rob Mahoney
Sure.
- [23:57]
J. Kyle Mann
That one, that one. When Sharp collided with him midair, I was like, oh, like something like that worries me. That's. That's probably his only weakness.
- [24:05]
Justin Varier
I'm trying to think of any other French landmarks we could steal here. Like maybe the center Pompey do. Right, the center Pompidou. It's got center right in there though, so he probably wouldn't take it, you know?
- [24:21]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, look, I think, I think Stifled Tower for a four time defensive player of the year feels okay to me.
- [24:27]
J. Kyle Mann
No, that's how good Wemby is. He deserves it.
- [24:31]
Justin Varier
I will say, like, this is kind of how we all expected some of these games to play out here where Wemby is just an immovable object. Like, what do you do with them? I thought the Cell was on an absolute heater. I thought Castle acquitted himself well in the clinging matchup, which we kind of anticipated going into the series. Overall though, I. If you're the Blazers, I don't think you feel terrible about this. Denny played great and like, as we've seen multiple times, it's just like, what's going to happen around him. If I have a takeaway from this, I actually think Scoop showed up in a playoff game. Like, there's a lot of talk about like Scoot and Wemby playing again after the whole G League showcase thing going into that draft. I just feel like this is kind of a petri dish for Scoot and Shade and Sharp in particular. Because if you're a Blazers fan or someone wondering about the future of the team, you're thinking like, these are the growth stocks here. How are they going to behave in these high stakes moments? And Scoot actually looked like he belonged. The point where like at the start of the second half, like they were going to him, he was kind of driving things. And I wonder, Rob, going forward, can you do a little bit more of that? Can you actually play more of your second unit offense through Scoot as opposed to Shaden, which is they've been doing since he's been back.
- [25:37]
Rob Mahoney
I thought he acclimated himself really well to a game of this caliber. But, yeah, also in those moments, giving Portland, like a really vital influx of ball handling in particular, like, Drew is just not a guy at this stage who needs or wants to be doing that much of that stuff. And Scoot can break people down. He can get things moving. He can get you kind of in the flow in a way that is not on Denny's level, but at least gives you a way to replicate some of that action without just having to lean on Denny every single time. I was really impressed by Scoot's night. I would say I was significantly less so by Shaydon Sharpe's night. And that's just kind of indicative of the experience overall. And one of the things I came away with was just thinking how much of a better place Portland would be in if Shaden Sharp were a little more like Devin Vassell. And I say that in part because you look at the box score and these guys had remarkably similar nights, by the numbers. Vassella had 15 points, 5 of 13, 3, 3 rebounds, 2 assists. Sharp had 10 points, 4 of 13, 1 rebound, 2 assists. And yet, if you watch them, their impact could not have been more different. And I say that in part because they're just two critical things. The movement that Vassell brings to San Antonio's offense and what that does to allow them to build one action on top of the other. Whereas Shaden is often just kind of chilling in one spot at the top of the floor, waiting for his opportunity for Shaden time. And then defensively, I mean, the two bust ass to get back in transition blocks that Devin Vassell had to to save potential baskets. I've just never seen Shaden Sharp make plays like that, despite the incredible athleticism that he has. And so you're kind of seeing on the fringes of a game like this that it's not just like, oh, what is the difference between Wemby and Denny is this San Antonio team is just so much deeper with guys who kind of understand how to interlock to something that's bigger than them.
- [27:21]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, I mean, Vassell's movement and picking his spots. You were talking about the tracking data. That would be an interesting spot to look to see the difference because, yes, Shaden, as he is apt to do it was just kind of dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, you know, and bouncing in one place and. And there's not a lot of good movement there's. Not a lot of good playmaking that ripples out from that. And that's just kind of been the shade and sharp experience for a long time. And yeah, man, Vassell is kind of quietly one of the. When he's going. The spurs are just. They go to another level, I think. You know, we haven't even seen Harper the. We haven't even seen him tap into this stuff. I thought Fox picks his spots really well. You were talking about, you know, people outplaying each other. I was pretty fascinated that the cling and cornet thing feels like a pretty, you know, they're not always going head to head. But the fact that Cornet out produce clinging in this game I think is kind of a damning thing for Portland, too.
- [28:12]
Justin Varier
Yeah, I thought that they did a good job finding Cornette on lobs in particular. And even in that second half, it seemed like they were almost using the cling and matchup against Castle almost against them, where one play there was like they almost used Clingan to screen his own guy in order to. To get Castle a look there. And so that's the problem with clingy. It's just not going to be fleet of foot. I was a little disappointed that Rob Williams in backup didn't provide sort of that middle ground between like a small ball lineup and clinging, because he does feel like he fits that exactly what you need, especially now that his corner three ball is pretty much automatic. He didn't hit any in this game, I believe, but like throughout the season, like when he shoots it now, I think it's going to go in. And so I was expecting him to have a bigger role and it didn't seem like he did. And so I don't know what you're thinking. If you're the Blazers, I think you probably just stick to the script. If anything, I appreciated how, like, advantageous and excuse me, how adventurous they were with starting from the jump, with clinging on Castle. I think they're going to continue to do that and I think you just kind of play the hits and just hope that some of those downhill looks that Denny was getting and he did score about 30 points and so that was successful. You just hope that you're spraying out the shooters and they're actually hitting their shots, which is always kind of a
- [29:20]
Rob Mahoney
coinfield proposition for it just kind of is the reality with this team. I can't remember who was on the call, but somebody mentioned like, oh, if the Blazers had only hit these last couple threes, they'd be in the lead in this game, like my guy, that's their whole season. Like, that's the state. That's everything with the Blazers right now and kind of identifying what they need. As far as the cling and Castle stuff goes, I thought it went like about as well as it could in a game like this. But to your point, Justin, it did feel like Thiago Splitter doesn't quite know what he wants to lean on. Like they went away from it more in the second half. It seemed like they were almost like kind of dodging some of the overlap between Castle and Clingan in the second half in particular, not just with and. And then not just turning to Rob Williams, but going even smaller at certain points to try to figure out where they can find the energy, where they can find their advantages. My worry about the cling and matchup in particular is just. It's all kind of diminishing returns from here on out. And so I suspect we will see it to start game two yet again. But those plays you identified where they were basically using Castle as a. As a center and like throwing him lobs on the roll and also getting him involved in that like, Draymond kind of action where it's like, if you're not going to guard me on the perimeter, I'm going to screen off ball and you're sagged all the way to the paint. So what are you going to do about Dear and Fox coming around a ball screen? All that feels like it's so in play for San Antonio at this point. And I'm. I'm really not sure what Portland is supposed to do about it so long as Donovan Clingan's on the floor at
- [30:44]
J. Kyle Mann
the heart of this. I think you're mentioning the driving game. I don't feel super good about it either because, like the numbers on that aren't. Are great either. Driving, right. They were 0.7 points per possession. And that's just kind of like a lot of the shots that they were getting were. Were kind of settles from like 10ft, you know, he, you know, Jenny kind of ran over a few times and got to the rim. But I thought Cornette did a pretty good job containing. It's just the. If that's going to be. If that's coming into the series, what I expected to be the problem, kind of the core problem that San Antonio would pose for Portland. I don't know. It seemed like they had a little more success, like having moving Wimby, somehow getting him to pay attention to the first drive. But he's pretty clever about that too. So I don't really know where they go from there. What were you gonna say, Justin?
- [31:30]
Justin Varier
Well, I think the Blazers are kind of a victim of their own depth in a lot of ways, especially with this series where it's like you could try a bunch of stuff and I think like the surprise factor might throw some teams off. Unfortunately, Wemby just seems to be the margin eraser, like one of one where it's just like he could just cover up so many gaps. It's just like you can't really create anything like that. And so I appreciate Thiago trying stuff. I think from here in game two, I think is going to be really kind of decided because you kind of really have to pick a lane and try to stress some certain advantages that you saw in that first game. I just go back to Scoot here because I think a lot of their offense is pretty predictable. Where it's like it's Denny Downhill and when Denny's not there, you're going to Shaden. And in between that, it's a lot of Drew of just making things happen on the fly or you're kicking out the threes. They take so many threes and they don't make a lot because in part, like they just let it fly and they're just hoping that enough of them connect. I think Scoot is the key and I think just not only here, but going forward where it's like I was going into the playoffs with Scoot in my daily check of where Scoot is in the world. The daily Scoot stock report. It's tough to say, but when does
- [32:34]
Rob Mahoney
that happen for you? Is that like while you're brushing your teeth, you're just like, let me ponder the state of Scoot Henderson I'm doing on TikTok. You have no honestly would follow. Please get that going.
- [32:44]
Justin Varier
Well, the contrast between him and Shaden is just so profound. Where it's like, I still feel like Shaden can be a star, but like the gap between that outcome and like what he probably is going to be is just so incredibly wide. Where I feel like Scoot is on the other hand just slowly becoming just like a rock solid role player where if you look at the things that he's made progress in, it's like three point shooting and just defense. And it's like those are just all effort things because he just completely gives a shit and just like really cares about the finer details of stuff. I think this was like a case for something beyond that where it's like, if Drew is your North Star, like, that's one thing. Okay. Maybe he, like, goes in that direction, is just like a hyper role player. In the same way that Drew came in as more of like a pick and roll spam star and then ultimately became some of this other thing here. I felt like Scoop was showing some, like, steadiness with the ball and like making decisions on the fly. And that's like, really important for them long term. How much will it matter in this series? I don't know, but they need as much ball handling as they can get because there just aren't a lot of guys there. And so I would be giving him more and more. And the worst case scenario is just like he gets more reps at it.
- [33:44]
Announcer
Right?
- [33:44]
Justin Varier
For sure.
- [33:45]
Rob Mahoney
I think in particular with playoff series, guys usually fall into one of two buckets. Either it becomes very clear that you're more of a system creator. Right? Like, you are relying on the mechanisms of your team's offense to get you points and therefore maybe you're a little vulnerable towards. If certain mechanisms break down, you're not getting the ball anymore. Your open shots disappear, whatever it may be. And then there are the guys who can kind of thrive in chaos and who can with all of the unpredictability of a playoff game. And you talked about this, Justin, as far as, like, how do you throw the change of pace with a guy like Scoot? I think he's great at it. He's also great at just responding in real time to some of the challenges that are being put in front of him. And so the best players are the guys who can kind of do some of both, who can contribute to the system buckets, but also really make things happen when stuff breaks down. I think Scoot's showing flashes that he could be that kind of player. And on the other side of things, I thought dear and Fox did an awesome job kind of walking that line as well, where every time a Spurs possession seemed to drag on too long, the ball would find Fox in the corner. And there's just something about the cadence of his game that throws people off that's a little hard to peg down. He's such a good one on one creator and so counterintuitive in how he moves. I think the more Scoot can kind of channel into that sort of creation, I think the more useful he's going to be to a team like the Blazers.
- [35:00]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, I think Scoot, this will sound like condescending, but I don't mean it this way. I mean he means well in the team. Since I think in a way that like, for comparison, like Shaden. Shaden is just like I'm going to shovel through my own creation. I'm going to shovel this hole all the way through to the other side. And I think Scoot, you can kind of. And I've always kind of thought that this was the case. Whether or not he could like build the skill sets that would get him there was always the question because I always knew that he had the right mentality. But it was nice to see him do that. And like you were saying, what's, what's the downside. Downside here for, for Scoot, the downside is he experiments at this and has a great experience and learns something from it. By comparison, you know, taking it to which isn't the end of the world. I think it could ultimately be a great thing for Scoot. Not that the Blazers are punting on their, on their chances in the series, but I think it would be a good takeaway. And the Fox thing is interesting because I always kind of thought that this was the, the best outcome for Fox's player type and watching his maturity last night of just like his usage didn't have to be at a certain level.
- [35:59]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah.
- [36:00]
J. Kyle Mann
Granted it's not very difficult to look at Victor when Benyama. There's just a real road to Damascus kind of wake up call for you as a basketball player when you're next to a win. Benyama, that's like, okay, my place is over here. I think it would take a real narcissistic monster to not have that realization. Him making extra passes in the. In the spots. He's a very difficult thing to wrangle because on a certain night he is capable of being that primary type talent. I just think it's a great spot for Dear and Fox.
- [36:30]
Justin Varier
All right, how many minutes you want to do on these next two games? 2 minute drill for each of them.
- [36:35]
Rob Mahoney
Maybe if that Thunder Suns.
- [36:39]
Justin Varier
I think it's a tough sign if, if your starting center is getting blocked by a shooting guard. Because when Shay just stuffed Oso Ogadaro and not just like got a finger on it, whatever just hammered him at the rim like he's prime. Hakeem. I think that's a tough start. I just don't know what the Suns are going to do in this one.
- [36:59]
Rob Mahoney
Shay's defense overall in this game I thought was pretty sick. He was flying around. He was doing like contributing across the board all over the floor, creating a lot of chaos himself. I just Think one of the impressions I was left with from this game, and this is about the Thunder more broadly, is like the Suns have no shot in this series and that's somewhat because it's a 1 8, but also just somewhat because of the kind of team that the Suns are and the way that they win, which is if you are one of these teams that works the margins with effort, with defense by just like scraping up every little advantage that you can, you can't win against this team. Like they are going to be better at all of those things than you. And I don't think it's an accident that the only teams we've seen ever really push the Thunder in this form are the Pacers and the Nuggets, two teams that just execute offense relentlessly. And so I'm sorry to say for the Phoenix Suns, I admire a lot of the things about the season that they've had enough to bet bet on them with Justin the mid off, they just got nothing here. Like it's cute. You've got your Dylan Brooks, they've got Lou Dort and Kayson Wallace and Alex Caruso and all these bigs. I just don't know what they are to do in a matchup like this one.
- [38:04]
J. Kyle Mann
I think the, the black mold in the, in the subfloor for. There you go, there you go Justin, that's for you, for the Suns, for the sun tier, what you said, absolutely true. I think the additional thing that's damning is you have the basically implied deflections, you know, stops that lead to transition that the Thunder are going to get anyway. I think one of the big problems for the Suns is that the horses that they are trying to ride the distance here are going to feed into what the Thunder do naturally. If you're, if you're getting a tough shot night from, from Jalen Green, that is easy offense. If you're getting a tough shot night from Dylan Brooks, who's played great as much as we teased him early before the season started, if he has a tough shooting night, Booker's really the only guy that is capable of acquitting himself on that front. I just think that if that's not going well for, for Phoenix and that's the thing that I think is going to like, that's the variance that could lead them to like winning a game, they're going to have to lean into that in a way that's going to help the Thunder every game of this series and I think that's going to be really, really difficult to overcome.
- [39:09]
Rob Mahoney
Well, and you say the horses, they're riding, Kyle. I. I think it's more of a pony situation. Just because I had a. I had a moment of watching this game where I looked at the Thunder lineup. Who do. Who do the Thunder have on the floor right now?
- [39:19]
J. Kyle Mann
Shetland or maybe?
- [39:22]
Rob Mahoney
So the Thunder were rocking at a certain point. Shea, A.J. mitchell, Kayson, Wallace, Alex Caruso and J. Will. And I was just like, oh, Oklahoma City can play as small as they want at any point in the series and still be dominant. They don't even need Chad. They don't even need Hardenstein for the long term. They don't need to play both of them together, because when you look at the Suns, like, they just don't have imposing size anywhere across their lineup right now.
- [39:47]
Justin Varier
I'm glad you mentioned that, because there's a certain point in the game where obviously the Suns are depleted in the front court, and even still there probably would have been overmatched there because Mark Williams wasn't there. So it's oso and then whatever you can get from there. There was a point when it was J Will and J Dub in the front court, and I was like, you already start with Chet in Heart and Sign, and that's already, like, the sort of advantage that few teams can even muster, where you could just play them both together or they go one and one. Most teams would just stagger the two of them, and that's how they would get by. But then when they downsize went to this one, the lineup that they threw out, there was A.J. wallace, Isaiah, Joe Dub and Williams. And I was like, this is sick. Like, if this was the Brooklyn Nets, not just for, like, a game, but like the future of the Brooklyn Nets, you would feel much more better about your future if you were Brooklyn than you were right now. And so, like, that's when Dub got the block from behind.
- [40:39]
Rob Mahoney
Yes.
- [40:40]
Justin Varier
I think on Dylan Brooks, too, I'm just like, they just can just do so much. And then you bring up the fact that they take out J Will, they don't even play with the center, and they still look fucking sick.
- [40:48]
Rob Mahoney
Still a great, also very good J Dub game while we're on it. I just thought his overall game coming together and looked, yeah. So great in rotation. Knocked down some threes. Like, looked more like himself than we've seen at many points in this season.
- [41:01]
J. Kyle Mann
He ripped Jalen Green, I think, at one point. Was it Jalen Green? You know the play I'm talking about?
- [41:05]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah.
- [41:06]
J. Kyle Mann
Ripped him so disrespectfully. I Would. If that had happened to me, I would have just laid down and then just casually went and, like, you know, full behind the head dunk. Yeah, he looked great.
- [41:18]
Justin Varier
All right, so Celtics, Sixers, last one on the board here. When Tatum has 10, 7, and 4 in the fourth quarter or first quarter, I just don't know what you do.
- [41:26]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, somehow this might be more cooked than any other series. Like, this is just done. And I. You know, we just talked about, like, oh, what are the Blazers supposed to do? Oh, how are the Pistons? Even though the number one seed supposed to respond? What moves do they have? Obviously, with the Suns, they're just incredibly outmatched. I just think this is one of those particular matchups where, given the state of these teams specifically Joel Embiid being presumably unavailable for the run of it, there's just nothing to really do here. The only shift I could even remotely see in play for. For Philly at this point is I know that Tyrese Maxey took 20 shots in this game, but he was doing a kind of, like, probing, patient sort of thing, and maybe that's feeling things out in game one. Maybe that's game plan. I don't know what it was exactly, but I just don't think there's any room for the series to be competitive if Tyrese Maxey is not, like, hyper, hyper, hyper aggressive at basically all moments. So, yeah, you want to establish all these other threats on the floor, but sometimes you have to establish the one actual threat that's on the floor before you get into the other stuff. Yeah.
- [42:29]
J. Kyle Mann
40 shots. What's the. What's the number? Rob, what do you think?
- [42:32]
Justin Varier
If Tyrese Maxey took every shot in the game.
- [42:34]
Rob Mahoney
Right.
- [42:35]
Justin Varier
Would they be worse off for it? Like, literally everything.
- [42:37]
Rob Mahoney
It would be the same. Like, they're gonna lose regardless. And to me, it's. It's not about a number. It's about a feel. It's like, you watch him play, and he's the quickest player on the floor, and even when he would get a step on, his defender would kind of take two steps back and back into survey mode. And so I just want to see less of that from him, to be honest with you.
- [42:55]
Justin Varier
It's not about the beats per minutes. It's about the groove, you know?
- [42:58]
Rob Mahoney
Oh, yeah, exactly what I'm saying.
- [43:02]
J. Kyle Mann
Jason Tatum looked like Jason Tatum. I just want to say in summation here, if he's going to draw two. If he's drawing two and he's making those passes. Jason Tatum's back. I was very Bill was very much about, like, no, no. They did the surgery immediately of all these, like, you know, the. They're like, talking yourself into this surgery was different. And I was just like, I just don't. I'm not. I'm not ready to, you know, 500 days do it. He's back, man. I mean, there might be little areas to nitpick, but if he's that guy, granted, the Sixer team has problems. He. He. He just looked like Jason Tatum to me.
- [43:33]
Rob Mahoney
Kyle, would. Would you allow Bill to oversee the surgery on your Achilles if you ruptured it?
- [43:38]
J. Kyle Mann
You know what? Maybe. Maybe just throwing it out. You know, if he could give me the right doctors, I think that's what it would be about. Yeah. He's a proven project manager, I think, at this point.
- [43:49]
Rob Mahoney
There you go.
- [43:50]
Justin Varier
Yeah.
- [43:50]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah.
- [43:51]
Justin Varier
All right. Why don't we take a break, come back. Let's do all the games from day one. This episode is brought to you by Men's Warehouse. Is your wardrobe ready for every occasion? Whether you're catching the game with your buds or maybe out for an event? Because at Men's Wearhouse, they've got you covered with a huge variety of clothing in styles, from tailored clothing like suits, sports coats, dress shirts, tuxes for more formal events to casual clothing like polos, shirts, shorts and jeans for everyday wear. The menswearhouse experts can help you work out your look while their on site tailors guarantee your clothes fit your body comfortably. Men's wearhouse has over 600 locations nationwide. They are here and nearby when you're ready to love the way you look.
- [44:37]
Announcer
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- [45:45]
Justin Varier
All right, going back to Saturday, going back in the time machine here, I'll say this. We'll start with Nuggets Wolves. If you're a Wolves fan, you're not feeling in panic mode thus far. Pretty competitive game for the most part. I think I would be worried, though. If you look at the finer details that the playoff success format that they've used over the past two years, all of the kind of check marks just seem like they didn't go in the Wolves favor in this one. First and foremost, Ant started slow and you're starting to see from a lot of people like, oh, lingering injury. Like, doesn't seem like he's going to be able to shake this off. That worries me. That worries me. Big blaring red flag. The harassing defense number two like that they used to such great success that led to Japan, Murray going to the line 16 times. And so maybe you get a better whistle on Game two and going forward. But I still think that's like a bad sign if you're being a little overly reckless on that end. And then on the other side of this, like Julius Randall, where are you? Like, you were such a big critical success to everything just seemed like playoff Julius was just kind of meh and I'm just like all those things combined. Nazrid didn't have a particularly good game. That was the formula to win last year. And like, it seems like none of those things came through in this first game.
- [46:58]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, the Julius thing especially, he kind of oscillated between being overly passive and then wildly overaggressive and never quite found his footing in that really particular middle ground where he is, I want to say, absolutely dominant when he gets there. It's just, can he ever kind of stop the pendulum from swinging back and forth long enough to stay in that space? And I thought this might be a series where he's able to do it somewhat like he was against the Lakers. But this, this feels tough and it's stressing him out defensively in ways I don't necessarily like for the Wolves chances in the series. You're right that all, you know, all bets are not off. Like, everything is still okay, everything is still manageable. Nuggets are an incredibly formidable opponent. You're going to have to figure it out as you go. But the early signs are not great just as far as what the baseline matchups look like here and the way that they disadvantage the Wolves in particular.
- [47:52]
J. Kyle Mann
The Ant thing, yeah was. Was mainly where I was landing when I was watching this one because Denver seemed really comfortable just straight switching this a lot. Like it was either. It was either heavy isolation. If ant's not like going by and getting the paint touches and they just need that accelerant to kind of get guys in spots like Nas or get Julius in spots where he can attack situational kind of matchups and play his one on one game. You don't want to be riding that solely with Julius, but if he's catching it in a good matchup, those are the things that ants downhill stuff creates a lot. Like I had it written down here. Yeah. 30, 31, 31 pick and rolls. 19 of those were just straight switches. That's just like they. They didn't. That's not ant being typical ant to me. This and then yeah a lot of ISO and. And just kind of him playing over the top and if he's not going to make those shots, it's going to be. It's going to be pretty tough. But over. I still think this is the. The best. This series has the best potential for variants in terms of like where they could go. I mean I still think this is the best first round series.
- [48:53]
Rob Mahoney
Well, it could just be. Ant looks better in a week. You know, like it just even a little bit of time could make a pretty profound difference for a guy like him. Not just in that one on one stuff. But I. I thought that the Nuggets did a good job of like switching a lot of those situations as you highlighted Kyle, but also doing some like kind of hovering double teams in ways that force Ant to get off the ball and then play into the fact that Minnesota just didn't have a way to create momentum in its offense at all. If they can lean on that, then Minnesota might be in trouble. But I think the Wolves will figure some stuff out.
- [49:22]
Justin Varier
Offensively, if you're an optimist, I think there are two things. Gobert for the most part had a really good game.
- [49:28]
Rob Mahoney
He's good.
- [49:28]
Justin Varier
That's a matchup that he usually struggles in against Jokic. Most people do. But Gobert in particular just doesn't seem suited for the matchup. Thought until the end was a force on both ends. Like he was scoring, he was doing his job practically. You don't typically see that especially offensively from Gobert on the other end. I think Desumu just seems like he gives the series a little bit more of a A different spice to it than he had before. His speed, especially in transition, is just so stark. Especially in contrast to what the Wolves are usually because they're this big, physical team, it just gives them a little bit more pop. And if he gives them what Nikhil does, like if he's able to guard on the ball and then also be able to be sort of this like, curveball that the Nuggets aren't used to, I think there's something there that they could really work because he had a few moments where he really made an impact, especially on offense.
- [50:14]
Rob Mahoney
Very much agree. I mean, his, his speed in a series like this where it's like there's so many possessions that are stuck in the mud and then you just see him streak out in the open court and even, even on a floor with people like Anthony Edwards feels like the fastest end to end athlete playing. Just crazy stuff. From I.O. sometimes I, I hear what you're saying about Gobert and I largely agree. I think he had a great game, about as, about as great a game as you could expect from Gobert in a matchup like this. I also think him having to guard Jokic is kind of the problem. And I don't know how the Wolves get themselves out of this. Like, it's one of those things where Minnesota relies on Rudy so much in so many ways to be a backstop for their defense. And when you put him on Jokic, he's inverted and having to guard at the top of the floor so much. And he's doing that stuff well, right.
- [51:00]
Justin Varier
He's.
- [51:00]
Rob Mahoney
We saw him deny Jokic a couple times, get some steals, like be really disruptive in ways that Rudy Gobert isn't always asked to be or expected to be. But I thought he did really, really well. But then there's no one on the back line. And this is kind of the conundrum of the Murray Jokic stuff. Overall, it's like, okay, you put your best perimeter defender on Jamal Murray, you put your best big man defender on Nicola Jokic. You hope you can contain that two man stuff, but if we're all being honest about it, nobody really can. And so then what happens when there's a breakthrough, it's your three lesser defenders. And in the case of the Wolves, no one who can guard the ribbon, they now have to manage with somebody. And Aaron Gordon cutting edge of Maury, getting to the basket, Jokic springing free and getting, you know, managing to wiggle his way out of the Gobert defense to begin with. And so I just Think it puts you at such a weird disadvantage matchup wise when you have to pull Rudy out this far to do the one thing that no one else on this team can do, when you also need him to do the other thing that no one else on this team can do, which is protect the basketball.
- [51:59]
J. Kyle Mann
Where's the switch, I guess, is the question. I mean, who do you want to put him on if not Jokic?
- [52:04]
Rob Mahoney
I. I mean, I think ideally, if there were, if you could trust Randall at all to even just body yogic and do the kind of cat thing. The problem is Aaron Gordon is such a good three point shooter now that that doesn't feel like a viable option. I think I might even mess around with like go bear on Christian Brown, like that kind of thing and just see if you can get away with it. Or dare Christian Brown to shoot enough threes. Obviously you could put him on Bruce Brown as well when he's in the game and kind of see if you can work that and block enough floaters to keep that viable. I just think they might have to experiment even for as good as Gobert was in that particular matchup, just for the sake of the overall defense trying some other things.
- [52:41]
Justin Varier
Yeah, that's the unfortunate part. It just feels like the Nuggets have almost like bulletproof their lineup to that. Especially if Brown's gonna shoot as well as he did in this game. He was 2 for 3. Like he struggled on that end practically the entire season. I know he had a bunch of injuries, but like if he's hitting, they really go five out with three point shooters and it just becomes particularly difficult. I'd also say for the Nuggets, like if Jamal Murray is going to score 30 points without making a single three pointer, it's just like only so much you could do. I don't think he's going to have 16 free throws in the next game. Maybe he has that combined over the next three games or two games or something. But just the fact that he is just bulletproof locked in from the start is like, that's a game changer. All of a sudden the Nuggets just look like the type of unbeatable team that could challenge the Thunder, like we were saying before. And so it was not like just a haymaker. We're here, we're ready to win the title sort of performance from the Nuggets. But like the underlying things look great, especially because like Tim Hardaway Jr. Showed up, Bruce Brown showed up, like all the things you're hoping for. Spencer Jones played like all the things you're hoping for to build the case. Like it really is starting to fall
- [53:43]
Rob Mahoney
in line on the Jamal front too. I wouldn't even say he had a particularly good mid range game. Like he had a lot of really open Jamal Murray shots that just did not go down. Maybe because he was rushing them or like still trying to feel out the Gobert stuff. But I think he can be so much better from 3 from mid range even getting to the basket and he was already this productive.
- [54:02]
Justin Varier
All right, next one on the board here. Let's do Nick's Hawks. I'll say this, I feel good about the Hawks. I thought that that was like a strong like a golf clap sort of performance here. I do wonder, like, how do we get beyond there? Because it didn't feel like they really stressed many advantages until late in the game where they started to leak out in a transition. I think they were on like a. I think it was 11 to 11, three run where all of a sudden they got out on the break and you're like, oh my God, this team can breathe again. Unfortunately, until that it just didn't. I don't see where they could really kind of like work the matchups in their favor in part because I just. When Towns plays that way, it almost feels like you get to this real reductive like base level thing where it's like you allow their stars to be stars. Brunson's going to do what he does, but Towns clicking in in that second half seemed like it was the type of overwhelming thing that they just could not come back from. And if you're going to bottle them up like the Knicks did, I do wonder like where you kind of go from there if you're the Hawks.
- [54:57]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, it's tough because a lot of their advantages, like I mean like you mentioned Justin, are in transition and are really like the product of lapses from the Knicks. And the Knicks are the kind of team where they will make mistakes and they will shoot themselves in the foot and the Hawks are really, really well positioned to take that and run with it. But if you're Atlanta, how do you create more of those lapses? Like how do you dial up the pressure in a way that, that facilitates getting out on the run and getting into some of those looser or like 4 on 3 kind of. Or even just like a 4 on 4, but full court offensive scenarios? More often it's easier said than done, I would say, especially when Jalen Brunson is playing like this, which is not just to me Like a let stars be stars or like an expectation that a guy of a certain caliber will produce in a certain way type of game. I just like could not have been more impressed with the way in which he attacked in game one. And most of that was like overwhelmingly off the ball. It's a thankless thing that we're constantly asking stars to do. But like putting the ball in Cat's hands as a trigger man and running Brunson through all this action is in a lot of ways the dream and the vision of what the Mike Brown Knicks were supposed to look like. And I thought he did an amazing job of like identifying and the coaching staff identifying. Yes, you can go one on one against Dyson Daniels and you'll get a certain number of points that way. But like working Dyson off the ball and Brunson is so shifty and so able to like lose his man when they're trying to lock and trail. You just saw him get some amazing looks just by running around the floor and running the, like the Hawks and Dyson Daniels, one of the best printer defenders in the league, ragged trying to keep up.
- [56:27]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, I think the combination of what you're talking about if, if Brunson and this has been my kind of frustration with him over the years is just if he's going to be willing to lean into that and buy into that, you're taking away one of the self sabotaging themes that the Hawks are hoping for. And then if the, if you know New York is going to be that efficient spotting up hitting shots, you're taking away, you're just taking away oxygen from the, the, the Hawks fire that they, they really are going to need. Maybe they can find a way to sort of lure them into some other, some other areas where the Knicks are more vulnerable to it, but they're going to have to tweak and discover those things as the series goes along.
- [57:03]
Justin Varier
Do you think empowering Jonathan Kaminga could do that?
- [57:06]
Rob Mahoney
Good Lord. I mean I'm already doing a lot. I'm already, I'm ready to pull him Risa Shea style from the rotation. The turnaround jumper that Zachary Researcher attempted in this game was like a trade me bait if I've ever seen it. But Kumingo was not much better and yeah, constantly doing too much. And I mean Justin, you were spot on when we were previewing this series about just kind of like the difference in the depth between these two teams. And it's not just like a jock Landale thing. It's like when you just look at who is even available and viable and could be potentially useful in this series. Like having Mitch and Deuce and Landry Shamut and a good Jordan Clarkson game is just worlds better than whatever you're going to get off of Atlanta's bench to the point that we love. Like I love what Brunson did. I think Cat had an amazing game, higher turnover somewhat because of what he was asked to do, but played really well. Josh Hart played super well. And yet New York starting lineup was like a massive negative in this game. It was all just because they could plug in one or two subs and they were so much better than anything that wasn't. The Hawks starters.
- [58:08]
Justin Varier
How do you get pulled after two minutes as the number one overall pick in a playoff game?
- [58:14]
Rob Mahoney
You just, you deserve it.
- [58:16]
Justin Varier
I know that draft was historically wonky, but good lord, he just doesn't look like he belongs on the floor. And there are times, I will say in Jonathan Kaminga's defense, like, where his force really seems like it makes a difference, especially against second units. I get the theory of allowing him to power those units, especially because as we're talking about, there just weren't a lot of options there, right? But man, he just seemed like he thought it was his time is the classic case where he was just doing everything and even when he got into the paint just seemed like didn't really know how to process things from there. We should mention that a Kongu is also questionable for this next upcoming game with the right knee thing. And so the depth could be even worse. And so I'm just like, where are the options? Because there's like a couple like things going well for them. But yeah, as soon as that second unit comes in, you're just kind of like you're hoping and praying this is
- [59:01]
Rob Mahoney
where the options are. I had the earnest thought, in an actual playoff series, is Keaton Wallace a better option than Gabe Vincent? And if that's where we are after Game one, like, I think it speaks to the lack of solutions that the Hawks have in terms of plug and play alternatives. Like they're just going to have to stretch their starters further and like get one of these guys coming off the bench, Mogay or Kuminga or somebody to give them 20 actually useful minutes.
- [59:24]
J. Kyle Mann
So we need our starters to play more and we need them to run more. You can kind of see the funnel that we're rolling down to here and
- [59:33]
Rob Mahoney
defend harder and defend better. And I do want to give the Hawks credit for this. I actually think they neutralized a Lot of New York size and like, the advantages that come with that on the glass pretty well in this game. Like, they did a good job of like mixing it up and turning the game into an all out scramble that, that someone like Mitchell Robinson couldn't just dominate, but even in doing so, they only got so close. And I think it's getting that, like, last margin from, oh, this is a competitive game in which we're within eight into one that we're actually winning. That's going to be a tough hurdle for them.
- [60:05]
Justin Varier
Knicks being the deeper, steadier team is such a, like, head whip, like whiplash sort of moment. But, you know, personal growth, it comes for all of us.
- [60:15]
Rob Mahoney
It really does.
- [60:16]
J. Kyle Mann
Is this right? The hawks bench shot 33% from the field.
- [60:21]
Rob Mahoney
I'm surprised it's that high.
- [60:22]
Justin Varier
Yeah.
- [60:23]
J. Kyle Mann
13 points on 13 points on 33%. Yeah, that's, that's not great, Bob.
- [60:29]
Rob Mahoney
But speaking of teams willing to play small, I think the fact that the Knicks have been able to get away with and were successful playing with like Shamet and Deuce and Clarkson on the floor altogether, and the Hawks are yet another opponent that just like, does not have the positional size to make them pay for that.
- [60:44]
Justin Varier
All right, Lakers, Rockets. 1. For the old heads in particular, anyone who has watched LeBron James and just relished in that first half where in the first 15 minutes, virtually entirely with his back to the basket, he dished out 10 assists.
- [61:01]
Rob Mahoney
That's amazing.
- [61:02]
Justin Varier
Down is like, this is his Broncos Peyton Manning moment where, like, he clearly doesn't have, like, the raw juice that he used to, but he's just picking apart a clearly overmatched opponent just purely with his brain. It's fascinating to watch. Unfortunately, it's coming at the expense of a Rockets team that was already in disarray. And it seems like it's just slowly sliding even further and further into the descent. And Doku just calls everybody a bitch from the sideline.
- [61:28]
J. Kyle Mann
The camera did cut away. That's what we were joking about. The camera didn't cut away as he called someone a bitch like four consecutive times. I was shocked. The director of the broadcast wasn't like, ah, cut away from Udoka. He's calling somebody a bitch over and over again.
- [61:44]
Justin Varier
I'm not one to pearl clutch about things like this, but it's a completely different situation where you're up and like, that is your advantage, like, that is your Persona as a team, your identity. And it all spurs from your head coach and you're calling people bitches and you're ready to fight. That's one thing, right? It's like not my thing, but at least works for some people. When you're getting your ass beat by a clearly overmatched team, talent wise and you're still doing that, trying to fight people, like at a certain point, like the leader of men thing has to click in at a certain point. Like that's a bad example for what they're doing.
- [62:14]
Rob Mahoney
I think the problem is if it didn't feel like IME Odoka's solutions to a lot of problems is turning to the nearest person and calling them a bitch, we might be in a more interesting place with this series. Like I can't remember time out, you're a bitch. I mean basically calling every person on his team a bitch at various points. Like their, their problem solving apparatus in Houston does feel like getting a bunch of people into a conference room and everyone just bangin their head against the table and hoping that it solves something. I genuinely don't know what they are doing. I don't know what series they were prepared for, but it was not this one. Granted Kevin Durant missing game one, huge curveball like that is a dramatic shift in the balance of the team. You have to know how to execute some bare minimum of what your team is supposed to be doing. And I understand that 90% of coaching is not what we see on the floor. It's going on behind the scenes. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes to justify what we saw on the floor from a team this talented and this plausibly good. Like the Rockets are a good team and their offense looks like an absolute mess. And I said that even relative to someone who just watched the Pistons play basketball.
- [63:22]
J. Kyle Mann
Well, it's the Lakers are. We were talking about with, with the, with the Wolves thing where they were single, you know, they were comfortable single covering. And given that's a different situation. This was. The Lakers were just like, yeah, we're gonna, we're just gonna guard Shingoon straight up and you know, he's doing this thing where he's driving, he's hitting, he's spinning. It's just where they are in the shot clock repeatedly. I was just like this. We. We are not in a good spot here. Like and then, and then they need guys to hit open shots. The other thing too here is that they are massacring my boy out there. Reed is getting hunted all over the place. And if you have. And to speak to the, the tandem of the offensive identity just not being in a good spot. But if you're going to have Reed out there, you need to be in a position to get the most out of what his advantages and what he brings in order to compensate for in a playoff setting. He's going to get hunted, which we figured would happen. It's just snowballing into something unpleasant. You know, Katie being back hopefully will alleviate some of this.
- [64:19]
Rob Mahoney
It'll help.
- [64:20]
J. Kyle Mann
But yeah, it was, it was tough.
- [64:23]
Justin Varier
Having said that, like, losing Fred Van Vliet and then losing KD for this game shouldn't send your team with this much talent, especially considering what they did in last year's postseason into complete disarray in the way that they were. Like, they just look completely lost in a team like that. LeBron is just going to pick apart, like, the Lakers tried to play Bronnie just like regular minutes. Like they didn't last long, but like he's part of, at least for now, a rotation or a guy that they could play there. I think they played nine guys. He was one of them. Just like, it shouldn't be this bad. There's so much talent on the floor there. And even Sengun just seemed like completely lost in a way that, like last season, at the very least, to use his physicality to an advantage. It's just like, I just. Something's amiss here. Something's rotten, and I just don't know how much is going to fix it just by KD coming in and saving the day.
- [65:09]
Rob Mahoney
Well, especially we've already seen this season that this is a team that doesn't even know how to respond to Kevin Durant being double teamed. Like, they just have no flow, they have no plan. They don't know where they're supposed to be or how they're supposed to play. I, I'm just like mystified that we've gotten this far with this team in this state. Like, it's. It's honestly pretty inexcusable. And just looking at like the margins in this game. The Rockets took 27 more shots than the Lakers and they got worked. Like, they got absolutely worked in this game. And like, I, I just don't understand how they're unable to create even the bare minimum of space for Sengun to do like the simplest possible things. Like you could in theory, dump it down to Shengoon. If this was a normal, functional offense, you could in theory carve out enough space in the lane so that all of his little, like drives and half spins kind of work and get him somewhere. The rocket shot 43% in the restricted area. And if you take Atari Easton, it gets like, even more hellacious than that. They were getting blocked left and right. And this is a team with DeAndre Ayton and Jackson Hayes as its primary rim protectors. But, oh, wait, there's Ruri Hachimura, there's Marcus Smart. Like, everyone is blowing up everything that Houston is trying to do. I. I'm just like, honestly offended to have to watch this team in this form. I really wanted to think that the Houston Rockets were going to be good this season, and they are very much not good.
- [66:29]
J. Kyle Mann
I thought Aiden was doing a pretty good job containing Shingoon.
- [66:32]
Justin Varier
Totally.
- [66:32]
J. Kyle Mann
Just in this. We're in this spot where we just back every compliment that you give eight and you have to qualify and be like, actually, I think, you know, it's like, I hate that everything starts with, yeah, good for him, you know, pats on the head kind of thing. But I just wanted to say, overall, I definitely took a moment and stepped back and was like, man, it is the year 2026, he is 41 years old and LeBron James controlled a playoff game. Man, it just that I definitely tried to breathe that one in and appreciate it that he's still out there doing that. He looked, yes, he had a lot of unk spunk out there.
- [67:06]
Justin Varier
Sure.
- [67:07]
Rob Mahoney
And with a perfect contrast too, because, right. It's like the idea of, oh, the Rockets are adjusting to these guys that they don't have and you just roll LeBron out there and he's had like, I don't know, a week to reckon with the idea that Luka Doncic to be driving the offense of this team and oh, Austin Reeves also not going to be out there and they just make it work. I think it was great coaching by JJ. I think LeBron, I mean, an absolute genius on the floor. Like one of one in terms of the way he breaks down action and understands advantages. That's a great thing to have in your corner. But the Lakers overall just seem so much better prepared for what this series was actually going to look like.
- [67:41]
Justin Varier
A little respect for our guy. Luke Canard.
- [67:43]
J. Kyle Mann
I got him.
- [67:44]
Rob Mahoney
We went this morning five for five.
- [67:48]
Justin Varier
Wow, Rob. I never saw this coming.
- [67:49]
Rob Mahoney
I'm more of the second five, you know, the five attempts from three from Luke Canard. We've been waiting, we've been begging and he, he finally. I, I do think desperation is kind of a good look for him. Like there's nowhere else for the offense to turn. You Luke Canard, one of the career leaders in 3 point percentage have to shoot. I think it's best for everybody involved.
- [68:10]
J. Kyle Mann
Did you guys see? I. I tweeted out his. It's probably his, like, photo. Day stock photo. But his. The. He has, like, Ted Bundy intensity in his eyes. Have you seen that? He is some of the most, like. He has some of the most, like, bothersome intensity in his eyes. Maybe Isaiah could pull it up or something. I was.
- [68:29]
Rob Mahoney
Not a single human being has ever said that. Luke Canard has Ted Bundy intensity. This is why you come to group chat.
- [68:35]
J. Kyle Mann
You ever seen that photo Ted Bundy, where they had like, zoomed in on the eyes? It was just like, there's something. Wow. I'm glad that he brought that. That intensity to eagerness shooting the ball. But, yeah, good for him.
- [68:47]
Rob Mahoney
I like a recurring bit on this show. NBA role player or famous serial killer. And we throw it to Kyle and see if he can figure out the difference. Could be good for us.
- [68:55]
Justin Varier
I love watching those documentaries or like the narrative ones that they do on top. Of course you do, in part because it was just so easy to kill people. Like, everything boils down to the fact that one police station like a mile away wasn't talking to the other police station. People were getting away with some wild shit. Like you could do a lot back then.
- [69:18]
Rob Mahoney
Does it make you yearn for the good old days, Justin?
- [69:20]
J. Kyle Mann
Halcyon days, jb. No wonder you moved to Portland. Yeah. Pacific Northwest. It's just the one piece.
- [69:28]
Justin Varier
I'll go to even smaller town where just like the Twin Peaks, like, sort of police station is set up. Like they're not talking to the other ones because they don't got the Internet. I can really get stuff done there.
- [69:39]
J. Kyle Mann
A lot of stuff is adding up here. Justin moves to the Pacific Northwest. He gets really into golf, gardening and working and digging in his backyard.
- [69:46]
Rob Mahoney
Right.
- [69:47]
J. Kyle Mann
He's doing a lot of construction on his house. Little Devil in the White City vibe here. I'm just kind of like. And he's. He's yearning for the days where you could get away with killing people. I don't know, Rob. Should we be concerned?
- [69:57]
Rob Mahoney
I think we should definitely be concerned. He's going to get into, like, pouring cement next and it's going to answer a lot of questions.
- [70:03]
Justin Varier
I do need to pour some cement.
- [70:04]
Rob Mahoney
This is why you mention it. Well, yeah, there are bodies to hide. We know.
- [70:08]
Justin Varier
Always be prepared, you know,
- [70:12]
J. Kyle Mann
unlike the Rockets.
- [70:15]
Justin Varier
All right. Cavs, Raptors. Last one on the boards. It started well. You know, we got the trading baskets going. It seemed like Brandon Ingram was really going to show up there and then they just decided that Brandon Ingram just isn't going to shoot anymore and things really fell apart from there.
- [70:30]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, that part was concerning to me, not the denying Brandon Ingram, because if you're the Cavs, you absolutely should deny Brandon Ingram. Given the ball handling that the Raptors are working with. I would do that too. More the way that Toronto responded to it, which I mean, as you alluded to, Justin, Brandon Ingram took one shot from the field in the second half. He was asked about it after the game. This is what he said. Coach wanted to use me as a screener. Also he noticed that my man wasn't coming off of me, so he wanted me outside the action a little bit. And being a receiver, end quote, I get the idea. I would not say that's a particularly good use of Brandon Ingram. And it comes back to this thing for me with the Raptors where I feel like Darko Rijakovic is trying to coach players he doesn't have. Like Brandon Ingram is not a decoy, he is not a screener. If you're going to ask him to do those things, he's not going to do them very well. And so what are you falling back on as an offense if you're going to allow your best score, and I say best score, even with all of the, you know, as source that I like to put on Brandon Ingram. But you absolutely need him creating at a high level in this series to compete and you're just going to let him get phased out so you can play four on four with Jakob Pertle.
- [71:37]
J. Kyle Mann
They, I mean, the Raptors have enough problems. They can't afford this right now. We really, really didn't need the Ingram quibbling with the coach subplot, which more than a subplot, they really didn't need that. Couldn't afford that in this series.
- [71:51]
Justin Varier
Well, the question I have is was he doing that in part because Ingram was blanketed and they basically took him out and they had to find another way to use him or is that just his base set where he just wanted to use him in creative ways that he isn't attuned to to? I'm not sure. Either way I don't think it's going to help because quickly wasn't there. We'll see about his availability going forward. I did like the response from the Cavs overall though because there was one play early on where Barnes like took it to Mobley in a very like flashback way to like the Mitchell Robinson Knicks era where it's like he bumped him and got him off his spot and then just scored on top of him. And I was like, oh, yeah. Like, I instantly start to get the ptsd. And I think a lot of Cavs fans probably do as well because, like, that's their worst nightmare. The Cavs just getting bodied and them not responding. But then they just, like, really put forth a nice little response there. The part where they were, like, throwing out some weird lineups where they almost, like, realize that they are just so deep at this point that they could stagger like a star guard and a star big together and just play like that for a couple of minutes and then just do another wave with another version of that. I thought it was really. I was optimistic coming out of this one, Rob, because if you think the Cavs can get back or get to the conference finals, like, this was a real proof of concept at the very least in the second half.
- [73:06]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah, I think the way in which they just outclassed the Raptors and also over time leaned in and outsized the Raptors, like, really started looking like the bigger, more physical team or getting anything they wanted inside. Just setting up lobs and finishes inside in all of these different ways in addition to the threes that they can ordinarily create. That's a really good and healthy balance for them. I also think as far as this series goes, like the Raptors, this is the best that they're going to shoot all series. And they were not even close in the second half of this game, and they were getting aberrational nights from three from like a bunch of below average shooters who are guys who will continue to fire because of the structure of the team. But ultimately, the Cavs just have a lot more. They do. They do have more horses, they do have more depth. They even have a level of depth where it's like, Jalen Tyson didn't play particularly well. He kind of low key, has not played well for a couple of months now in a way that I would not be surprised if we just get him kind of excised from the rotation playoff wise as. As these series go on. But they can afford to do that in a way that the Raptors can't. You know, they lose Emmanuel quickly. Jamal Shed comes into the starting lineup, and Jamal Shed, innocent. Want to be very clear that this is not his fault, but he's being asked to do too much. So even as he's hitting all these shots, they're, you know, he's. He's already giving stuff up in Other ways. And the back end of the rotation is suffering for Jamal Shed not being there.
- [74:24]
J. Kyle Mann
Yeah, there's. Do the Raptors have any dribble pull up shooting, like other than quickly? That quickly's not there. So that hurts. That hurts your spacing. And then, you know, if the Crabs are able to answer these questions about their toughness inside, that's. You're just ramming into a wall and you know, obviously. And then Jakob Hurdle's not playing well. It's just, it's kind of a cascading, you know, series of events here for the, for the Raptors and the, you know, at the end of the day, the, the. Do the Cavs have the best two scores in the series? I think pretty decidedly, yes. So I think it's, it's, it's going to be a tall. It's going to be a tall order.
- [74:58]
Justin Varier
Big picture. What's like change for you guys? I want you to completely overreact from just one game for every series. I think the Cavs look pretty good overall. The Thunder, I mean, it's not an overreaction to say that, like they just look unbeatable right now, which felt great
- [75:16]
J. Kyle Mann
by the Suns for sure. Yeah, I'll probably watch them come out, beat them next game, but. Yeah, right.
- [75:22]
Rob Mahoney
I actually think the biggest change is the Lakers looking like they might survive long enough to become somewhat whole again. And that could change a lot about the way the west looks.
- [75:32]
Justin Varier
Yes. Cause if they win, they're going against the Thunder. All of a sudden. Luca's back, Reeves is back. They just partied in Spain or wherever they were. Just getting those injections and sipping my ties. You're right. That's probably the biggest long term ripple effect going for us. Anything else? Any other things you want guys want to get out on?
- [75:51]
Rob Mahoney
I think we got a lot of takes off.
- [75:53]
Justin Varier
Any snacks you want to recommend for your playoff viewing?
- [75:56]
Rob Mahoney
I actually would love some snack recommendations for playoff viewing. Doing ringer group chat@gmail.com with your playoff snack of choice. I usually am a like opening weekend, definitely like an order wings kind of situation as a ritual for me. But then I'm just left all day just kind of stewing and waiting and it's like this is a lot of basketball and I'm feeling very snacky and I need some supplemental materials in my life. So let me know what works.
- [76:20]
J. Kyle Mann
Big salsa guy. I like salsa, chips and salsa.
- [76:24]
Justin Varier
What we're talking about miles cold, medium
- [76:25]
J. Kyle Mann
cold, hot as it gets. Come on, man. I want the like I go on
- [76:30]
Rob Mahoney
Amazon and buy Kyle is the immo doka this podcast. There's really no doubt.
- [76:36]
J. Kyle Mann
I got to a point where I was ordering salsa that was so hot that my mouth. I'm to the point where my mouth doesn't properly warn my body for what's going in. So it'll be like kind of spicy and I like it. And then it gets into the other parts of my body and they're like, what the hell did you just put in? And I could just kind of feel it going down the. The. Yeah. Anyway, chips and salsa, pretzels, little pretzel, little dots. Pretzels. You know, a little bit of that here and there.
- [77:01]
Justin Varier
All right, here's the move. You guys are both wrong. So opening weekend and maybe next weekend because we'll probably be in the same situation because you got a lot of basketball you need to consume. Here's what you do. You have to have lunch plan in advance, right. So I get the pre made salads from Trader Joe's just so I have something there. You.
- [77:17]
J. Kyle Mann
And you're planning. Eating shit. Yeah.
- [77:21]
Justin Varier
You can't like break. You can't take a full break, go out and like go and get something.
- [77:25]
Rob Mahoney
That's fine. But this is a day of gluttony. This is a day of excesses. We are four straight games. Like indulge yourself.
- [77:32]
Justin Varier
But this is. It's a two part process here. And you get the pizza at night, right. Because the pizzas can sustain you for two days. And so after you have the one day of pizza, you're around like mid like the. The first two games go by on Sunday. You're like, oh, really need to pick me up.
- [77:48]
Rob Mahoney
Boom.
- [77:49]
Justin Varier
Leftover pizza. Everything with bitch. Now I didn't see that the dribble handoffs were great.
- [78:00]
J. Kyle Mann
Bitch Udoka really got to me. You could tell I was just thinking about him and that hate stew. To me, I just don't understand for a guy who worries so much about like your, your stasis, you're worried about what you eat before we record and stuff.
- [78:15]
Rob Mahoney
Yeah.
- [78:15]
J. Kyle Mann
You're talking about a pick me up with pizza at our. In this economy, at our stage of life. I don't if I know I'm gonna eat pizza. I'm like, like I'm laying down. I'm not thinking. I. I'm fascinated that you're seeing pizza as, as an upper. But you know, I don't know that's.
- [78:29]
Justin Varier
It's more of an emotional balance there. It's like pick me up when you need it. It's like, oh, a Joel. Especially after the first two games of
- [78:36]
Rob Mahoney
Sunday, which I got to say, I don't understand this thinking. I, I, I hear everything you're saying, Kyle, about Justin. Like, I've heard him say that he couldn't eat tacos before we podcasted one time because it would weigh him down too much. I'm like, I just don't know what kind of lives you guys have been leading. Uh, I've just been filling my body with all of these foods all the time to the point that my energy level is now impervious to them. So, like, I'm operating at, I don't know what peak efficiency is, but my peak efficiency is food independent. Right?
- [79:03]
Justin Varier
They can't hurt you. You've hurt yourself way too much.
- [79:05]
Rob Mahoney
That's exactly it.
- [79:06]
Justin Varier
Okay, quick schedule announcement. We're going to be going Wednesday night as opposed to Thursday morning. So if you're used to listening to the pod on Thursday, it'll be in your feed reads early Thursday morning, if not late, late, late on Wednesday. So check us out then. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely. Thank you to Victoria Valencia. We'll check you next time. Talk to you then. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or 1-800-MY RESET. Call 1-888-778-97777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York, Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867.