Ant's Fire: Anthony Edwards Scorches Denver in Historic Performance

[00:00:00] It's Wednesday and Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air.

[00:00:26] I'm your host Vincent and today we are going to talk a lot about what's going on in the

[00:00:32] second round playoffs but before we get there let's get into the socials.

[00:00:38] You too Front Runner Podcast Collective, the videos that go up on there are usually from

[00:00:45] the podcast.

[00:00:47] There's usually a stat or two or some information that I did not put in the podcast that goes

[00:00:53] in that clip.

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[00:01:23] podcast you can get it on Spotify Apple Music or sorry Apple Podcast apologize about that.

[00:01:31] I was listening to some Apple music today.

[00:01:36] Also Amazon Music, iHeartRadio and Pandora so with that out of the way we could get

[00:01:42] into the hoops I am excited about it and where we're going to start is unfortunately

[00:01:48] this man has caught fire and there's nothing else that we can talk about other than our

[00:01:55] guy Anthony Edwards.

[00:01:57] Anthony Edwards is put on quite a show and it was hard to pick against him in the second

[00:02:06] round if you remember anything about the previous podcast I himmed it hard on Denver and

[00:02:14] then I based it on continuity and at this point with Murray's injury in the two games

[00:02:24] also what they're doing to Yolkage and we'll get into that momentarily.

[00:02:31] I just think that we need to talk about Anthony Edwards in a historical sense we need to

[00:02:36] break him down a little bit and that's what we're going to do so the Front Runner

[00:02:41] podcast focus is on Anthony Edwards and we're going to start there.

[00:02:46] So the first part of this is that let's talk about the discourse around Anthony Edwards

[00:02:51] at this present time.

[00:02:53] We see on Twitter we've heard on ESPN and other places please don't listen to ESPN

[00:02:59] I'm sorry their stuff right now to me is so gross.

[00:03:05] JJ Redick is an easy listen at this point in time but I find it hard to believe that Kendrick

[00:03:15] Perkins really believes the takes that he has.

[00:03:19] It's almost like do you really believe what you're talking about?

[00:03:22] Anyways, it's a little cringy but what the discourse has been about is Anthony Edwards

[00:03:31] the next Jordan that's been the dialogue around Anthony Edwards and I agree with Anthony.

[00:03:41] I think right now the comparisons are stupid let's not do that.

[00:03:48] Not because of the fact that that's what we do right it's a podcast it's fun.

[00:03:52] I actually have a better comparison and we had to go outside the box a little bit

[00:04:01] and I don't think we were thinking grand enough because let's talk about Anthony Edwards a little bit.

[00:04:07] Let's talk about what he's doing.

[00:04:09] He's 22 years of age he's not even 23 yet.

[00:04:13] He is playing at such a high level he's been impressive he slayed KD he also with

[00:04:21] that booker as well.

[00:04:24] He was in such control in those games and what you noticed over this playoff series run both

[00:04:33] series now is that Anthony Edwards is still not the best three-point shooter in the whole

[00:04:39] wide world but he is 36% this year.

[00:04:44] He did shoot volume this year.

[00:04:47] His ball handling but more importantly his playmaking and decision making have gone

[00:04:53] up significantly.

[00:04:55] He gets the ball out of his hands quickly only to get the ball back.

[00:04:59] The one thing that a lot of great players do not do a lot of I'll say like Luca LeBron

[00:05:08] is like this James Harden is like this.

[00:05:13] They don't take the ball out of their hands and then re-position themselves or come

[00:05:18] off a screen and get themselves open.

[00:05:21] Now you can say well they're great players and they don't need that but it's good to get

[00:05:28] off the ball.

[00:05:29] It's good to get movement.

[00:05:30] The ball has energy it'll find you again especially if you're at Edwards they know where their

[00:05:36] bread is buttered.

[00:05:38] He gonna take most of the shots.

[00:05:42] What is impressive for a 22 year old to get this.

[00:05:45] Hell we've been asking Jason Tatum to do this for what six seven years now and we

[00:05:52] still haven't gotten it.

[00:05:55] All that I sold ball into games and things of that nature but this guy has gotten in at

[00:06:01] 22 years of age.

[00:06:04] Now you pair that with the beyond your year is post up game that he also possesses

[00:06:10] now.

[00:06:12] It is rare to see somebody that is not six nine six ten have a really refined post game

[00:06:22] and that's what he has.

[00:06:23] He can back you down he can stick his shoulder into you get enough space and because he's

[00:06:28] so athletic and he jumps so quick he's off his feet and the ball is released and you

[00:06:34] have no idea you're starting your jump because you're just getting settled from

[00:06:39] the shoulder that went into you that he's up and it's pure and right now nobody can

[00:06:47] stop it.

[00:06:49] So here's a guy who's 22 Uber athletic we haven't even gotten into how competitive he

[00:06:57] is and we'll get into that in a second.

[00:07:00] We talked about the other skill sets that have come along and have improved significantly

[00:07:06] and then we talked about the post up game.

[00:07:09] So you put all that together he has a game that's older than he is is that he knows

[00:07:16] it.

[00:07:17] He figured it out that he knows that his game is more mature beyond his years he knows

[00:07:23] that already being able to implement certain things into the game at different points.

[00:07:30] He knows when to use it like Jordan it took him till 27 to get that it took LeBron a

[00:07:38] while to get that.

[00:07:41] Covey had a cheat code his cheat code was 7 1 about 330 pounds his name was kill nil.

[00:07:51] So in Covey's early development he had alpha this guy is the alpha and Edwards is the

[00:08:01] complete leader of this team.

[00:08:03] He is showing poise and composure beyond his years and they're smoking Denver right now

[00:08:12] they're just smoking them.

[00:08:13] They're up to zip in the series and it hasn't been close and that's the other thing that

[00:08:19] we're going to talk about with them but before we get done in the first couple games

[00:08:24] Anthony Edwards has 70 points against the defending champ so he has 70 points in

[00:08:30] the two games that have been in Denver so far.

[00:08:34] We haven't even gotten home so for the series he's averaging 35 points against supposedly

[00:08:42] the defending champions are you kidding me right now it's the control that is planned

[00:08:50] with and also knows when to get his teammates involved to score and also knows when the

[00:08:56] game he just needs to hit a bucket to kind of quell whatever the run is happening

[00:09:00] and we saw it a lot of times in the first couple games with the nuggets.

[00:09:06] The nuggets do not have an answer for this at all because they stuck KCP on him so Contagious

[00:09:13] Caldwell Pope has drawn the assignment of Anthony Edwards and I can tell you right

[00:09:19] now that the intensity has ramped up with Anthony and he's looking at KCP as an absolute

[00:09:28] challenge if you know anything about the relationship between them he looks at KCP as one of his

[00:09:35] OGs because KCP is also a Georgia boy.

[00:09:41] He helped Ant along the way but Ant quote was I mean it was brilliant he said you

[00:09:49] know I have a lot of respect for him he's really helped me in my development but I'm

[00:09:56] gonna absolutely try to annihilate him I'm coming for everything so it doesn't matter

[00:10:03] he's not here to make friends he's here to take care of business that could do to

[00:10:09] standing on business and I love it. The other thing that he is showing is that

[00:10:13] he is also showing his leadership skills we've seen that he's made demands on

[00:10:20] the court about defensive pressure we've seen that he's made people get into the right

[00:10:26] spots knowing where you're supposed to be and then he's even shows some

[00:10:31] leadership stalking by a interview that Carl Anthony Talant at and he said kind of

[00:10:37] in a fun loving way but in a half serious way he said this to Kat he says

[00:10:42] stop f-ing I won't say the word stop f-ing Fallon because Kat has a

[00:10:48] propensity to go ahead and get fouls and he gets them in volume so to keep Kat on

[00:10:55] the court because he's vital to the mission of winning Kat can you not foul

[00:11:01] you know it's pretty simple with that. The other thing that we need to talk

[00:11:07] about I think we should have a segment just based off of Anthony Edwards quotes

[00:11:15] and I think the first quote that we should start this segment with is this

[00:11:19] one. I think this was what Taylor Rooks if I'm not mistaken there's something to

[00:11:25] do I bet I'd be a one from day one and does that not strike you as Anthony

[00:11:34] Edwards' personality. This guy has extreme confidence and there's no reason

[00:11:43] for him not to have it. He's always been the best athlete he's always been you

[00:11:49] know fastest he's always jumped the highest he's always been the strongest and it

[00:11:54] you would think in the NBA it would change nothing has changed this dude

[00:12:02] still thinks he's the best he still is getting past people he has superior

[00:12:08] athleticism he's strong as a freaking ox there's nothing this dude really really

[00:12:14] can't do and a couple other things that he's been doing with his teammates with

[00:12:20] Nikhil Alexander Walker and Jaden McDaniels they've been putting ball

[00:12:25] pressure on Luca I mean not on Luca on Nikola Jokic. Jokic brings up the

[00:12:31] ball for the Nuggets most of the time now Jamal do it sometimes a couple

[00:12:36] other people do it but for primarily Jokic is the one that is bringing up the

[00:12:41] ball they have been meeting him not just at half court they have been meeting him

[00:12:47] at the three point line at their three point line so he has to basically battle

[00:12:53] all the way past half court into his into the section to go ahead and get

[00:12:58] into their actions what we've noticed is is that they're basically pushing them

[00:13:06] into close to half court violations but I think it's just to disrupt the flow of

[00:13:13] the offense so by the time you get down settled into whatever the action you

[00:13:17] want to run you're only running one action you're not being able to pivot

[00:13:24] like okay that first action didn't work what's our you know counter to this

[00:13:29] you're getting it to run it one time because of the ball pressure that has

[00:13:36] been placed on Jokic now in game two Murray and Porter Jr combined four seven

[00:13:44] of 28 from the field that also cannot happen if Denver believes that they're

[00:13:49] gonna go ahead and get back in this series it is my humble opinion personally

[00:13:55] that the nuggets are probably gonna lose this series I don't have any confidence

[00:13:59] even though I picked them this will be the one the first one I got wrong the

[00:14:03] rest series seem to be going well but hey you're wrong you know I was

[00:14:07] absolutely wrong I thought that personally the moment would be too big

[00:14:12] for and he tried to do too much now it's still two games but I've not seen

[00:14:18] him be uncomfortable at any point in this series and that is very rare for a 22

[00:14:27] year old who has this type of responsibility this type of production

[00:14:32] that is on his shoulders to be able to handle that understand it and then

[00:14:38] be able to go out and to achieve what they set out to do so our guy Anthony

[00:14:44] Edwards is doing work we want to commend him because hell we didn't pick them and

[00:14:48] we were wrong and we wanted to be the first ones to say Anthony and Edwards your

[00:14:56] boy Vince is super sorry Tim Colleen who is the president of player personnel for

[00:15:03] the middle-celled Timberwolves right now used to be in Denver the funny

[00:15:08] part about this is is that the guys that you are seeing that won the

[00:15:13] championship he got so MPJ was drafted Jamal Murray was drafted he did the

[00:15:21] Aaron Gordon trade so now that Colleen's moved over to Minnesota he made the

[00:15:26] go-bearer trade which we all were shocked and we were we couldn't believe

[00:15:31] what you gave up to get go-bearer he also made the to me this might have

[00:15:40] been the critical one he went back to the well and he got my colleague junior and

[00:15:46] he got to kill Alexander Walker and that was part of the D Lo trade so now you're

[00:15:53] sitting and you're saying well if Tim Colleen built the Denver nuggets and

[00:15:58] now he said okay I have to build a team that is gonna be able to combat the

[00:16:04] Denver nuggets guess what job well done and we owe that man an apology we still

[00:16:12] think there were way too many assets given up to to make this deal but we

[00:16:19] cannot crack on this deal anymore because it has been proven successful

[00:16:26] you put a defensive anchor in the middle of that lineup with the shooting of Carl

[00:16:34] Anthony towns and the dynannous is the dynannous is them of one ant at words

[00:16:40] and the T Wolves are up to oh and they're going back home and they play

[00:16:46] Friday so we're waiting for that now the here's the thing that is the

[00:16:52] counter that Calvin Booth who took over for Tim Connelly who was underneath Tim

[00:16:57] Connelly he made a bold decision in the offseason and he also doubled down on it

[00:17:05] at the trade deadline the one thing that we did see is Bruce Brown leave the

[00:17:11] Denver nuggets and remember that championship run last year Michael Moran

[00:17:16] talked about it a lot Calvin Booth talked about it the other team the

[00:17:21] other teammates talked about it how instrumental Bruce Brown was to that

[00:17:26] now they knew at that point in time that Bruce Brown for them was going to be

[00:17:31] like a one-year situation for them and then he was going to move on they didn't

[00:17:38] retain him the philosophy was is that we're gonna go with youth they had

[00:17:44] drafted Christian Brown the year prior and then they drafted Julian Strother they

[00:17:51] also drafted what Jerry Pickett and there was another kid that they drafted as

[00:17:58] well who's a wing and what has happened with this is that oh and we can't forget

[00:18:04] a couple years ago they drafted Peyton Watson as well but these guys have

[00:18:09] not given them anything in the playoffs it's pretty much been a net negative as

[00:18:14] I as I've seen it now Watson had tremendous moments of defense in the

[00:18:21] regular season Christian Brown had some clutch moments and he was more of a

[00:18:25] connector galvanized the type of guy Strother shot the ball really well

[00:18:30] early on in the season but he just has not gotten the looks in the

[00:18:34] playoffs to be able to do anything and that's not necessarily surprising but the

[00:18:40] surprising part is is that they knew there was there was a blind spot they

[00:18:44] knew that there was a chink in the armor and they did not make any sort of move

[00:18:54] at the trade deadline to kind of solidify that role or at least give

[00:18:59] them a bench presence that okay this guy could go off for 17 but we're

[00:19:05] getting we're pretty much guaranteed that he's gonna get 12 so with all that being

[00:19:11] said we look at what's going on with Denver Jamal Murray is compromised

[00:19:16] Yolkage is being accosted every time he has the ball and Michael Porter Jr.

[00:19:22] didn't shoot it effectively in the first couple games so this is why the Denver

[00:19:28] Nuggets are on the ropes against the Minnesota Timberwolves the one thing that

[00:19:34] I love about the playoffs is that they give us answers to questions and one of

[00:19:40] the questions that I had going into these playoffs was how healthy is Tyree's

[00:19:46] Halliburton and with six points on just six shots in the game that was

[00:19:53] the game number one it didn't look it looked like he was compromised now I will

[00:19:59] tell you right now going into this podcast this game is currently going on

[00:20:07] right now and let me get you a score real quick and we'll kind of go from

[00:20:12] there all right we have a 79 77 score eight minutes to go in the third

[00:20:18] quarter Tyree's Halliburton is having an excellent game by the way he has

[00:20:22] 22 points four rebounds and seven assists five of eight from three point land now

[00:20:28] I will tell you that if he's not he's probably not driving the ball while I

[00:20:34] will have to go back and watch this game but what we've seen of what we have

[00:20:38] seen of Tyree's Halliburton since the since the hamstring injury the

[00:20:46] explosivity of him has dwindled he can't get around the pig at the speed that he

[00:20:55] did prior to the injury now we also know that he's dealing with backspousings as

[00:21:02] well we've seen the big pad on his back and everything like that so I think

[00:21:06] he's compounded the injury he's dealing with a bunch of stuff and he's trying

[00:21:11] to be there for his guys and what a series for him to have to man up and really

[00:21:20] try to pull a rabbit out of hat and try to get a win out of Madison Square

[00:21:26] Garden but if anybody can do it if anybody skilled enough to do it is Tyree's

[00:21:30] Halliburton we just still have the nicks in this series I can't I can't

[00:21:36] fake the funk on that one so but I think we'll see a better I think what we'll see

[00:21:44] is an inconsistent Tyree's Halliburton throughout these this particular series

[00:21:49] he might have a really good game then you know not so great game then there'll

[00:21:54] be a good game and then they'll be not such such a great game so right now

[00:21:57] we're on uptick and that's what we have right now in that now that game

[00:22:01] is 84 79 nicks so blue and orange skies everywhere Tim's in the sky I understand

[00:22:10] that New York is on fire right now shots out to my people in New York shots out

[00:22:15] to my guy Ash and Dominic and who I want all Jerry one yeah Jerry oh and my guy

[00:22:25] you know what shout out to my guy Larry Larry you know who you are shy

[00:22:29] out to my guy um thank you for everything this year it has been a

[00:22:35] absolute help um the other thing that we want to get to is Brunson still being

[00:22:42] an absolute six-foot assassin I think it's awesome that we do have one player

[00:22:50] that has a Napoleon complex in the NBA playoffs and Jalen Brunson is our

[00:22:57] guy listen Jalen Brunson has been nasty through the playoffs so far okay he 42

[00:23:08] points nine assists 62 free throws in five games and again I tell you the man

[00:23:18] is six feet tall we've been told for years that guards that are diminutive

[00:23:27] in size cannot control the game so we've been told for years that Dominion

[00:23:33] to guards can't control the game and Jalen Brunson has been you know the

[00:23:39] exception to the rule that dude has been balling we love it Jalen Brunson has

[00:23:45] brought energy to that particular area and I'm here for it that there's

[00:23:53] no scene that's quite like Madison Square Garden in the Knicks being good that

[00:24:03] place is magical I can't explain it but it just is the other thing that we need

[00:24:11] to talk about is the the heart and hustle Josh Hart has showed throughout the

[00:24:16] playoffs he's averaging nearly 12 rebounds a gang he's relentless with

[00:24:22] his hustle he's relentless with his rebounding he's relentless with loose

[00:24:27] balls and I'm sure that Tim's has tried to sample some of Josh Hart's DNA he is

[00:24:36] gonna clone Josh Hart one at one point when Josh Hart can't play anymore and

[00:24:42] the thing that I want people to understand is the reason why we're

[00:24:47] celebrating Josh Hart he is six foot four he might be 210 pounds maybe and

[00:24:55] he's going up against Giants and just the energy and his his relentless

[00:25:02] attack of the ball for 48 minutes he's not being subbed out at all he's playing

[00:25:09] all 48 that dude has hard he has grit and it has been an absolute pleasure to

[00:25:19] watch alright the other thing that we need to get to is that the Pacers you

[00:25:25] know I mean you're looking at a situation where if you don't match the

[00:25:30] Knicks physicality you're gonna have a problem it has been both games have

[00:25:35] been close it's not like Indiana has been far off but for some reason they are

[00:25:42] still allowing the Knicks to kind of dictate tempo it's been more physical

[00:25:49] than Indiana probably likes it as far as that's concerned they've been hate

[00:25:53] they've been hanging in there in the rebounding situation which is great but

[00:25:58] we'll see if Tyrese has enough to stop this magical run that Jalen Brunson is

[00:26:06] on we do have to talk about one thing with with them they in game one the

[00:26:12] East Bay funk dunk that ogie topping through down that he attempted to do

[00:26:18] in a previous playoff series and he immediately once he missed it the

[00:26:23] dunk he immediately got pulled by Rick Carlisle he made sure he didn't miss that

[00:26:28] in Madison Square Garden remember ogie topping was traded to the Indiana Pacers

[00:26:36] before the season started okay tips had had enough didn't think that ogie

[00:26:44] topping provided the type of defense he'd be looking for and now he has a East Bay

[00:26:52] funk dunk in the garden on a breakaway so that was great to see here's the thing I

[00:27:04] will say about Carlisle Carlisle is a NBA champion in his own right he is he

[00:27:10] coached Dallas Mavericks to a NBA championship that was the dirt

[00:27:14] Navensky championship against the heat now he's a he's a tactician I love

[00:27:21] Carlisle I love some of the things that he will you know implement the problem is

[00:27:27] is that if you're telling me that Tyrese Halliburton is compromised and he's

[00:27:33] going to be compromised through that throughout this whole series I just

[00:27:37] don't see a way where Indiana can has enough answers to solve what Jalen

[00:27:43] Brunson and the just match the energy of Dante de Vincenzo or og and a nobie or

[00:27:52] like we said Josh Hart and we haven't even talked about the bigs we haven't

[00:27:57] talked about Isaiah Hartenstein we haven't talked about Mitchell Robinson

[00:28:02] we haven't talked about these guys and they've been contributing and doing all

[00:28:06] the dirty work in their own right so shout out to those guys as well but

[00:28:10] the crazers I think this was one of those things that you can kind of in a sense

[00:28:15] this is like their opening salvo to what it could be next year with a little more

[00:28:22] addition and talent a little more cohesion keep in mind the team that it

[00:28:29] looks like they're about to get bounced from the playoffs the Denver Nuggets

[00:28:32] who won the championship that team has been together for like four or five years

[00:28:37] now so sometimes yeah yeah you got a tweak and make some adjustments here and

[00:28:45] there but the problem is is that cohesion also works as well so I think this is

[00:28:53] gonna be entertaining series I don't think it's gonna go terribly long I'll

[00:28:57] be surprised if we go six games but I think the next just for some reason I

[00:29:03] think they're just a little bit better right now and there's no shame in that

[00:29:08] because we talked on the last podcast about your window and also grabbing a

[00:29:16] significant piece an integral piece as far as productions concern in Pascal

[00:29:21] Siakum mid-year and how those things don't not necessarily work out as well

[00:29:27] right and now we're in this position where yeah you know things are getting

[00:29:32] a little stressful maybe it was a little bit easier in the last series now this

[00:29:36] one a little more stressful people are going hey in times of stress I'm gonna go

[00:29:43] back to what I know right dominating ball of that's the case whatever it is

[00:29:49] and it that they do your you don't fall too far away from your DNA so let's

[00:29:58] get on to game seven of the cows and magic because then we can get to the

[00:30:02] Boston Celtics and how they smashed them in the first game I was excited to see

[00:30:09] Donovan Mitchell's trade value go up he scored 39 points had nine rebounds in

[00:30:16] in that game seven the closeout game we had a Keres Lever and my guy Merrill

[00:30:27] from the Cavaliers we had contributions to them so they are now not in

[00:30:33] witness protection anymore so they got contributions from areas where they

[00:30:38] needed it to you never know with a role player which one is going to show up

[00:30:44] you just need one of them to do that right if you are expecting a certain

[00:30:51] production from Darius Garland and you're expecting a certain production

[00:30:56] from Mowgli and Mitchell and alike then your bench is kind of like the candy on

[00:31:03] top right there the there the cool little whatever a little condiments you

[00:31:07] want to put on your on your Sunday or whatever case may be right and you got

[00:31:14] it in games like this you got to have one of those guys hit and Keres Lever

[00:31:18] and Merrill stepped up and gave contributions now to close out Orlando

[00:31:24] we talked about this the whole series I felt that Cal the Cleveland Cavaliers

[00:31:29] was gonna win it I felt that we were going to see the emergence Apollo and

[00:31:35] could he carry a team he answered all those questions I thought he answered

[00:31:39] them by game two personally but his game traveled to Cleveland all four

[00:31:46] games and that to me is the most impressive thing about this so Orlando

[00:31:51] know that they have a real one in Paulo then Carol the other thing is that Suggs

[00:31:58] and Fons Wagner were a combined three of 28 shooting Fons must work on his jump

[00:32:10] shot in the offseason to propel this team to the whatever the next level is for

[00:32:16] them the do shot very well his first year he struggled a second year I

[00:32:23] don't know what happened I don't know when it turned off I don't know why it

[00:32:28] turned off I don't know if there's a personal issue but this is not Fons

[00:32:34] Wagner I know this kid is better than this he needs to play better and I think

[00:32:42] he'll go find I think he'll go find his game in the offseason honestly tell

[00:32:46] you truth and then what what what does Orlando do I mean we've been talking

[00:32:54] about it since the playoffs started there's a there's a lead guard situation

[00:33:00] that they need to take care of that lead guard needs to be able to shoot it

[00:33:04] will be great if that he provided any defensive malleability whatsoever it

[00:33:12] would be great if he could be the tip of the spear ball pressure guy that would

[00:33:19] be great as well but if they can get a competent defender and somebody who is

[00:33:24] really adept at organizing the offense and getting players where they need to

[00:33:29] be that would be a huge upgrade to what they have right now Mark Helfoltz hate

[00:33:38] to say it it's been a such a tumultuous career he had that hitch in the shot he

[00:33:45] just it just never came around and you know like again the playoff will tell

[00:33:53] you the truth it just exposes everything and we felt that here at front-runner

[00:34:00] podcast collective that if it got to a game 7 clean blue was gonna win they

[00:34:04] did and now we're here we need to get to a couple more things and then we can get

[00:34:13] up out of here I want to I want to hit on the okc Dallas series if you're hearing

[00:34:19] all the paper in the background yes I do have notes again I think that we talked

[00:34:24] about it in the last podcast but okc has just has too much perimeter

[00:34:30] optionality for Dallas and especially if Luke is gonna be hampered with this knee

[00:34:35] injury SGA can create a shot for himself and others as long as also Jalen

[00:34:42] Williams out of Santa Clara the wing Jalen not the big Jalen Chet Holgering

[00:34:47] can do it in a break glass emergency case and Wallace can do it giddy can create

[00:34:54] a shot for himself or others we really just want him to create a shot for

[00:34:58] others at this point and then they have a flamethrower in Isaiah Joe it's amazing

[00:35:05] to me that Mark Dagnall yes he did good coach of the year we talked about it he

[00:35:10] was our coach of the year congratulations to mark Dagnall I think we said in the

[00:35:16] last part too as well but diagnose ability to handle playoff spotlight is

[00:35:22] impressive and let me just give you this I think this is gonna be one of our

[00:35:29] upper echelon guys in the league because if you take a glance at the rebounding

[00:35:37] disparity between Dallas and okc which what was the big concern about okc

[00:35:44] walking into the playoffs playoff physicality could they handle it that

[00:35:51] just the size differential between okc and Dallas Gaffords a big boy yes dairy

[00:36:00] lively is not as wide but he's you know a little bit taller I think than Chet if

[00:36:07] I'm not mistaken and he's a little bit stronger and he's like 25 pounds heavier

[00:36:13] so with all that being said to have this gang mentality to rebound because

[00:36:20] they knew they had to that's only instilled in coaching that is part of the

[00:36:24] philosophy for this series and for Dagnall to be able to convey these

[00:36:30] messages in his team to go out and apply and implement this game plan to such a

[00:36:37] artistic degree is so impressive because again we talk about it all the

[00:36:44] time people go all well you know da da da da you know you you're just you're just

[00:36:50] creating narratives the average age of the Oklahoma City Thunder is 22.8 that

[00:36:57] is nothing to sneeze at think about what you were like when you were 22 let's

[00:37:04] give that a second let that marinate mmm so you got a 22-year-old

[00:37:14] basically all these guys are except for a shea right must be weird for Gordon

[00:37:21] Hayward to be in that locker room as like the the mid 30s guy and he's seeing all

[00:37:29] these young like what is shade 26 now just turn so he's the elder statement

[00:37:35] of the group everybody else is like 20 21 22 think about what you were at

[00:37:44] 22 were you the most un were you the most selfless person to get young guys to

[00:37:55] buy into a system to not worry about your shots to be able to be mindful and

[00:38:00] defense understand what the assignment is understand what the counter to whatever

[00:38:05] they they do and to be able to implement it and go out and and produce

[00:38:11] it time and time and time again and also then to do it on the offensive

[00:38:16] in is super special and chat unlocks it the Thunder's ability to run and commit

[00:38:25] to this five-mile style creates creases for second chance opportunities like

[00:38:32] again I said the offensive rebound disparity was 16 offensive rebounds

[00:38:37] for OKC 11 for dent for Dallas now here's the other thing they also out

[00:38:42] rebounded to in total data I rebounded Dallas by like 18 in this game one of

[00:38:53] the possible fixes for Jason kid and I wonder if he'll use it is maybe he go

[00:38:58] to a 3 2 zone now I know a lot of people could like you mean 2 3 no I mean an

[00:39:04] actual 3 2 zone and the reason why I say that is because of the perimeter

[00:39:09] scoring ability and playmaking ability that that OKC has you would need 3 3

[00:39:15] towards top of the paint circle to be able to chase those those guys are all

[00:39:22] three point line and things of that nature the other thing is is that this

[00:39:27] now allows your bigs to do the drop coverage that they are more comfortable

[00:39:33] doing so they don't have to worry about a lot of area now you'll give up three

[00:39:39] point shots you'll try to get out to them but I wonder if it's enough of a

[00:39:44] quirk that they could use to kind of throw it now the other thing that you

[00:39:49] can do with that 3 2 is then you can give it a little kind of like boxing

[00:39:54] one theory and have either Daniel house or who am I thinking of Josh Green chase

[00:40:05] Shay Gilgers Alexander around to no avail but you could do that there's some

[00:40:12] things that you can try and I wonder what the adjustment that Jason kid would

[00:40:17] have come up with I think also this will protect Luca because he's dealing

[00:40:22] with the knee injury I think if you put a 3 2 zone out there with some like I

[00:40:28] said boxing one principles around Shay Gilgers Alexander this might be something

[00:40:33] that slows them down or at least it makes them think that's what you want to do

[00:40:37] with a young team you want to give them something that gives them pause so now

[00:40:42] they have to think right now it's just by an OKC you know talking about

[00:40:48] it's just super vibes everything is great we're dancing we're having a good

[00:40:55] time there's like strobe lights in the in locker room like a rave is great so

[00:41:02] we'll see what game to has to offer now we will get to this Celtics blowout

[00:41:08] in game one against the Cavaliers so the Cavaliers had a quick turn around

[00:41:12] they play Boston they get obliterated 120 to 95 now here's the thing

[00:41:19] the best outcome for the cows in this in this series is this is that they're

[00:41:25] going to get extra playoff revenue so shout out to the owner of the Cleveland

[00:41:29] Cavaliers shout out to our guy Dan Gilbert also special note I know Dan

[00:41:36] has been in some bad health lately I hope everything as well I hope just

[00:41:43] renewed health to you sir but remember one of the reasons why I'm a little

[00:41:49] sour on Cleveland let's go back to the last day of the season shall we Cleveland

[00:41:56] pulled their starters in the middle of the third quarter to secure the number

[00:42:01] four seed because they didn't want to play like Philadelphia and Philadelphia

[00:42:07] was gonna be like the seventh seed so if clearly would have won they would

[00:42:11] have been the two seed which that's where the next ended up what they

[00:42:14] chose to go the route of we want to make sure we guarantee ourselves one

[00:42:21] series victory now they almost fun with the bag on that because Orlando gave

[00:42:33] them everything they wanted that when seven we just talked about that now

[00:42:37] here we are game one and I'll ask the question again to the Cleveland

[00:42:42] Cavaliers fans why on earth would you want to be on the on the bracket on

[00:42:48] the side of the bracket where the damn Boston Celtics are every other team has

[00:42:55] some sort of issue whether besides whether they're missing a player whether

[00:43:01] this players playing hurt or whatever it is Cleveland chose hey you know

[00:43:09] hey you know what we're probably not winning this anyway let's secure one

[00:43:13] series victory hooking means a lot in Cleveland let's go guardians I hope

[00:43:20] y'all have a good season um here's what I'll say about the Boston series and I

[00:43:26] said this on previous podcast Donovan Mitchell is very talented he will get

[00:43:34] buckets in this series there is no doubt I do think that Darius Garland

[00:43:39] gets a disservice done to him every game with Donovan Mitchell in this lineup

[00:43:43] not because Donovan Mitchell is not a good player Donovan Mitchell is a great

[00:43:49] player he's leading his team and he led them to a series victory and now into

[00:43:54] the second round there's nothing to sneeze at there but what I will say

[00:44:01] is that the we're getting closer to ball dominance with Donovan Mitchell in the

[00:44:11] playoffs and I think the team was way better when the ball is moving for them

[00:44:16] I think it also empowers Darius Garland and so far he's been very docile

[00:44:25] throughout these this playoffs series so far and you need something to get him

[00:44:30] going because he's the other guy that can explode Evan Mobley to me hasn't shown

[00:44:38] me the capacity to be able to say hey I'm gonna go ahead and get 35 tonight

[00:44:42] Darius Garland can't so you need that guy if you have any chance in this

[00:44:49] series which let's face it their backboard is too small and the link

[00:44:56] that the Celtics have in their backcourt and also in their wings is gonna

[00:45:02] stifle Cleveland Cavaliers let's just be honest here's my one lingering issue

[00:45:08] with the Celtics Jason Tatum has not shown to me that he is ready for the

[00:45:17] full-time alpha role and what I mean by that is that there's never a time

[00:45:23] where you think that Jason Tatum is the best player in the series like right now

[00:45:30] honestly I think Donovan Mitchell is probably the best player in that series

[00:45:34] but the Celtics have so much talent that it doesn't matter and I have a theory

[00:45:45] to float by you guys and I want I want somebody to tell me I'm wrong and

[00:45:49] you can hit me on Twitter or X at frontrunner PC I thought the Celtics

[00:45:55] internally came to the same conclusion as I did if you go back to the to the

[00:46:02] previous offseason all the other trades in what have you it indicated that

[00:46:09] let's just build the most solid team the most full-proof team we could and

[00:46:17] whatever Jason Jason can now just fall comfortably into a role where yep

[00:46:22] sometimes he'll get the bug and want to take it over and yep sometimes there's

[00:46:28] gonna be times where he's okay just allow the offense to be I just think

[00:46:35] with all the moves they told you what they thought of Jason Tatum they think

[00:46:41] he's a terrific player but they don't think of him as a true like number like

[00:46:48] top five do in a league because he's not and that's the problem when you get to

[00:46:57] the playoffs at some point you face a dude that is clearly better than you and

[00:47:06] he knows it and you know it he knows he's gonna be carrying his team and he

[00:47:12] wonders if you're gonna be carrying your orders to Jason Tatum he had every

[00:47:18] opportunity to change this situation I think that the matchup that he got with

[00:47:23] Cleveland I think personally it was favorable there are people in my life

[00:47:28] that do completely disagree not can understand why as well because the

[00:47:34] length of Mowgli can be a problem the length of Allen can be a problem

[00:47:39] but it's true some problem I don't think so I don't think Donovan or Darius

[00:47:47] provide a lot of defensive stalwart ability but the additions of Drew

[00:47:57] Holiday and Christoph Porzingis just made that lineup just click into place

[00:48:02] like a Lego kids Google Lego it was dope we played with them in the 70s and

[00:48:10] 80s it was awesome they do it now to build all kinds of beautiful things but I

[00:48:16] just think that the the front office of the Boston Celtics look at and here's

[00:48:21] the thing who knows their talent better than the team that has had them from

[00:48:29] the beginning had them for six seven years who do you think they know Jason

[00:48:34] Tatum do you think they know to his personality do they think that he

[00:48:40] is do you think they think he's aggressive enough when he comes down to

[00:48:44] to the to the crunch time of games do you think they feel he is ready for all

[00:48:52] this the moves in the offseason will tell you that they don't believe he's ready

[00:48:58] for all this I know a lot of people be like oh well Vance you just thought

[00:49:03] you don't like Boston you don't you just don't like them no it's not true

[00:49:08] I'm a Laker fan yeah do I want Boston to win their 18 championship absolutely not

[00:49:15] as a competitor you don't want that but as somebody who tries to look at this

[00:49:20] game fairly and keep in mind I was the I was a Laker fan that said that the

[00:49:27] Lakers were a playing team I was also a Laker fan who said that Denver was

[00:49:33] going to absolute absolutely what wipe the floor with the Lakers so there is

[00:49:39] some perspective there I just don't think that Tatum is that do and now he has a

[00:49:49] team that can help him but I still think at the end of the day you got to

[00:49:56] show especially if you want to get this money player that you're about to

[00:50:02] get where you're the highest paid NBA athlete of all time it'd be really nice

[00:50:08] and it would make them feel very comfortable if you could show in one of

[00:50:13] these series that you're willing to go ahead and try to take it over and

[00:50:17] willing to take the challenge and willing to go ahead and do what it needs

[00:50:21] to be done to go ahead and get the Celtics banner 18 because it's really

[00:50:27] on him if you're looking to win a championship Boston Tatum must be the

[00:50:34] best guy not Jalen Brunson what is 32 the other night not him not Derrick White

[00:50:41] not Kristoff Corsignas who's the cheat code none of those guys it has to be

[00:50:47] Tatum five we got one more last story and I say this for last because I thought

[00:50:54] it was kind of it was funny but it was also informative

[00:50:58] look LeBron James has been doing a podcast with JJ Reddick I think this is

[00:51:04] funny for a lot of reasons what we think that LeBron James if he would have

[00:51:09] went to college what I went to Duke so we think that's funny the other thing

[00:51:14] that I find hilarious is that these two dudes found each other and started

[00:51:20] doing a podcast now Darwin Ham is no longer the Laker coach who we reported

[00:51:27] to you before it all went down that that dude was definitely getting fired so

[00:51:32] shots out to us um but JJ Reddick is now one of the leading candidates for the

[00:51:42] Lakers head coach head coaching position and these dudes are doing a

[00:51:47] podcast so I took a listen to the last one and oh it didn't disappoint it didn't

[00:51:54] disappoint at all um LeBron showed a complete disdain for the three-point

[00:52:03] culture JJ Reddick he read a stat on the pod towards the end of it I want to

[00:52:09] say was like probably what like 10 minutes to go so if you want to go back

[00:52:13] and listen to mine the game I would suggest that you do so it's a it's a

[00:52:19] great listen but JJ Reddick read this stat and you were trying to convince

[00:52:23] LeBron it said about teams who shoot three-pointers so the stat was that the

[00:52:29] team that shot and made the most threes in the game their record was 27 and 9

[00:52:35] but the team that just took the most three-point attempt their record was 27

[00:52:43] and 8 not bad so LeBron after he gives his information he irreverently kind of

[00:52:53] chuckles and then JJ is adamant about how it's uh it's you know it's thin it's

[00:52:58] the thinnest of margins so the more threes you get up you kind of give

[00:53:02] yourself a little buffer a little cushion or whatever the case may be and

[00:53:06] he just was really just adamant and how important that the three-point shot had

[00:53:11] just become and he just said and this is a quote he said it's a math issue and I

[00:53:17] believe that if you think about modern NBA these teams are taking like 35 plus

[00:53:24] three-pointers a game right so if your team like the Lakers who DLO is

[00:53:31] really you're a volume three-point shooter I would even call Austin Reeves

[00:53:36] a volume three-point shooter as of yet because you need to take like seven to

[00:53:42] eight threes to to really get into that range and I wonder if this was all by

[00:53:50] design because like I said LeBron was kind of really dismissive about the

[00:53:55] stat and about what JJ was saying and then when he said it was a math issue

[00:54:01] LeBron parked up his rebuttal is like are you advocating for more threes in the

[00:54:08] game but then as he as he consumed the information you can see the gears you

[00:54:16] know you know turning or whatever and he says you know and then he said I

[00:54:20] guess math be mad you know you know the math ain't mathin you know if you're

[00:54:25] not shooting 35 plus three is you're shooting 25 threes and then you know your

[00:54:32] percentages let's say 33 percent their percentage is 33 percent well they may

[00:54:37] 12 threes you may eight okay that's four points there who's who won the

[00:54:47] rebounding edge who won the turnover edge who won the you know so everything is

[00:54:54] everything and let's say the rebounding edges there's no real discernible

[00:54:59] advantage there there's no discernible advantage to your turnover margin there's

[00:55:06] no real advantage at the free throw line that team probably is gonna win because

[00:55:13] it's math so as LeBron was taking that all in he says this is his quote he

[00:55:19] says I'm warming up more and more as my as I wind down my career on the three

[00:55:27] point attempt aspect of the game he says I love math math is my was my

[00:55:35] favorite subject in school so I do understand so let me speak LeBron James

[00:55:41] for you this is what he meant when he said I love math I love cash that's

[00:55:48] what LeBron loves okay and when he says math was my favorite he's saying cash is

[00:55:56] his motivation and then when he says so I understand he's saying well if you

[00:56:03] notice we talked about it towards the end of the year LeBron this year shot

[00:56:08] more threes than he has ever shot in his career he also shot one of the

[00:56:15] highest percentage of his career he shot over 40% this year and he's turning

[00:56:22] himself more and more into a three point shooter I don't ever think LeBron

[00:56:29] will be the guy who will shoot 13 threes like on the regular I think he might

[00:56:37] get to that like every once in a while it just is so hot and it's so it's so

[00:56:42] wet going in pause I understand I heard what I said I know everybody is

[00:56:50] chuckling right now but if his three point shot is going in yeah the volume

[00:56:55] go up but normally that's not what LeBron wants to do but if he can will

[00:57:00] himself to like I'm gonna take eight and I'm great enough to shoot 38% and

[00:57:08] make this matter this dude could play for another five years are you kidding me

[00:57:15] we could have another five years LeBron James in the passive aggressiveness but

[00:57:22] he's his record is total points score record will never fall if did you if

[00:57:29] this dude plays like another five years but anyways um I thought that was an

[00:57:34] interesting way to close out the show LeBron talking about threes JJ reddit

[00:57:38] talking about threes and then JJ Reddick is probably gonna be the head coach of

[00:57:43] Lakers I'm kidding I don't know anything I'm kidding when I say that

[00:57:47] all right we can close this pod out what I can't tell you is that we're gonna

[00:57:54] get back on schedule I know you've heard this time and time again but

[00:57:58] don't worry so we're gonna do a Friday pod and then next week it'll be

[00:58:03] Monday Wednesday and Friday and then we'll get we'll get back on there'll be a

[00:58:08] lot of basketball a lot of playoff basketball and as news starts to come

[00:58:13] out because remember we talked about the notebooks of the of the guys who

[00:58:19] cover the team on a daily basis the beat writers when the notebooks open up

[00:58:25] we'll start to see some of these guys and then we'll start to get a

[00:58:30] clear picture of who is going to be actually on the market when it comes time

[00:58:36] to get free agency and the NBA draft which I think they'll be a lot of trade

[00:58:45] activity and then also in free agency I also believe there'll be a lot of trade

[00:58:50] activity as well so with that being said what we would like to do again is to

[00:58:57] say be a friend tell a friend tell everybody about the pod they can get it

[00:59:01] on Spotify Apple Amazon music iHeart Radio Pandora please help us out on that

[00:59:10] because we need you guys and then the other thing is this the best part of you

[00:59:17] with you do not let anyone diminish your light how go out there and have a

[00:59:25] awesome day be as unique as possible as long as you're not out there hurting

[00:59:30] out hurting people or whatever you know my thing live your life to the best

[00:59:36] your ability and try to make an impact on others alright and so without being

[00:59:42] said we'll see you back on this feed on Friday y'all stay easy