Looking Ahead to Game Two

This episode is brought to you by Nas Energy Every ounce of dirt sweat and gears, every checkered flag and trophy raised, every lap, every race, every hard fought place They're all jammed inside every can of NASA energy High performance energy for burning the midnight oil in the garage and pedal to the metal, human horsepower For the streets, go ahead, crack open a can of Nas energy and get after it Hello and welcome to Group Chat. I am Justin Verrier and joining me, Rob Mahoney, J Kyle Man Oh What a start to the NBA finals, Rob Mahoney. That's what I'm fucinking talking about. Honestly Beautiful Ugly, no holds barred basketball, nobody getting bailed out with a foul call. Everything has to be difficult all the time. We almost lost Jalen Brunson because of it, but he survived, we survived the Nick survived Yeah, a surprising amount of they let them play. I know we say that a lot, but there was there was There was some grabbing some hand fighting here and there that maybe I would say I would I would imagine there's going to be some some chatter to the the league office and appeal to like maybe cut down on some of it. But overall, upps and downs, it was drama, it was theater, it was everything you would want. first quarter, I feel like I'm still kind of catching my breath from. It reminded me if you guys have seen the Friday Night Lights movies where I believe it's prereacher, like defensive end when they go up against that really big team in the game is like, they're so fast. they're big. And then plus they're fast. That was just like me writing down all of my notes where it was like, That' big fast U byy the end of the game, things seemed to switch. obbviously Brunson came back and that fourth quarter in particular really felt like he put his stamp on the game. It really seemed symbolic Rob that down the stretch, Brunson was taking over. Weby unfortunately dribbles off his foot Brunson takes advantage and that's pretty much sealed it for the Kick Yeah, I mean, just what a joy it is to watch Jayen Brunntson work. And I say that as much for the stretches where he doesn't have it going as anything else. like he comes back from that injury And he has to like really put his head down to try to get to the basket a couple of times. It kind of works. Then he gets sort of phased out, then he comes back It was just like he had a response for every way that the spurrs tried to guard him. Like all their little tag and recover stuff, he would beat it. All their kind of soft drops, he would beat it saw some switches in the fourth quarter, eventually that wasn't good enough either. And so like There were points in this game where you would look at his shooting line like, o, like that's that's a little much, you know, just by the percentages, not the most efficient night so far. But that's not what the finals are. And like, To me watching a superstar who can shoot and play through all of those tough stretches of offense is one of the best things about basketball and's one of the things that someone like Victor Webinama is still learning how to do honestly I don't know if they're going to go back to the switches, but if they end up having to do that in the tag and recover stuff like you were talking about, I think they're going to have to make that work because they can't concede that switch with Champanny because Brunson had that's how Brunson got in a rhythm was when Champany was guarding him and he can just overextend him. And I think anybody that plays You watch the way that people guard Brunson and you think like, oh man, they're they're really pressuring him. Oh,, you know, they're bothering him. It's just like Brunson lives in those little margins where you're're you're leaning towards him or that's that's an advantage for him. It's honestly very like on a different scale, Luca ish where the guys that are up on him, he doesn't look at it like what am I going to do? He's like I have you on the sharp hook that is my ability to use my balance and then he had him. I mean, he got him a couple different times. Yeah, that was There's more stuff, I think that we can get into about how they're going to guard him, but in the first half it was Kat kind of outplaying Wimby offensively and then in the second half, Bronsson after having such a wobbly scary incident there where I think it was his own guy bumped Barnes into Bon Really unfortunate. he comes back and does what he does. It was kind of Iversonish like that shot hit in the corner. I definitely had flashbacks like Irison over Tailu kind of thing. Yeah, Landrew Shamman almost had his Illuminati pass revoked there, Justin. It was It was real close based off of knocking Harrison Barnes into Jen Brunson's knee but Oswald did ends well Well why don't we take a quick break? comeome back D the of This episode of the Ringer NBA S is presented by Ferrero. The world is watching. Go all in for your team this summer with Ferrero Ener for the chance to win a range of prizes just by purchasing your favorite treats like Kinder Bueno with an irresistible chocolate wafer and creamy hazelnut filling, or Kebler Chips deeluxe cookies with indulgent and rich chocolatey chunks, or Ferrero Rochet squares, with crunchy hazelnuts and milk chocolate wrapped in iconic gold Go all in. Buy any two for rarero brands and you could win one million dollars. Official rules apply. Learn more at go allinandwin. comot Shaylen Brunson obviously a master of the pivot and I feel like down the stretch there, like just watching the amount of like counters and up and uers and spins andivot's just like you get dizzy. just like watching him being able to guard him is one thing. But the synchronicity that he has with his bigs, there were like several key moments where I feel like Mitchell Robinson in particular, like you could see him seealing off Wy, but cat Like I felt like this was like the prime example of a veteran team that's played together for so long that knows each other's movements and like just to see those things collide because as Kyle said Kat was amazing in this game. like yeah, he studied the Kicks until Brunon can come back, take over late. But it just felt like things like all fit together perfectly at the end there in a way that you would hope for a team That's more veteran laden that's going to grind you down versus a team like the Spurs that wants to play with a little bit more frenetic style and just like kind of just raam it down Yeah, I mean, it's hard to know how much of that is just kind of the impressions that we superimpose on things But the Kicks do feel like the calmer team. They do feel like the steadier team based on the way they've executed, not just in game one, but all throughout the playoffs. And to the point where in the first half, like, OG and Obi Mchael Brides weren't really a part of the offense at all. I thought the Spurs did a great job of Mly holding down those spots on the kickouts, but also recovering out to them and forcing OG to put the ball on the floor and then have to like make some difficult decisions thinking that Wby could be around every corner. It just wasn't really going anywhere But you just kind of trust that over a long enough timeline Jalen Brunson is going to bust free. Kat is going to help some of these guys get open. And sure enough, like then OG starts to pop in the fourth quarter and The Kick just have that kind of balance right now where you trust that if things tilt too far in one direction, somebody is going to help counterbalance it. And we should also say Josh Hart, a huge part of that effort too, where Th points, not really a score whatsoever What he does when he's not being guarded is really difficult and requires like high energy, high intensity, incredible focus to execute at all times But there he is just making like a truly ridiculous number of connecting plays to make the Kicks go S rebounds fourth to. Yeah Hart Hart, I thought an underrated thing that he did tonight was he definitely pulled the Zach Rndolph to Marcus cousins like we bully bullies in my neighborhood thing where you know, Castle is coming into this game where he's just been hitting first and just being just relentless As OKC fans if they how they feel about Josh or the way that Stefan Castle gets officiated as opposed to the way they get treated, you know, in the media and things like that. I mean, he's been that guy the whole the whole playoffs. and I kind of felt like Castle, this is the first series where I've been like Castle looked like he just kind of got beat at his own stylistic game tonight in addition to all the stuff that they were that they were doing there. Speaking to the cat thing in the first half, like You know, she I was wondering going into this game strategically. I was I texted Michael Pina this morning where I was it was one of those things where you wonder if the obvious thing that's right in front of your face is actually the answer. They have a name for that, Aham's Razor, where it's like, I was like, why don't they if if they feel confident that they can contain Bruntson straight up with the guys that they have. I was like, why don't they just play Wimby You know, we kept talking about where they're going to hide them. and you don't want to give up that zone stuff But I mean, the first kind of like taste of blood, I think that the sppurs got in this game was like when Kat blew by ripped and blew by Wbe a couple times. it was repeatedly. It was interesteresting. Yeah. He was I rewound it watched it from the overhead angler. There's a lot of hand fighting going on. off course. likeike keep getting it on him and I'll be curious to see how that changes, but It kind of made me wonder if they do stay there. It's like Wimby really, really was above the break with his feet committing to that matchup. and I'm kind of wondering if they stick with that Yeahes, so like the Surs did eventually start moving Weenby around and put him on people like Josh Hart and try to move him away from Kat. It took like all of six minutes for that to happen because Kat grilled him so badly in those opening minutes. It was incredible. And yes, I think part of it is calibration, right Weemby is playing up a little too high, respecting the jumper maybe a little too much. He also overplayed a lot on some of the handoffs that Kat was trying to execute and then just gave Kat the drive as a result But I think you have to give toowns a ton of credit. I mean, he's been an incredible driver all playoffs long These are gutsy plays in which yeah, he's hand fighting to get free, but then he's fending off defenders as they come to challenge him and still converting I thought he was just sensational in this game. The combination of the driving and punishing Wimby and then they move Wimby away and then he starts beating spurs on the offensive glass because he's so much bigger than these other guys like that domino, like that's that's so devastating in a game like this Yeah, I was pretty skeptical that the cat revolution would continue on into the finals, just because you know, you look at the competition or just like, you, at a certain point, just something was going to fall because that's what happens with cat.. It wasn't just like beasting guys on the offens of board. He was physical and like domineering in a way that previous cats would not be Also doing it without really over following. I remember there's one point like, I think it was early in the third quarter where picked up his third fol. They kept him on the floor and he kind of just played a bit more measured as a result of that his defense on My as you guys alluded to. But those drives man. it's just so funny watching him because they're so effective in ways that you wouldn't expect it to be because it's almost like He's so top heavy that he really does have that bar on Rller Eescapes vibe where it's like he seems like he's going to crash in any second. like he takes the wrong thing. He's like teetering and tottering and going down there, but he has just so much top strength. like he's basically wearing like a big old barrel like like a poor person in like a cartoon when someone loses all their money, you know, they wear the b cooking, Let him cook, Rob. let him cook It's just like when was struggling to like keep track of that he gotten his way. It's just like he was so effective at that. andat Kat was amazing in this game So incredibly effective and effective the other way too. like he was so physical guarding Wimby and like how many possessions did we see Wemy try to face up at attack cat one on one have to settle for like a kind of cheap turnaround jumper from the mid range that ultimately missed because he got absolutely nowhere on his like first second and even kind of third attempts at a move I just don't think we can praise Cat enough for a game like this. This is theseese are the biggest possible stakes This is the matchup of this series is like, what do you do with Weny on both sides? How do you How do you torture him a little bit in the way that he tortures opponents Cat had these guys all spun around Yeah If you're if you're an offensive player like that likes to operate in the middle of the floor, I feel like the spin is one of the first things that gets targeted. I don't I mean, I feel like I hear that a lot. like that's just guys that like to spin around the foul line. you're basically just going completely blind for a second And that's that's a thing that they can they can exploit It's interesting because the Kicks did a really good job with the timely digs on that. They did a really I have a couple shots of like They were kind of creating a little triangle around Wimby every time that he started to cat a go to one of those moves I'll be curious to see though, one of the things that they did kind of hit on a couple different times is just using that you know, pass the ball to the left side and then have a pin down to get Wimby to that spot inst so that you you don't end up with those you know, telegraph digs. I thought overall on defense, I thought that they did a great job.. There was a point in this game where I mean, You can't come at We were talking earlier about I felt like the Kicks really needed to steal this game to like really light the fire. I feel like I feel like people have treated them like they can do this. like this tonight I felt like was like if they come in there and make a statement and get this one, you shift the home court in math, obviously. But then I just thought that they couldn't there was a point in this game where I was looking at the numbers where you know, Wimby ended up six of twenty one. He got twenty six points, but he, you know, he got a lot of those at the line Fox was horrible. We can talk talk about that. I thoughtell looked like he was over pursuing it all night. And I just felt like Yeah. I just felt like you couldn come out of this game if you were the Kicks and not win this one with the way It was it was going to hurt really bad if you lost one considering how badly the Spurs played on offense What Yeah, I mean, they played badly on offense because the Kicks lock these dudes up. Like we led with Brunson, We talked about Kat. We talked about like Josh Hard and the effect he has on the offense This was a defensive win for New York The Spur shot thirty six percent from the field They shot twenty six percent from three. and I think most importantly, all those like wide open Julian Champne, weak side Thes that were there in the first half completely iced out in the second half. And a lot of this comes down to those digs you're talking about, Kyle, where the Kicks were overreacting or just like a little bit off their balance in terms of applying pressure on Wimby and walling up the guards as they tried to dribble penetrate And they were giving up some of that kickout stuff Second half comes around and all of that is buttoned up and then of a sudden the sppurs are just kind of constantly searching like Passing the ball around, San Antonio's Ball movement was pretty good, but there's just nothing open because the Knicks had everything locked up. Yeah, I mean, it seemed pretty apparent from the jump that the Kicks were bigger and matched the physicality in ways that pererhaps we haven'ten sppurs go up against all playoffs. Like the only thing that was probably like approachable was like probably the T timberwolves or the Blazers in terms of ' a size, but obviously like they didn't I see you I see you. That's right. That's right. Ive shoe horned to Blazer's reference in there. I don't care. Fucking ten months into this season. I can do whatever I want. That jar has dust on it, like a flavored vodka bottle at a liquor store. It' like it all out Well, Harper was meteork to begin with. and it just felt like he was pretty pedestrian at the second half. I mean, we could get into whether or not like they should have played him more down the stretch, but it did feel like he hit like his energy bar just kind of dissipated down the stretch. And I have to wonder if that was a lot of the defensive adjustments that The the next' making you guys are lookinguding to I think that some of the the defensive adjustments. Also I just think you can't overstate how draining a game like this is The physicality is one thing. The emotional toll, like the psychological toll of like You could see it from the Surs. they were by far like the more jittery team to start and Kyle, I think you were right about Devin Vasll in particular. L it just looked like he was hunting a little bit too much. likeike how many rushed jumpers in threes did we see from the spurs in the first five minutes of this game Some guys kind of settle down. Donan Harper settled down. I thought Wendby settled down a little bit in particular. Dere and Fox, I thought moved well all throughout the game, but just never really seemed to convert anything from any range at all, which is going to be a problem U but All of this like if you start out kind of working extra hard to settle into the game and then you have to fight these dudes all night long and then it's going into crunch time. I mean, it was a tie game going into the fourth quarter. You're scrapping for every single possession. There's bodies on the floor everywhere I think it's natural that especially if you're a younger player by the time you get to the end You just might not be used to forty like forty eight consecutive minutes of high intensity basketball at this kind of level Yeah, a couple of things there. I mean, the Harper thing H For as brilliant as Dylan is. I think his talent positioned in the spurs offense where he is playing as like a response, like he's catching the ball and and attacking a straight line drive. likeike he's so talented that like rotating defenses are are just not equipped to handle him. I mean he had one where he bodied Oi. we're running through the list of who can't he b bodied Oi but that went in I was like, holy smokes. and then brridges look like he was holding on He looked like like the somebody holding on to like the overgrown kid in like pe wee football just like like couldn't stop him. But there's a big difference between that and like, hey, Dylan, take the ball above the break and orchestrate And you saw that last play where it was like this is an experience. Nick team as awesome as Dylan is. It's like that's that's a lot to ask. So I don't know that we're I think you got to continue to look for ways to to use him. but I don't know that like putting him in spread ball screen and saying save us is going to be the what the doctor ordered. But you know, and I I kind of go back and forth with Visll and with Champpenni. They talked about on the broadcast how Chimenni took an aggressive win in transit. You need those aggressive shots to that audacity has a ripple effect on your offense if they're going on. But I thought Visll was chased them all over the place in a way where he never seemed totally comfortable to me. Maybe the Surs will be able to make some kind of an adjustment to get those guys in more comfortable spots. I don't know what it's going to be. Yeah, Harper just felt like he was more comfortable in this moment. you would expect that for someone who literally just turned twenty years old last month It's wild. We were talking before we hopped on here that apparently Dylan Harper is thirteen when COVID hit, which really just sent us into I don't like that. I don't like that at all But he's just like he marries not only like that sort of youthful like I don't know what to do with my hands or like I don't know how bad this can be. So like I almost play with a certain ease and like I don't have the weight out of my shoulders as I doe, but he also like gets away with a lot of S like just holding and's like kind of veteran moves. I don't know if that's because he's the son. of a former MBA player or what? but like he kind of marries the two together to the point where like he seemed incredibly comfortable. thingsings ultimately kind of flippp that on there. but like yeah, Kyle go ahead Oh no, I just something really random popped to my mind because I'm you notice my face proross something Nat, I've mentioned I have a little kid. I have a five year old. So I'm at playgrounds a lot. likeike just, you know, whereas in the past I was at playgrounds and the cops would come and it was awful. but I Yeah. No, but I mean, you just you watch you you watch kids play and things like that. And I remember there was this girl who was like There's a fearlessness that comes with being really young that's like it's a superpower. It's an ignorance where you don't you don't necessarily see danger unless and then it enters you. But I remember she kept she was standing way too close to this thing and she kept bouncing this ball really hard off of it. And I was like, Man I was like that thing's getting ready to hit her directly in the face. and she just like bam and it like knocked her back. But she was standing so close and I feel like that's what it made me think of where it's just like when you're when you're a certain age and you haven't experienced things, it's like There's a powerful fearlessness, I think that I'm not saying that Harper is going to lose that, but that's what that made me think of I think the fearlessness serves him very well. I also think it's a compelling reason why he should play even more than this. We alluded to it, despite the fatigue, despite the difficulty of the series, despite the fact as you mentioned Kyle, like By role, he's not often asked to initiate offense in the complex ways the Dern Foxes, for example I'm not even saying Dearn Fox should play less I'm looking at like The twelve very vacant Harrison Barnes minutes, for example. and I just don't think Harry can play in a series like this one. He's giving them nothing. I know they're trying to steal minutes in the front court. I know Kelvin Johnson was just like out of his mind in a way that they kind of took him out of out of commission here. He got straight up blocked by Duce McBride at one point. J like straight up drove on him and he blocked his shit It didn't go great. Yeah. But I think Dylan Harper needs to be out there even more than his what did he end up with like twenty eight minutes. For a couple of key reasons, the most important to me is games like this. this is a single possession game for a lot of crunch time again tied going into the fourth quarter. So much of it comes down to chaos. So much of it comes down to like the one long rebound. And does that long rebound turn into a fast break or does it turn into the kind of like slow we have to reset sort of possession And I trust Dyl and Harper in those chaotic moments to drive hard and convert through traffic basasically more than anyone else in this series arr barring perhaps Jlen Brunson. So If you can get one of those like guys you can draft off of the insanity of a game and the intensity of a game like this I just think that's worth its weight in gold. You know, you want the guys who can help you execute in the half court, but you really desperately need the players who can help you make sense of the things that are hard to make sense of Yeah, I mean, I dinged his ability to like orchestrate, but that's what you're right. I mean, that's one of the areas where not that he can't orchestrate, it's just like I don't want to really totally put that burden on him and Fox has to be better. That's the other thing. But Yeah, I mean, he he was just run like shamit I was texting to people like shhamot was a clear target for a bunch of the spurs ball handlers. And in transition, Harper got him a couple times where I was like, this might be an issue. So I don't know. mayaybe it's just like finding maybe it's not putting him where he's the lead decision maker, but just incorporating him in more plays where he's like catching it like a like a jet sweep kind of thing and just going to the basket Well especially be careful what you wish for. you know, if like we all want to see Dylan Harper do more. If he starts doing more The Nicksers is going to say okay, OGan Anenobbei, you're not guarding Darrren Fox anymore. Now you're guarding Dylan Harper. let's see how that goes for him I want to talk about Oji's role in this, but why don't we take one more break, come back, talk about that The Ringer NBA showow is brought to you by Fanduual. It all comes down to this Who do you think will be wearing the ring at the end of the NBA finals? makeake your call with Fandle. Right now, new customers can hit the court with three hundred fifty dollars in bonus bets guaranteed after betting five dollars for seven straight days. Fandal is the best place to bet all your favorite players during the finals, bet on their baskets and boards or build a same game parlay for a chance at a bigger payout We're going to make this easy. game two odds as we're recording this, Spurs minus five and a half Oh it's a little bigger of a line than I would like, but I like the spurs to bounce back in Game two. They're not going to lose two in a row at home. My is going to play better. I think some of the reserves are going to play better too. So give me the spurs minus five and a half for now. if you get a better line, that'd be nice going into game two Just visit fandle dot com slash fringer NBA to get started. twenty one plus select states, eighteen plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. first online real money wager only. minimum five dollar wager required for seven consecutive days. Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt, gambling problem call one eight hundred gambler, call one eight sevenenty nine seven seven seven seven or visit CcPG. orgash chat in Connecticut. So obviously the big kind of strategic match upp thing that everyone's looking forward to going into the series was just what they would do with WeMby defensively would he guard Josh Hart? So as you guys talked about up top like they started with cat in the match upp there. But then they switched it at halfime I thought that ultimately probably wasn't the best move. I thought it worked fine, but I do worry about it going forward in part because you saw the Nicks immediately go into OG on the blocks trying to go up in the post against Fox. And I do wonder like it didn't work. OG didn't really play offensively all that well intontil the fourth quarter when a shot started to fall. but you saw like where there was an obvious or spot that the Nicks could take advantage of. I do wonder all of a sudden OGi takes advantage of that in the next game. The advantage starts to compound a little bit more there. On top of that, it just felt like heart I felt was ready that sort of strategic adjustment in the way that perhaps he wasn't in the regular season matchups, just watching him create and just make the right hit ahead pass on the move with the extra bit of space just felt like it stressed the Spurs defense in ways that it probably hadn't before. I'm curious what you guys think about that overall because that feels like the big chess move. And I would say at least in this first game, it went toward the mick Yeah, I would say the closest thing they've seen is some of the effect that like Alex Cruso can have on an offense. you know, not On the days where he's not beating you with the shot, what else is he giving you? We saw We saw Hart kind of dribbling through and doing some of the nash stuff that we talked about in the last series overall helping them move side to side and activate different parts of their offense in a sort of counterintuitive way I don't know what the best like positioning for Wy is. likeike if Josh Hard is going to play this way and he doesn't have to have a hot shooting night to play this way, that's going to be very tough to counter no matter where Wy is If you want to keep him on cat As we alluded to, I think he just needs to come off of the shot a little bit and play a little bit further back Make Car Anthony Towns have to go through the process of thinking, do I have enough room here to get this three off over Viicttor Webinyama? Make him consider it and reconsider it, makeake him have that flicker of doubt take them out of kind of the natural rhythms of their offense. because I think the more he plays up into Cat Weirdly enough, the easier it is for Kat to drive by him or the easier it is for the next to get into their handoff. So it's like I think playing a little bit off of towns could go a long way if they want to keep him in that spot. Yeah, I mean, that's a knee jerk decision that's a lot easier than the the uncertainty that Windby creates where you're just kind of like eyeballing it. like can I even and we saw guys do that tonight. I mean, OG deliberated about it for a while and made a crazy shot. We saw Alvarado sizing him up. I feel overall like the Kicks were just a little more they had a little more certainty, I thought in the half court about how they were going to go about doing that whether in that it was gartotting him when one of their, you know, when Runson was driving. likeike we said, Robinson did a really good job about that. You mentioned heart gnashing where I think we mentioned this when they played in the cup where they they started to kind of poke at these things and figure them out where it was like, no, we're not going into this where we're like, oh, we thought we we thought we were going to flow into our offense and this thing isn't there. They're like, no, this is just an assumed of the sequence where we're like we're we're moving Wimby. We're not we're not reacting, you know and and then once heart gets to the other side of of the rom, it's like there's the there's these actions that are triggered where you start to kind of attack Wimby being out of place. Yeah Well, it's so funny too, because I look at the Nick bench and I just think like, I don't know if like it made a dramatic impact. Duce definitely had his moments. Mitchell Robinson played through not having a hand. I think fairly well Yeah really made an impact on the boards and just being physical in the paint, but like there was clearly like a lob or two where he just couldn't finish because he just literally doesn't have access to the mobility in his hands. But it's just so funny because when I look at it from afar or remove more from the game, I'm like, well, there's so much more talent that this burds can tap into across the board here, but it just felt like the Nicks across the board just kind of like showed up in ways that you would expect for a team that's probably a little bit more used to this sort of environment? I think that ultimately is what it came down to. It felt like the Kicks were just forged in this sort of fire where things get crazy and like they just have a steadiness about them. I think Brunson probably represents that back. I feel like we haven't talked about Brunson maybe enough considering like that's true. thirty points, like this was his game It was his game. I want to come back to him a little bit, but I think maybe even praising him some in absence because if we are going to praise anyone on the next bench, I thought Lander Shamon was pretty good as well To me, those Jose Alvarado minutes, like that's really where the game hung together for New York. Like everything could have gone totally haywire when Brunson checked out to go back to the locker room or in the second half, I think Alvarado came back for one more stint just as a regular rotation part of the substitution pattern and the combination of Alvarado's bothoth poise and intensity playing off of what Kat was giving them at that point in the game That to me is like the defining run of what the Knicks did. Yes, they closed. Yes, Brunson hit all the huge shots, like not falling apart when the game kind of threatened to fall apart I think it's just a testament to everything that they've built and the way that they have been able to tap into all these guys at different times. And then it was Kat and Alvarado But then later when Jallen Brunson comes back, hes so seamlessly picks up and attacks whatever defense you put in front of him. Also just like Some of these possessions where Jalen Brunson not only is breaking down a style of coverage, but almost like the idea of a defender. They put Carter Bryant on him for three straight possessions and it was torture Chamers stuff. It was It was exactly what Kyle was talking about up top where if you are one of these defenders who kind of like lunges forward and wants to pressure, he will exploit you. He will like play that against you for leverage and just create, create, create, create. And this was after he just had what looked like it might be a series altering knee injury And yet he's just working Carter Bryant up and down the floor and then following his own miss for an offensive rebound. It's just It's insane. the level of exertion that Jalen Brunson is able to apply in a game like this because if he is not attacking the Kicks kind of can't sustain. Like they need him to be super aggressive all the time in the hunt for offense, even if he doesn't end up being the one shooting. Yeah, it's interesting because Shay obviously had a good series against the Spurs, but things just didn't work out in ways. and he wasn't particularly efficient. I'm curious what you guys think is the difference in this series. Is just the fact that you have Cat as the counterbalance and some of these other role players are just doing enough Or do you think there's something specific about Brunson? and the methodical nature of how he goes about his business, that you think is having more effectcy orr perhaps it's just like the spurs are a little bit more runund down. after going through the gauntlet of the seven games series in the West Finals Honestly, one of the things I've been thinking about in these playoffs is that And weve kind of talked around this as we've been negotiating everything that Brunson did in a game like this I think he's just the most physically balanced scorer in the entire league And some of that is the low center of gravity. Some of it is what that enables in terms of that pivot, pivot, pivot style He's just so shifty and so hard to comebat, but also I think because of that, because of like underm just about like the physical balance of his game He's able to negotiate some of those in between spaces in a way that even Shay can't. Like Shay is great at creating space. he's great in the mid range one of the most unbelievable shot creators in the entire league But there is something about Brunson when we're talking about like the most counterintuitive angles, the little spots within the heart of the defense that shouldn't be possible to get a shot off And it's what's both very effective about his game and also like very charming about his game is just the improbability of like How did he even do that? How do you even make that possible? And To beat the sppurs, you have to have that in your bag. you have to have someone in the lineup, if not multiple creators. And I think your point is well founded to JV as far as just like the cat counterbalance is something that Shake Gil just Alexander didn't really have by the end of that series, as a secondary creator to help prop things up. To me, it's just everything that Jal and Brunon can do in the seams of a defense. I think he's better at working those angles than basically anybody else. Yeah, you don't really see Brunson going in there. I mean, one of the things that that Chay would do a lot is sort of like, you know, just freeze you with his moment his movement. It wasn't as much about Grabbing on to Sha's rhythm is really hard where Brunson definitely uses physicality, but he's not going to try to extend and just like get away from you the way a lot of like guys in the paint do where it's Brunson. He does sometimes. I mean, if he beats somebody on a straight line, he'll get to that left hand and try to just get away from you. But he just doesn't play that game because I think he knows at six foot one that it's not a game that he's going to win. So I always say that Luke could like is like running Luke is like racing somebody who is in control of the starter pistol. and I think that Brunson is plays that way too. And I think when you got there in the paint, I was trying I need to go back and watch, but I just feel like we need to see more Stefan Castle on him as much as you can get on him. Granted, it says here that nineteen possessions he was guarding him, grranted, that's not like a super ton, but I just think you can't afford to have like the Julian Chimpennies or the you're going to have to really figure out ways to keep your best guys on them because there's some vulnerabilities. Some of them may be unavoidable because he's just so good I mean, they were they were prying Castle off of him a lot just with ball screens. and Castle' one of the best at recovering around those screens, But if you over pursue it all Brunson will take advantage of that too. So it's just it's kind of an impossible situation if you want to keep the one guy in front of him. Evening by his remorse Buy a new car I'll be moving it. Let's get started. Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyers rejoice I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carbana. Limitations exlusions may apply Sor sevay return policy are cararbana Somehere out there is a Chevy truck. firstirst N dries it. Well 's a Chevy person. you're probably no one, your buddy, your sister, ones who always show up, They're the first to rise, the last to leave. They always have that little extra something, and maybe you've got it too. Chevrolet. Toget let's drive. Visit Chevy d. com slash trucks to explore the lineup Also was that hearing things or did the crowd seem a little bit more pro New York than you would expect? No, but when like Duce had a big play, I think toward the end of the third, I heard her like a round of Duce and I was like, what the fuck is that? And then toward the end they were pretty raucous too. like what what's going on there Spurs fans? You ush those Chal M was in the second row. You couldn't like box out some more guys in the top like boxes. I don't know. This is the problem with teams like the Kicks. It's not even that their fans travel. They're just everywhere to begin with. There's just enough people who have left New York and live everywhere around the country Yeah, right when Dylan Harvor was born, right? That's when they all moved out. Carently Fat Joe's down in San Antonio. I don't buy that. When we talked around Wemby, we should talk about just like his impact on this game directly. Defensively, it's always fun seeing a new series start and like everyone like get accustomed to the fact that they can't go into the paint where it's just like real floors lava where they step and' like, who, okay, no, that's not going to happen. And there were a couple times where towns had to cock the ball back almost as if it was like at his ankles just trying to wait out Weemby and just never worked. I think he drew a fall on it once which was just like, dude, just it doesn't happen. He just doesn't even have to leave the floor Um But offensively I would say Fairly pedestrian given the standards he set in the previous series, got to the line a ton, which you have to wonder if that like the compounding effect of the physicality probably were on him. But like I could always you can always kind of tell when Weemby has an off night because the threes, the attempts are up and he had nine in this, didn't hit a ton of them and like that kind of tells the story of just his impact was there but not the like the full throated like takeover that I think like they probably need in this game to push them out Yeah, I thought his impact was much more there in the tilt that it put on the Nicks defense overall. Like they had to play down on every time he rolled to the rim and they were super physical with him in a way that teams should be that the Nick should be. like I think it's one of the kind of margins you should work against the Spurs right now, The fact that if you bump or hold or foul Viictor Webinyama in any way on a role on a lob before he gets the ball, it's not even a shooting foul. L like why wouldn't you do that? basasically every opportunity and dare the officials to call them becausecause the penalty is so low for it. So like You should be as physical as possible in those moments. I thought the Knicks were. They took that element out of his game and the Spurs game almost completely. And it really was either Working from the outside in, three point line outside or face up from the mid range against either Cat or Mitchell Robinson, or you know there were the occasional mismatches that kind of forced the Kicks into something dramatic, but I thought New York did a better job of kind of maintaining the shape of their matchups and fighting through those things to keep Bigs on Bigs for the most part Yeah. I mean, we saw the we saw the spurs go to a move that they pulled in crunch time again Itsts OKC that actually kind of broke the game open where they were doing the double kind of double wedge screen high where Wimby would just kind of turn and seal and sprint to the rim and he beat Hartenstein with it a couple of times and they tried it a couple of times in this game in the Kicks stifled it. So I don't I don't know where they're going to It was just really interesting to see As hard as it is to score on the thunder, it seemed like there it just seems like there are new problems to solve for them in terms of just I mean in the first half, he just he didn't get any kind of looks at the rim. I mean, we started to see him get a little more active on the glass, like trying to just cobble it together where he could, but they they did a fantastic job. We were talking about the spurs not playing well. they didn't. I granted there' some areas where I think they can they're sort of errors of commission, but Yeah, credit the credit the Ns for just kind of thwarting a lot of that stuff. I wonder with some of those ISOos specifically against Kat. and that was kind of like the game plan coming into the first quarter was Wby one on one against Kat, basically. And you could tell it was trying to exploit the matchup Pro also trying to see if he could pick up a foul or two on Cad in the process. None of it really worked that well. And we saw, you know, in the game to a little bit better effect. One of those like plays that would have really stood out if the Spurs had won was that clearout Wy had on the left side of the floor told Devon Visll to get out of there one on one against Kat Drove through him and won for the finish He fake the handoff. I wonder if they're going to try to do that again. like that cleared the side Is that the one you're talking about? Exactly. I think I think that kind of fake handoff could be really good. I also think And we don't see this from the spurs a lot, but if Weemby' iss going to handle the ball this much I think some inverted pick and roll stuff would be really good for them. Like having I mean, trying to drag Shamon or Brunson into that action with the screener then you're not Yeah, or Harp, like basically whoever can pull a smaller defender in there, I think could be beneficial who's not OG and Aobi. And then Weby can drive without having to spin backwards, without having to expose the ball, like he could just sort of gather over the top of the smaller defender and have an easier way to get into the basket You know what my favorite adjustment is? What's that play better They do need to do that too. And I do feel like for a lot of the guards that the Surs have, like that's probably bullet point number one. I do wonder if things become a little bit easier if the threat of some of these other guys was a little bit more apparent. S seemem like Harper was the only one that really had an impact their Castle at his moments definitely for sure Fox was a pretty big negative in this game. I mean, I don't know if it's an easy like answer, but perhaps like this is more of an injury concern trickling in from the previous series. Obviously he's been battling that for a little while now just seems like they they typically, even like during this playoffs, even in the midst of Castle and Harper having like these meteoric rises, it still feels like Fox is turn to when they need it, right? He's like the ultimate stopper. like whenever they just need a buck. It happened in the Portland series when I was there, it's just like Fox has to be the guy, especially when Weny was out for those games. It just didn't seem like he had any impact in this game whatsoever It was pretty brutal And look, I think some of it is just the quality of the defenders who are in front of him, which are uniformly better than any of the other guards castle included The Nicks have clearly calculated that they're going to live with a certain amount of Sephon Castle midrange stuff. and it's just going to be the cost of doing business for the way they want to defend elsewhere on the floor But Darren Fox, it feels like when he does get a shred of daylight, he's rushing in a way that doesn't feel characteristic of the guy we're used to seeing. Like he feels a little bit panicked by like, o, this is finally my opportunity. I'm going to rush and get something up. And he's like backroimming jumpers and floaters, like stuff that is really the bread and butter of his game when you're getting into the meat of the court It's very odd to see. and I don't know, you know, maybe it is the injury, maybe it's not. Maybe physically he feels better, but his timing is still a little bit off and that'll improve over the course of the series as he kind of eases into it. but It simply has to be better than this. Yeah, that's a little bit of what we were talking about the difference between the Kicks and this is why they went out and got these guys, you know, that went and got brridges and OG. It's that just a little bit more kind of forward size in their guys and their ball pressure guys and their switch ability. And I mean, there was a play where and I mean, that that linkth causes you, you know, The length is different than the the sort of six two, six, three, six four guys that that the Thunder were throwing at him. It's like he could get away from those guys until kind of get to his shots because Fox is a deceptively. I mean, he's probably six four. I mean, he's he kind of seems small in the court, but I mean, he's a little bigger than you would think He had a play there where He got into the paint. It was at a pretty crucial juncture, I think there where I think they might have been down one and he actually did exactly what you were talking about. He like broke through the the ballline of of the of the the defense and He shot like this just limp fl that he could have easily lobbed to Victor, which was clearly just like him herear in the footsteps. And also just like the spurs just the shooting just wasn't there. And you've seen how much it just like everything rolls from that. We saw at the beginning of game seven. like when they're shooting lights out, just things just kind of cascade and just champagne was out of his mind in the first half. I think he was like what he had five of them. five or something like that Yeah, I was like arere we just going to get Danny Green Finals NVP buzz yet again. Remember that was a thing for like the first three games of that series? I'm here for Sippenny, finals inVP. I'm putting to rest yet. You know, if the spurs pull this out, we got three more games of this, we might have a serious conversation on our hands. He'll definitely have the opportunities defensively because I think they're going to try to spotlight hit him a lot if you're the nexts. But he didn't make another one for the rest of the game. and then like the only other person on the sppurs who hit more than one three was Victor And obviously that didn't go too. And so like It seems simplistic, but a lot of what the Spurs do kind of rolls from there just because they don't really have ton of those threats. and so I do want to have a little bit more success there. to wonder if that's why they were return to Hrison Barnes. I mean Colon Johnson didn't like enscons himself in Glory, but like they were looking for something. and they were they were looking for something. But like so many of those things to me come down to the tight ropes that defenses have to go through. And you know, they were highlighting this on the broadcast with Luke Cornet, you know, trying to guard the pick and roll as Jayalen Brunson was throwing lobs to Mitchell Robinson, right? It's like how much do you play up and lunge forward? How much do you lurk back and kind of try to take away the lob Every defender is putting this constant push and pull I thought the Kicks uniformly did a much better job with the push and pulls as it related to the three point shooting of the spurs in general. How to close out, how to close out under control, how to take away that stuff without like really making themselves too vulnerable in the second half The balance of New York's defense, I just thought overall was really exceptional. And so if you have that going for you There's going to be a lot of tough three point shooting nights unless guys like Champanne are just getting white hot shooting over the top of people, which You know, you shrug and you go about your business and you trust that you did your job to the best you could if you're the Kicks, but The series may come down to that Those minutes where Cornett was defending the pick and roll were pretty hilarious where the physicality inside I put a clip on my Instagram of him. He just like clubbed the shit out of Kat on that one play and and Kat was just like, I mean, seriously like pretty pretty funny, pretty funny when Cornet came in there and threw his weight around. I guess he got inspired that by that big block and he thought This is my domain, but yeah, he u Yeah, he was doing it. You caught a glimpse of a nun Yeah the nun's in the box. They were the b of it So you got to move them down. likeike divine power doesn't work like that. Like you gott to get some proximity to the quorda Is how it works? you need sightelines. I think you too, you know, Blessings can only go so far. I was thinking a Oh This is much light, much more lighthearted. This is a this is a big game for u for foot size, Wimby and cat. There was a play where they were standing toe to toe literally. literally, and I was like this might be the biggest possible foot match upp that we could get in the finals Big ass feet, man. Cats got like size what? twenty two Huge Do they track that on Stahead? biggest feats. C' just proportions. just like I love that He just looks like he has a canoe sitting at his feet. It's it's wild stuff. Kyle outing himself as a foot guy on this pod. I mean, you just hate to see it. Totally not a foot guy. I'm morem everybody that's heard me talk about anything knows I'm a hand guy. I just I was struck by the foot tonight You were struck by the firstles. much like Jalen Brunson's ankle. Like the second injury he almost sustained as Luke Cornet landed straight on that thing. like I was so mad. understandably L he absolutely got foul on that play and then hit the deck and then Luke Cornett fell on him. Would you not be mad under those circumstances? Luke's got to throw his weight around, man. All right. Anthing else you guys want to hit before we get out of here, go to game two matchup advantages, any like Really insightful stuff, you wantanna hit it? There's gott to be something, right? Have we went to this game from every possible angle? I mean, we didn't talk about Mike Breen saying that a bunch of his bosses and Adam Silver were handsome men. Interesting I thought that was great. I thought it was a great bid. What was It was a good one. It was good. Barina's un impeachable, honestly Breing Apex mountain calling this The Nicks in the finals Yeah, personally it might be, but I think if he gets an opportunity to double bang at any point in the series on a nick shot of any kind, that's got to be it. I' only rep it there Keep it a little briefer than usual because we when going to get this out to you guys as soon as possible. We'll be back after game two, so we' doing the same thing recording immediately following game two of the NBA finals. Thank you to Ben Cruz for filling in on production while everyone else is in fucking Sweden. We'll talk to you nextxt time. twenty one plus in present select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or eighteen plus imp present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem callall one eight hundred gambler or one eight hundred My reset. 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