Final Thoughts on Lottery Reform and Finals

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, campaigns slow down, insightes get buried, and opportunities get missed. That's why Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result, less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. To learn more, check out acccenture. com slash Spotify Coming up on the Zach Low S show. We got a special Friday show. Wh? Game seven is happening in the Western conference finals. The San Antonio Spurs blew out Oklahoma City last night in game six in San Antonio. Everyone gets an off day to travel or I guess to travel probably already happened for them last night to Oklahoma City for the most eagerly anticipated game of the year so far. Game seven spurs Thunder. Last four have been double digit wins. Game two was a nine point win for the thunder I want a classic. I'm getting greedy. enough double digit wins. Let's have a classic. It's game seven. It's Say versus Victor. it's the MVP versus the unsolvable riddle We got JW back into the series did not look great. We'll talk about whether even plays. in game seven Dereren Fox working his way back. Dylan Harper had a huge game, just a really fun series, but let's hope that we get a classic and waiting in the wings. the New York Kicks, Kirt Goldsbery is here. He was at game six. He's going to tell us about The atmosphere in San Antonio we're going to talk about what happened in that game. big trends in the series through six games have been what adjustments we might see for game seven, even maybe a starting lineup change. And who should the Kicks want to win? shouldhould they even care? We kind of look a little bit at how the Kicks match up with both teams and then we discuss Mitchell Robinson's broken pinky finger, potentially a big deal. quuick takes on lottery reform which expectedly passed the board of goovernors Thursday all coming up after this on the Zach Low showow. The Zach Low show is brought to you by Fanl. The conference finals are here Think you know how it' go down, takeake your shot with Fandal and get closer to the action. Fandl is the best place to bet the teams, the players and plers during the NBA post season. Build the same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off. Download the Fandl spportsbook app now and play your game twenty or over in presresident select states, eighteen or are over in DC, Kentucky Wyoming gambling problem C call one eight hundred gambler. callall one eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CcPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut T the bonus Zacklo show in bonus because we are going to game seven in the Western conference finals. We made it. We're getting a winner take all game seven. The first game seven the West has offered us so far in the playoffs this year. I believe after the spurs blew the doors off the Oklahoma City Thunder in game six in San Antonio Fth straight double digit outcome in this series and though game two was a nine point outcome. So we haven't had a thriller since the all time epic game one I tried to speak a thriller into existence for game six. D didn't work. I didn did predict the spurs went. I thought I was going to be close. It was not close. I'm going to try to speak a thriller into existence for game seven because we all need it and the Nicks The New York Kicks Just waiting. Watching Do they even care? The biggest story coming out of there is Mitchell Robinson's broken pinky finger and his potential availability for the finals, which is a huge, huge deal for the Kicks. We'll talk about that Goldsbury You were at game six in San Antonio last night. What are you going to remember from the atmosphere, from the conversations after, from whatever Yeah, this young team keeps answering the bell. I didn't know what I was going to get going down there. I have such a great respect for OKC. The vibes in San Antonio are always reliable. that showed the nuns on the jumbo Ton coincidentally or not, that sparked a massive third quarter run But for me in all seriousness, like this is a team that's too young. putting up this kind of fight. So they get they get beat real good up there in Oklahoma and game five You don't know what you're going to get from these guys and they come and they answer the bell. So all playoffs long Zack low, this team has responded to losses against Portland, losses against Minnesota and now losses against the defending champamps and they did it again last night. So I'm just struck again by how young these dudes are then how sort of ready they are to make these responses and they did it again last night. It's interesting how the narratives flip game to game. So game five, they lose in Oklahoma City, a game that was there for them to at least make close in the fourth quarter and they couldn't do it. They committed a bunch of dumb fouls Um And the whole like, well, this is the experience. This is the experience factor We've all been talking about. They're too young, the thunder of the experience edge. And then in game six season on the line when becomes to the game dressed as a freaking monk and they blow the hell out of the thunder and force game seven. And so If they were if they lose game seven And a couple of their young guys have, you know, shaky shooting performances and the Thunder rooll players who have struggled to shoot from three the entire series. We'll talk about Dort and whether he should even start game seven in a second have an outlier shooting game. W the narrative flip back to well, look, the experience carried the day in the end or like this team of young guys and Daron Fox and Harrison Barnes and a little Lou Cornet has taken the Thunder to game seven the conference finals Is the experience thing just over? Have the sppurs debunked it? or is game seven going to be sort of stupidly narratively determinative? because to me, if you get to game seven and you win a game like that with your backs against the wall K of think you've already proven You're pretty much ready to win the championship. game setven' a coin flip, whatever Yeah, I think so. I think this team, they've proven a lot. And if and if you talk to any fan, anybody around this organization, a coach, even a player said he Back in October, we're going to have game seven in Oklahoma City to go to the finals They would have been like, let's go. How do whereere do I sign? This is this is beyond expectation. This team has had a first playoff run that is just incredible in the conventional wisdom You've said it, I've said it for the last few months. as a team usually has to take their lumps, Bills set it And maybe they will. And I think that's what game seven is really about, right? Are they going to be the first team in a very long time to just go from, Hey, we've never been in the playoffs student now now we're in the finals or are they going to have one of these teaching moments that a lot of these young teams have either way those act to your point They've already done a lot. They're playing with house money to some extent. I know the players and coaches don't want to think like that. But when we look back at what we were talking about with this group in October I think that is where we're at with them Um I mean, I guess we'll see in game seven, but one one thing's clear like and this has been clear for months now The idea that they're doing something dramatic to mess with this score to chase the stars is like so far long gone. likeike this these three guys who was sensational last night. Jumpers forceful takes to the rim, change the entire game after a couple a couple of quiet games Castle who I bet he's not going to be talked about that much today in the wake of game six Just a calm Chill seventeen, nine and five with one turnover. By the way Yeah. reason this thing is going seven is that the spurs after a catastrophically bad game one and two turnover wise. we know you can't turn the ball over against the thunder and hope to win They have five fewer turnovers than the Thunder game three to game six. credit their guards for chilling out a little bit And then Weemby, of course twenty eight, ten and two And for all the talk of like, well, he's got to get to the room. he's got to get to the interior settle for too many jumpers, it was never going to be just that because the modern game for all but maybe like two guys. J just doesn't work like throw it into the post and let him attack and Weby is big and tall and skinny and it's not going to work like that. It's always going to be a mix of outside and inside. hisis threerees are going to have to fall here and there for the spurs to win. they fell last night four of nine announced himself right. He had three in the right or six minutes of the game. And then the rollles to the rim started, the isolation attacks where he was clearly focused on like can I get one extra step, one extra reach, one extra pivot to the rim came Just an awesome performance by the spurs and then You know, the Thunder U The Spurs are not plus eighteen for the series, tootal points Thunder's offensive efficiency for the series is one hundred and seven points per one hundred possessions. That would have ranked last in the regular season moreore than ever regular season versus playoffs is likeles apples to broccoli, basically, but still ye. it's not great And JWub. who looms is a huge X factor if the Thunder win this series and go to the finals against the Nicks because of the way they match up. we'll talk a little bit about that later was a complete nonfactor in trying to gut out his return from a hamstring injury. We'll see if he even plays in game seven. AJ Mitchell did not play. We have not really heard a whisper about his potential availability and Say Gildis Alexander Yeah, sixix of eighteen. fifteen points Can we can we just Can we Before we move on to the actual series Can we just put the twenty g twenty point game streak to bed? L I just don't care anymore because it doesn't carry over into the post season and these post season games don't count, I guess, but anyway. He's just facing a riddle that he hasn't been able to solve And I think for the Thunder to win game seven at home. They're going to need at least one of the following three things to happen and probably two of the following three things to happen Number one, Jay is going to have to have a decent efficiency game, decent to good efficiency game and we just he's shooting thirty seven percent, I think for the series thirty eight percent, twenty six percent on threes and you see it Kirk it's just, it's a really hard riddle for him because The Spurs have elite one on one defenders across the board And he he knows that if I get by that guy Or even if I don't get by that guide I know who's looming Once I get into the paint, the alien And so he's taking just a ton of tough midrange shots. one on one designed to just be shots that get off before like I just got to shoot before Weby comes into the play. And this and he can't like Vll's a good one on one defender Obviously Castle, Harper, Bryant, you know, Fox is the one I would go out a little bit more maybe Celvin Johnson. But even so if Weemby's on the floor R. It's just a riddle. He's not been able to solve. So that's one Number two, they were ten to forty from three last night. and it just feels like doesn't feel like now Sake could come out and score thirty five in gamees. I wouldn' be surprised But it feels like the more likely thing of these variables that flips the Thunderway is He starts spraying the ball out and they make more threes. And so that's variable number two. They were ten to forty last night that did not make enough threes And variable number three is the turnovers. and that's the ultimate solution for Oklahoma City to this half court defense that they can't solve is do they have one more game in them where they force nineteen turnovers and get out on the break before that defense can set. I think The spurs are so good. I think the Thunder need two of those three things. to happen And it feels after six games like a shee explosion is almost like the least likely of those sort of things to happen, but that's how good the spurs are. I mean I don't I don't think Shay has a magic formula to solve what the Spurs are doing to him now that they've stopped trapping him at half Court I mean, you hit on all the things. I have notes on all of them. The turnovers for the sppurs just quickly. A lot of that has to do with not a manual quickly But just quickly, Daron Fox coming back and the turnovers that Castle had just the nightmarish numbers we saw. a lot of that had to do with him being asked to do too much and a lot of the eyeballs of that Thunder defense just locking in on that young man. As soon as Daron comes back, Dylan Harper' bouncing around again. They can't just be his laser focused on him, but he's also done a good job at t it. But that's a great point of something that has changed. That stat you poulled about the turnover differential since, I would say, since Deer and Fox return to the series in game three, like that's a really big point because When you look at the splits in this series and I don't usually look at splits, but there's six games now and we can start to tell a story here. and too the point about the turnovers, the single biggest differential, the variance in the series is all on one end of the Kordzak is all on the thunder end when they have the ball. They are scoring one hundred and twenty four points in their wins. and ninety six points in their losses The spurs are pretty good for one twelve, one thirteen, one fourteen, one twelve, one thirteen Whatever that is, but the variance there and what that's why am I bringing that up now Turnovers are the lifeblood of this team And we've said it for years, Bill coined the concept like, hey, man, this is the first defense. I really remember. they can go on a run by itself. They get a turnover, they turn into a bucket. They get a turnover. if you can control the turnovers and the chaos, againgainst the Thunder when you have the basketball. That really reduces their ability to score on the other end. So I think the way you pointed out the first part of that thing, they Thunder absolutely need to get those turnovers in game seven and the sppurs on the other hand, need to prevent it. I think the SGA stuff you called out is the biggest story right now. I mean, this is a guy that me, you, everybody else was saying was the best player in the world just coming into the playoffs He gave us no reason to change that after the first two rounds. He is averaging his last four games have been the worst four games of his sort of time as a superstar in this league. He's averaging six buckets on seventeen shots in the last four of these games That's not good enough. and I went in, I was like, well, what's going on? The shot quality is wayed out And why is a shot quality way down? Yeah, Stefan Castle, the Spurs defense. But what's not there. It's really a story of what's not there. He was averaging nine point two layups and dunks in the regular season per game attempts That's down to four point nine in this series. I wonder make I wonder what's going on And that's what it is. like we can the stocks and all the WMB stats are great, but it's those kinds of metrics for for the Dorks be like, yeah, Ficture Wen Yamm is the most valuable player in the series He changes everything. Yes, Shay Gil is Alexander, nine point two layups and dunks during the regular season per one hundred. That's four point nine. He's making forty one percent of them down from sixty seven percent of them in the regular season. They're taking away his bread and butter at the rim And then the last thing I'll say, dude And this is this is the red meat for the toxic internet right now, by the way ic internet. Is there any is there another internet C I join C I join that one? But it was wasn't there it wasnt NBA Twitter briefly the non toxic internet. No you know when the toxic internet took over from the non toxic internet, rememember the hamsters that were like the dancing hamsters that were a huge meme and they had that funny high pitched song that was playing. That I think was the end like that was non toxic internet. and I don't know what happened to those hamsters if they all got hit by a car, but they're dead and now it's a toxic internet Well, I'm going to flirt with the red meat for the toxic Innet here Sheay had three free throws last night. He hit seventeen. in game five And again, that's a stat to watch are the thunder getting to the line. What did they have last night and then on attempts I think eleven to twelve. I think they really Yeah. So that aggression on offense and if you look at the splits Again it's all the things that keep coming up in my notes are on that thunder end of the Kordzack. Well, you mentioned the rim shots, right? And that's the biggest change that's happened to Oklahoma City's offense in terms of its shot distribution is they've essentially traded a bunch of shots at the rim for a bunch of really hard jump shots. And like it sounds stupid, but part of that is also transition, right? Like that's that's where you get rim shots. Yeah a lot of the time And so by taking care of the ball And Fox is not had a good series otherwise, and that's kind of what's a little scary. for the Thunder is that Fox are being ten points a game on thirty three percent shooting And a lot of his looks are like they look kind of like Daron Fox looks slightly maybe more difficult because he's a little bit lacking in his usual explosion with the high ankle sprain, but if he had a big game in him That changes things, but all the easy buckets that you fatten up your efficiency on that turns a shaky jump shooting game into an efficient shake game They're just vaporized because of the rim defense and because the thunder are not getting their normal diet of transition such. You mentioned the free throws I do want to I do want to say this. I think One of those one of the sadder proud moments of recent NBA history W was the Thunder fans trying to throw out the flopper chant back at Rbayama. I was like, yeah, you know what guys? I might I might just I might bag that one. I don't know if I want to be a Thunder fan and start magnifying flopping as an issue in the series and trying to draw a false equivalence between My guys and Viictor Weem, Yama They call that they call that what about ism and political discourse. Speaking of the toxic internet the what about ism. What about your guy? And I'm like, now, this is you got you got Nymar over there. You got the king of this stuff over there. all due respect. But in reality, in the arena last night few moments. where Say hits the ground, Carusso hits the ground You know that Z, you're just watching Zach Zarba for better or for worse We start to are they going to is the whistle going to come and it didn't come So I think that's a bigger part of game seven too than I would like it to be. Who's going to be the official? Will those whistles come when those dudes inevitably fall to the floor So you mentioned all the offensive stats for the Thunder and the variation I just brought up their game log on cleaning the glass, which I meant to do last night and forgot two worst offensive efficiency games of the entire season, regular season playoffs combined are games four and six of this series U one, two, three, four, five of their nine worst scoring efficiency games of the season are against the Surs. So this is like like just we knew it was a thing in the regular season. We knew the playoffs would be a little bit different because everyone's more or less available, the stakes are higher, everyone's focused and playing their peak minutes and all that. But it is really sustained like the sppurs defense has strangled this offense and they're going to have to figure it out one time And I don't even really know what the answer is other than They just are going to have to make more threes because I just Either Shay's going to just make a bunch of miraculous jump shots and have a great game or he's going to have an okay game or a bad efficiency game like he's had and the other guys are going to have to make shots to wit. I do wonder if Game seven is finally the time where we see a starting lineup change. O Hartenstein and Holmgren are minus forty five in sixty minutes Wendby didn't play Hardenstein off the court, notot by a long shot. Hartenstein has actually become even more important as the series is going on. What he has played off the court. is the Thunder's ability to play Hardenstein with any other big man because there's just not enough space on the floor. He's got to be the only big man on the floor word or not or just the Chet plus bigig Jail and Williams combo because both can shoot threes. Maybe they stick with it and start it again because I don't really like you can't bring Ched off the bench and I don't think you can bring Hardenseine off the bench The move would be Can you just not play them with Dort is minus fifty four in the series. That trio is minus thirty eight in just thirty eight minutes together is four of twenty two on Threes He doesn't have an awesome defensive matchup in this series. That's been clear since you and I were podcasting on Christmas or the day after Christmas about this matchup And with JW looking limited I don't know if you start him. I think you probably just have to start McCain and Caysason Wallace or McCain and Caruso. But maybe they don't. Maybe they just say we're the Oklahoma City Thunder. We're champions. We're the best team in the league. We have the best record in the league. New Dort is a homegrown cultural cultural touchstone of our team We're rolling with them, roll players play better at home. and like You don knowt, you you could get a game seven where he goes four of eight from three and that role players play better at home. the whole narrative shifts in one game. I do This is this feels like the lineup change to make. Wn't surprise me if they just rolled with Dort hopes he has a better three point shooting game. I thought a lot of the three he took last night were early clock too long atrocious shot selection, but That lineup, I mean, they're getting boat raced at the start of every single game and playing from from a ho Yeah, And I think Lou Dort could have that Grant Williams game where everybody's just like, Oh man, I didn't I didn't see Lou Dort hittding seven threes to put the series away. That can definitely happen with a role player in a game seven. We've seen it like I said, with Grant Williams Um Peter principleal concept here too with Lou Dort. And last night I was I was sitting on Media row and I was talking to to a guy next to me. It's like, playlmaker Lou Dort, not a great look. and why are we seeing like Lou try to make plays off the bounceck It's because JW is limited. It's because AJ is not out there. And I want to give some flowers just to the thunder depth too because like how many teams would even be going to a game seven on their side of this transaction? withithout JDve and without AJ, how many teams could survive? whatever your favorite team is? takeake two of your four best players out of the rotation and then see if you can go hang with the spurs in the conference finals. L they are so impressive and one of the other ways that depth shows up is like even when Dagal throws the proverbial white flag at the beginning of the fourth last night I'm sitting there talking to Isaac from the ringer next to me. I'm like, is this their white flag lineup? 'cause it's like All these guys are good. like like even when they're down there it's like there's still like really good NBA players out there.. So they' they're surviving. I do think that the door I think the starting lineup will stay the same But the other name that I think we have to bring up is Chet Homegren who simply has been invisible for too many stretches in this series, particularly in a series with JW being so limited. and he hasn't been good enough You mentioned that Wemby obviously takes a lot of personal pride in reducing Chet Homeerin's efficiency and God help anybody who he takes that sort of pride with. but he was You know, he shot the least amount of their starters last night. You had S take eighteen shots Jared McCain take eleven and then or. in Hartenstein eleven and ten. So You'd like to see something more from Chet, right? Well, I mean, and that's the thing. you watch you rewatch all the the Se Hartenstein pic and rollles when Wendy is playing man defense against Hartenstein. And they're leading to a lot of floaters, which is fantastic at the Hardenstein The Hardenstein push shot is a miracle of basketball And a lot of three point shots for Lou Dort or Ched Homgrren or whoever they want to shoot And the spurs Hardenstein can make five of six of those. They're not going to change the way they defend. there Th those are wins not they go in and that's great, but like the sppurs are going to be happy in the aggregate with the shot diet that they're getting out of those plates O shut I mean, look, let's not minince words. He's averaging twelve points a game. He's the fourth leading score on the Thunder in this series. The second and third leading scores are Alex Caruso and Jared McCaine It's not even that he's shooting twenty seven percent from three. It's that he's taking one point eight threes per game. I don't understand how he's unable to get any open looks or take any open looks. And I don't want to hear like, well, it's just a bad series for him. You know, they're guarding him with wings, It's tough. He had that one play last night where He had that really nice spin move step through Lfty lay upp against Visll where he kind of bullied Vll his version of bullying Visll. Yeah a couple of those plays in in game five and he missed the layup, but Wendy had to come over and help and Hardenstein It's like in a series where Lou Dort is taking a thousand threes I can't get a little bit more of that every game from you He's also started and this is a very interesting push pull He got a couple a few put backacks last night or a few like offensive rebounds. where he crashed pretty hard from the perimeter because he knows he has a sides advantage And I think that's almost a sign of the Thunder realizing like We're kind of desperate for points in the half court and we're actually willing to risk having Fth guy crash the offensive glass the perimeter because we think he can get it and we think that's our best shot at offense, but he has not done nearly enough. and Say It's going to be really interesting what happens On a micro and macro level, If the spurs win game seven and Shay has like another six of eighteen game because I do think in a lot of corners and with some justification I don't know at least some justification. It's going to make people not rethink. it's going to be a slight taint on what has otherwise been. up pretty spotless rise to number one or number two in the MBA two time MVP. If he can't figure out this defense and they go down in seven to a team that is way ahead of schedule I do think it's going to change his perception around the league at least a little bit fair or unfair. And I think probably a little bit of both. I think there'll be some over the top unfair reaction. And some, oh, well, it's all Wemby It's not Shay's fault and that will not be entirely true either. I do think a lot of it is He has come up he has come up against a riddle that he just can't solve and his te can't solve. And a lot of it is just about Lembinyama which makes the fallout of a thunder loss more interesting than the fallout of a sppurs loss. The sppurs are going to spurs. They're young, they're awesome. They have draft assets. They're not doing anything crazy I do think I have no idea how the Thunder would react to a game seven loss. If people want to do fake Yonest trades and this and that. against Sam Presty's playbook, but I do think the way this is happening with The unsolvable riddle of the alien with JW's injury and ineffectiveness with Chet's relative ineffectiveness The financial crunch that is coming for a team that I think is going to be like forty million dollars over the second apron or something like that next year. like I think they would have the highest tax bill in the history of the NBA. I do think it raises some Interesting question, but we're not we're not there yet because they're at home for game seven. homeome teams don't win game seven as often as they used to. I thinks it's two two and four game seven' all in the East. this year, but Those two guys with JW not really being super available in the series are supposed to be the two best guys on the team and Say hasn't had a series up to his standards and Set is just like I know it's tough, man. This is an elite defense, the second best defense in the league behind you guys. They have this alien that gives you fits and really likes to embarrass you a little bit I just got to get more like I can't have you taking fewer shots in Lou Dort. I can't have averaging fewer points again than like two reserve guards. I can't it can't happen such an excellent point on if the spurers lose game seven We got to get a bit we got to get a better bench. We got these cornet Kelden minutes have not been great We've learned something. we're ahead of schedule, quote unquote They're not changing it Um, The most stunning stat for me in this series when I looked it up this morning is and two hundred and twenty two minutes on the court This series, Shay Gildis Alexander. U has a net rating of negative seven point six it'sating that is part of that is a I looked at this today and I think that's part of hes starting this game in a lineup that is not working. Now part of it is him, but part of it is like that combination is just not is not working. Yeah, that ultimate caveat is like, yeah, dude, this is the Bowls without Pippin and Cucoach. likeike what however you want to say it, It's like, okay, don't forget. Jade D was barely, he was technically available last night, but that was his minutes were were not good And so yeah, I'm not roasting SGA, but some of these numbers are stunning And he looked the third best guard in the game last night because Dylan Harper had a marvelous game. and I'm not just talking about his scoring, which was hyper efficient He had one of the best loose ball gatheres and saves in a critical moment under the rim early in the game and just set the tone that we were going to get the loose balls. We're going to make the smart plays. And then Castle playing great U And so when you have So your point about the team building thing if certain things happen in game seven You look at the guards in San Antonio too. It's not just Weemby These guards are incredible Dylan Harper, as Bill likes to say, this is the worst he's ever going to be. and he was marvelous last night So I think It would be soul searching for a team that we thought was just so built for war Um I don't think they'll do a lot I think they're too sort of coolheaded for that. I think they would look at this and be like, Yeah, AJ was hurt And JW was hurt And that's what smart teams would do. I said the same things to my Celtic fan French. Yeah, you lost game seven. Jason Taten was hurt. Don't go crazy. donon't go trading your superstars because you lose a game seven in the playoffs when your best players heard. Long story short So much on the line for game seven, so much to watch. But yeah, I'm watching SGA and Ched. if they're not good. I can't see a path for OKC to win All right, let's take a quick break, talk about a couple other wrinkles and then This episode is brought to you by Nas Energy. 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Limitations exlusions apply S here seven day return policy, Carcana d com other things I wanted to get to just in this game in this series, looking ahead to game seven Number one Unsched It's interesting to me that Chet is the only big man on the floor is just been something the Thunder have decided they're not doing anymore in the series. And maybe that's just about their lack of perimeter depth. They're not playing Wiggins or Joe really at all and obviously J. Dubve and AJ have been hurt But they're playing Hardenstein as the only big man here and there. They're playing Big Joe Williams is the only big man here and there best lineups up sidewise have always been four wings and guards and chet. and we just haven't seen that at all. and I don't quite know why that is Th number two and I wonder if you you talked about this as anybody after the game. I thought one thing the spurs changed last night that was smart was their zone with WemBy which is basically a one man WB zone. was much less obvious, much more well disguised. Sometimes he would start possessions playing straight man to man and then fade back into his own In the second half, he just sort of played man to man like regular defense, even switched a couple of times. because I think the Thunder had found some ways in game five to okay, we know where he is. We know it's coming It starts at the beginning of every possession. He just runs to the baseline near a corner and stays there And I think the spurs very smartly' like we're still going to play that here and there, but we're not going to play it all the time and we're going to disguise it a little bit and be a little bit more unpredictable and defense, even with Cornet in the second half is, especially they stopp playing zone with Cornet and just played straight man to manand, which I think is smart. I think that the corornet zone stuff has not worked for them Did people talk about that at all during the game? because that was a subtle change that I think was important No, but I'm glad you mentioned Cornett. People were talking about how Cornet had his best game of the season by far. He was plus thirteen in those thirteen minutes, which if you've been following that, I've been posting about it over and over, not just because but when wheny's off the court, the spurs have just got blown out. It looks like a layup line for the Thunder. It started in the Wolf series. Portland really couldn't take advantage of it, but as soon as Luke would come in and Wimby would go off The timimberwolves, their eyes would get big and they would start this is attacking. and whether it was AO or Ant Man or Jade McDaniels, here come the drives U And it looks like Luke might might be hurt a little bit, but for whatever reason, the Thunder were able to start doing that again. And last night, I didn't pick up on any exact adjustments, Zack those corornet minutes were very good for the San Antonio Spurs. And that's another sort of wonky thing to watch in game seven The Thunder absolutely need to win those cornet minutes because When you look at Wemby's on off splits He has a net rating of eleven U The offensive rating for the Spurs is right at one twelve when he's on, but the defensive rating of the of the team is one o two And so they've needed to go out and just destroy those corornette minutes on the Thunder side. to make up for that difference. And when they didn't do that in the first quarter U And then again in the third quarter That's when this game got out of hand. So I wasn't smart enough to pick up on any sort of defensive adjustments specific to the one man' szone. By way did you come up with that? I was listening to you and Moe yesterday. Is that your term the one man zone? I don't know No, it's not I don't think I made. credit for it. It's great. It is a one man'szone. No. everyveryone else plays normal defense and WenB just sort of passes along his assignment, They didn't do it as much last night perfect description of what's going on out there. But yeah, when if Luke Cornet is a zero, a plus minus zero in game seven, I love the spur chances of win in that game. I'll say that. It was and a lot of those minutes are coming with Say on the floor and those are the minutes the Thunder absolutely have to win and they did not win last night. One of the reasons they had a lot of shay on Victor offff minutes was Victor's sub pattern was a little bit different last night than it had been in the previous two or three games. He came out much earlier in the first and third quarters and came back in. so they were going quicker shorter stints Yeah with him couple other notes. JWub. I mean, obviously ten minutes at one point D didn't talk to the media after the game. But didnn't look great, didn't impact the game at all And I thought also notable They did not put him in the game when S rested at the beginning of the second and the fourth quarters. and that's always J Dub and AJ Mitchell's time to sort of carry the offense. And I thought that said a lot to me of we're not overtaxing him yet and we're just sort of seeing what he's got Um in the tank. And other than that, you know, I think Vlles had a really nice series just sort of uns hero. Champannees had a nice had a nice series for them defensively and on offense. and a lot of their most successful pick and rollles thepurs with Wy rolling, which is always good Champagne is the only guy on the weak side of the floor because that is the hardest rotation, the more stressful rotation Um, for the Thunder to make. I'm trying to think if I have any other Any other notes other than man I'm excited. I'm excited. obviously everyone's excited. I hope we get a classic. The stakes are enormous historically for individual players for a Thunder team that's trying to end the no repeat shriek in the NBA. and by the way the Thunder Lose game seven, we are guaranteed to have our eighth different NBA champion in eight seasons. That's right continontuing that streak too. So a lot on the line. I guess my other question for you is The next The Mitchell Robins. Mitchell Robinson thing is is, you know, we'll see Obviously having a broken pinky is suboptimal I immediately texted my guy, Jeff Stotsman street clothes and I said, fire up the database. What does it say about pinky fingers? And he tweeted it he texted me and then he tweeted it Time loss for pinky fractures is dependent on treatment needed average time lost for non operative pinky fractures is nine days, three and a half games normally, but nine days is exactly how much off time the Kicks are going to start And obviously, if you need surgery, it's, it's a month I feel like we'd have heard if it was going to be surgery by now, maybe not. I don't know. So my guess is he's going to play Easy for me to say, if I had a broken pinky finger, I would be like I'd need someone else to type up my research. It just hurts me too much to type It's would seem hard for him to be a worse free throw shooter. So maybe the Pinky finger is like a secret antidote to his free throw shoot. Yeah But this is a guy who swings at a lot of shots, gets a ton of offensive rebounds. the Nick offensive rebounding rate with him on the floor in the playoffs is forty percent Without him, it's thirty percent, which is still good, but it's like it's mortal versus oh shit. we are this is a whole other lever of our offense He and Kat can play together, I think in either of these matchups a little bit. So and they don't have, I mean, their backup is h porty or playing in an Oi at center, which they have done against both of these teams in limited minutes So a big deal, but do you think Zooming out Who should the Knicks be rooting for on Saturday Oh that's tempting the basketball gos to borrow one of Zaklo's famous phrases. I think You don't do that. You don't root for anybody, but I'll engage. I not I'm not to hide from the question. If they were to root for somebody, you root for the spurs. like technically a first year head coach, a bunch of young guys and a team you beat in the NBA Cup. And you can roast me for calling the NBA Cup relevant here. That's fine, but we don't get a lot of regular season precedent That was a game that both of those teams really wanted to win And they did it. and it was it was an emphatic win that featured Mitch Robinson just being so great. on the glass and really just punking the sppurs front court So just a lap around the track on Mitch here If you had to pick one player, if you're a Nicks fan to break their pinky and still play, that's the guy to your point about the free throw numbers. He doesn't he's not Jayalen Brntson's pinky we're talking about out there. But he is really good for two reasons. One, I think he is a tremendous vibe shift on the glass And then two, our man Cat is a human fowl, right? He is the human whistle.s big That's a big exctor. And and against Wemby who has drawn forty four fouls in the six games. So that's over seven a game. Good math. There will be whistles in the front court if it's the spurs And if nothing else, Mitchell Robinson has six more fouls for the New York Kicks front court to have to play with against a Wemby or a Hartenstein Chet combo, that'll be a much better combo when Wemby's not there. So big deal. Wh should they be? I would definitely say they want to see the inexperienced team that they beat the San Antoniopurs. So that's historically the correct answer Probably actually the answer They were twoed one against the sppurs in three games, including the cup finals there The third game was in March at Madison Square Garden pre this whatever the hell has happened to the Nicks in the playoffs. It might have been their finest overall performance of the season. They blew out the spurs at MSG And the one loss was on New Year's Eve, Champagne hit eleven threerees and set the record for most points off the bench. Oh that right without even attempting a two And then they were o and two against the Thunder. Both games were pretty competitive games O, The Thunder ended up winning by eleven pulled away a little bit in the last minute or so of the game My answer is the Nicks have reached a point where I don't think they should care. I think they're they have as good a chance against either team. They can absolutely win the title. They might enter given the Thunderers Health situation as favorites or co favorites against either one of these teams. That's how good the Nicks have been playing Um And I think Both of them present some sort of in I went back and I prepped the Thunder' N finals just in case the Thunder won last night. obbviously, they did not. I will do the same for the Spurs later today, but Um, Both bothoth teams put their bigigs on Josh Hart and put wings on Kat. Wenby guarded Josh Hart a lot and Hartenstein guarded Josh Hart a lot and so Chet Hgrren And that's why JW if the Thunder Win is a huge X factor because he was their number one choice to guard Kat and switch the Brunson cat pick and roll. They put Dort on Brunson and Jade up on Kat and try to switch that And honestly, like going back and watching it, watching that film bag like I think the Nicks are ready for all those tactics now in a way that they were they were showed a pretty high level sophistication tactically against both teams They're just at another level now They have more layers to their offense now. I think they're going to be ready for anything. But interestingly, if you look back and see The most screens Josh Hart set in any game this season. was in that game against the against the Spurs in March because they put W bey on them and they were like, you know what? We're going to, we're going to use Josh Hard as our screener Cat space to floor network The second most was in March against Oklahoma City for the same reason And the eighth most was another game against Oklahoma City. So that is clearly an interesting thing Thunder also Thunder Thunder Ns is also the team that takes the most corner threes against the defense in Oklahoma City that allows the most corner threees. So that's an interesting wrinkle U Anyway, we won't belabor the finals because you know, we don't know who's playing, but I think the Kicks are ready for either one and like I talked about the chet solo minutes. Weby obviously is the only big man on the floor for most of the minutes he plays unless we get a little hint of French vanilla, which we haven't got much of in this in this series And the Nicks have often moved cat around, particularly against the Thunder. They put him on Dort or Caruso like we see teams do and try to switch their action. So I think the Nicks I think the Kicks Despite being Owen to against the Thunder re watchatching those games. I didn't think the Kicks looked uncomfortable at all in them I think they know where to push on offense as best they can and And obviously they were two in one against the sppurs. Everyone's different now than they were then. But I think the Nick should be comfortable either one of these matchups and man. Boyil boy, man. I don't I don't know I don't even know who's going to be favored in the finals. I think the Thunder would definitely be favored. Yeah The Nicksar The Nicks are ready and waiting and Im I'm expecting Robinson to play in game one, effectiveness level TBD, but We'll see you they play, man. We got game seven. Any any other Nick thoughts before we go Yeah, I think if there's one red flag, it's like, man, I bet the Spurs and Thunder wish they could have played the Sixers and Cabs in these And these last two rounds, But you know, that's that is. they wouldn't have played him any better than the Kicks just did because the freaking Harlem Globbehotters can't play the Washington Generals any better than the Nicks just played the rest of the Eastern Conerence. Well, that's what I keep thinking about analytically. And I'm like, yes. Okaykay. So before the Kicks fans come after me. They have peaks at the right time. their're starting five is great. Mike Brown has come in and done exactly what he was supposed to do. He's found depth. They made a good move at the deadline that they have Alvarado, Mitch Robinson and Landry Shamut and Duce McBride The bench is deeper Yes But man, The other seven teams in the Eastern confonference playoffs didn't exactly entertain me in the last few weeks. Okay? I'm not I'm not I'm not the Hawk series may have been their toughest series round one and definitely was a toughest. Yeah, yeah. So I mean For a Nicks fan, I'd be a little bit worried about rust and the Oh shit factor. Here comes a team that is throwing a lot heavier punches than who I've played for the last month And I think that is a real thing. I don't know who's going to win game seven, but either one of those teams is going to be like man, we are We are playing very hard. We've just won one of the hardest series in years in this league. and here we come We're hosting games one and two on our own floor, We're sleep in our own beds. So the Kicks are going to have to sort of snap out of this sort of gleeful celebration mode that they've been in and come into a Western conference arena and beat a really good team in game one. I think they can do it. Don't get me wrong, but it is one of the more dramatic Hey We're celebrating vibes are immaculate Oh shit, we have to play the final sort of weeks that we've had in this league in a while I think I said this to myike green the other day. I think the fact that they just wiped the floor with the East is helpful in that regard. The fact that it was anti climactic sort of reinforces to them the job is not close to done. Like this was actually kind of an easy job. and we if internalized how easy it was, let's be happy that we did it But the real job is coming. And I expect that whoever wins game seven I expect a super long and competitive finals And I can't wait An any any parting thoughts, any thoughts on lottery reform which passed yesterday.ready Yeah. I already had I already had I already had my take on on that with Hollander, but do you have any thoughts on this as a former Tam executive of yourself. quuickly, the Mike Breen podcast you did this week was incredible. not That's all you' that's not if you're I always love when a play by play guuy gets on a podcast. like when Al Michels would go on with Bill, was just like electric because they would he would pull out these stories from Al's career. But Mike's ability to talk about Nick's history, Nick's culture Having the front row seat for all of these games, the dark years, the stories you would tell about his interactions with fans. I thought it really set the stage really well for the finals. I'm just buttering you up because I want you to send me your notes for the finals preview. I have to write a finals preview. and since you retired from writing These things fall up. I'm on Sabbatical. I don't know if I'vead. Iven' any notes. What about a co wrritten finals preview? I'll do most of the work, but a couple of Zaclo bullets that would be really cool in there. And what do you think? Howbout this? I will send you a screenshot of this paper, which I wrote my hand notes on. and if you can decipher them, I will' go Claud and I'll be like, hey, Claude, turn this screenshot into a Zach low Finals preview I was going to say something about Cd that I shouldn't say Um The only thing I'll say about lotter of reform because I covered it is There are a lot of concerns. We'll see how it plays out. I'm largely like, okay with this proposal The one thing that I'm very curious about is there's a lot of angst about Um Cliff between ike would I rather be the eighth seed than the seventven seed because as the eighth seed, I get one ball and as a seven seed, I get none Would I try to engineer it So I just duck out of the play in tournament entirely and get three balls rather than make the play in tournament and get to Tw balls is the ninth or tenth seed. I have I just don't think any team is going to do that. I may be wrong. I may be naive. Maybe I am naive because teams game the system all the time. I just think the delta between play in excitement for your fans and your team and your I just that's such a loser mentality and you're ducking out of something that's actually real and meaningful that I just don't see that as much of a significant. That's the only take I want to get off today is. I don't I don't see teams doing that to the degree that the Fredtters are worrying about. I'll give you one more that I wish I had come up with, but I talked to one of the smart executives in league yesterday and he told me this This current three to one era is set to sunset in twenty twenty nine And I wish I would have come up with this idea, but there's some uncertainty about those future first. What are the rules going to be? Are we going to snap back to this system So does it change? teams value those first round picks Is it going to reduce teams willingness to part with future first because we don't know what the rules will be in a world where three two one exists like being the worst team in the league like San Antonio was or near the bottom like Washington and Utah were That's devalued, obviously. If we're going back to that, we'll see how these next three years play out. But one person told me Hey, we don't know how to think about our twenty thirty first round pick anymore if we're going to be bad. And I think that's a really relevant point of this this new rule system. Not only that The more unpredictable the lottery is and this just got a lot more unpredictable, the more likely our pick might just randomly be a top five pick one year or whatever. All right Kurt Goldsberury buckle up We got a day of respite and then Saturday night, tomorrow night. The biggest game of the year, the Kicks are awaiting the winner Thunder Spurs, game seven. It's been an interesting series. I hope we get a classic KG. Thank you for your time and enjoy. enjoy tomorrow night Thank you, Zach All right, that's it for today's show. I will be on Bill's show live Saturday, tomorrow after game seven of Spurs Thunder and then we'll be on to previewing the finals next week on the Zach Low Show. Thank you as always to Mike, Billy and Jonathan on production. Thankks to Kurirt Goldsbury. Thanks to you all for listening to and or watching the Zach Low Show. Stay tuned. We'll be back next week from a site TBD. Enjoy game seven twenty one over and presresident select states for Kansas in affiation with Kansas Star Casino or eighteen and over in Presidenton in DC, Kentucky, Wyoming, gambling problem. Call one eight hundred gambler or one eight hundred My reset. 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