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00:00But ultimately, the talk of the town is the Los Angeles Lakers,
00:04and that's because they should be.
00:07Anyone who tells you otherwise is just upset about something,
00:09and I don't know what they're upset about.
00:11They are, one, the Lakers, two, LeBron's on them,
00:14and three, traded for Luka midseason.
00:16They are rightfully the talk of the town.
00:18Quite frankly, I did you all a favor by waiting 30 minutes to get to this.
00:23Most unbiased man in the history of sports media.
00:25I am so far ahead of you, it's not even close.
00:32And one of the kindest things I'll do is leave it there.
00:35Okay?
00:36Now, the question is, with the way the seating is all matched up, right,
00:42I think to make life easy on ourselves,
00:45we're going to assume Denver and Minnesota handle their business on Sunday,
00:51which means the Lakers matchup is going to be either the Warriors or the Timberwolves.
01:00I'm going to go to you first, JY,
01:02because you were kind of telling me you feel that Minnesota matches up pretty well
01:09with the LA Lakers,
01:11and assuming you got the numbers you want, whatever it might be,
01:15you're going to be looking to back Minnesota against the Lakers.
01:18I think they have the guard play particularly in Anthony Edwards as a big guard
01:22that can dominate both sides of the ball that could give the Lakers fits.
01:27I also look at the other side of the back end of it.
01:31Backing Rudy Gobert in a matchup where he doesn't have to guard against
01:35an offensively-minded center,
01:37which allows him to attack the offensive board
01:39and dominate the defensive end of the score,
01:42kind of is where I'm looking at.
01:43The thing about what's tricky with Minnesota
01:47is just going back the last couple of years.
01:51It's Randle.
01:53And that is the almighty question you're going to get.
01:56At what point does Julius Randle show up in a playoff series and play well?
02:02Let's be honest.
02:03He doesn't have the track record.
02:05Go back to the series against Atlanta.
02:08Go to last year.
02:09Go to the year before that.
02:10You can go to every playoff series he's ever been in.
02:15He's ever been in.
02:15He's been a problem.
02:17But to me, you know, I still think looking at these two teams,
02:21I think the Lakers' spicy take would beat Golden State in less than six games.
02:28Really?
02:28I think they're – I just have a feeling that they'll roll.
02:32But to me, I think Minnesota, because of Ant and because of the size of down low
02:37and their defensive acumen, I think they could give them more problems.
02:43A part of me wants to agree with that.
02:46Like, are we worried about Hayes, Hachimura, Vanderbilt stopping Rudy Gobert?
02:53That's what it comes down to.
02:54Because if – I mean, if Rudy Gobert has a pile of 15 rebounds a game,
02:59we're talking about Randle may not be amazing,
03:01but if Ant does his thing, Randle can be that second piece that we need him to be,
03:06and that's their path to winning.
03:07I think the –
03:09Right? Because that's what – because McDaniels, where does he fall in my kind?
03:12Like, these are all players that assist the other players in doing well.
03:15So I want to say this.
03:17Rudy Gobert is a future Hall of Famer, deserves to be.
03:19He deserves multiple defensive player of the years,
03:23and he has multiple DPOYs on his plate.
03:26The Lakers series, though, is particularly odd for him
03:31because the Lakers decided to say – the Lakers acknowledge what is true.
03:37Their center situation is a disaster.
03:39Even if you like Jackson Hayes, there's nothing beyond it.
03:42So the Lakers are playing five out.
03:45The Minnesota Timberwolves are not throwing the ball into Rudy Gobert, ever.
03:48That's not happening.
03:50So that's – but offensive side of it,
03:53defensively, is Rudy Gobert protecting the rim effectively
03:57when Rui or Dorian Finney-Smith are sitting in the corner?
04:01That's not as easy.
04:02No.
04:03And if all of a sudden Rudy Gobert's not on the court,
04:05that's one of the main advantages that you're banking on.
04:08And I think the other tricky thing, with respect to Anthony Edwards,
04:13I'm not sure he's – well, okay,
04:15he's definitely not the best player in the series.
04:17I don't know if he's the second best player in the series.
04:19Now, that becomes very difficult to win.
04:22To take you back to last year,
04:24one of the main things Minnesota ran into that was a problem,
04:28Ant round number one.
04:29Oh, my goodness.
04:30Round number two.
04:31Is this guy one of the five best players on planet Earth?
04:33Round three against Dallas.
04:35Best player in the series, Luka Doncic.
04:37Nobody was close.
04:38Second best player in the series, Kyrie.
04:40Yeah.
04:41Ant got outplayed.
04:41So if LeBron outplays Ant, they're drawing completely dead.
04:46No one can match Luka or exceed him, and there's no –
04:49it's not going to be Randall.
04:50No, no, but I guess – but the pushback,
04:52if you look at saying Golden State's a better matchup,
04:54if you line up Steph, Luka, LeBron.
04:57Yep.
04:58Best player in the series is no.
04:59Luka.
05:00Luka.
05:00Second best player in the series is –
05:02LeBron.
05:02Right.
05:03So to me, we're still looking at the same thing as one –
05:05It's true.
05:06Two best players in the series are still going to be with the Lakers.
05:08It's going to be about everyone else in that series.
05:11I think the bracket has broken pretty well for Los Angeles
05:13because I just think that round number one,
05:15just – they didn't want to play Jokic.
05:18Because –
05:18Come on, forget the whole bracket.
05:21They got Denver and Oklahoma City on the other side of the bracket.
05:24100%.
05:25They got –
05:25They got –