Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Going back to last week, I can't help but think about the conversations we had with regard to the idea of, and this is a repetitive lesson, I think, in everybody's life.
00:12I know it has been in mind, and that is when something sucks, just do your absolute best to take a deep breath because a week later or a month later or a year later or five years later, you might, you might go,
00:27Oh, God, that was actually perfect, and the Warriors over the last two weeks are exactly that. Thank God the refs didn't call any fouls last time Houston was at Chase Center. Thank goodness the Clippers won in overtime. Thank goodness that it all went this way because dibs, it's perfect.
00:51It's pretty good. It's absolutely perfect. You want to know what R&R stands for now? Not rest and relaxation. It's rest and rockets. You got R&R, and it is perfect, and it's not a shot at the rockets. It's simply an acknowledgement of the fact that they're all 22 years old.
01:12Yeah, that's facts, and I do think that they now have had their collective cherries popped as far as the playoffs go, so all the players, Shangoon and Green and the rest of them who've never played in a playoff game before, well, now they have, and does that mean that they're going to suddenly be comfortable, play better, and win?
01:35No, I don't think that, and I was saying this to Stiney before he bounced, and this was after 2-12, and I felt a little guilty, but I went through and watched every three that the Rockets took, and if you go to NBA.com and you click on the box score, you can see every single play from every player, every shot attempt, every rebound, whatever, and I looked at every three that they took, and Fred Van Vliet took, I believe, 14 three-pointers, and 10 of them were, in my opinion, unguarded.
02:03And he made one of those 10, and he was 2-for-14 in totality, so...
02:09I think it was 13, but you're on a roll, go ahead.
02:11Whatever, I don't have all the numbers in front of me, but...
02:14No, here, I'll confirm.
02:15It was 2-for-13, you're right.
02:162-for-13, 4-for-19 overall, don't forget the six two-pointers that he took.
02:20Right.
02:21Made a couple of those, too.
02:22And Amon Thompson, 0-for-4 from the line, he's not a great free-throw shooter, he shoots at almost at 70%, so was that nerves?
02:30I don't know what that was, but I would expect this, Mark, in game two, and I know we want to stay on game one, because that was such a fun game to watch yesterday, but I would expect Houston to play better in game two.
02:44Different.
02:45Yeah.
02:45Yes, different.
02:46And I'd expect...
02:46Look, all of these are going to have their own personality.
02:49And again, Houston could come back and they could win game two, but they're still way deep up a creek.
02:57And how relaxed do the Warriors get to play on Wednesday?
03:00Because that's a house money game.
03:02House money game.
03:03Yeah.
03:04It's a playoff game.
03:05I'm not saying you can lose it, but there's not a one of you, there's not a one of you that wouldn't have accepted a split if I'd offered it to you at 6-15 last night.
03:16You'd have taken it, and you already got it.
03:19We talked about it last week.
03:20Yeah, you got it already, and you might get two.
03:23And if you get two, this thing's really, really in the fridge.
03:26For the most part, yeah.
03:28Only four teams in the 28 times it's happened have come back from 0-2 down after losing both at home since 1984.
03:38Four times.
03:38Four wins, 24 losses, and I don't believe that this team, as a two-seed with a bunch of youngsters, I don't think that this team is the one that's cut out to do that.
03:50No, it's even worse.
03:51It's even worse.
03:52You're right.
03:53Like, it's already really, really hard to do, and when you've never won playoff games before, I'm sorry, you're not doing that.
04:00You're not beating the Warriors four times in five tries.
04:03No, it's not happening.
04:05So, yes, Wednesday night is an opportunity for the Warriors, in my opinion, to close the damn thing out with the one caveat that, you know, the one thing that shall not be said out loud.
04:17That could always happen, and that changes everything.
04:19But outside of that, look, that's just my take.
04:23I'm not trying to be dismissive.
04:25I'm not trying to, like, be a jinx.
04:27Because I think the Rockets needed that game, and they didn't get it, and it really, they really weren't, they didn't even really threaten to get it.
04:34Nice run there in the end, but they never threatened to actually win the game in the final minute of action.
04:40And I, so, yeah, I think they're in deep, deep trouble.
04:44Let's go out to the phones.
04:45Daniel in the city.
04:46Hi, Daniel.
04:47We thank you for calling.
04:47What's up?
04:49Hey, what's going on, guys?
04:51Thanks for taking my call.
04:52Yeah, man.
04:52First-time listener, first-time caller.
04:55I wanted to talk about how Jimmy Butler, man, I mean, a lot of people were questioning the way he was going to actually fit in with the culture of the Warriors.
05:03And I think the dude just, he's feel like a glove.
05:06I mean, the guy kind of comes out there and has a common presence.
05:08I'm like, and I don't want to say unlike anybody, but similar to what we get with Draymond, where at times their effort is not seen on the stat line.
05:18And definitely, I mean, that's kind of something that I think we've been getting from Jimmy Butler that's been a little bit understated.
05:25And we can just only go from there.
05:26You know, yesterday was a really good showing of that.
05:30And hopefully it's going to go from there.
05:32Daniel, thanks, man.
05:34You know what?
05:35The other word, when Daniel talks about it, and we were talking about Jimmy Butler, there's something about certain people.
05:41And I wish I was better at this.
05:42I'm not, but there's something about certain people that when they walk into the room, they carry with them automatic accountability for everybody else.
05:51Automatic.
05:52You don't even need to say anything.
05:55Jimmy Butler walks into a room.
05:56A, he's Jimmy Butler.
05:58B, he starts screaming and yelling about turnovers.
06:01And then C, he makes fun of Buddy Heald every time he does something silly.
06:07And then makes Quentin Post his guy.
06:09But also continues to totally elevate Steph Curry and push him out to the forefront.
06:17Steph Curry's not that kind of star.
06:20He gets loose with the ball.
06:21He does crazy stuff out there, and he's super nice to everybody.
06:25Draymond Green is that kind of star, but he can't score the basketball.
06:30He's not a cookie-cutter type of a star at all.
06:34Jimmy Butler blends the two perfectly.
06:36And there's something about it that when he walks onto the floor and you watch the way he goes about his business, it automatically makes everybody around him be accountable.
06:48And when you get to the playoffs, that's the thing.
06:51That's the thing that's necessary.
06:53You got to have somebody who has that stability and also that countenance.
06:58And if you think about the big three, Steph Draymond and Jimmy Butler, Steph is going to do the spectacular.
07:05And he's also going to have a few loosey-goosey kind of mistakes because that's just what happens.
07:11Draymond Green is going to be volatile.
07:14He may hit a shot or two, but he's going to be an unbelievable defender.
07:17And just watching him against Shen Goon, how many times he just squared him up, and Shen Goon's going to the basket, and he went straight up, arms up, took the contact, didn't give the contact.
07:30He absorbed it.
07:31He plays such fundamental defense, and he is meteoric.
07:35And then you've got Jimmy, who I think that there are times where it looks like he plays with a cup of coffee in his hand.
07:40And he's just like, he's got the ball in his right hand, and he's sipping on a cup of coffee, and he's like, no big deal.
07:47Jimmy, it's a three-point game, and Houston's on a 10-0 run, and this thing's slipping away, and I'm freaking out.
07:53And Jimmy's like, here, Steph, you take it.
07:56I'm going to meander down to the post, give it back to me, 11 dribbles later, and two fakes.
08:02I'm going to the foul line, or I'm going to make it, or both.
08:05Ho-hum, here we go.
08:07There's something about that presence, you're right.
08:09Walking deep breath.
08:10Yeah.
08:11I mean, I've never really even experienced, as a Warrior fan, maybe when Durant got the ball with six seconds left on the timer,
08:19you'd be like, all right, you're going to take a shot.
08:22Might make it.
08:23Probably going to make it.
08:24He's Kevin Durant.
08:25Really good at basketball.
08:26There's a little bit of that, but man, I don't know.
08:31Those teams were so dominant.
08:32It was like you watched that game with a Mai Tai.
08:36It was just like, who cares?
08:37Nobody's beating this team.
08:39This is different.
08:40This is different.
08:41This team is not that dominant.
08:43This team is a freaking seven seed, and Steph Curry's 37 years old, and when things start
08:48getting out of hand, the second the ball goes into his hands, you go, okay.
08:55Okay.
08:56All right.
08:56Okay.
08:56What are we doing?
08:58And the whole team feels it?
09:01The whole team feels it.
09:03Something else, man.
09:04I do think it's a little bit, and he's a much better player than this guy, but I get Sean Livingston vibes from him.
09:09Because Livingston, those four or five shots a game, you just give it to him on the low right block, and he would do that little shoulder turn, 10-foot bank, and it's like, he's going to make it.
09:20And Sean was very much a stabilizing force, and Jimmy does it at a star level.
09:23Yeah, but Jimmy involves all five guys.
09:27Sean was like, right, mid-range, captain of the mid-range, give me that ball, free throw line extended, and I'm going to make some music.
09:34Jimmy Butler, I don't know what he's going to do.
09:36I don't know where the ball is going to end up.
09:38I don't know who's going to end up with the shot, but my God, it calms everybody down.
09:43Let's go to Jonathan in the city.
09:44Hi, Jonathan.
09:45Thanks for calling.
09:47Hey, thanks for taking my phone call.
09:50Hey, like I said months ago, this is a guy that Destiny has brought to us, and more often than not, that kind of bond is magical.
09:59So we've seen it right away, not instantly.
10:01It took a game or two, but it happened in the regular season.
10:04It happened in the play-in, and now we're watching it in the ops.
10:09I really expect a happy ending to come out at the end of this show.
10:16Real quick on the Rockets, I like the way they play, man.
10:19I think them being our Warriors first-round opponent, it's like the Jim Harbaugh saying, you know, iron sharpens iron.
10:29I like their physical play.
10:31But when it comes to the matchup, I don't think Warriors' step-led team is not going to get beat when your best shooter is Dylan Brooks.
10:43If they win game two, I expect a sweep, but if not, I think it's going to be a short series, hopefully, gentlemen's sweep.
10:52Go Warriors!
10:53Okay, Jonathan, thanks very much.
10:56Yeah, I look at the Rockets, and I, look, come on.
10:59I mean, it's too early for the funeral, even though I'm sitting here saying I just don't, I don't see it.
11:05I didn't see it last week before the series started, to be honest with you.
11:09The Rockets are classically, and I remember saying this to you last week, this is a team that is still at least a year away.
11:15And if we want to extend that commentary, I think that the team is also a player away.
11:22You know, now, I've heard the rumor, we all know, it's funny that Durant's name has already come up.
11:26Durant is going to be on a different team next year, and it might be the Houston Rockets.
11:30It might be.
11:31And now, that's a scary proposition.
11:35But that's exactly what they need.
11:37The Houston Rockets get into so many possessions.
11:40Where were they in the, like, it felt like the third quarter, and they still had like 40 points or something like that.
11:47I mean, it was absurd.
11:49And then they had a nice back half of the third quarter, little bit of a nice start to the fourth quarter,
11:55and even then, it all adds up to 85 points.
12:00That is a tragically low number in today's NBA.
12:03But you nailed it, because halfway through the third, it was 66-43.
12:0843?
12:09Halfway through the third?
12:11They scored 42 over the remaining 18 minutes.
12:14Yeah.
12:14They scored 43 in the first 30 minutes.
12:18So that, I think, is your point where they had to go on a nice little heater to even get to 85.
12:23I mean, come on, dibs.
12:25Like, look at the playoffs.
12:26Just look at the playoffs.
12:28We watched them all weekend long, right?
12:30Wasn't that a fun weekend?
12:31It was phenomenal.
12:32But what stands out?
12:34What stands out?
12:35Points, man.
12:36I mean, well, points and also, like, stars.
12:40Stars.
12:40You've got to step forward.
12:43The experienced guys, I know, like, there are a few examples.
12:46Shea did nothing.
12:47Didn't need him to.
12:48Did he even play?
12:49He did.
12:50J. Will was really nice.
12:52You know, Bencaro, even though the Magic lost.
12:55Giannis, 36 in the loss.
12:57Giannis was incredible.
12:58And they got blown off of the floor.
13:00Yep.
13:00But, you know, go to that Denver Clipper game.
13:03What a game.
13:04Yeah.
13:04Harden and Kawhi and Jokic.
13:06We get another one tonight, by the way.
13:07Game two tonight on that one.
13:09Like, they don't have anybody to turn to.
13:13They don't have anybody to score the basketball at a high enough clip.
13:17They just don't.
13:18He's very good.
13:19But three is greater than two.
13:21Yeah.
13:21It's not enough.
13:23Like, you can be a really good player, but then I can look at you and go, but you're not
13:27like a seasoned playoff one where it's like, put the ball in my hand and everybody get out
13:31of the way.
13:32You need that.
13:33They don't have it.
13:35They don't have the goods.
13:37They are good, but they don't have the goods.
13:40No, they don't.
13:40And if you think about, like, what went wrong for them yesterday that could go right in
13:45game two, it would be Jalen Green and Fred Van Vliet being normal because they were abnormally
13:51bad.
13:51And I was looking at their season stats, and it's interesting about Houston.
13:56If you look at their best three-point shooters, their best three-point shooters, they don't get
14:00to play in this series.
14:02And they are Aaron Holiday, not playing.
14:07Well, Dylan Brooks, yes.
14:08Jeff Green, no.
14:08Cam Whitmore, no, you don't get to play.
14:11And then Jalen Green's a 35% three-point shooter.
14:14So if you're looking for Jalen Green and Fred Van Vliet at 34%, if you're looking for them
14:20to light it up, quote-unquote, it's not going to happen.
14:23But I'll say this, Mark.
14:25They are better than what they showed in game one.
14:27Hat tip to the Warrior defense.
14:29But also, as I mentioned, Fred Van Vliet had 10 threes that I would consider to be open,
14:35and he made one of them.
14:36So odds are he's going to make a couple more of those.
14:40And so, yeah.
14:41If Fred and Jalen play as badly as they did in game one, well, then this will be a sweep.
14:47Because they were bad offensively.
14:48They were.
14:49But again, the Warriors were not perfect offensively either.
14:53And I'm personally going to lean into, dude, both of these are really good defensive teams.
14:58So you're going to put up some wonky numbers.
15:02It was evident right out of the gate that nobody was scoring 100 in this game.
15:07And I bet right now, like, what are we looking at?
15:10Five or six games at the most in this series.
15:13How many times do you think any team will score over 100 points?
15:20I'd set the over 100 about three and a half.
15:23That's not bad.
15:24That's not bad.
15:25I do think that 100 will win.
15:28Like, first team to 100, Lawler's Law.
15:31Yeah.
15:32He meant in the game, not in the series.
15:35No, yeah, it was Ralph.
15:35Oh, Ralph Lawler.
15:37Yeah, the old Clippers play-by-play guy.
15:38Exactly.
15:39Back when 100 was a thing.
15:41And first team to 100 wins the game.
15:43And he kind of made that up.
15:45And it no longer applies because that's usually the third quarter.
15:49Almost everybody gets 100.
15:49Shout out OKC, who had more than 100 in the third quarter.
15:52But, you know, in this series, I do think that if you get to 100, you win.
15:56Let's go to Leo in Auburn.
15:59Hi, Leo.
16:00What's up?
16:02Oh, hi.
16:02Thanks.
16:03Hey, I was really interested in focusing on that 23 or whatever, a 23-3 run.
16:09And the thought I was having is that I was – and the game's a blur,
16:14so you guys are going to have to help me out on this.
16:17OK.
16:17But I thought the Warriors were not scoring, not because it was being blocked,
16:22but they just sort of got cold.
16:25And maybe the Rockets sort of figured out how to get past the Warriors' defense.
16:31I mean, if that was the game multiplied by four times, it would be, you know,
16:35100 to 6 or whatever.
16:37But so what – that period, you know, how is it that it was so lopsided?
16:43And I'm thinking that the Warriors just weren't, you know,
16:47just slightly missing a basket, not that they were being blocked
16:51or they're being prevented from throwing or making – trying to do a basket.
16:55It was just that they happened to be cold because that's a real –
16:59to me, that was a real critical point of the game because it was so suddenly lopsided.
17:05I don't know.
17:05Yeah, Leo, are you talking about when the Warriors went on the run or when the Rockets did?
17:09When the Rockets did?
17:10No, no, no, the Rockets.
17:12Yeah.
17:12No.
17:12Yeah, so here's what I'd say, Leo.
17:14I mean, to me, that stuff, it makes us, like, want to throw up a little bit.
17:19It makes us kind of nauseous.
17:20But it's just the ebb and flow of basketball.
17:23What you saw Oklahoma City to do to Memphis is actually much more rare
17:28than what you saw happen with the Warriors and the Rockets.
17:31I watched that game last night, and at no point did I really feel like,
17:36oh, the Rockets are the better team or they've got the answer.
17:40You're going to get a run.
17:42You're just going to get a run.
17:44These are good teams.
17:46The Rockets are a very good team.
17:49They're going to make a run.
17:51They're going to hit a few shots.
17:52Their defense is going to muscle up.
17:54They're at home.
17:55All of that, you've got to weather it.
17:57And the Warriors had to weather two things.
18:00First quarter energy, and then what we all knew was going to happen, the run.
18:05Is it a big run?
18:06Is it a small run?
18:07Is it an effective run?
18:10Champions weather those things.
18:11Warriors weather them both.
18:12Well, and to his point, and I'm looking at the sequence here,
18:15Curry hits a free throw to go up 23.
18:18Green bad pass turnover.
18:19Moody miss.
18:21Shot clock violation.
18:22Green foul.
18:23Payton bad pass turnover.
18:25And all of a sudden, now it's a 16-point game.
18:28And that was over two minutes where that was the sequence.
18:31Steph hits a shot.
18:32Buddy miss.
18:33Another shot clock violation.
18:35Buddy miss.
18:36Curry foul.
18:37Butler miss.
18:38Next thing you know, it's a 14-point game.
18:41So they were a little shaky for about a four-minute period in there,
18:44and they allowed Houston to get back in.
18:46Yeah, no doubt.
18:47No doubt.
18:47The good news is, I think, if those runs ever happen at a time where,
18:50for instance, you're tied in the game or something like that,
18:54I just don't.
18:55I think it's going to be pretty rare that Houston has the offense to take off.
18:59Like, the Warriors were so bad for an extended period of time,
19:02and they still never lost the lead.
19:03They still never lost it.
19:04Because Houston just doesn't put up a lot of points.
19:07Yeah, good point.