Hoops Tonight - Lakers-Pelicans Reaction: LeBron James & LA survive, set to face Nuggets,

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of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, I underscore jsonlts, you guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight, and the last, but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments so we can hit them later on throughout the week. So, as I said in the Sunday show, I was expecting more or less today's game to be ugly. This is it's really hard to beat a good team twice in a row, especially after

you humiliate them. For the losing team, their pride is on the line. For the winning team, there's a natural sense of relaxation that comes in. And honestly, it was ugly for different reasons than I was expecting. I expected the Pelicans to kind of keep this game close throughout. The way it looked there in that first quarter was more or less kind of what I was expecting the game to look like. Pelicans get an early lead, Lakers

kind of linger around and out execute them late. To be honest, I was generally impressed by the Lakers in this game in the way that they kind of controlled and dominated things throughout, and really they it was more or less just like what happened in the Sunday game. They went up big and then they relaxed, and the Pelicans brought a bunch of ball pressure and speed onto the table and were able to kind of make things

a little more competitive. Just in this particular game, the Pelicans made it super competitive and actually tied the game I think at one or two points. So it was ugly, but in a different way than I was expecting. The early success for New Orleans. Couple specific things. Bringing the force. That's the big pendulum that swings an NBA Playoffs series

is force. Usually the team that wins game one, you go into game two, you can expect the team that lost game one to bring more force, and typically the team that one game wont to bring less force.

bringing that effort in intensity to a higher level. That's that pendulum that swings, and that pendulum swung a big way in the Pelicans direction. Well, a couple of schematic things. They were using screens on Zion more often so a lot of what Zion does offensively is they just set them up in that slot there on the right wing, and they space the floor and he'll just go straight Iso.

That didn't work against Lebron because Lebron has Zion's number in a lot of ways, and I thought Lebron did a really good job on Zion again in this game, but they use screens to get Zion onto other players, whether it was Ruey or Anthony Davis. He was going

through Anthony Davis like he was tissue paper. And then also in the stretches where Lebron was off the floor, so like late first quarter, late third quarter, Zion was super aggressive to try to take advantage of those particular stretches, which was a big part of how the Pelicans dominated

those stretches of the game. Also in that fourth quarter run, another big part of what helped the Pelicans kind of get back into it is the Lakers were chasing Jose Alvarado over the top of ball screens, which they probably shouldn't have been doing. Jose Alvarado shot thirty three percent on pull up jump shots this year, and he wasn't shooting particularly well in this game. I would have ducked underneath picks that would have shut that action off. Instead,

D'Angelo Russell was chasing Jose Alvarado over the top. Jose Alvarado was getting into the lane, engaging Anthony Davis and dropping the ball off for Larry Nance, who was getting dunks and layups right at the rim. So that was kind of a schematic mistake from Darvin Ham that I thought kind of led to a big part of New Orleans late success. But again late in the game, and obviously Zion getting injured played a certain factor here, but

they did get a couple of buckets after that. But the Lakers just kind of settled down offensively, got a few great looks. One of the consistent problems for the Pelicans in this matchup is they can't play Yonas Valenciunas. So when Yonas Valentunas comes out, Anthony Davis just has a huge size advantage underneath the basket. I think he had six or seven offensive rebounds in this game, and on the one of the key possessions late, Anthony Davis got an offensive rebound and got to the foul line

and knocked down a couple of big free throws. But bottom line, late in the game, it's Lebron James against Herb Jones.

People don't realize this, but the Lakers were the best clutch team in basketball this year. They went twenty four to nine in games that were within five minutes in and within five points late in the game, and so they've been pretty consistently great at doing that, just getting a couple of key stops and getting a couple of key buckets and getting out there, getting out of there with the win. So the Lakers get it done again. It was ugly, but like you know, a couple of

big swing factors there. I thought Anthony Davis had one of those games where he just kind of doesn't have it. I don't know whether it was the backspasms or if it's just one of those things that ad can do sometimes, but he just was generally kind of floating through the game on both ends of the floor for three quarters. Did make a couple of big plays in the fourth. He had a big offensive rebound put back, then he got a block on CJ. McCollum at the rim obviously

drew the foul on the offensive glass late. So made some big plays, but AD was pretty disengaged. And between AD being pretty bad and Zion being pretty awesome, that was enough to give the Pelicans a chance to win, but alas it was not enough. I want to shout out Lebron James because I thought this was a classic example of dominating a game without making shots. He was six foot twenty, tricked off a bunch of layups, barely made any jump shots aside from the big one that

he hit over Herb Jones late. It was a rough shot making game for him, and yet I thought he completely dominated every facet of the game. First of all, the defense on Zion. When he was on Zion, they had him under control. It was generally when he got off of Zion, whether his transition cross matches transition situation where he was helping somewhere else off the ball or when they were screening him to get Anthony Davis into the action. That Zion had some impact, but Lebron blew

up a bunch of plays in the passing lanes. He was a great rebounder in this particular game, got a bunch of key, contested defensive rebounds, and then on the offensive end of the floor, generated just a ton of high quality shots and then a big one I thought was just his timely play in the key stretches of the game. The Pelicans blow it open to end the third, then Lebron comes in in the second quarter just immediately takes control of the game, gets it back to the

Lakers being in front. That actually led to the Lakers kind of dominating that second quarter. Pelicans go on a big run in the third quarter. Lebron comes in the early fourth and immediately kind of helps reassert control when he gets in there. I thought he was great in the key stretches, great in the key areas of the game despite going six for twenty. So shout out to Lebron.

not Lebron with the bad foot. This is Lebron who's been playing. I tweeted this out during the game, but Lebron post All Star Break has been a top three player in the league.

been at a higher level. Anthony Davis is more or less the same player he was last year, although he's been a little better handling post up double teams. Obviously, the Lakers offense is more polished with their five out set. The Nuggets don't do as much switching as the Pelicans do, and as I did it, as I talked about in my contender's list, the Lakers can be a little susceptible to switching defenses. That was part of what made them

go so stagnant. Now the Lakers are capable of beating switching with Lebron and ad in size, but specifically with the Pelicans, that was a big part of how they kind of let go of the rope. Lakers went up eighteen, then that Nance line up at center, they started switching everything. The Lakers got stagnant, they started to take some bad shots. That's how you play the Lakers into their worst tendencies.

And so I actually expect the Lakers to score more effectively against the Nuggets in this series than they did last year. But all of that said, Denver is the better team. I'm going to start my prep on that series tomorrow. We'll probably have break that breakdown with some film up later in the day tomorrow. But the last thing is for the Lakers to have any chance to beat the Nuggets. They need Anthony Davis to be great.

He got his ass kicked by Nikola Jokic last year pretty bad too, to the point we're in Game four. In particular, when again when their backs were against the ball, I thought Ad looked a little bit disengaged and a little bit like he let go of the rope. Like so, Jokic kicked his butt so bad that Ad kind of let go of the rope a little bit last year. That's gonna be the factor that needs to swing back the other direction. Anthony Davis. He doesn't need to outplay Jokic,

but he needs to get up to that level. And then Lebron James does need to outplay Jamal Murray. That's their only chance. WAS kind of disappointed in Ad tonight for such a big game for him to be as ineffective as he was, But he can make up for it by going in there on Saturday or Sunday, whenever the game is and getting a big win in Denver. I think the Lakers need to win Game one to win that series, just to kind of maintain their confidence

and belief and their ability to win. But I have big expectations for Ad in this one, He's got to show me something. It's something that I think that he I think he has an opportunity here to kind of reverse some of the narrative that surrounds him after that series, because we went away from that series like, oh, Joki is just way way, way, way way better than ad. This isn't even much of a matchup. Adi's got to make that a conversation for the Lakers to have a

chance to win this series. And then, lastly before we get out of here, the Pelicans. I again, I know it's disappointing to lose two straight games like this to end the season, but I think that this actually is shaping up pretty nicely for them. They match up extremely well with Sacramento. They're five to zero this year. They match up extremely well with Golden State, they're two to one against them this year, and they've won two straight

somewhat convincingly. You're gonna have that game at home, beat those teams whoever comes out of that right. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team that initiated offense with a couple of guys that are six six or shorter from the perimeter that plays directly into the Pelicans' strength of their roster, which is perimeter defenders, and the Pelicans do not have the interior size or excuse me, the Thunder do not have the interior size to punish the weak

Pelicans frontline defensively. I will pick Oklahoma City to win that series, but the Pelicans have a much better chance of beating the Thunder than they do to beat the Nuggets. So as disappointing as this is, as long as Zion can get back onto the floor in time, I actually think the Pelicans are kind of slotting into a pathway here that makes more sense for them. All right, guys,

that is all I have for this particular video. Again, I will be back live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Kings Warriors.

off the top. I don't really view them as a threat after this point. They're zero to five versus the Pelicans this year. Obviously Zion being out potentially the hamstring is going to be somewhat of an issue, but it's more of the Pelicans' perimeter players that give them a bother.

We're gonna talk a little bit about the Warriors, some of the things that stood out from this season and part of the reason why I was never really optimistic about them making a run to begin with, where the Warriors should go from here, and then at the end, I personally just want to pay a little bit of a homage to the Warriors just for what it was like rooting obviously as someone who's a fan of Lebron James and had to root against them a lot over

the years, just how incredible that dynasty was, how you know, relentless they were in their pursuit of winning, and how inevitable they felt at times. And so I put down four of my favorite moments after the after KD left and just kind of like my it just kind of my appreciation for the Warriors. That's going to be at the end of the show. You guys are the Joe for we get started to subscribe to a brand of YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.

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just a complete and total outclassing. Honestly, I was a little disappointed just with how the Warriors held up physically, because for all of the weaknesses that the Warriors have, things like interior size, things like shot creation, one of their strengths is they're actually a really athletic team, especially

on the wing. They've got a lot of youthful exuberance at some key positions and a lot of length and athleticism, especially on the perimeter that should in theory allow them to match up pretty well with Sacramento, but they they just didn't hold up tonight for whatever reason. Obviously, the veterans in particular struggled in this game, but some of the young guys too, even though their effort shined through.

Some of their execution stuff that you expect from young players to struggle with that kind of shined through to the surface as well. It was just a complete and total dominating performance from the Sacramento Kings. I want to shout out two specific guys Versus Keith and Murray. He literally looked like the old Klay Thompson out there. He

was defending a quick guard extremely well. Right, We've seen Clay do that to a bunch of quick guards over the year, namely Kyrie Irving over the course of their matchups in the playoffs over the years, and hid in threes not just in volume, not in different spots on the floor, but also just flying off a screens kind of like we're accustomed to seeing from Klay Thompson. Honestly,

Keegan hit eight threes in this game. Honestly, like I have to kind of eat a little bit of crow here in the sense that, like when Keigan Murray got drafted and after watching him play in the NBA last year, was you know, appreciative of him as a good role player in this league. But I didn't really think he had this kind of upside as a perimeter defender. I didn't think he had this kind of upside as a

movement shooter. I have to kind of reevaluate my personal kind of like view of Keegan Murray ceiling with some of the stuff that he's shown this season. And this was just a big time performance from him in a super super important game. Honestly, Like for all the criticism of the playing tournament that we've seen over the years, that was an intense game. You had two really good teams playing in a single elimination game. You just don't

get that in the NBA very often. Typically, the nine to ten game, even in the Western Conference over the years, has been the lesser of the teams that we've seen. It's usually the seven eight game where we'll see the good teams. And some of this is just the realities of the Western Conference. There are ten good teams in the West right Like I'll give you as an example, I think the Lakers and Clippers are both clearly top

six teams in the NBA. I had the Lakers at six in my contender and I had the Clippers at four if I remember correctly. So like Lakers and Clippers for me, both top six championship contenders. I'm going to be picking them both to lose in the first round of the playoffs. Why because they're playing teams two teams that are in the top three of my championship contenders. The Western Conference is just completely stacked, and so unfortunately, as a product of that, the Warriors and Kings fall

down into the nine to ten game. They have to play single elimination game. Somebody's got to go home and ends up being the Golden State Warriors, but shout out to Keegan Murray because in such a big game, for him to show up the way he did, that tells you a lot about the type of potential that he has in the big picture. Keon Ellis is the second guy you guys who remember last year in the postseason

I talked a lot about how Dearon Fox and Leak Monk to a certain extent, but Deern Fox mainly demonstrated that like he could really defend the guard position.

to do it, you're paying the price. On the other end of the floor, Keon Ellis has been that for the Kings this year. He can really really defend the best guards in the league while also being a knockdown shooter and also take that off of Dearon Fox's workload. And I thought, you know, Mike Brown actually talked about it after the third quarter in his interview, basically just talking about, like, hey, like being able to switch things up on Steph and go from length and size to

kind of like speed in quickness. With Keon Ellis, it was a way that they could kind of keep Steph off balance. And I thought he did a really nice job. And as I've talked about all season long with the Warriors, if you can do a good job on Steph, you're probably gonna win because there's nobody else on that team that can consistently generate high quality shots. They held step to twenty two points, they forced them into six turnovers, then they dominated every other facet of the game and

got the win. Here's the problem, though, Sacramento is a team that just brings perimeter defender.

they get out in transition. They're five and zero against the Sacramento Kings this year, and again, Zion Williamson pulled his hamstring at the end of the Lakers game tonight, so maybe that'll give them a little bit of a semblance of a route that they can go. But the Pelicans, you know, when they take Zion out, they play a little bit more drive and kick, but they can still be actually better defensively than they are with Zion on the floor. Obviously, they're just gonna kind of default more

to running things through Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. But I still think the Pelicans are going to get that win on Friday, just on the strength of their perimeter defense. Either way, though, I don't think either of those teams have much of a chance against Oklahoma City, even if they're better matchups than some of the other teams in

the West that they can face. So really impressive win for the Kings but without Malik Monk, even if they do survive the Pelicans game, I don't think they have the horses to make any sort of substantial playoff run. So moving on to the Warriors, there's gonna be a lot of talk about Draymond Green and the way his

suspension kind of put them in this predicament. I think they were thirty three and twenty two this year when Draymond actually played, which is pretty solid, right, And I want to be clear there's truth to that, Like Draymond Green did put his team in a predicament where they dropped a bunch of games, and maybe, just maybe they're not in the nine to ten game if Draymond plays the entire season. However, I never really saw the Warriors

as a team that was capable of winning multiple playoff rounds. Maybe, just maybe, if they got like the Thunder in the first round, a really young team, or maybe like the Minnesota Timberwolves who can struggle to execute in a half court like, maybe the Warriors could get a playoff round

underneath their belt. But I didn't view them as a substantial threat in the West this year, and the main reason why was they weren't very good against the good teams in the league, like this season, they were twenty three and four against teams in the bottom ten in point differential, which was the seventh best mark in the league. But they were just nine and twenty one versus teams that are in the top ten in point differential this year.

That's twentieth in the NBA. They consistently when they ran up against the real teams at the top of the league, they just didn't have the shot creation and that was really it, and some of it it kind of comes down to two things. First of all, the team's fatal flaw. They didn't have another guy on the roster who could consistently generate high quality offense like Kaminga had a hot stretch. You know, you get a hot stretch at Andrew Wiggins at some point, you get a hot stretch out of

Klay Thompson at some point. But in any one game sample, when you were going in as a Warriors fan or going in as someone who watches the Warriors a lot, you were sitting there thinking like, is Clay going to play well tonight? Maybe is Andrew Wiggins gonna play well tonight? Maybe is Jonathan Camiingia gonna play well tonight. Maybe there wasn't a legit guy next to Steph that you could depend on to consistently generate high quality offense. Basically everybody

in the Western Conference has that. Sacramento, before the Malik Monk injury, you knew you had that with Malik Monk. Obviously, Lebron James, it's kind of by committee, by committee with Ad Austin Reeves and D'Angelo Russell, right, Obviously, the New

Orleans Pelicans, it's Brandon ingram Zion Williamson, and it's CJ McCollum. Right, you go to the Suns, it's Katie Bradley, Beal, Devin Booker. To go to the Clippers, it's James Harden, it's Kevin or it's a Kawhi Leonard, it's Paul George, it's Luka Doncic, and it's Kyrie, it's Jamal Murray and it's Nikola Jokic.

The Warriors, really, aside from the injury to Malik Monk, they were the only team in the Western Conference that did not have a legitimate threat that could consistently generate quality shots beyond Steph Curry and then to.

Steph's last twenty five games of the season. And then you saw him tonight really struggling to break free from Keegan and Murray and to break free from keon Ellis. A lot of sloppy turnovers, a lot of like just struggling to kind of get to his spots right, and so there's a bunch of factors there. My guess he's probably a little banged up. Wouldn't be surprised if in

the next couple of days we hear some sort of report of an injury that Steph Curry's been dealing with, because, like, even in decline, and we're going to talk about that, even in decline, shouldn't happen this dramatically, this quickly, right, Two, Yeah, Steph getting a little older small guard, there's gonna be some decline there. You're starting to see that. And then three, when you don't have legitimate, reliable shot creation off of your star, it allows teams to throw the kitchen sink

at Steph Curry. By the way, this is a big part of why I'm not as high on the New York Knicks as everyone else love the New York Knicks in the long run, but without Julius Randall, they do not have a legitimate secondary shot creator next to Jalen Brunson. As a result, they're seven and seventeen this year against teams that are in the top ten in point differential. I do not think they're going to be able to beat the teams with the high firepower for the exact

same reason, for the exact same reason. When you have one guy, you can throw the kitchen sink at it, and chances are you'll figure out a way to rotate on the back end to kind of contain some of those more limited offensive players, and so like that's just that's that's really where things fell.

still kind of feel like he's going to be. I don't think he's on the trajectory with like Anthony Edwards and like the super superstars that we have that are the young players in the league, but like, I think

he could be kind of in that Jalen Brown level guy that's in the fifteen to twentieth best player in the league, who's like a legit twenty five point per gay game, guy who can really defend. I think that's in Kminga's potential, right, And so he flashed all that to potential, and then all of a sudden, training guys, trading guys was just out of the window, right, like going into that stretch, or like trade Kaminga, trade some

draft picks. Maybe you go after a Pascal Siaka, maybe you go after Nogan and no. And then as Kaminga started to play better, right, as og and Andobi and Pascal siakam were off us, were the trade talks were heating up, they go off. Kaminga playing well kind of removes him from that equation. All of a sudden, they're out of the siakam Oganobe the sweepstakes. Now, all of a sudden, you're kind of trapped with this particular group, right,

And I talked consistently during that time. You Warriors fans that followed the show, you'll remember this. I said consistently during that time, like this is great for the future, but do not count on these young guys to be reliable shot creators when you get to big time playoff games. And that's what this was. This was a big time playoff game. And Kamina makes some plays tonight, play really hard. I thought he had a good stretch there in the

first half, but like he wasn't. Was he consistently generating quality shots in this game.

championship ceiling was out the window. I mean, I threw them tenth tied with the heat in my contender rankings just as a like basically a sign of respect towards Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. But you know, the Warriors just don't have the firepower. They don't have the firepower to hang in these types of games, Unlike they could have beat the Kings tonight. I'm not trying to act like they can't beat the Kings. Of course they could

beat the Kings tonight. They needed to hold up better physically, They needed more out of Clay, and they needed Steph to play like a superstar. Instead, they didn't hold up physically. Clay gave you nothing, and Steph played like he's been playing for the last third of the season, and as a result, they got basically dog walked tonight, right, And so like that that's kind of the reality of the predicament that they're in. And so you know, you could

where do we go from here? You could make an all in trade, right, Like you could try to go after a star, maybe a Paul George, maybe a brandon Ingram At the Pelicans decide to kind of change their build this summer. You can go in that sort of direction, but you have to take a look at your situation here, Like Steph slash twenty five games, how much of that is declined versus not playing alongside a star. You take

a gamble, you go after a star. Let's say you get Paul George, but you have to give up kaminga, you have to give up draft compensation. Let's say Steph just isn't a the top ten player next year. If that happens, then all of a sudden, now you don't have the draft assets and the young talent to kind of slide into the next phase of your future. You just have an old Stephan, an old Paul George. Right, And so that's where it gets tricky. Like I almost feel like if you were going to do that, you

needed to do it last year. You needed to do it the year after they won the title. That was the year where it made sense Steph was still playing at that level. A lot of those guys, the young guys were mostly just kind of, you know, just prospects at that point. They didn't have that sort of long term potential that or at least we hadn't seen it really manifest for Jonathan Minga yet that was where it made sense to do it. Now it doesn't really make

a lot of sense. And like, who were the guys that kind of came in and brought the energy tonight

when the Warriors came out flat. It was Moses Moody, it was Brandon Pitzemski, it was Jonathan Kaminga, right, And it's because they have the athletic tools to kind of hang in those sorts of settings, right, So, like I think, honestly, like if I was running the Warriors at this point, I would just kind of read the writing on the wall, Like, if you can work out some sort of team friendly deal for Clay and he wants to stay because he likes his living situation and he likes this team, you

work it out. But if he gets offered a chunk of money and he wants to go, you let him go. You know, you see, if you can make some moves on the margin of margins.

the championship ceiling is gone with this group. The championship ceiling with this group was Steph is a top five player. You make a trade to bring in a legitimate secondary star.

So before we get out of here tonight, I just wanted to kind of talk a little bit about the Warriors dynasty from just purely from a fan perspective. So as I've told you guys before, I am a Lebron James fan, and obviously now it's it's much more of like a grown up fan hood, right Like I'm Lebron. Fans hate me because I'm critical of him when he doesn't play well, because I do a job to cover the NBA and talk about, you know, these these basketball

games and actually give x's and o's analysis. Right, So,

like obviously at this phase of my courage different. But like you know, when I was during the Warriors dynasty, like I was in my mid twenties and I was, you know, like a young emotional fan who loved Lebron, loved that Cavaliers team, and I had to root against the Warriors, and man did that suck, you know, like not just not even just the KD years, because the KD years were all about you know, second and third best player in the in the world teaming up and

the like the Cows just never really had a chance. But like going back to the two fifteen year, watching Steph light up Matthew Delavadova in Game five, I thought Steph got absolutely robbed of the Finals MVP that year. All you had to do is have a basic understanding of the way the game of basketball works to understand that he was the reason everything was working for the Warriors down the stretch of that series.

twenty nineteen series, the series against the Toronto Rafters. So obviously, Kevin Durant goes down with the calf injury in the second round and Golden State ends up sweeping the Portland Trailblazers without Kevin Durant and come back from huge deficits in all four games, just a reminder of just how good Steph Clay and Draymond were when they were at their best. Like KD made them unbeatable, but even without KD they were still a top tier contender in the league.

They just probably wouldn't have you know, they probably get one of those two instead of two of those two, right, Like, That's what I always say is like I think, if KD doesn't go to Golden State, Lebron gets one of them in twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, and Steph gets one of them in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen instead, KD went there, so they got them both, right, But like I think a lot of times we use the KD stuff to kind of underplay just how good Steph Klaan Raymond were.

And like that Game five, the game was a game five, Yeah, it was game five, uh, where Kawhi Leonard just went on that crazy Haymaker spree to to get I think the I think the Raptors went up by like six at that point in the game, and then Stephan Clay just stole that game with shot making, and I remember sitting there thinking, like, these dudes are just winners man, Like KD literally tore his achilles in that game. If I remember correct, I believe it was that game. Katie

hurts himself. You're on the rope. Why is on a shot making spree? It all looks like it's over. You're on the road, And Stephan Clay just refused to lose, and they got it done. And even then, if I remember correctly, in game six, Steph had a little step back jump shot on the right wing that could have tied it. So like they just they just didn't go down without a fight. I thought that was a great example of the winning character of the Warriors twenty twenty

one playing game. Obviously, you have no Klay Thompson in that game. If I remember correctly, I think that Andrew Wiggins was on that team. But once again, like that was the Lakers when they still had all their athleticism, right, that was when they still had Alex Cruso and they still had Contavious Carbo Pope. Like that was a very very good Lakers team, and Steph just played absurdly well and literally pushed them to the brink. And then Lebron basically hit the game winner when he got poked in

the eye. But like there's a moment in that game, and you Warriors fans will probably remember this. You Lakers fans will definitely remember this, But there was a moment in that game where the Lakers went on a little run in the fourth quarter and the camera pans over to Steph on the sideline, and after the Lakers made their run, because Steph obviously sits to start the fourth quarter, you just see this this moment where Steph just kind of nods and he just goes like, all right, let's go.

We got ourselves a game here. And I remember watching it being like this motherfucker is gonna check back into the game and immediately reassert himself. And he checked back in the game and the Warriors immediately regained control. And like that stretch there at twenty twenty one, twenty twenty three stretch from Steph was so much fun because I actually think that was the best version of Steph. I know a lot of Steph fans disagree with me, but I just thought he was at such a level defensively.

A lot of times people forget, Like around twenty sixteen, when Steph won the unanimous MVP, Steph was barbecuing traditional coverages and a lot of teams just didn't know how to handle Steph yet. As a matter of fact, the Cavs blitzing him in the in the twenty fifteen finals, that was kind of like the first team that really that really started doing that and doing it effectively like they did in that sits, although Steph ended up solving it.

Like the idea of the way you guard Steph Curry didn't really come to fruition until the end of the twenty tens, and like Steph was barbecuing the best defensive coverages to deal with the player like him in that twenty twenty one twenty twenty three stretch, I just thought

he was at an insanely high level. Obviously, the twenty twenty two playoff run, what's crazy with that one is like Steph's a rhythm player, like like every other kind of like perimeter shooter in the league, right, And he went into that playoff run on a foot injury and came off the bench to start the Denver series and then ended up with one of the best playoff games I've ever seen from an individual player in that Game four in Boston, just kind of backpacking the Warriors on

their way to the title, and like it was like it was similar to like the Denver Nuggets in the sense that like there wasn't like a bona fide superstar next to Steph, but he was getting a lot of big time contributions from big time players, right Like like obviously Klay Thompson didn't unbelievable job defensively in that series on Jaylen Brown.

in ball screens. It was crazy. I can't remember the exact numbers because I pulled him over the summer, but the Lakers were throwing the kitchen sink at him, and he just continued to get and generate quality shots every single time down the floor, no.

But like that entire series, I can just tell you as a fan, as someone was rooting against Steph and rooting for Lebron in that series, like I felt helpless, and again it just that's what I remember about the Golden State dynasty is like when they were healthy, when Steph was at his a game, when Clay and Raymond were out there, when they had a legitimate two way wing, whether it was Wiggins, whether it was Barnes, whether it was Kevin Durant, they were just inevitable. They were the

best team of that particular era in my opinion. And if this ends up being it, and I still think the Warriors will be interesting over the course of the next few years, just because they've got some young talent, they got a great home crowd, and they do have Steph Curry, and I still think Steph Curry's, you know, top fifteen, top ten player in the league, right, So like there's gonna be some fun times over the next few years. But salute to those guys. It's been a

hell of a run. It's been a decade of dominance. Four championships, got close in twenty nineteen and twenty sixteen as well. One of the great teams in NBA history. And it's been an honor to get to cover them and to get to watch them as a fan. And you know, that's kind of why I talk. You know how excited I am about the Nuggets. They feel to me like the next great team, the next great dynasty of this era. All Right, that's all I have for tonight.

As always that sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. I'll be back tomorrow morning to uh, well, tomorrow morning,

I'm gonna start my prep. We'll see when I actually get it uploaded, but I'm gonna start with a series preview of Lakers Nuggets, and then we'll do a series preview of the Eastern Conference seven to two matchup, probably on Thursday, and then we'll see, I'm trying to think of what we're gonna do on Friday, probably gonna have the nerd sesh guys on and then obviously on Saturday morning we'll have the one eight matchup previews and then

we'll get into our playoff grind. And so we're here, man, this is it night one of the playoffs in the books. I appreciate you, guys. I will see you tomorrow. The volume