Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors win vs. Kings, Heat eliminate Bucks

were going to. They were up sixteen points in the fourth quarter, and then Jimmy Butler happened again, the honest and tenancumbo monster night in the box score but disastrous if you watched it. He had seven turnovers and thirteen missed free throws and had no idea seemingly what to do and crunch time offensively. I have some thoughts surrounding Giannis and the Bucks and their team structure and some stuff that they're gonna have to confront as they move forward.

But a lot of thoughts from just a ridiculously jam packed night of hoops for those of you guys looking for content surrounding the Lakers Grizzly series and the Nicks a Cavs series which just ended. Did a video earlier tonight on that, just a short one that you guys can find, And obviously we'll be hitting on all these teams a lot more as the days progress. You guys do the job before we get started, So subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of

our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right, let's talk some basketball, and

let's start with the Golden State Warriors. So you know I said before, well, really just throughout the entire season, those of you guys who watched the show, there was one specific reason why I was super hesitant to jump off the Golden State Warriors bandwagon regard list of what the situation was. Sometimes you see decline for real reasons over the course of a season, right like in a

defending champ. You'll lose real optimism based on a personnel thing, right, Like the Dallas Mavericks in twenty twelve without Tyson, Chandler's is a completely different team with what he provided in terms of rim protection. Right go to the binaming Heat twenty thirteen. It was clear in twenty fourteen that Dwayne Wade just was not remotely the same player, right, and what they let Mike Miller go that year as well, Like from a personnel standpoint, the important players that they

had on their team were just not there anymore. As a result of that, it changed the way we had to evaluate them, you know, looking at even if we look at like the twenty eighteen Calves, as they're struggling throughout the regular season, from time to time, you're like,

they don't have Kyrie Irving. Different basketball team. Well, the Warriors were struggling and they had the same damn players that they won the championship with, and all of them were still performing at about the same level they did the previous year, some better. Steph had a disastrous season last year regular season, by his standards, just couldn't make a damn shot compared to what Steph usually does. He was way better this season. Klay Thompson looked way better

this season. I've said many times I thought it was one of the best half court shot creation seasons we've seen from Klay Thompson, and it was an underrated element in their floating the ship at various points in the year when Steph was out, he had a lot of shots against set defense off the dribble. Tonight, like, we looked at the lineup data and we saw that they were still killing everybody when they had Steph Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Straymond Green, and Kevin Looney. All year long, they were

killing everybody. And so all the time, like I go on you know, the game and San Francisco and they'd be like, hey, so, like why should we still believe in this team? And I'd be like, because you still have Steph Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kevon Loni and Jordan Poole and all six of those guys are every

bit as good as they were last year. So theoretically this is all effort related, injury related, bench related, But if they get to the postseason and those guys are healthy, they're the same dudes who held up the Dan Larry O'Brien Trophy last year, and that's why I, despite everything that we saw from this regular season, I picked the Warriors to win the series. What happened in this game,

every one of those guys played amazing. Steph Curry thirty one points, Klay Thompson twenty five points, Andrew Wiggins twenty points, a massive dagger of a turnaround jump shot on the right short corner at the end of the game. Talked a lot in the series previews and throughout the season about how Andrew Wiggins is, Like, it's not just that he's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. The dude can create his own shot because he's such

a great athlete. He's so monumentally important to everything that they do. Dreamond Green an offensive master class partnered with yet another defensive master class, blowing up plays that no one else on the planet can blow up but him attacking the rim with physicality, hitting threes. Jordan Poole only ten points, but six assists with zero turnovers. Because again, even as we were concerned with his decision making and things throughout the season, we just knew that he had

done it on a bigger stage before. He was amazing in Game six against the Celtics last year. Klay Thompson at one point earlier this season was questioned about the struggles of Jordan Poole and he literally said, like, we don't win a trophy without him. Kevon Looney twenty two rebounds,

seven offensive rebounds. So again, and I get it, Like, I mean, there's a whole other conversation to have about the importance of the NBA regular season, and as parody has increased, it's become less and less important to win regular season games because you get the two seed, you play a great team. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA all season long, and for their efforts were rewarded with one of the best playoff players ever in Jimmy Butler. Like that's just that's the reality of

the NBA now. It doesn't matter what happens in the regular season. As long as you have the dudes, you need to win playoff games. And the Warriors have the dudes, they just do. There are a lot of issues throughout the regular season, and I get it, But we were not talking about a team that did not have history and also struggled in the regular season. We were talking about a team that had the same fundamental core that they hoisted the trophy with, and all of those guys

were either the same or better this season. So regardless of what the results were in regular season games, we had a feeling that they would they would be able to recapture some of that when they got to the playoffs, and they did. I really thought their offensive approach was much better in this game compared to the other road games. We talked a lot a bit this about this after Game two, but and I don't really blame anybody in particular.

I think it had a lot to do with a really good defensive effort from Sacramento and also just in general, a bunch of guys not playing as well and it resulting to Steph needing to play more hero ball. But like a lot of Warriors fans were clamoring like, hey, Steph, hie pick and roll, Steph hih pick and roll. Stef hih pick and roll, And it's like, yeah, I get that you want to do it to a certain extent, but Warriors basketball is Warriors basketball and they've won four

championships with it. Don't get away from that. And this had much more of a normal Warriors flow in this game compared to Game two. As a matter of fact, they had thirty three assists in this game. They had eighteen assists in the game two. Loss. Just much better motion and you you could feel that in the energy

of their offense. There was a run in the third quarter where it's like Andrew Wiggins late clock, hits a really nice like step back jumper on the baseline, and then Klay Thompson on the very next possession catches a high ball screen and catch the defender on it, gets a pull up three at the top of the key, knocks it down. Next possession, Warriors Pop pop Draymond Green in the corner knocks down at three. Like there's just flow, and then everybody feels good. When everybody feels good, it's

more likely to get more players playing well. And that's how you win on the road, is all of your players need to play well. I mean, there was a lot of talk about the finger injury coming into the game, and honestly, I thought Dearon Fox looked mostly like himself and I'm still incredibly impressed by him and what he can do on the basketball court. But this was a veteran team that has been in these big games so

many times. Like I was literally talking in the Lakers Show earlier today, and you Warriors fans probably remember this vividly, but that Memphis Grizzly series last year had a very complicated pathway, right, Like the Warriors barely won Game one, and then they lost Game two a great Grizzly effort, Then they blew them out in game three. Game four was like this super close, nerve wracking game that the

Warriors pulled out. They were up three to one. Then the Grizzlies beat the shit out of them in Game five. And that's literally exactly what has happened in this Lakers series, right. And the funny thing about that is I was using that as like a sign of optimism for the Lakers, right, like they're going home do what the Warriors did, go home and close your deal in game six. Right. But what that tells me is that's just one series. But

these guys have been in so many wars. They've had to have a three to two close out game, you know, at home against a team that just beat the shit out of them. Last year in the Celtics series, they were down two to one on the road. They've been and that's just from the last two seasons. They've been in so many of these big environments that they're just more likely to feel comfortable in that setting, more likely to feel confident, more likely to not be rattled by

the crowd. I mean, getting back to the Lakers, like their role players really struggled tonight. The most part, those guys have not been in wars. Lakers got younger at the deadline and surrounded Lebron James and Anthony Davis with a bunch of guys in their twenties. The problem is

is none of those guys have seen these moments. Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton and the Corps have been in these wars so many times, and that's why, Like, look, I looked at the shot quality through the four games and it was pretty dead even I mean the Harrison Barnes had a shot on the left wing that could have won that game and

changed the dynamic of the series. I mean, I've said this a million times on the show, but like what do I always say playoff series are defined by the tiniest of margins. Harrison Barnes makes that shot completely different. Series Lebron James misses that layup over Jaron Jackson Junior. Completely different series. Jimmy Butler doesn't make that ridiculous tip in at the end of regulation to send that game to OT. Now they're going back to Miami. Giannis has

two more days to find his rhythm. Like all of these series come down to the slightest and tiniest of margins, and that is why execution and experience matters so much. I know I'm making a bunch of Lakers comps, but like the Grizzlies are in a similar predicament or have put their Lakers in a similar predicament, they're getting better shots. Desmond Bane is more comfortable the John Moran and Desmond Baine both so soundly outplayed Anthony Davis and Lebron tonight.

Here's the thing, though, the veteran team squeezed out a three to one lead, so they've bought themselves margin for error to overcome that You'll find in the playoffs that those one point games that go one way or another tend to go the way of the team that is more experienced and better with execution. The Warriors barely squeaked out Game four, but it didn't matter because a win is a win. And then they won Game five and now they have an opportunity to close it out on

their home floor. Shout out to the Warriors. That was just four players over twenty points, just vintage. And I will say that like it kind of just reinforces so many of my beliefs about NBA basketball and the difference

between the regular season and the postseason. I don't care how many times, like I can't tell you how many times during the regular season there's been a big game where a team with somebody that we like or somebody that we all think is really good, drops a regular season game to some random team and everyone starts hand ringing and freaking out about whether this team is capable

of anything. And it's like, guess what. The playoffs are different, and when you get there, there are dudes that play well in that setting and there are dudes who don't, and you're better off putting your belief behind the teams that do. All right, let's move on to the first series prediction that I think I'm gonna end up getting wrong. Well, did end up getting wrong this year, which is Miami versus Milwaukee. I generally a good feel in the first round.

For the most part, I picked the Knicks over the Cavs. I picked the Warriors over the Kings. I picked the Lakers over the Grizzlies. I had a good feel for most of these series. But clearly I just misread this one. Now, Obviously, if you had told me going into the series that Giannis was gonna miss two and a half games, I

probably have a different opinion on it. Obviously, Jimmy also played well above what his normal capability is, Like forget about Like I was texting a buddy right after the game, a Bucks fan friend of mine, and I was like, forget about Jimmy. Playoff Jimmy. Like what he's done in this series is another level above anything he's ever done. He's had monster performances, but like he has never just soundly outplayed a player that is clearly better than him

and won the series. Like he went toe to toe with Lebron a few times tole a couple games they lost that finals, you know, And like he's been better than Jason Tatum in a series. They're better than Joel Embiid, or he's outplayed certain guys in a series. I'm mistaking that Jimmy was on his team at that point. But he's outplayed guys in playoff series before, but they're usually

younger than it. Then he ran into Kawhi, and then Kawhi ended up beating him right like, this is the first time he's been like head to head with a dude who is resoundingly considered better than him in the league and just beat him. And I have thoughts about Giannis. I want to save that for the end because I want to focus on Miami. But a couple of specific things. Jimmy Butler just just going transcendently great and pull up jump shooting once again in that late fourth quarter run,

just hitting tough shots. There was a shot he hit in ot I don't know if you guys remember this one where he did like a half spin and then came back in like shed Drew Holliday like fifteen feet away from him and knocked down the jump shot, and he stared Drew Holiday down after the shot. These are levels of shot making that we've never seen from Jimmy Butler.

This is another level above anything we've seen from him. Also, shout out to Mike Budenholzer for never adjusting his defensive scheme against Jimmy Butler, not throwing doubles, running too much drop coverage, keeping Drew Holliday on him all series. That was certainly an interesting tactic. Officiating was a disaster at the end of this game too. I didn't like that foul that Giannis had on Max Strusmax Trus jumped like

four feet forward. There was a really bad call on on Kevin Love, the one that actually gave the Bucks the lead late where he got that blocking foul that was in atrocious call. They tried to call Kyle Lowry on a play where he literally would have stolen the basketball and a live ball situation in a one point game. Officiating was a disaster, But I thought Miami deserved to win.

I thought I thought the main thing that it came down to, and it is a lesson to learn, is Miami's offensive skill and how comfortable they were, excuse me, how comfortable they were in late game situation when the game really slowed down. There was a chasm in how comfortable Kyle, like Jimmy Butler and bam Adebayo and and Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent, those guys when they're getting to their spots and they're taking shots. They just they

looked like a more skilled basketball team. Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, Chris Middleton can't back his way anywhere on the floor and get a good look. Like all of them, Drew Holliday and Giannis just keep trying to power their way through everyone. But it's not working because they figured out matchups like Miami, like straight up just figured out how to guard them. And that's a problem for Milwaukee, which we'll get to them in just a minute. But I mean, look, Miami is still

incredibly flawed as a basketball team. They are one of the most undersized, serious basketball teams I've ever seen, and they're running into a series against an uber physical New York Knicks team, so it's gonna be a whole other battle. I don't even I haven't even thought about Nick's Heat yet. I'm gonna do a whole series preview on that next

few days, so keep an eye on the feeds. But like talk about you know, we talk about the importance of execution and coaching and experience, just like we did with the Warriors, Like that Heat team, I've never been willing to write them off completely As a results of that, we did our show with Carson before the playoffs. He said, what to who's your dark horse? I said Miami again, because it's like, are you gonna count out Jimmy Butler? I mean, the dude just it's foolish to do so.

He was one jumps out away from the NBA Finals last year. Even in the playing game, I said, I was rooting for Miami to win in the eight to nine final game for that final spot because I knew they would give Milwaukee a better fight. I thought Milwaukee got a little cute by resting resting Yanni's too much. But here's the thing. I I believe that I my biggest mistake in this series was grossly underrating the importance of offensive skill in the half court in these late

game situations. I want to start with the Bucks first, and then we'll go to Gianni's Giannis has some limitations, and we're gonna get to that in a second. With the kind of limitations that he has, you either need to be an other worldly good defense or you need to surround him with offensive skill that supplements what he does. Now, the strategy that the Bucks went with was building through defense.

The problem is they couldn't get any stops against the Miami Heat team that had one guy that could consistently create his own shot. A lot of that is on Boodenholzer, but it's also on personnel. Chris Middleton could not guard Jimmy Butler, and Jimmy was hunting him a lot, especially in Game four. If you guys remember they need to have if here's the thing, Giannis should have guarded him,

but they're just not going to. So if you're one guy that can actually take wing defense assignments, you're just never gonna use him in wing defense assignents and you're gonna keep him in help the whole time. You need to go get a wing defender. You need to go get somebody that can take that responsibility since Giannis will not do it and you can't just keep throwing your six to three guard at him while he shoots over

the top of him all game long. Fundamentally, from a roster construction standpoint, the Bucks have to go in on more offensive skill. Yannis said what Jianna said, what thirty eight and twenty tonight? Something crazy like you almost had a forty twenty game or he did have a forty twenty game I can't remember, Like forty twenty. Forty twenty is unbelievably dominant, and he's useless borderline at the end

of games offensively no idea what to do. Like so if you get somebody or some players that either one allow him to operate in single coverage more late in games because you surrounded him with so much shooting or a real shot maker, then that can work. But at the end of the game, if Giannis is uncomfortable attacking their offense or their defense their set half court defense, and so is Chris and and Drew, then that's never gonna work. And they just didn't get I think it

really came down to the defense. They just didn't get enough stops. I mean, Chris Middleton at thirty something points in this game, hit five threes or whatever. They need to get more. Either they either need to go all in on defense and make the defense work or surround him with offensive skill. All right, before we get out of here, I want to talk about Yiannis and the best player in the world conversation because this is something These are the kinds of things that matter to me most,

Like I don't really care about MVP. You guys have noticed I have not done an All NBA video or any other awards video. I just I don't care nearly as much about that. It's too much of a regular season focused award, and the regular season to me is like just a smortgash board of teams trying versus not

trying at any given night. Right, But I do care a lot about the hierarchy of the league, the way guys are ranked, and as you guys know, I like refuse under any circumstances to make major adjustments to my list until the playoffs because it is just so fundamentally different thangular season basketball and in the summer. If you guys remember, I had Giannis as the best player in

the world's deph number two. I think I had Kdi three if I remember correctly, and then I think I had Lebron four, and want to say Luca five, than Tatum, and then the centers if I remember correctly. I don't know who's going to be number one now, but I do think that we have to take Giannis off that

top spot. Look, I thought he'd put up an admirable fight last year against the Celtics, losing this series even only playing in the two games at the end the way that he did, with the size advantage that he had, looking as inept as he did at the end of the game in the half court, I don't think he can call I don't think we can call him the best player in the world anymore. That specific type of basketball, that half court surgery, is too important. It's too important

to winning these games. Giannis is not in the same as Janis as an overall basketball player in a regular season right. But Yannis was flat out better than him, soundly outplayed Giannis in these two games because he is so much more comfortable with the half court surgery. I don't know who's gonna take his spot. I'd say there's a bunch of guys in the running. Pretty much everybody on that list that's still playing. Steph is in the running.

Kd's in the running, Lebron's in the running, yok is in the running, and Beads in the running, Anthony Davis is in the running. They're all still in the running. Tatum's in the running. But someone's got to go take it now, and we'll see. But I viewed that top spot as a very sacred thing and I don't think we can fairly give that top spot to Giannis anymore. I think the weaknesses have come to the surface now.

Part of it is team structure. I've talked a lot about how Jannis doesn't need a jump shot as much as he needs to be able to kick out two shooters and passed himself open, and I still feel very strongly about that. But there does need to be a baseline level of touch. Giannis had thirteen miss free throws in this game. If he makes five of them, they win, They win the game. If he makes five of those thirteen, which is still bad free throw shooting, that's fifteen for

twenty three or whatever it was. So like, regardless of what the jump shot is, he's got to be able to make free throws. The other shot that he has to figure out, I think, in my opinion, is that short, little hook shot. He missed one over Jimmy Butler, long off the back rim in ot really flat, didn't have

any touch on it. But he had another play towards the end of regulation where he got off the dribble and beat Bam and got downhill and got below the semi circle and was right there by the rim and could have spun back and taken that shot, but he doesn't trust it and he was in single coverage, and so he dribbled it back out and passed it out to Chris or Drew or somebody like that. He's at the rim with the size advantage and did not shoot because he doesn't trust his shot there. He doesn't need

a jumper. He took a little pull up jumper at the end of regulation. That shot is irrelevant to me for him, but he has to be able to make free throws, and he has to be able to make a short shot in the lane when the defender is standing between him and the basket and he can't just plow through them all the way. I think I would imagine that Giannis will take this spot back sooner than later.

He's too gifted of an athlete. Look, I thought he had a pretty bad game, and he had a forty twenty nine like Gianni's is gonna be fine in the long run. But that spot is sacred. It has to be earned, and it has to be earned on a yearly basis. To me, in my opinion, and again this is just my view on things. I know a lot of people are gonna see things differently. I have a buddy that I talk with regularly just thinks Gianness never was the best player in the world, and I disagree

with him. But again, like everyone's got their own to look at this sort of thing. But the reality is is when he had a better team in this series, he could not win, even though he was statistically dominant, because he couldn't take care of the basketball, he couldn't make free throws, and in a half court against a set defense, he was uncomfortable creating shots. And I don't think you can be the best player in the world unless you're comfortable creating shots in the half court. All right, man,

what a whirlwind of a night. I don't even I will. I have to kind of marinate on this again. I might even talk more about this kind of stuff tomorrow, but I'm gonna call it a night for right now. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys' support schedule for tomorrow. I'm not one hundred percent certain yet. To keep an eye on my Twitter feed and I'll let you guys know. I know for sure we're going live after the Game six is on Friday night. All right, guys, I would see tomorrow. The volume