Colin Cowherd Podcast - Kings/Warriors GM 4 Thriller, De’Aaron Fox Arrival, Lakers/Grizzlies Gm 3, Knicks/Cavs

in Sacramento. I'm not sure they I'm not sure they can. I'll say this that you know for years. You all know this is that you know the regular season, if you play hard, have a couple of decent scores, you in a lot of games in the NBA. But I've always been reticent to criticize coaches for rotations because rotations get disrupted due to injuries, due to matchups. When you watch this King's Warriors series, both of these coaches, you know they're going with a hot hand. They're pulling out

all the stops. It won't show up in the box score. But Dante de Vincenzo for the Warriors has had spurts where He's been incredibly valuable. Looney isn't a big score, but his presence around the rim with Sabonis and tipping balls away from the basket or to Steph or Jordan Poole or Wiggins, you know, to get the break going. I've said this about football for years. I don't get

caught up on play calling. You have no idea what a coach is seen and not seen on film the previous week, what works situationally, what are the tendencies So it's easy to sit back and watch a game. I can't believe that third and eight call. It could have worked the previous four weeks against that team, and they plug some holes up and it doesn't work that week or in that moment. I'm watching Steve Kerr and Mike Brown.

I mean they are coaching every possession. I mean, Steve Kerr looks like a high school coach and a state final sudden death game. They are coaching every time down the floor. And some of this series is these teams are playing at such a rapid pace you just got to let players play. I mean, these teams had all sorts of turnovers. The Kings and Dubs had all sorts of turnovers. You can't coach your way out of some of those. These teams are so skilled, they're deep, and

Darren Fox and Steph are quarterbacks on the field. You just got to let them make mistakes. So I don't get too caught up in substitution patterns. These series are you're going with what is working. I felt watching that Warriors Kings game. It was like I was watching four games in one. The energy shifted back and forth. The Kings had this game multiple times, had opportunities to seize control of the game, and had six seven to eight

ugly poorly time turnovers or Sacramento wins this game. So the nuance of this series is it feels like an NBA championship. Now you know who knows what Denver is. They're not going to get tested much in Round one. But I've watched every single team in the West play all their playoff games. I feel like I'm watching the Western Conference finals with these two teams. I feel like I'm watching an old dynasty about to be replaced potentially by the Kings, a new dynasty in the West. It's

just been a sensational first round series. I'm trying to think of something that matches it. It has been I think it's going to go seven games, and I'm not sure the Warriors can win on the road. But it's been about as good a first round series as I ever remember. Watching These games have been fantastic. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year, as all of you know if you've listened to me for years.

I love the NFL draft, the architecture of it. I mean, the Jets were a great example last year where they nailed their first four picks. The Seahawks nailed their first five, and it literally set the future up. I mean, if they get Aaron Rodgers, the Jets will be able to play with anybody. Probably have to get a left tackle and another receiver and the Jets will be able to play with anybody. They got two good receivers, they have a pass rush. They just need to upgrade at tight end,

left tackle, wide receiver. Joe Douglas will do that. In the draft. I mean, Seattle we thought was a dying franchise. They hit on two tackles, a star running back and edge rusher and two corners. Boom. You know, now they just need another edge rusher. They got to get a couple of defensive linemen, maybe one more receiver, and the sky is the limit. So you know, other drafts are different. Even a great college baseball player, he's not going to make an impact the following year in the Major League

Baseball playoffs. As great as these NBA players are, Daron Fox now is just starting to like turn a franchise around. What is he in year five? It takes a long time. These guys come out at nineteen years old. NFL is different for a lot of reasons. Number one is guys come out at twenty three and twenty four years old. They're real men. They're physically ready to play. So if you hit on your first four or five picks, you know people lament the LA Rams. They have a second

and two thirds. If they nail the right edge rusher, interior offensive lineman, and get a starbacker, another really high end receiver in the third round, if they can get three starters, they turn around the franchise. They got McVeigh, they have Stafford, they have Aaron Donald. You're getting grown ups, men physically and emotionally ready to play and start. So the Jets and the Seahawks last year are great examples.

You nail your verse four or five draft picks. You can in that moment you bring in five new starters that you don't have to pay for four to five years. It changes shifts the paradigm of the entire franchise. I mean, look at how bad the Jets were, the mess Joe Douglas inherits, he even missed on a quarterback and a left tackle, two of the three most important positions in football.

He missed on both. And if Aaron Rodgers signs and they hit on a left tackle and one other receiver, the Jets can play with anybody in this league, including the Chiefs. They can play with anybody in this league. So I love this week. I think the NFL is the League of hope more than any other league. I remember when Bill Parcells years ago took over the Miami

Dolphins and they were one in fifteen. The next year they won eleven games, and I read an article Tony Sperano I think was Bill Parcell's choice as a coach, kind of a defensive guy. And I remember reading an article somebody wrote in the Miami Herald or a Fort Lauderdale paper about what Belichick really did was he took the middle of the roster to the end of it. It wasn't the top end of the roster. He made the

locker room better, the weight room better. He went and got grinders and rotational players and backups and a handful of low level starters, and he changed the entire culture of the organization with like twenty new players, and they weren't stars. Most of them weren't stars. So no sport allows you to recreate your roster and your football identity.

Like the NFL. It takes two to three free agent signings, four home runs in the draft, seven eight new players to start at energy, especially draft guys who are cheap, and you turn everything around. So I can't wait. Somebody is going to do a Jets or a Seahawks, and I can't wait to watch it. The NBA Playoffs are upon us. Twenty teams get in all trying to get that one crown. For last minute amazing deals to watch

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the Warriors. So listen. I don't know if they're going to win this series because I don't know if they can win Sacramento. I really don't. But you talk about a win for the league. Oh what a great series.

somewhere in the middle. But when I responded to him, one of the things I said was like, I think the best individual skill out of any of those players, like the if you were ranking all their skill sets in individual areas, the highest number you'd see would be Jordan Poole in his ability to drive the ball to the basket, that his foot, his foot speed, his ability to beat people off the dribble is a real weapon and I thought in this particular game that was the

biggest way that he contributed was beating people off the dribble and getting to the basket. They desperately need something out of him, especially on a night like this, were the Kings shot so well, they needed something to offset that.

That's why in games like that, it's it's the Draymond block, it's was one miss jumper, or it goes the other way. I mean, you look at now there was a free throw disparity early, but it evened itself out mostly by the end of the game. I don't you know. The one thing about the Kings is they always they feel a shooter shy. Now some of that is when you play the Warriors. You know, Steph and Clay and Pool

and Wiggins, they have more than anybody. It feels like if almost you just if you put Jordan Pool on the Kings, it would it would literally be the guy. But I feel like the Warriors always just have one more three, one more shooter, and that's the difference. And over the course of the Kings building this puppy, they can see that they got Davian Mitchell off the bench. Can they go find a great three ball shooter off the bench. So it's just a process of, you know,

filling in the blanks. They've got their Sabonis, they got their coach, they're Daron Fox, Davian Mitchell off the bench, They've they've got most of the boxes checked. But I felt like, you know, they hit that last three, it's different that they feel like just one three pointer, shy. You know what. I watched this tonight in the second half and I'm like, outside of Denver, is this the

Western Conference Final? Like, are these dudes now that the Warriors are full strength, are we watching essentially the Western Conference Final? In round one?

the first round here in the Western Conference. And like, again, like what you're seeing here is that it doesn't it's a two to seven matchup, and it's a first round matchup. But these are two teams from an overall talent standpoint that are typically the types of teams that you'd see in later playoff rounds. It's they're incredibly evenly matched. I want to I want to give a special shout out to Deer and Fox because there's this thing that happens.

And I mean, we've even seen the reverse side of this with Darius Garland on the Calves this year, as he's really really struggled to just be consistently effective out the series. Every time we see a young player kind of rise up the echelons of the NBA, there's always this question, like is his game gonna work when they get to the playoffs, and some guys struggle to get separations. Some guys struggle in the physicality. Like Trey Young had a really good game in Game three against Boston. That's

the outlier. He's had like six straight playoff stinkers before that. You know what I mean. Darren Fox, his game translates so well to this level. And I actually think you'll find this interesting, Colin, because you've been super critical of this type of player, right, this ultra athletic point guard that is this unbelievable downhill force that plays with passion and energy. That player has failed time and time and

time again in NBA history. And the thing that separates, in my opinion, Darren Fox from the others is he legitimately has outrageously good shooting touch from everywhere on the floor. And it Yeah, so whoever's guarding him like has to give a certain amoun out of space just just an attempt to contain the drives and so and when he and he's deadly on those shots. Well.

It's just kind of to see if he can find a little crevice and get to the basket. If he can't, then he pulls it up and waits for the bigs to come down. Dearan's got a real understanding of pace and tempo. He's not playing with his head down everything. You know, It's like Patrick Mahomes. He sees the field, he sees the court, he sees everybody. Darren Fox is really smart and he plays like a really smart basketball player. Steph Curry's really smart. Some of this is just guys.

Deeran also not that he's not vertical, but he's kind of uh he's I would I would, you know, if I was a scout, I'd say smooth, smart, beautiful offensive game. It's gorgeous. I mean, mid range outside, everything is pretty. So I don't really put him in that I you know, and I feel like he's he's a little bit like Steph. Probably I trust Deerin Moore in a mid range Steph on a three. But I think their games are so much about manipulating pace and tempo. John Wall never did.

John was just get me the ball and I'm gonna race everybody down the floor. And the Wings are like, bro, hold up, I can't keep up with you. And Westbrook has a little bit of that. It's one hundred mile an hour fastball. It's the quarterback that has a fastball.

I think that's completely reasonable. I think, you know, it's funny. Over the course of the series, I've been talking a lot about how the Kings have no answer for Steph Curry, and that's a big part of why I have it. I've been yet to relinquish my stance that the Warriors will win the series. I still feel that way I picked them in six. I'm gonna stick with that for

right now. But like the reality is is like the Kings should feel really good about their chances because the same thing is in reverse like they I did think it was interesting that we didn't see as much Gary Payton today. They spent a lot of time with Draymond Green on Deer and Fox today, which is a super interesting adjustment. Yes, also, just what a again, what a What an amazing luxury as a coach to be able to do that. And they did a similar thing last

year in the finals. If you remember when they moved Raymond Green out onto Jlen Brown because he can. Just the thing with Draymond is he has these obnoxiously long larms. First of all, his defensive performance down the stretch of this game was so ridiculous, And there was a lot of talk over the last couple of days, Oh, the Warriors better without Draymond, which everyone just gets dumber whenever

that happens. They were eleven points better per one hundre possessions with him than without him in last year's postseason. They were fourteen points better with him than without him in this regular season. Like that, that argument is dead on arrival. I can't believe it ever even gets brought up. He blew up some plays around the rim. You're thinking of the blocks, you get another play. Sabonus is coming down the floor in a short role. It's a two

on one. Harrison Barnes is standing wide open in the dunker spot, ready to go up and dunk it, and Sabonus goes to pass it to Harrison Barnes and Draymond just pokes it out of Sabonis's hands. He blew up a two on one that's a basket ninety five percent of the time in the NBA, like he was. He

was unbelievable defensively in this game. But even with him, he has to give a little bit of ground to Dearon Fox to try to contain that drive in on that final shot, the one that d'eren made that brought it back to one, like you got a great contest on it. But that's what great players do, and Daron Fox has done that this entire series. He can adjust his release based on where he is on the floor and he can knock these shotstone well.

There's certain players in the league that and because you know I employed Draymond one of his many employers, by the way, a talented guy. You know, people are gonna, you know, say, Colin, you have a bias. First of all, I've said this a thousand times in my career. Every great team of my life haslam for the Heat, Rodman for the Bulls, Derek Rick Fox for the Lakers, Lambert for the Pistons, Draymond Green, all great dynasties. Bruce Bowen for the Spurs. Have a feisty, annoying, tough guy and

his job. He's in the league because he's smart enough to know. I mean, Bruce Bowen scored, he could score twenty a game in the league. He's like, not, I knew on this team. My way in the league to rings was to play the way I had to play, do the stuff that nobody else wanted to do. If you don't get Draymond Green, like, if you don't understand, have you ever noticed out around outside the arc? They

bring him up. They want him to have the ball in his hands, him to set the screen, him to make the pass like that organization puts him in the crosshairs. You make a mistake out there, it's a layuper a dunk the other way, Like this organization has so much trust for Draymon. With the basketball in his hands, we think of him defensively, but as you watch him, Jason, he's such a catalyst, his passing, his screening, his hands. If you don't people that don't get him, you don't

get the game. Like anybody know. Everybody knows that Darren Fox and Steff are great. That doesn't take you know you're watching Jalen Brunson. He's obviously it's such a unique

fun player. Guys like Draymon like they just don't. Sometimes I watch Draymond and I think he should open a clinic on how to make the NBA as a star in average eight a game, Like he does so many things that you don't think they like screaming, passing, He does so many little things well that you don't necessarily like you don't get points in a box score for screening or those little he'll screen those little touch passes that don't get the assist, but they're the pass before

the assist, the incubator of it. Like he doesn't get a lot of credit for that, but he was so big late today to your point.

a guy who's kind of a physical instigator. There's no doubt that Draymond's a physical instigator and Dylan looks is that and Moore And the other thing too, is like Dylan Brooks is a bad is a limited offensive player from a skill standpoint that doesn't get it. And we'll take eleven shots in a quarter and put in a road playoff game in Los Angeles and you're like, dude, what the hell are you doing? Like, Draymon has his

offensive limitations, but he understands his role. And I love how you pointed out all those little things because it's You're right. They love to have the ball in his hands. They've been running a ton of steph high pick and roll as this series has progressed, Like there was a play at the end of this game where Andrew Wiggins made a floater. Steph runs the high pick and roll, they trap him. He makes the drop off pass to Draymond. He's rolling down the basket. Looney and Wiggins kind of

mess up. They both cut, and you never want to both cut because now you're getting in each other's way. It's better for one guy to cut, one guy to state the three point line. And Draymond like hangs in the air and just waits barely for Wiggins to kind of break open and hits him in stride, and Wiggins makes the floater, and I'm like, man, that was kind of an impressive play. In traffic and the short role. They like having the ball in his hands. He can

disrupt guys below the rim defensively. He can disrupt guys above the rim defensively. Tap out rebounds is a big one. There'll be like a ball in the air and he knows he can't go get it, but he'll just run up and just tap at it and just keep it alive for some one of his guards to come in and make a play. I thought he was magnificent down the stretch this game. Defensely, I also thought Steph did a pretty decent job and a couple of switches against

Darren Fox. Steph is an underrated athlete from the standpoint of his physical profile. We always think of him as a small guarden. But he's like six ' three and he's pretty strong. Like he's actually got a good amount of weight to him, and a big play there at the end, like when Darren tried to attack him on the final possession, Like he'll get out and bump and knock him off of his ground a little bit. Or when he gets down, he'll bump him a little bit.

Understanding that's allowed in the postseason, Like he just he can hang in those matchups a little bit. I thought as a team, the Warriors hawking to loose balls down the stretch was a big part of why they ended up coming out on top. I will say this though, and I wonder what your opinion is. You know, I'm a big believer that the regular season is a good indicator of how a team's going to perform in the postseason. They got a little sloppy down the stretch that they

backed back turnovers. There was that Jordan Poole attempted pass to Klay Thompson in the quarter that Malie Clark Grabb did, and then there was the illegal screen from Kaman Mooney. And it's interesting to me because all season long, they've been just a little sloppy in those situations compared to previous seasons, and it almost burned them tonight. And so I really do think that's something that they better sharpen up if they intend to make a longer playform and certainly to win this series.

the same number of turnovers. They had way too many, but the Kings came at bad times, like they trail by three. Now it's six. You know they can take a lead. Stuff comes down hits a three. Now they trail by four. The Kings had a lot of opportunities in this game. They're gonna look at film on the way home and that's that Mike Brown and that staff are going to be like, we gave this game away.

They may have had six to eight turnovers with opportunities to like extend a two point lead or take a lead, and they failed on so many of them. So I kind of feel like Sacramento almost ended the Dynasty, and I think they're gonna look at that film on the way home and they're gonna think, we just gave one away. We just gave a game away. They outplayed Golden State early, too many turnovers. They're a tough out man, they are the Baby Warriors. They are a tough out and they're

really smart. As I said at the start of this, I just feel like they need another shooter and they'll probably get that in the draft or you know, somewhere in free agency.

the only reason he's not a Laker right now. He was one of the rare bright spots last year, just an excellent shot creator that can beat people off the dribble and knock down threes. He just he played so well that the Lakers were financially incapable of retaining him. You know, it's funny. I actually think the Warrior are the Kings deserve to be slight favorites right now. They've played well enough, and they have two games at home.

It's pretty simple that said, these games are going to reach a fever pitch of intensity and drama and stakes,

and so I still lean. I still lean Warriors just because they've There's look, if it's Game five and it's one hundred to one hundred with three minutes left, there's no doubt that the Warriors will be more comfortable in that situation, simply because they've fight in those situations before, the same goes for a game seven again, the Kings should I bet you they were positive in the locker room. I bet you they feel good in their film session.

They should feel confident. But I think these games are going to get even more sweaty palms, even more high drama, and I just trust the Warriors a little bit more. What was your take on that Lakers blowout of the Grizzlies yesterday? Do you think it's Do you think the real matchup is more like the first quarter or more like the last three quarters?

points in a playoff game, don't. I mean that's just I mean, everybody's in awe of Ja Moran. It's like, you know, you can go back to the Kobe stats, like the Lakers were awful when he scored over thirty five points, right, and so you know, Jos starts playing well, he plays downhill and it's fun, it's magical. But I just I never I mean, listen, they were a two seed, the Lakers were seven, and I felt was you know, I sit on the air, I said, if I say it on the air, I believe it. I'm like, I

think the Lakers are gonna win this series. They were a forty three win team. Right. When's the last time a forty three wins seven seed? You take him over a two seed?

a championship team, like a player away. I don't. With Memphis, I don't always love I feel they're a little less mature than Sacramento, a little chippier, a little less self awareness. Their stars had some problems. The King Star is like Steph mature. So it's not that I don't buying a Memphis, but I really never bought into them as a championship team. I really don't. In fact, if you told me the two really young teams in the NBA, I like, I

would say, it's Sacramento in Cleveland. Cleveland's been disappointing. Like these playoffs, basically, Jason, nothing surprised us except Cleveland. I mean, that's the only series where if you'd have told anybody, yeah, Julius Randall, good game one, doesn't do anything and they lead three to one, that would be a surprise. I think almost everything we're seeing, including the Lakers Grizzlies, we all kind of expected. We trusted Lebron in a d

over the last three weeks. They just won a lot of close games, and they won a lot of games against for the same reason they're winning this one.

ability to attack in a bunch of different ways. As a matter of fact, they've run more than twice as many ISOs as as Cleveland has. And the problem is is a lot of times in the playoffs it becomes matchup hunting and Julius Randall and Jalen even though Julius Randall hasn't played well, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall feel way more comfortable attacking mispatches in different spots on the floor, which allows them to kind of play different styles as

the game shifts. But you're right, it's been pretty. It's been pretty kind of like chalk, I guess you could say down the line, except for that Milwaukee Bucks Miami Heat series, which is entirely based on Giannis. And I don't even unless Yannis doesn't play in game four, I just don't. I just am not paying. The Miami Heat are tiny. They're tiny and Milwaukee's gonna win Game five. In Game seven, They're gonna probably win Game four to

and win this Yeries. Like I just I'm not worried about that unless Yannis is in some sort of serious injury situation. I'm glad you said that about Memphis because I actually agree. I don't think they're close either. A couple things. The only position I think that they have really, the only spots that I feel really good about, like really good about, are Jared Jackson in jaw. Desmond Baine has been bad in almost every playoff game that he's played,

especially over the last couple of years. He struggles mightily to create his own shot off the dribble, and guys are good at chasing him over those screens to lessen the quality of the shots, and he can't make it. Like like Austin Reeves has soundly outplayed him in this series. You know what I mean. The Grizzlies have severe limitations

in shot creation and off ball offensive skill. I was talking with the Buddy yesterday about this, Like what scares me for the Lakers is they can get lazy, and you saw that, Like I tweeted right after the first quarter yesterday, I'm like, just get ready for them to do the bare minimum to try to win this game, you know, like the whole game. The whole game, it was like, oh, they got back to eleven, I guess

we should start trying again. They get it up to sixteen, seventeen, and then they'd have three bad possessions in a row and to be a ten, and we're like, all right, call time out. All right, let's go get control of this game again. Like I I think the Lakers are so much better than the Grizzlies. I think that people are. But to your point about the arrogance, the way Joe was acting in that fourth quarter, like oh, I've got these guys Like I'm like, they're not even playing anymore.

They're jogging back in transition. They're barely guarding you. In the first quarter, you couldn't even get a clean look. He shot two for ten on two point shots before the fourth quarter. Like they they have figured out the job pick and roll because Jared Vanderbilt Anthony Davis have taken away his floater and they've shut off the rim on him. They've they've they've kind of figured that out. Memphis, to me, so has so far to go. But with the Lakers in their lapses in execution and effort, what

freaks me out for them? There is Sacramento in Golden State because Memphis is a young athletic team that loves to play fast, but they're unskilled, like remarkably unskilled compared to other NBA teams. Yep, Sacramento and Golden State love to play fast and they are super skilled, like at every position. So like they will those teams if they have those same brief lapses in judgment and effort in execution, the Lakers will get run off the floor by the

Warriors and Kings. So like it's good, it's weird. I feel so confident that the Lakers are going to beat the Grizzlies, but I am so hesitant to pick them as a team that can make a real run because they just have that. It is part of their identity. As soon as they start to feel even remotely comfortable, Lebron and Anthony Davis go, how can I start conserving energy and it's gonna be something that gets them beat?

I mean, lebron for a big chunk of his career like didn't like bigs around the basket because if he lost confidence in his three, he could always beat guys off the dribble score and get back into it. And so Lebrono was like like his Bosh and his Kevin loves. You know, stay clear, I didin'k at this point in his career, he shoots threes, makes him misses them, nothing's in his head. He's kind of graduated last couple of years.

But Jaw's not a great natural shooter. So if he's not hitting the three and the rims closed off, you're not beating people on floaters and mid range jumpers. And so I think when I look at this team all year my takeaway was, well, if you shut jaw down a little bit and make him shoot forty one percent. Who's the second dependable score? There isn't one, and they just don't have one. I mean it's Malik Monk's having

a better series than I thought he would have. But when I say the Kings need another score, they don't need another great score. They need about a sixteen point a game score. I mean you could put it like a I don't know if he'd fit, but like a Dennis Shredder, just another you know, somebody that's a better shooter, but kind of a sixteen point a game kind of player. Think. I think the Grizzlies need another star, you know, like like an Anthony Davis to be a title team. I

don't think they're particularly close. I don't think they're terribly mature. As you said about Brooks, self awareness is not a strength. They're just deep. They're deep and energetic. There's a ton of energy. Yeah, and that's what they are. Deep physical teams. I mean, the reason the Pistons won championships is Isaiah is one of the most underrated stars of our lifetime. Lambert could hit outside shots. I mean that team had streaky shooters. You're Vinnie Johnson's you know, that was the

bad Boys team. I don't think Memphis is close to his gift. But is that team offensively? And this is the offensive era? That was a defensive era. So I just I think I think they're a star away. I don't think they're a player away. You could give me, you could give me a good shooter off the bench for Sacramento, and I'd be like, all right, if you told me they want two championships in four years, I'd be like, oh, I see it. I don't think Memphis is close to that. I really don't.

wins a shit ton of regular season games. Why because they're huge. It's like Brandon Clark, Aaron Jackson, Steven Adams, just relentless offensive or relentless offensive rebounding, and just defensive physicality on the perimeter. They play super hard and physical.

And then John Morant against regular season coverages when teams are like, oh, it's a Tuesday, we got Memphis tonight, let's just run our base drop coverage and we'll just see how it goes, you know, whereas in the playoffs they scheme so much harder towards you know, helping off of Dylan Brooks and ducking underpicks so that John can't get ahead of steam and little things like that, and like that. That's just the reality is, like you need to have an extra gear you can get to in

the postseason. And it's almost the opposite for Memphis because Desmond Baine goes down a level. Dylan Brooks actually tries to shoot more when he can't make them. John Morant, Yeah, he made all the threes when they were down twenty and there was absolutely no pressure to make or miss.

But it's a little different when it's like you're down twenty seven to thirteen in the early second quarter and they're daring you to shoot and you don't have that, and like it's a totally different game when the pressure rises, in the stakes rise, That's why those pull up jump shots stop falling in those environments. So yeah, I agree, I think I think Memphis, I mean, it's been coming for a while with how confident they've been, but I agree.

I think I think the move is they need another legitimate shot creator, a guy who can put the ball on the floor and consistently generate offense against the set defense, exactly what they hoped Desmond Bane would be, which you can't be unfortunately.

like four to five points. Especially an effort team. They're not a terribly skilled team, they're long, they're aggressive, effort teams. They just play with so much energy and they've got you know, they've got a lot of like young guys on that team.

Boston twice. I saw two times they played them. I thought they matched up great. They're twitchy, they're good on the wings, they got good looks. I'm like, man, they match up with Boston really well, and they may get beat in five games by the neck. So I'm like, why was I so badly fooled on it? Like Garland hasn't delivered. I don't know the answer, But to your point, some teams you get away with stuff in the regular season and then you just hit a complete ceiling. And

maybe Cleveland's that team. But I have been fooled by the Calves because Julius Randall outside of Game one. I mean, what do you give him today eleven? I mean, just I don't even know if he scored that money. He's just not He hasn't been effected.

the league. Like, they're off ball guys like that three spot, whether it was Evan Mobley standing in the corner, if it's Isaacacorro, or if it's you know, Lamar ste or if it's you know, Chatty Osmon or whoever it is, whoever that guy is has been a disaster, like all season long, And so it becomes can Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell make a ton of extremely difficult pull up jump shots and they just have it. The Knicks have completely shut down their pick and roll offense, they have

not had a counter that they can go to. Meanwhile, the Knicks can play a bunch of different ways, and they have a ton of skill off the ball. Josh Hart very skilled, a manual quickly, very skilled. Quintin Grimes very skilled. So they have when they're when you send extra bodies to Jalen Brunson and to Julius Randall, he's kicked. They're kicking to just better players. They're they're kicking the better players, and it is a team sport at the

end of the day. Last thing I'll say about the Knicks, like Jaleny they took a bet on Jalen Brunson, such a big bet that they got cheap with Donovan Mitchell let him go, which if you ask them, they'll say, we like Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunston is like a legit star player in this league. I have a hard time thinking of a comu in recent NBA history because there's not many players who play like him. But he's flat, he's a he's a like. He's an assassin like competitor

who targets your worst fence. He's been just going at Cheddy Osmond every time he gets a chance in this series. Super comfortable working from every spot on the floor, like the Nick's got a good one in Jalen Brunson. And honestly, Colin.

really high functional basketball intelligence. Uh sets up plays if you watch jay and over the course of a season, and I don't you know, I watch a lot of Sixer Celtic games because I get on the treadmill at four thirty Pacific and that's my time to watch it. And so I watch a first half of a lot of NBA games, and I saw so many Sixers Celtic games.

But one of the things you know with Brunson is there's a very legitimate argument that in terms of most valuable Player, which he won't win because these bigs have rebounds and blocks and stats. He's as valuable as any player in the league to a team like he is. You take him out of the Knicks, it's not even the same team. They don't move as well, they don't shoot as well. There are so many good guards, so many good guards, and most of the ones we love.

The Foxes, the Staffs, the Jalen Brunson's man, they're they're very quarterback heal, like they really under they're really adults. I mean it's they all kind of know when to turn it on, when to pull it back. I mean stepf will hoist up a couple of shots and you kind of just roll your eyes at it. But when I when I watched Brunson, he's in such control. He's oh, and I think a lot of that Jason. It's the Villanova in him. You know, Villanova is going to make

you play defense. They're not gonna let you be squirrely. Not a lot of ISO stuff at Villanova, and you can see it in him. He's just totally and he led that Villanova program right like it's such a structured, you know, transfer portal world. You know in a one and done world, Villanova is like this bedrock of stability and old school college basketball, and you can see it the way he plays like New York doesn't phase him yet, not all. But he is the point He's like Walt Fraser.

He's the point guard of the Knicks. He was built to be the point guard of the next.

have thoroughly enjoyed his rise. I actually do think if Julius Ryndall can figure things out, that they'll give the Bucks or the Heat a good fight in round two as well. The Knicks are on the way up. It's very exciting.