The volume.
The NBA playoffs are heating up. Man, they have been so good. I know it's over, but Lakers Nuggets may have been a five game series.
It was great.
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What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We are live on YouTube for the first time. I'm excited about this. Thank you everybody for tuning in. We don't talk about both of these games, which went down to the wire, both of those and well actually the Knicks did not go down to the wire.
That was that one got a bit out of hand.
But this one a comeback which love to see, lot to see guys get tested. And you know that last game at Man stepped up like he's been doing all playoffs, but Carl Anthony Towns took such a major step. Anyway, we're going to get into all of that. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel. We will be doing some more live things. We will also be having some great interviews coming out over these next few weeks, so make sure you tap in and lock in.
We'll have some fun. But let's get into it.
Timberwolves beat the Nuggets ninety eight to ninety in Game seven after struggling, like struggling, getting down twenty points in the first half. I thought the Timberwolves did a great job of closing the half.
They went in down fifteen, but you.
Can tell they kind of had established themselves and kind of had established a little momentum going into the half. I thought, you know, Denver had them dead in the waters in the first half, and Denver did a great job of closing most quarters except that second quarter. The very end they let the Timberwives cut it from from twenty to five. And that was huge because the Timberwolves
go in the half, like, listen, we're down fifteen. We played awful, shooting thirty percent from the field at that point, Man's one for seven with.
Two or four points at halftime.
Can't get anything going there, Double team in them, and you know it's looking like Denver's about to run away with it. And Denver at that moment kind of needed to step on their neck, needed to put them away. But Kyle Anthony Towns played bigger and at that moment like started the game Cat on on Joker giving them a tough time, and you could see Denver doing everything
that they could to get the switch. They're doing everything they can to draw the switches, and the switch that they're trying to get is get Cat off of Rudy. I mean, excuse me, get Cat off of Joker and get Rudy on the Joker. As soon as they get the switch. It wasn't even like they was going straight ice so off the switch. Sometimes they were going ice.
So Joker was playing bully ball on Gobert, but they were also just getting that switching in and then Joker going into the action, Joker going into d h O's putting Rudy Gobert in action, and now he's trying to get back on the roll. You got a Joker hitting little floaters, and so they just wanted the matchup like it wasn't even about getting them one on one, because the reality is they were for a while, and I think Denver did a great job of mixing up their coverages.
Before a while they were just letting Cat go one on one when they got Joker, and when Joker got go bear on them, they were sending the double team right away. But again it's a little bit interesting, h when you got the defensive player of the Year versus the m v P and you start sending a double to help, but not a double on your other guy, who historically has.
Been a bad defender, has.
Been crushed about being a bad defender and has stepped up all series long taking on that challenge, and he when it wasn't him on Joker, Joker got anything he wanted. And that's interesting because historically you've seen Joker sometimes struggle with length, Like if you've ever seen him struggle at all, you'd see him struggle with length. Rudy Gobert has a lot more length than Joker, but he's not strong enough. He's not nimble enough. And Carl Anthony Towns is stronger.
Karl Anthony Towns is more nimble, and Carl Anthony Towns also has great length. I mean he's a seven footer as well, but not as much length. That's Rudy Gobert. But Kat took on the challenge man, and I thought it was very interesting to see because.
Again, the Cat's only real experience.
It's kind of when Jimmy was there and he was younger, still learning, and when I say real experience, I mean playoff experience, and you know, to see him step up on this stage I thought was huge because when at Man couldn't get it going, it was Kat that when when all else was failing, Kat was hitting threes. Cat was getting downhill to the bucket like he was making plays to keep them in the game.
And he only finished with.
Twenty three points, but the twenty three points were so timely and they were they were they came at a time when they needed the most because Aton just couldn't get it going. And I thought it was beautiful to see Kat taking on that challenge and that responsibility offensively, which we've all known he could do since the time he stepped into the NBA, but also taking on that
challenge on the other end. And you know, when you see teams win a championship, there's usually like there, I mean areas, there's steps to it, and you see, like teams have to get over different.
Hurdles, Some teams that can take them a year.
To get over the hurdle right, Like say you have a great year and you get knocked you don't quite get over some hurdle, and then you come back next year Denver for instance. Right, we knock them out, they don't get over the hurdle, we win a championship. They come back the next year, they take that next step, they win a championship.
Right Like, you see that a lot.
And it's been interesting to watch Minnesota throughout these playoffs because it's like they're getting over these different hurdles as they go through these playoffs, and you know, to see them knock off the defending champs and losing game five, they're losing game six, excuse me, wait Jackson, how did that go?
Minnesota? Yeah? Minnesota lost who.
Won to two? Down, down three to two, and then.
One two straight? Okay, thank you so yes, and losing game five.
And then coming back and winning two straight against the defending champions, backs against the Ropes, and they absolutely annihilated different in game six. And just to see the the leaps that they're taking throughout this series, I think it's great. Like when you look at their team and the team is just built like they're they're really winning these things depending on each other again and had an awful night tonight, got it going when it mattered, most made timely plays,
timely stops. Shut Jamal Murray's water off in the second half, shut his water off. Jamal Murray had it going in the first half and shut his water off in the second half. And to do that struggling, then start getting some buckets to go offensively. That three hit on the wing was huge over Aaron Gordon. That was perfect defense. And just to take on that responsibility, end up shooting six for twenty four, sixteen points, six for twenty four shooting and it's in.
Game seven. Swear to swear the.
Stars is built awful night by his standards. But what I loved is even if you listen during the game, he was he was wired talking to his guys, Yo, I'm gonna find it, like stayed upbeat. I stay leader man, that's who they've been following. And he stayed true. And you gotta get those guys credit man. And like I said, what's beautiful about what Minnesota is doing is it's the ultimate team thing. Like they lose this game, Rudy Gobart is getting torched in the first torched.
They actually go on their run.
When Rudy Gobert finally comes out the game in second half, they start to go on their run. When they started to go on their run, Kat gets spout trouble, Rudy eventually has to come back in.
And when Rudy came back in, he made plays. He got a.
Couple offensive rebounds, some big offensive rebounds, hit some big free throws, and those offensive rebounds was key because they were doing two things. Number One, they was second chance points obviously, but it was stopping Denver from getting out in transition and they were struggling to score against their half court defense. And also it allowed them to get to the bonus early. So then Denver started picking up
touch fouls and those were all free throws. And when you get in the penalty early in the NBA, early in the quarter, it's hard to overcome that.
And so Rudy.
Gobert came in and played big basketball. But that was after getting bullied and Cat stepping up to that challenge is taking it on and Cat stepping up for him man and Jaden McDaniels stepping up, nas Reed stepping up like it's the ultimate team thing. And I think it's absolutely beautiful to see and I feel like they are taking those steps that you need to take as it go.
Now Denver, interestingly enough, well we had said about Denver early was there bench maybe a problem, and it came back to bite them in the most inopportune time that it could find him.
Because Jamal Murray and.
Joker had it going again thirty four points, thirty five points. Joker shot terrible from the three, but they finished thirteenth for twenty eight from the phield thirty four points super ten from three. Jamal Murray thirty five points, twenty seven shots, thirteen for twenty seven, four for ten from three. Those are good numbers. However, everybody else on their team, no
one else in double figures. It's hard to win that way, and so you're not getting anything from your bench, and that's been the guys around.
Where else can you pull from?
KCP couldn't get it going, Michael Porter Junior couldn't get it going. Eric Gordon couldn't get it going. So nobody else could get it going. Christian Brown brought great energy, but you need somebody sometimes to get some buckets off the bench, and they didn't have that.
They had five total bench points, four bench field goal at ten.
That's insane.
But that's what walked when Bruce Brown walked like, that's what walked when Jeff Green walked like somebody else, some other guys that can get it going off the bench. That was key for them. And so, man, it's a tough one. It's a tough way to go out. If you're Denver, it's a tough tough way to go out. But you win a championship, you come back. You kind of don't show a couple of things up. Now you gotta go back to the drawing board and Harris where
it gets interesting. Now, can you add where you think you need to add? Does your young guys take the steps that you think they need to take? Like those are now the thing, that's the space that you get in. We're winning the championships. I'm telling you, man, it's hard to win championship after championship and keep doing that.
Like it ain't that easy. It's a tough, tough, tough thing to do.
Man. And so here we are, like things will get interested with Denver. What happens there we don't know, And I don't think any big things happened from as far as their court group goes no, but like can you retool and get back? You start seeing Joker and Man get into it. At the end Joker ain't like a man wave and then Jay McDaniel's trying to score.
So now you got that thing brewing. You still got a young OKC.
You obviously got the Dubs coming back like so, and then obviously these guys that are still playing that's still competing for it all like it gets interesting and it gets interesting fast, like things change like that in this league. A bad quarter can change a lot. A bad quarter changes everything for this Timberwolves scene because if the Timberwolves don't win this game Rudy Gobert had a series that he had, then you have those questions. I thought it
was very interesting that early year. In the year, even as the Timberwolves were having success prior to the trade deadline, you would hear like cat names still coming up in trade talks, and man, the way Cat stepped up, Like when you drive a kid with the number one pick like they did.
That's con That's that's what you hope to see.
Like over these years, like everybody won fast results we all do. But over these years he's continued to Bill continued to build, and in the most important time, he stepped up like nobody believed he could with heart defense. Like aside from just scoring, we know he could score, but he made timely winning plays. When when Cat chased down the block, Reggie Jackson had to lay up Cat, go and get that. Cat wasn't doing that. Cat wasn't doing that. I'm sorry. I've watched Cat play for years,
played against for years. He wasn't doing that chase down block like that. Growth is incredible. I applaud that. I applaud that. You gotta love it, and you also gotta get some credit to the guys that's around him. Somebody pulling something out of him that he didn't know was there. At man pulling something out of him that they didn't know they had signs of a great leader. Got to tip your hat to the young fella. It's beautiful what he's doing. Carrying these guys. I thought they was toast.
Thought they was toast and should have been kept going, kept fighting. Gotta love it, so man, I tipped my hat to them. It's gonna be interesting to see them versus Denver, I mean, excuse me them versus Dallas.
Next series.
It's gonna be a hell of a matchup. You got a couple of young stars and a man and Luca. You got Kyrie tried true and test it or I messed out up, but you get the point. And you got Minnesota side. How does gafferd stack up to that? You got a young Lively playing good basketball with Minnesota's bigs. How do they match up? You got PJ. Washington at the four shooting the lights out the ball in the playoffs.
If Luke is putting.
Rudy in the pick and roll every time, how does Rudy handle that Kyrie in the pick and roll? That's a different rook look for Rudy. It's a different look. How do you handle that floor spacing? It's gonna space you out differently than than it was spaced out in Denver. Because you got Aaron Gordon always in the dunker. They if he had the three you helping of if you're not worried about it, they got guys shooting that thing so that stretches, that stretches the defense differently.
That's what we're up against, right You got ant Man downhill.
Dereck Jones Junior would probably be the guy that you think are at Man because you kind of need PJ for size this round against Cat. But I think at Man could possibly be a little too big for Dereck Jones Jr. So if he is and you need PJ for a saze, then who's guarden Cat?
Do you didn't send Derrek Jones Junior to Cat?
This where the chess pieces sometimes having the chess playing the chess moves happened. Is it more of a Josh Josh Green series? How can Josh Green play this series? Can do he come play big? So if he played big, can he guard? And so?
To allow PJ to guard the cat more? Right?
Like this is where you start plugging and playing. This is where it gets good. But the matchup's gonna be interesting. You got Luca and Jade McDaniels. You go at Man, O Kyrie, Kyrie and at Man. That's that's one for the ages right there, Young Fella versus Kyrie season But ky do it? KAYI trickster bag full of tricks. It's interesting you go Mike Conley, Derrick Jones Jr. But yeah, so these these matches like this, this series, it's the tell of two tapes, I think and Man which one
ultimately wins. I want to say Dallas. I want to say Dallas, but Minnesota showed me somethinge they when they were really willing to Poor Rudy Gobert sometimes Utah couldn't get over the hump because they wouldn't be willing to pull them. You got you, you never know could they got over the hump sometimes if he was willing to pull him. At times they weren't. Minnesota pulled them at the right time. He got back in though you gotta give him credit, got back in and played. Gotta give
him credit. It ain't bow out. But what I was shown tonight was that cat can hold the fourth down. Cash willing to hold the four down and if you need to play that card. They showed that they will. They showed that they're capable. So with that man, I like Dallas. I think Dallas is tough.
Man. I think Dallas is tough MAXI Klaver.
Being out this round gonna be big. Do they get Klaver back? I think that changes the series. But I think he's out indefinitely. Isn't he out for quite a while?
Jackson?
Yeah, I think he's out for quite a bit. I will I will try to check, but I think he's out. I think he's out for quite a while. Yeah like that, maybe for the finals if they get there, but I don't think this round.
Yeah.
See, that's the tough that's where that loss come in to play, right, and you start talking about health and like where it comes important becomes important because Maxie Claver would be because he can guard, cats, can stretch the floor. Still, if you remember Maxie Claybor was shooting the lights out versus Clippers. So I want to say Dallas, I feel like Dallas' is more than capable of winning this series.
But it's hard to bet against Minnesota right now and man doing what he's doing, cat stepping up like that, and I think this is going to be a big, big, big Kyle Anderson series. Like when you start talking to floor Space and if they got to pull that plug on Rudy Kyle Anderson. Kyle Anderson hasn't been real big in these playoffs, so I wonder is he still in them mentally? Always been a true professional? Is he still there mentally though? Because this could be a big Kyle
Anderson series. That's where the series can change. Can you get a guy like Kyle Anderson to come up big. He's more than capable. I've seen him do it, so it's interesting. But yeah, we shall see. In other news, we got the Knicks in the Pacers now. Number one, wishing Jalen Bruston to speed recovery. Never want to see guys get hurt. You know, guys lived that every day
talking to broken hand as is dominant hand. Be If I'm not mistaken, I think he got a kid, like you gotta lift that every day, Like won't be able to pick up his kid again. That' said if he got a kid, which I think he does. Don't quote me on it, but like my point is, you got to lift that every day, and you never want to see that. So Number one, sending love and respect to Jaylen Bruston.
What he did this postseason was beautiful to watch.
Did everything, answer every car, answer every bell that he had to answer. It was beautiful to see. So shout out to him and wishing him a speedy recovery. Number one. Number two man, Yeah, I definitely didn't think the Knicks were like that grade of a team, which I said, and everybody's like, oh, you hated on the Knicks, Like no, I'm actually not actually like did just four times.
I kind of know what it takes and I know what it looks like, and I.
Know everybody's going to be like, oh man, like they got hurt and this guy got hurt, and like that's a part of it, right, Like when kd got hurt and Clay got hurt, like nobody's like, oh man, them guys got hurt. So we feel bad for the Warriors, like because those guys got hurt and they would have won. Like, nah, nobody say that, Just like when we wanted twenty fifteen, nobody'd be like, oh man, Kyrie was hurting and got hurt during the series and Kevin like, you gotta play
who on the court. So let's not even like go there, let's just talk about the game. Because even before Jalen Brunston got hurt, Indiana came out scorching them boys.
And so.
When we do these podcasts, Jackson, like, you know, we put these rundowns together, like different stats, you know, and no topics we want to hit, and then I just kind of go for y'all.
So like, don't take away from the artistry. It's a real thing.
But like you know, and so Jackson has this question out here, like do you all the Pacers and apology for calling them an eighty two game team, And the answer is no, number one of them not apologizing. Now, if they go win a championship, then I'm still not apologizing. I'll just welcome you to the club, like welcome, congratulations, like that happened to Aaron Gordon. I told y'all like like was destroying Aaron Gordon and then like that next year he came back and he got that respect back
and he won a championship. No problem, I'm not going to apologize to you, but welcome to the club. You get a different So you know, Shaq always talk about G fourteen classification, right like, so I mean, like if you get welcome to the club, cool, like, but that don't erase what happened before. Like so if they get like welcome to the club, then great, then that's kind of an a an apology, but not like, hey, my bad, I was wrong, like no welcome, like come on, you're
here now, different respect. So no, the answer is no, Jackson, there's no apology. However, I told you I didn't. I didn't know like what to make of the Knicks. And by the way, shout out to Dante. Man, Dante played incredible basketball, incredible years. See him going to New York, right near Delaware where Dante's from, you know, back near the crib with his dogs that he did it with before in college, and to see him continue to step up thirty nine points, it was beautiful to see. So
shout out to Dante. Hey man, I'm very happy for Dante. Got nothing beloved for Dante still was was was hurt that he left, but not hurt like because I was happy for him, but like it hurt us for sure, and I was hurt. I like Dante as my dog. So shout out to Dante.
But I told you, like I just didn't really know.
It's like the Knicks is is real like that, like like, oh you hating on the Knicks, Like no, I just really be calling and how I see it, And you know, sometimes some things work, but you know, like it's that gonna beat you four times, And there was some things about the Knicks that I just didn't think it would win four times and it didn't.
And I know everybody will be like, oh they hurt again, Jayleen.
They were getting cooked before Jalen got hurt, like getting cooked and yeap Og got hurt for sure, like and taking nothing away.
You know that that's that, those are all facts.
So that's so was Benedict Matherin though Benedict Matherne was hurting and he could have been big for them in this series. So everybody has injuries, so we're not gonna do that. You gotta get those guys. Credit. Tyrese Hollerberg came out the gate at the guard talking to the fans like, you gotta get them.
Credit. Pascal Siakam changed the series though.
What Pascal was doing, taking advantage of his size advantage, putting guys on the block, wearing those guys down, it played the role all of a sudden, Josh Hart pull a pull a stomach muscle like all of that banging plays a role. That's a different thing. And so you know, you gotta you gotta take your hat off to the to the Indiana Pacers. I still personally think they're an eighty two game team, like uh season, like an eighty
two game team for sure. I still think that. Like, but I didn't think the Knicks was real, so like somebody had to get there, like, but now we get real, Like now you Boston, you know, and like if you just get to the conference finals and then that's just it, Like you don't really get those stars for that, Like no, that was the type of things that like say people jobs and like get people paid, but like you don't get like like yo, you get a go star for
making it to the conference finals and and now you meet the buzz saw that is Boston and Boston. This series is going to get interesting because the matchups I think will be important. Like I don't think this is a Drew Holliday Tyrese Holliburton unless you're getting them because Drew, like Drew play is tight spaces and Drew Drew.
Gonna kill your screen and blow your screen up.
Like I think this is more of a excuse me, Derek White, Tyre's Halliburton. I actually can see Drew Holliday Garden Pascal. That's that's the matchup, Like Drew Holliday and Pascal is the because you know, you could go Jalen on on Pascal, but Jalen ain't Gardener post like that strong enough. But it's a technique and Drew got the technique actually, and so I see you going Pascal and Drew now you got Jason, you put Jason on uh
maybe Nie Smith. Yeah, you go Jason on Nie Smith, and then you go Jalen on them hard and those are That's what I see the match ups being in Game one. Now Tyrese Halliburton and Al Horford in that pick and roll is going to get interested because our al can struggle guarding that pick and roll, so that can get interested.
That can be a good match up for them.
But hairs were a lot of how Boston played all year is I can see them switching everything, like switching everything boxes and elbows, making Indiana try to play one on one. Boston got like gray side, so when they switch, you ain't just dumping the ball in the post to Miles like they switch. They boxing elbows and so we've seen that times Boston struggle to take care of the ball. That's gonna be the key to the series for them.
If they can take care of the ball. Indiana defense can struggle at times now they've been playing great defense.
He's playoffs.
But Boston will find a way to get Holly Burton involved.
They got a couple.
Guys that have drew like all those guys can get Holly Burton involved, and you can't hire Holly Burton on this team either.
So Holly gonna have to step up and play some defense.
And he's gonna have to take on that challenge if he want to give his team a chance events to the next round, He's gonna have to take on the challenge defensively. And that's not this moo, but he definitely gonna have to do that if he want to get.
His team a chance.
Now, Indiana, they played well defensively versus New York, but it's a different animal.
It's a totally different animal. Now.
Even t J McConnell, By the way, TJ McConnell was incredible this series, incredible, absolutely incredible, And I got TJ McConnell going to have a nod on Peyton Pritchard, TJ. I will take TJ me personally. However, I got Boston, no problem. Should be a gentleman, sweet, Boston, do their thing, do what they're supposed to do. Should be a gentleman sweet. So no, there's no apologies, Jackson. They got to the conference finals. Somebody have to get theirs to eat. We
get it, got it, somebody gotta go. And you know, but congrats to them, that's dope.
But they.
I think this is gonna be the end of the role for them. So that's kind of my prediction. That's what I think the matchup is gonna be, and we will talk about it later.
That's gonna be a rap.
Actually it's not, because if you all were in a chat, do we got some people in the chat, Jackson, before we get out of here.
We we have a lot of people in the chat.
We had a few people in the chat who donated some money, which we love. Shout out to everyone who kicked in some dollars. And so if those people were gonna answer their questions from at Senpai, can you talk about how good of a defender Nasried is, especially at six '.
Nine, nas Reed has continued to grow as a defender, and the way he guarded Joker all series long when he got the opportunity, I thought it was beautiful. Nasri has great speed, he has great length, he's quick on his feet, and he's not soft at all. He take on the challengeing backing down from no bump. So I think he's a very underrated defender. And nas Reed came into this league a little heavy and he got his body in shape and that was the key to his
defensive presence. So I think, you know, he's a really good defender and it allows Minnesota to win. They want to get Rudy Gobert and go small, they can still be big because you come in with nas Reed who can defend.
And he was also able to give.
Kat a break and when Kat went out to the bench, nas Reed ended up taking Joker and they kept Joker in the straight jackets, so that was down the stretch, so that was that's good to see.
But yeah, nas Reed I think has grown.
As a defender and now it doesn't get talked about much, which would make him kind of an underrated defender.
And then Carlos Hernandez asked do you think the Mavericks have a chance, which obviously you do, but I'm going to use this as a jumping off point to ask you to give a Firmer prediction on Dallas Minnesota.
A Firmer prediction on Doubt an eisode.
You got how many games, let's see, let's.
Hear it, You're I got Minnesota.
I haven't had a chance to really analyze this how I want to analyze it yet, but I think I need to look at like some different matchup stuff like what did they what?
What was there?
I need to watch their games from the season and like see different things. So I may tweet to y'all and change my prediction before game one, just so you know I'm gonna go, just to give you guys a firm prediction. I haven't studied like I want to study yet.
I'll go.
Minnesota for now, but I may change that before game one, so be on the lookout. I mean, if I'll even post something like, I'll post a video if I changed it or so.
But as of right now, I think I got Minnesota.
All right. I like it. I think that's all we got for fors tonight.
All right, Well, I appreciate the questions. I appreciate y'all tuning in. That's a rap from this episode of The Draymond Green Show. Until next time, Peace,