The volume.
Just a reminder you can catch me recording this podcast live on amp amp is a new live radio app that lets you call in and chat with me in person while I'm recording. Get the app on Apple's app store and make sure to follow me at at Draymond Green to get notified when I go live. What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. As you know, the NBA Finals are here. I picked the Nuggets in five. If you miss that, may want to go check that
episode out. It was just a little quick hitter, but very interesting, some very thought provoking stuff And when you go back and look at it and you listen, you like it's one of the ones where you and you're like wow, like dang really and then you start like you pull your phone out, you start going through and you're like, wow, this is crazy. So it's one of those hands scratches. So definitely go check that out if
you got time. Just like last year, one thing different than last year's we're not playing, but just like last year, we're gonna break down these finals games, get into the teeth of it, the meat of it, and talk about it. And by the way, next episode may have a surprise. Maybe not tune in. You shall see it'll be interesting. The Nuggets beat the Heat one oh four to ninety three in Game one, before we get into individuals, before
we talk anything else. If I am Mike Malone, I am walking into the locker room, and I'm like, fellas, we gotta like, we gotta do some things better. We can really like shore some things up. Which is true, you can. I'm walking out of the locker room. If I'm Mike.
Malone, like yes, yes, and you know why I'm saying yes.
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Number one. We won, Number two.
We won in a very good way, which is dominated the game. Didn't play great, dominated the game. They fought back, made it respectable, made it feel like they didn't get blown out. So the final score is one oh four ninety three, not one oh four to eighty one, not one oh four to eighty five. Wasn't a blowout. It's my point. When you blow someone out in any playoff series, NBA Finals, whatever you name it, that team then comes out with extra motivation. That team comes out like embarrassed,
like we just like we just got embarrassed. We got it, And so you find extra juice because you come out there playing off crazy emotion, like the emotions of the playoffs are insane. The emotion of the NBA Finals is out of this world. So the last thing you really want is to be up against the extra added motivation of we got embarrassed last game. We need to come out show who we are. We got the extra juice
you feeling yourself, It wasn't that. And so if I'm Mike Malone, I'm walking away and I'm walking in, well, I'm walking in the locker room. I'm telling guys, we got to get better. We can play much better. That team's gonna play better next game. Blah blah blah. And I'm walking in with my coaching staff and I'm like perfect, Perfect, because our guys aren't going to relax now, because usually that's what happens. You blow them out. They're pissed off.
You relax. You got a problem on your hand. That is not the case here. And also, like I told you before, Denver is not fucking around. They're not playing with their food, not playing with the breakfast. They eating their meal, getting it out the way. Did it the first series, did it the second series, and definitely did it the third series, and they did it tonight. Everybody's like, oh man, they're in the layoff ten day layoff or
whatever it is. They're gonna be tired or I mean, they're gonna you know, they're gonna be winded.
They're gonna that's a.
Team that's not messing around. Man, them guys been in the gym. You can tell they came out, guns blazing, locked in. That's a team that's locked in. I knows the look of a team that is locked in. If you don't know the look Look at Denver, look at their eyes, Look at all of Mike Malone's press conferences, look at their guys press.
They locked in.
So no ten day layover, hangover layoff, none of that garbage.
Them boys locked in.
Miami, on the other hand, had a chance to win the series, burstus the Celtics pretty easily. Never easy, but you know what I'm saying, pretty easily as far as the record goes. Took care of business in the first three games, looked like a totally different team for two and a half games, closed out the six games strong. But play with your breakfast. There is a carryover effect from that. So you fly in the altitude from Boston
to Denver long flight. Probably got in at two three o'clock in the morning, which then makes the next day at zero because everybody's tired switching time zones altitude. And by the way, I thought, I saw something that Chuck said earlier, which I totally agree with. Denver's never been in the finals stopped the altitude talk. Yes, it is harder to play an altitude After a little while, you know your first couple of times up and down first half, you get your win.
You figure it out.
Where professional athletes at the top of the top highest level you can go, you figure it out. So let's not try to take away from what those guys are doing about Oh, the altitude. I've never heard so much about altitude in my life. Now, don't get me wrong.
When you go and play, you feel it.
But let's not try to dim their light or take away from what those guys are doing with the altitude. But altitude does have different effects. It affects some people sleeping because it affects your breathing, and so you're breathing when you're sleeping is uber important. That's why they have machines for people to sleep, apnea and different things because
your breathing, your breathing flow is super important. Well, as we know, sleep and rest is important for recovery, especially on a short turnaround like Miami's on coming from Boston. So you figure that next day they probably have film and all of this stuff, like it's a dud, Like you're tired, you're mentally drained from a seven game series. Next day is a dud. So they essentially have one day of preparation and recovery to like get ready for
the next series. Differ's probably been watching them for the longest because they were up three to zero, so they're more prepared. Not that the coach didn't prepare them enough. It's a time like sposure was great. It's a time thing. It's not like some Oh they're coach prepared. It's a time thing. So that's what I'm getting at, and Miami would have had the same amount of time. Unlike other series, both series finished. The NBA Finals start June first. It
don't start May twenty first. If everybody's done May twenty, it starts June first. That's that, so Miami could have had the time. I thought they looked a little tired. Uh, all of a sudden, the shots didn't go. One could say that's the fatigue. One could say they shot, they load. Miami it hasn't been known to be a great shooting team all year. They have some really good shooters, but as far they didn't hang their hat on shooting the basketball.
So if I'm the Celtics in that series, when they're hitting those shots, you're kind of walking back to the locker room.
You're like, man, they ain't gonna do that again, And they come out and do it again. You're like that, they ain't doing that again.
However, they kept doing it, but that's the mindset, so they so they missed the shots tonight. Like I said, I think that was a little bit of fatigue. I think they'll shoot better, but will they shoot as good as they shot against the Boston Celtics. That's what the the story, because they shot the lights out versus the Boston Celtics from the field from Miami thirty percent from three. They didn't get it done on the offensive. Ended day
rough shooting night. Jimmy had thirteen points on six six or fourteen from the field, did not shoot a free throw. That was interesting. Jimmy Butler. You know, he's a guy who finds rhythm through the free throw line. He slows the game down for the Miami. He through the free throw line allows Miami to get their defense set, and they weren't able to do that. Especially early on. Aaron Gordon came out the gate and showed everybody who got on him they were too small, got to the cup
at will. I thought he needed to do more of that and as the game went on, but he got them guys going out the gate. It was incredible to see force myami to make some adjustments, but I think the number one adjustment is just getting mashed up. There was one play in the first quarter, with maybe about two minutes and twenty seconds left or so, Michael Porter Junior fell down. Michael Porter Junior trails, so they walked
the ball up. Michael Porter Junior trails in. They walked the ball up, So in walking the ball up, you have uber amount of time to get mashed up.
Miami still didn't get mashed up.
And because they didn't get mashed up, I can't remember exactly who it was, but one of the smaller guys ended up on Joker, So then you collapse your defense and Michael Porter Jr. Trails in four three. That's initially it was like transition. They're getting out there, pushing, they're getting cross matches. Aaron Gordon Dominic. That was one where
we're talking about fatigue. Team could possibly be a little fatigue because why not get matched up on that play again, The one thing that's hurting you is them getting out in transition. And no, it wasn't them scoring in transition, but it was the cross matches they got and then they took advantage of them quickly, so you have an opportunity to get mashed up. That's like a mental error, mental fatigue. Mental mental errors happened most when you're fatigued.
So that to me was another sign of fatigue from the Miami heat, a rollover from the Boston series, which they could have handled.
A lot sooner.
So I thought that was that that was really important. That was important today start. That's how they got going because and quite frankly, like if you look at the numbers, Denver did played great offensively, like Joker was twelve or eight from the field, didn't shoot the ball for the first quarter.
It seemed.
Murray, Jamal Murray had a really good game. Him and Joker's two man game is almost unstoppable. It's about as close to unstoppable as it gets. Obviously, you know, it's much different and better when Jamal's hitting shots, which he's been hitting shots at a high clip, and it was unstoppable tonight. Joker quietly dominated the game with twenty seven points, fourteen assists, and ten rebounds on only eight for twelve shooting.
Maybe five of those shots came within the last three four minutes of the game, where he iced the game and you know, down the stretch, had the ball in his hands, made everything happen as Heat as he does all the time, but he was aggressive to score down the stretch, catching the ball in the pocket with a two on one with Joker and Aaron Gordon. Good luck Bam stayed backup times Joker hitting that floater. But if
he step up, Aaron Gordon catching a lot. So there's gonna be some adjustments that need to be made there and we can get into those. Another thing that I thought, uh well, another person that I thought played a huge role in the game, as he has been all series long, is I mean a playoffs long and season long.
It's Bruce Brown. We we've discussed.
The impact of role players like Miami Miami Heat role players outplay Boston role players last series, which is why the Miami Heat won the series. Like because their role players severely outplayed Boston's role players.
And that's why they won the series. Bruce Brown.
Outplayed just about any role player at Miami half today. They won the game because again, you win championships six, three, eleven. Now that gets shorter, that shrinks in the playoffs because most coaches go eight deep, maybe nine, So it shrinks, but the eleven is still important throughout the course of a season. You're talking having a depth to where you don't have to run your guys into the ground, all of those things. That's where you win championships in the margins.
And so Bruce Brown playing the way he played, Jeff Green gave some good minutes off the bench, really good minutes off the bench. But Bruce Brown has been playing absolutely amazing. Bruce Brown. Actually, I was really good in the two man game with Joker today as well. Had a couple of pocket passes, had a couple floating, had a couple turnovers in there, but who cares? Who cares? And nobody tripping on that. Bruce Brown is playing really, really,
really good basketball. Michael Porter Junior was only five for five for fifteen from the field, fourteen points and twelve rebounds, though double double. And that's so encouraging to see Michael Porter Junior with a double double because at times his SHOT's not working and he doesn't have an impact on the game.
Twelve rebounds and two blocks.
Two blocks, which we know he's not known as a defender. Yeah, one block on Jimmy, remember that block. But he's doing something other than just shooting the basketball, and that's very important, especially on the night where he didn't shoot extremely well. Now, something tricky about that. He missed some open looks, and he not gonna keep missing those open looks. So I hope they're going to make an adjustment to make sure he don't get those open looks because next game he
gonna make those. Like, you can't rely on Michael Porter Junior missing open looks. So I think there's something there. And I expect Michael Porter Junior to shoot the ball well, but it's very important that you continue to do to other things like rebounding.
He's sixteen. You gotta take advantage of that size.
Especially Miami guards are a little smaller and definitely shorter than sixteen. So the guy who's gonna be on him, he's going to have an advantage on. He caught a couple of them in the posts and I thought he faded away. Nah, seek contact. You six inches smaller than these guys. Seek contact, Go over the top. No, that's not what he does. You gotta do it. It's time to win a championship. He needed to take advantage of some of those Bam had a good offensive night. Twenty
six points, thirteen rebounds, five assists. I thought something interesting. They were essentially giving BAM the floaters in the mid range and taking all the passing lanes away, and I thought that was interesting because although BAM finished with good numbers, I think he may have taken like twenty four shots or something, twenty four to twenty five shots.
And for BAM, I love their aggressiveness.
I'm always rooting for an aggressive BAM, but for BAM to take twenty five shots, that means other guys aren't as aggressive or aren't getting as many shots. And again, we all want BAM to be aggressive. But what they were pretty much saying is we're gonna live with you taking those mid range twos, the little floaters.
We're gonna live with that shot. We need to take the.
Three away, Duncan Robinson, Max Struce, Gabe Vincon, Caleb Martin, Kyle Lawry, we need to take the three away. And they took the three away and that was huge. Now, another thing about this game is Denver ended up making I think three less threes then the Miami Heat and they still won that game convincingly. That's something to watch for. Denver is gonna shoot the ball better, like they're gonna
shoot better. They still won that game pretty easily. Like to think that Denver only scored one hundred and four points and they won that game pretty easily. That's not very encouraging for Miami that they won the game that way and only scored one hundred and four points and didn't shoot the ball well. So another reason why from coach Malone, I'm walking away like, yes, absolutely, we spoke about Jimmy, we spoke about the Miami Heat, and they're
shooting percentages. Another thing the Miami Heat did in the second half, which actually helped them get back in the game, was they win zone. Now the zone works when Denver isn't shooting the ball well. So yes, it to a certain extent today until they start getting the ball on the teeth for the defense to Joker at the mid post, and quite frankly, like again, their zone work. But if all else fails, you just throw the ball as Joker at the mid post. Ay, the defense has to collapse.
If not, he's hitting that shot at a seventy percent rate. And if they collapse or even overhelped just a tad we know he's making a play at one drop off to Jeff Green. Really nice past to Jeff Green as he snuck behind the defense, like Joker gonna make the.
Play out of a high post.
I don't think outside of Steph Curry, I don't think there's a tougher player at the zone in the NBA. Steph could Steph shoot the lights out of it like he's shooting it from anywhere. And if you get get them in a bad way just a little bit, you're in trouble with Steph with the ball. Joker, he makes every play his touch. It's crazy, can shoot it, float, get to the cup. I don't think there's a tougher player to guard in a zone in the NBA than Stefan Joker. So yes, the zone worked in theory tonight.
It got them back in the game. A coach Malone will have something for that next game. He'll have some stuff to combat the zone. I know he will. And again I think they'll shoot the ball better and that automatically combats the zone because if shots are going up, now you're overreacting. Now you're closing out hard. Now they're getting offensive rebounds too. Makes the game a lot tougher. Now you're playing against their set defense. Their set defense
is really good. Transition defense not great, sec set defense really really good. So now you're playing against a set defense. It's all a trickle down effect. So yes, I expect Miami to try more zone. Yes, I expect that Denver will be prepared for it, better equip for it, and like I said, most importantly, they will shoot the ball better. A couple more things I thought Denver did really well is they defend it without filing.
Defend in defending the Miami Heat.
Without filing, you're making them score the basketball. And if you make them score the basketball hasn't been one of their strongest suits all year.
It's just making them score. They do. They do it great.
I'm not gonna say they rely on the free throw like as if they rely on the whistle, but they rely on the free throw to get easy buckets. They rely on the free throw to get their defense set. Their defense is really good. They rely on the free throw because all of a sudden, now you start filing, you collapsing. Now those threes that Max Strus is getting a little more open, Now those threes that Duncan Robinson is getting, he don't have to put the ball on
the floor and then shooting they are more open. So they did a great job of defending without falling and making the Miami he scored points and they didn't do a great job scoring points tonight. But you got to give a lot of credit to Denver's defense to not put Jimmy Butler on the free throw line one time.
I mean, that's tough.
Jimmy Butler not shooting free throw Jimmy Butler shooting nine ten free throws a game.
And rightfully so he gets filed.
Like Jimmy is great at drawing files and it's not flopping like he's not a flopper for files either. He is great at seeking out contact, catching the defender in the bad way and seeking out the contact and getting foul calls and going to the free throw line. So that was something that I thought Denmer and I'm sure they emphasized the mess out of it, right like that has to be a huge emphasis against the Miami He team.
Do not put them on the free throw line.
Bamshoots a lot more free throws this year as well, like they they do a good job of getting fouled, and so for them to not go to the free throw line tonight.
It's huge for Denver. That's what saved Denver.
On on a off night and not so great offensive performance for them. It's not filing, something we talk about all year with the Warriors, but with anyone to find without filing, it's hard for people to score, Like it's hard to make a shot. I know a lot of internet trolls and stuff talk about like, oh man, you didn't make it. It's actually very hard to throw that basketball into that rim. It's a very hard thing to do. If you're absolutely incredible, you do it one of every
two times. If you're great, it's hard. It's really hard. And they forced them to do that tonight and they did not do a good job of it. So I thought that was great on Denver's part.
Miami. I think Miami has to get more ball screens.
They when they were in ball screens, whether it was Kyle Larry, whether it was Gay Vincent, they were I thought they did a really good job and playing out of the ball screen.
They're going to have to get more ball screens.
Involved in order to just get into Denver the teeth of Denver's defense a bit. They also got a lot of open looks off the ball screens, and that's when the threes start falling, because the threes were not falling from Miami. Then they started playing out of ball screens. They got some threes to go, they made a push. I think they cut it. The nine was the lowest. They ended up cutting it too, but it was all
ball screen dominant and off of their defense. They forced a couple turnovers with zone, got a couple easy ones, then they hit a few threes and got it going a little bit.
So I thought the zone they did a really good job.
And also their ball screen offense was really good and I will expect to see more of that, just to io or like post up like Denver has length. Nikola Yoki is just seven feet. Michael Porter Junior sixteen, Aaron Gordon six a sixty nine. Bruce Brown we all know has like some crazy wingspan. Jamar Murray has a very very very good wingspan. Jeff Green like, they have a
bunch of size KCP six to six. They have a ton of size, and so trying to get into the teeth of their defense into the paint, it's tough just trying to break it down and get there.
So I think they're.
Gonna have to play more out of ball screens, out of some high high splits. They'll probably play more out of the high splits that's bound. With the ball guards setting guard guard screens coming out top, they'll need more high splits. They're on offense, they'll need more ball screens. But most importantly, they'll need stops so they don't have to play against a set defense. Now all of a sudden Max Shrew's first three ain't coming. First five threes
ain't coming against a contest. You get a couple in transition. You see the ball going, Kayler Martin get a couple buckets in transition, You see the ball going, Gave Vins a couple buckets in transition, see the ball go through. Then it changes everything. So I think they'll need to do more of that. As far as adjustments both teams
can make. I think for the Miami Heat, like I said, we just discussed some of the ball screen things, But I think on defense they are going to have to go Jimmy on Jamal Murray, Bam on Joker, and I think they're going to have to switch that pick and roll with Jamal Murray and Joker.
Now, if you switch that with Jimmy number one.
I'm telling Jimmy, if you get caught in a bad way on the switch with Joker, I don't need you in foul trouble. What I do need is for you to fight him, battle him. We know Jimmy battle Jimmy a dog, Jimmy baddling anybody, and Jimmy's strong as hell.
So Joker just not going to just run over Jimmy.
Yes, he's gonna get him called in the bad ways a couple of times, like that's this Joker number one MVP.
He's damn good and like it's gonna happen.
That's not Jimmy Nash position guard in the five man in the painted area. But I think Jimmy can put an up enough fight to where you can least better contain Jamal Murray. Bam can guard guards. I don't know if anyone knows that. I'm here to tell you, Bam can guard guards very well. Not that he's going to go lock Jamal Murray down or anything like that, but he's going to contain him enough to where you're playing one on one. So you're playing this guy one on one,
you're playing Joker one on one, you're not overhelping. You're not letting other guys get off because remember, those guys miss those shots today, they won't miss him on Sunday.
They won't miss him on Sunday.
So you switch that, you make them guys play one on one, You force all the other guys to now get their buckets. Is not off help. We're not switching on. We're not switching on Aaron Gordon. Ally's like, now we're battling. Now, we're one on one. Now, we're not giving advantages. I think that's something that we're gonna need to see from the Miami Heat as far as the defensive side goes. Now, the question would then be okay, so if you put
Jimmy on Jamal Murray, who's going to guard Aaron Gordon. Well, I asked you question is are you going to let Jamal Murray and Nicola Jokis beat you? Are you going to force Aaron Gordon to beat you? Because sometimes you have to pick someone to beat you, Like, we're willing to live with this. We're not willing to live with that. Quite frankly, no disrespect to Aaron Gordon. I think Aaron Gordon will say the same thing I'm definitely not going to pick Jamal Murray and Nicola Yokish to beat me.
We know they will beat you. Not they can, they will, they'll beat you.
So you have to force someone else to beat you, and you have to force them to do it doing what they're not accustomed to doing. Like if you let Aaron Gordon get a mismatch, if you let Aaron Gordon catch lib dunks or get drop offs on the rim, yeah he can't be. But if you make him do what he's not comfortable doing, make guys do what they're not coming but doing and beat you, then it's a
totally different story. And so I think that's going to be very important from Miami is to try to figure that out.
I think switching that with.
Jamal and Jamal, a Joker, Bam and Jimmy is one way of figuring it out. As far as Aaron Gordon go, you may have to put Kevin Love there, may need size, may have to go bigger.
Every series calls for different things.
It's not always going to be as rarely is it ever the same from series to series. It calls for different things when you're trying to win championships. Sposal super smart, great coach, not afraid to make adjustments. He'll make some. He'll figure it out. Will they win, that's another story. But Sposal definitely makes adjustments and we'll figure it out. I was downstairs watching the game and this guy said, yeah, so Draymond, you said Tyler hero now.
Now we need Tyler back.
Now, right, And I said, well, yeah, you could probably use He's like, cause that's twenty points. And I said, well, I'm not sure it's going to just be twenty points. That's been out for a while. It's the NBA Finals, and if it is twenty points, it does matter if it's a good twenty points or bad twenty points, because there are bad twenty points. But I also said to him, I said, but you don't want to panic and overreact
to losing game one on the road, because you're supposed to. Yes, Miami had one or three on the road in Game one, but you're supposed to lose game one on the road. That's why it's game one, and it's on the road because they were the better team in the season and they got home court.
You're supposed to lose that. Now the goal is to go get one.
I don't say, whether it's one, two, five, seven, you just gotta get one on the road. So I wouldn't overreact though that we lost one on the road. That's not the time to overreact and kill everyone's confidence and and ring the alarm. Because when coaches overreact, players overreact. Players follow coaches energy. Don't get it twisted. They follow the coach energy. You say, oh, man, it's got nervous. You make it nervous. Oh he confident. Oh let's go.
We confident. So you don't want to overreact to game one either. Now, again, there's an opportunity. You feel like, I think we should throw Tyler in here. Great, see what's what you got. But to just move somebody and slot in, it's a dangerous thing. It's a very dangerous thing when guys are in the rhythm. One game. Ain't saying these guys not in the rhythm. They've been in the rhythm. Tough night. Charge it to the game, watch the film, learn from it, make your adjustments, get back
at it. We'll see. It's a good game though. And like I told y'all, denver locked in. That's a wrap from this episode of The Draymond Green Show.
Sunday. I was surprise. Until then peace