Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy.
So, yeah, you went.
Off on your on your show yesterday, you called James Harden the biggest choker in modern sports history?
Was that what you called him? Yeah? Yeah, do you think that's you think that's fair?
Who else is in the argument? Just tell someone. I just need someone to tell me who the other contenders are. And here's the deal. I'm going to pull up these I'm going to pull up these numbers real quick. So Harden, Lebron, Steph Durant, those are the four guys of the era. And as far as just having uh okay, sure, yeah, maybe I should have included Chris, but I didn't. But that's and that that's a fair one. But I just want to give you these numbers. Career playoff games Demons
less than four made baskets. Durant has two, Steph has three, Lebron has five. Give me a guess for Harden, Just give a number Harden.
All right, So you said those guys numbers, I'll go nine thirty five. Yeah, and those guys have obviously played a lot more than well.
I don't Harden's played a bunch. I don't Lebron's played a lot more. But yeah, but you know Harden was Okay, hold on, that was so again? Thirty five career playoff games with less than four making How many of those? Uh A hand? A decent amount? But again he the only one you can really throw out is the like his for you want to throw out you know, ten of those games because it was young, young James Harden, but he was you know, sixth Man of the year and going two for ten in the finals. All right,
hold on, I got a couple more for you. Career playoff games with with under five made baskets. Again, I'll give you the numbers for everyone else. KD four, Steph eight, Lebron nine, James Harden fifty five. Okay, yeah? And then last one career playoff games where you have at least as many turnovers or more turnovers than made shots Durant seven, Steph thirteen, Lebron's seventeen James Harden.
More turnovers than made shot Yes, all right, yeah seven Steph thirteen, Lebron seventeen, James Harden forty two.
Forty two more turnovers than made shots.
It's the biggest, right there.
Or as many turnovers as made shots, as many or more. Uh So, here's the thing. So even if you want to be like, well, those first two stats were about you know, he wasn't playing as many minutes he's off the bench. That clears that up. And it's just demons. I used to be the biggest hardened defender. He had such a horrific Game six against San Antonio in twenty seventeen when Kawhi and Tony Parker were out and the Rockets lost by thirty nine points that I said, I
thought he had an undiagnosed concussion. It's just and so there is there is no comp for it. And so if people want to, we don't have to. It's just at this point who he is, the moment gets too big.
It was turning around there for a second.
He always has these moments. And then it's the game six or a game seven, and he takes seven shots, he takes eight shots. He has he has I think six playoff games where he was two for ten, two for eleven or two for twelve from the field. Ask this follow up about Russ and then we'll get to the Warriors.
So who do you think will end up having a better legacy when it's all said and done between Russ and Harden.
So I think this is really it depends on what your value. So Harden's a better all time player, and like he has, he's gonna have better numbers on better teams, more of a part of winning. They both won one MVP. But Russ is going to be an icon and Harden is going to be a placeholder for choking like to like in the future. And so the answer is Russ. Like the answer is definitely Russ.
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The Knicks deserve, They deserve to be the story, but they are not the story. The Knicks deserve to have us talking about how they have gone to Boston. They have been down twenty points in the second half in both of these games. They have not played great, honestly, in either game. Yesterday, Mikhale Bridges is terrible for the first three quarters before being awesome. Jalen Brunson is six
of nineteen in the game. With a few minutes left in the game, he had made four shots and it's not like he was getting He had made four shots and gotten to the free throw line once. And they found a way to win, and they deserve credit for that. But the story, and we will, I promise we'll spend a lot of time on the Knicks, but the story
is Boston. The next story is about what I said on Tuesday, planning for this moment for more than a year, and there being a lot of similarities to what how Minnesota was able to beat Denver to what we are seeing with the Knicks and the Celtics. Let's table those and we will get to those shortly, because the story really is the defending champs falling apart in real time physically and mentally. And now let me make this clear, I don't think it's over. I don't think like, oh,
no chance the Celtics come back. The Celtics are talented enough and good enough obviously to win four out of five against New York. In fact, most people thought they were going to win four out of five against New York. They just thought it was gonna be the first five games. This is gonna be a nice, friendly, gentleman suite. But
we are now here. Everyone's gonna focus on the three point variants, and I get it, twenty five of one hundred from three fifteen of sixty in Game one, the exact same percentage in Game two, except they were ten of forty. I actually don't think that is that might be the biggest reason they're down. I don't think that is the biggest story surround them being down. The biggest
story surrounding them being down is Jason Tatum. And we gave him all his flowers and all the credit for what was, without a doubt, at least to my eye, the best regular season of his career. I understand he didn't even have. It wasn't the best numbers. He's averaged almost exactly this many points. He's averaged twenty six point eight or twenty six point nine points three of the last four years his you know his numbers in the
one year he did and he averaged thirty. His numbers have been consistent, his field goal percentage has been consistent. And it wasn't that he played more games. It was just this felt like the best Tatum year because you didn't get a great year from Jalen Brown by his standards, Horford's a year or older. You saw some real deterioration from Drew Holliday over the course of the year. And yet Tatum answered the bell on both ends of the
court every night. And and this is the key piece, not vkey, but one of the key pieces of it. Responded from what was a really weird few months for him where he finally wins a championship, but he's not the Conference finals MVP. He's not the Finals MVP. He actually plays some of his worst basketball of the season last year in the biggest games, most notably those two
series the Conference finals in NBA Finals. Still, it's not like he was bad, but he just dropped a level that then was compounded by the fact that Steve Kerr, who obviously is despite what lunatic Warrior fans would try to tell you. Steve Kerr, who obviously is one of the best and smartest basketball minds we have. Steve Kerr saw Jason Tatum in the Olympics and said, can't use you. Sorry, would love to, but actually you're not one of our
eight best. And he responded to all of that with a year where he had an argument he was the third best player in the league and where there was no argument whatsoever, he was one of the four best players in the league. And for that to then and then let me add another piece to it. After a kind of rocky game one of the playoffs, but who cared? They won? It was easy where he got hurt. He then came back after missing a game, averaging thirty six, eleven and six the rest of the series. It's like,
holy shit, Jason. This extra level that Bill Simmons has been swearing on his children exists for years. For Jason Tatum, we're seeing it. And then in back to back games, he is twelve of forty two from the field. He is five of twenty from three. He is a total and complete non factor in the fourth quarter of these games. The only play he made last night was when the Knicks screwed up a switch and he got a wide
open dunk. And now, listen, I'll just tell you what I say to Kevin Wilds when I face timed him yesterday. And I know this is going to sound unfair, but it's just how I feel, and it's not prisoner of the moment, because I have felt this way about Tatum forever. He's an excellent player. But what I said to Wilds is I don't care if the Celtics win the next three championships, He's never gonna be the best player in the league. That guy is not the best player in
the league. And I don't even think the reason I said that to Wilds is because he keeps trying to force the conversation of Jason Tatum's going to force us into some really tricky conversations. What do we do with the twenty seven year old with two rings and four first Team All nbas and all of this, What does that mean for where he is historically? And my answer
to that is Tatum is an excellent player. He is not yet in the We need to evaluate his historical greatness level, and I don't know that he is going to be in that conversation. There is and I can't put my finger on it, but there's something that's just not there.
Yes, and it gets a little tight in big spots, is what it seems like to me.
Watching the game. It feels to me like if his three isn't falling, it knocks him off the rest of his game. And what is And here is the Celtics piece. And I just did Levotard Show and this is the point I was trying to make. The Celtics bum three strategy over the long haul, obviously is just a smart mathematical strategy. As sample sizes get smaller, you put yourself more at you know, the mercy of the variants. It's you know, the team that really originated this strategy was
Darryl Moury's Rockets. But here's why. For Darryl Moury's Rockets, it made total sense. The team they were trying to beat, the KD Staph Warriors, was flatly better than them, so they needed to shake up the snow globe and add some damn variants. Because if we just go go to the middle of the rain and trade jabs, we got no shot. So instead we're gonna throw some wild Haymakers
and risk getting knocked out because that's our chance. This strategy for the Celtics maybe wouldn't make sense if this were the NBA Finals against Oklahoma City and they feel like they're better than us. All year long, they've been better, they have the better resume. They they're best players, better than our best player. They're better than us, So let's add some uncertainty to it. Up twenty points in the second half against the New York Knicks. The last thing
you want is to add uncertainty. It's it's an insane It's not an insane way to play. It's insane. Demon's not to adjust, Yeah, and not to have It's a team, it's a football team that their identity is chucking it deep and up ten in the fourth quarter. They refuse to run the ball that and here's the other piece of it.
You've got Jason Tatum. He's six eight, he's an amazing shape. He can get to the hoop, and it is.
It is stubbornness that at this point might cost him their title defense to lose both and it's the first twenty point lead. I said it tuesday. The Knicks made that a game faster than any team. I can remember, it was twenty points, Boston up by twenty with five and a half left in the third, and it was a six point game with a minute left in the third. So the Knicks just in the span of ten possessions
made it a game again. Yesterday was different in that, Yes, it was twenty and then the Knicks chipped away, but it was go ahead.
We were holding it like we stayed out in front, in front for a minute, and we just kept shooting the three, and they just kept chipping it away.
It was fourteen with seven minutes left. And so I if you look at the Celtics fourth quarter shot chart, they did, you know, they didn't just shoot threes. It wasn't the third order in Game three. But there were just these moments. Most notably was the one Wild's took the picture of but it is it's a jarring image where it is eighty six seventy seven. Is that I want to make sure I have it. I think it's yeah, or the let me try to pull out I should just pull up Wild's tweet because it is it's a
wild decision by it's eighty six seventy nine. Pardon me, and I don't know why this isn't showing me that, but regardless, don't worry about it. Oh here's why, because it wasn't. I was like, I thought it was eighty six because the score. Remember, and here's a sneaky important part of the game that will be forgotten the history. The Knicks got an extra point during a time out because they had called a Jalen Brunson three a two
and then they fixed it. Oh on, Mikale Bridges, pardon me, And so the score the scoreboard says eighty six seventy nine, but it was actually eighty six eighty and Derek White misses a three. McHale Bridges then goes down misses a three, and Josh Hart tries to save it and starts the fast break, and all of a sudden and we can put the image up. Jason Tatum finds himself in this position.
I don't think demons I like it. I well, I don't think I like shooting that three if I'm the team trailing by seton seven, Like I, I don't think it's the smarter move.
You got a dunk right there, it's not recovering.
He's probably gonna try to get recovering. And by the way, it's and here's the other thing. If Jalen Brunson is upright, you might have a dunk there. Oh yeah, you're seven inches taller than him. Horford's there. You have a full head of steam. That is an impossible decision. Now you can be like, listen, what does Jason Tatum shoot on corner threes? Blah blah blah. Again, you're ups You're actually up six, but you think you're up seven. It's bananas.
And the very next possession, we don't have a picture of it, but Jalen Brown has an alley to the basket and he takes a pull up three. And so it's just.
It is the Knicks just finally want it more, is what it seems like.
Well, they just wanted certainly more comfortable demands. If it's close late, yeah, that is undeniable. And the fact that the Knicks have now won five road playoff games and they have won them. They have played five road playoff games, they are five and zero, and they have won those five games by a combined This is really unbelievable, situants. They have won those five games by combined ten points
ten one in overtime. They won Game three against Detroit by two, Game four against Detroit by one, Game six against Detroit by three, Game one against Boston by three, and in overtime in Game two against Boston by one. It is uh. It is a remarkable turn of events. The NBA eighty two game grind is done. Now the real fun can begin. The playoffs are here. Time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments, and jaw dropping
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Warriors won game one on the roll without Steph think he went out like eight minutes left in the second quarter.
They still pulled that off. I think he suffered a hamstring strain. It's gonna be out at least a week. Do you give the Doves any chance to win without Steph?
No? And I thought that was a great win by and I thought Steve Kerr was brilliant and playing thirteen guys adjusting on the fly, and Buddy healed. Like these last two games with Buddy Heeld, it reminds you of how great the Warriors were when they had prime Klay Thompson. Because the last two games Buddy held has been prime Klay Thompson. It's been really it's just impressive.
You give them no chance to win this series? If Steph is out? Call it? I mean, this is seven more days? Is the series over by then?
No?
They the Warriors could lose like one game.
The earliest he could be back, realistically is game six because they play tonight Saturday, so that's game Uh so let me do it like this. They already played game one. Tonight is Game two, Saturday is Game three, Monday is Game four, Wednesday is game five. Then they don't play Did I do that wrong. They play Thursday, Sat. Yeah, I did do that. No, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and then the next game is Sunday. I think the.
If the Knicks can go out there and do that to the Celtics and win the second game, I think the Warriors can go back and beat them without Steph Curry.
But it's just I just don't listen. I I don't. I think Jimmy's been good but not unbelievable by keep hitting. Yes, I don't. I think Buddy healed is you know, going to regress more to the mean there? And uh, I also think and this was, do you guys remember when the Lakers went down three to one to Minnesota and I came on here and said, I don't think necessarily the series is over. It obviously was, but the Lakers'
title hopes are done. And the reason I said was because now the only way to get out of Round one is they have to play every other day, win a Game seven, and then start a series where they're playing every other day for the entirety of it, basically, and there are too old and too thin of a team in order for that to be an effective path. Essentially, that is now where the Warriors are, and you saw
it immediately. Bite Steph, a player who has never had a hamstring injury in his life, ended up having to play every other day against that Rockets defense running around like that. Windy said that since they've started tracking, this game seven against Houston was the most like mileage Steph has run on the court in a game in his career, and a quarter and a half into the next game
he suffers his first ever hamstring injury. Like that, every game matters, and the Warriors kind of punted game five against Houston and then let go of the rope in the fourth quarter of Game six, and all of a sudden they find themselves in a Game seven. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself two days later playing in a Game one, and even though you win it, that's the ultimate when the battle lose the war. And so no, I listen. I think the Timberwolves. We were
talking about three point regression with the Celtics. Timberwolves are now like twelve of seventy over their last two games or something insane. And so I don't I think that when we get it to Game five, it's gonna be three to one. I think we're gonna be I think the Minnesota's gonna win. The next three is the short version of it, and I think it's gonna be three to one going back to Minnesota. And here's the other piece. They ruled Steph out a week immediately, so game six
is the earliest he could come back. That's probably not realistic. But even if he is back for game six, are you gonna get a fully healthy, fully functional Steph? I don't know, so, yeah, I think though. I think the Warriors are done. I think Kur has done a great job. I think Jimmy's been good and Draymond the last two games, to go along with what had been great defense, he actually provided some offensive punch. I don't think any of that's sustainable. What are your follow ups here?
Oh, a couple follow ups.
So Chris Finch, head coach, came out and said, we had one and a half one point in the first half. You're the leader of the team and you've got to come out and set the tone. If your SHOT's not going, you still have to carry the energy.
Yeah.
How do you feel about that?
Yeah?
I so.
Chris Finch is not afraid to kind of call out his star player, and Aunt clearly disagreed with him. Ant said, you know, I thought I just my shot wasn't falling. I was still there on defense. I I think Chris Finch has done a really good job. I also think that I it wouldn't make sense for Aunt to be tired. They only played five against the Lakers. It's only round two. He's twenty three years old. We did see last year
he said he got exhausted by the conference finals. I am not yet ready to say I think that is happening. I am ready to say it is something to monitor. But I think Ant's gonna come out and be outstanding tonight, and you know, he finally hit some shots and he'll be fine. So I'm not I'm not panicked about that. And I also am not as angry at Aunt for the laughing about the three point shooting. Bru was pissed.
Brew is like he's gotta be more serious. I just think Ant is so overly confident, that is so incredibly compident. I should say that sometimes he feels like everything's gonna be fine, and that can be a gift and a curse. I think he'll be fine.