บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Nerd Sesh - Doncic & Mavericks CLOSE OUT SGA & Thunder

MAVs team Logan. And I've said it once, I'll say it a million times. To think about where they were at when they made the Kyrie trade and where they are today, it is just a remarkable masterclass in team construction. They have consistently made excellent value add after excellent value add all of these guys, consistent with the knees of this basketball team, adding size in the front court, which was essential simply from where they were coming because they had no competent centers before they drafted Derek Lively, and he was a rookie who you wouldn't want as your loan capable center. Of course, Gafford's been really good, but Lively is the hero tonight, adding great defensive minded wings and adding dudes too. In this series, stepped up and made big shot slogan. Before this series we both picked Dallas, but we also felt that Oklahoma City would have the more reliable offensive supporting cast down the roster. They just had more proven shot makers, and in this series it is consistently PJ. Washington swinging games. And of course he makes two big threes in the fourth quarter of this game. But to me to have the mental presence to realize, all right, Sga is flying at me like a wild man here. This is going to be a terrible look if I forced it, let me pump fake get to the foul. That was a phenomenal play from him at the most important moment. He averages eighteen and eight on sixty one percent true shooting in this series. Absolutely massive, Like they were so willing to help off of him, leave him in that corner, and he punished them time and time again. But in this game, offensively it is Derek Jones Junior, who again they were willing to help off of, and Luca just kept finding him. They have such fantastic chemistry overall, but he was nailing those corner threes. He hits the bailout turnaround over chet down the stretch of this game, which is just a massive one off possession. But beyond the shooting, what he's done attacking closeouts, what he's done as a roller, what he's done in transition, the dude was just excellent. And that's not even to mention the fact that obviously most of his value is coming defensively. But to give you thirteen a night on fifty eight percent tru shooting like he did in this series, when you factor in his point of attack defense and what he does as a helper with his length, in his vertical athleticism. They signed him for the minimum logan like that is a game changing move that they made. He has been consistently one of their best players. Again, it's just such incredible roster building. But Lively to me is the hero of this game. The completely changed this game, especially in the fourth quarter, eight points in three offensive rebounds in that period and effectively had another offensive rebound because he drew a foul fighting for the ball. And yes, he's massive, right, but a lot of this was just non stop effort and you see that when he even draws or he commits two fouls I should say fighting for rebounds, one offensively, one defensively, Like nobody was pursuing the ball with more intensity than Derek Lively in this game. But also we've seen both him and Gafford, especially early in this series, have some issues as a roller, as a decision maker, and as a finisher. He comes up with a couple of big finishes in this fourth quarter. Even earlier in this game, like his hands weren't fantastic, they had a couple turnovers trying to get him the ball, but in that fourth quarter has that huge and one finish going over the top of Jet, who has been arguably the best rim protector in this postseason, and what he did on the offensive glass. That level of impact from a rookie is rare. We're spoiled because in this series we have Chet, who have of course is a better rookie, and Chet had a really good offensive game in this one. But we knew coming into this that Okse having to hang in somewhat on the glass would be key to them surviving in the series, and that they were going to be operating at a significant disadvantage there and that was perhaps at its most clear in the fourth quarter of the most pivotal game, and Derek Lively is the key factor there. He has fifteen rebounds, Gafford has another seven to four offensive, and as you mentioned, Chet only has three. So it's the collective, dude. It is just a basketball team that is built beautifully with two star shot creators who can play at a top fifteen level, both of whom did so tonight, and then with dogs all around them who make the high effort plays, who have obviously all the athletic traits that you want defensively, and who were all comfortable and confident enough in this series to make big shots when they needed to because the ball was often forced out of their stars hands. It's just an incredible series from Dallas in a testament to what they've done over this last year and a half. They are a very very deserving conference finalist. 00:10:04 Speaker 1: One thousand percent. I mean, in a lot of ways, Carson, I think that this team, you know, fits together like a perfect puzzle, right, Like everybody just commits to doing their jobs. And that's the difference to me between you know, championship and not championship teams. And I'm not saying Dallas is gonna go out here and win the chip, but they've got their two stars that are gonna go out there and serve buckets. And they just have so many unselfish guys who are willing to just do their jobs and do what they need to do to get the job done. Man, they got a lot of junkyard dogs Man PJ and Dereck Jones. Like it's that commitment, those guys committing to a role and just doing their jobs. It allows this team to play so great. I'd say, and I don't mean this in the talent level aspect. I think Dallas Carson has the best like construction around their stars outside of Denver. Like the way this team just fits together, it's perfect. It is so compliment to their stars. And I want to give out one more number that you were specifically referencing. Of course, in

Oklahoma City gets out rebounded by nine boards in that final period. They come up with seven total rebounds. The MAVs come up with sixteen. They get six offensive boards, three of them from Derek Lively. Oklahoma City grabs zero offensive boards and they get out rebounded by nine total on the night fifty four to forty five. It really was the biggest difference. It was the key factor that we mentioned coming into this series and it ends up being the biggest difference maker in the most crucial moment in the closeout game of this series. But it's it's beautiful, man. I think outside of Denver, I think the Dallas fits together better than any other team in basketball. And it's a testament to this front office and how they were able to throw everything together so quickly, dude to miss the We picked them to miss the playoffs at the start of this year, like we said that Dallas wasn't gonna be here, and obviously the dynamics changed at mid season. You just never see this, man, And that was another skeptical part, right. You don't normally see teams that are just thrown together at the trade deadline do something like this. And this is now two consecutive years where La makes some moves at the deadline last year and makes a Western Conference Finals appearance and Dallas does this year. You just can't sing their praises enough. Man. It's remarkable and how poetic too. Carson, Oklahoma City trades the pick that ends up being Derek Lively to Dallas, and Derek Lively ends up being the hero in the closeout game. Man Dallas is a really deserving conference finalist, and I think they are going to go do battle with whoever we get out of that other series. 00:12:39 Speaker 3: This was a really really strong performance from them, and I thought that last round they were less consistent. They had a couple of those abysmal starts, and obviously Game one of this series was really rough, and there were still moments where Luca didn't have it going, and so the offense wasn't the prettiest, but the defensive foundation is just outstanding, and really the strength of this team when it comes down to it like that has been the most consistent staple of their success. And then when Lucas starts finding his shot like this and Kyrie steps up and is aggressive in the second half. This is why we both had them as our number three contender coming into the playoffs in the league, our number two contender out West. They've shown it all on the flip side of this the Thunderfall. It's a very very close game, and I thought Sga did everything that you could have wanted from him and to me throughout this series cemented his status as a top five guy. There was a huge deal of SGA skepticism and it's really tough to say why. I just think there's a lot of narratives about him that were started that were objectively false and Carson but people love his aura. I guess some people have to then be going against the grain and they have to dislike his aura. The fallbating thing was always ridiculous because he's one of the best pure shotmakers in basketball, and that's what he puts on display throughout this series thirty two, eight and seven on sixty percent true shooting, absolutely phenomenal and put on a scoring masterclass. Dude, Like he just has a skill set that no defense will ever be able to deny. He is the number one restricted area scoring guard in the NBA. Impossible to stay in front of the shiftiest student in the league, with the best body control in terms of balance in the paint since Michael Jordan, and in this series you don't even really get to see that because the paint is so consistently loaded up. And then he shows you that he is the best short mid range shooter off the bounts in the league. And he can still threaten those drives. The shin angles that this man can generate on these step backs, like the deception with his body, the ability to change gear stop on a dime. It's just second to none in the league right now. And even beyond that, you see the mastery as a post score in this game. He's in ninetyeighth percentile post scorer this year. The step throughs are just absolutely lethally. He goes to those several times in this game. The turnarounds, he's got fakes out the ass like you play too far off, And it's not his tendency to shoot a bunch of pull up threes, but he can rain them on you, and he shoots them pretty efficiently. Overall in this one, he was phenomenal there right, makes four or five one at a huge moment in the final thirty five seconds of this game. It was an absolutely dominant scoring performance from him in an absolutely dominant scoring series. And in the crucial stretches of this game, and by the way, the crucial stretches of this series. Really you think about what he did saving them in Game four when that series should have been all but over. Like he comes out in the second quarter when Okac's offense had been humming, but then they started to go cold. He was the dude who just kept making shots, kept getting to that mid range, kept delivering. Then late in the third okay See went cold again. He scores seven straight points on three possessions breaks the slump, is able to rebuild some of the lead that they they had built up that the mass had canceled out with that thirteen to oh run of Theirs. Then in the fourth quarter, he creates ten of their last thirteen points, including the assist. With that, Lav de Chet goes three to four in the last five minutes. Like he kept on doing his job, He kept on creating great shots for himself. And by the way, I thought he was really good as a playmaker in this game as well. He's not one of the league's elite there, but beating doubles never forcing the issue. He has zero turnovers in this game along with eight assists in a very efficient scoring performance. He's clearly a top three scorer in the league today. I think you could make a strong argument that he is the best score in the league. He's not my personal choice, but I think it's pretty clearly

when we look at how they scaled the playoff stage, him, Luka and Jokic in a top tier. And I want to give props to the Dallas defense because you mentioned PJ. Washington. Like I thought, in the second half, they and especially him, did a much better job on Sga, and they particularly stopped biting on a lot of those fakes, and so some of those possessions stagnated, and yet he still gave them buckets down the home stretch of this game. The star of any team is always going to bear a disproportionate amount of the credit and oftentimes even more so the blame, and so I'm sure there will be some people who somehow find a way to make this about SGA. This isn't about Sga, dude. He is the one dude on this team who is the fully realized version of himself who is a bona fide top five player. Everybody else on this OKAC team, when we're talking about the core guys JDub Chet, they all have immense potential, and these role players had really good regular seasons. None of them consistently lived up to their potential. Sga is the one dude who did, and he was the best player in the series. Luca matched his level over the last two games, but Luca was struggling early. It was the Dallas role players. SGA was the most consistently great player in the series, and I want to give him an immense amount of credit for that. 00:17:53 Speaker 1: I completely agree with you. For me, he's the second best scorer in the league right now, only behind Jokic. I thought he outplayed Luca consistently in the series and was the best player on the floor. I can't say it enough. I mean, and I said. We went on Jason Show Live last night too talking about our top fives, and I had, excuse me, not last night, two nights ago, but we did our top fives, and you know, I had SGA over Luca for just the way they had been playing. Now, I would reconsider that full health. But SGI just thought consistently did and down the stretch. Dude not only bangs that step back three on PJ, he hits another pull up MIDI. He's doubled twice, which leads to all ut to chet and a JUW three. I want to hone in on what you were talking about with how deceptive he is. One of the things about SGA is a scorer Courson is how you know, we always talk about the consistency. He sells every move like it's the same one. That's what makes him so hard to guard. Is like that initial step where he gets that step back on PJ. His step back looks the exact same as his crossover. That's why you can't defend it. You're just you're in a mental prison. And if you're a defender, Pj's an awesome defender and he just creates it. Bit enough of separation. SGA has consistently I think he's been one of the top three players in the playoffs with ANT with Jokic. I think you could make a case for him over ANT two. He's been so great Carson in these playoffs, five straight thirty point games into tonight, and some historical numbers that I think added some really good context to what SGA did in this run. He averaged fifteen point four pull up points per game and shot fifty two percent on pull up jumpers among players with more than one series played. Since this data started being tracked in twenty fourteen, it's tied first for the most pull up points per game in a playoff run only with twenty twenty one Donovan Mitchell. And then if we look among all players to average ten or more pull up points per game in a playoff run since his data started being tracked in twenty fourteen, there's no games played minimum for this requirement. You could play one game and get ten pull up points per game. Carson. It's the and most efficient high volume pull up playoff run ever, only behind twenty twenty two Chris Paul, who shot fifty four point one percent on pull ups like it is a he was. That's the thing with SGA is this is a historical scoring run. It's a historical playoff run. It's a historical pull up jump shooting playoff run. But it's like, I almost expect this from SGA. I don't know, you know, we have these outlier pull up jump shooting runs with the Devin Bookers and the Donovan Mitchells, and you know, the Chris Paul's. These are all great pull up jump shooters. But there's something with SGA that just makes me buy into him more and again, in the toughest of circumstances against the Dallas team that is packing. These paints a Dallas team that is packing, uh, you know, every time he drives to the rim and nobody else can finish. Jalen Williams can't get a shot off in the lane, Lou Dorrit can't get a shot off in the lane, Aaron Wiggins can't Isaiah joke, and yet Sga is consistently delivering. It's remarkable. Man. Nobody had an answer for him in this series. He shoots over fifty seven percent on PJ. Washington, on Josh Green and Luka Doncic Kyrie holds him to forty three percent. Credit to him, and as I mentioned, Derek Jones Junior overall in this series holds him to thirty three percent shooting. But there really was no answer. And I do think you have to be really disappointed in Oklahoma City supporting cast. You mentioned this earlier. Carson Sga is the only guy to get a bucket for the thunder for six minutes in the second quarter. Nobody else got a bucket. Man, So I got to point the finger at Jadub gives you sixteen points on forty eight percent tru shooting that's coming into this game. And I was disappointed with Chet. I know he has a better offensive game in this when he has his moments, he shoots twenty five percent on catch and shoot jumpers in this series. There's just a lot of points left out on the table on open jump shots. Oklahoma City overall, Carson in this series shoots thirty two point eight percent on catch and shoot three pointers. That's by far the worst of any team remaining in the semifinals, and in the regular season, this was a team that shot forty point two percent on catch and shoot jumpers. That was the second best in the regular season behind Boston. It's a core part of this offense, and it's just something that you can't have leave your team, especially when

Jalen Williams and Chet Holmern aren't pulling their weight consistently. It just leaves them at the most opportune time. And I didn't think it was an issue of them generating high quality shots. I just thought it was an issue of them leaving them. So I do put this as a major indictment on Oklahoma City supporting cast the beauty of this. They're the youngest one seed ever, they're the youngest team to ever win a playoff series. They have a young superstar that I just believe in consistently. They're gonna be back here. This team is gonna get better, but you do feel just what could have been? Man, this team could have very easily forced a Game seven, and you know, who knows what could happen in a one game environment. I'm really disappointed in the supporting cast and how they let Shaye down in this one. 00:23:03 Speaker 3: Man, I don't really agree that they could have easily forced a game seven. Like, if we're doing the what. 00:23:10 Speaker 1: If Carson, they were up seventeen in this game. 00:23:13 Speaker 3: Okay, the point that I'm gonna make, Man, there was an equally monumental choke by Dallas in Game four, Like who was clearly the better team throughout this series? It was Dallas. To me, it's more like, all right, yeah, this could have been over and five, it could have gone seven. So Dallas won in six. This game, I thought we got definitely one of the better collective performances from Okase's entire offense. Like, I think that Dallas has done a really good job on Okac throughout this series. Right, we have seen them do a phenomenal job of protecting the rim. We have seen them with these incredible rotations and just all of their athletes being in the right spot and we've seen them kind of overwhelm the supporting cast, and I don't think that the shot quality in a lot of these threes has been super high throughout this series. The first half of this game was the one time when it felt like OKC was reaching their offensive ceiling. Their offense looked like what it did throughout most of the regular season. The ball was moving beautifully, they were getting out in transition repeatedly off of Dallas's turnovers, and we know that they love to push the pace. They were actually hitting threes. The spot up shooters were stepping up, guys were relocating. I thought they cut well off of SGA doubles in this game. It was just really nice stuff outside of a couple slumps like the one that you mentioned in the second quarter. But they did a better job of unlocking Chet as a vertical spacer, going over the top to him when the ball handler drew help. Jadub was able to actually step up as a shot maker in this one. Like within this game, I don't think there's a lot of blame to go around to Check and Jadub Chet only goes one of seven from three. I'm talking about offensively. I think that again Check got his ass kicked on the glass. Part of that is just a team construction issue for Okasee that we'll talk about. But there are still a cuple dudes just down this roster. Lou hits a couple shots early, but it's a pretty rough offensive game from him. Cason Wallace unfortunately doesn't have in this game. Jalen Williams that being Jay will leaves a few threes on the board. And I also thought that some of those shots, like Dallas is just happy to live with, right. I don't think they really minded Jalen Williams three. They certainly don't mind Josh Giddy coming into the game and putting up two threes. So this game was absolutely one on the margins and Dallas was just the slightly better team, and I do like their formula more for okse going forward. Logan, how do you approach things this offseason? 00:25:38 Speaker 1: It's a good question. The one thing that you mentioned, Carson, Oklahoma City's offense looked a lot better at stretches in this game. I think there's a pretty clear reason why. It's because Josh Gitty wasn't out there coming into this game. You know, Isaiah Joe was shooting forty one on catch and shoot threes. He hit some big ones in the first have. Cason Wallace was shooting forty percent on catch and shoot threes, Aaron Wiggins was struggling, but just clearly brings more defense and shooting. And then I do want to give props to Oka See and I thought Dagnall should have implemented this earlier in the series. They close with Jay will as the four on the floor, and I just thought that was something that they should have done more or more often, just point blank, like you're so physically outmatched. Like I thought that was a no brainer that they should have gone to And so I want to give them credit for at least making that adjustment. And I do think three point shooting had a huge part of this closing game. Dallas shoots eleven to nineteen in the second half, Oklahoma City shoots five to sixteen. But moving forward, I want to get more big, physical, athletic wings honestly, similar to the mold of a Derrick Jones junior in a PJ. Washington, like another guy who you know outside of Lou Dort can give you real defensive pop and a little bit of shooting. Those guys are you know, easier theoretically found than a You know, they're not just growing on trees. You're not just gonna find those kind of guys. But you gotta get more athletic, you gotta get more physical in the big position. Out of all of this is just another five that can hold down non Chet minutes or give you a little versatility where you can slide Chet holmed into the four and have them as a help side smaller guy and a five that can just physically match up. Like I thought that was huge in this fourth quarter or two where you see like Keason Wallace is battling for a rebound and shout out, Kaison, Man, I love the guy, but he's up against Derrek Jones Jr. Like Kason's not getting around that guy. You just need more size, You need more physicality, more guys that can help chet out on the interior and on the glass. And it starts with getting a big, physical five. The beauty of that is while you might not be able to find

these big athletic defensive wings that can rebound as well, you can find a physical five that can give you a different look. And So I don't know if you are searching for that in the draft if you're looking for one of the young guys, because there are some athletic bigs I like in this one, they're probably not gonna be drafting high enough to get an Edie or a clinging. There's Eve Missy down on the board where you know, you could explore guys like that, But I would probably look for a veteran big who's you know, just more physically mature, that's got that old man strength that can really help out Chet on the glass. We can talk about what you do with Josh Giddy, if you shop him, if you try to get value back on him, I don't really Yeah, send him back to Australia. That's not really as big of a key. He's not in my rotation moving forward, Like I would shop him if you can get good value back for Giddy. But the key position that I'm honing in if I'm Oklahoma City is another big physical probably old or stronger five that can help Chat out on the glass. It's just the biggest glaring weakness on this Oklahoma City team. 00:28:58 Speaker 3: So my favorite path for okay See is a little bit different. Obviously, they need to address their physicality and their size on the inside and their ability to rebound, because like, that's where you lose this series in the fourth quarter. You can talk about having this basketball utopia where everybody can handle and shoot and playmake it's awesome. It got you really far, and you're really young, and you're just gonna get better. But the playoffs are extremely physical, and the best teams in the West are very big. Minnesota and Denver are a good bit bigger than Dallas even and it will hurt you if you are out matched so convincingly in those categories. And this was a bottom three rebounding team in the league this year, so there's no surprise that they struggled like that on this stage. We've talked about the potential avenues that they could take to get a grown man five, a physical five. If it's just trading one of their depth wings for Brook Lopez just to have that look, he wouldn't even have to start. You could play in eighteen twenty minutes a night. We talked about a potential Jared Allen trade just the other day. There's been the Claxton rumors that we seen over the past few months. My favorite outcome, though, is still something that we discussed this regular season, which is send Utah everything that they can dream of for Lowry markin and unfortunately Josh Giddy now has no value as an asset. I don't think you kind of let the ship sail on that one. To me, he's a bench point guard at this stage. He was the most predictable playoff problem of all time. You literally saw it in the regular season matchup between these two teams, and he was really unplayable throughout this series. But you have so many picks, so many picks, it's obscene. Larry Marketing is on a very very movable contract, one of the best value contracts. He is still reasonably within your timeline, like he's in his mid twenties. This isn't some old star, and I think he is an ideal fit. I think that you would maintain all of your offensive principles. You're still playing five out. You have this extremely skilled off ball player, which is another beautiful part of it, because we know Sga in particular is the isolation pick and roll, heavy on ball guard. Everybody around him can play without the ball, but just to have a guy with lowry size who can shoot like that, who can also attack mismatches selectively. Defensively, he's not the best, but he can hang capably in space. I wouldn't consider him a minus defender, and he can hold down the glass. To me as like your best rebounder. I think that he would be a better rebounder than Chaddon. Ultimately, it would just be a big upgrade from these small ball lineups that we're seeing in that category. And you're adding a top thirty player in basketball. So they're in a position where it's like, you don't have to rush your timeline because you're so young, But why wouldn't you You have eight thousand picks over the next decade, Like Sam Presty has built a comical stockpile bro he's Scrooge McDuck sitting on all these draft picks, Like move them for an immediate great player who is a great fit. That is the ideal outcome to me, And I don't think it's unreasonable that they could do that if Utahs will to move marketing at all, which I go back and forth on, but like they're far away enough that I think you should be open to the offer you can't refuse, and okay, see is a team that can make that? 00:32:12 Speaker 1: Definitely, I mean, and if it's three or four first round picks, I think it's worth it. And you know, traditionally, when you're moving off of these star players, the one issue that you can run into is one giving up too much value. Where I think Oklahoma City has such a surplus of first round picks, it's like, Okay, we can afford to just throw some away in a deal. So I don't think you would be giving up too much value to the issue that you run into is when you go all in on a superstar that is either aging or is making way too much money. That's not an issue at all with marketing. Like he's young, he's in the prime of his career too. He is on maybe the best value contract in all of basketball. He's not gonna screw you up cap wise and retaining one. 00:32:54 Speaker 3: Million dollars next year, bro, and then you'll have to pay him for real. 00:32:57 Speaker 1: But I would, I mean, you're but you're not ruining you know, your current crop of young players in any way. In three, I can't think of a better fit for this basketball team in terms of what he brings with his skill set, size, rebounding, and floor spacing. I mean, and he's elite in terms of floor spacing, like you talk about it, he doesn't need the ball. He's the best off ball superstar in the league. Man, he would fit perfectly alongside SGF. Well, yeah, true, but I'm talking about

guys who don't really. 00:33:29 Speaker 3: So I love Lowry superstar is a bit generous, but he's one of the best off But. 00:33:34 Speaker 1: I'm saying is like guys who aren't primary ball handlers. 00:33:38 Speaker 3: He is the most purely off ball star in the league. 00:33:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's what I mean. 00:33:43 Speaker 3: You already have super skilled ball handlers. 00:33:46 Speaker 1: And I really can't think of another player that would be attainable. Right. Utah has a real incentive to dump Laurie because you're not contending anytime soon. You've got young assets that I really like, Like I love Walker Kessler, a big keyante guy. I think they've got, you know, young pieces, but they're not like two or three moves away where this is going to be a playoff team out West. I think they should. I think there's a huge incentive for them to give more picks for the future, to you know, get off of this timeline. And I think there's an incentive for Laurie to go play winning basketball somewhere for a team that really needs him. I think that is the I think it's a great outcome for both teams, and if Oklahoma City should get it done, I think they should pull the trigger man. That's a dream scenario, agreed. 00:34:32 Speaker 3: So when we reflect on the end of this season for the Thunder, as we are dishing out a bit of blame pie, if you would. To me, the most goes on Jada, just because I think so highly of him and there was a clear burden on him to step up as that second creator and he didn't do it. I don't put that much on Chet. He really just had a cold three point shooting series. He bears some he wasn't as good offensively, but and in this game he got killed on the glass. The pure rim protection, though, was just out of this world, dude. Like I think he held opposing players seventeen percent or something below their average when he was the primary defender at the rim throughout these playoffs. And you mentioned just how much Dallas struggled finishing in the restricted area. Chet deserves the overwhelming amount of credit for that. I think the collective spot up shooting is just a big factor. Like ultimately, Okay, so he got way out shot from beyond the arc. And I do think you have to look at Mark Dagnault some because I think there were several decisions that he made in this series that ultimately didn't pay off. And I don't even think the process was awful with all of them, but the results were not good. The one that is rough is you end this series just wasting a challenge like that was a pretty clear foul on SGA. Dude. I get that it sort of looks like he was able to avoid the body contact at first look, but he just so clearly comes down and makes a bunch of content contact with the risk and so then you don't have a time out and it's game over. You missed the free throw hack a lively. It didn't work out. Josh Giddy's starting for the first four games of this series ridiculous. He was consistently awful. And then even just

the attention that they dedicated, the overwhelming attention that they dedicated to Luca and Kyrie and their willingness to help so aggressively on roles and on drives and leave the corner shooters like I thought at the start of the series, that's a good strategy. I was in favor of that, so I don't really blame Dagnault for that. But at the same time, it's like Dallas shoot's forty percent from three in this series, and it's PJ Washington. In most of these games, it's Derek Jones Junior, and this one, like they ended up getting beaten more by those guys certainly compared to expectations than they did by Kyrie and Lucas. So I think the guy's a really good coach. He was obviously Coach of the Year, but I do think that he ultimately made a few costly decisions in this series. 00:36:56 Speaker 1: I think the biggest one probably is the play at the end PJ, Like, you just have to have the wherewithal to know that you need the time out right, it allowed Dallas to just intentionally miss that free throw. You take the ball out of your player's hands, like, you just can't do that in that scenario. And it's it's tough, right because he's hoping a review. It it's it's a it's a sad way to go out. The biggest indictment to me on Dagnal is the fact that he played Josh Gutty for so long man, I'm trying to get the full scope of what his plus minus was in this series. Actually not as bad as I. 00:37:28 Speaker 3: It's not as bad as it feels. But let me tell you something. His impact was quite negative. 00:37:35 Speaker 1: Yeah he's uh man, what would you six points per game on forty eight percent tru shooting is what he did in this series? 00:37:45 Speaker 3: What would you get it getting left wide open? 00:37:47 Speaker 1: What would you give up for Josh? 00:37:49 Speaker 3: Nothing? I don't want Josh Gittty on my team personally at all. 00:37:54 Speaker 1: I understand. 00:37:56 Speaker 3: Yeah, so you're definitely not getting anything of value you dude. Again, it's just any sort of vision of him being like a legitimate building block for you is now gone. But okay, see is an amazing place. And ultimately, I do think their core three guys all have such outstanding futures in this league. SBA is there. I still think Cheed is a top ten dude down the line. I think Jadub has an all NBA ceiling in there. And again even the depth wings like Aaron Wiggins, these dudes, Caeson Wallace, I love like it is ultimately just going to be about them adding some more physical maturity and this experience is good for them. Because there were a couple instances in this series where they felt like a young basketball team, they felt like an inexperienced basketball team. That's okay, no matter how good you are in the regular season, you're not gonna win the title the first time that you get there. You're just not lesser than the nineteen seventy seven Blazers. And when the example is one from fifty years ago, that kind of tells you all you need to know. Any final thoughts

on the series logan before we take a quick break and then talk a little bit of Pacers. 00:39:01 Speaker 1: Now, let's get the people some words from Draft Gigs fantastic. 00:39:04 Speaker 3: Oh I love that segway. All right, guys, we are going to take a quick break and then we will be talking about Nicks Pacers after some quick words from DraftKings. The eighty two game pre season is in the books and it's finally time for the real season. Don't miss out on any of the NBA playoff faction at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. From the play in tournament through the finals, DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays, live betting odds, boosts and so much more. 00:39:33 Speaker 1: Down with the Draftking sports book app and use code Nerds. New customers bet five dollars and get two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly. That's Code Nerds only on DraftKings. The Crown is yours. 00:39:45 Speaker 2: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or in West Virginia visit one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York, call eight seven seven eight open wired text hope and y four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven to seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino when resorting Kansas twenty one and over age varies by jurisdiction, VOYD and Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issue ins. See DKNG dot co slash bball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. 00:40:22 Speaker 3: Last thing, real quick on that series. If you were Dallas, who would you be rooting for? In Game seven of kimber Wolves Nuggets? Who would you want to face? 00:40:35 Speaker 1: Probably Minnesota, I think Jokic probably tears through Gafford and Lively like tissue paper. 00:40:41 Speaker 3: I agree. I also think that Denver is the better team, and I think the hope with Minnesota is that you are able to force the ball out of Ant's hands enough and you're able to get that offense to stagnate some But anybody playing Minnesota just sucks, and they would obviously make life hell on Luca and Kyrie. They would make those dudes work, and they would take away the rim even more than ok seeded in this series. That would be a super uncomfortable matchup, but I think their firepower advantage there would make it more favorable for them. 00:41:16 Speaker 1: I don't want to put you too much on the spot right now, but out of the three teams remaining in the West, would you take all of them to beat Boston in the finals? 00:41:25 Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. I would take it to Denver definitely, and I would maybe take Minnesota. I think that they are on the same level. I do still think that the two best teams in the West are in that series, and we are going to see Game seven. That'll be a lot of fun. But for now, Logan, let's talk

about the other series. That is a game seven incoming Knicks Pacers. We didn't do a show yesterday, So what were some of your big takeaways from Indiana coming back taking game six on their home court. 00:41:55 Speaker 1: There's a lot of encouraging stuff that we talked about. The biggest one to me, the X factor, so to speak, was Pascal Siakam. He not just twenty five points, fourteen of them come in the paint and throughout this series, you know, we discussed the New York Knicks are down so many players, and not just down so many players, but so many big physical players that match up and can help take away from Pascal Siakam. What does this force New York to do well? Thibodeau has been forced to play more duce McBride lineups, more you know, four guards and a big looks, and finally we see Siakam take advantage of them. I thought his mismach attacking was great consistently when Josh Hart was on him taking him to the hole, when Duce McBride was on him taking him to the hole, and even you know, once it makes everything go together. Once he started taking care of these mismatches, he would get a double here and there and you know, it allowed him to set up some easy plays dunk for Miles Turner in the game, like Siakam finally played how we needed him to. And I also thought they played really good defense on Jalen and aaron Ne Smith was phenomenal as always better defense from Tyrese Halliburton. That was some really big ones. And then my big question, Carson, and I don't know if this changes my gauge on my pick, because beating the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden in a game seven sounds damn near impossible. Like, I know, they're down so many players. The pendulum swings a little bit without Josh Hart, and my question is can the Knick survive without Josh Hart, like he suffers an abdominal injury in this one. You're down Julius Randall, You're down Mitchell Robinson, you're down boy On Bogdanovic. And now they've been down og Ananobi. There's reports that potentially og may be rushed back for this game. Carson, I want to give you some Josh Hart quick quick facts here. He's played every minute for four of New York's eleven games. He's averaging forty two point six minutes per game. He's the first player since Kevin Durant in twenty fourteen, ten years ago to average as many or more minutes per game. And in these playoffs he's averaging the third most offensive rebounds or no total offensive rebounds. Excuse me, that's behind Jokichen Hartenstein. Real quick trivia time sidebar, Carson, I want to show the people live. He's one of two players six foot four or shorter in NBA history to average two point eight offensive rebounds per game or more across multiple playoff rounds. Do you know who the other one is? 00:44:29 Speaker 3: That's really interesting. So my first thought was we would go to like a great throwback rebounder, like a Paul Arison or maybe a big oh, but they didn't have offensive rebounds. So Russ is not a great offensive rebounder. It's not Jason didd is it. Well, he's probably losing. 00:44:47 Speaker 1: At six to five now, Jason kidds. This guy's are more. This guy's more of a throwback Carson, a little bit of a do it all guy. He's got some hardware for a small guard. 00:44:55 Speaker 3: A. 00:44:57 Speaker 1: Something rare, something that you don't see traditionally won by mall guards. Regards in general. 00:45:02 Speaker 3: It's not Sidney Moncreef, Is it Sidney Moncreef Carson? Wow? 00:45:06 Speaker 1: The only other guy six foot four is shorter to have, Like, Josh Hart's impact has been huge, and I just wonder, is that finally going to be the dagger man? My head has been spinning on this series. I do not understand this series at all. I will not. I hate predicting one game four mats. The Knicks and Pacers befuddle me. But the New York Knicks offensive rebound percentage and wins is eleven percent higher than their losses forty one point six percent and wins thirty point six percent losses. Josh Hart has been crucial six percent. Isn't that crazy? Even in losses? Man, that's ridiculous. 00:45:42 Speaker 3: But of your own missing wins, Yeah. 00:45:46 Speaker 1: And Josh Hart has been crucial in that their offensive rating also takes a different it. There's a lot of factors that come into it, but Josh Hart's injury is probably the biggest storyline. Man. Like, I thought the Pacers played a much better basketball game in terms of their execution, But I really wonder if the Josh Hart injury swings the pendulum man, it's another huge loss potentially for a team and has already down so many impact basketball players. 00:46:11 Speaker 3: If Hart can't play, I don't know how I could in good conscience pick the Knicks to win. 00:46:17 Speaker 1: Are you gonna pick againsts. 00:46:20 Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no, don't put words in my mouth, because you know what I think, Logan. I think Josh Hart does play, because I think he's a warrior. And the fact that they're even saying that Og could play. If Josh Hart is on the floor, I would pick the Knicks. If Og is on the floor, I would confidently pick the Knicks. But yeah, it would be ridiculous just how many quality dudes they would be down without heart in Indiana played a really good basketball game in Game six. I expected them to take care of their home court. They've done it every single game in this postseason. They haven't lost at home. And that offense was just excellent, dude. And they're the number one playoff offense, as they were the number two regular season offense, but they were number one for quite some time. It also have a sixty eight percent assist rate in these playoffs, which is number one, and you saw that in this play again in this one phenomenal ball movement. They pushed as they loved to do, plus eleven in transition versus the Knicks in that game, and it wasn't so much about them knocking down a bunch of open threes, although they have done that consistently throughout these playoffs.

To me, they put the defense in rotation, made the extra pass, created an advantage, and then there was a lot of great close out attacking for Miles Turner, from Obi Top and from Andrew Nemhar, like all these dudes getting inside the arc and getting good looks in the paint. They had sixty two points in the paint, so they were plus twenty four there and it was one of those games where everybody stepped up offensively, just so many strong contributors. Siakam was excellent, as you mentioned, the star of the day. Just bullying mismatches like that was phenomenal. He was going at Josh Harten, that's what he has to do to try to make those small ball looks much less viable. The mid range was going, the two man game was going with him as a roller for either TJ. McConnell or Hall. Really really great game from Siakam, who has been pretty underwhelming throughout this series and really throughout the playoffs after that incredible start against Milwaukee in games one and two. And I mentioned how many strong performers there were for Indiana up and down the roster offensively, but TJ McConnell is the one who just stands out. Again, I tweeted this today, Dude per thirty six not my favorite stat, because if a guy isn't playing thirty six minutes a game, or if he isn't playing anything close to it, there's normally a reason for that, right, It's because he's not that good. However, TJ McConnell is quite good, and he's playing behind a great point guard. Regardless, it's not the best stat. But like, he's averaging more than twenty and ten per thirty six. He did that in the regular season and he's doing that in the playoffs. Yes, Indiana plays at a crazy pace, but like, the dude is just a playmaker. He's so quick, so persistent as a driver, He's so great in transition as a playmaker. There was one possession in this game where they just didn't stop the ball. He got all the way downhill and created a wide open catch and shoot three in the mid range game we know can be lethal, like shout out to that dude. That's the thing. Indiana just has way more weapons as we know, and they dominated the glass in this game. They were plus twelve there in New York. As much as they are to size disadvantage, they just can't afford that. They have to be the team that is to every fifty to fifty ball. They have to be the team that is at least going even on the glass and ideally winning on the offensive glass because that is their identity. So when I think about the Knicks formula in game seven, what they need to go right. They need to keep getting Duce McBride involved because he has been so good as a starter And even though as we mentioned, like Siakam was bullying them for going small, I think you live with that. I think you live with all of the advantages that you have with Duce McBride on the floor because you play faster, you have way more shot making. He has thirty seven points in these two games. As a starter. You unlock all of the guard on guard screens that he has with Jalen

Brunson that have been super difficult to guard. And he's just clearly one of their three best shooters. I just want that dude on the floor and you need superhuman Jalen Brunson, and he had a rough game, which is hilarious because he still ended up with thirty one, but like in the first half, it was really really rough. I didn't hate the shots that he was getting though, like we know, Nei Smith has done a much better job on him than them hard, but he was just missing some of those comfortable looks from mid range where his bread tends to be buttered, and early I thought even got a couple of great looks attacking in semi transition, getting downhill off of really high pick and roll. So I want to see them get some handoffs going for him where you can get a running start. I want to see some of that high pick and roll, and ultimately, I think you trust him to pull through as the best player on the floor, because even though there's been a little volatility in this series and in this playoff run, there's been a lot more great than there has been shaky. There's been a lot more of the forty pieces than there has been the inefficient shooting nights, and I would ultimately bet on that and then if they dominate the effort categories, like I still lean the Knicks also Madison Square Garden just a massive advantage. But Heart's absence would be massive because then you need Alec Burks to just be playoff Alec Burks times twenty. 00:51:11 Speaker 1: I mean, I wonder if you hit the nail on the head right there, like Josh Hart I probably did. It has been the how humble? That was funny? Man? This guy Josh Hart has been has been, you know, the guy who has dominated the effort category. He has been. Again, I hate saying this because it's so cliche. The heart and soul of the team. It's like, can you win the effort category without Josh Hart? I mean he is captain Hustle. Like, I don't know, I really think they need him out there. Another weird number Carson that sticks out to me in the difference between New York wins and losses. This courtesy of NBA analyst John Schuman on NBA dot Comy does great work. They have an offensive rating of one thirty one. In their wins, they have an offensive rating of one oh seven point six and their losses like they have just won round to a standstill. And they've consistently dominated in their wins. Man, in the first half of Game six, you know, Brunton's two to thirteen from the field, one to four from the line, he turns around, gets a thirty piece. Is a much better second half, keeps this thing close. But yeah, New York needs superhuman Jalen Brunson and they need to dominate in the afric category. And I just think, I don't know, Man. I would never bet against New York at home. I don't think I can pick it. I think that it Misgi's too big of an advantage to bet against. Man. I think that place is going to be rocking, and I think it could swing the tide. But I don't know, Man. I keep waiting for the next luck to run out, and I on think it is. 00:52:40 Speaker 3: Man, you make your own luck, Logan, You make your own luck by fighting for every offensive board. Derek Lively showed us that tonight. 00:52:48 Speaker 1: I love that. Can we put that on a shirt? Like? No? I love that, man. It was inspirational, dude. They got me a little fired up. 00:52:55 Speaker 3: Thanks man. Shout out to Tony Brothers because that man was putting on a show today And ever since I saw that video of Tigue telling the story about him. Have you seen that where Tigue's mom and aunt were at the game and Tony Brothers pulls him aside and says, who are those hoes? I can't look at him the same, dude. I feel like you have this image of these refs as being professionals, even though we know him. Donnie, he's out there or he was out there right scumbag. But that was just very jarring to me. And now every time I see him, I just wonder what is he saying out there on the court. 00:53:29 Speaker 1: I kind of gained a little respect for Tony Brothers. Man, that's pretty good. He's a real guy. He's a real guy too, man, He's real. 00:53:36 Speaker 3: Ton It didn't play. 00:53:37 Speaker 2: It didn't play well with the audience. 00:53:41 Speaker 3: Big miss by Tony Brothers, Big miss by you as well. Any final thoughts before we get out of here. Logan nas Reed Na's Reed plays basketball tomorrow, folks, as do the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. So it seems like we're both riding with the Knicks in that game seven, at least presuming that Josh Hart plays. And I do think the Nuggets are gonna win I think that they are going to button things up offensively, and the ceiling that they've shown throughout this series has been pretty remarkable. They need some of their supporting cast members such as Jamal and MPJ to not shit themselves like they did last game. And Minnesota is going to bring the physicality and they are going to bring a top notch effort, and they just played an awesome basketball game. But I do think Denver on their home floor probably takes care of business there. But you know what, Logan Nasried is gonna do everything that he can to keep that from happening. So we will be back tomorrow after those games talking to basketball, and then of course then we're into conference finals preview season maybe, so we gave a little bit of thought on the MAVs matchups today, but of course we will go much more in depth with that once we know what we are gonna see for sure. If you want more Nerd Sash content, then all of our full shows are here on our YouTube page. You can also check out some of the in depth video essays that we do film breakdowns on the channel. You can listen to the show across audio platform. You can follow us across social TikTok, Instagram at nerd Sash, Twitter at nerd Underscore sesh and if you want, you can check out our merch that is at the volume dot com. You can also join our discord for a chance to speak with the one and only Matthew Spawnaur who is in there and is very very very active. So that's basically everywhere you can find us. And with that as always appreciates you guys. I've been Carson Braber 00:55:25 Speaker 1: I have been Logan Camden and this was nerd Sash