🔥 Hottest Teams Coming Out Of All-Star Break 🔥 | The Hoop Collective

🔥 Hottest Teams Coming Out Of All-Star Break 🔥 | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast presented by State Farm got a couple of guys today joining me from Indianapolis and Allstar Weekend first up our guy who’s looking forward to leaving Indianapolis I mean just kidding thrilled with Allstar Weekend Tim bontemps I’m just thrilled that for a

Second straight pod I can talk to somebody who I don’t have to teach any vocap wordss to it’s great oh wow wow and that is our man George Sedano who is doing Sidelines in uh for the ESPN radio at Sunday night’s All-Star game um and enjoying uh enjoying all the festivities

In Indianapolis as well what’s up George what’s up guys freezing my face outside uh get in the arena but other than that I’m okay yeah Mr Miami and Mr La not the best weekend for him where the temperature the last couple days has averaged about 17 degrees uh without

Wind chill I just want you guys know in this chaotic World um that we are in February and everybody involved with the NBA is unhappy on Allstar Weekend and can’t wait to get out everything is just fine don’t worry about it everything’s gonna be just fine we’re doing great no can we

Seriously just do what the Super Bowl does most years which is just like warm weather cities or at the very least George alter because because the NBA rewards cities who give public financing for Arenas with the allstar game and that is a d ding ding that is a

Different podcast for a different time that is it is not as exciting to talk about as what we are going to talk about right off the bat here which is the Golden State Warriors I think I kind of got missed a little bit last week because the first half of the season was

Ending and people were getting away um but the Warriors had a fascinating final two days before the All-Star break with a win and a loss um and the loss was to the Clippers and George you were doing Sidelines for ESPN in that game and the Clippers made a comeback on the Warriors

Um a game that I thought was over When Ty lud got ejected with nine minutes left you were sitting Courtside and you got to see two amazing coaches reactions from closeup one tyo getting ejected the rare tyo ejection but more amazingly before we go on to what’s

Going on with the warriors uh Steve Kerr’s meltdown is it fair to say meltdown when Klay Thompson yes uh inexplicably fouled in the final what was there 40 some odd seconds I believe yeah was like 37 seconds I think yeah intentionally fouled in the back court while Steve

Was 12 feet away saying nobody foul um George he might have been closer than that to be honest okay George take us take us through that experience that you got to witness closeup before we talk about the Warriors so this was a very physical game uh down the stretch hence

Why Tai was getting upset uh Mason plumbley and guys other guys on the Warriors it wasn’t one particular guy they were all kind of going at it like against Mason plumbley so plumbley is battling for did go to Duke that’s all I’m gonna say that’s true uh him and

Psky are battling for a rebound and psky goes down um but plumbley gets hit in the face while psky then claims to get hit in the face I think they both did get hit in the face in their struggle for the ball um but Tai believe was

Upset because he feels like Mason was being targeted because he was the bigger player basically um and it it was just kind of the culmination of what had transpired throughout the entire game where Tai felt like they weren’t getting any whistles and he was just on James

Williams the referee the entire game so that’s it he had had it he was going to go off he was just going to keep yelling at them until eventually he got tossed I believe it might have been his first ejection uh someone on the staff was researching it couldn’t find a previous

Ejection for him so he’s going off he you know he gets his money’s worth let’s just say because it took him a while to get off the floor so then the Clippers who were down double digits I believe at the time come back to Furious rally

Without tyo it was very much like a baseball manager from the 80s it felt like Earl Weaver or Tommy Lort or Billy Martin getting tossed and their team coming back none of our listeners know who those guys are George not one of them I know I know uh so just Google it

Kids um so so anyway they uh they make this Furious comeback they take the lead right and they end up with like a five-point lead Warriors come back they close within three on that particular possession right so to your point they’re on the warrior side of of the court so Steve

Can can yell to them and they all should be able to hear and it was an obvious situation which Steve said after the fact in the postgame that you don’t foul in that spot you’re down three there’s 30 40 seconds left you’ve got time to play defense so clay inexcusably makes

This horrendous play where he fouls the inbounder which was Russell Westbrook right away and Steve just so the viewers can see this on TV throws his head back with his hands you know buried his head buried in his hands and just like goes down to like his knees and like

Screaming like what like why no and he’s going nuts Chris Paul by the way also kind of throws up his hands right next to Steve oh my gosh Brandon psky the rookie was like horrified at the veteran future Hall of Famer Klay Thompson’s uh you know frankly bonehead mental mistake

Steve’s reaction was like out of some movie like where you know there’s like the dramatic scene where you know somebody dies or something crazy happens and people start yelling it it was an unbelievable reaction it really was like as wild a thing as you’ll ever see a

Reaction from a coach in real time and everyone for that matter right like all the players involved Steph was trying to console him a little bit and Clay just kind of walked past him Steph the only person trying to console him I mean Steve cerr as Russell Westbrook is

Shooting the free throws is walking up and down the sideline just mutter muttering to himself I can’t bleep and believe this like you know what I mean that bad um he was muttering to himself I can’t believe this and the Warriors had won seven out of eight games they’re

On right yes yeah so anyway long story short it was horrendous and Steve did not take up for him at all um it oh he didn’t take up for him he he took he didn’t take up for him so much starred him the next day which is what we’re

Gonna talk about in a minute but I just wanted get the full scene yeah so that that was it it was but again I I don’t even think I can encapsulate how insane the whole thing was because of the way he reacted like if you can go back and

Watch it on YouTube that’s that was only like honestly like we have the rights this is a television show on ESPN Go watch ESPN baby watch ESPN there you go but anyway so you can watch the reaction and you can watch it over and over again but it still wasn’t even the full

Picture because of just all the stuff the way guys were re acting from different parts of the floor including his coach who again was muttering the whole time I can’t believe it like as he was walking up and down paac I will say Wednesday night was a really big night

For uh action in the tunnels at NBA arenas because after the game which was a huge win obviously for the Clippers and this has got to be a first Bond temps tyo gets caught on video coming out of the Clipper locker room talking smack about the officiating

Because he got ejected and then the team came back and won and really the no no he called out James Williams by name yeah like he was sort of fake yelling hey James hey James um and by the way in the face I didn’t see this was it as

These guys were walking by oh yeah oh yeah he was waiting for them in the tunnel oh yeah and which he got that’s why he got fined that’s why in the face okay yeah okay okay I didn’t I didn’t see any that that’s so Tai got fined by the league

Not for getting ejected he got fined for screaming outside the locker room and it just happened to get caught on camera on social media it wasn’t at the podium right George it was just outside the locker room area yeah because you know the the visiting locker room um as you

Guys know but for the audience when you’re going through the tunnel um which is on the which is on the warrior side but across that’s where the visiting locker room is right um so you walk through that tunnel and maybe another 30 40 feet um 50 feet there’s the the

Visiting locker room is right there yeah so anyway Tai gets fine for that tunnel then we have the little tunnel action over in Phoenix where uh Isaiah Stewart slugged slugged um Drew Eubanks from the Suns and I will just say uh the video has not come out yet um there is video I

Talked to somebody who saw it and that someone told me it doesn’t look good for beef stew it you know but the Piston’s point of view is that Isaiah Stewart was provoked but the video probably it’s probably you know surveillance video it probably doesn’t have audio

So um but the NBA hasn’t ruled on that yet my guess is that it’s not going to be good but that was that was the action in the tunnels uh on the uh on the penultimate night of the first before the All-Star break so on a week we’re

Still dealing with the legislation of that um but the Warriors are what’s more fascinating here so they they have this really terrible loss uh while they’re playing great you know they’re playing so well Draymond is starting to run his mouth again starting to act crazy on the

Court we didn’t even talk about that I mean you know you can find tyo for that but if there someone should have been fine then some of the stuff that Draymond was doing on the court was a little stunned I was stunned he wasn’t F stunned um

Yeah that was another thing where you couldn’t hear it it’s a good thing but obviously there’s been some lip reading that’s been done and uh you can find it if you want but draymond’s Antics on the court were you know look I know he’s gone after youf nurkic about 15

Different ways and it’s fine and he had a long podcast uh really attacking nurkic and I’ll just say I’m impressed with Draymond Green’s able to do a podcast without any help and just talk to the camera that takes you got to have some content and he he did um but what

Yousef nerkish said is that he didn’t learn anything and that it’s only a matter of time before something again happens and you know what do you want what do you want me to say you I I can’t disprove V nurkic’s point of view there he is playing great though and the

Warriors are playing great so they suffer that loss and then they have a really tough backto back in Utah as much as it can be tough because I think the Jazz were kind of not thrilled about having to play this game it’s the makeup game that unfortunately uh the game was

Postponed when the Warriors had that tragedy with their assistant coach Dei happened last month um or was it I don’t know if might have been in February I don’t whatever it was it was a terrible moment and this is when the makeup game was which was the last day before the

Allstar uh break and so the Jazz had played the night before um against the Lakers I’m not sure where they were but still the Warriors go there and Steve Kerr makes a major major move and he sends Klay Thompson to the bench and this is one of the most fascinating

Things that’s happened in the NBA season again there were only three games on the calendar it was the last day it was totally get away um the game was not on National Television yeah it was even over Shadow by Milwaukee losing to Memphis in Memphis going break which was

Arguably the worst loss in the NBA this season because Memphis started two guys on 10day contracts including one guy who had been on the 10-day contract for about 33 hours um it’s I mean obviously any 10day starter is not a good sign but if the guys had a few practices in a

Couple games but um uh Brandon Goodwin basically got in from the airport started and in a game it beat the bucks but so Steve Kerry decides to make the move Bon Temps where he brings he brings um play to the bench and the reason he did this was

Because Brandon psky has been been playing so really well and the lineup he’s been putting out there with psky and and kuminga basically the the the two timeline lineup you might as well call it even though that psky wasn’t part of the two timeline declaration but this is something that they’ve sort of

Gone to as this they’ve been trying to plug holes and figure out the season but that lineup which is Steph Curry and and psky as the guards um uh Andrew Wiggins and kaminga as the forwards and Draymond as the center that lineup has been extremely effective in the small sample size stats

Williams says they’re um plus 26 net efficiency so outscored the opposition by 26 points per 100 possessions in about 1007 minutes of playing together 107 minutes obviously a small sample size but it’s not nothing Steve Kerr leans into that bontemps starts psky the warrior Warriors play great

Against the Jazz clay has 35 Off the Bench and now we have the Warriors playing hot with a new lineup and with Klay Thompson saying he’s okay with it yeah I mean look we talked a couple weeks ago when I was in Brooklyn for the sort of the beginning of this when Klay

Thompson after being benched a couple different times was benched in the fourth quarter um in a close game in Brooklyn when Golden State really desperately needed a win uh for GE Santos who was a late second round pick who had only played I think 61 minutes in the league going into that

Game playing over him in the closing minutes of the game and everybody afterward including Steve led by Steve Kerr just sort of saying yeah like you know this is just the way it is at the moment um and you know like the lineup with that lineup with Klay Thompson in

There instead of psky is plus 11 for 100 possessions in about 130 minutes which really the key to that has been they they have Draymond Green out there without cavon Looney they’ve looked much better this season and a big part of the the last 10 games which is basically

Since Draymond kind of got back and going they’re they’re they’re eighth in defense they were in the they were like 23rd when he came back from the suspension yeah I mean the the lineup with Looney and Draymond had been so good coming into this season and that

Was an abject disaster this year and Looney’s been really bad and that that’s been a big part of their struggles overall um but yeah look I mean this clay story has been an ongoing subplot for weeks now and as you’ve correctly pointed out he’s still a good player

Who’s having a good year like it it’s obviously his lowest shooting year um from three but he’s still in the mid to high 30s from three on very high volume and is still a really useful player who can help a lot but like we’ve talked about a bunch his dealing with age and

Getting into his mid-30s and sort of moving into this next phase of his career is emblematic of the situation the entire team is in and you know psky has been fantastic this year and has stepped right in and been uh a tremendous fit playing next to Steph he

Gives him another ball handler in the back court and you know the ju position of clay making that foul on Wednesday ker finally pulling the plug on sending him to the bench which had seemed like something they were sort of dancing around the idea of doing for a

While the next day and then clay having 35 Off the Bench and helping them win a three-point game in Utah going into the break which they needed and you know gives them some optimism going into it like it’s just a pretty remarkable twist um in what’s been a a very wild

Season and that’s even in the wake of the the story that AJ and Ramona had with all the stuff with LeBron you know the Warriors reaching out to the Lakers trying to trade for Le where certainly yeah there were two ways you could do that trade one would be Chris Paul and

Other people one would be Klay Thompson and other people so it it’s just a lot the Warriors never lack for drama and those days before the break was the latest example of it yeah George I obviously the Warriors never actually made a formal offer for LeBron because

Um it never got there but when they made the call they had to know what their offer was probably going to be and Clay is not a fool um so he had to know that that offer they were basically considering trading him even if that

Wasn’t the way it was even going to go and even if Joe lob could get on the witness stand and say I solemnly swear I never offered Klay Thompson for LeBron James you don’t you don’t have to be a fool um but I don’t know if you got a

Sense when you were there and around the Warriors the other day that you thought this might be coming with Clay going to the bench well I will say this he was more withdrawn it felt like as I think back to that game and again his routine

Is normally kind of to himself right he shoots he sits on the bench but it just felt like he was less engaged and now that foul right that we’re all discussing or that we discussed earlier maybe makes a little more sense because maybe his head was who knows where uh in

That scenario I mean this is me just extrapolating now stuff I think I mean I’m not I don’t I don’t think what you’re saying is that you think he had the mental mistake because of the LeBron thing I think in general clay has been off in a fog the whole season the entire

Much of the season and this didn’t help is my point this is just an example of it and um yeah I and here’s what I would add Brian um when you know Richard Jefferson and I and Dave pass were doing that game and we were talking to people

Amongst the Warriors like we were talking about clay like on the record I asked Steve Kerr which I reported in the game was like about kind of the rawness of what he’s dealing with and the emotional roller coaster you know Bon’s referen Brooklyn game right that was the

Game he’s having interviews he’s going through this in front of cameras right and you know I asked Steve I said how many conversations have you had with Clay this season about kind of the challenges that he’s been going through and he said easily half a dozen right so

This has been a constant thing that they have tried to manage and remember this was a guy who at one point when they asked him you know it is Clay low maintenance high maintenance he famously said he’s no maintenance remember back then yeah and you know what so Richard

And and and I and Dave were asking people around the Warriors like we just as we were having conversations walking around the arena like we asked them and and to Richard’s credit he brought it up he’s like what about like clay morphing into kind of Ray Allen Miami and for

People that don’t remember Ray all and Miami Brian you and I were there um you he comes in from Boston and he has that sixthman role basically playing 26 minutes a night you know he shot I think 42% from three the year they won the championship and then he shot I think

38% the second year when they went to the finals but that role might be more suitable for him at this stage now Ray was 37 when he did that you know Klay is 34 but Ray was not coming off the injuries that clay had and I think there

Was a little bit I don’t want to call it Fool’s Gold because that’s disrespectful but like it it felt like clay maybe had come had had gotten over hump last year because remember he had an incredibly slow start last absolutely in a great second half great second half January

Last year last season he scored 27.3 points per game I believe which is the highest scoring average of his career in a month and then in February had the third highest scoring average in his career so I guess people felt like wow Kay really bounced back from those those

Injuries that he had but you know he struggled a little bit during the playoffs and in that Lakers series for all the histrionics we saw with Cur in that last game we referenced I’ll tell you what in those games in La particularly the last game they played clay was taking some ill-advised shots

And kerr was doing some of that stuff back then you could go back and watch those games particularly at the end and there was some of that there and the body language of the team and and their coach at that time when clay was taking shots was not great either so maybe this

Is H maybe this is the new role for clay maybe this is what he needs to allow himself to be more effective for this particular team well there’s one other backdrop to this too with this whole clay thing which is what we’ve talked about before which is

That he is going to be an unrestricted free agent this summer well and I wanted to read something that Joe lob the very outspoken owner of the Warriors said on a podcast with Tim kokami longtime columnist in the Bay who is at the athletic this is just the beginning of a

Very long quote about the off season but I think it’s relevant our plan one or onea actually is we’d like to be out of the tax and we think we have a way to do that that kind that kind of is the plan not just under the second apron by the

Way the tax for next season per Bobby Marx’s projections $171 million the Warriors currently have seven players under contract they at $137 million so that’s $34 million to fill out the roster and that is a roster that as of now does not have either Chris Paul or Klay Thompson on it for

Next season so that is the other subplot to this whole that’s the other part of the Ray Allen thing George yes he took a smaller role coming off the bench he also signed for the M the quote unquote mini midlevel which was about three and a half million back then and he signed

With a different team right right well the Celtics famously offered more and were shell shocked when he went to not only another team but to the team that was their big rival in the the the other team right um I will also point out that clay was part of the fourth quarter

Where the Warriors almost blew an 18-point lead against the Jazz as they continue to have I think they’re contractually obligated to play Clutch games they’ve played 36 games that have come down to the final five minutes um and they are um actually 37 and they are 18 and 19 in those games so

Um the clay Off the Bench thing is uh to be monitored and to be continued also I think Steve K’s really rolled up his sleeves and um been doing a lot of Kit coaching this year looking at all these changes he’s made and um all those conversations with clay and I’m sure a

Lot of stuff they’ve also gone through just emotionally as well moment presented by State Farm and look I can’t imagine I have an idea of what the Magic Moment of this weekend is but I’m going to yield to the two guys who are in uh in Indianapolis at Allstar

Weekend Bon Temps what’s your magic moment that you’ve experienced this weekend I mean to me it was pretty obviously staff and Sabrina last night um which I frankly thought should have been the final event of the night I mean George is doing Sidelines for radio so I’ll be curious what his thoughts were

For it but um you know we all know that the dunk contest does not have the same Allure that it used to I I think shad why do you say that because two of the four guys who were in it were in the G League basically yeah well and listen I

Think Jaylen Brown deserves a lot of credit for agree doing the dunk contest like being willing to do it I thought the the white glove Michael Jackson dunk with his left hand was uh um was pretty was pretty great on a lot of levels I’m

Sure that no one is ever GNA bring up that move when he has a bad turnover with his left hand in the playoffs year I’m sure it will not backfire at all well but I but that to me was him sort of poking fun acknowledging all like I thought

That was a very cool thing for him to do now you know his dunks got panned and he ended up losing to Matt mclung in the finals which I do Wonder like I actually think that’s got a chance to keep any stars from doing this thing going

Forward um I’ll be interested to see how that goes but I my opinion this is a magic moment but in my humble opinion um nothing has the Nate Robinson era and no offense to Nate Robinson yeah the Nate Robinson era had the NBA’s never recovered from that where he like

Won did the Aaron Gordon Vince Carter one in Toronto which was spectacular and it was botched the the scoring was botched the scoring was botched Aaron Gordon got robbed listen to you all right well anyway who said Vince Carter well well Zack LaVine right yeah yeah

Well anyway uh but the Jaylen Brown did screw that dunk up though because he meant to do the D Brown thing where he covered his head and he didn’t do it until that was the one when he did the he tried that was when he did that he

Jumped over kais sonat and and caught the lot from J Jason Tatum which by the way Jason Tatum comes out there to do this lob he’s got on this enormous jacket just gigantic I can’t even imagine retail value of that Jack so much money I don’t even want to know so

Much my car probably my car way more than that way more than that I bet uh and he doesn’t take it off no I was like well if you paid that much for that jacket I wouldn’t take it off in front of I mean he he was like I don’t know it

Was crazy anyway we got off topic the that all was after the St you know who was from a St Louis guy who would have worn that that uh code out there bonts who’s that Bob pet Bob pet it’s true we got our Bob pet reference in there we go

Um but yeah like the that was all after the Stephan Sabrina thing which going into the all-star weekend that was probably the single I mean there were two things everybody at least that I heard was talking about one was is the game going to be any good which as of

Right now we don’t know we’ll see what happens the other was this Stephan Sabrina thing and how it was going to go and who was going to win and you know there was a lot of buzz in the arena now I was in Lucas Oil Arena they had the LED Court

And I like I don’t know what you thought George but it was so big because it’s a football stadium yeah it was there wasn’t it it just it was cavernous and it didn’t really have any well no but I’m saying you couldn’t if you were in a

Regular gym you could maybe get some energy for some of the stuff there it just wasn’t there wasn’t a good feel for it although they were booing Jaylen Brown the entire time because the Pacer fans that were there obviously don’t like the Celtics that was the only thing

That was audible I felt like in regards to energy was Jaylen Brown getting booed every single time yeah was get killed with booze there was an energy it was electronic energy of the green floor making everybody look like they were about to vomit or or or In Like Larry

Marketed space become the Incredible Hulk uh which is what we a couple people joked about but but like so all that’s going on and then like there was real juice for the Stephan Sabrina thing you could feel real energy in the building I was out there watching it it was it was

People were into it and then Sabrina steps up there and hits 14 on the first two racks was thinking she was going to go for like 35 ends up oh my God she didn’t miss ends up going for 26 which was the highest score tied for the

Highest score that anybody had all night there were like seven 26s throughout the day and you’re thinking man like this is a pretty high number uh for Steph to clear and then naturally the greatest shooter of all time goes out there and hits 20 9 and wins the thing but it was

It was very cool to see that play out and I thought you know the way Sabrina and Steph handled it I thought was really cool um you know it it was neat to see I mean Sabrina was like look you know this proves anybody can be out here

And compete no matter who they are which I thought was a cool thing even if the broadcast didn’t necessarily reflect that at times which people certainly had a lot of comments about um but yeah it was it was really neat to be there for

It I thought it lived up to it and you know it was it’ll be interesting to see what it looks like when Caitlyn Clark is in this thing next year after she placed for God fever amazing I uh I agree so what I’ll do is I will give you a fun

Anecdote from what happened to me during the three-point competition so I’m to Bon temp’s point I’m on the sideline on ESPN radio so they throw to me live for my pick and I’m in like the middle of all these guys right like I’m literally in the middle they’re surrounding me can

Hear what I’m saying so I you guys want me to make a pick all right and they all turned to me and I said guys they want me to make a pick who should I pick here and then Donovan Mitchell I go Donovan you he turns to me first I go Donovan

Should I pick you he’s like hell yeah you should pick me so I said all right guys since Donovan Mitchell was the first one to turn to say I should I should pick him I’m gonna go with Donovan Mitchell and I’m not joking Damen Lillard turns his head to me like

This and goes and gives me like the side eye and I go oh wait a second I think Dame’s mad that I didn’t pick him to go back to back and he goes no no I’m not mad I’m not mad you’re good I’m not mad and by the way

Dame is shooting 25% on catch and shoot threes since January 1 right it’s not a bad decision George is what I’m saying well by the way by the way I the Dame’s last rack when he he had to make he had to make one Money Ball to win right and I

Was sitting there with from New York and we’re watching it and he starts missing I said oh man he’s not going to miss all five of these he he literally had to make the last one to win I like oh my God if he he chokes this

Away so so get so this is the best part so he he wins the thing he talks to Ali laforce first that’s how it worked basically they would go to Ali laforce first on TV and then they come to me right after he comes right up to me

Walks right up to me goes I bleeping told you you should have picked me and and I said so and he he and I thankfully the mic wasn’t hot when he said that um and then so I said you got to tell me the PG version of this on the air so we

Did the whole interaction on the air then Giannis came in uh he said that Giannis needs to do the dunk contest which I asked Yannis Giannis said no I’m too old and then we went back and forth so it was like honly he’s not too old he’s too tall right there’s that you

Can’t it’s I saw Victor wanyama says he wants to win all the contest he wants want to win skills threep Point d That’s all great a man that big will never win the dunk contest because you he’s also not winning the skills cuz I hope he never does it again and Anthony Edwards

Shot left-handed in the the beginning of it Anthony Edwards like tanked that thing like what’s going on there that would not well by the way it was four rounds Long I kind of get it I would I appreciate it yeah he shot when he came to shooting he shot left-handed and hit

The side of the backboard it was this was the real magic moment from Saturday night Anthony Edwards at practice Saturday earlier in the week he talked about beating Mike connley shooting left-handed uh in a Three-Point Contest Mike Conley who is Left-Handed and announced that at some point he’s going

To do this in a game when they’re up 20 in the fourth quarter gonna shoot a three left-handed he said well if Chris Finch GNA take me out anyway might as well give him a reason to take me out of the game so then he comes here Saturday

Morning he’s at practice he announces he’s going to shoot every shot in the All-Star Game left-handed then he comes out in the the middle of the competition uh Saturday night and shoots two in a row off the side of the backboard left-handed from the corner comes in afterwards it’s like oh yeah I

Was getting it out it’ll look better tomorrow in the game oh no he’s gonna still do it then then this was the real magic moment somebody said hey a what did you think of the Court what do you mean what about the court a the entire

Court was lit up it was an LED Court I don’t know man I I didn’t I didn’t notice it was dope I guess like what and by the way to your point the ma the reason that’s the Magic Moment was because the NBA wanted the

Star that night to be the floor trust me when I tell you that oh yes yes they did well Sabrina and Steph overcame that and uh they were the star and I agree uh there were several hints both from Sabrina and Steph that this was hopefully the first of a series it’s not

A hint it’s it’s going to happen I asked them on the air are we doing a rematch next year and they both absolutely said we’ll do it because I asked her I said you going to go back and do it and she’s like I go the you know the game’s in his

House the house he built and she’s like well I’m from the bay too and I said no I know and she said so yes we’re going to do it again next year so it is there is a rematch on the record at least according to both of them and get

Caitlyn Clark and if ant wants to be further embarrassed he can shoot against Clayton Clark left-handed and he can by the way I’ll bet Clayton Clark could go out there left-hand and start wishing him yeah and and and uh and Chris Finch might be relieved that Aunt is going to

Potentially get embarrassed shooting left-handed so he won’t actually try them uh he did say he would do only do it up 20 to be fair he didn’t say he would do it in the Rocket game but okay well yeah I’m sure chis we love ant but

Uh you know oh listen listen it it was insane it so last anecdote for me from that night I asked both Dame and M mclung on the air if they would go for a three Pat Uh not both non-committal let’s just leave it at that uh although

I think I told both of them we’ve never had a three time a three Pat Champion uh in any of those um particular contests so for what it’s worth if you keep track of that stuff uh non-committal although both more intrigued once I said that by

The way Matt M Mong is averaging 24 points a game in the g- league he’s not he’s a real player he can do more than dunk the basketball and I kind of feel like he felt a little bit sheepish cuz he didn’t think that he had been as good

As he was last year and he won and so I wonder if that had anything to do with it all right so also very quietly in the last couple of uh days in the end of the before the All-Star break the Miami Heat had two very good wins winning in um

Milwaukee without Jimmy Butler and then going around on the second night of a back toback and granted Philly didn’t have Joel embiid but winning in Philly um you know you know in a tough or a bunch of other players to be fair fair enough but they were playing the second

Night for back toback without Jimmy Butler and they won and so after going through what was it Georgia seven game losing streak um they’ve longest in the Eric bolstra era oh yeah SPO got that gigantic new contract and then immediately like lost every game for for

Two and a half weeks um so the Heat have won six of their last eight games um they’ve crawled to a decent position in the Eastern standings um they’re out of the top six but considering that they haven’t had I think Tyler Heroes missed 20 games and Jimmy Butler’s missed 18 um

Bam Metabo has uh has you know missed some time with the hip injury um and by the way adabo who’s starting in the All-Star game on Sunday he has 22 games this season with with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds um which is the most in his career um

Just to set it up the Heat and Magic are tied for seventh half game behind the Pacers in sixth yeah right he the tiebreaker of the magic is they’ve beaten him three out of four already I think by the way quick trivia question who was the last player to have more

2010 games for the Miami Heat George it happened within the last decade uh Hassan whites side very good McMahon never man never have gotten that um Duncan Robinson has been hot shooting the three he’s obvious up and down but he’s been hot shooting the three and and

And going at it with Jaylen Brown let’s not forget that he’s got Duncan these days yes that’s right yeah um well first off I thought jayen was a little out of line there and I like that Duncan like stood up for himself um so uh anyway um the heat of

Uh of look I guess the question is this this is a team that was the number one seed two years ago made the Conference Finals uh lost to Boston um last year obviously got in through the playin was the um did they did they get the eighth seed or the seventh seed

I can’t remember SE they almost lost to Chicago the eth eighth place playing that’s right they lost the first play in game yes and we’re down to Chicago um George is this is this team a threat like the last two years or what do we

Have here I mean I think based on the last four years right like you can’t count them out so I guess the answer to that is yes with an asterisk right maybe um I think that it’s I think it’s matchup dependent for them particularly in the first round like you don’t want

To be the eight seed having to play Boston again like that there’s not going to be that kind of magic this time around if you’re going to end up facing Boston you want to face them in the end like you’ve faced them in three out of the last four seasons to give yourself

The best chance potentially um to beat them but I think for them there’s a lot of teams besides Boston that they feel they would probably feel confident against clearly Milwaukee is one of them like in that game um spoler has been kind of throwing guys in and out of the

Lineup particularly at the power forward position he started Nicole yovic their young player who they drafted two years ago he had an incredible game in that game yeah right um they did the same thing against Philly he was he was bad and they he yanked him basically and

Played very few minutes in that game so maybe that’s kind of their move is they’ll see if he’s good in a particular game and they’ll go with it but I I think their thing is we haven’t seen our team whole is the way they have described it to me because of the

Reasons you’ve alluded to and let’s not forget Terry Rosier is also hurt now so that that’s i g say he’s not they’re not gonna see their team whole because Terry rier sprained his knee last week now it could have been worse um but you know they don’t have a

Timetable on but a sprained knee is it’s a weeks long injury you know it’s yeah I don’t want to I don’t want to speculate but it’s he won’t be back in the short term here so right right not as bad as it look like which L ini looked very bad

Awful yeah it looked awful but I think they expect him back before the playoffs is what I gathered um but yeah I don’t know how soon before the playoffs is the question but yeah look I think they look at the rest of the East outside of Boston and they say to themselves yeah

We’ll take our chances in one of those matchups now I think it’s in their best interest to not be in the playin this year and be one of those top six teams but I don’t think that Philly scares them by any stretch of the imagination I don’t think Cleveland

Scares them Milwaukee doesn’t scare them clearly not at all right so I think what’s the opposite is scared because that’s what they are against Milwaukee yeah they’re completely confident against uh against Milwaukee I think but yeah so I think that as long as they avoid the eight seed they’re you know

They’ve got a Fighter’s chance a puncher’s chance basically to be be where they’ve been in previous years or at least three of the last four yeah I think that’s the way to look at it is you know the Celtics went and got Chris esport zus in large part and we’ve

Talked about this before on the Pod because of the way bam bio has messed with this team in the past and Bam has always been able to sort of Rove around and guard whoever he wanted because there wasn’t anybody he had to stick to right if you’ve watched these games

Against the Heat so far this season he’s had to stay on porzingis he can’t go on to somebody else and that’s completely changed the geometry of how the heat have tried to stop them and the Celtics have looked much better against them as although they just they did just play a

Couple days ago and the the Celtics won by four as George mention they had a yeah they had a late that Jimmy didn’t play in that game and the Celtics you know in as they their want to do sometimes saw the fourth quarter get a little tighter after they controlled a

Lot of the game but it I I think looking at that matchup the the addition of porzingis if he’s healthy I think totally changes the the the calculus what it was before but you look at the rest of these teams like George said the heat are not going to be afraid of

Playing any of these other teams in the East they’re going to think they can go toe-to-toe with anybody and beat them in advance they’ve got Eric spoler who’s you know the best coach in the league in my opinion they’ve got Jimmy who is showing up time and again in the

Playoffs and if he’s there and ready to go at start of the playoffs he’s as good as anybody you’re going to play in a series in a seven game series and you know the the real question to me is you know we’ll see what happens when we get

Ter rier back on the court that was an interesting move to me on a lot of fronts it was not the kind of move we typically see the Heat make especially after they’ve sort of waited to get Stars a bunch of times right and they go

Make this move for ter roier they ship out Kyle lry and I’m curious to see what that portend for the summer if this team does not make a run because it doesn’t feel to me like Terry rir and Tyler herro is a long-term partnership to me

And I sort of wonder if this teror rir deal who’s on a smaller deal by a decent amount than Tyler going forward isn’t sort of a precursor where if this doesn’t go great this summer perhaps Tyler hero ends up somewhere else in a move for the heat to balance out their

Books a little bit because we know Miami is not going to go way into the tax and they’re going to have some questions to answer going well they are in the tax this year and typically they try to avoid the tax if they can they they made

A big move and didn’t avoid the tax although they did save money on that deal they did and then they then they spent some more money because right before the break they H picked up uh Delan Wright in a buyout situation um I’m not sure if that was in motion

Before Terry roier went down or not but certainly a sign that she’s going to be out for a bit though because you think Delan Wright would have gone somewhere he was going to play and I would certain and with Richardson also out I believe he has a separated shoulder um I think

He ALS that was also I think in that Celtics game yes they had both those injuries happen yeah so he’ll he’ll have a pretty big role there that was a good pickup for them I think yeah and by the way they they they’ve been interested in

Dyon Wright in the past um you know they go way back with the family because derell his older brother for the heat during uh the Sha and Wade era um and look this team to your point Tim and Brian you know it it will be year five

Basically of this group um which is longer than most Riley teams get kept together uh now granted you know we talked about the Warriors in two different timelines the heat also kind of act on two different timelines because Jimmy is much more advanced in

His age and in his at this point in his career than the other guys like bam is like the next oldest guy of their core guys um the rest of those guys are younger than you know 25 26 years old so they are kind of operating a little bit

On two timelines as well but if you look at the Riley teams historically whether it was those zo Timmy teams with Mashburn um those were like four years uh then the next iteration um didn’t even last that because of zo’s kidney uh issues but it was supposed to be Eddie

Jones Brian Grant zo and an aging Tim Hardaway then you had sha and Wade that group lasted four years LeBron’s group lasted four years so this group has lasted longer than the previous iterations of heat teams that were supposed to contend oh and by the way to

Go back again to what we talked about with the Warriors earlier the heat currently have seven players under contract for next season and they’re according to Bobby’s numbers $9 million into the tax with seven players so if they don’t make a move even if they just sign minimum players they’re going to be

In the neighborhood of $20 million into the tax which is more than they typically are and that’s they’re they’re not going to probably have a team full of minimum player so that you’re looking at a very expensive team just it’s going to be interesting to see what happens there you may beat

The heat but you ain’t out thinking them so so I promise you uh they definitely have their options laid out and we’ll see which path they take but certainly um they’re rallying and we’ll see how they return after the All-Star bre all right before we go guys I think we’re

Contractually obligate to talk about the Lakers who had a a real nice win without LeBron um against the Utah Jazz before the break um this this is something that’s crazy I mentioned this on first take the other day if I had told you George George does radio in LA and

Listens to you crazy Laker fans on a daily basis um if I compared this Laker team to the showtime Lakers uh a couple of weeks ago with their offensive prowess you would have hung up the phone and uh probably not wanted to continue you would have put me in the don’t call

Us back list but over the last 11 games and I know before you go crazy bont temps it’s not the eras are different the last 11 games the Lakers RA in three they’re aing 126 points a game which is the most in 11 game stretch since 1987 the heart of showtime lerum and

Um basically D’Angelo Russell has been scorching hot he’s averaged 26 points a game in last 15 games basically his time as starter his first starter his first game as a starter was in the was in the previous time they played in Utah and so of this is sort of the stretch in

Between them the state the Lakers R in when they came to Utah in January and when they came back in February vastly different situations um not only did he has he been shooting the ball great he had a 17 assist game against the Jazz ruy hamura who’s um rediscovered his

Shooting bot temps is always bringing up his shooting uh sort of being a possible you know um aberration in the playoffs last year he had 36 uh points and six threes in that game and an Davis is having an all-nba season um so George you know the

Lakers is this a sustainable stretch or they just living and dying with a hot D’Angelo Russell um I I think it’s more sustainable and because you look at it I look at it this way so in six of their last seven games which they’ve won uh six of those

Um ruy hachimura has played basically 30 minutes a night outside of one game and I didn’t understand the entire season U why they weren’t playing bigger because that is kind of to their strength that’s kind of their one thing that I think uh helps them the most and

It’s kind of the lineup they were playing in the playoffs most of the time last year but uh I remember tweeting this and it might be the tweet in in the last year that I’ve had that had the most engagement because Laker fans went Bonkers ripping Darin ham um but Darin

Was very loyal to torian Prince um you know Darin and even in these meetings that we have that stuff that we can talk about on the record um before games I’ve had them a bunch this year he was always talking about Toran and his spacing and

His ability to space and that helps the team um and yes it does but I feel like he’s more of a li ability defensively and I just didn’t think that it worked the way he envisioned it I think in in practicality um or in theory rather it

It worked better than in practicality so I know Darin had a history with tan because he had him in in in Atlanta when he was an assistant so they go way back but I felt like he was way too loyal to him especially considering ruy had really helped them during the playoffs

So he made the switch finally to ruy playing playing more minutes and Toran playing less minutes conversely so it it was one of those things that I feel like that has helped them um so I think it’s more sustainable I don’t think that they’re a championship team at the

Moment if that’s your question I think that much like a lot of teams you know we were just talking about Miami a little while ago also kind of matchup dependent in in the playoffs I don’t think that they can do the playin thing and come out and and have to play let’s

Say God forbid they have to Denver in the first round they’re done if they have to play Denver in the first round in my opinion now yes they are but if they have to play OKC I I like their chances against Oklahoma City um as great as Oklahoma

City has been this year because you’re talking about a team that never really been in a playoff series before versus LeBron James and Anthony Davis and a group that had been uh in the Western Conference finals last year even Minnesota like I like their chances so I

I think I don’t like them against the Clippers necessarily even though they’ve had regular season success against them but if they can face Minnesota or OKC in that first round I do think they can have a deep playoff all right Bon Temps it’s on the

T no I mean George George had very good analysis we don’t have it wasn’t Bozo analysis like we do sometimes on the other spot on the Pod um no look we’ve talked about this a lot the Lakers the Lakers and I I you know I don’t know if

I necessarily would say that having ruy out there allows them to lean into their size but either way they they need to and have needed to play into their size because that is George the path for them to be successful and if you go back to last year’s playoffs people look at it

Like a criticism when you say they played a Memphis team that was down a bunch of bigs and then they played a Warriors team that is small reality right they they they got favorable matchups and they really took advantage of them and pounded teams in size and use their physicality and size

And Anthony Davis coming into playing Center he is a massive human being and he plays big and he’s all over the glass and at The Rim he’s playing really well defensively and they’re able to get to the line a lot be physical and be a team that can overwhelm teams in that respect

And yeah like look they’re not as good as the Oklahoma City Thunder but if they do play the Thunder in a seven game series it could very well be like those Series last year where You’ basically had Chad holgren and a bunch of wings and it’s going to be a challenge for the

Thunder to keep up with them in that respect whereas if they do play Denver in the first round or frankly I think if they play Minnesota in the first round with their size I think they’re going to have more trouble because that is the way the war the Lakers have to win like

I know you reference Showtime there Brian but like they have to play more like the bad boy Pistons in the 80s than the Lakers and they have to physically intimidate and get into teams and have like the Fear Factor of LeBron and the fear factor of AD and go to the line and

Sort of mash their way through and if they do get the right matchups then yeah I think they do have a chance to win a series or or make a little bit of a run if their guys are healthy but I think they are incredibly matchup dependent and by the way we’re

Looking at a scenario right now where I think it’s fairly likely that the 910 game in the e in the west is Lakers Warriors because they’re three games back in the Lost column of Dallas and Sacramento and you say well it’s three games like that’s not that much well

It’s a lot when you’re talking about 25 26 games which is where we’re at in the schedule so you know I I’m very curious to see how this all shakes out but if we’re looking at a 910 Lakers Warriors game and six weeks eight weeks it’s gonna be a

Lot of excited TV Executives for one night and then a lot of sad ones after that well I would just say the matchup you guys are talking about for the Lakers to make sort of run the matchups have to work out and they do have a size Advantage Oklahoma City

The Clippers occasionally struggle with size I think ultimately they will be able to solve it because they have an excellent coach and a very deep roster that can do a lot of different things but size has given the Clippers a little bit of issue and of course size has

Given the Warriors an issue so if you can if you can plot a way where they could I mean if you’re looking at the sunny disposition how are the Lakers getting back to the Conference Finals give me the the chance well if you get Warriors in the playin and you get

Oklahoma City in the first round and you get the Clippers in the second round and you avoid Minnesota and Denver which right now Minnesota and Denver are 1 14 like it’s not an impossible concept I could give you my whiteboard analysis about how they could pull it

Off they’d have to play great but you know there is reason to lean into the size and the other thing is Jared Vanderbilt who’s had this foot injury and his prognosis isn’t even clear yet the Lakers are being mum on that but um to be honest I don’t I I didn’t think

The Jared Vanderbilt injury was nearly as big a deal as most people made it out to be because well you say that but it clarified it limited Darin’s options because Darin had been starting Vanderbilt too well what I was going to say was everyone seems to just have

Amnesia about the fact that when it got down to it in the playoffs he was not being played because he’s such a non-factor offensiv understand that I understand that’s he helped him against the in the Warriors series because he hounded Steph he does a great job hounding Steph and making that’s

True he he was starting him at times over hachimura and so that’s why it’s relevant um but you know we’ll be keeping a very close eye on those Lakers all right thank you for watching The Hoop Collective presented by State Farm thank you to State Farm thank you to

George and Tim bontemps for spending some of their all-star weekend with us thank you to Jackson and Andrea our producers and thank you for watching and listening we’ll talk to you soon

Brian Windhorst is joined by Tim Bontemps and Jorge Sedano to talk the highlights of All-Star weekend, if the Warriors can stay hot after the All-Star break, if the Heat can still pose a similar threat in the playoffs this year and if the Lakers’ success before the break is sustainable.
0:00 Intro – Welcome To The Hoop Collective!
1:50 Can The Warriors’ New Lineup Stay Hot?
23:43 All-Star Weekend Magic Moments
35:35 Heat Still A Legitimate Playoff Threat?
46:17 Lakers’ Success Sustainable?

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