A BIG statement win for the Thunder + The importance of conference seeding 🙌 | The Hoop Collective

A BIG statement win for the Thunder + The importance of conference seeding 🙌 | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the H Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we’re doing just after midnight on Friday morning joining us from Philadelphia Pennsylvania where at the center on on Thursday night where Tim bontemps watched the 76ers uh get beaten by the the New York Knicks and know and

Much needed win for the Knicks coming out of the break and Mr bontemps hello hello watch Kyle lry get whacked in the head too with a giant gash on his head in his uh first game back in his hometown had a pretty good game though

For Kyle he played great he was one of the few he was one of the few good things for the Sixers in a very very poor uh overall performance for them coming out of the break he and tyres SMX were great everybody else not so much and joining us from Dallas Texas at

The American American Airlines Arena where he watched the Dallas Mavericks beat the Rival Phoenix Suns Luca 41 points and his 12th Tech of the year which meant he had to do a pool report ban McMahon howdy Partners uh I told you boys I I didn’t get measurements but I

Do believe it was an all sub six-foot crew and you know what that means now haven’t said that haven’t said that the uh T didn’t come till 34 seconds were left in the third quarter and Luca was a a chatty fella coming out of the All-Star Break um he got the the

Tech for uh abruptly throwing the ball at the official with Force abruptly abruptly with force uh not for not for yep yep there was one of the funnier things I forgot which ref he was arguing with at one point but the ref interrupted Luca and Luca yelled I’m

Talking the ref should have said aren’t you always but no listen seven straight wins for the Mavs we’ll get in as later dominant performance from Luca 419 Kyrie feels Kyrie was great 29 Points efficiently this Dallas team is defending uh like I said we’ll dig into

Them a little bit later on how many times have you had a pool report about a Luca situation so far this season not too many by the way real quick I’m sorry so that our listeners know a pool report uh a reporter goes and uh speaks on

Behalf of all the reporters to the referees after the game which McMahon seems to frequently be the man selected yeah and so there’s been a couple there was one that I declined a request from uh somebody who’s got a whole lot of money in his bank account um because

Those are supposed to be requested by the media um but no not too many it’s just more money his back account now than he did you know few months ago few months ago oh yeah um the thing about though really it’s just it is his 12th unless it’s rescinded 16’s an automatic

Suspension so kind of at the point where every Luca T is going to probably be a pool report because they have greater meaning and it’s funny J kid was asked a question about you know players on his team who tend to get uh you know animated with referees and J kid goes

It’s a player the other one the other one was shipped off to Charlotte and by the way Grant Williams does nothing but win with the Charlotte Hornets you’re making a joke but it’s actually accurate the Hornets are ripping off winds left and right ever since they’re tra and Grant

Williams has been on fire from the moment he got there um I will say this if you’re going to keep going to the uh referees locker room after every Luca Tech uh if you keep up your heest commentary you’re going to get banned from being down there too McMahon where the referee

Locker room I don’t go to the referee locker room they do them on Zoom you bozo oh well I mean sh listen this is you know what I don’t tell you how to operate in green rooms don’t tell me how to operate with poorts fair enough MCM

Is M fair enough all right well the biggest victory that uh I think happened in the NBA at the first night back from the All-Star break uh happened in Oklahoma city with the Thunder whipping the LA Clippers by 22 points in a game that was not only amongst uh you know two teams

That could contend to win the west but was determining the tiebreaker between the team in second versus the team in third they’re now they were separated by a half game coming in now it’s a game and a half um and a spectacular performance up and down the roster by

The Thunder uh Shay gildas Alexander with 31 points um Jaylen Williams the uh starting Wing not the uh Reserve big man with 18 points and spe some spectacular defense and Chad holgren you know can you call them the big three is it is it too soon yeah okay no definitely not no

It’s not too soon when they’re near the top of the west standings one guy an MVP can and the other two guys are uh clearly going to get funmax contracts on their next deals no those are their building blocks we’ll see what happens with um with the rookie of the year but

You know they could go MVP Rookie of the Year and jayen Williams could make the all defensive team they I mean that’s you know that’s that’s legit anyway Chad had 1710 three assists three blocks uh in this game and just a spectacular performance by the thunder

Coming out of the gate but that’s not what bontemps wants to talk about in this game uh oh the uswb baby that’s your music no listen we we have talked a lot this year about how important it was that Chad hongren came into training camp and started playing center right

Away and for all the things that that did for the Thunder and the biggest thing that it did in theory was get their five best players on the court Shay Josh giddy J Jaylen Williams um Chad holgren and Lou Dort been their starting five all year and we have

Talked on this PO a lot about the wward fit of Josh giddy with that group and at some point are the Thunder going to consider making a change the first seven minutes of this game today they were getting boat raced by the Clippers with VI zubach sitting in the paint and

Garding Josh Giddy and really not guarding Josh giddy same thing that McMahon saw the Dallas Mavericks do very effectively right before right after the trade deadline when the Thunder went into Dallas it got absolutely demolished and they just basically ignored Josh gat the whole game to great effect and in

The second half tonight Mark deot coach of the Thunder sits Josh giddy starts Isaiah Joe the Thunder absolutely demolished the Clippers in the second half and I think this is potentially a pretty important day in the calendar because if the Thunder going forward keep Josh giddy out of the starting

Lineup which to me this sort of feels like they’ve been inching towards doing this for a while and now finally did it whether it’s with Isaiah Joe whether it’s with case Wallace whoever it is that they put in that spot Gordon Hayward who made his debut tonight effectively 14 points no no

Points I don’t think he did have a couple rebounds yeah I mean he hadn’t played since I think Christmas basically so I mean it’ll probably take him some time to get to get into Rhythm but we were waiting for this move to happen at some point because at some point during

The playoffs at minimum it felt like this was going to happen the fact that happened today in a game against another elite team coming out of the All-Star break this feels like a very significant moment and I think if I’m these other teams in the west I don’t like this

Development because I think the Thunder are a better and more dangerous team with that grouping they had out there to start the second half and with Josh giddy coming off the bench and I’m very curious to see if that becomes a consistent Trend I told you guys when I

Saw them in Dallas and I’ve seen the Thunder several times this year I saw them lose to Minnesota when they put gobear on Giddy and gobear just clogged the paint up and you know destroyed them defensively in that game I saw them beat the Celtics when giddy made the Celtics pay for putting

Chris STS porzingis on him but I told you after they came through Dallas that I had pretty significant doubts about Josh giddy being able to play extensive minutes during the playoffs just for the the the it’s a tough league if unless you are a dominant on ball player who’s

Got the ball in his hands which he’s a good on ball player but he’s not going to have the ball in his hands when you’ve got the MVP candidate uh sharing the the back court with you if you can’t shoot and you’re not a rim Runner it’s a

Really hard League to play in especially come playoff time um and like it’s not like he he’s their fifth best defender in the starting lineup as well so it’s not like well you need his defense he is one of their better rebounders and you know if it’s going to

Be an Isaiah Joe or a k Wallace like a a very small team would get significantly smaller um you know that’s maybe helps right you know he’s a better rebounder in Hayward but Hayward you’re not sacrificing a lot of size nor would you be sacrificing a lot of uh of playmaking

Ability but I mean look they’ve got it is a big three right sj’s and MVP candidate uh probably going to be back-to-back Rookie of the Year Runner ups but guys who are like both Chet hren and jayen Williams are phenomenal two-way players that are versatile on

Both ends of the floor um Lou Dort is going to be a fixture he is their best uh Wing Defender one of the best Wing defenders in the league that’s why Wendy you said maybe jayen Williams for all defensive team I think if they’re getting an all Defensive Player of those

Yeah I don’t I don’t think I agree but I’m just saying he’s that he’s that level player if he doesn’t make it this year he might make it someday yeah and if you ask dag about him he’ll talk about a lot how hard he competes how

Great he is on defense and then you get to the fact that he’s one of the most efficient near 20 point per game scorers uh in the league but again right now the fit is awkward with giddy long term I just don’t see it well longterm maybe but I I don’t

Think he’ll be taken out of the starting lineup and I do think this is the second or third time this year he’s not started the second half I think it’s something that they can go to if they um if they uh if they if they feel like that the

Need is there and you guys might be right it might be something you see in the playoffs um real quick I want to say something about Isaiah Joe real quick um earlier this week bontemps went to a press conference in Brooklyn where Kevin Ally was named the the interim head

Coach and he was texting I don’t know where this is I don’t know where this is going hang loose big guy hang loose that’s why we got this podcast um hang loose that’s right just just take it easy take it easy um and Kevin Oly is talking about what

Needs to improve with the with the Brooklyn Nets and he’s like we got to have more than five charges drawn and you know blah blah blah and uh BM sent me that quote and I go he doesn’t actually mean they’ve only taken five charges all year and so we looked it up

And they hadn’t taken five charges they taken six that’s amazing by the way as a quick non seor hold on B take it easy mute him mute him Jackson let me tell a story okay beautiful so I I decided to go look at this charges situation um there’s 43 players in the

League coming into tonight who had more than six uh charges drawn which is what the whole Brooklyn Nets team had and Isaiah Joe by the way is like third or fourth in the league and drawing charges and if you’d have asked me about that I would not have known that Isaiah Joe

Draws that many charges but he is a vastly improved Defender um and as you as you guys talked about uh Mark dagal goes with Isaiah Joe and is also can shoot the heck out of it from long range but it’s an IND indication of how deep this Thunder team is and how many

Options that they have and while they are young and while they are limited in size um they have so many different things that they can do and just as a side note to that we mentioned Grant Williams playing really well for the Hornets since getting traded there Trey

Man who was a first round draft pick a couple years ago by the Thunder had no prayer of breaking into this rotation they were playing 10 11 guys and Trey man couldn’t get into this rotation treay man is starting for the Hornets and putting up real big significant

Numbers at another double digit point game tonight at 21 the other night he couldn’t smell the floor for the Thunder and um and so that’s the thing like whether or not the Josh giddy uh move tonight is uh is something we see more often it’s just it’s just a

Reminder of all the different things that Mark dagal has at his disposal and by the way Mark dagal May you everybody made fun of him for the LinkedIn coach and he may not be the most recognizable guy outside Oklahoma City I think I was made fun of him for that but good point

How tall is he though uh McMahon I think he’s he’s like 6’2 I would say he I believe he’s over six foot um he’s a very good tactical coach he’s a he’s like might be the coach of the year this year last year was in consideration for

It he’s a great Coach and he’s also he’s a great tactical Coach and he’s a great developmental coach and the the Thunder benefit a lot from both those because they are a team that is positioned to win now while developing a ton of young Talent well and that’s and that again is

Why the giddy thing is so significant because he’s extension eligible this summer he was seen as a key piece of their team he’s the second highest draft pick of all these guys and he’s not a good fit and we’ve seen that throughout the year we’ve talked about it a bunch

That’s why today I think on that front is a big deal uh one real quick nonsecular on the net since you mentioned that I asked Kevin oy how are you going to get your team to play harder and with more energy after Shawn Mark said that was a big part of why

They let Jack vongh go after the way they’ve fell apart since the get Bucks game in December Kevin hly said I have a list of 17 energy generating behaviors and we went over them all today in practice I bet that was a great practice those those energy generating behaviors

Led to the Nets allowing 46 fast break points tonight in Toronto and being down by 30 for most of the second half and getting absolutely demolished in his debut so might need to go back to the drawing board on some of that and let me tell you who is going to

Start for the Thunder going forward that’s shed guildas Alexander he was he’s pretty good for the next like decade he was plus 21 tonight nobody else in the starting lineup was more than plus six he was plus 21 there’s the guy who made the difference in the game against his

Former team the Clippers and that’s the thing about the Clippers um for as much as they have going for them and as many different ways as they can bend and as impressive as their depth is they are not a team that has terrific s and that is a factor when going against

The Thunder if they can’t if a team can’t beat you up with size the Thunder will probably Faire a little bit better against them um and so just keep that in mind even though I am big high is that is that a phrase big high I am high I’m

Bigly high on the Clippers um I’m high I’m bigly high Clippers Clippers bench got absolutely boat raced by uh Shane and the bench tonight with the Sixth Man of the Year front runner Russell Westbrook he was terrible tonight what yeah he was terrible Russ was 1 for n at 16 minutes

Nor pow minus 22 Amir coffee minus 22 Mason plumy minus 12 and eight minutes oh God that’s a shift holy Moses it’s not great minus 12 and 8 minutes yeah and look Isaiah Joe’s not going to be in the six-man of year conversation but he has been bont thinks

He’s starting so he won’t be in hey he’s been I like obviously we talk about and I just wrote this big story on the whole Paul George trade and how that laid the foundation for the Thunder to be contenders for years to come I mean SGA jayen Williams picks and picks and picks

That have turned into picks and picks and picks still on the way from that some of Sam prey’s best work though was a waiver claim on Isaiah Joe who is not just a shooter but he’s a shooter who flies all around the floor you know like just bends defenses and then you

Mentioned the charges thing uh I forget the weight class but uh dagal refers to him I think it’s lightweight like as a like a lightweight fighter because he’s 165 pounds but he’s tough he he tough to he’s like he’s like taking 20 charges this year yeah so yeah I mean like look

Shay was a centerpiece of the trade for Paul George Chad holgren was picked uh second um Jaylen Williams is a lottery pick Cas Wallace a lottery pick like they got some premium players here however you’re right Isaiah Joe was a waiver claim um they door was a two-way

Contract undrafted they they found on the street and um Kendrick Williams who I think is a guy who if he was if he was what Ken Rich Ken Rich Williams is a guy who I think if he was on a different team would be maybe starting or getting

25 28 minutes yeah they got him as a you know as part of the Stephen Adams trade I think it was even I think he might even have gotten signed in trade I think they like there something happened there where they picked him up like he was

Just you know he was just sitting in New Orleans and they got him as part of that deal so um and and look in the playoffs there might be games where he plays 25 or 28 minutes because he allows that he can play the four next to Chad he can

Play the five and and let them you know for example the suns are playing a lot of this uh KD at5 lineup he you know he might there might be times where he matches up a lot in that lineup playing the small ball five by the way this is

Some crazy stats Jackson throwing at us SGA 40 plus first player in the league with 40 30 point games this year and has only three games where he scored under 20 the guy is like scoring metronome you know he’s never had more than 44 in a

Game but he averages 30 plus it’s 30 every single night just go ahead and pencil it in shooting in the mid-50s from the floor yeah that’s that’s why he well he’s shooting a lot more this year than he has in the past but that’s why he made three tonight but he’s like his

His scoring is not predicated on three points right no and look that’s a that’s why he I mean that consistency and obviously leading his super young team is why he’s you know probably the prime alternative to Nicole yic who by the way became the first guy ever in the history

Of the league to have 15 15 15 on 100% shooting tonight and win over the Wizards not bad that’s that’s a a stat that could stand for a while that’s pretty good it’s a pretty good stat um first off 1555 that’s awesome and and the Nuggets uh

Forget about what you shot the Nuggets had lost three in a row yeah um although they did lose um kavier cwell Pope in this game to a finger sprain he’s been in out of lineup for them uh but uh it was against the Wizards by the way folks

In Dallas folks in Dallas are perturbed about that straw pole Bond temps we’ve got podcast newspaper stories people are mad everybody’s mad at me about that everybody’s mad at me in Boston everybody’s mad at me in everybody’s mad at me in Dallas it’s how it goes they

Say that Luca being one of the four legitimate candidates for MVP is not enough not enough and hey I’ll say this the biggest argument against them was that they in the play in when that poll was taken they climbed out of the playing tonight they’ve got the tiebreaker against those Suns

Now yeah let’s talk about that so seven wins in a row um definitely a team on the move and they had to be on the Move McMahon because um the Lakers and Warriors who are finishing up their game right now the Warriors are winning um Lakers and Warriors are making moves behind them

They are you know you can you can debate about whether they’re actually gonna lead anything but they are coming from behind them and the top four teams in the west have pretty much you know put themselves out you know apart from the others and Phoenix has been a strong

Team when they’ve had their big three together so and even New Orleans so I think uh they win over Houston on Thursday I think they’ve won seven to eight so if you’re going to make it if you’re going to do anything in that Western Conference you got to go boy and

The Mavericks have especially since Kyrie came back and um you know they didn’t even get much production from their new players tonight um it was their uh their old Superstar who was getting the job done tonight well both are superstars I mean Kyrie and Luca combin for 70 points on 45 field goal

Attempts and those two guys the the last year obviously didn’t go great uh but because they couldn’t stop anybody um they’ve been very good as an offensive Duo they’ve been Elite as an offensive Duo uh this year they do play well off of each other they they’ve developed chemistry despite the fact

That I don’t know what the game total is up to this year but it’s it’s it’s not very high the Mavericks have been a team that’s dealt with a ton of of inj all season long Kyrie being the the front runner of that not you know the

Top guy that’s what I mean um and they are close to being completely healthy at this point Dante xm’s practiced uh he’ll practice again tomorrow they’re hoping to have him back on this upcoming road trip he’s the only guy who missed tonight and he’s he I don’t know what

Exactly his rol is going to be but he was he had established himself as a guy who was going to be a starter I don’t know if that’s still going to be the case but he can help them I’m telling you as as much as the focus is obviously

Going to be on the guys who they gave up significant draft Capital to get before the deadline PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford who have contributed getting Maxi kba back healthy and looking like himself has been the most significant development of these last couple of weeks I like I know

He’s not a big name I know he’s not a guy who like if you look at the box cour like d what are you talking about the guy had seven points two rebounds like whoopy damn do but if you watch this Mavericks team a couple years ago when

They made that West finals run yep Maxi was playing 30 plus he he’s the guy who ties everything together defensively and that he he’s it’s not going to be 48 minutes a rim run or Center because Max is going to play a lot of Center especially when teams try

To go small on them like this that’s the other thing it also means that they don’t have to play a rookie 35 minutes if they don’t want to well and that’s also what getting Gafford was it was also insurance if Live’s been out a lot gets hurt again um but tonight Liv

Played 16 minutes as a starter Gafford played 17 minutes Maxi played 26 minutes you’re like hold on that doesn’t add up to 48 it’s because For the First Time uh since Maxi’s been back he played a fair amount at the four and that that’s a that’s a very

Very interesting look because they might need to go big to match up with big say if they run into the Minnesota Timberwolves or tonight they actually the the Suns went small after the M built a nice lead in the third quarter and and they got cooking they spaced

Them out and and got cooking and jkid basically said you know what let’s try to go big against their small um because Maxi’s a a guy who can guard one through five and you know the Hope was Gafford would come in there and kind of clean up

On the glass and it worked the the so Maxi is just provides them so much versatility and depth and I do think there’s going to be a lot if not most of the games where they they will close with him at the five despite having spent a lottery Pick and giving up a

Future you know key draft swap um to get these Rim running centers yeah I mean he’s always been to your point he’s always been really the key piece for them when they’ve played really well it’s always been when Maxi’s been healthy and rolling at that five spot

Because he is just such a smart solid guy who fills in a ton of gaps and like you said you you look at his per game numbers or his individual box score numbers and you go this doesn’t seem all that impressive but you watch he makes

Just a ton of smart plays he always knows where to be and he’s a winning player who creates winning basketball and you know he’s had these various injury elements he’s been doing with his toe issue and so he’s never really been a huge minute guy or out there as much

As they would like but like you said you get him out there and stretch like this and he’s playing well and healthy and looking good mat Dallas looks like a dramatically different team and now you look at the west standings and you know we talked about the other day you’ve

Kind of got the separation from one to four and now from 5 to 8 after tonight’s action New Orleans got 22 losses Dallas and Phoenix have 23 losses Sacramento after pulling out a late win against San Antonio also has 23 losses so five to eight basically in a tie in the Lost

Column and after the Warriors beat the Lakers they’re three and four back in the Lost column so you sort of got it separated that way and there a pretty good chance that’s how it’s going to wind up so it should be some fun races here down the street

And and the one thing the Mavs have an advantage on all those other teams they do have the best player and I say that with all due respect to Kevin Durant Devin Booker Luca right now is the best player of that of that Bunch you know Darren Fox

Sabonis Zion whatever and Luca is doing it on both ends of the floor you know oh my god I’ve never heard that before listen like you know four steals again tonight I told you there’s nerdy numbers out there that tell you he’s statistically been one of the best ISO

Defenders and one of the best postup defenders in the League this year now look well I believe he’s a good postup Defender yeah’s a strong man is so he’s just gotta be he’s just got to show more effort and not be getting killed he is so and also get back get back play

Defense if you’re not back yeah I mean that’s what I’m saying is part of more effort like just doing the doing he just has to do some of the basic stuff get back and stay engaged uh when he’s in you know in a help situation um but he

Is so he’s a bigger version of Houston James Harden who they would they would switch a ton and you know he can he can switch he can guard multiple positions you’re not going to take advantage of him as a mismatch in the post because he’s a bull hell no and and he’s

Competing he’s in he’s in shape his ankles fine he did get smacked in the face today with the ball and then Grayson Al’s hand and his Square in his broken nose I asked him how it felt he said it’s still broken so he wasn’t too worried about it but you know he’s he’s

Very proudly competing and holding his own on the defens VIN right now and that is a d like night and day from last year well they are to be paid attention to they are a dangerous team because of him because you know if you get no playoff series that’s 22 or not even

Even before that you know I don’t care what the team seating is I don’t care actually I don’t care what any of these team seatings are in the west I I guess if you’re Minnesota and your Oklahoma City and you just don’t have a lot of playoff experience together you’d like

To start and end playoff series at home I don’t care what Dallas’s seed is I don’t care what the Lakers if they get in seed or The Warriors seed um even the Suns to a certain extent um but uh you know if Luca can if Luca can truly be a

Factor on defense and so much of the story about the western conference is size so much when you look at these two games or these two these uh this these uh teams is who can handle size and who doesn’t because it’s almost like you can

Go down the line and say this team does well with size this team doesn’t and the and the the Suns are a team that doesn’t deal well with size because they have trouble playing with it you know you mentioned them going small the Suns I think just because of trial in air and

Because this is what seems to work the Suns have been really leaning into playing lineups with Durant at Center which is what I didn’t see the games and I assume that’s what they did they did that a lot they did that a lot and like

The MAV came out I they’re down three at the half they came out just lit up in the third quarter uh threes Luca hit three of them fed on two of them 15 run to come out and then the the Suns went small they got back in the game MZ went

Small to match up with it it actually didn’t work that time around that’s when they came back with the big lineup bumping Max to the for bring and Gafford in but then they they went back and let’s see nurkic played 19 and a half minutes Eubanks only played six and

Those didn’t go well it was a minus 10 and then you know they played small so that’s that’s 23 minutes of a small ball serious you go down you go down every team you look at like okay what’s what’s Golden State doing Golden State’s been going smaller draymond’s now been their

Starting center they replace Klay Thompson the starting lineup with Brandon psky they’re playing smaller and they’re winning the Lakers have been going bigger with R haimura in there what’s going on in in Phoenix they’re going smaller playing more Durant Center you just talked about how the Mavericks

After acquiring size of the deadline are now playing a seven-footer back at at power forward with CBA going to play a lot more four and we know that the uh the the wolves have played big all year long so like to me this is a huge factor

In how the matchups are going to go and well and then you’ve got to go through the defending champs who are huge and have a seven footer who but that’s the thing maybe you go small against the nuggets and just try to outscore them because breaking news nobody in the West

Can stop joker nobody yeah well he has dominated Anthony Davis in in a Western Conference Finals he hit a series winning shot over Rudy gobear in the bubble like there’s there’s nobody there’s nobody in the world who can stop Joker it’s just not happening yeah I

Mean we’ve talked about it a bunch I think it it’s just the the West is going to be so dictated by the individual matchups of these teams and who matches up with who even even more than size in particular it’s just certain teams match up a lot better with other team we’ve

Seen it as the year has played out and it it it truly I think is going to come down to you know like we saw last year with the Lakers the Lakers got a favorable couple of draws and they took advantage of it and got to the Conference Finals and like there’s a

Chance where one of these lower seated teams gets the right couple of matchups and is in the Conference Finals you might look up and go man how did so and so get there and if they get the right draw it could play out that way I will say though really don’t like Kevin

Durant playing 20 25 minutes at Center I understand they don’t have a lot of options and that’s the way their team is built but playing him if he’s going to be consistently playing 20 25 minutes at Center I’m Gonna Knock on Wood as I say this I don’t want it to happen I’m

Afraid that’s gonna end up with him getting banged on well and I’ll say this I say k at center it’s really KD is the tallest player out there because a lot of that time for example Royce O’Neal was actually playing Center defensively they’ve played I was at a game I was at

A Suns game this year that’s also not like that’s are just not going to work against I was at a Suns game this year where Josh aoi played and I don’t mean like a couple of possessions because of transition matchups right Josh aoji was the designated defensive Center for four

Five minutes right um but they they’ve leaned into it part of the reason why they acquired Royce O’Neal at the at the deadline was to effectively play with all all wings and by the way I asked um I asked stats Williams today uh during that third quarter I said you know what

Are the KD at Center lineups uh you know what are the numbers this year and I thought they were going to be good I was dead wrong on that minus 7.7 net rating now like you said part of the reason they went out and got Royce O’Neal was

To be able to to you know beef those lineups up there’s you know Booker’s missed a ton of time Beal’s missed T time we didn’t was out tonight be was out tonight with the hamstring and will sounds like gonna be out tomorrow yeah Frank vogle said he’s unlikely to play

Against the Rockets um but again that’s also just like hey that’s part of it I mean Beal’s been hurt for the majority of the Year Beal came in he arrived in Phoenix with major durability issues he’s a $50 million bonus like well except he is

No I’m saying it’s a bonus if he’s on the floor I don’t think you can rely on him well I know and that’s that is the inherent problem with the Suns that we’ve talked about from the moment they made the be trade right like they have put together three very talented guys

Who have been unable to stay on the court consistently and this year for the most part they’ve been able to have Booker and Durant out there more regularly than they have been in the past but the beal thing has continued to be a problem and again anytime you hear

About a guy who’s had this many muscle injuries having hamstring tightness and that all the talk was he was going to be ready to play today and all of a sudden now he’s not playing in either this game or the game Friday all right well how

Long’s he going to be out and again we’re talking about a situation where if you’re the Suns and you know I mean again if you’re one of these seven eight teams and you’ve got the Lakers and Warriors sitting in nine and 10 to like live teams and all these teams are

Flawed obviously live teams I know where this is going you don’t want to be sitting there in that and I think you might have said this the other day McMahon you don’t want to be sitting there in the 89 game looking at Steph Curry or LeBron James and be one loss

Away from going home can you imagine if the Lakers Warriors and suns are in the play in dude it could be the Lakers Warriors Suns and Mavericks in the in the playin easily possible easily you could have two two those make the playoffs if if it if it’s right now

It’s Suns Kings is 78 Lakers Warriors is 910 so it’s very possible at least three of those teams are in there if not all four of them well you talk you’re talking about how matchups dictate everything in the west bontemps the matchup challenge for the Suns could be

That injury report yeah because when they are when those three guys are healthy like they could make a run if they’re all healthy if and it’s just it’s they is what talking about since June when they don’t have the third guy they’re just so light on playmaking yeah

The one the one star lineups have been a problem All Season whenever they’ve happened they’re so they’re extremely easy to defend the maths held him to 50 points in the second half and KD didn’t shoot it great tonight um but like I said even tonight KD plays 40 minutes

Booker plays 39 so I got to do math which is difficult that’s 17 minutes of onear I think so 17 minutes of one star lineups and those were not pretty because there’s nobody else that you’re worried about now you don’t want to give Grayson Allen good looks you don’t want

To give Eric Gordon good looks but like they were fine giving Royce O’Neal looks they were begging Josh aogi to get threes I mean Sabin Lee played six minutes it was like please shoot the ball yeah and none of those guys like Grayson Allen fantastic shooter right not really a threat to put

The ball in the floor and make anybody else let they want them to dribble every time win nobody worried about putting putting pressure on you as far as breaking a defense down and that’s and that’s where it it’s so hard for those guys in those one star lineups because

It’s like all right for as good as Kevin Durant and Deon Booker are if it’s like you got to come down and make a play for yourself or somebody else every single time down the and by the way here comes a second Defender at you right and then

It’s like all right let’s throw the ball to somebody else like yeah there’ll be nights where those guys will go off in shots but it’s just a huge load to have to carry over and over again which is why it’s not something that you’re going to win three playoff series with right

Which is why which is why from the beginning it has that that if with the injury stuff it’s why we’ve talked about it so much because it is so important and if they are able to find a way to have those three guys on the court from mid April to whenever their season’s

Done they will be really dangerous and if any one of them is out all of a sudden they’re pretty far down the pecking order I think in the west just because of all the other disadvantages they got on the roster for the sheer fact that they just didn’t have a lot of

Depth from the beginning of the season because of the the limitations are on from a roster building standpoint all right Bon Temps uh let’s swing over to the Eastern Conference where you saw the Knicks tonight Nicks got some guys back coming out of the All-Star break they badly needed it

After I would say was a Soo injury report uh from the injured players from the Knicks um specifically Julius Randall who well you say hm you know the Knicks were being purposely vague about his his situation and acting like everything was probably going to be okay and Julius

Comes out on Wednesday and says yeah I could it’s possible I still could need surgery yeah that wasn’t good news well I would say I mean just to just to be clear about it the reason I’m saying that is because it’s really what we’ve been saying the entire time time is what

Julius said right and frankly it’s what the Knicks said the whole time because the Nick all the Knicks would say was because he got hurt at the beginning of February all the Knicks said at the time was he’s going to be re-evaluated in two to three weeks didn’t say like he’s not

Gonna have surgery didn’t say he’s gonna have surgery just said he’s going to rehab we’ll see where he’s at later this month and every time Tom thibo got asked about it or every time the Knicks was supposed to give some sort of update about it it was just well Julius is

Progressing he’s looking good tibs will get asked directly is he going to have is he definitely not going to have surgery no can’t say that and then Julius to his credit just sat there on Wednesday and talked to the media and said hey look I can’t really know for

Sure how this is going to go until I start contact and hitting people and seeing how this goes and as we know Julius is a freight train and kind of has to play that way and we’ll see if his shoulder will hold up I was only

Saying that because I just to me it’s this has been the story from the moment he got hurt it was we haven’t really been sure if he’s going to avoid surgery or not and we might not know until he all the way is back on the court again

Well his co-star went through something similar in Dallas his second year uh Jaylen Brunson didn’t go to the bubble because he had shoulder surgery when he and that was something where he came back and tried to play through it and then you know finally like okay I’ve got

To get the operation because it never got right until that’s that’s why so many of the shoulder surgeries go especially for big guys they come back and they reagate it they redate so Julius is so physical and how I mean he’s one of the most physical players in the league I mean he’s

Probably right up there with Giannis in terms of how much he’s using his size and strength to maneuver around and you know create space on Defenders and stuff so that’s going to be a significant thing but o and and Obi progressing well Mitchell Robinson progressing well and they got back Isaiah hartstein boy

Bonovich who had a great game hit six for six from three had 22 points and Dante dienzo who’s been fantastic for a couple of months now in the starting lineup uh he got back as well and they played very well against the Knicks and got back on track after having a

Four-game slide going into the break yeah look they’re on the road in Philly uh and Brunson goes 518 it was hardly a banner night for him I know hartenstein was back but he didn’t play that well well he only played it was interesting he only played 11 minutes um before the

Game because he’s been dealing with a Killy soreness which as we all know that’s a scary thing to be hearing especially for a guy who’s played great and is going to be a free agent in five months um but Tom Tibido said he was going to play in short stints

Tonight uh and did he played a short stint to start the game and a short stint to start the third quarter and that was it didn’t play after that right but anyway they got the win uh and by double digits and so that was a I needed

One like it you know it’s one thing if Brunson comes out and scores 37 but they win on a night when Brunson is a little bit off and that’s one of the reasons why you know getting buen bogdanovich was so important is that he gives them Firepower um especially Off the

Bench and he had a terrific uh a terrific game and uh uh you know overcoming Maxi having a 35-point game so um and you know an interesting little two G two game stretch here for the 76ers who are fighting to stay out of the play in zone themselves um they get

By the way they are six and 15 without the MVP of the league who is not going to be back in the near turn now you can say a lot of that is because um they have been down so many guys because they have um yeah Tobias was back tonight but

Didn’t play well yeah Tobi I mean they Nick patum came back today but DeAnthony Melton has been out they just got Kyle Lowry back today Maxi and Harris have both been sick off and on for weeks um all of like all these guys have been out

But at the same time they’ve really been scuffling a lot and their schedule’s difficult for the next few weeks they got Cleveland on Friday um you know we’ll see what happens with do of Mitchell he did not play in their return from the break good win for Orlando in

Cleveland over the magic um but or the Cavs I mean but Donovan’s issue I believe he was out with an illness oh um but he uh um you know and then they have the Bucks and Doc Rivers coming back here and Patrick Beverly I should probably add some of the stuff he said

Lately um yeah on Sunday but uh but yeah it’s it’s pretty interesting times for the Sixers because obviously again they’re another team that would love to not be having to deal with the playin um come early April and also if Joel embiid let’s say he can come back in late March

If he’s sitting there healthy and ready to go by the end of the regular season if he’s sitting in sixth seventh or eighth you know if you’re Boston you’ve been the best team all year like I would pick them to beat the Sixers but still

If you you have to deal with joal embiid in the first round of the playoffs he’s healthy and ready to go that would not exactly be an ideal start to the postseason so lot of lot of interesting stuff in both conferences the way these things are well with that win in in

Cleveland tonight Orlando um is now a game and a half back of Philly and Fifth and uh Indiana is a game back um in Indiana Orlando Miami all tied in the losal six7 say you know listen if you’re ball you have the best record in the

League you might get the treat of the heat in the first round which which again I would pick them to win but it’s not you don’t want to be seeing Jimmy Butler and B atab B and Eric spola sitting there in the eight seed in the

First round of the playoffs just ask the Milwaukee Bucks so you know there it’s there’s a lot of fun there’s a lot of fun minations to come here over the next several weeks in the East I think to see how this stuff shakes out but yes the

Knicks really needed to get some guys back back they got a bunch of guys back and you know this Philly thing they got they’re on the road a ton in March they’ve been down a bunch of guys Kyle lry looked really good today I think

He’s going to be very good for Philly I think he will be a very significant upgrade on Patrick Beverly um who was not very good when he was here and uh you’re gonna start a podcast rivalry I I I’m sure I will he’s had a lot of things

To say on his podcast uh in recent days about the Sixers shockingly after being traded um but uh but yeah that’s the thing about that’s the thing about Bev you can’t always count on Bev but you can always count on Bev to be Bev and so

What I mean by that is you know that whatever team he gets to he’s gonna be like let’s go I’m here baby we’re gonna we’re gonna win it all I’ll do everything oh oh I just got traded screw that team how’s my new team we’re great baby like it’s extremely the intensity

He is consistent if nothing else yeah so uh I I am I may be crazy but I I actually think that the Bucks might be okay I can’t I I let’s I would like you to make an I would like you to make this argument what the

Fawn as bad as they’ve looked and as worrisome as they’ve are their defense has improved with Doc and even though their offense is cratered small small detail listen I’ll say this they’re go like they’re not gonna be a bad offensive team right just when you have Damen Lillard and Giannis you might have

A rough stretch but you’re not g to be a bad offensive team right with those two guys their defense has improved they’re again I do think their defensive systems are in better shape they really really could use Chris Middleton looking like anything like Chris Middleton he had one little

Stretch this year where he actually looked like he got his feet back up underneath him was like okay here they go and then he got hurt again well and by the way he’s got a sprained ankle and I think he’s already been ruled out through the weekend and was already and

Was hurt before the break and he’s actually been pretty good I mean he’s lot like Bradley Beal really he’s actually pretty that’s exactly what I was just thinking yeah he’s been pretty good all year when he’s been healthy but again this is a guy who’s had a ton of

Lower leg injuries now he’s into his mid-30s and he’s you know he’s missed a bunch of time and he is such a critical guy for them on offense and again at the other end of the Court you talk about the defense like let’s be honest the defense might be a little better because

He is not a very good Defender at this point and again when you have when you have him a long way from when they won a championship right and if you have him Dam and Malik out there on the perimeter I’m sorry you’re not going to be a good

Defensive team no matter who you’ve got I don’t think that they’re going to be good a good defensive team but I do think they can improve and I think they have been improving when they hired doc I said I don’t think they’ve got to be if they’re a an average defensive

Team I think they’ll have a chance because i’ still I still think they’re going to be very very good even Elite offensive team I’m not changing that because of a handful of game sample size of them struggling and Wendy as you mentioned last time the nerdy numbers

Told you that there was some fluke factor that in terms of the shock quality was still very good I just also would like to oh no go ahead their schedule is very hard they have I think the third topest schedule coming in and that could undercut them but I just I

Would just not count as the as the Celtics Now open up a with their win on Thursday and the Cavs lost the Celtics now have a seven game lead in the Eastern Conference as that happens I’m just saying don’t don’t count the Bucks out that’s all well listen what I was

Going to say was we’ve sort of we haven’t really talked about them a lot because they’ve just so consistently been dominant this season Celtics have a plus 10.4 net rating yeah which is alltime great like high 60 win team kind of stuff and I don’t know if maybe they’ll

Only end up at like 62 or 63 instead of 66 or 67 but like they are putting together the resume of a team that looks like an all-time great team and we will see if that translates to the playoffs or not but with all the injuries in the

East with the way they are playing it is turning into a situation where they have to be seen as the prohibitive favorites to get out of the East as of today and if they don’t get out of the East at minimum you got to look at this as a

Pretty gigantic failure yeah as it sits right now okay do prohibitive mean they can’t drink they have uh they have you know they have a some really big TV games coming up so we’re gonna get a real chance to see them play uh you know in high level and high-profile games but we

Just spent the last hour talking about all these teams all packed together and then there’s the team with the boat race way out front and I mean like it absolutely is easy to just you know take them a little bit for granted um Jackson by the way strength is oh sorry go ahead

Best home scoring margin the Celtics by over three and a half points best road margin huh by three and a half yeah like 13 13.7 at home yeah K OKC’s plus 10.1 I was going into tonight and then they’re also the team of the best road scoring margin I mean they’re they’re clearly

The best team in the NBA so far during this regular season yeah I know they’ve got to I mean look all they have left to do is prove it in the playoffs that’s like that they haven’t they’ve obviously struggled in the playoffs they’ve Advanced deep and had all these long

Series we’ve talked about it at nauseum but like they are doing everything required to look the part of a potentially all-time great team they’ve just got to follow it up with the playoffs and by the way since you mentioned it Brian just looked it up on our system coming into tonight so it’s

Not quite updated yet but it’s close enough hardest strength to schedule remaining in the league Phoenix second Milwaukee sixth Philly where are the Celtics on that uh the Celtics are 27th okay I thought they might be dead last but yeah I knew the magic are dead last the nuggets are second to last

That’s interesting Celtics are 27 War Warriors 26 Thunder 25 the war yeah the Warriors certainly have an advantage there if you’re if you’re um if you’re charting a team that could move up out of that play in in the west I really do think it’s Golden State because state by

The metric certainly is out of the play wow well they well maybe not out of the playin but but certainly to I mean they’re in 10th so so as of today because I looked at this the other day and I this I don’t believe includes tonight results so I will just say that

Uh as of right now the Warriors I believe are favored to get into the 78 game over yes so as of now the Warriors are favored to get into the 78 game over the warrior over the Lakers and over the Kings so in part because their schedule’s so much easier and the Lakers

Are in the top 10 in terms of most difficult who’s the other team in the playing in that in those uh nerdy numbers uh the Dallas Mavericks are are slightly ahead of the Phoenix Suns and I suspect when this runs after tonight’s games I would suspect that will be

Flipped with the tiebreaker going to Dallas yeah because it’s more it’s like very slightly Dallas ahead of Dallas behind Phoenix and I suspect now it’ll be the other way around well listen I am very proud of us that we talked about like 17 different teams on this podcast

And didn’t talk about the Lakers and talked about the Warriors in the last 90 seconds because I’ve got to go on get up and first take in the morning well all I will do for four straight hours is talk about the Warriors and Lakers they’re gonna have you talking about Christian

Woods Nea Fusion absolutely way before we talk about Isaiah Joe applaud McMahon let’s just applaud let’s applaud McMahon first of all for correctly saying a fusion big word perfectly said but his favorite guy Christian Wood know we had to get that right know chrisan wood player in the history of the league

Let’s just Let’s do let’s play a drinking game for all of our listeners who W can go back and watch get up and watch First Take we’ll do a drinking game how every time that Brian wior says Isaiah Joe on either show do a shot if

You’re sitting your desk at work do just have a have some have some liquor there do a shot every time I suspect you’re going to be pretty sober at lunchtime Stone Cold silver hey speaking of drinking you know what you know what I did a quick little Google search on no

This could go very bad no no akan Ohio breweries I’m thinking oh I’m just saying you know I got some I got some fawns in in mine you know some fawns starting to to grow up here seedlings Wendy might call them just saying just saying hey if it’s gonna be

A windy bobblehead night we might as well make a weekend of it that’s all I I mean I was I’m planning on being at the game but I cannot believe we’re back to fawns and seedlings again no I’m just saying what a what a how do you spell

Oh you’re talking about like uh baby deer again I was like I like what is he talking about I thought he was talking about like Palm yes we’re gonna just recycle this entire Insanity from the other day just bring it back forg about that I forgot about that hey what

Happens what happens if uh if Giannis gets poked in the eye this is a Giannis dad joke if I’ve ever heard one I have no idea all right thank you for listening to The Hoop Collective podcast thank you to Mr uh Mr bonm thank you Mr McMahon thank you to Jackson our

Produc thank you for listening and we’ll uh talk to you and see you next week adios amigos

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk the Thunder’s huge win over the Clippers, a potentially big decision for OKC, the Mavericks’ continued impressive play since the trade deadline, Luka’s case for MVP, the Knicks getting back on track, New York’s injury timelines and how difficult playoff scenarios could be in both conferences.

0:00 Welcome to the Hoop Collective
4:16 Big Post All-Star Statement For Thunder
21:48 Dallas Stays Hot Against Suns
40:11 Knicks Inching Towards Healthy
44:34 Potential Playoff Seeding Scenarios

#espn #nba #hoopcollective

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/​​​​​
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn​​​​​
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og​​​​​
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE​​​​​
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV​​