Celtics-Nuggets Title Favorites & LeBron Reaches 40,000 | The Hoop Collective

Celtics-Nuggets Title Favorites & LeBron Reaches 40,000 | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we’re doing right now on Sunday evening joining us from Las Vegas Nevada I don’t know why you’re there om but whatever it is I I hope you had luck and I know you

Earned it it’s our man om young Muk uh I got last minute tickets to New Edition residency I am a old school r B fan uh I got to give a shout out to Christina Pink who’s the sideline reporter uh for the clippers for hooking it up and uh it was

Incredible out a boy uh ban McMahon joining us from Dallas Texas what 90s band did you see in concert this weekend howdy Partners I did not see any 90s band did uh experience a crushing onepoint loss in our fifth grade League championship game the boys fought hard just couldn’t get that last

Shot to fall but look a learnning experience character building opportunity and you know I’m all about the bounce back baby that’s right McMahon is a you know Sidelines as a fifth grade boys basketball coach his his twin boys are on the team and you know from what I understand

You know I don’t know if you want to say that your which of your sons had a last second shot but it was a it was a tough ride home I think in the McMahon van today tough ride home tough ride home but you know what the process is right

And we had the talk Michael Jordan missed a bunch of gamewinners Kobe Bryant on and on and on WE the the pep talk was delivered also mentioned that the last shot of my basketball career was a Miss layup that would have tie the state championship game with a minute 30

Left but listen we we’ve got enough painful experience right now let’s talk about the NBA absolutely all right so um I gotta tell you guys um I saw a couple of things this weekend that made me wonder what we’re doing for the next couple of months

Because what I saw the Denver Nuggets do on Saturday night against the Lakers not that the entire performance was you know unbelievable uh but the game could have gone either way and I think the Lakers were even ahead um with maybe about five minutes left in the game if at the very

Least it was it was tied and uh cavius cwell Pope was out for the game games in La um and the Nuggets just were like yeah we’re gonna win it now and made like seven or eight consecutive plays at both ends without raising their pulse took the Lakers down to their knees and

Left him up the side of the road and you know ended up being I think a nine-point game but it really doesn’t matter could have been 12 could have been 14 just totally dominated it and it was so reminiscent of last year’s playoff series in the Western Conference Finals

Where the Lakers like looked like they were in good shape over and over and the Nuggets were like we’re just better than you the bronze broom series baby most competitive sweep in NBA history is my man Brian vindy vinor uh this one was very competitive but it left 0.0 Z doubt

About who the better team was and looked the Lakers are in ninth place or whatever it’s not like it was in doubt going into it but like watching the n i mean look in this game Michael Porter Jr Goes 10 of 10 from the field 10 of

10 and you know you’re watching Aaron Gordon who made several uh uh back cut dunks down the stretch of the game including one with you know with like about a minute to go where the Lakers defended joic like perfectly and it looked to all the world like he was

Shooting it but no he was setting up Gordon for a dunk and the dagger you say to yourself how can you possibly let Aaron Gordon who has I haven’t looked this up but something like probably 112 lob dunks from jic this year how can you let him

Do that how can you let him do it okay what how are you gonna guard yic oneon-one and if you two and then you rotate a guy to to Gordon on the back is Michael Porter Jr it’s a math problem I’m watching this going nobody’s touching these boys four out of seven in

The west probably not and it was a Lakers lead a two-point lead with less than four minutes remaining okay four Aaron Gordon hits the go-ahead three which was a by the way right with kcp out and then it’s a uh 16 to4 run that starts a 16

To4 run to end the game and obviously Joker’s got his fingerprints all over it Jamal Murray who’s one of the great clutch shop makers in the league has his fingerprints all over it like how do you let Aaron Gordon you know cut for a a lob because Joker’s got 35 points

Efficiently and you’ve got no answers for how to stop him and he’s lumbering down the lane for what looks like another layup and so worried about that that stuff happens and dude Anthony Davis is a top three big man defender in the NBA and there might be people who

Are upset that I I said top three he’s Elite he has no chance against Joker he couldn’t do anything with him in the finals couldn’t do anything with him the other night and again we’ve talked about this I don’t see anybody in the league who does have a chance to stop Joker and

That’s why I think the only way you beat the Nuggets in the playoffs if they are healthy is if you outscore them you’re going to have to put some a bunch of points on the board to have a chance to beat the Nuggets because good luck uh

Stopping them I mean couple things one with Anthony Davis I think actually it’s way more important for him offensively to have a good game against joic than defensively you’re not going to stop Joker but what you can do is get him into foul trouble and I just I think

Davis is one of the big men in the league that is capable of doing that but he just you know he’s got to apply himself way more than 17 points against jic it’s got it’s got to be way more impactful that number two I would say um

It with the with the Nuggets now it’s come down to little things I think that they can find motivation in and have you noticed this season when the Nuggets play the Lakers I think the Nuggets beat the Lakers on the opening night which of course they were pretty motivated after

Hearing Anthony Davis talk about them in the preon okay uh then I think they played in La again was it Kobe statue night I believe it was Kobe statue night and I’m sure the Nuggets were looking to spoil that night and what happens last night it was about LeBron right 40K baby

Nuggets definitely gave him his moment and then they spoiled that so I think the next time the Lakers play the Nuggets next season it should really be a dull night that is giveway or nothing okay and the other thing too I would say is you also saw who was in the house

Last night Novak jokovic was in the house and I don’t think Joker is going to have a bad game in front of him pretty much a bad game but I think he was motivated to play well in front of you know arguably tennis’s greatest player of all time

Well arguably the best Serbian athlete of all time and I say arguably um I’m sure I might be leaving some Serbian out I can’t claim to be that vers the uh their history but Joker’s got a pretty good chance to establish himself at the top of that

List man yeah uh you know after I think it was don’t hold me this 100% but I’m pretty sure it was right after the ER Gordon dunk there was a shot of the Nuggets bench and Michael Malone had turned and was headed back to the bench

Clapping he was going to go sit down almost he almost like a red hour Box Cigar oh yeah my work is done here guys all right hey everybody when’s the bus leaving yeah keep talking about the Lakers all we’re gonna do is win the West they they

Have a certain Swagger when it comes to both La teams but the Lakers man that is a team that they will they never have a shortage of inspiration and motivation to play those guys I think you saw last night Jamal Murray it looked he he loves

Taking the air out of that building he absolutely does and I think that there was a video afterwards you know there’s always a social video from the Nuggets of um Malone kind of giving out the you know the defensive belt of the night for the defensive player but then he goes

Over the statistics to the guys and he points out guys that play well and obviously point out Michael Porter Jr 10 for 10 who’s been playing great of late and then Jamal Murray say you know 2411 and six and Jamal Murray acts like he didn’t know his stats espe the 11

Assists and he goes and then he starts tapping himself on the back of the shoulder for a good job so uh they they get up for these I mean look I think they might have gotten a little bored probably and they were a little banged up before the All-Star break and now

They’re on a tear and I think you know obviously there was a I think uh Joker had said he texted his teammates or kcp had said Joker had sent a text to them to say get ready we’re let’s get ready this is the stretch run now let’s win it

Again and they are motivated and fired up to do that yeah they won a row and yeah they they they stumbled into the break uh probably kind of you know we’re looking forward to Cabo or whatever hav’t lost their last three games they haven’t lost coming out of the break six

In a row and lo and behold as we pod right now they’re in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference and you talk about searching for motivation hey uh homec court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs when you play in the mile high cities pretty good

Motivation when when you’re a team that went undefeated through the West at home last year in the playoffs speaking of Cabo where’s Bon Temps this weekend I it’s one of those one of those cities where they uh serve Pacifico and you go out on fancy boat rides with the beautiful

Sunsets I just know bontemp is out of the country and listen I’ll say this not Canada I respect this every single picture I’ve seen on his wife’s Instagram of bontemps now he did have a little RJ Richard Jefferson going with like three or four buttons on button but

That’s gross man I know he said he said he was he was dressed by Bon Temps is on vacation right now like family a family wedding but no no Bon Temps had two Pacifico in hand in every single picture that I saw two okay double you can

Yeah does it’s it’s good times I don’t how do you say times in espanol veses veses is any is anybody willing to take a bet with me do you think he did not watch a minute of Celtics Warriors from wherever he was at oh there’s no chance B man hey look at

This look at the guys look at this guys he’s got it on his phone he was not watching it because we’re gonna talk about tus Warriors in a second but um yeah mmes like bons was on vacation as he’s in as he’s in Vegas um yeah right

This is this is a little you know this is a one day trip it’s just a one day trip all right I got you you didn’t cancel on us so I appreciate that um so look guys I I got hotel reservations in Denver for the finals I’m not just

Saying that figuratively I got them okay and I do this every year about January I put I pick my my teams you I know the finals dates I don’t want to have to worry about booking the the uh the the the the rooms when everybody else trying

To book them I got to you know when the finals get set I got I’m working like 20 hours a day um I did not have that’s a that’s a a a preemptive windy sleep update I like it thank you I appreciate it I didn’t have

Miami on the boards last year um had a scramble there but uh another place I got hotel reservations for the finals is Boston Massachusetts now I had I had finals reservations in Boston last year hey cute little six game win streak that the nuggets are on what are the uh 11 11 11

Think the average margin of Victory is like 92 points during that streak I mean wow okay they played the warriors on Sunday um The Warriors had won eight consecutive Road games it was the fourth game of a trip but it wasn’t a back-to-back or anything there was a five minute stretch

In the first half of this game that was the most that I can remember and my memory is fading I’m in my mid-40s now there was a FIV minute stretch in the middle of this game in the middle of the second quarter of this game that was the most

Lopsided I’ve maybe ever seen in an NBA game what the Celtics were doing to the Warriors forget about the the the varsity and the JV it was like a college team playing a High School freshman team they did anything they wanted anything and they were doing it in every facet of

The game and it was I mean look Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum were going to work okay I think Jaylen Brown had 19 points in the first quarter um Tatum was playing absolute daddy ball on the interior which is what you want to see from him and then he was also making

Like 27 Footers but the warriors were getting their butts kicked by Hatton Pritchard and Luke Cornett and Sam Hower like those guys were flying up there was one play it was a 23 to1 run to end the first quarter for the for the Celtics where cornette does the the contest but

He did it in the lane double hand block and he threw like a like a three quarter Court pass to Payton Pritchard who beat everybody back and scored pton Pritchard doing step backs the I think the Celtics made 14 of their first 23p pointers I know that in

The first half the Celtics had 20 assists to one turnover the m Mastery that they were doing and the way that they were taking the Warriors and just putting them in a headlock and just rubbing them like Nolan Ryan on Robin Ventura how many of our listeners will

Get that reference McMahon all of Texas will one of the most iconic every year on the anniversary that of that thing that makes its way to Twitter if you don’t know what I’m talking about just Google Nolan Ryan and Ryan Ventura that was sorry Ryan Robin Ventura and you

Will um you will get it um a friend of mine who’s a big Nolan Ryan fan uh McMahon has a has a picture of it autographed by bothan autographed a few of those by the way Nolan was in his mid-40s at the time so don’t talk about

The mid 40s like it’s old Nolan Ryan was still striking nudes out and whooping their butts when they didn’t like it all you need to know is Robin Ventura charged the mound Nolan put him in a headlock and bashed the top of his head about seven times the top of his head

With his fist oh yeah W one of the one of the worst decisions ever made by a player that’s what this first half was like and like right out of the gates the the the clip the uh Celtics won the tip went down and the Warriors played like

Lethargic and Jaylen Brown hit a three like in the first four seconds of the game and I was like not exactly a on their balls of their feet start for the Warriors so maybe this was baked in at the end of a road trip but dude I don’t

Care how bad the warriors were you don’t beat a team by 50 without and by the way uh shout out to Stats Williams and the stats and information group the third time this season the Celtics have won by 50 plus that is a first in NBA history

And I joke that the average margin of victory during this 11 game winning streak was 92 points that’s an exaggeration it’s 22.1 points per game that is their average margin of victory during an 11 game winning streak toas it’s the best ever for any

Team on a streak of 10 plus games I mean the the Celtics right now are a historically dominant basketball team and oh by the way christs porzingis didn’t even play today the guy who’s been I don’t know second best player on the team third best one of their you

Know one of their key cogs the Celtics if if you just look at the numbers the Celtics are an absolute historical Juggernaut right now and they are clearly the best team in the NBA during this regular season now I would still pick the Nuggets to win the

Championship and a lot of that’s just because I’ve got that much belief in Joker and that group and their ability to close out games you know we seen it from them in the in uh the finals we haven’t seen the Celtics get over the hump but I believe me picking the

Nuggets would be a minority opinion if that series uh if if what looks like is almost inevitable happens when we get that series for the finals I I think look they’re regular season blowouts that sometimes you don’t put a lot of stock into them I’m putting

Stock into this one but not not most what this means for the Warriors but what this means for the Celtics to me I felt like when I watched them in the finals that year when they played this when they played the Warriors they just did not know they were too young of a

Team to know how to win that big game uh at home especially like when Steph Curry took over that one game and had that Legendary game and then in the regular season you saw that when they would go to Golden State Golden State still kind of had this mental hold over them you

Know and I feel like today’s game was basic or Sunday’s game was basically about you know we’re trying to basically get out from that we’re over that we are not going to be you know you guys don’t have this over us anymore I think this

Is a game where they’re able to get over the hump mentally against a team like Golden State and who knows what they’re capable accomplishing from here on out I Am with You McMahon I do think that if they do face the Nuggets I will probably be picking the Nuggets just because

Until someone stops joker I’m just going to keep picking Joker because there there there starting five and and their Championship experience now and joic I feel like uh until I see someone beat them I don’t think anybody’s gonna beat them that’s the way is but the Celtics I

Mean what they’re doing now feels like Golden State with Kevin Durant that’s what it feels like or it feels like that interesting that you say that because with this win today the Celtics point differential you know average margin of victory has moved into the top five all

Time I think they’re at 11.4 and they’re right next to the 201617 Warriors which won fewer than 73 games but when they did win dominated and of course dominated the Cavs in the the finals 4-1 so I mentioned that the 11 game winning streak 22.1 Point margin of Victory average

Best of any double figure winning streak over the last six games 29.8 two 50o wins in that span plus they blew the Mavs out by 28 uh I thought the Mavs were but um that’s no longer the case they they’ve cooled um but that 29.8 average margin victory over a six

Game span that bumped the 7172 Lakers down to second place for the largest margin of victory over a six game span that was the team that won 69 games which was then an NBA record so team that won 30 was it 37 in a row was that

That year was that the was 33 in a row I believe it was that year again that was a 69 win season so you know the the The quick summary of this is the numbers are telling us the Celtics right now are one of the best teams that has ever played in this

League now you don’t get to claim that distinction without finishing off by winning playoff series but ask the team that they beat today about that one exactly but that that is the level that the Celtics are playing at and obviously they’re top six and look I didn’t like

The porzingis deal I thought it was kind of a wonky fit this is why Brad Stevens gets paid a lot more money than I do it’s obviously been a great move he’s fit in phenomenally and and give porzingis a lot of credit for you know he’s a he’s in a completely different

Mind frame than he was when he left New York and came to Dallas he he doesn’t care whether he’s 1 a 1B the third option whatever the guy just wants to uh win and and is happy to be on a on a do team but the pieces fit together

Phenomenally you know the one thing I will say when we’re talking nuggets and Celtics the nuggets have an easy way to crank things up come playoff time and that’s stop playing backup centers Aaron Gordon are backup five we saw him do it last year in the playoffs and and that

Eliminates their their biggest weakness where uh the Celtics don’t necessarily have that simple switch they can flip um I’m also not sure what the Celtics biggest weakness is it’s it’s a lot more difficult to find one the Celtics had the largest halftime lead in the history of their franchise

Today again against the Golden State Warriors who were fully healthy I think fully healthy oh no Andrew wiin hurt too P I take that back and it and it wouldn’t have mattered and Steve C basically said it he basically said hey we’re flushing this one we weren’t beating Boston today

He he flushed at the half because he he put the starters on the bench start the second half Joe moula started his starters in the in the second half and they extended it was the biggest lead in the history of the the team they extended it before they finally you know

You know I don’t know waved the the green flag whatever it was uh to they until they pulled out the the Victory Cigar come on it’s Boston baby it’s the Victory Cigar yeah and then they lighted that thing up the the Celtics were uh Celtics fans had nothing to do so they

Just started doing the wave which you don’t see very often in uh in NBA games because you know you know if the home team yeah the game’s usually more competitive and if the home team’s winning you know the fans go home but they didn’t want to even leave they were

Just so happy to watch that and I it was a Mastery that I’ve I’ve rarely ever seen um and by the way so they ended up going 15 to 24 I think in the first half on threes the last three that the last like two or three that they put up were

Wide open like they could have put up they could have put up 90 it wouldn’t have taken you weren’t far away from seeing a 90 point first half against the Warriors do you think Tatum should be considered a legit has a real chance to win it not just be fifth on the ballot

MVP candidate you guys know how I feel about Tatum I’m a huge huge believer um when you have a team that’s this talented and a checkered history in the playoffs fair or not I mean he did get hurt in that game seven last year against the the

Heat I don’t know how much it affected him he kept he went to the locker room and came back I don’t know um he you know he did he was playing with an injury the year before in that Series in the finals where he kind of disappeared I don’t know I just think

That that that weighs against him his team is so good and his playoff history is checkered I think it’s sort of the inverse as normal which is um you know you have to win at the highest level the regular season Celtics have already done that they’ve already been the number one

Overall seed so it’s he doesn’t get the proper credit so I I I it’s hard for me to I believe he’s like you know I’ve I have said that this could be the summer of Jason Tatum yeah we could get to Mid August and say that Jason Tatum is the

King of the world last year it was joic was the king of the world Jason Tatum could could win the NBA title this year and win the Bill Russell trophy you can see him I’ve said this you can close your eyes and see him holding one in one

Larry O’Brien in one hand and Bill Russell in the other July 1 he will sign the largest contract in history of the NBA he will go past Jaylen Brown he’s already qualified for the super max they’re goingon to offer it to him it’ll be you know I haven’t seen the numbers

But it’ll be 320 whatever million and then he’s going to go play for the US Olympic team if he’s healthy and he could win the gold medal and you know L none of those are assumptions other than the contract the contract you can assume yeah I’ll go

Ahead and make that assumption but you know he could end up having the one of the great runs we’ve ever seen that’s all sitting there on the table for him right now or not so so Wendy just did a whole lot of praising but the answer to

My question was no no no yeah and I agree I like I I’ve said he’s a second tier Superstar which people think is like some kind of insult to me that just means he’s in the discussion for the fifth or sixth best player in the league

And not the first but I agree with everything you said and I think that’s fair I think that’s fair I would say this if if if Boston continues to dominate like this and totally runs away with the Eastern Conference and obviously the NBA’s top seed um and you

Throw in a couple big detonations from Tatum I mean I think to me he creeps into my top three I I gotta I gotta put stock in like if this is an all-time season for the Boston Celtics and if they really are going to continue this level of like

Golden State KD domination alltime domination how can I not put him in my top three if he’s the best player on the best team well you got a chance for for a detonation on Thursday night because that’s when the Celtics visit the nuggets and if there’s one blemish on

The Celtics uh resume right now it’s that they are two and four against those top teams in the west including having lost to Denver at home and having lost of the Clippers at home uh very big game uh actually happened in the NBA on Sunday with uh the Clippers traveling up

To Minnesota to place the Timberwolves oh I don’t know if you were at the game that they played a couple of weeks ago where the Wolves came in to LA and whipped whipped the Clippers by 20 and I’m pretty sure PG was healthy for that game Um so yeah I mean they this this is a team that’s had their number but not just had their number just has looked dominant against them and have kind of trolled them as well I mean Anthony Davis has said on the court to I think Kawai was caught on on uh overheard or

Caught on film saying it and then I think when they left uh when they left crypto after that game that you just mentioned um they were laughing it up and kind of like the overall feeling was that Minnesota felt that the Clippers were old they’re old and slow and

Minnesota has no problems and I think they like that matchup Anthony Edward who uh who never sh Anthony Edward yeah he never shotes away from say what’s on his mind yes so an you know I think uh obviously a ton of swagger from him but

I always I thought I it was eye opening to me I was like man he he calling kawhai old you know what I mean to his face so that to me is real interesting and I think the Clippers not that old I know he he sometimes acts like he’s old

But he’s not that old well and like 37 you might he might say old they’re also wise and if there’s criticism of of ant and then pop back up again in this game down the stretch uh wisdom is not always the way you would describe his play in

Crunch time and there was you know he had a couple of pretty big blunders in crunch time today you know one uh it’s a tie game he drives and he just kind of throws the ball we haven’t even said what happened in the game yet oh my bad

The well tell people the Clippers won I just want to sort of set the stage here the Clippers have had a couple of bad losses recently um and I know Paul George was out for a while missed a few games with the knee injury they lost recently to the Thunder I believe at

Home they had that loss to the wolves and they lost at OKC oh at OKC and then just disastrous and I know I don’t think PG played in that game disastrous loss to the Lakers last week blown a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter basically LeBron got you know scorching hot from

Three but it’s not a good look and it was technically on their home floor that makes it even worse yeah teic so they so they go up to Minnesota and you know it’s a it’s an important game for Minnesota Minnesota had a loss on Friday um ant Edwards

Missed the second half of that game and um they lost in overtime to the Kings and had a real winnable game slip through their fingers there so they get the Clippers come in and um is an absolutely Rock fight game a game that you don’t normally see um The Wolves

Tend to play more defensive struggles um neither team broke 90 came game came it was the style of play when new addition was popular right I mean this was mid this was mid90s basketball hey that’s my that’s my kind of basketb I love love season a team won without

Scoring at least 90 points that’s the 8988 you’re talking to someone halftime score in today’s League are you kidding me you’re talking to someone who used to cover Nick’s Nicks uh heat battles and it was blood ball back in the 90s and I loved it because I meant every

Possession meant something at the end let me let me set the stage for you here the Clippers have not been playing their best basketball since they returned from their Grammys trip on like February 7th I think they at one point they were just alternating wins and losses and they

Lost like I think five of eight games right before and coming out of the All-Star break until they beat Washington which started this now two game winning streak but what was more disturbing about the way they were playing defensively they couldn’t stop by the way the Clippers one by one we

Haven’t we we we’ve kind of delayed announcing now go ahead they won 8988 but but prior like they had not been playing well defensively and you saw it in the Laker game yes LeBron’s greatness did come through in that fourth quarter but they also allowed him to to outscore

Them 19 to 16 in the fourth he had five threes but they weren’t stopping anyone really they also when they got into the pain offensively against these long athletic Wing type Defenders from like New Orleans or Minnesota or Oklahoma City Sacramento defensively and even the Lakers who give them problems with their

Length obviously Anthony Davis inside it’s like they their offense just becomes stagnant every time they drive into the paint either the ball just like gets knocked out of their hands and it just delays things or every shot at The Rim is either rejected or it’s challenged against Oklahoma City at

Oklahoma City the first game out of the All-Star break in the third quarter Oklahoma City blocked the blocked them seven times it it and it felt like it was 14 that’s what it felt like in that game and they ran away with that game and so the Clippers knew they hadn’t

Been playing well and then they lose Russell Westbrook with a broken hand um against Washington on Friday which I think is you know I know he’s a polarizing figure I think that’s going to hurt them because they need his energy and hustle he’s a key rotation player I’ll give him that regardless of

What think the the the reason why I might also hurt them is because bone bones Highland’s now in their rotation yeah Ian well yeah bones is gonna bones is gonna have to be ready but like I I think they they’re going to miss that energy hustle because they’re on on many

Nights they are an older team that does not have that juice especially when they play like coming up in a weekend or two they’re going to have a back-to-back at home where they play 12:00 games in both games it’s like 12:30 and one o’clock they are terrible in those type of ma

Games where they actuallyy that aen and Russell West actually had been playing good defense 101 defense probably the best defense of his career but this game right here signifies to them they can’t play the defense that is expected of them they held Minnesota to 88 points this is a

Very good defensive team for for them now they fell behind I think it was like 16 to2 in this game I think that at one point they were down like 30 to 15 Norm pow came off the bench and saved him because he he scored 24 points but he

Just kept hitting a flurry of Threes including one at like think the end of the third quarter where he banked it in that was absolutely monstrous for them but this shows them and it shows tyo they can play the defense that they are supposed to play they can be engaged

They can be like they can care they had not been locked in for a long time and also they can overcome an 0 for 10 shooting game from James Harden because James Harden had 10 assists tonight and I think they’re I don’t know I think they’re like 17- two or something like

That when James Harden has 10 assists or more so they are able to overcome a bad offensive game because they can lock in defensively first time in Harden’s career he played at least 25 minutes and didn’t have a bucket uh you know the other thing though is this kind of is

Why you are hesitant to believe that the wolves are a real Bonafide Contender because they are a flawed offensive team with as talented as Anthony Edwards is he’s a 22y old who is learning to be a go-to guy and it does rear its head in crunch time you

Know as I was trying to say earlier he had a terrible turnover where he drives and kind of jumps up in the air and gets caught and just tosses the ball out and basically he should have been credited for the assist on Norm Pal’s uh transition windmill because pal runs

Down the loose ball and it’s he’s Off to the Races you know he he missed a three I didn’t think it was a great shot where you know he was off the dribbles the contested three and then game on the line they’re down three with I don’t

Know what there was I think maybe like 13 seconds they had a timeout that’s they they they were they had the ball with a timeout like 13 seconds left assume they drew up a play Four three-pointer in the in the Huddle yeah and and look the wol or I’m sorry the

Clippers did a great job of denying ant a good look and then cat a good look and ant got the ball back and then he drives for the dunk with three seconds up and the problem there is not that he took a two is that they burned 10 seconds uh

With only 13 or so to go and all the Clippers did was inbounded the ball threw it down Court kawhai Taps it buzzer is gone and that’s it so again the Wolves ranked 23rd in the league in clutch offensive rating uh they ranked 21st in the league in overall clutch

Rating and like Conley is the guy who calms things down but you’re going to want the ball in the hands of your best player and Anthony Edwards He’s not you know one of these guys who just kind of is this natural basketball Savant he’s an unbelievable Talent he has absolutely

No fear but he’s 22 and he’s learning what it’s like to be by way just to make the record clear here’s what aunt said about the last possession that I really wanted a three-pointer Finch was like take the two if we get it but I wanted

The three so I was trying to get the three I tried to turn around and hit Carl towns but his man was there really bad read by me and Finch said they had a couple things going on in the final sequence but it wasn’t to go for a quick

Two that’s not what they were looking for yeah so let me um let me backtrack to when I said that uh with the last time they played in La where a couple of were heard kind of like you know laughing it up that was a writer named

Justin Russo who who wrote about it and saw that um I will say this yes Tim you’re right Anthony ERS is a guy that’s still figuring out I think to a certain degree Carl Anthony towns still figuring out too he started this game on fire and then did not finish that game well

During the struggles of the Clippers during this last like eight n game stretch Paul George just kept saying look we’re a veteran team we obviously want the number one seed or the highest seed we can get and even Kawhi Leonard say said this as long as we finish in

The top six or out of the plan and the whole thing is we got to be playing well going to the playoffs they feel because they’re a veteran team whatever the matchup is they’ll figure out a way like tonight to today’s game or Sunday that was the type of game where basically

They felt like okay you guys blissed Us in the beginning it looked bad I mean it looked really bad and then they come back and now they’re in the thick of it and now all a sudden you see the Wolves looking a little uncertain and these guys are looking confident the clippers

Because they’ve been there and they know they’ve got Kawai and they feel like any any series I would say they’re probably not going to admit this but outside of facing Denver Denver is a problem for them because of joic of course but I think they feel like any other matchup

Even if it’s Oklahoma City had their number Minnesota um even though these matches may look bad in the regular season I think they like their odds in a seven game series because they have so many veterans and so many experienced alltime future Hall of Famers well it

Was a great win for the wolves I’m sorry it was a great win for the Clippers tough spot for the wolves um but my opinion about the nuggets and the Celtics doesn’t change based on Sunday’s results but it was a really so you will not be booking a hotel in Los Angeles

For the f I do have a hotel booked in Los Angeles yes I do those are the three places I have them booked is Los Angeles Denver and Boston because but he’s got it booked for the Lakers yeah no no no that I do not oh

Yeah oh yeah that I do not he’s got he’s got those purple and gold pums Pals baby he’s booking the lake so on Saturday LeBron became the first ever member of the 40,000 Point Club I don’t know if they’ll ever be somebody who will join

Him I hope there is because it means we’ see another absolutely unbelievable score I hope we see it in our lifetimes um there are seven guys who have hit 30,000 points um LeBron Kareem Abdul Jabar Carl Malone Kobe Jordan Dirk and Will Chamberlain and so I thought maybe actually I think it

Was uh McMahon’s idea um you can take credit what guys do we think could join the 30,000 point Club I don’t know if we can project anybody’s making 40,000 n we’re gonna we’re aiming for 30 40s I’m not I agree with you I’m not sure we’ll ever see

Another one in and I’ll just say the layup Durant is in ninth on the scoring list and he’s got 28,300 uh he should get there with in by you know if he stays healthy by the end of next season he should get there yeah that’s the that’s the win not if so

There’s your there’s your layup so just to be clear the only other player in active who has over 25,000 is James Harden and he’s got two more two more Harden and and and his teammate Russell Westbrook oh that’s right Russell Westbrook he he’s he put his nose over it

2,98 as we speak both of those guys have 25,000 points okay McMahon who’s a guy that you think can get to 30,000 well you mentioned those two and I would bet on Harden although I don’t know that it’s a sure thing I do think he’s got three

More good years left um and then you know if maybe he’ll need a little bit more but I I think he’ll be around long enough to get over the hump I and I would bet against Russ because he is going to be a bench player the rest of

His career and I’m not sure how many more years he’s going to be in the league so the other guy I’ll throw into the conversation you have to Steph Curry he’s at 23,25 he is in his mid-30s that jumper is aging awfully well um and I I do think he’s got like

Four more Elite years and then some you know probably some time too so I I I I I would bet on Steph getting there I think Steph’s gonna get there um I don’t I don’t even think it’s that I don’t think it’s that risky of a bet um

As long as he stays healthy and then I would say if we if the NBA keeps the rules the way they are and the way this offense is and everything’s geared towards scoring now I don’t know you know maybe they think everything’s geared too much to scoring and and it’s

Punishing defenses and maybe there’ll be another rules change on the road but let’s just assume that this this offense and this scoring stays the same I like Luca dude I I mean the way he scores points and I don’t care if he ends up leaving Dallas in a couple years from

Now and goes to another team and has more Talent on his team I think the way Luca scores points and if he plays and has a healthy career short of him just saying I’m sick of basket and I’m gonna retire I think he can get there I agree

With that 100% And he’s he’ll pass 11,000 next week um he just had his 25th birthday a few days ago um and the only thing that would have held him back was uh a lack of durability and you know missing a bunch of games because that’s the thing about LeBron like obviously

It’s talent but he was so durable for so long and he’s still playing at such an elite level 21 years in um and to Luca’s credit he has taken conditioning and diet and all those things very seriously hiring his own staff to try with the

Mavericks um so I I think he’s a pretty pretty strong bet so I looked up how many points Giannis has Giannis has turned 29 this year I I just landed on him right now how many, 18,99 that’s not as many as I thought he would have um that’s another another 12,000

Points and he he is a absolute score he’s become an absolute scoring machine Um I I don’t see him slowing down for a long time and I think he wants to play for a long time 29 he’s 29 yeah I’ll say this he has more points now than Dirk did when Durk turned 30 okay but Durk Durk scored a obviously

Durk aged awfully well as a s foot shooter first and foremost who he was more athletic than people want to remember back in his day but he didn’t you know Giannis just out overpowers and out athletes people on a consistent basis although I’m sorry the guy is his

Ball handling is extremely skilled for a seven foot uh physical freak I can’t believe I’m saying this because I think there are many nights when we be honest and the ability that he can score and get to the rim is very easy right but when you compare him to Durk when Durk

Developed that outside shot scoring for him became easier and less taxing when der one Leger when Durk when D could Abus people in the post right you know when he could when he when he when he can score on people in the post or score on people outside

Any way he wanted to it’s just less taxing than Giannis having to get to the rim all the time and if Giannis has to score another 12,000 points having to always try to get to the rim I don’t know that’s that’s going to wear him

Down you know what I mean he has to find a way to be able to get doesn’t make free throws well you know you know all right but you know what the main average is over 30 points per game and and it ain’t the first season that he’s done

That I would bet on Giannis two other guys who are active who are over 20,000 points are Dame Lillard and Demar d rozan d rozan has 23,000 Lillard has 20,000 Lillard is 33 yeah I don’t know man Uh I that 10th you know he needs fifth he he’s only two-thirds of the way

There I don’t think soil’s become an issue obviously um I I would bet against both those guys and look not that there’s any shame in finishing your career there seven guys all time yeah yeah I mean there ain’t a whole lot of 25,000 Point scorer I think they’ll both

Get there I don’t think they’ll get you know who’s not far behind Giannis is Anthony Davis 17,289 Paul George I think is at 17,000 549 so that’s neither one of those guys is getting there I think we gota you know you you you tapped into the younger generation with Luca I will note

Obviously he’s not going to add to this for the next three or four weeks at least but Trey Young’s only about 600 points behind Luca so you know same draft class obviously traded for each other on draft night I think you’ve at least got to consider uh his possib he

Has until this finger surgery he has been very dur able you know I I don’t necessarily know if you like the odds of that continuing because he is just small I mean it’s tough yeah that’s the thing you know generally generally guys who are smaller don’t

Tend to age as great now I say that Chris Paul is still out there playing at a reasonably high level so um by the way speaking of scoring um and the rare err um you know LeBron uh Saturday played his 125th consecutive game where he scored in double

Figures there’s only been seven guys in the history of the league who have 1,200 double fig games in total well but by the way playing 1,00 games in the NBA means like period means You’ had a great career I mean that’s a record that’s not going broken I I saw today that Al

Horford became just the sixth player in history to have 14,000 points like 8,500 rebounds 3,400 assists and 1,200 blocks they drew that those boxes and weird numbers but still that the idea of you know being able to score rebound assist and block you know the wemi basically is

What we’re talking about here so I wonder how many blocks Lebron had in his career because he’s never been a shot block he’s got 1100 except for the chase Downs yes the chase Downs he’s got he’s got 1100 and 990 of them are Chase Downs

Right by the way you know he had two Chase Downs in the first half against the Clippers and that the chase down always is a barometer to me of like o LeBron wants us tonight and he had two in the first half and I remember thinking like I I remember asking some

CPP like don’t you guys hear coming from behind can’t you feel him coming from behind let alone hear him stopping as he’s coming from behind behind and then he did it to Jordan po like the next night he had another one against the Wizards and and and I was think like why

Don’t people try to like you have to dunk it you can’t just lay it up Jordan Paul actually tried to dunk it except his problem was he cocked the ball back and when he went to the ball back LeBron caught him but I’m just like don’t these players I mean he’s died it

A million times don’t you feel him coming from behind because again just in the spirit of wemy what he’s been doing um you know people were like oh my God LeBron’s got 40,000 points 10,000 uh rebounds and 10,000 uh assists he’s also got 5,000 Steals and

1,000 blocks or 1100 blocks I mean you know the counting stats for LeBron are are uh are pretty wild are we missing anybody is there anybody yeah we I’ve got a few and and one of those is wimy okay I thought about wimy too it’s all about projection here but he’s 1100

Points and change into it as a guy who is 20 years old um you know obviously people are going to wonder is he going to be durable I know this he’s going to do everything within his power from a work and Science and preparation standpoint absolutely to maximize his

Chances of being able to stay on the floor he wants to be a legend as we’ve talked about recently um even if he if if he loses athleticism as he gets older man’s going to be 7 foot5 shooting touch and he’s going to develop skills and they’re going like I

Believe he will play with great point guard play for the majority of his career the Spurs need to find that sooner than later but like if you’re a great point guard um over the next 15 years Victor wanyama is going to be a guy who’s going to be attracted to

Play with so I would bet on wimy and then uh om do you have any other guys you want to throw out there as guys you put down I mean Shay just turned 25 yeah sh Shay is the other guy that comes to mind I mean wouldn’t be my concern is

That San Antonio going to play him all the time too and not rest him in certain games and things like that I tell you one guy that decide how often he rests as this I tell you alltime great and MVP that I don’t think will get there but

It’s not because he can’t do it is Nicole yic who’s at 13,585 as I look at this just because he will be with this horses way before he gets close to 30 th000 points and and he while he can score I don’t think he’s ever a guy

That’s going to average 30 plus uh per game because he would rather have 17 assists than 34 points um let let let’s talk about Shay real quick he’s in that same draft class as Luca and Trey young I mentioned Luca’s almost at 11,000 Trey Young’s at 10,300 and change Shay’s at

At almost 8,400 right now and obviously because of they were protecting his health and their Lottery position for a couple of years he missed a lot of games during the the two years of a total there was total rebuild time in OKC um you know he he ain’t missing

Games now and he’s in the second straight year where he’s averaging 30 plus points per game um and he does have a game I think that’s going to age well because like he is quick he is athletic but man he scores like Luca by the way he’s scoring off of footwork and

Skill as a finisher and and you know the ability to just make plays after he picks up his dribble and I do think that’s something that’ll age well and give him a chance he’s o over the last two seasons he’s played about 130 games and he’s averaged

31 points in those two games and he’s 25 yeah granted the NBA could pass some new rules that allowed the The Defenders to tackle perimeter players but I don’t short of that I don’t see him slowing down on that not well and and he gets to the line a ton which

Right that that’s part of stuff I have I have a little quiz for you guys as I as I look at the scoring list of all time how many points do you think Joel and beat is at he’s missed a ton of time it’s like it’s like 11,000 12,000 oh that’s good mcmah

11,919 very good yeah he’s he’s not hopefully he’ll get to 20 but he’s he’s never going to be a guy he might never be all NBA again simp because he might not play 65 games now he’s gonna be a Hall of Famer but he’s not going to be

Like a historic alltime scorer by the way Shay you men you get the line last two years he’s like um he’s like averaging 10 free throws and shooting 90% on them yeah so and he’s about to have a second straight year of scoring more than 2,000 points you started start stringing those

Together and that’s how you look up and oh he’s 20 some odd thousand he’s knocking on the door 30 yeah got two guys in one draft class that both have a chance all right any he guesses who one of them celebrating a birthday uh today Sunday Jason Tatum Jason Tatum is not

The leading scorer in his draft class right now do you know who he is I don’t a a rookie of the year runner up rookie run out of time just tell me Donovan Mitchell ah yeah Donovan Mitchell a and again this is Sunday afternoon 11,471 Tatum 114 he’s not playing on

Donovan’s not playing on Sunday so okay so I think both those guys are going to have legitimate shots they’re both scoring you know Tatum’s had a 30o per game season they’re both scoring in the high 20s um Donovan’s starting to have some durability issues he is so he missed his

13th game they say a knee I it might be a quad he missed his 13th game of the year on Sunday and you know he’s he’s a guy who would make all-nba I believe he’s oh yeah flirting with the 65 he doesn’t need the all NBA he’s not

Supermax eligible so he’s not incentiv I mean I’m sure he wants to win all all NBA but he’s he’s not incentivized financially to uh to do that but I’ll say this Donovan is short by NBA standards he is not small he is built like an NFL running back just with you

Know super wingspan he uh he he plays with 228 pounds yeah he’s also become a better shooter as his as his I can I can see him scoring for a long time long as he stays healthy even like in his like like mid to late 30s if he keeps playing I

Can see him scoring it’s a good point and then Tatum 6 foot n thre level score you know a long range shooter with playmaking skills I mean like I like Tatum’s chances um and then there’s two other guys who I think at least are candidates that are active right now um

One we just got done talking about a lot a 22y old who’s learning on the job as a go-to guy but he doesn’t miss games he’s an absolute tank and an incredible Talent I’m talking about Anthony Edwards yeah 6,400 and change points uh right now uh the other one and this

Is a guy who he’s had some durability issues he just suffered a pretty nasty ankle turn uh Saturday night talking about Devin Booker who seems like he’s been in the league forever I think he’s still 27 years old though only 27 and he’s over 14,000 career points I don’t

Think he’s getting there I don’t think he’s getting there because I don’t think he’s got I don’t think he’s ever going to want to be that type of guy I think he’s always going to want want to distribute a little bit too but I could be wrong

Well he’s Distributing a little bit this year what’s he averaging he’s averaging like uh 28 a game well that’s true um by the way Bob pet it’s 43rd on the list McMahon 20,800 points hey uh in a moment here before we go I just want to pass along the

Condolences to Chris mortonson’s family um just really sad news that we got on Sunday ESPN um got to know him a little bit I remember one time uh sitting in the Green Room in Bristol and watching him work a story uh it was a big story

At the time and uh it was really awesome to watch that I’ll never forget that so uh too soon for Chris Mortenson I’m so sorry that the last decade of his life a lot of it was spent you know fighting cancer so um but thank you for watching

Listening to The Hoop Collective podcast thank you to M thank you to McMahon thank you to Jackson our producer and we’ll be talking to you next week adios amigos

Brian Windhorst is joined by Tim MacMahon and Ohm Youngmisuk to talk how the Nuggets and Celtics look to be the clear favorites for the NBA Finals, historic context for Boston’s blowout win, a big win for the Clippers, LeBron joining the 40,000 point club and what current players could reach 30,000.
0:00 Intro
2:07 Nuggets Starting To Look Like Title Team Again
12:45 Celtics Looking Historically Dominant
27:36 Clippers Get Statement Win Over Minnesota
39:28 LeBron Reaches 40,000 points

☑️ 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​​