Stephen A. thinks Anthony Edwards BETTER BE CAREFUL of his guarding Kyrie comments | First Take

Stephen A. thinks Anthony Edwards BETTER BE CAREFUL of his guarding Kyrie comments | First Take

it’s a great story love that for the second time in three seasons Luca donic has led the Dallas Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals Kyrie Irving and donich combined for 51 points 13 assists in the game six win on Saturday eliminating the top seated Oklahoma City Thunder as far as the other side here’s SGA after the loss I shouldn’t have found him uh we talk about it all year the little things that go into winning games um and being disciplined and it sucks um obviously if I had the moment back I wouldn’t have fouled him and just let him make or miss the shot but yeah basketball you win some you lose some you make mistakes we definitely took a step in the right direction this year um now this moment stings you don’t ever want to lose but um there definitely some good things that come out of it um and moments like this is what makes you know the Champions guys get better all right uh Tim what do you feel like is the biggest reason Dallas took down OKC because Dallas has a champ ship caliber defense and we don’t really ever talk about that because we’re so enamored with the greatness of Luca and Kyrie and that’s always our Focus yeah and how are they playing together and are they meshing and and they you they’re so capable of taking over games where that’s all we’re going to focus on for an entire quarter or a game their defense is Championship caliber and the reason I got on board with this team as early as I did was because of the additions they made in PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford changed for me the dynamic of what this team looked like like athletically it wasn’t going to be enough just with Derrick Jones and Lively they needed more bouncy legs they needed more length they needed another guy I think was more reliable also as a shot maker that could guard in PJ Washington so when they made those additions I fell in love with what this team could be but then to watch their defense be the number one ranked defense in the league over the last six weeks of the season going into the playoffs it was enough to overcome the fact that Luca to me still looks like he’s about 80% he’s playing too slow and he’s allowing himself to be more easily guarded which is going to be very interesting in this next series with the number of guys they can throw at him and throw at Kyrie and Anthony Edward already said in the postgame interview I got Kyrie Irving next series he literally said it in the postgame interview he’s throwing it out there I felt like throw down the gaun he better be careful about that yeah he he boy he better be careful that shocked me Stephen number one you’re talking about like game plan stuff you guys have talked about internally and then he’s also saying no that’s me I got that guy in the next round all wow you know guys I’m not one of these old big old guys that like to say I told you so but yeah you are yes you are you are King Petty oh yes you are you are are we need to is growing we need to re it you talk about best moments of the week best moments of the Year flat outline on National televis that man just and say I told you you but here’s the thing about me guys I’m a I’m a very sore loser but I’m a even worse winner you know what I’m saying Y what make me special I’m worse at wom than I ever have been losing hey hey Marly can you give me that Sound DJ drop that track right quick which track do you actually think that the uh uh okay Thunder is going to make it all the way to the Western Conference do you think they fear the OKC Thunder having home court Oklahoma City let by Shay Gil Alexander the2 behind there breath like simac you go bite the line all you want to but this brother average do this is the weakest number one seed that we’ve seen long now I’m going to need Wendy to come over here tomorrow and issue me apology actually I would like a I would like a 50 work huh hold on I understand you said that about OKC fair enough it did go to the six games but you also said Shay Gil just Alexander wet behind the a breath smell like Sim like you mean that brother that average 32 talking about him but that was the problem that they have is that that was all they had is that more times than not he didn’t get jayen Williams or he didn’t get one of those other guys to come along with him he was Sensational he showed told everybody why he finished runner up for MVP and could have easily won the award but I was going to take the two-headed monster of Kyrie and and uh uh uh and Luca but the biggest difference is is that PJ Washington got in foul trouble so he was really ineffective but he made some of the biggest shots legs in the second half those three and that foul I don’t know why doc uh the OKC challenged that because they could have used that timeout and got the ball at the other end with two and 1/2 seconds as opposed to challenging it losing that timeout and now having to heave an 80 foot shot look there’s nothing for OKC to hold the head about look they’re the number one seed but I just didn’t feel based on what I had seen how young they were I just didn’t see them advancing to the Western Conference Finals I upset that everybody said ESPN talking head ignorant shanon sharp said this now I want y’all to print tomor today that that talking head Shannon sharp was correct and that the OKC Thunder did not make the Western a Conference Finals now I want y’all to run it with the same tenacity with the same T passion you want to make like my like my guy Sten they say I want y’all with that same fervor that you printed it with I want y’all to print yeah you know he would right see they always St BL Molly they always say Shannon sharp talks a lot but you’ll never hear anybody say he don’t know what the hell he talking about well first of all first of all first of all they are going to say you don’t know what the hell you talking about cuz they cuz they hating cuz they hating cuz they want to tear you down and on a serious note I’mma come to your defense and say this on National Television damn it I ain’t hear no criticism about you until after the C Williams interview everything was fine everything in your life is fine you sit up there and break internet records you and all of a sudden you know everybody got something to say you the hell with all that they can kiss off you listen listen you you ain’t like that I’ll say for you they kiss your ass period don’t worry about them let’s move on now let me say this though and let me get back to you on this that damn o Oklahoma City they deserve a lot of credit they do Shay gilis Alexander 32 points 51% shooting 55% from three-point range that was him for this series the brother showed up okay oh he was special where were the rest of the guys he also LED them in rebounding with a a game you know now now I’m not knocking Sam pry because he did try according to the great WJ WJ narowski himself the ultimate Insider he did try to get a big man some girth the Andre Drummond of the world or whatever wasn’t successful I thought that was the missing piece I picked OKC to win this series and Shannon will remember this because there was questionable Health about Luca donic and I said wait a minute because of that okay that kind of evens scales a little bit and then Luca shows up again game five like you pointed out legs you know back against the wall is 2 two hurt ankle on one leg hurt knee on the other and somehow some way does what he does PJ I looked at PJ Washington I said to myself why the hell this dude I mean he’s balling but why is he so out there you know being the antagonist or whatever and then I remembered hell he came from Charlotte that brother so happy he ready to express himself every chance he gets you know what I’m saying he is with the Charlotte H these these last few years so we get it PJ Washington Big Time Derek Jones Big Time Edition Kyrie Irving deferential knows when to step up knows when to step back and defer he ain’t gonna step back if Ant-Man challenge him no wait for that show it’s gonna be special but in the end it comes down to this nobody showed up to help Shay gilis Alexander when he needed it most period pull up [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Tim Legler join Molly Qerim to discuss the biggest reasons why the Dallas Mavericks took down the OKC Thunder.

☑️ 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