Why the Mavs Are Up 3-0 on the Wolves | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Why the Mavs Are Up 3-0 on the Wolves | The Bill Simmons Podcast

just watched Dallas beat Minnesota They’re Up 3 nothing the Celtics are also Up 3 nothing and it looks like we’re going to have a Celtics Mavs finals barring one of the great comebacks in the history of professional sports where do you want to start rillo we have to start with Dallas because this is the most impressive thing I think that has happened even though Minnesota taking out Denver you’re like they’re really going to go in there and beat Denver at their place in game seven and then they do that and yet here we have two teams that I do think are close but just the Mastery of Luca and we already know what’s about to happen I know we’re going to talk about it in the Pod today but you know there’s a reason why over the course of these years where I’m like if you just want the ball in somebody’s hands in the biggest moment I don’t know why you pick anybody other than Luca and it’s not just the made three against goar in game to he just it feels like it’s impossible when he’s cooking and he just dropped and emptied the entire toolbox on this team again there’s all these different plays there’s a bunch of different reasons this series is 3 but luk is the best player that’s still alive we knew that when we ranked him coming out of it and I just think it has to be a lot of praise for Dallas to start this because this is so incredible well now it’s starting to feel like the best player alive Championship Bell doesn’t play because if Luka if Luka keeps going here and then beats Boston in the finals jokic is like he just he just found a place for it in his living room right like right above the TV he just cleared a cabinet out he just put it in there and then he’s like wait what I’m losing this uh if Luca WN if Luca pulls this off he’s going to be the best player in the league it’s and it’s crazy because I’m the same person who said a couple months ago I thought the distance between yic and everybody else was as significant as this is Justin tery point for but as significant as anybody since LeBron in 2013 but you look at uh you look at Dallas here 16 and Florida in the season 11 and four in the playoffs getting better as the playoffs go along and it’s now hitting the point where you almost feel like they’re like the freaking Yankees in the late 90s where it’s like if this is a close game in the eighth inning you’re probably going to lose this is how it’s going to play out yeah let’s do the belt thing can we hold off on that we hold off we’ll put it later I just feel like there have been a lot of belt transfers in a very short amount of time and that’s a topic in itself but the closer arguments perfect because you know this is kind of by Design when everything’s supposed to work out it’s like okay can you have two people that can get their own shots in these impossible moments at the end of playoff games when everything else is falling apart do you have two players that can get you good looks and like I would have never wanted to be in the Kyrie business I don’t think anybody pushing back in at the time was wrong even though that’s kind of the way it plays out but even tonight there was a play where you know they were debating on the broadcast like what to do with Luca need more doubles more of the debate carryover at the end of game to against goar and you know it just sounds better to be like hey double he’s got a double more you got to keep two with him and I’m not I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be looking to just cheat off of somebody else but it’s not like Luca isn’t going to figure that part of it out either he brought up Gafford for a screen and I was waiting to see are two gonna stay with Luca off of The Gafford thing because Gafford instead of lively is a downgrade for Dallas because he’s not the passer that Lively is which is one of the most remarkable things about how this team is built that this kid’s a rookie and he’s making like the right reads in big big you know Stakes playoff games so as the screen is about to be set with Gafford he Luka knows exactly what he’s going to do he swings it to Kyrie who kicks to PJ Washington in the corner and PJ hits like one of the biggest shots of the game that three and it looked like was 104 104 when that happened it looked like it wasn’t really that big of a deal and in reality Luca was like oh you think you’re gonna like trick me yeah so he doesn’t even have to you know he’s kind of in that gravity conversation of the curries and the yic where even if you think he’s not really impacting anything he was 35 ft away from the hoop and that attempt to defend him which he already could tell what they were going to try to do was like you guys are absolutely wasting your time because I’m not even gonna the ball’s not even going to be here by the time you guys come up and then you’re G to be spread out behind we talked about this in the past I agree with everything you just said the pick your poison kind of last level of basketball cuz jic is like this too where the the defense just kind of has to decide at some point all right what are what are we good with because we’re going to be giving up something and with the part of what I don’t understand about what Minnesota’s been doing in this series is I would just want all the role players to decide the games I’m fine with Derek Jones and PJ waston and whoever that’s what I want with the like when Jaden Hardy was in there for a lot of spots just let those guys knock yourself out guys because that’s what they’re doing on the other end with Edwards they want all the all the side guys to decide the game for Minnesota on the Dallas side Luca and Kyrie like you know if if you’re going to stay home at these other dudes and just let those dudes go one-on-one which they’ve done over and over again in crunch time in these three games it just feels like you have no chance especially the Luca part I don’t know why goar came back in this game rillo and we’ll have the whole gobear conversation later but I think the best lineup they had for whatever they’re trying to do the best they looked was when NZ Reed was out there and there was a Nas Reed Kyle Anderson Anthony Edwards McDaniel know I forget who the fifth was but um that when they were able to move and switch that felt like the closest they were to solve in Dallas otherwise I don’t know what you’d do the problem is is I was with you I was going okay cool they’re GNA try something else because even when Dallas went small and then they brought Gafford back in and then pow gets minutes tonight because Lively doesn’t come back from the game and that was a brutal knee to the back of his head so you wonder what’s going to happen for him the rest of the way but Minnesota’s still big when they they’re small so you’re going all right maybe they can maybe they can survive here but the thing is Bill they didn’t do anything with it they didn’t do anything with it it it was two NAS Reed attacks on Luca which were fine okay he got him once and the other one was the foul and then there was a weird Kyle Anderson late shot clock thing where that was happening a bunch so when you looked at like Rudy when he came back in from not being in the beginning they were actually minus two all and and there’s like this big Rudy thing where you know there’s a lot of people that I respect that are really smart and they’ll throw this plus minus stuff that we’ve seen in front of you it’s like he’s actually had the best differential of any player on the Timberwolves and I’ll just go I don’t know man I don’t know I go I I’m not really sure that that’s necessarily what I see this isn’t a Rudy problem game by the way so let let me probably just stop myself there because I was excited about that as you were but Minnesota had 102 points at 554 left to go in the fourth quarter all right they basically scored two points to close against a 13-1 run and then the last two points were the Edwards layup so and and the shots were awful they were all into the shot clock like just stilted toilet ball offense so there was some there was some minutes in there where I’m thinking okay cool like let’s see an attack there should be space they’re going to space the floor they’re going to switch I mean they haven’t really stopped this ding Dallas closing group yet anyway so let’s try something else and then Kyrie got right into the paint a couple times so I think VCH was looking at it going all right Luca’s getting deeper Kyrie won a drive so they brought Rudy back in yeah need shot but the problem is is they didn’t they didn’t get Luca into switches they didn’t bring Ann up maybe they’re worried if McDaniels is setting the switch then they’ll just ignore him and then two stay with ant you know there’s a conversation there about like how much how much do you set screens for ant cuz you’re more traffic his way but when they went small they actually didn’t do any of the things that I was excited about them potentially doing is the point I’m trying to make I wonder why Denver couldn’t unlock Minnesota the way Dallas has and I I wonder if uh Rim protection well but also though you know they they went through last year they’re playing for eight and a half months however long it was then this year they got the big Bullseye and you know they talked about how they ran out of gas their rooll guys kind of disappeared but but when you watch what Dallas has been able to do in Minnesota and put their big guys in space I wonder why Denver didn’t do that more I don’t really know the answer I’m sure they’re watching this series going damn h on the other hand Luca and Kyrie had 66 tonight and it felt like anytime they needed a big basket they were getting it somehow like the level of shot making especially in the fourth quarter was ridiculous where it felt like Minnesota played Almost Perfect Defense and and Dallas would still hit a shot um there’s a fun Luca goar thing I was actually looking up over the weekend after game two CU I was wondering like it really seems like Luca hates gobear what’s this about and I was like deep diving it going through YouTube and stuff my theory and I hope somebody asked Luka this I think it dates back to the 2020 Olympics Slovenia lost to France by one point and uh and it was remember the game Batum had the block he blocked somebody at The Rim right at the buzer and France one by one and in that game Luca had goar in a switch for a second and Batum came over and he got rid of it and the guy he got rid of it to went to the basket and got blocked and I wonder if ever since then Luca is like I hate this guy I’m just gonna but there’s been other stuff like he’s punched them a couple times during games like little sneaky gobear punches that it seems like it’s not a punch but it is little elbows they’ve gone at it a couple times but there really seems to be a hop in his step for Luca going against goar which I’ve enjoyed I like the animosity in this series I think it’s been fun and same thing with Edwards where he at that point in the third quarter was like [ __ ] this I’m not going down this way and just took over the game for like four minutes but couldn’t couldn’t keep it going no because they had gotten Dallas into the bonus with like eight and a half minutes nine minutes to go and if you look at the free throws in that quarter alone like the game had slowed down ant has this great stretch he has the dunk he has the turnaround he has the bank and you’re like okay maybe he’s actually going to do this because this is this is what he’s saddled with the hope of like hey if you’re going to be one of these guys like you have to be better than you’ve been in this series and I have a ton on Ant that’s incredibly disappointing there’s all these big moments where you’re like you just have to be better than this and I don’t know that there’s necessarily a reason we could apply you know when somebody’s middleaged and they end up playing below the standards we never say oh he’s middle-aged so I don’t know if it’s just youth it’s kind of the way basketball works and sports works but the Luca part of it I mean he kind of gets into it with everybody it’s like that Clippers team with Doc and Chris Paul and Blake and DeAndre and Austin Rivers was on the team they argued they got into it with everybody I remember one night we were trying to rank we’re like okay how many teams have they had a thing with and I think Luca is almost the individual version of that Clippers team it’s a good call he’s gonna go over great in Boston I can’t wait for a finals with him arguing uh 45 calls he’s so great though man I the St the thing and obviously he’s been doing this forever but to watch him do it on the biggest stage where the pace that he plays at when he gets the half step on somebody and then just keeps the guy on him almost like a hockey player and once he has you on your hip you you kind of don’t have an option because he’ll just stop suddenly and then you’re crashing into him right you can’t reach around because they’ll call a foul he’s too big to get around and there there’s just and then he’s got that little that little uh eight foot floater he can stop he can just go to the basket he can then through the alleyoop and uh once he gets a step watching him just use and abuse McDaniels I thought was pretty interesting you just get too much size for him you know who the who uh the type of player to guard Lucas rilla I I do feel like it’s it’s a little Naz Reish and I don’t know why they haven’t gone to that more because I think the Celtics Tatum and brown they’re actually in pretty good shape they’re not going to stop Luca but they have the type of tall athletes that at least you’re G to make him work get to his spots but I don’t know why they didn’t try Nas Reed on him more because Nas Reed was good on yic too McD’s just too small to me well he’s too he’s not Stout enough so I would agree there and he was always going to get a couple dumb fouls he had the reach in that was silly and then he had another one where looked like he was just mad but it didn’t I don’t think take away I don’t feel like he was playing defense as if he was in foul trouble because that’s the thing with McDaniels like we can’t fall love with like how aggressive he is on Booker and the stuff he was doing with Murray and then I mean we can always find fouls with he and Cat where you’re like what are you doing but you kind of have to sign up for a lot of that if you’re going to fall in love with like the physicality and the challenging and the reaching and trying to get away at you know just just slowing the other player down but with Luca it’s entirely different animal the hockey player analogy is perfect it’s kind of like a tight end who ends up in the end zone with a corner on him where it’s like you may think you’re defending me but you’re not like I’m just I’m too big for you and the craziest thing is it’s not about Luca turning the corner it’s just about him playing with all of this pace where he’s watching it live when I went to that Clippers game like I knew what to expect because I’d seen it before but there’ll be moments he’s in the paint and everything’s stopped around him and nobody knows necessarily what to do and it almost feels like it’s easier I remember Nash would actually have an easier time making layups because everybody was freaked out about what he was going to do the ball towards everybody else so you get that scoring part of it with Luca and the size and the touch and then something legler talked about with me which I loved he’s so great at the late kickout yeah you’ll think you’ll think okay this drive is over he’s putting it up okay like that lob he had left to right to Gafford through all of those bodies he had another Drive in the first half where he’s like up on one leg the shot is about to happen and he just turns and gets it to the right corner I think it was a Jones 3 um you know we look we knew how special he was I voted him second MVP so you know just by default because I thought it was so close with all those players that I started just kind of dividing it by like who do I actually think is the better player of these players and I only had one guy ahead of him and there’s a reason I don’t know uh there’s one guy that I can remember in the last five six years who I felt like actually did a really good job on Luca this is a deep pull and somebody mentioned this to me recently I was was like oh yeah it was Ben Simmons Ben Simmons Ben Simmons did a good job on him there’s a couple bad Luca box scores against Ben Simmons teams and I think that’s the type of guy I think it’s got to be like 69ine and strong in athletic which of course there’s four or five guys like that in the league ironically Tatum’s one of them and I I wonder if Tatum is when it’s Boston Dallas if that’s going to be part of what Boston does is it’s going to be Tatum and Jaylen but basically Tatum fourth quarter but then you’re putting on all these defensive miles on Tatum you’re risking foul trouble with Tatum you know it’s little balance yeah it’s asking a lot maybe to close maybe to close a game you know and then Jaylen probably for the first three quarters but the great thing about this Jaylen season is is you know he’s really accepted the defensive Challenge and I I think he’s been genuinely impactful on defense and he’s taken there’s been some of the better players in the league like there was that Zion game he had this season where he’s just like okay I got it I’m going to take this guy so they have two really good guys to throw at them but then you you bring the Kyrie piece in it and that’s another pretty solid spot for Boston where they have these two really really excellent defensive guards that they can at least throw at him and make him make some shots he’ll still make them it doesn’t really make you know I don’t I don’t know if anyone’s shutting down Kyrie when he’s like this the crazy thing about it I don’t feel like he’s played at this level really for like six or seven years like with the speed the decision making the shot making combined with what he’s doing defensively because the defense is where he really went sideways uh and really seemed like a liability especially like that Brooklyn Celtics series remember two years ago as that went on it just felt like they started hunting him and uh I that’s one of the things I know he’s been putting up points but I’ve been really impressed by the all-around stuff with him it’s an incredible Redemption story somebody I gave up on as a basketball star I’m not say there’s nothing that compares go ahead no I’m just like other people ran I’m not saying because I gave up on them that matters but I’m just like I I just didn’t think we would see a two-way performance like like this from him at this stage of his career i’ kind of given up on it it might matter to him to hear you say [Laughter] that funny Kyrie in a press conference hey you know I heard Bill Simmons he’s reconsidered some of his thoughts I just want to say that means a lot he he had two plays the the shot he hit left-handed going right to left and ant actually gave it a decent contest yeah and it was off his left hand and my favorite thing about the Kyrie offensive explosion because I even think against Oklahoma City it was being a little overstated because I felt like he was he was actually a little too passive in that Series yeah um for for long stretches because I would look at the stuff he was turning down uh which we’ve already covered but then there was a moment where it was like okay wait you know they’re really gearing up like Minnesota I felt like had two had these two like Peak output defensive stretches one was after the ant dunk and there was another one there in the fourth quarter where they were trying I mean they were trying their hardest and then for Luca to have the luxury just to throw it to Kyrie and he turned the corner um that was made it 111 105 and at that point Minnesota had gone over minutes without a field goal so it’s it’s absurd that you have somebody like Luca but you know this is the whole part about Dallas is like we’re saying this now how come we didn’t believe a little bit earlier I didn’t realize that Jaden Hardy would come in and give him great minutes you know we’re talking about what do you give up and I would agree with you I’d probably want to shrink the paint and or collapse the paint whatever you want to say and leave the corners and then Oklahoma City saying yeah yeah that’s what we tried to do and then PJ Washington turned into it allar and that Derek Jones had his massive game so all of this has worked and the Lively gaffer part of it and I mean exom who was actually like a nice little piece for them hasn’t even been needed and Hardway has been like nothing even though he’s back and healthy it’s it’s just incredible how much this team has come together yeah he played the other night but you don’t even notice him out there so I don’t think he got out there today yeah the uh the other go ahead do you have more on that because I I think well just you mentioned the Derrick Jones thing he was they him and Washington were five for seven from three in the first half right these are these are guys that are in the low 30s usually as three-point Shooters and those guys have come through and that’s part of playoff basketball right you just certain guys rise to the occasion the crowd the spotlight the energy and uh and they targeted those dudes and those guys have shown up I watched Eric Jones for years and I don’t know how many teams he was on that really stood out it was always like oh yeah he’s seems like a fairly interesting defensive guy but wasn’t somebody that I thought would be hitting huge shots in a Conference Finals no no I mean the thing is because of the Luca part of it and because of having to make sure you’re paying attention to what side Kyrie is on there’s just a lot of open shots to to ask a defense to go hey make sure make sure we’re switching or make sure we’re blitzing I thought Minnesota did a better job extending the pressure out to them but Luca just figure it out and if Kyrie’s coming off of that if two are on the ball and Kyrie’s able to get the ball four on three with his speed so uh it’s it’s come together man it really has and it’s and it’s I was wrong that I thought you know Minnesota and Denver was the NBA Finals because I didn’t know that Dallas was going to take it to this level I I know these games are all close and there’s other stuff that I want to talk about but I’m I’m kind of in awe of what I’ve seen this team do especially to close three you figure just the law of averages they’d have a clunker to close in one of the three against Minnesota’s defense and it hasn’t happened yeah you figure game one it’s uh I think Minnesota’s up with two minutes left game two they’re up five with 90 seconds left and over and over again Dallas defense just stepped up and then Dallas would make shots and it got to the point where in game three like I said earlier you just felt like if that was going to be the situation again Minnesota was screwed um this is that has evolved I feel like Dallas figured themselves as a team during that Clipper series you know and now looking back at that OKC Series because I thought OKC was right there that whole series and that as I said last week I thought that came down to a couple rebounds and a couple shots but uh now I kind of respect the OKC team even more because they were throwing Haymakers and Jaylen Williams wasn’t even playing that well and they stayed in that series and it was a six gamer um there that’s true because I mean think about it P not fouled in the corner who knows OKC wins game six maybe jayen Williams W up home they’ve got game seven at home and and we’re going oh man Dallas is going to be sneaky interested team next year you know but instead they’re up three 0 on a team I figured after the Denver series was the best team remaining in the NBA so we so in the pregame show I don’t know if you saw it I didn’t but one of the guys on the set said some guys had to step up get out was a new it was a new thing can’t remember hearing that before and uh I think it was Shaq who said he’d like to see Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Town step up I would like to see it I agree with him Anthony Edwards con of stepped up town stepped backwards and down he stumbled down is what’s the opposite of a step up a stumble down it got to the point I was teasing house at halftime that he was going to be in the Wizards next year house didn’t like it there was some unprintable text that uh returned towns was just awful just awful a who I for two and a half games just looked like his superpowers had been the the plug had been unpulled then all of a sudden he found the superpowers again uh but it was a little too little too late um what are you seeing well the series could be summarized with this I mean coming out of game one and two you had here are the differentials um aunt and Cat were 21 of 69 Luca and Kyrie were 41 of 88 so that’s 20 more makes from the four best guys on the Dallas side you’re going to lose like when I see that kind of thing I’m like I’m shocked no they were in both of those games and threw them away uh today it was six more makes for that side of it so it actually like somehow improved um let’s just do the cap part first because it’s easier he’s not that good he’s not that good um we know he can stretch the floor a little bit this best shooting big man thing is so [ __ ] stupid he takes four a game um his drives against Lively or like golfing with somebody who’s never golf before and you’re like where the [ __ ] are you aiming you’re like oh right over there like the flag you’re like that’s the American flag that’s at the clubhouse the flag is over is over there uh he he actually got a little bit better on the drives today when Lively went out but I went back and looked at every shot attempt he had and believe it or not there I thought it was going to be worse going into it there’s more good shot attempts than bad shot attempts he was handed a lot of shot clock grenades in the first two games but the drives themselves are pointless they’re just pointless and you can see what he’s doing he’s like but might as well drive and then when everybody went small and he was still in maybe gaffer was back at that point he couldn’t post Kyrie yeah and it led to a turnover he lost his positioning against Kyrie so he is a huge part of the problem but the biggest problem is that ant isn’t even close so I expect that from cat I don’t expect ant to have this these I should say these many bad moments which we can go to here like what do you think is when you see ant right now like where are you with it I’m gonna sound like I’m making excuses for him like I’m related to him and I don’t mean to sound that way I think the playoffs are really hard I’ve been on a lot of texts because people know that uh I like Edwards and just like what’s happening your guy getting a lot of that the playoffs are hard he’s 22 years old it’s the third round of just a whole level of basketball and intensity and energy and the only reason I mention this is cuz I watched it happened to Tatum two years ago and I’m watching Tatum in these playoffs two years later versus what was happening to him as the third and fourth round of 2022 went on and it’s weird it like kind the playoffs kind of for young guys they kind of break your brain if you’re not ready for it if you haven’t been through it if you don’t understand it the only way I can compare it and again I know it sounds like I’m making excuses for ant I’m not the only way I can explain it is is it’s like a boxing match when you see this guy who’s never been like in the old days when we had the 15 round fights and it was the guy was the first time I was like oh man 50 round title fight man these extra three rounds are awful I I I can’t believe this this last nine minutes I never never knew it was like this like you’re just not conditioned for yet and that’s what I see with him I I don’t like he was so tired and and so out of it in game one and the game two it felt the same way he just didn’t have the same energy so they did you all the stuff they did for him today were they’re trying to put him hide him on you know nons scores they’re having other people bring the ball up but it seemed like a whole bunch of things to just try to have him have energy in the second half so it sounds like an excuse but I just think there’s a reason 22 and under guys have not won four straight playoff rounds that that it’s that unusual it’s basically Magic Johnson and Magic Johnson was not somebody who had the ball all the time he was on a team with Kareem who was the best player in the world so you know two years from now is he gonna look like is he gonna get to round three and just look like he has no power left in his battery I don’t think so I agree with a lot of what you said because it’s usually the way it goes which is what made it so exciting with him in the Denver series you’re like wait is this really going to happen like when I was walking around getting ready for that game seven I was like is he really going to do this now granted he went six to 24 so they didn’t win because of him but to come back against Denver down 20 like all right defense was incredible in that game though right right but still you got to be better he hasn’t been impacting this series defensively like he impacted that game seven no but they’re tougher matchups too so I think the point it isn’t really making excuses I think that was the excitement about him to be like are we actually going to see a guy fourth year in 22 years old take this kind of jump and like maybe win a title like who what is this it’s almost like a rookie quarterback like wow this guy’s just going to rip through the playoffs guy’s 22 and I know I’m guilty of like thinking about but even when I would get excited about it going like I think he can do it I’d go wait like you’ve been watching this league a long time this isn’t really what’s supposed to happen and so game one him being tired if you’re 22 it’s just not really much of an excuse there’s days off um I I think the combination of the Kyrie part but also he played so much point guard in game one like I was going back and looking at it I was like all right so he’s bringing the ball up the entire time because they were worried about Conley’s injury and he had left the game today and then came back he’s actually been pretty steady for him game one guarding guarding uh Kyrie for a lot of that game too like it was what they asked him to do in game one was was uh right right I think stupid so then you look at the game one drives because I was looking at every one of his his shot attempts he had one like touch in the paint the entire second half of game one so you feel a little bit better about game two because I thought we saw some more aggressiveness but then the turnover at the end is inexcusable you you can’t do it and I know people are on Finch’s case for not calling the timeout to get Conley back in the game and that’s a fair criticism I’m not saying it’s wrong but you also don’t expect ant to throw it out of bounds the spacing on that play was terrible goar has Gafford pinned at The Rim um I think Nas and Kyle are to the left side and they’re actually like on top of each other in the corner like they’re getting ready to break out of an inbounds play but then ant still throws it out of bounds and then tonight the drives were better but he’s been missing layups like crazy he missed four straight layups that were good looks in game two he had the missed layup when they were small and he got the ball back and he waited they had a timeout and it’s like dude what do you think’s going to happen this is closing time a game three of the players like you got to get rid of the basketball or dribble out of there and he lets himself get tied up and though even though he won the Lost The Possession yeah he he completely froze so those moments are despite his greatness and what he was doing in the third quarter it’s it’s unfortunate because I thought like with his personality his attitude and his just you know this is not the guy staring down Kevin Durant saying you’re done and I’m next this is a guy that looks really uncomfortable in some big spots and it’s it’s it’s disappointing for how great I think he is but it doesn’t mean any it also means like okay he’s actually likely to go through the normal course of events for the great players in the league because a lot of these guys are already on vacation post on Instagram and he’s playing in the Western Conference Finals but he hasn’t been good it still sounds like we’re making excuses for him and we’re not I don’t care I don’t I like look if he sucks like this for three playoff like two more playoff Seasons all right sign me up I’ll say I was wrong right but there’s also an incredible Joy with this because of the Jordan comps which no one like no one saying was actually saying I think this guy’s going to be better than Jordan it’s just that he looked like him well I think what was so fun about the first series and a half was all the history we had with somebody at that age trying to do what he was trying to do said this shouldn’t happen it’s impossible and then he kept making it seem like it was possible which was what was so freaking exciting about it and guess what it’s really hard you’re 22 years old but I’m telling you we we watch this with Tatum and and I Edwards maybe the ceiling for him as a player might be a whiff higher than Tatum just because of uh you know as as good as I think Tatum is the ceiling fredward is don’t you think like maybe maybe a smidge higher as a star but the all Tatum went through all this in 2022 is my point um I’m not gonna let these by the way I’m not gonna let these four games make me like go oh maybe this guy isn’t gonna be that good I’m I’m not there yet but the bigger issue is towns is in his late 20s and they needed him in game two and they needed tonight and he’s sucked the whole series and it’s gotten to the point that um when he drives to the basket it looks like he’s wearing somebody else’s sneakers it’s like what did towns bringing sneakers no he’s wearing some kid from the uh first row was a size 14 he’s never worn the sneakers before it’s just he just looks clumsy he’s missing wide openen shots I don’t feel like his shots are going to go in you know and you think about how he played those first three quarters of the Denver game seven where it was like it felt like there was some sort of breakthrough for him and now we’ve gone backwards to the point that you know we’re probably going to be making up towns trades in a couple weeks because the the the salary cap for them is outrageous you know and I don’t know if it’s sustainable to keep this team together and just be 75 million over the cap and if you if you think you can’t keep towns Naas Reed and goar going forward for the next few years on a small Market team like you got to figure out something but the bigger the bigger question to me is like I just just think this is who he is I don’t know if there’s a level up for him and this is a reason we’ve spent so much time talking about him being like what is this guy is he good is he not good is he the best shooting big guy in the league or is he somebody that just you know uh against when he’s playing worse teams or lesser opponents he looks great but if you keep upping the stakes he can’t he can’t kind of hang on as the stakes keep coming up because he was a liability in there he got benching game too and he got benched in the game too like who are the towns fans like who who’s F who’s like my favorite player is car Carl Anthony towns they need him on that that I mean they ran it a couple times tonight when he sets the screen for Edwards and and it’s a little pick and pop and it’s like in theory that play should be unstoppable but for whatever Ison Dallas STS it’s not and by the way because they already have NS and we saw what they were without cat like there was a fear okay maybe there just won’t be enough offense I mean the irony of this Minnesota thing in the closing moments of these last three games is that it felt like this is a real problem for them during the regular season we were like you know it’ll be weird though what’s the clutch offense going to look like and then if you look at the clutch Playoff stats their offensive numbers were actually pretty good the shooting numbers were pretty good they just weren’t in a lot of minutes um and I’d imagine those stats going to be dragged down again tonight I mean they were they were brutal I mean they had like two points from like 554 and the first two games yeah the last three minutes they just turn over Miss shot turn over turn over it just was was bad and Dallas has a good defense what’s what’s interesting about Dallas Luca is one of those guys that in your head you feel like he’s a bad Defender but he’s not and his hands are around he’s tipping stuff like I think he had five steals tonight you know and you wonder like at one point Reggie Miller was asking why they didn’t attack Luca and it’s like I I feel like they are trying to attack Luca I feel like every team in the playoffs has tried to figure out how to attack him but he’s smart he knows where to go and and uh basically what he can’t do and very rarely do you see him 35 feet from the basket oneon-one and if he is they’ll send a second guy out like they don’t want to expose him that was one of the things Minnesota just wouldn’t do with goar but you think game one comes down to Luca makes a three NZ Reed misses the three right um I felt like they should have left that they should have left Minnesota the serious should have been tied 1-1 but instead Dallas was up to nothing and then tonight they should have won but Dallas has been pulling these games out now for four weeks and at some point it’s not an accident at some point every time you’re in a close game you win it’s not an accident now game two was the one that I had the hardest time with because you had the Jaden play where he loses out of bounds because KY fouls him and then it’s like hey let’s review it that’ll fix it and said we just waste everybody’s time to make sure the call is extra wrong but you know Aunt can’t throw it out of bounds and you you brought up something in the very beginning we started talking about like I’m with you Dallas because it’s ant only and there’s there’s crowds everywhere I do think when they had that small stretch there I would have thought like hey bring Luca up just see what happens against ant but I still think they would have just kept two with ant and then ignored McDaniels and been like fine do you want to shoot a three cuz we don’t know what we’re going to get out of you any single night Conley’s going to hit a couple floaters or a three that’s fine we don’t trust cat Rudy can’t catch Rudy’s only good with offense if it is already decided before the catch that it’s going to be a dunk if there’s any moment where it’s like okay I have the ball now I have to figure out what to do it’s a useless possession um Kyle Anderson is somebody they don’t even really defend even though I think there were times in the series that I’ve liked when Kyle played against Luca yeah and maybe it should have been a n McDaniels Kyle an Nas combo but now I’m just making up [ __ ] you know I’m making up [ __ ] for team that was that just beat Denver by playing their way um but I felt like they were searching for it a little bit it’d be interesting to see if they search a little bit more in four that’s a really important thing you just said I think teams when they get this far in the playoffs and through the season and they get to round three you become afraid to change who you are and what you were and how you got there I even think Joe Maz was like this with brassette where it was clear that brette needed to play in this Indiana series but Joe ma for eight months the team is basically you know 73 and 20 playing a certain lineup certain way and it’s like I don’t want to play brassette I like playing my guys like Howser’s lost his confidence now right what do you do with that going forward you can’t just be like here are my guys this is what’s worked for us like you have to adapt and move as the series has gone along I think Minnesota was a little afraid to move away from Rudy and as and towns is don’t you think towns is one of those oh he doesn’t have it guys I never I feel like in Noah towns in the first quarter and a half I don’t know if it’s coming back no proof just ey test um and by the way my small my small lineup like like experiment Theory luku would probably be like awesome cool I’m just overpowering right now now it’s so easy so like I I think your point though whether it’s it’s interpreted stubbornness I think the coaches are always worried about losing somebody that’s been important to what they’ve been doing but Minnesota bench towns all through the end game too right well they already lost yeah yeah if if you’re not losing them at that point hey anlca I went through this because the LBA teams came out and I’m gonna fight and fight and fight for them to put positions back last year next year because I thought the I thought the awards were ridiculous this year the four centers on the first team all defense one of the dumbest things we’ve ever done like let’s try to at least make this look a little like basketball so when I talk about lnba I’m comparing this year’s voting to the history of the league anyway Luca has made first team five straight years and I was like H and I went through it and I was trying to figure out best streaks for first team omba which for some reason could not be Googled statmuse get on this [ __ ] I was I was really banking on you I’d do this myself um Carl Malone and LeBron James made 11 straight first team allbas did you know this I knew LeBron did I didn’t know car Malone did 11 straight first twoo MBA it’s like that’s that’s incredible that’s more than a decade that’s you have a seven-year-old kid the first year of the streak who’s graduated from college by the end of that uh Bob Koozie and Bob petett made 10 well I must have got a lot of AP credits Oscar Larry Magic Johnson all nine in a row Duncan and Kobe eight in a row Shaq Michael Jordan eler B are seven in a row Giannis and Harden six in a row and then uh Luca KD Dwight and George mikin five in a row all of those guys are like the greatest players in the history of the league and Luca is 24 and we were texting over the weekend about like H what does this mean if Luca just wins the finals where you know where where does he step St but like when you think of the all-nba resume the fact that he already got to a Conference Finals with a team that really when you look back it’s kind of crazy that uh they beat Phoenix in a game seven Lo ended up losing to Golden State in five um just this career he’s having and putting together and he’s still on the under 25 version of his 20s and he’s got the kind of game that I just feel like it’s not was he G to lose athleticism the only thing you would worry about is is he GNA get bigger than he is well it doesn’t even seem like his size seems like weirdly an asset you know it’s it’s he’s it’s almost a little like jokic where he’s he’s big enough that it’s more of a problem than a hindrance for for him and I think it’s a problem for the other teams so you know that I think especially if we’re going to have two sweeps and we’re not going to have the finals until a week from Thursday this is just going to be a nday long Luca conversation I think over the Celtics I think I think Luca where does he fit is he the best player in the league can he be one of the best players of all time like all these questions are going to start getting asked now you’re right it’s G to happen it’s already started to happen and this is why I want to talk about the belt transfer but before we do any of that what I do like about this developing storyline with ant and Luca is the Luca part of this there’s like all the things you wanted ant to be like I I did all these things already like I didn’t get to the Western Conference Finals in 22 but I mean he turned 25 in February so he was only what a year off from that so he was six months maybe older I think than Aunt being in the Western Conference finals this year so with the speed with which we move in kind of reranking all these guys which is I think like I can become stubborn or I can seem stubborn or I don’t want to because I think the mistakes are made is when you’re constantly changing everything every like on the latest outcomes but you know when you look at Luca the first year he’s the leading scorer as a rookie they go 33 and 49 the second year they have their great Series against the Clippers you’re like dude this guy’s gonna be better right 31 10 and nine and then the third year he loses in seven to the Clippers and his numbers are 368 and 10 like those series were so much fun and then the fourth year is in the league Western Conference Finals they lose to Golden State they didn’t really have much of a chance you look at his in cast with those teams there’s not much there I mean he’s carrying that team but they beat that awesome regular season Phoenix team the year after they had lost the Bucks in the finals which again we’ve been over that game seven plenty of times in the Pod then last year’s the year things kind of fall apart so I love the parallels of Luca getting through the west and maybe winning a title and being like you guys were so ready to Crown ant which again I’m raising my hand saying I’m fully guilty of but like I just did all the things you were hoping Ant could do and like there was never there’s never been a like ants had three games now in a row in this series where I’m like what the hell’s going on and you know you can find a bad game in there with anybody but Luca Luca’s not gonna have three games in a row in the playoffs you’re like what’s wrong with him yeah Luca can still go seven for 20 in a playoff game and still seem like he’s the best player still be impactful in all these different ways he’ll still grab 11 rebounds and get nine assists did you see that stat they showed with the Ali oops and this was like I think in the second quarter where Dallas had 45 alley oops in the playoffs and the next highest team had nine it was the most they probably ended with 50 they said the most since what 20 2001 yeah so I was trying to write it down and I was like TNT you have to like for the note takers you’re G to be slower with these Graphics that was when I saw it I went wait what like 45 and then the ne it’s like some Wilt number and then here was second place and his lobs you know I said Trey is probably the best but Luca size allows him to good too I I would say it’s Y joic and Luca in the finals for the labs I think Trey is up there man because he does a really great job of Bret Trey young tre’s awesome with lops so he’s he’s a tier one Lop how about that bar Trey Young [Music]

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo react to Luka Doncic and the Mavs taking a commanding 3-0 lead against the Timberwolves.

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