Nightcap - Hour 1: Warriors beat Rockets to take 2-1 series, Nuggets win a thriller in LA to tie series 2-2!

We were getting where we couldn't pay the bill.

PG&E asked customers about their biggest concerns so we could address them one by one.

That's terrifying.

That's fair.

Joe, Regional Vice President, PG&E.

We have to run the business in a way that keeps people safe, but it starts driving costs down.

I would love to see that.

We're on our way.

I hope so.

PG&E electricity rates are now lower than they were last year.

Hear what other customers have to say and what PG&E is doing about it at pge.com slash open dash lines. Time is precious and so are our pets.
So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch.
Dutch provides 24 7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow-ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day.

Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments, and shipping is always free.

With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year-round you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap. Y'all know me, your favorite uncle, Shannon Sharp, my partner and co-host, the Liberty City legend, the bingo ring of fame, honor, read the pro bowl of the all pro.
That's Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson. And joining us tonight, we have a very special guest to help us break down all things NBA.
And he will be chiming in on the Shadour Sanders going 144 to the Cleveland Browns. He's an NCAA champ with the Kentucky Wildcats in 1996.
He's an NBA champ, 2006 with the Miami Heat, a career 17 and a half point score in the NBA three-time All-Star, Antoine Walker. Antoine, thanks for joining us.
Please make sure y'all hit that subscribe button. Please make sure you hit the like button and go subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed wherever you get your podcast from.
Thank you guys for your support. Thank you for your continued support because without you, there can be no us.
And especially in times like this, we really need your support. So thank you very much.
Make sure you check out Shade by LaPorte 8. We do have it in stock.
Now, if you cannot find it in a city or a state near you, order it online. We'll ship it directly to your door.
Please drink responsibly and stay safe out there. Go follow my media company page on all of its platforms, Shea Shea Media, and my clothing company, 84, with 84 being spelled out.
Everything has restocked. The link is pinned in the chat.
Supplies are limited. And once they're gone, they're gone.
So please grab yours while supplies last. Tickets for our Not Safe for Work Tour are on sale now.
Eight stops are B-More, Philly, Charlotte, LA, Miami, NYC, Chicago. And we're going to close things out in Detroit.
Tickets can be found at SheSheMedia.com slash tour. That's SheSheaymedia.com slash tour that link is also pinned in the chat guests are shaping up real nice guys you don't want to miss this so we come into a city near you make sure you come out and check out nightcap with uncle ocho we would greatly greatly appreciate your support uh we got a lot of uh get into so do it should do stuff he finally got drafted and his brother is a free agent he's going to the tampa bay Buccaneers.
But first, we got a lot of get into Sador stuff. He finally got drafted, and his brother is a free agent.
He's going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But first, we got to go with basketball.
The last two games were very interesting to the very end. The first one, Ocho, y'all in trouble.
Y'all in trouble. But let's start with the Warriors.
With a 104-93 victory, Steph Curry got it going. Hey, when he's off the court, they're not the same team.
But he came back, and they're a very different team. 36 points, seven rebounds, nine assists.
They did all of this without Jimmy Butler. They got some timely.
I think Buddy Hill had 17 points. GP, the second, two.
He came off the bench. Man.
And he was sensational playing outstanding defense and made some timely threes, and he really closed the game out. Steph Curry is the oldest player in NBA history to have a playoff game in which he scored 30 points, five rebounds, five assists, with five made threes.
Steph Curry assisted or scored on 16 of the 23 points they had in the third quarter. The Warriors did not score a single basket when Steph wasn't on the court in the first half.
That just goes to show you just how valuable he is because he opens it up for so many other people because you have to double him because he has unlimited range. Kwon, you're watching this game, and it looked like Houston might go on the road and steal the first one on the road.
Playing very, very well. Jalen Green was playing out of his mind.
Shungun, DB Dylan Brooks, playing well, but he got in foul trouble. He goes to the bench.
What did you like about what you saw from the Warriors and how were they able to pull this out after being behind the majority of the game? Actually, to be honest, I like the fact, Steph obviously played great. You know he's going to have to have a monster game with Jimmy being out, but, man, Buddy Hill and Gary Payton II, man, came up huge.
You know, when those guys score the basketball, they become real dangerous, and that's what they need because Draymond Grant, at this point in his career, is not going to score the ball. He's going to do a lot of intangibles.
He's going to rebound. He's going to defend.
He's going to get some steals. So they got to get scoring for Steph.
You know, with Steph, you got to have somebody else that's going to help Steph out. And that's what made it great tonight to see those guys step up.
You never know what's going to happen with Golden State. You know Steve Kerr's been messing with Kaminga this series, too.
Hasn't really been letting him play. So you don't know who's going to show up big, especially with Jimmy out.
But a huge game and Steph vs. Steph.
That's one thing about, you know Steph probably can win two games in the series by himself. And this was one of them tonight.
Yeah, at this point in his career, Draymond is real. He's never been a scorer.
He doesn't really look to score. He's looking to do a great job of handling the ball, setting great picks, rebounding, defending, as you mentioned, and initiating the offense.
Gary Payton, the second in the fourth quarter, hit 11 points, three rebounds, one assist. He was 100% from the floor, 100% from the three.
He played exceptional in the second. When he got in there, he and Buddy Hill, as you mentioned, Twan.
Ocho, what'd you like about what you saw from the Warriors? I mean, listen, I like what I saw from the Warriors. Obviously, Steph did what Steph normally does, but listen, like Tom said, I thought the Rockers, I thought the Rockers was going to steal a game, especially with the way they were playing Steph.
They had somebody running, tracking him everywhere, all over the court. You know, everybody over there, young.
So they're trying to set screens and set picks. And they're on Steph and they're contesting everything, making every shot difficult all the way up until the half.
And listen, he just exploded in the second half,

hitting a lot of shots.

But I think one of the reasons with Jimmy Butler being out,

obviously you need a step to have a game like this today,

and he can go off like this and win a game by himself.

He had 36, 12, or 23.

But the supporting cast, Buddy Hill went crazy with 17.

Gary Payton Jr. contributed as well with 16.

And the Warriors bench outscored the Rockets 42 to 31. And that was a major factor in why they were able to win this game.
Well, it looked like they started out early, Twan. They was blessing him.
They was trapping him, getting the ball out of his hands. They want to make him give it up.
And if you notice, later in Steph's career, Steph is sometimes I thought early, he was forced to three. Steph doesn't have a problem putting the ball on the floor and going to the basket, that makes him dangerous because they've used before.
Hey, nah, bro, you're not, we're not worried about you driving the ball. So, you know, we going to hug up on you.
Nah, definitely not. He handles too good, bro.
Cause I can put it on. I can go behind my back between my legs and I can finish with either hand.
And he's unafraid to shoot that mid range also. So he's his game.
when he gets that three ball going, when he shoots the ball and he's turning, he's talking, hey, I got something for y'all. Hey, y'all get that out of the mix.
Be dangerous, Juan. Be dangerous.
Listen, I just think with Houston, you definitely have to respect the fact that Steph Curry is who he is. Obviously, he's one of the greatest players of all time.
You got to double it. Take the ball in his hands.
You got to make one of those other guys see if they can get 20, 25 points tonight. You can't allow Steph, especially the game.
Once Jimmy Butler was not playing, I would have double-stepped the whole game. I wouldn't have allowed Steph to beat me.
I would have seen if Kaminga. I would have seen if Buddy Hill, Gary Page II.
Even though Buddy Hill and Gary Page II, I thought, played terrific tonight. Let's see if they can do it in an all-series long.
I'm not going to just let them beat me. I can't let Steph beat me.
You know he's going to have one of those nights where nobody's going to be able to, but you've got to flat-out guard him and double-team him as much as possible and make somebody else beat you if Houston wants to win, because Houston don't have enough scoring. I love Houston.
I love the fact, I love their mentality. I love the way they play.
They play hard. But you know in this league, you got to score some points.
They just don't have enough firepower offensively. So if you're not going to be able to score the basketball, you got to defend at a really, really high level.
I think the thing is, Tuan, is that they're so athletic and they're used to getting up and down. But you know come playoff time, they're going to make your ass play in the half court.
So you better be able to run some sets. And that's what if you go back and look at Golden State, look at when they made their run.
They were able to run set. Step is perpetual motion.
He's not going to stop. So if you think you got him guarded on one side, you better tell the guy, hey, here it come over to you so he can be on his best behavior because he and's going to set a pick.
So you have to watch him. You have to literally keep your eyes on him at all times.
Because if you turn your head for just a second, he'll backdoor you or hit that flare to him to the corner and then now he's splashing the three in your eyes and you're like, well, damn. And you can guard good for 21, 22, 23 seconds.
And he'll let the ball go and it splashed. And it's so demoralizing when you play defense for that long, Twan, and you don't have anything to show for it.
Go ahead, Ocho. No, I'm going to say the same thing.
I think the Rockets did a very, very good job in trying to contain him and do as much as they can to disrupt his rhythm, obviously, in the first half. But even though they have the younger legs, they were unable to continue to do that.
Obviously, Steph going off. And at some point, he's one of those players.
And no matter what the game plan is, you just hope to contain him because you're not going to be able to stop him. And that's what young boy did tonight.
Yeah. The thing is, if he see one or two of them go in, and you can play the perfect defense, and you saw, I mean, he'll start falling out of bounds and launching the ball.
You're like, that ain't got no business going in. That should not have fallen.
But it does. And it gives him a jolt of energy.
So now you got your work cut out for him. Because like Twan say, you might have to blitz him or trap him at half court.
You got to make him give that ball up and make someone else beat you. I'm going to see, let's see if Buddy Hill can go get 36.
Let's see if Gary Payton II, if he can go get mid-20s because I cannot let Steph do what he does and let these auxiliary guys do what they're due by adding to that. If you do that, you're asking for a lot.
But I agree with you, Twan. I thought with minus Jimmy Butler, I said, you know what? Anybody but Steph.
Anybody but Steph. A-B-S.
Anybody but Steph. And you know what? I have a lot of respect for you, Doug.
I think he's one of the great young coaches in the league. I just got to make somebody else beat me.
I cannot let Steph beat me. Once Jimmy Butler puts a DNP and he don't put that uniform on, I'm making somebody else beat me.
I just can't do it. I can't see Steph with 37, 40 points and really controlling and dominating the game.
I'm pretty sure they're going to look at the film and you Doug was a little stubborn. We all know that.
Steph is probably top 10, top 15 player to ever play the game. I'm pretty sure they're going to look at the film and Udoka's a little stubborn.
We all know that. Steph is probably top 10, top 15 player to ever play the game.
Let's respect that and let's double team. Let's respect it and double team them and force somebody else to beat you.
You can't just play hard in those defense unless you got one of those guys. I know Dylan Brooks is his defensive specialist and he knows he's tough, but if you don't have a guy that's going to chase and run for 40 minutes, what Steph is going to do, and a guy that's going to have the ball in his hands the whole game, just double-team him, get it out of his hands, and make somebody else beat you.
Well, I thought Dylan Brooks got in foul trouble, and the problem is that you have is that he knows the type of defense that Dylan Brooks is going to play on him. I think you've got to give him a lot of different looks because it's just like anything.
You give a guy enough, he'll build up in the resistance to it.

And he'll understand, okay, this is how you're going to play me.

This is the way you play.

Okay, this is what I need to do.

So, and once Dylan Brooks got in foul trouble, you know, they tried Arman Thompson on him.

They tried some other different guys.

But now you let him see a couple of those shots go in.

And, you know, the NBA is such a rhythm game.

A guy that might not be one of these great players, he'll see a couple of shots go in. And also, too, don't forget to add Golden State at home.
So you know Golden State at home, so you tend to play better. Not only just the road players play better at home, your main guy play better at home.
I mean, obviously you want your star to get you a big game on the road, but you know, Steph has huge games in that arena.

You gotta think about that too, that home crowd

too, so I'm just gonna try to disrupt

them, get them out their rhythm. They're missing a

key piece. They're not missing Jimmy Butler, a guy that brings

so much to their team. You got to

double team, Steph. There's no other way

that you're gonna be able to beat Golden State,

especially at home because those others

are gonna play better at home.

You know, at home it's just, it's kind of like

a, it's an ongoing saying that the others play better at home. You know, they feed off the crowd.
You get great production from those guys at home. Now, if you wanted that strategy on the road at Houston, okay, maybe.
But at home, those guys are going to make shots. They're going to feed off the crowd.
And that's when you see Buddy Hill and Gary Payton II have nice nights. Not only did you let Steph go get 36, you let him have nine assists.
So now you allowed him to bring others to the party. It was supposed to be, hey, I told you it was Steph, not a plus one, plus two.
Steph was supposed to come to the party by himself, Juan. So now you let him meet two other guys in the party.
So now it's three. When it was only supposed to be one, I said him one.
I didn't say a one plus one or one plus two. I said, Steph, you invited to this party.
Okay, lo and behold, he bring Buddy Hill and Gary Payton II. Now look what happened.
They all dancing. They got rid of the DJ.
They playing their own type of music on show. They doing what they want.
You know, matchups mean everything, too, though. It does.
You know, if I'm Houston, I may not want that matchup. You know? Sometimes that can happen.
Because their key players are battle-tested in these situations. Houston isn't.
You see Steph Curry, Draymond, they've been here, done that. Although Jimmy hasn't won a title, he's taken a team to the NBA Finals twice, so he knows what it's like.
Kavon Looney, he's done that. Kaminga and Moody, they was on that team, although they didn't get very many minutes.
They understand these moments. Houston haven't been in these moments before.
It is a different type of atmosphere. It's a different type of environment.
And you have to be there and be in it to understand what it's actually like. I'm not so sure that these guys understand what it's like.
You're like, oh, you have to go through the fire. That's why it's so hard for first-timers to win the championship.
Now, it's happened,

but you need to be battle-tested in situations

like that, and I don't think Houston is battle-tested

enough in that situation. And

another thing, Twan, who's their

go-to guy? You see,

most teams, they got a go-to guy they're

going to go to. The Celtics, excuse me,

Celtics are going to go either to JT

or JB. You got the Clippers,

they're going to put the ball in Kawhi's hand, or they're going to put it in James Harden. You get the Nuggets.
Jamal Murray or Yotes touching that ball. Lakers, you got LeBron.
You got Luka. You got Ant-Man for the opposing team.
You got Ben Carroll. I don't know if I can definitively say, I want to get the ball to this guy right here and let him go do something special.
I think they're built on, they're an assembly type team. So, you know, hopefully guys playing well, we can get out on the break and use our athleticism and our youth.
But when they get you in a half court set, you better have somebody that can go one-on-one. It's getting late in the ball game.
You need that person. I mean, hey, Twan, before you answer, obviously, think about Van Vliet, you know, a veteran presence.
He's on the court. He's used to being one of the guys that normally has the ball in his hands and can create and make things happen.
But Draylon Green is their guy. He's supposed to be their guy.
He's the one that can make things happen. He can put the ball on the floor.
He can create space. He can take people on one-on-one.
So collectively, as a group, they have to get it done if, based on what you're saying, if they don't have their Anthony Ambrose, if they don't have their Luke or their LeBron on their team or their Steph Curry, Jalen Green has to step up and be that guy, especially in moments like this and use the youth to their advantage. You just, when you start off with your question, you named everybody a superstar or two on each for everybody team.
When you think about Houston, like you say, Chad, it's by committee. It's not really one guy we can really pinpoint that's going to be that guy.
And that's something that eventually the upper management, they're going to have to try to go out there and maybe get a guy, an A-list star to go along with the group they got. Yeah, I would love to see them with a young core like this.
I would love to see them with a young core like this. But they don't have that guy, so this is their first time going through it.
So I just think with Jalen Green still young, doesn't understand, he hasn't played well this series either. He didn't play well at home, and he hasn't really played well.
Because you got to think superstars give themselves a chance. He played well in the last game.
The first game he didn't play well. You got to put that thing up 25 times.
25, 30 times. I didn't give myself a chance.
You know, if I'm going to be a superstar, I got to give myself a chance. Especially on the road.
I got to. Somebody on that Houston team has got to stay up.
Even if it's playing big. He's been there.
If it's a friend, Fred's been there. Get on my back.
Somebody's got to take over. It's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen. We were getting where we couldn't pay the bill.
PG&E asked customers about their biggest concerns so we could address them one by one. That's terrifying.
That's fair. Joe, Regional Vice President, PG&E.
We have to run the business in a way that keeps people safe, but it starts driving costs down. I would love to see that.
We're on our way. I hope so.
PG&E electricity rates are now lower than they were last year. Hear what other customers have to say and what PG&E is doing about it at pge.com slash open dash lines.
Now's the time to expand your Wi-Fi footprint with AT&T Fiber with AllFi. When you become a gagillionaire with AllFi, you have Wi-Fi in more corners of your home.
That scary basement? Uh-uh. Now it's a top-tier theater where you can stream all your favorite movies.
And that attic collecting cobwebs? Uh-uh. Say hello to your new VR arena.
Battle dragons without leaving home. Get AT&T Fiber with all five and live like a gagillionaire.
Limited availability may require AT&T extended Wi-Fi coverage. I don't think Brad is playing well.
Go ahead, Ocho. Go ahead.
I want to ask Tuan. Hey, Tuan, based on team to team, now you could probably give me a little help on this.
Team to team, obviously you have certain players that have the green light to be able to put the ball up and shoot whenever they want, you know, regardless of where they're missing, trying to get themselves in the rhythm. Isn't Jalen Green that guy that has that green light to be able to do that? Oh, without question.
He definitely has that green light right there. He probably, you know, he's probably the only, he's probably 1A, and I'm going to say Fred, maybe 1B.
The guys that have the green, like, they can just come down and shoot. I'm going to just say those two guys have it.
Okay, okay, okay, okay. Jalen Green did not play well.
He was 4 of 11, 1 for 5. It was kind of a very similar situation in game 1 in which they played and they ended up losing that game and the game really wasn't close.
They made a run at Golden State late in the ball game, but the game, I think it got the closest they got was maybe four or six with like a minute to go. But he has to play better.
I don't think Fred Van Fleet has played well this year. Now, I know he's been nicked, Antoine, and I know he's more than capable.
That's why he got

the big money to come to Toronto.

But he hasn't played

well. And in order for

them to win, because

he's the one that's been in these

situations with Toronto, he won a championship.

So he knows what it's like.

But I think in order for them

to have a chance, he's going to have

to play much better than what he's playing. I got so much respect for you, Doka.
I don't think the series is over. But this is going to be a deep series.
I think Houston has a chance to make some adjustments. They can see what they did wrong and really respond to this.
Because you don't know how long Jimmy's out. We haven't got the word how long Jimmy's going to be out.
If Jimmy hasn't said a couple games, this series is still wide open. Now, if you get Jimmy back, they're probably going to be a little outnumbered to be able to beat the Golden State Warriors.
But if Jimmy's not going to sit out, which I'm probably sure Steve Curran's probably going to say, hey, he might as well take one more off. Yep, I agree.
He's going to probably say, take the next game off. Let's get you to 100% and get you back to 100%.
So I just think this young team, this is their first time going, and we got so much respect for them because they had such a great season and they have three seed. But they're inexperienced a little bit.
You see some of them. Well, I'm sorry, two seed.
You're right. So we put in a lot of thought that they're going to be really good.
But you see the mistakes. You're seeing them right now throughout the game and throughout the series, the mistakes that they're making.
And I don't know if they're going to be able to recover. Steph is too good.
They got them veteran guys. Everybody on Golden State have been in meaningful games throughout their career.
It's going to be hard to beat Golden State. This was the game they needed.
Without Jimmy tonight, you could have put a little pressure on Golden State. Now I think Golden State feels good about themselves.
But when you think about it, you thought about all the teams that could potentially be the seventh seed. I think all of them pretty much would have been favored.
If the Clippers the seventh seed, I think they would have been favored over Houston. I think damn to anybody, Minnesota, I think they would have been favored over Houston.
Golden State is favored over Houston. I think Lakers would have been favored.
I don't see a scenario because of their youth and because of the lack of, because every team that I mentioned, they have a bona fide superstar. Some have two.
The Nuggets, we know what you're getting. You just said the magic word.
You just said the magic word. You know this.
You've got to have superstars. Playoff time.
During the season, because your legs are fresh, and you guys know this through a season and everything else, young guys are going to have fresh legs. Older guys, it's going to take them a while to rev up, but come playoff time, they know how to win.
They know how to preserve. It's no back-to-back games.
Nobody ever talked about that. I always tell people it's no back-to-back games.
So you get time to get that body, get rejuvenated, get in the cold tub, get yourself back together. That's why it doesn't bother Golden State, a team like that that has some veterans on their team.
They're going to get a couple days off, they're right back at it, but they can't get the rest. But these young guys got to understand that and figure out different ways to be effective.
I think with Houston, you have to respect what they have, and that's double team Steph. You can't let Steph beat you.
If I'm your doker, I'm going to put my pride to the side. I know they want to be effective.
I think with Houston, you have to respect what they have, and that's double-team Steph. You can't let Steph beat you.

If I'm your doker, I'm going to put my

pride to the side. I know they want to be this

tough defensive team, and you probably have

a couple guys that can guard individually.

I'm going to respect Steph as a

top-ten player to ever play this game, and

I'm going to double-team him and make Buddy

Hill, make Gary Payton

instead of second, beat me. Moody,

Kaminga, somebody. They got to beat me.
I'm going like back in the old school days. I'm running across half court.
I'm chopping Steph. Just forcing that out of his hand a little bit, making some other guys take some shots.
You can't have a night like tonight where you get four or five other guys and double figures and Steph gets 30. That's going to be tough to beat him that way.
You're absolutely right. And another thing, I'm central.
I ain't going nowhere. Because guess what? I ain't got to play in Orlando and then leave that night and go to Miami and then come back up the road and go to Atlanta.
And then I hit Charlotte. And then I'm up to Boston.
I ain't got no long road trade. I'm here.
So I might be here for four days, but I'm here. I don't have any travel.
Whereas in the regular season, you got traveling. Like you said, those young legs can take advantage.
Now we stationary. We ain't going nowhere until we leave and have to go back home.
Well, that favors the team that's been there that knows what it's like to be in situations like this and to be able to like, okay, this is what we need to do. Lock in this right here.
And teams that have been here, Ocho, they know how to put you in the half-court set. They're not going to let you get up and down.
They're not going to let you get up and down. You've got to execute in the half-court set.
And execution normally comes from guys that have been there and as Twana keeps saying, superstar players. Look at the teams and look at they have at least one.
Some of them have two superstar players that understand this moment and how to get it done. Go ahead.
It's the reason why Golden State made the trade they did for Jimmy Butler. They wasn't going to leave.
They knew they couldn't continue to leave

Steph Curry on that island by himself.

Don't get me wrong. I love Draymond

Green. He's probably going to be a Hall of Fame, but

Draymond Green is not a scorer. He's

more of a utility player. He's going to

get you four or five rebounds, six, seven assists,

play defense. He's going to do all the intangibles.

But they needed another bona fide

score to go along with

Steph Curry, and that's why you saw the addition of Jimmy Butler. So that's the same thing with Houston.
You're figuring this out right now. You had an exceptional season.
I'm not saying the series is over, but you have to respect what you got right now on the roster. You don't have a guy, you don't know who's going to get 25 or 30 for Houston.
We got to wait and see. You know what I mean? We don't know right now.
We waiting to see who who's gonna show up. And you're asking some young guys, Jalen Green, these guys, first time around in the rodeo, second time playing meaningful games like this, it takes some time.
But you gotta respect Steph. I'm gonna say, I would love to see you, Doka.
Don't be stubborn. Respect Steph.
Double him and make somebody else beat you. That's how I wanna to go home.
Hey, Unk, I mean, listen,

to make the series obviously

interesting, also the head coach,

Idoka, he could go talk to Van Vliet.

He could talk to Brother Green and say,

man, listen, in order for them to have a chance,

not only are we going to double step

and do what we need to do defensively on him,

you got the exertion of injury, but on the offensive end,

man, y'all, if you see it, pull it.

If you see it, pull it every time. I need you to put up 25, 22, 25 shots a game.
It's the only way. Because we don't have a bona fide superstar.
I need one of y'all to fill that role and put your cape on. Yeah, but if they don't win this game, it's over.
Because I don't believe they can beat them three times in a row. If Golden State wins this next game at home, it's over.
Series over, Twan. They're not beating them.
They're not beating them three games in a row. No, this was the big game at night.
You need to still listen. Yes.
You let one slip away on your home floor, which obviously that kills you. You would love to go on to Golden State up 2-0.
That didn't happen. So when that doesn't happen, you know, you got to win game three to get control back in the series.
Now it's back to Golden State because now you're able to win one without Jimmy. Now he gets two games off now with a couple of days sprinkling that rest.
So you don't even have to bring him back because worst case scenario, you 2-2. So now you get Jimmy to get a chance if you get a few extra days rest.
It's just going to be tough for Houston because they're going to have to find scoring. I don't know where that's going to come from.
They're still young. Jabari Smith, those young guys don't have enough mental toughness to say, hey, I'm going to get 20 shots up.
They ain't did it all year. They're playing by committee.
You know what I mean? They're not going to shoot the ball and be aggressive like that. So it's going to be tough to do that.
But

they're going to be competitive. They're going to be games

like tonight. They're going to compete.

Your dunk is going to have them ready. But I

just think they're a little outmatched. Sometimes matchups

matter in the playoffs. And I think they're a little outmatched

right now.

So there's no scenario in which you see

the Rockets even having a chance. really think this series is over you gotta win with no Jimmy Butler you gotta get the win and so you can now you know I'm assuming that Steve Kirsten will probably Steve Kirsten will probably think down the line maybe I can get Jimmy a couple extra yeah me too so you rest Jimmy again worst Jimmy again.
One day, you're still 2-2. I still like Golden State in this scenario.
Right. You had to win tonight.
I think tonight you had to take over the series, and then you build that confidence. And then now Jimmy may want to play the next game.
He's not feeling 100%. You know what I'm saying? Now he comes back, and now he can kind of throw that rhythm off a little bit.
But now I think the moment was completely in Golden State hand. They had control of the series now.
The most interesting game of the night, the Nuggets and the Clippers and all of these games with the exception of game three have come right down to the end. The series of now tied to two and Twine.
I don't know if you're old enough to remember when this happened. The first thing went through my mind, NC State Houston, 1983 1983, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Gary Whitberg shoots the shot. Lorenzo Charles dunks it in at the buzzer.
They beat Elijah Juan, Clyde Drexler, that great Houston Cougar team, coached by Coach Guy Lewis, rest his soul, and they pull off the national championship. Very, very similar situation.
Replay center officials confirmed the ruling. It was a good basket.
The ball was out of his hand when the buzzer went off. According to ESPN research, Aaron Gordon Dunk was the first ever game-winning buzzer-beating dunk in NBA postseason history.
Jokic, he Jokic. Look, Shea's going to win the MVP.
Jokic is the best player in the NBA. 36 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists, two steals.
He joins Giannis as the only player with a 35-25 playoff game over the last 20 seasons. He was great when he needed to be great.
And I don't know what adjectives or adverbs or whatever we want to use to describe this man, but we can't sing his praise or heap praise on him enough. That third quarter was a thing of beauty.
They stretched to lead to 20. But I'm noticing this and tell me, am I delusional? When teams get down, it seems like everybody likes to jump into that zone.
The Clippers jumped into a zone and it really threw them off their rhythm because the guys started taking early threes. Michael Porter Jr.
took a couple. I think Aaron Gordon took a couple.
I think Murray took a couple. And it allowed them to get and they startedpping for some turnovers, and they got themselves back into the ballgame.
But the Nuggets absolutely had to win this game in order to make this a series. I can see this being a seven-game series.
What did you like about what you saw from the fight and the determination? Because normally, Twine, you have a lead that big, and you lose it, and the team take the lead? You're like, we cook. Honestly, you know, whatever championship team,

you just saying it right. have a lead that big and you lose it and the team take the lead, you're like, oh, we cook.

Honestly, you know, whatever

championship team, you're just seeing it right

now. Those guys been in the wars.
They've been

there before. They don't get rattled.

I think with the Clippers, and you just alluded

to it a little bit, you got to pick your poison.

I mean, don't get me wrong. Jokic is going to

get his numbers, but you got to decide it's

going to be 36 or 26.

And what I mean by that, you got to double him. You got to double him with a purpose.
I can't get him to get a triple-double with 30. Because now, the chance is not you're going to lose that game if he's able to get 30 points.
You have to make Murray, you have to make Gordon, you have to make Michael Porter Jr. beat you.
You have to decide. T.
Lewis has a great basketball mind. Jeff Van Gundy, I know it's over there, orchestrating the defense.
You can't let him have his cake and eat it too. Y'all guys are saying too, when you ever got your cake and eat it too, you can't give them both.
You gotta take away one. And they didn't do that tonight.
When you look at the numbers, you see 36, 21, and 8, that means he did everything. Yeah.
Got up to 8 assists. Yeah, I let them have 15 assists and 20 points.
Now, no, at least I got a chance. But if you're going to give them 30 points, they don't have a chance to beat them.
The Clippers got to remember, the Clippers are missing a really important piece of the scoring from last year. Obviously, Paul George is a big piece to replace on the scoring side.
Norman Powell was great today. They're not getting much at the point guard position as far as scoring, if the

Clippers are not. They're kind of doing that

by committee. I think

the big fella's playing as good as he can play.

Zubac, he's playing

unbelievable. You're playing against

arguably the best center ever to play

the game. He may end

up as the best center ever to play the game. You're playing

him one-on-one most of the time

and trying to guard him and score. So they're doing a good job in that sense.
I just think the Clippers have to make a decision. We can't give them both.
Which one are we going to give them? Are we going to make them a passer or are we going to let them be a scorer? I ain't going to lie to you. He's that good.
I don't know which one to do right now. It's hard.
Yeah, I'm going to have to watch. It's hard.
I'm going to have to really watch the film, Chad. I ain't going to lie.
I got to watch the film and kind of figure out maybe the percentages. You know these guys are all analytical now.
So maybe some percentages that can tell you which way to go. But, man, I can't sit and watch them do both.
But this is the thing, too, right, Twan? Listen, what happens if you do double him you double him you catch him up top you catch him down in the post and you double him force him to kick the ball out but when you have Michael Porter Jr Christian Braun you got Jamal Murray playing and contributing the way they are tonight it wouldn't matter if he does get 20 if he doesn't get 30 they gonna they gonna counter for the points that he does score with the way they played tonight well I wanna see I wanna see them get five guys in double figures again. I'm going to try to lose that way, but I'm going to lessen that.
I'm going to make that 36-23 at least. Right.
I don't want it to be 30. It can't be 36 and five guys in double figures.
That's what happened tonight. You get that.
You can't nobody beat them like that. Right, right, right.
And plus the thing is that you let him get it in an efficient manner.

Now, if he gets 36

and it took him 30 shots,

you can live with that, Twan.

Great point.

That's a great point.

You let him get those numbers

in an efficient manner.

He's 14 to 25.

Yeah, that's a great point.

You let him...

Go ahead.

If I got...

I know Jeff Van Gunny.

We all know Jeff Van Gunny.

Great defensive mind.

One of the greatest defensive minds that coach basketball. He has to, he's winning against Michael Jordan.
He's winning against Kobe Bryant. He's winning against some of the greatest scores that ever played a game.
You've got to decide which one. You can't just take both of them.
You can't just let this guy, you can't, you can't take the, you can't take the triple, double and the 30 points. You can't let that happen.
I got to, you got a decision on whether or not I'm going to double-team this guy and make him a passer. Nuggets only hit 10 threes tonight.
They didn't hit a lot of threes. They hit 10.
The Clippers hit 10. You're even in the three-point category tonight.
I've got to take my chances. I'm going to respect this guy who could possibly be the MVP again.
He's probably one of the top five greatest centers to ever play the game. You have to respect guys.
That's what I'm saying about Steph. You have to respect guys and what they bring to the game and how much a difference they make to their team.
I can't let Joker have both of them. That's just me.
I'm not going to. And T-Lew, you got to figure out, I'm not going to let him do both.
Yeah, I thought, you know, the other night he had a triple-double, but it was, you know, in a losing effort. I mean, he was I mean, he's Nicola, there's a reason why he's won three MVPs in the last five years.
He's probably going to finish second this year. He's been second every other time that he didn't win the award.
I don't think this year's going to be any different. He's sensational, because we've never seen a center that can do all that he can do on the offensive end.

He has no weakness.

Footwork is impeccable.

He can shoot the three.

He has a turnaround.

He can play with his back to the basket.

He can run the offense.

Hey, you come with a double team, he knows, oh, that's you.

So my man, this guy's supposed to be over here.

Without even looking, whoop, whoop, who Who? He's that kind of an IQ basketball player. That's what I mean.
You got to respect him. Respect his skill set.
Respect what he brings to the table and try to take something away. And then you got to try to double team, get a ball out of his hands, make somebody else beat you.
I want to take my chances. If it's me,

I'm going to double-team him, and I'm going to see how many

Michael Porter, Jamal Murray,

Aaron Gordon, I'm going to see how many

shots those guys can make. I'm going to see if one of those

guys can go off. I'm going to try to just

double-team jump or frustrate him.

Get it out of his hands.

They need to get a little bit more from

Chris Dunn. I thought Kawhi played really well, especially in that fourth quarter.
He was really good. Zubas is giving you everything.
I mean, he's giving you what he averaged in the regular season, 19 and 12. Harden, I'd like to see Harden be a little bit more aggressive.
He only took 11 shots. I'd like to see Harden around 15 to 18.
I think he's trying to pick his spots. If you kind of watch him, he's not overly aggressive.
He's trying to get his teammates involved. But I think at certain times he has to be aggressive.
When they go to that Ben Simmons lineup, Ben Simmons ain't even... Ben's not even looking at the basket, Sean.
He ain't even looking at the basket. You know what I'm saying, Sean? He's not looking at the basket.
He him not looking at the basket, bro, he in the game, he's kind of like, you know, he's on their team. It's six against four when he's not looking at the basket.
So that may be a time where James go, you know, get into his one-on-one game and try to be a lot more aggressive. But I do agree with you.
You need, it's them nights. You need that 30, that 35, like, you know, went Kawhi.
Kawhi went on and had that 30, 35-point performance. You need James and Kawhi guys to go get those numbers because you're not going to get much, you know, at that center spot besides, you know, when Ben is in the game.
And I know they like to play that lineup because they get Denver kind of confused a little bit and everything. But Ben is a pretty good defender.
I am going to say that. He is a pretty good defender.
He still can play defense, but officially he's such a liability. Right.
You know, it's hard to watch sometimes. I can't believe it, that he's such a liability right now.
Yeah, I'm cheating on him. Hey, Twan, somebody like Ben Simmons that has all the potential, obviously at one point, and what I thought, based on what I heard and what I've seen, at what point mentally does the confidence kick in and he understands how good he can actually be? And he finds himself getting the rhythm and he finds himself getting confidence.
I mean, I don't understand what the issue is. Based on him, if you look at him, you understand what he can do.
He can play defense. He can score if he had the confidence and willingness to shoot the ball, whether it be mid-range, whether it be three, whether it be, you know, taking people off the dribble to the hole.
It's like he doesn't want to do anything. I don't want to scare.
I've seen him a clear layup right there and is wide open and he'd rather pass it off. I think at this point, it's going to take a coach that honestly believes in him, play him extended minutes and force him to be aggressive offensively.
You have to really basically force him to be that. You know, remember he was playing a lot of point guards towards the end before he left New Jersey, but he has to put him in position where you have to force him to be a score, to be a playmaker.
Like him playing at center, like I would, if I was Lou, I'd let him bring the ball up the court against Jokic, maybe put him in a pick and roll, maybe he can turn the corner. The Jokic can't guard him in the open court, but you're bailing him out, you're bailing him out by not letting him be aggressive offensively for what you just talked about, Chad, because he don't want to shoot the ball.
He don't want to be aggressive and attack the basket.

That's what's bad in that situation.

So me personally, I think it's that ship's sail

because there were times that he had the ball in his hand at Philly

and he wasn't aggressive.

And, you know, Joel Embiid said what he said.

Doc Rivers said what he said.

You see the thing is, and I use the analogy like this Twan and Ocho. I can teach you to swim if you're not afraid of the water.
See, if you're afraid of the water, I can't teach you how to swim. You see, Twan, you said he's afraid of the basket, so I can't teach him how to be aggressive.
You see a guy that's not afraid of the basket, hey, I miss it. Okay, okay.
Oh, well, the next one don't go in. That's not how he sees it.
Plus, if he gets fouled, he doesn't want to go to the free throw line because he got the yips there. So now I'm not looking to score and I'm not looking because they might foul me and put my butt on the free throw line.
So I'm afraid of the water. So I really won't ever be able to do anything but doggy power stand up in the kiddie pool.
I'm really not going to try to get my, I'm not going to put my head up under the water. Go back and look at it.
You're right. I like, I like, what you said is 100% accurate and I think that, but I think what T.
Lou is looking at is that maybe I got a quicker guy. He's been a great defender in this league.
Jokic is not a guy that plays above the basket. He plays below the rim.
That's a guy that I can probably put on Jokic and mix it up a little bit. Because Simmons is probably 6'10", 6'11".
Easy. What? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Time out. He what? He's about 6'10", 6'11", Chad.
For sure. That's why he's playing center.
That's why he's playing center. He's that big.
He's a big kid. I'm thinking he's 6'5", 6'6".

Oh, no way.

No, no, no, no, no.

The shortest he may be is 6'9".

That's the shortest he may be.

6'10".

6'10", yeah.

Yeah, I think the shortest he is 6'10".

Yeah.

And he's supposed to be out there dogging it, man.

I'm talking about like, man, stop playing with me.

That boy didn't get a $100 million contract because he was 6'5". He's 6'5".
With the handles. See, what concerned me is that I didn't see him get any better from his rookie year until now.
Go back and look at all the guys that got these big contracts. Have you seen Shea get better? Have you seen Jalen Brown get better? Have you seen Jason Tatum get better? Have you seen Luka? Have you seen Jalen Brunson? Look at all the guys.
Austin Reeves is a prime example. It's hard if you put the time in the gym for you not to get incrementally better, Twan.
It's just hard for you to stay the same. Tell me you're doing the same thing.
Look at those guys and how they've evolved and how they've gotten better and better. Look at Kawhi.
Kawhi wasn't no scoring when he got in the league. Kawhi gave you about 12, 13.
Now Kawhi could give you 26, 27 when he's healthy because you see the work that he's putting in. I'm going to be honest with you.
I'm going to be honest with you. You guys know this as athletes and we are athletes.
You know, sometimes guys don't want it, man. You know what I mean? We can want them to have it.
We see all the individual talent he showed us, a glimpse from when he did college, his first couple years in the league on how great he can be. And what you just said, if he hasn't decided to put that into work, and I love T.
Lou. T.
Lou is one of the best coaches in the league and great motivators. And if T.
Lou can't get him to play basketball at a level that's going to just contribute and help a team, I don't know where you go from here. This is like the perfect scenario.
You don't have to have the ball in your hands. You got a guy like Kawhi that's scoring the ball.
All you got to do is do the intangibles on the team. But they need to step up.
You can't get donuts from them. You got to get something out of him.
He had two points tonight. Hey, Tuan.
Hey, I tell you what he could do. I tell you what he could do.
Tell Ben Simmons, come on down here to Miami and hang with me for six months.

We're going to get him mentally right.

6'11"? Yes.

All this time I've been watching basketball, I think, you know, I think young boy, I'm thinking he's 6'6", you know, 6'5".

I'm thinking he's scared to shoot the ball.

Obviously, being in Philly, you know how Philly fans are.

They do not play.

They will boo you in your own stadium.

So I'm thinking, okay, maybe he's a little reluctant to pull the trigger. He doesn't want't want to go to the free throw line I understand it I know how hard it is when you miss shots and you're feeling down on yourself but then you have to deal with the fans okay boom that's one thing but then I think about well damn still as many years as it's been you got your big deal and you still haven't got that confidence in you to be able to just at will just play the game you've been playing since you was young basketball all you got to do is take the ball put that motherfucker in the hoop excuse me

now my my mentality on him is now changing because now you're telling me he's 6'10 6'11

and he playing like he like he 5'10

I swear for God bring him on down here to Miami I get him right because hey you gotta understand

I'm in high school.

I was only 6'4", but I average 56 a game since my freshman year in high school.

You got proof of that?

56.

Do we got proof of that?

No.

Listen, every night, every game, Twan, I was 56, 12, and 9.

56, 12, and 9.

Same scoreline, but I chose to play football instead.

But I'm just thinking like, I'm hungry.

You know, you, D, a few guys down there, I can get some facts checked.

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm just thinking like, you know UD, a few guys down there, I can get the facts checked. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
I played against UD. Hey, I dunked no UD twice.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ask UD about me in high school.
Boy, I was the real deal. I was like, I was a mix between like Russell Westbrook, John Marant, and Kevin Durant.
Yeah, I was a little bit on that. I'm going to say this.
I'm not, because I never seen you play. So just a little back story.
I played with Donovan McNabb, who's a great basketball player. So I'm not going to say this.
I played with Donovan McNabb, great basketball player. Wait, he's a who? Oh, yeah, big time.
He signed with Syracuse as a two-sport athlete. You didn't know that? Yeah, I know.
Donovan McNabb, a two-sport athlete. Donovan averaged 20 points a game for me.
That was my second... 20? That was my second-leading score.
Donovan McNabb. Yeah, so I can't say that you can't play because I know I don't see football players be really good.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I'm...
Well, listen, I was so good. I was so good.
Obviously, I could have played for the Heat with Ronnie Cycli. Like, they were trying to get me back then.
But my grandma, my grandma, she wasn't on that. You got any footage? Huh? You got any footage? Yeah, on VHS.
I got the tapes right here in the cover. Okay.
Let me see the footage. I got you, man.
I'm a real hooper like I'm from New York. I just think the thing now is, Twan, and I get what you're saying, Ocho, y'all get what y'all saying, but the old saying is it's easier to teach a child than repair a broken man.
And I think right now... Wait, wait.
Stay right there. I understand what he's saying.
I understand what he's saying. I got it.
You want to write it down? You want to write it down? Yeah, because if you notice, kids learn to swim easier than a grown person because the kid has no inhibitions of the water. You see them throw them babies in there and the first thing they do, they go in their back.
Hey, you tell them one or two times, and they get to their back. You know this.
Y'all know this in sports. You know, sometimes you can get with that coach, right? And I play with T.
Lou, and T. Lou's a good friend of mine.
And I just thought T. Lou would probably be that guy that can instill that confidence in him to be a lot better.
Now, I didn't say he had to go out and get 15, 20 points a night, but he has to, but he, you know, like you just said, he can't have two points. You're going to play US 10, or if you're going to have two points, let's do some of the stuff he used to do.
Get six, seven rebounds, have four, five assists, have an impact on the game because he's too talented. And for whatever reason, I don't know if he's lost it, but I thought with T.
Lou being there and being under T. Lou, that he would be able to get that out of him.
And then when I seen him in the rotation, I was like, yes, this is perfect for him because he's going to get an opportunity with a great coach that's going to put him in a great position to do the best. Like, I like the Clippers mindset, put Ben Simmons at the center spot.
Let's mix it up a little bit

and see if we can get Joker.

But if he don't give you

none of the offense for me, guys,

there's no purpose in playing Ben Simmons.

There's no purpose.

Because Joker's weakness is defense.

Well, Ben Simmons is not a threat at that.

So he doesn't do any good.

And plus, he's not playing well enough

for T. Lou to give him extended minutes.

So the amount of minutes that he's playing,

he's not going to be able to get you the points,

the rebounds, and assists

I don't have it on me. Something about a child.
Something about a child. It was a good one.
I need that because I got, you know, I got 50, 11 kids and I need to be able to use that in my next argument. Yeah, it's easier to teach a child than to repair a broken man.
Stop. Stay right there.
That's what I'm talking about. Next time, next time they ask for some money.
Next time they ask for some money. I'm a two child.
I like that one too. Yeah.
Yes, sir. So that's the problem.
No matter how you slice it, Ben is broken when it comes to the offensive end can he still slide his feet yeah he's still he's still 6'10 I mean he ain't gonna shrink looks good still in great shape look really good he looks really good but like you said he gets the ball here unless it's uncontested he ain't even looking at the rim he's looking he's looking to pass it off he's looking to uh drive and kick he's looking to do something other than score for himself and he didn't realize that so the double team is always gonna come from him yeah put him around some put him around some folks in the offseason i'm telling you it it happens no you put aihuahua, listen, you put a chihuahua with some pit bulls in a cage.

At some point, he becomes

what he's surrounded by.

But you know the small dogs, what do they do?

They walk up to the big dogs because they don't know they're small.

See, you're telling me that's what I need to do.

That's what he needs to do.

He needs to go and place himself in that environment.

Because you see,

as Twan said, we're wanting something from Ben more than he's wanting it for himself. You see, I can't want that for you.
You've got to want that. You've got to want to be great.
So you know what, man? Hey, ain't no reason for me to be 6'10 and averaging three points a game. He's supposed to be doing what KD's doing.
I'm not saying he's KD. KD is one of the greatest scorers of all time.
I'm just saying the skill set,

the height and size,

I mean, the length that you do have,

you know,

and you're a two-way player

because you can do it.

Well, you only show it

on the defensive side of the ball.

You play good defense

and you should be able to,

you know,

play post enough,

taking people down in the block,

down in the post,

mid-range.

Well, he's confident.

They take people off the dribble.

I don't expect,

like, what are we doing?

His confidence is gone, though.

Man, both of you guys

are Hall of Fame athletes.

You know that when you're

Thank you. mid-range man it takes you like the dribble out of his face like what are we doing his confidence gone though man both of you guys are Hall of Fame athletes you know that when your confidence gone man it's gone you know you can't do nothing man you know we play our games with confidence that's when we get our confidence I swear he don't have that you can just see it you know you have to you have to playaches can't give you that.
You have to have a self-belief that I'm the baddest mofo out here. Yes.
And at some point in time, they broke his confidence. They broke his confidence because the best player said, hey, we had a dunk and we end up making a free throw.
And they asked Doc, could you win a championship with a point guard like Ben? He says, I don't know. Instead of saying, of course you can.
Because the guy's an all-star player and he's an all-NBA defender. That's what he should have said.
Joel Embiid said, hey, it's unfortunate. Hey, well, I wish we could have got an and one.
But don't say, yeah, we had a layup and we ended up making a free throw.

Because now the best player and the head coach doubted me.

I've already had some doubt seeping in.

Because normally coaches like you feel like, hey, son, shoot that shot.

I draw up a play for Twan because I know Twan is confident in his ability and he's going to go out there.

Every time.

I draw up a play for him.

He's going to somehow try to find a way

to break it down

and pass it to somebody else.

Yeah.

But how do you,

you know,

how do you let,

how do you let something

like that bother you, huh?

How do you let something

like that bother you?

In order to be great,

people gonna always be terrible.

Sometimes,

sometimes the calling

will be coming

from inside the house.

Sometimes to be your own people.

I don't care,

no disrespect,

Marvin Lewis, if you were to say, you know what? Boy, I'm sick of Chad out there celebrating. I'm sick of it.
I ain't stopping nothing because that's how I know how I get in my rhythm. Right.
You know, I can agree with you on that. You know, I used to dance after I shoot threes.
And I was like, I know about the shimmy. playing hey look and I played I promise it was one coach

Don Nelson

I got traded to the Mavs

and he was the only coach

that tried to stop me

from dancing

what?

yeah he was like

hey

he was like

well I don't want to see you dancing

but it was already

in my blood

I couldn't stop it

right

so I get a help

when it's coming

you know what I'm saying

but that's a great

but that's a great point you made

I understand what you said

with that

yeah I'm gonna do my thing

I'm gonna do my thing

Thank you. So I get a hell of a lot of this coming.
You know what I'm saying? But that's a great point you made.

I understand what you said with that. Yeah, I'm going to do my thing.
Yeah. Every time.
Every time. I don't care.
I don't care. No disrespect.
Obviously, with all due respect to Ben Simmons and the game of basketball in general, there is nothing nobody can say if I was in that environment. with that kind of side, with that kind of hype,

with that kind of skill, with my mentality, there's a certain if factor that you can't coach. It's either in you or it's not.
Kobe had it. Michael Jordan got it.
AI got it. John Moran got it.
Anthony Edwards got it. You can't coach that.
It's just in you. And I don't understand.
How can you be like that and then play so small? I'm going to make this last point, and then we're going to move on a little bit, guys. If you think about it, yeah, Kobe had confidence, but think about what the coach did.
In a game against Utah, who took the last shot? They put the ball in a 17-year-old's hands. So now I got confidence.
You might have confidence,

but if somebody don't give you a situation

for you to showcase,

now what? What do I do with it, Ocho?

He drew up a play and let a

17-year-old with all those

veterans on there, Kobe airballed it.

But it showed him.

Yeah.

They got confidence in old old Cole.

Now he goes back into the gym and he comes back a different player. Well, you know, some people don't get it, man.
Some people just don't get it. Damn, man.
What, 6-11? Man, I have a nigga in the post, man. You should.
I see you got a good ball back there. That's a good Wilson ball.
Hey, hey. Oh, hey, hey.
And let me me tell you something Hey, this ball right here, right? This is a special ball This ball must be I'm supposed to have it enclosed in a case Because, listen The greatest The greatest score Not score of all time But the NBA player Who leads the NBA And most points ever scored G me this ball. Soon as it went in the bucket,

they hid it. They taped it up.

He signed it for me. This is LeBron James, 50K point ball.

He signed it for me. I just want to show you that.

Can't put it in cursive, huh?

He just put cage

on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jokic was seen making adjustments and subs. When a player does this, is he undermining David Edelman? Because right before the half, the ball got, was it the half of third quarter? And he's like, hey, give me Jordan.
DeAndre Jordan, come in here.

Come in here. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

You saw that too. Yes, I did see that.

And he's been making a lot

of substitutions.

You like that? I mean, what's going on?

I don't like it because, I mean,

let me be honest with you, not to go back into

the past, but Mike Malone,

a championship coach who done a terrific job coaching that team, got fired. And it seems like the players had thrown them out.
Now it seems like that's what it was because of Jokers doing that. I mean, Jokers at a place right now, obviously, where he's controlled the franchise.
And obviously, like you just talked about, he's probably going to win another MVP trophy. He's going to be close.
He'd probably get another MVP trophy. So I do understand him having to say so, but you still can't undermine the coach.
You have to listen to the coach. You got to let the coach make his adjustments.
That's his job. You never want, as a player, to have that responsibility.
I never want to be able to control who's in the game, who's not in the game. I can always suggest.
I can suggest something, but I don't want to be doing that, especially over mind the coach. It looks bad.
And then it trickles down to the other players. You know that on a team.
Some guys think they can do it. You know, it's kind of, you know, I go back to the simple rules that what time you got to be on the bus, what time you got to be, you know, be up at practice.
It just, it just goes down the line. You know what I mean? So you never want to start that.
So it just, it seems like, when I saw that, like, yeah, this is probably why Malone probably got fired. They probably had a lot of extra stuff going on.
You know what I mean? But, you know, it's tough. Jokers, Jokers, probably going to be three-time MVP.
I mean, this guy's, well, he's already this guy is incredible he's gonna be a four I don't think he's gonna win it this year I don't think he's gonna win it this year Twan but it's hard for me to see a scenario where he doesn't win at least one more because the numbers are gonna be there the numbers are gonna be there he's gonna be somewhere between 25 and 30 points he's to be somewhere between 10 and 13 rebounds. He's going to be somewhere between 8.5 and 10 assists.
So he's going to be there. So the numbers are going to be indicative of somebody that should be, it should more than qualify to win that award.
The question is, are they going to have enough? If he take care of his body the way he has taken care of his body for the next couple of years, he definitely will in the running for one more, I think. This all depends on how he takes care of his body.
If he takes care of his body, he stays injury-free. I mean, I know it don't look sexy, but you know, if he stays injury-free and stays healthy, he'll be right back.
You're right. He'll be in the running for another one.
Ahead of this game, Edelman accused the Clippers of pumping in fake noise in the Intuit Dome. Is that a good look? Do you want your coaches like, man, it ain't that loud.
It ain't that many people up here. That's fake noise.
You like your coach doing that, Twan? No, I want the coach to believe that we can win. We don't need no action.
We should believe that we can win. Let's put together a game plan.
Let's go out there and play. And really, to be honest, you don't really like that.
You want your home court to create their own thing. I know some football fields, y'all know that.
Some stadiums have their own little chants and the way they get motivated and all that. I was going back when we were trying to turn it around in Boston before they moved into the TD North.
We had the police center. We called it the jungle because it did get so loud because we were starting to turn around we were starting to become a playoff team, we were starting to win games, so our home games were exciting because we had kind of created our own energy now, me and Paul, and we was kind of creating our own style, so I like when the fans kind of like, you know, figure it out.
It's kind of like, growing up in Chicago, I remember going up

and watching Michael and them play,

especially when they played it.

They had their own,

the National,

when they,

remember the start lineup?

They had that music that come out.

That was them.

That was their own thing.

That was only in the stadium.

You know what I mean?

And I remember the stadium

used to be rocking.

I went to see them play

the Orlando Magic in the stadium

when they played

the Orlando Magic.

I think Jordan came back. Yeah.
The stadium used to be rocking before they moved into the United Center. Every arena got to have their own stuff, but you don't need no coaches getting to that.
You don't need no help. You don't need nobody piping nothing in.
This ain't college. These pros, they ain't going to get distracted too easy.
Yeah, but the new arenas don't have that intimate feel because you got to have all this technology. You got all these jumbotrons and you got all this fancy equipment and stuff like that.
So you don't have the intimacy like you had at the Old Garden. You don't have the intimacy like you have at the Forum.
You don't have the intimacy like you had at the stadium, Chicago Stadium. You don't have that like you see the Packers have at Lambeau Field or the Bears at Soldier Field or the Chiefs at Arrowhead.
There's some stadium. Even behind Field, it's not the intimacy like they had at Three Rivers, Ocho.
So when you don't have that, it's hard to create that. Now, I get it.
they do it, because the cost of these players are going up, and so we got to find a way to create revenues, and we want places to have other events other than basketball. So you see concerts, and you see track the pool, and you see Beyonce, and you see, you know, the NCAA Final Fours, and you see international championship games.
so I get it. I get it.
I totally get it.

But as a professional,

plus professionally

college kids, man, you know college kids gonna paint

their faces, they gonna take their shirts off,

they gonna really be into it.

Man, look here. Man, I paid $12,

$15,000 off for a ticket, man, I'm gonna sit there and like

be chillin'.

You know what I'm saying, you know what I'm saying, Dwight? You right. That's right.
You're going to enjoy it the best way you can. But I don't think, you know, I don't think that bothers pros.
You guys know that. The fans don't bother us, man.
We're a professional athlete. You enjoy it.
They actually kind of motivate you sometimes. You get to some certain places

and they get on you.

You know how the fans

get on you.

That motivates you

to go out there

and play well.

So I don't think

that bothers professional athletes.

So I don't think

they need that.

You can leave that alone.

Guys are too mythically strong

for that these days.

To me.

The Volume.