James Edwards III
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I am so happy you brought that up. And I really love when I was listening to the broadcast, Stan Von Gundy was bringing this up about the fact that having a Batum in there obviously allows you to have some spacing and be able to add some shooting, but it's a more agile option on the pick and roll, particularly just to back down Jokic out of his position.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And that's exactly what you saw him doing all night. And I think it was really funny because his brother technically probably made that decision as the defensive coordinator for the Clippers. But I'm looking at the adjustment that the Clippers made on defense. I'm looking at the way that their big three showed up offensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Everything was clicking, but particularly defensively, things were clicking at the end of that game. And I look at Denver, and you love this word, the grenades. How many times did we see Jamal Murray at the end of the shot clock throw a grenade over to Russell Westbrook, put Nikola Jokic in a position where he's trying to force something up?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
It looked as if the offense stalled for Denver, which is kind of crazy to say.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I want to start first and foremost with the Knicks because We saw a Brunson clinic, a Brunson burner. As the Knicks would say, bad boy Brunson came out. I mean, 40-burger, four rebounds, seven assists, but particularly, once again, another unbelievable clutch performance. I mean, he cooks up the craziest moves, despite Asar Thompson having unbelievable clamps on him in the fourth quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I mean, yeah, Jokic ended up with 25 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, like three steals. I mean, like he had a crazy stat line. Can you do more? Can you do more? Right. It's like it's a big burden to ask. But it's true when you're talking about the numbers from the Denver side of things, like six guys, maybe, you know, Watson added in there. But it is six guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And one of the six, Michael Porter Jr., I don't know if it was the shoulder that caught up to him or what, but he just was non-existent in this matchup. Only five points. He attempted two threes. What did you see out of Michael Porter Jr. that was significantly different than what we've seen in the last two games?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
All right, let's turn the attention to the Clippers because the onus is really on them. They are the ones trying to keep their season alive. And they I mean, they did that tonight being able or last night, excuse me, but being able to force a game seven. But now they are going into Denver. Trying to keep their season alive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And, of course, you know you can get this offense out of Norman Powell and James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. But you mentioned it. Kawhi's consistency. That is the key thread that needs to be through the Clippers team, not just on defense, but particularly on offense. Throughout this series, you've seen...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
The Clippers pretty much be consistent with that aspect of their game, but their offense has been inconsistent. What is it that Denver is doing that allows James Harden to have a dud then have 47 minutes played, 28 points, unbelievable game? How are they guarding these guys? It keeps being up and down with their performance.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Like, are you surprised at all by what Brunson is capable of doing in the fourth quarter?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And I think that's the reason I asked that question is because it's one thing to be able to do this against an opponent that is scouting you and consistently adjusting to what you're doing, not only in-game, but obviously being able to watch film and then come back and attack it in a different way. But how does this translate to potentially the next round if you don't have your offense engaged
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
in a go-to type of plan. I know what Denver wants to do at the end of a game, how they want to get into a pick-and-roll situation with Jamal Murray or get the ball in Nikola Jokic's hand and figure it out from there. It feels a little bit as if we still haven't figured that out for the Clippers, even though their offense was humming at the end of the season, the regular season at least.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Yeah, I mean, of course. I mean, it's the best series in the entire NBA. And I don't know. I mean, you're right. I feel like Nicole gets his clutch, not even just in clutch five minutes. He's clutch, period. At the end of shot class, et cetera, you need them. But the person I'm going to choose is the person that went five of seven for the mid range tonight, including one over that seven footer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And that's Kawhi. Kawhi's got that ability to create. So either way, as you mentioned, it's going to be an unbelievably entertaining close to an already unbelievable series. It's kind of crazy. This already happened in the first round. I know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I'm going Clippers. I think the Clippers are going to do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
The Nuggets played seven people. That's fatigue. What do you think Jamie Reddick thinks about that?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
conditioning on that note on that note appreciate you hanging out with us dave before making the time to go to the arena be in the building and allow me to get into the pilot seat and appreciate all of you guys listening in thanks to james edward the third and dave before i'm zena kata appreciate you guys listening have a great weekend more playoff basketball ahead
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
There you go. And that's the thing, though. As you look ahead to the next series, I'm looking at the New York offense. Of course, Tobias Harris did his thing in shutting down a Carl Anthony Towns. Finished with 10 points. Yes, 15 rebounds, but definitely not the production that you'd expect out of
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm Zena Cato. We are going to be covering the game sixes across the Western and Eastern Conference. David DeFore is actually at the LA Clippers Denver Nuggets game. We'll catch up with him in a second. But first, James Edwards III is here to break down how the Detroit Pistons ended their season. James, how are you?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
The two-man game between Jalen and Cat, a lot more so out of Mikael Bridges and OJ Ananobi, who combined for 57 points. They were the offense for the Knicks alongside Jalen. Now, is that sustainable going against Boston, especially considering the size that Boston has?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
And they just also played the Thibodeau Marathon, which is Brunson ending with 42 minutes in that game, putting up 33 shots. The volume of energy expenditure that the New York Knicks just did against a Detroit Pistons defense is crazy. And then you have to go and go against the Boston Celtics. It's going to be crazy. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I want to also ask you, though, about Detroit, because obviously you used to cover Detroit. So I'm sure there's a spot in your heart that you're like, you're proud of them. They got to the big stage. They felt the lights. And let's be real. In this game six, it felt as if in the beginning of the game, the lights were a little too bright. They're putting some of the shades on.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Cade Cunningham couldn't figure out his shot early in the game. He did end up with nine points in that first quarter. But over the course of the game, particularly in the fourth quarter, that's where they needed him to step up and bring that offense that he's used to bringing. And he could not find a shot. I think he ended up just four points in the fourth quarter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
But it makes you think about the future. With the way that Jalen Duran was playing this series and you think about the backcourt, of course, Tim Hardaway Jr. struggled in this game, only scoring seven points. But imagine if that's Jaden Ivey out there again, right? Like there were so many aspects of it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
What do you think when you're looking at the Destroyed Pistons team and the way they played in this series? Like what was most exciting for you having known the history of how they got to this place?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I mean, they had a season. They end up 44-38. They won 14 games last season and found themselves going to sixth. And you were there for all of that. And we used to commend you. Like, how is James writing about this day in, day out? And of course, you find a way to still...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
celebrate them right in this series and I'm wondering you know lessons learned of course going into the next year of the playoff stage because you literally saw Jalen Brunson show up in a way in a superstar way he showed up and was the best player in this game not necessarily I wouldn't say the best player in the series but definitely in this game and in the wins that they had he was the one that showed up and stepped up so what are the lessons particularly for maybe a Cade Cunningham
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
going to close out this year and get ready for the next opportunity to get on that stage.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I think we all are, including the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons. They close out their series. I think, you know, if you're looking at the two sides of the NBA sphere, New York-Detroit was pretty much the most interesting, most fun series overall. You think about a series that ended 4-2. decisive scores, 15-point differential between all six games. Very tight series.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
James, you always come with the wisdom. appreciate that there you go i love it you were cooking don't you worry go read james over at the athletic got the story over the next now going to the series with boston celtics when does that start by the way do you know monday monday in boston monday night eastern conference is heating up appreciate you james now go to bed i know it's been a long one
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
now if new york and detroit were the most interesting series in the east dave defoe was actually at the most interesting series of the west and really the entire nba denver nuggets and la clippers have been battling and it's not finished yet y'all there's still a game seven as the clippers forced that beating the nuggets in game six one eleven to one oh five dave You're you were there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
You were there for the clinic that Norman Powell, Kawhi Leonard and particularly James Harden put on Denver from the top of this game. Would you have expected the way that James Harden played, especially considering the dud that he laid in game five?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Actually, second in NBA history to have four straight games decided by three points or fewer. The last time that happened was in 1984 in the Eastern Conference Finals with the Celtics and the 76ers. So... New York, Detroit making some history. Of course, Detroit made their own history, getting to the playoffs, winning a playoff game, but they weren't able to win at home, James.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
Well, you I'm happy you mentioned the entire board of all the people that contributed to this. But let's just be real. My French flag is waving right now. Nick Batum. Amazing. All the way up. I mean, I think the stats say he had two blocks. I felt like he had like 30. He was everywhere and he was hitting big shots as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Brunson sends Pistons packing
I mean, how key was Batum stepping up in particularly this game in this series?