Leigh Ellis

It carried over onto the defensive end, mainly with offensive glass. You just can't give extra shots. I mean, that's what that first half was. They got into this hole. And, yeah, you got miraculous performances from three guys to get 66 combined from Jane McDaniels, Dante DiVincenzo, and Na. That's a lot of freaking points. They needed to force a little bit more from their lead guys.

Their bench hit 12 threes.

Dagnott made the calculation. Let's face guard them, and that would allow the corner threes to be totally open because you face guard them, you can pick them towards the middle, and then those guys in the corners were wide open. And they... Obviously came through, but they just got in such a deficit. This Minnesota team loves to get down.

That's what they did throughout the regular season, and that's when they fight back. And that's the characteristic of some people out there. It's my character trait. I love getting pushed to the wall. That's when I act. That's when I react. Maybe Minnesota wins game five. I wouldn't be surprised if they won game five, but to win three in a row, come on.

That's way too hard against this team that's found their way.

Let's talk about basketball, the greatest game of them all, and maybe changing the rules to make it even better.

It's Wednesday.

That's probably... I don't know. I just will never count out this whole scene. I'm counting them out from winning the series. It's too hard. It's too hard to overcome. You had it here. You had it. You can lose both games in OKC, but you had to come through in game four. And the guys did. The role players play better at home. God, they did.

They were so good, but their top two guys were not quite there.

Yeah, it's going deep in the textbook.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I will say, Doris, we skipped over game three.

in terms of analyzing it just because it was on saturday night but she was bringing it in that game too i did think there was an offensive rebound where rudy grabbed the ball and she said rudy doesn't have good hands like to come out and say that she doesn't usually go that way she's usually extremely positive so she literally said rudy doesn't have good hands that was kind of surprising anyway uh yeah the the whole french german thing that was weird just weird

Yeah. Well, one thing I was impressed by and why you got to watch the in-game arena stuff. I thought their intro video was awesome. I thought the Wolves intro video, the cut, the edit, the pace of it. It's good color. They put on it. It's Kendrick Lamar. So the music is just good. That adds to it.

No. They tossed that. They got rid of that. They dumped that down the drain.

We got to know the gravy.

Jelly Roll's hot. Jelly Roll's hot. I will say, I mean, he's hot. You're looking at me like I'm considering him hot.

Young Gravy is. I do kind of like how every single team now in the playoffs is bringing back all their old heads. Patrick Beverly was there.

The Wolves legend. He didn't jump onto the scores table this time. I like how they bring him back. It gets everybody going, that's for sure.

They ain't coming back.

Yeah, the Burlington should be around. Jeff Green, perhaps.

Why? It's perfect. There are eight scars guards. I had no idea.

We got it. These guys are cousins. We got it. I hadn't seen that picture, though. That was new. The picture of them as babies or as like kids, like three or four.

So they're actually cousins. That's real. That was not AI. That was a real photo. Okay, good. Had never seen it. That was unseen.

Their current headshots?

Oh. Yeah, they've showed it a lot. A lot.

There's only one photo of them together. Yeah, I hadn't seen it. Well, they weren't on a couch, so maybe it's a different one. I don't know. Okay. We'll see. Probably the same.

Well, if I'm in the league office, I do think let's call Sharif Abdur-Rahim, the president of the G League, and say we're employing this next year to give it a shot in the G League to see how it works. It will be sort of few and far between, I guess, in games because how often does this happen? Not a lot.

But you've got to give it a shot. I get it.

The whole Nate Duncan suggestion that he was also doing the tweets last night, and he suggested that if the shot clock is off, that a team literally can't intentionally foul beyond the three-point line. And if so, they get the ball. And free throws.

Sorry. One shot in the ball.

That's what it's for. I understand the NBA is looking at the NFL and saying, well, we could be more exciting than that. Yeah. Our guys don't need to kneel at the end of the game. It's so boring because the NBA is that exciting. Minute to minute, is it the most exciting sport in the game? In the world, I should say? Probably, I would say so. Minute to minute, I know it's annoying, yeah.

The most exciting sport per minute, it's like asking who's the best fighter per pound.

There's a lot of scoring, obviously, yeah. And things can end. It's not soccer. It can be a 4-0 game. or it's not football or a guy's kneeling at the end of the game. So I would try it out. Does it take away from these teams coming back? I don't... Maybe yes, maybe no. So that's the... That's why we're going to try to... I mean... I have no real answer.

We'll be at Summer League most likely in six weeks. We can try it there.

It'll happen. Maybe. Once.

My God. Time flies.

The days are long, but the months are short.

I don't like free throws, but now I'm starting to think of the team that ends up being fouled, like OKC in this scenario, who were freaking money from the line. But if you're at an arena and you're watching the opposing team go to the line, you're kind of excited. You're like, all right, we're going to make this guy miss. It is sort of exciting. Play stops.

It's not quite like a wedgie playing where the play stops and you can just admire it, but it's, you know. It is boring. There's pressure.

You have to start with Ant here in the semifinals. Back to the wall, down 2-1 in a very, very important game. He didn't perform to his abilities. He didn't force the refs to make calls by driving to the hoop. Of course, OKC is good at swarming him, but he didn't perform. He was not. The Anthony Edwards were all wondering if he will show up. He's 23.

Although we did skip over missed free throws by the Timberwolves. They missed six free throws overall, and they lose by two points. Rudy shouldn't practice missing free throws. He should practice making them. It wasn't that bad. Rudy missed three of the six missed free throws. Randall missed one. Anthony Edwards missed one. Plus another one, which doesn't really count.

Although, you know, Thunder didn't shoot all that great from the free throw line either. Okay, that's enough.

Through the five hole. You think all his Canadian friends are like, oh, through the five hole.

Well, Alex, yeah, he had the slap shots. He wasn't really a five-hole guy. Wasn't going through the Rick Tabaracci or us.

Maybe he will show up in a couple of years, but this just wasn't. And I know it goes hand in hand with Julius Randle. Both those guys not performing to their capabilities whatsoever. Randle, way more turnovers than Buckets. Five to one. Anthony Edwards, the same amount of turnovers as Buckets.

Well, he was standing. New rule. Sit in your seat.

That should be instituted immediately.

It is wild that you mentioned, you know, we went down to the wire considering those numbers because it is wild to think about what many did end up winning in terms of stats in this game. Fast break points. Yeah. They hit more freaking threes. Problem was, their bench hit double the amount of threes that their starters did. Points in the paint.

Yeah, I don't know. No idea.

It didn't get there. Well, Julius Randle, I think, wanted to take a step back and get more room and get a little bit more momentum, but that fan was standing right behind him, so he couldn't. I just made that up. That fan was not there. But Julius Randle needed...

In that scenario, I think you actually should have taken a little step back because you've got a seven-footer on your face when you're trying to throw a ball 60 feet or whatever it is, 50 feet.

It was fun to see Rudy fighting below the hoop because he thought an alley-oop was coming. So that was fun.

This is news. I think it's good news for the Pacers for a couple reasons. Number one, your guy is fighting through an injury and he is going to play.

there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to play if you're his teammates you're going to see him on the floor of course you're going to fight a little bit extra just because that guy is out on the floor for an injury that he played through frankly he did come back in in the last game and the second reason why i think it matters is because he's got an injured ankle i don't think he's going to bite for jalen brunson's pump fakes he's going to stay on the ground so jalen brunson

Call him a free throw merchant if you want. He will not be going to the free throw line because Aaron E. Smith, his main defender, won't be jumping.

I imagine he'll be playing. So that's pretty important here. That guy is kind of their lifeblood. He is their bloodline in this series.

They won so many of the categories, but when it comes down to it, what Anthony Edwards said after the game was everything. He said, quote, they outplayed us, out-rebounded us, got more of the 50-50 balls, wanted it a little bit more. Now, they didn't out-rebound them, but they did want it a little bit more. It's totally true. This game... Had OKC taking 12 more shots in the first half.

He's going to give it a go. He has been a miracle maker for this team throughout the postseason, shooting a ridiculous 53% from three in the playoffs. I mean, he is balling. So they need him... Shooting threes, will it affect his three-point shot and the way he gets way up to shoot his three-point shot? Maybe, perhaps, but he's just kind of their guy.

He's an underrated guy, just not talked about guy, but you need him out there, period.

Yeah, he ain't getting close to the floor. Like a good marriage, I think this is a good compromise by all parties here. John Halliburton apologized immediately afterwards. He said he would never do that again. And so the team goes to him and says, okay, well, how about we sit you in a suite so that never happens again? I think everybody shakes hands and says, all right, that's a deal.

Just think about that. A team takes 12 more shots. How are you going to win? How are you going to beat the best team? They had 11 offensive rebounds in that first half to six for the Wolves. The Wolves turned over 12 times while the Thunder only turned it over seven. Manny was playing good. In terms of shooting. Offensively, they're shooting well. 50 and 44.

We got a deal here. And I think it's good for also John Halliburton's wife, who I hope they have a great marriage together. But she was like right there when it happened, when she was, he was bickering at Yanis Degubo. Yanis came up to him. They went forehead to forehead for a brief second.

She was right there. She was slack, John. Her mouth, her jaw dropped. What is happening, she was wondering. And I think this is the best case scenario here. Yeah, he's handled it pretty well, I think. I don't know. John? John. Yeah, I'll say John.

Two and a half Johns. I'm going under. I'm going under.

They got to show ESPN that they do broadcast right. Because they're going to ESPN. I don't know. Is this their swan song? Or is this their... This is our audition tape.

Sort of.

But you just couldn't get down like that. And they kept fighting back. It was miraculous to see Dante DiVincenzo and Nikhil Alexander-Walker splashing threes to get them back. Those guys both score over 20. Jaden McDaniels scores over 20 to get them close, to get them to a tie-fricking game multiple times in the second half.

him like gary's the older brother and the relationship so of course he's going to be supporting his guy yeah i reread those words multiple times thinking is he giving something away by saying he's the president general manager he can't make the calls alone It wasn't his call. It wasn't his decision. He made a decision on what he was told to do or what had to be done. So then I read into it.

Maybe somebody, maybe that's Patrick Dumont or somebody in ownership that pushed him to do that. But then I say, it's Gary. Gary, he does like to talk and he is defending his friend. So I think that's probably what it is. And it was probably Nico Harrison's decision. Yeah.

And he also was defending Jason Kidd as the coach. He basically said, I feel bad for him. And, you know, with Jason Kidd, I'm sure there's been lots of rivalry throughout the day. So if you want to call out Jason Kitty, you could have. So probably it's just Nico Harrison's decision is what I'm what I'm guessing here.

Although the 520 podcast, great clip going around of Trey Murphy on the show talking to Jeff Teague saying, well, I was at All-Star Game. I was in the slam dunk contest. I got to have my parents there. That's probably one of my favorite moments being in the NBA entirely. And then Jeff Teague says, my favorite moment is when they gave me Gatorade.

I got to take stacks and stacks of Gatorade in my car. That was amazing. Good clip.

But it's just the way they started and the way their top two guys led their team. without really leading their team. That really came down to that. I mean, they just got down, and they couldn't make up for it. That's it.

Some people like room temp.

Will you do a Roy Hibbert chug of room temp water like he did on our show yesterday?

Oh, that's a great debate. Room temp versus colded drinks. I'm a room temp guy. Colded. Colded.

I was on an airplane the other day. Got a club soda. Ice or no ice? Yes, please. I did get it. I did get it.

Okay. Well, you get more water that way. The ice gets to melt. You get melted ice. I do like chomping on ice.

Big time chomper. Okay.

He's on his chain.

Thank you.

He's been shellamade. Nav Bacha was there. Was it the Knicks? He had a quick view of him on the baseline. Not a bad shot.

I guess he's supporting the boys.

And his standard seat. He doesn't sit, you know, sideline. He sits baseline. He had the same seats.

Yeah, it was India or the Knicks. That was one of them. But I'm pretty sure it was India.

You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, airplane ice is not sketchy. JJ Lynch. JJ Lynch on the stream team says airplane ice is sketchy. Okay. I disagree. It's just ice.

Yeah, Chet, to be able to cover that Jaden McDaniels drive, spin with 40 seconds left, stuck with him every step from the three-point line to the rim to seal it. That was it. That was a beautiful thing to watch. Has to be mentioned along with Jalen Williams. Those two guys to support Shea Gildress-Alexander were monstrous. And yeah, you went through some of the numbers up there. Roll guys, Trey.

They weren't exactly needed when you get your top three balling the way they did. And so that was the huge difference. Jalen Williams just came out. Yeah, the secondary action and the open three-point shots, he was coming to play.

Yeah, they were totally even keeled, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. Yes, I mean, they've had a little playoff runs, but they haven't had this much playoff success. So you think at some point maybe, you know, will they start to win? Will the lights be too bright as you brought up there, Skeets? But no.

Yeah, I thought Cason Wallace was important in this game. When there's two broken plays and it's just a scenario where Cason Wallace gets the ball, I mean, he has to be the break in Cason of emergency. He has to be, and he did. That's what exactly he was multiple times and offensive boards. He was just that perfect throw that guy out there. He can be the fifth guy on a championship team.

He just was that exactly in this case. Well, on the other side, yeah, we can go through all the things. I thought Chris Finch putting Dante DiVincenzo on Shea in that first half was a mistake. Shea loves that matchup, and he went away from it in the second half, and it was just Nikhil Alexander-Walker, who was the best defender on Shea, even though there's not really an answer for Shea.

Nikhil Alexander-Walker... He will be mentioned again and again and again that he is his cousin. He does know him.

Yeah, everybody complaining. But listen, Nikhil Alexander-Walker does his game of his career in the postseason. That was awesome to be able to do that. He was really good. I thought DiVincenzo was, even though he hit those threes, He was sloppy. And so they're looking for another point guard.

That's what this Minnesota Timberwolves will be looking at in a couple months when we're looking at who they are and what they are. They got to the conference finals last year. They need somebody to replace Mike Conley, in all honesty. They needed a ball handler to be able to do something to get into the lane. And Jane McDaniels was chipping in. Kiel Alexander was their backup point guard.

And I guess that's what the Rob Dillingham trade-up for him in the draft to get him was for. It was. That was what they were hoping.

Yeah, well, it was the extra possessions, really, that got them in that big hole. These offensive boards. Even after misses. Even after they were able to play good possessions. You'd look at Rudy Gobert's numbers. He only had two defensive rebounds. Is that Rudy's fault? Nah, it's not really Rudy's fault. He had to go out onto the perimeter to guard guys. But...

There was a hunger level that was needed. And I think sometimes it just comes from your best star being that guy who forces things a little bit. He needed to go and say, hey, referees, call something. I'm bumping into these guys. Because those guys were swarming on him, there's no doubt. But he just was a little reluctant. And yeah, it...