Buddy Hield poured in 33 points and made 9 threes to lead the Golden State Warriors to a game 7 series clinching win over the Houston Rockets. Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni discuss the Pacers win over the Cavaliers, Andrew Nembhard as a playoff riser, and how the Nuggets stack up against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Then, Zena Keita joins the show to talk about Buddy Hield’s big night and how the Warriors stack up against the Timberwolves.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni & Zena KeitaExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moodyhttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened in the Warriors' Game 7 win over the Rockets?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, welcome to the second round, but also we had some game sevens over the weekend. Warriors get a big win. We look ahead to OKC and the Nuggets and take a look at how the Pacers beat the Cavs. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, S. We are in the second round. I am excited, man. What a great time for playoff basketball. My goodness.
Yeah, we managed to get a couple of game sevens. I would say the two most compelling series. Hey, wound up going seven. Nuggets get the big win over the Clippers. James Harden, man. Just perfect Harden performance or lack thereof.
Bad weekend for Rockets fans in general, you know, between the James Harden dud and this game, the game seven that we're going to talk to. Yeah, but tough.
Chapter 2: How did the Pacers manage to beat the Cavaliers?
Well, we're going to have Zena after the break because, you know, she was in studio for Warriors Rockets. So we're going to go deep on that with her. But man, before we go there. Early game on Sunday was game one of round two between the Cavs and the Pacers. And look, if you've been listening to this show all year, you know we were high on the Cavs.
I mean, they had multiple double-digit win streaks. I mean, this was the best team in the East. But they had a few flaws. And I... Like you, S, I felt like the Pacers kind of matched up very well. They're big, they're athletic, they can score. And in game one, look, they pick up the win, 121-112, and it was kind of all the things that we talked about.
Now, a little bit of this, the Cavaliers didn't have Darius Garland, and it showed, especially early on.
Yeah, they absolutely showed. I mean, the shot creation from Darius Garland, the playmaking ability, just the ability to get out in transition, that's an aspect that he brings in very quickly. And I know Ty Jerome did a valiant job of trying to get similar things going, but he's obviously not Darius Garland, right?
He's more of a bench guard who can kind of do things off the bench against second units for you. Garland is a guy who we've talked about on the podcast, incredible fourth quarter performer, Probably should have been in the clutch player of the year conversation. The way that he's able to elevate them offensively as a guy who, all right, Mitchell is getting downhill. He's driving the ball.
They're getting the defensive rotation. And now Garland has a wide open shot or a wide open lane that he can attack. So that's why they were missing Darius Garland. And look.
Yeah. Sam Merrill in the starting lineup for Darius Garland, in my opinion, I think that was a little bit of a mistake. I think you want to go playmaker. I would have maybe just gone Ty Jerome. I know it messes up the rest of your rotations, but you're adding shooting, but it's not someone that they're worried about making a play. And I think for Cleveland, it was missing for them.
And on the other end for the Pacers, they just had a lot of guys out there making plays, whether it was Halliburton. Nembhard hitting big shot after big shot the entire game. And Pascal Siakam, like they just right off the bat had more guys who could stir the drink.
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Chapter 3: Who is Andrew Nembhard and why is he crucial for the Pacers?
Yeah, we got to start talking about Andrew Nembhard as like one of the best playoff risers in the NBA. Absolutely. From last season, the way that he uplifted the Pacers defensively and the shot making to get them to the Eastern Conference finals. And now he's doing it again. And I thought he was masterful at like everything. bailing out the Pacers offense when they weren't able to get a good look.
It was like, all right, cool. Namhar, go ahead, get us a shot. And he hit five threes, two of which were in that fourth quarter and they were massive shots. Cavs were fighting back and he answered. And also the other aspect to this is his defense, the pickup points. He's pressuring the ball. The Pacers did an incredible job of like forcing Cleveland to start their possessions with like
16 seconds on the clock or 15 or 14 seconds on the clock. And right. Nem hard is a big, big part of that. I will say the Cavs also shot like 25% from three. That's not going to happen all the time. Right? Yeah. So this was a, this was a game that Indiana like had to win just because of the offensive performance that Cleveland was kind of given up today too.
Yeah, and when you glance at the box score after you watch the game, because sometimes I'll watch a game with a box score, sometimes I'll wait. The one that jumps out to me is Aaron Neesmith only played 25 minutes, but I swear every second he was in the game, but I felt him every second, whether he was grabbing a rebound, making a defensive play.
He had one series where he shot an awful brick from the corner, and then he stays with the play, chases down Donovan Mitchell at the other end, and winds up with a rebound. That sort of effort and the size that the Pacers are able to throw at Donovan Mitchell, and I would say Darius Garland, but we haven't seen it yet.
But to throw at the smaller guards for Cleveland, I think it bothered them a little bit, and it made them a little bit slow going. They couldn't really get fired.
Yeah, I agree with you. Like Neesmith and Emhart, both are those guys for them. It's like we're going to we're going to be just feisty as heck on the point of attack. And I want to shout out Halliburton's defense in that fourth quarter. The Cavs said, all right, we need to start a run. Let's start hunting Tyrese Halliburton. Three possessions in a row. Halliburton got a stop.
He actually got a couple of blocks in this game too. And he was able to – he was just awesome. He can do it.
He just does it. I know, man. I know. And he's big, right?
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Chapter 4: What are the challenges for the Nuggets against the Thunder?
But also, you know, a couple of games ago, we were all preparing our obituaries for the Nuggets. And now they've just bounced back in a way like they looked like the better team by the end of the series with the Clippers. Let's look ahead. Our bet MGM pick of the day. We're going to look ahead to tomorrow's game. One Oklahoma City against the Denver Nuggets is in Oklahoma.
We're going to have Andrew Select on the show tomorrow, of course, after the game to talk about it. So look, how do you feel about this? Look, seven games for the for the Nuggets. They looked tired at times in the series, you know, like late third, early fourth. They're not a deep team. Yeah. And Oklahoma City's been sitting at home. I mean, I don't know what these guys did.
They have a Madden tournament all week. Like, how are they staying engaged?
You know? They've been throwing birthday parties. That's actually something that they've been doing. They've been throwing birthday parties because they have so much time on their hands. I think I saw a stat where OKC starting lineup has played in six games in April, you know, including the four playoff games. That's just absurd to think about.
That's a great job.
You know, that is a great, great job to be able to play six times in an entire month, right? Look, you're right about the depth. That's a huge piece to this. On any given night, the Nuggets have five and a half, maybe six players that they can rely on, right? Russell Westbrook was huge in that game seven against the Clippers. He was huge in game one.
They will need him to be that for every single game. That's just the type of player. And obviously, Russ versus OKC, the storyline there.
I was going to say, we're on the Russ prevention.
tour i mean what if this just goes all the way you know and we get maybe warriors and nuggets in the next series i just the rush revenge tour but they're not going to guard russ i mean it's going to be very similar to the way the clippers approached it um you know and but the thing about russ and russ being a little bit more self-aware version of himself in the interviews i think is very funny like he is going to make plays and i think like he he won games for the nuggets already in the play absolutely
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Chapter 5: How might Russell Westbrook impact the Nuggets-Thunder series?
Just like in the last one. Right. The last series, Clippers and Nuggets, that was Jamal Murray versus James Harden. We know what we're getting from Jokic and Kawhi. The question marks are, you know, what is Jamal? What's James Harden? I think in this series, it's a little bit Jamal Murray and a little bit Jalen Williams. You know, what does Jalen Williams look like when they send two to Shea?
What does it look like when Jalen Williams is the guy that has to score down the stretch? I mean, this has been the question mark since last season. But I think Jamal Murray is, I mean, that's the biggest question mark in the entire series. Which Jamal are you going to get?
Mm-hmm. Yep. I completely agree. Yeah. I mean, look, I think you look at Jamal and the series he had versus Minnesota last year, the struggles that he had against their point of attack defense. Now you're facing the Thunder team that might be even better at the point of attack with their defense. So this is a huge series for him. I will say I'm kind of interested.
to see if the Nuggets throw out a zone against OKC, because we've seen this a lot in the playoffs, especially against teams that you might say have some sort of questionable shooters, like funneling shots to Lou Dort. Even though Dort can knock down those looks, it's like you can live with that versus SGA going one-on-one against everybody. Force Shea to be a passer.
Force Shea to be a guy who gets off the ball quickly. And to your point, you're forcing J-Dub. You're forcing Chet to be more active offensively. So...
Also keeps your guys out of foul trouble. You don't foul as much in the zone, and if you've only got five guys, I mean, it's going to be a big deal. They cannot afford a scenario where Aaron Gordon has three fouls in the second quarter. It's not a thing for them. Guys, stick around after the break. Zena's here to talk about the Warriors' big Game 7 win over the Rockets.
The Warriors pick up a win over the Houston Rockets in game seven. Zena Kata, you were in studio for the game, totally locked in. Let me tell you, Buddy Heald was an experience at home on TV. How was it in studio watching him cook?
Kia. Movement that inspires. Kia.
Endlich wieder Coca-Cola Gläser bei McDonald's. Hol dir die ikonische 20 Jahre Edition in 5 exklusiven Farben und Designs für deine Sammlung. Jetzt gratis zum MacMenü. Nur in teilnehmenden Restaurants, nicht zum MacMenü Small. Solange der Vorrat reicht.
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Chapter 6: Who could be the X-factor in the Nuggets vs. Thunder series?
Yeah, there was no reason. The Warriors could have run the zone the entire time. The entire series, honestly. Especially in Game 7, the Rockets didn't want to shoot. There was exactly one player for the Rockets that just showed no fear, and it was Amin Thompson. And he kind of just would start these runs on his own. I do want to talk about the way that they guarded Steph.
I mean, in the series overall, I think that they did a pretty good job of just making him work. But in Game 7, you want to talk about a master class. It was a Steph Curry master class. You know, and he only scored, what, eight points or something through like the first three quarters. And then he goes off and, you know, he's being face guarded by every single player, you know, for the Rockets.
It felt like and he was hitting some ridiculous stuff. He got this layup that just felt like he was forcing. He's like, I just need to see the ball go through the basket. Yeah. On nights like that, right? And then you couple that with Jimmy Butler coming up. I mean, it's 6-0 run, personal 6-0 run in the fourth quarter to really seal the deal. Thinking ahead, okay? We're moving on past the Rockets.
Good night. Sayonara. We're looking at the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Warriors now. I mean, what do you think that the Timberwolves are going to throw out against Steph in the playoffs?
Ooh. It's funny that you said we're moving past the Rockets because it's the same sort of familial series that's about to happen where these storylines are running through. For a decade, the Warriors have terrorized Houston. And now this is an opportunity for them to go to Minnesota that hasn't. been directly terrorized in the same way, but feel the same vicious need to take them down.
You're thinking about Rudy Gobert. You're thinking about Ant Edwards wanting to be the Kingslayer. But in regards to what they're going to throw at them, you're going to see very similar things like Houston threw at them. You're going to see a dominant defender like an Ahmaud Thompson and Jada McDaniels.
I anticipate Jada McDaniels being the forward person on Steph Curry, if not Ant Edwards, because both of them They want that assignment. They want that ability to shut down a big-time scorer like Steph Curry, and also to be the person that is dismantling everything that the Warriors want to do offensively, which we know starts with Steph Curry. But
anticipate the same level of throwing two at them. The thing about the Minnesota Timberwolves that will be just a little bit different than Houston Rockets that also threw two at Steph is that they have veterans on those rotations, right? So when you throw two, if you throw a Jaden and an Ant or a Jaden and a Kill Alexander Walker, you've got a Julius Randle on the backside.
You've got a Nas Reed on the backside. You've got a Dante DiVincenzo on on the backside, right? You've got some really smart defenders that can pick off those passes and things of that sort. So I really feel as if it's going to be a very similar look. The execution is where it's going to be a little bit different.
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Chapter 7: What are the strategic considerations for the Nuggets against OKC?
It's, all right, how are you going to survive offensively and lock down these guys? Zena, who's guarding Anthony Edwards?
are they going to start Moses Moody again? I would say it's probably going to be Moses mainly because you just don't want to tire out a Jimmy. Well, yeah. Or you know what I mean? Like you want to make sure you have somebody young on him, especially, and then also someone that relishes that opportunity. And Moses has been doing that all through the regular season and into the playoffs.
As you bring up a really great point in that there wasn't a guy in in Houston in the way that Houston, I mean, in the way that the Timberwolves have it. And I'll say this, the guy is Ann Edwards, but particularly against the Warriors, the guy is Nas Reed. He's a problem for the Warriors. You know, in that Lakers series, I think he was 56% from the floor, 50% from three. That's insane.
You're thinking about if Draymond has to guard someone like a Nas Reed, that pulls out your main rim protector. And that's where you're going to have to see the likes of a Quinton Post come in. And I like that because if Quentin Post is hitting his outside shots, that means Rudy Gobert is pulled away from the basket.
But then I have to think on the defensive end, like how well is Quentin Post going to be against the Rudy Gobert or anyone like an ant driving to the basket? This is going to be a spicy series and it's going to be a really great X's and O's battle between these two teams.
I think Jimmy Butler is the key. Jimmy Butler and Draymond green are the key to guarding Julius Randall and Nas Reed. And it isn't that, that like dream. I don't think Draymond is going to even get the assignment on those guys. Most of the time.
I think Draymond will be just mostly on Rudy and kind of helping, but Jimmy Butler's ability to hold up against, you know, if Randall wants to go bully ball, I think, I think, you know, Jimmy Butler can hold up enough that he's not just going to get knocked over. And I think he can just straight up guard Nas Reed.
Now, remember, the Timberwolves are capable of going small ball, right? With Nas at the five. And that's where I'm thinking about Draymond on him. But with Rudy, they're going to have to find a way to get him. I mean, I don't think it's going to be have to find a way. Draymond's going to find a way to get him off the court.
They got to play him off the court, though. I think on the other end, right?
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Chapter 8: How did Buddy Heald's performance stand out in the Warriors' win?
But Draymond said he wanted to play better, and he did play better. 16 points against the Rockets in Game 7. So I think that will extend things a little bit. But eventually, the athleticism and the youth of Minnesota, I feel like, may win out.
Draymond is one flagrant foul away from being suspended for one game. This is going to happen this series, right?
For sure. I didn't know that.
Okay, okay. So that's another aspect to this.
It's a lot of people that get under Draymond's skin in the series. You know, to me, I think that we may see a redux of what we just saw with Minnesota and the Lakers, right? A little too big, a little too athletic, a little deeper, you know, just have guys that can do stuff. So you're going Wolves in five? No, it's impossible for me to bet against Steph Curry and the Warriors.
I'm going Warriors in seven. Wow.
Okay.
No, I'm sticking. Xena, stay strong. I'm sticking with wolves. I got the wolves in six.
I know it's really hard for me to bet against Steph too. That's why it felt like I was pulling out my hair saying that, but we'll see.
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