The Athletic NBA Daily
Haliburton’s game winner finishes Bucks + Is Playoff Jamal Murray back?
Wed, 30 Apr 2025
Tyrese Haliburton blew by Giannis Antetokounmpo for the game winning and series clinching lay-up as the Pacers sent the Bucks home for the summer. Dave DuFour and Zena Keita discuss the Pacers overtime win, the postgame fracas, and how the Pistons handled the Knicks. Then, the Athletic’s Law Murray joins the show to react to the Nuggets game 5 win over the Clippers, Jamal Murray’s shotmaking, and respecting Russell Westbrook.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Law MurrayExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened in the Bucks vs. Pacers playoff game?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, we had some eliminations in the playoffs. Bucks Pacers is electric and we've got Law Murray here to talk about the Nuggets beating the Clippers. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. How are you?
Doing well, Dave. How are you?
I'm great. Welcome back. Congratulations again. Appreciate it. Again, we're just going to keep that vague here on the podcast. You can find that out there on social media. Hey, pretty interesting night of basketball we had last night. The Pacers and Bucks, we've watched this series sort of bubble up. It boiled over after the finish.
But before we get to the fallout on the court, let's talk about this game a little bit because In contrast to the way that the Miami Heat were eliminated, Zena, the Milwaukee Bucks, they showed some Bucks culture. They came out, and I thought they took some really good swings. Obviously, they built a really huge lead to start this game, and it fell apart.
because they just don't have the talent to match up with the Pacers. Before we get to the finish of this, Zena, Doc Rivers makes a lineup change. Brooke Lopez comes off the bench. I thought that this was a good move is maybe one that was made a little bit too late.
Yeah, I mean, the way that the Bucs came out was exactly what you would expect in an elimination game. But what I loved about the move that Doc Rivers made was that he went young and he went offense first, or offense forward. You got A.J. Green inserted into the lineup as well as KPJ. And obviously... you think about Damian Lillard going out that removes some offense. All right.
Now you've got a three point shooter, AJ green coming in there. You needed some defense. You needed some verve to you. And that's exactly what the bucks look like. They got into a 20 point lead early in the first half, 30 to 13 in the first quarter. Like that's exactly what you want out of an offense. Then you, In the second quarter, it all unraveled.
It was like Indiana remembered, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are we doing? We have more talent on our roster. Our depth is there. And also the minutes discrepancy. You look at what the Bucs had to do in terms of their starters and the minutes that they had to put up in comparison to Indiana. Indiana went five deep out of their bench. That played about four minutes in the second quarter.
So while the Bucs were gassed, trying to keep up with the pace that they had set in the first quarter. Indiana was like, OK, cool. We got you a whole bench mob coming at you. Obi Top and everyone was just going at the Bucs in transition. It was it was exactly what Indiana has done all season. And they played two way and they disrupted.
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Chapter 2: How did Tyrese Haliburton secure the game winner?
Chapter 3: What changes did Doc Rivers make in the Bucks' lineup?
But before we get to the fallout on the court, let's talk about this game a little bit because In contrast to the way that the Miami Heat were eliminated, Zena, the Milwaukee Bucks, they showed some Bucks culture. They came out, and I thought they took some really good swings. Obviously, they built a really huge lead to start this game, and it fell apart.
because they just don't have the talent to match up with the Pacers. Before we get to the finish of this, Zena, Doc Rivers makes a lineup change. Brooke Lopez comes off the bench. I thought that this was a good move is maybe one that was made a little bit too late.
Yeah, I mean, the way that the Bucs came out was exactly what you would expect in an elimination game. But what I loved about the move that Doc Rivers made was that he went young and he went offense first, or offense forward. You got A.J. Green inserted into the lineup as well as KPJ. And obviously... you think about Damian Lillard going out that removes some offense. All right.
Now you've got a three point shooter, AJ green coming in there. You needed some defense. You needed some verve to you. And that's exactly what the bucks look like. They got into a 20 point lead early in the first half, 30 to 13 in the first quarter. Like that's exactly what you want out of an offense. Then you, In the second quarter, it all unraveled.
It was like Indiana remembered, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are we doing? We have more talent on our roster. Our depth is there. And also the minutes discrepancy. You look at what the Bucs had to do in terms of their starters and the minutes that they had to put up in comparison to Indiana. Indiana went five deep out of their bench. That played about four minutes in the second quarter.
So while the Bucs were gassed, trying to keep up with the pace that they had set in the first quarter. Indiana was like, OK, cool. We got you a whole bench mob coming at you. Obi Top and everyone was just going at the Bucs in transition. It was it was exactly what Indiana has done all season. And they played two way and they disrupted.
The Bucs did a pretty good job of, you know, like, I don't know if you're into boxing, Zena, but like when you get tired, right, you can use your jab to keep a guy off you. Right. And that's what the Bucs did down the stretch. They weren't able to, you know, to to build a bigger lead.
And the Pacers just felt like for the first three and a half quarters, like their offense, just, you know, they weren't making shots. They just weren't doing the things that we're used to them doing. And then we get to overtime. And Gary Trent Jr. goes off.
By the way, the reason that you even get an overtime out of this game for the Bucs is because Gary Trent, after starting 0 of 7, just didn't miss. And he was lights out in overtime. If it wasn't for the efforts of Aaron Neesmith,
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Chapter 4: Why was the postgame incident between Giannis and Halliburton significant?
I commend Giannis for the poise that he showed in just staring at Mr. Halliburton as he is taunting him. Mr. Halliburton with a towel with his son's face on it saying, you know, this is what the F we do, et cetera. And it's like, I get it. You're excited. This has been tension building up overall. But guess what, Mr. Halliburton? You aren't playing. You were sitting courtside the whole time.
So you need to mind the fact that it was your son that won that game. Go hug your son. Go. Y'all ain't won nothing yet, by the way. It's just round one. That's important to note. But I really do commend, you know, not only the restraint that Yana showed, but also the thoughtfulness and the response when he was asked in the presser. The immigrant humility is a real thing.
I've experienced it within my own family. And I understand when you don't want to do anything to rile others up. And when you have that sort of humility kind of ingrained in you, when you see others contemplate Completely go against that and be brash and be crass and just be in your face and you show restraint. It's just like, oh, I know he was fuming. I know he was angry.
And so I respect him a lot for not elevating it even further to what it could have gotten to.
Yeah, the Celtics also eliminated the Magic. You know, this one, this was a series that, you know, again, another physical series. It was the way that Orlando, you know, the one win that they got, the way they stayed in this series. A bit of a weird one, like the Celtics didn't take a lot of threes in the first half and didn't make a three in the first half.
And we don't see that very often out of them. They also have gotten through this series. We're going to say... A little bit banged up. You know, Drew Holiday was out for the last few games. Obviously, Jason Tatum suffering that wrist injury. Although, you know, since he hurt his wrist and came back, he averaged 36 points, 10 rebounds and five and a half assists.
So including like taking over this game. So. You know, I mean, how are you feeling about the Celtics? Luckily, there's no drama after this game, right? Like, so we can just talk about the basketball stuff. But how are you feeling about the Celtics after the first round? Again, they survive. They win in five games. They survive a little bit because of the injuries.
But how do you feel like they look?
I feel like the Celtics look fine. I feel like they look like the reigning champs that are kind of like, okay, we knew it wasn't going to be easy. We knew it wasn't gonna be a cakewalk, but we still have the chops to figure out how to get it done. And that's what you saw. Like every single game to magic credit to them came out swinging.
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Chapter 5: How did the Celtics perform in their playoff series?
You know, they were throwing food the other day. Are you nervous for the Knicks?
I am. And I do want to give credit to OG and Mikael because they did step up. I mean, both of them had like eight and ten points last game. They stepped up there in the teens. They're providing more offense, especially considering the bench was non-existent for the Knicks offensively.
But in an environment like that, where Detroit has this chip on their shoulder, I absolutely believe that Detroit is capable of Especially after that call the other night. And you guys played it well. You guys explained it very well. It was like eroding the faith in the institution. I like the way you put it, Dave, in terms of the last minute call and that bad foul.
With that foul and now getting this win and forcing game six, I think Detroit has just enough...
energy on their shoulder just enough of a chip on their shoulder to force a game seven so yeah i am a little nervous for the next this series has been a lot closer than than i think anybody expected going into it because the talent advantage is on the next side i don't know um we're going to be looking forward to game six that's going to be in a couple days guys stick around after the break we got law murray here to talk about jamal murray's big game
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Denver Nuggets took a 3-2 series lead, and we're heading back to Into a Dome for Game 6. Here to talk about it, Law Murray. Law, I want to give you some credit right off the bat. The other night after Game 4, you and I, we talked about Game 5, Game 6, and Game 7 in this series, which you think is going to go 7. You told me exactly what was going to happen.
You said, we have not gotten a Jamal Murray game yet. And I think it's coming in game five. And, hey, we got the best Jamal Murray playoff performance since the bubble. That's right.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the Knicks vs. Pistons matchup?
don't give that dude extra gas because he doesn't need anything to be motivated. Like he's always going to be confident in himself. And you've heard let Russ be Russ for how many years now? Right. Like if like that dude's going to play hard, he's going to play with a certain level of physicality. And to be honest with you, if he's making shots,
Yeah, it's a bonus, but also it empowers everybody else around him, you know, especially at home. And and so like even even though, you know, I mean, Russ making shots is one thing, but I mean, it was an attitude to how he was playing. And I really felt like Jamal played off of that. Right. That's what I'm thinking.
That's why I'm asking you that question, because I feel as if there was this energy between the two of them, this connectivity that usually, of course, we see with Jamal working off of Jokic. But there was this this attitude, this demeanor, the swagger with the way that Russell was showing up that I think infected his counterpart and Jamal Murray.
Yeah, they missed him in that fourth quarter. You know, when the Clippers made the comeback in game four, they missed Russ. I mean, yes, they missed Russ because they just missed anyone off the bench. But Russ brings energy to these guys, especially in fourth quarters. I mean, he just never gets tired no matter what. And, you know, it's.
The Russ story is he's going to give you an amazing play that's positive and an amazing play that maybe is negative, and you hope that the positive plays went out, and it did for him in game five. Let's swing to the Clippers side of this. James Harden, not a great game, only 11 points, only gets up nine shots.
He had that brilliant first half in game three and then kind of has been a little silent since then. I know part of that is they wanted to coast a little bit in the second half and slow things down in game three. But game four, not a lot from Harden. And this one, what does he need to do to bounce back against the Nuggets? Or has Christian Brown kind of figured out how to guard him?
I don't think it's a figure out thing. I think James needs to look at game six and get up off the mat. I think I said something similar after game four, but you saw what happened tonight. He took even fewer shots in this game than he did in game four. James Harden's field goal attempts has decreased every single game of this series. Everything won. He took 22 shots in game one. Yeah.
17-2, 14-3, 11-4. He didn't even reach double-digit shot attempts. He had more turnovers than buckets. I know fatigue was a factor because he missed three free throws. All right? And they just – I hope James gets home, gets his rest, and comes out and – you know, puts this team on his back. They need a James Harden game in game six more than they needed from anybody else on this team.
I think you wanted Kawhi Leonard to get through a season, but you know, I think that this is the, this is the James Harden can't go out like this. He's had too good of a season, not just going to court, but off the court, leading these dudes, waiting for Kawhi to get back, waiting for Kawhi to get to the level that he, that he's at.
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