Nikola Jokić recorded the first ever 61 point triple double in a double overtime loss to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni and Anthony Slater react to the Jokić’s night, Steph Curry’s 52 point night, and the playoff implications for the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, and Warriors. Then, the Athletic’s Sam Amick stops by to discuss the ongoing saga in Memphis, new Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo, and Ja Morant’s future.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni & Anthony SlaterExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened during Nikola Jokic's historic game?
Good morning, everybody. Good morning, guys. Thanks for staying up, Anthony, and hanging out with us. We originally thought we were going to be talking about Steph Curry right off the top, but Nikola Jokic kind of bumped him from the front page here. A 61 point triple double in a loss. Actually, a crazy game. Anthony, you were you're actually in Memphis.
You were there for the Warriors, the Warriors Grizzlies game. But you caught the you know, the last quarter last the double overtime of this game when the game kind of got absurd. What do you think, man? I mean, this is to me the game of the year. And you maybe didn't see the whole thing I did. But how do you feel about the finish to this game?
Yeah, it was crazy. A lot of shot making. Big threes. Aaron Gordon was hitting big threes. Alexander Walker obviously returning. And then, you know, the Westbrook thing is going to be like the headline probably tomorrow because they had it won. You know, he could have, I guess, dribbled it out with 10 seconds left. Then they probably foul him with eight. I actually don't mind taking the layup.
How do you miss the layup? Yeah, you can't miss it. And then I don't know why you're even getting close to, you know, fouling Alexander Walker there. I mean, look, if he hits it, he hits it. You want some kind of a contest, but it was almost like a fake hustle late contest that put him in danger. And just, I mean, a combo blunder that will be the story. I mean, like Jokic's stat line.
He ruined the game.
you know i mean i hate to say it it it literally is the story um you know he gets that he makes makes a good defensive play makes the right pass to christian brown and blows the layup and and look those things happen but to double down and come back and and to foul nikhil alexander walker when he's firing up a hot potato i mean this was this was i don't think it was a foul
Yeah, I thought it got him on his arm. I think it did. It felt a little soft for that moment. Yeah, that's fair. I didn't like it. That's probably fair. Yeah, it's kind of a tough one. I think it's the Russell Westbrook experience, right? They're going to call that because it's Russ because in those type of situations, he's prone to making that type of mistake.
And I think that's part of the situation here. You saw the 10-second experience of what it is to have Russell Westbrook on your team. Incredible hustle, makes the hustle play, gets a good defensive stop, but then hustles too hard to blow the layup and then foul the guy on the other end. I mean, yes, that's going to be the storyline, but...
Nikola Jokic put up one of the best games I've ever seen in my life, live. It was incredible to watch him just surgically carve. He played the entire second half and overtime, put up 61 points, was just unstoppable. Didn't matter what kind of defensive coverage they threw at him, whether it was double teams, whether it was single coverage. It just didn't matter. Slater, I have to ask you,
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Chapter 2: How did Steph Curry perform in the same game?
That's the reason they won the game. Anthony Edwards hit big shot after big shot.
No DiVincenzo, no Nas Reed because of suspension. No Rudy Gobert late because he fouled out. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's a huge win. He celebrated it, didn't he, right, when Jokic did that?
Oh, yeah.
By the way, how about the Jokic? There's .1 left. Yeah, and he's still trying. And he was still trying to find a way to, like, if I just bat this ball.
He's got two heaves in this game, and he leads the league in heaves by a good margin. Yeah, I mean, just always trying to do something.
but yeah, no, you could tell how much like Edwards wanted this one. I mean, there's probably, you know, the playoff history between these two is kind of a, anytime you go through like a fierce seven game series, like there's just a little extra. Didn't Mike Malone have some quote this week that, They play them better.
Yeah, his coaching staff had been watching film, and it's like they play us harder than they play anybody. Yeah, this is big for Minnesota. I think if Minnesota loses this, they are the likeliest eight, which means that's the road playing team. And with winning this... Every result is swinging massively right now. I mean, we're going to get, I assume, to this Warriors-Grizzlies game.
Yeah, we'll just go to it now. Yeah, that is huge standings-wise. If the Warriors lose tonight, they're one and a half games behind the Grizzlies. And the Grizzlies, it would be 2-2 head-to-head, but the Grizzlies have a better conference record, so pretty likely the Grizzlies would have the tiebreaker. Instead, the Warriors win.
They're a half game ahead of the Grizzlies and they clinch the tiebreaker. We're talking about do the math for me there, but that's like a three, four game type swing. I was talking to Warriors people pregame and even at shoot around and the more realistic, clear eyed defense. people within the Warriors, and their thought was win tonight in Memphis, very likely you're avoiding the play-in.
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Chapter 3: What are the playoff implications for the Timberwolves?
and it's a closed game right they're not offending that well jaws killing them uh and steph has like every three-part record imaginable except for single game one he was there his teammate did it broke steph's record clay has it 14. he wants it steph wants that record and he admitted to me post game like Because I had the same thought. He hit the three with the 16 minutes left in the game.
He's already got to go for it. This could be the night. And he admitted he started the fourth. I don't know if you all remember. He had two really bad threes. He was even doing one of his like pointing at himself at the bench. Like, oh, my bad on that one. And he had to rein himself back in because he was like, okay. He was thirsty for it.
But he's like, you know what's more important than that record? The fifth seed.
It was a little bit like the four thousand. Yeah. Three. You know, remember when he kind of went through that or is hunting for it? Yeah.
Oh, really? When the the month before the Ray Allen record a few years ago, he was like hit a deep slump because he he was just too antsy about just trying too hard.
So this was your first chance to see the Grizzlies up close. Obviously, they, you know, a lot of changes. They're changing head coach, new offensive system this season. First chance to see them since they changed head coaches. You notice anything different about them at this point in the season? I mean, to me, when I watch them, they just seem like they don't have the legs.
I don't know if you saw that up close.
They were just really bad defensively, and I'm used to them being really good defensively. You know, there's a reason Steph had 52. Like, you know, they were trying some of their, like, top-locking and various stuff with, like, Jalen Wells, Scottie Pittman, whatever. They just were making a bunch of errors defensively.
I mean, so rookie guarding Steph Curry is part of the problem, right?
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Chapter 4: What is Ja Morant's future with the Grizzlies?
And, you know, like you said, a rookie is their primary perimeter guy. Jaw has his issues. Yeah. And then Jaron Jackson was obviously great defensively. Draymond roasted him postgame. No, I shouldn't say that. Draymond did not roast him postgame. Draymond is really friendly with Jaron Jackson. They have Michigan State connection.
And he was critical in a big brother way about it, where I would agree with Jaron Jackson. It's just silly fouls. Two in the first quarter, he's just running over Moses Moody. Handful of jersey half the time on rebounds. That changed the first quarter. They're up one. He gets the second foul, goes to the bench. It's Warriors go on a run.
And then you mentioned the one, the one that Draymond apparently went over to Desmond Bain during the game when it happened. It was basically like, dude, you got to tell your guy here. What's he doing? He misses a three and he's frustrated and Quentin Post is just going for a rebound. He just grabs his arm and yanks it. It's his fifth foul.
And then Jimmy Butler pump fakes him with two minutes left, gets the sixth foul, which, you know, Kirk called the biggest play of the game. So that, I mean, you asked me what I meant. That's what I see with the Grizzlies. They're really bad defensively right now.
This was a really good Jimmy Butler game, too. I thought just the way that he was working in two-man actions with him and Steph and then the Draymond connection, those three in clutch were just able to get constantly good looks. They got a moody three off of it, which was awesome. The Pajimski offensive rebound was big. It feels like things are coming together for the Warriors at the right time.
And now they have that potential Lakers-Warriors game on Thursday, potential playoff playoff. preview between the 4-5 matchup. Yeah, 4-5 matchup.
We'll see what happens. 28 of 28 from the line tonight. 12 of 12 for Butler. Yeah. That's huge. That's what they weren't doing. First of all, they don't get to the free throw line in the first place. And they were, for a large part of the season, they were the worst free throw shooting team in the league, despite having Steph Curry. As far as percentage, that's no longer the case. So, yeah.
Thursday night, Warriors-Lakers. Marquee game, it's the 14th day of a 14-day trip for the Warriors, two-week cross-country. Then they go home Friday night, and it's Jokic-Curry in Chase Center. If Steph plays, because that's an absurd back-to-back coming off a two-game. Yeah.
Well, we're going to try to get you in here for as many of these as we can. Yeah, you're going to be back with us this weekend. Thursday, Thursday, Friday.
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Chapter 5: What changes have the Grizzlies made under their new coach?
We're at data time. You want to come for Pistons Thunder? Huh? Yeah, that's good.
You go back to OKC? No, I'm good.
Yeah, why not?
I'm good.
All right, thanks for hanging out with us. Guys, stick around after the break. S and I sat down with Sam, and we talked about Ja and the Grizzlies.
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Cool. Am 15. Juni feiert Deutschland den ersten Veteranentag.
Kommt vorbei und feiert mit.
Thank you.
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Chapter 6: How did the Warriors fare against the Grizzlies?
Hello, Dave and as appreciate you guys having me, we shall see. I have been dropping that comparison a little bit these past couple of days. I don't know that the Grizzlies fans will enjoy that one.
And maybe I'll be wrong because we all know how things finished up with Fox, but the parallel to me, it's imperfect, but I do think it's worth drawing is that, you know, in Sacramento, you had a guy in Fox who over the course of time became increasingly uncomfortable with with the direction of the franchise, with the way things were unfolding on the floor.
Now, the other parallel, Mike Brown gets fired. That's a guy that De'Aaron Fox rocked with until the end. Taylor Jenkins gets fired. That's a guy that, based on our information, that Ja Morant rocked with until the end. Now, the X's and O's stuff that you guys are well-versed in is that Taylor is a guy who, to simplify it, played more the way that Ja has preferred over the years.
Now, when the Grizzlies, after firing Taylor Jenkins, elevate a guy in Tuomasu Salo, the Finnish coach who they went out and got last summer, paid a seven-figure salary to. At the time, I don't know that a lot of us, certainly not in the national media, really picked up on the breadcrumbs along the way that showed that not only was Taylor in trouble,
but that Tuomas was a guy that the organization and GM Zach Kleiman specifically really wanted to take a look at because he looks at offense in an entirely different way. His Paris basket team had done some innovative things internationally that got the attention of the Grizzlies GM.
He wanted to integrate that into what Memphis was doing, but it wasn't working with, you know, the kind of vision that he had. And now they make this move. The part where I wonder where things are headed with Ja is that this is just
not really sat well with him in terms of the way he wants to play the game um you know he's saying all the right things for now the organization to be clear has been full-throated in their denial that he is going to be available anytime soon a couple weeks ago it was speculated in the media that they would start listening potentially this summer to john moran trade offers
not even a hard media report, more of just kind of chatter. And Zach went out of his way to refute that and said basically that opposing teams could keep dreaming and that wasn't going to happen.
But I will say this, it's one of those situations where the noise always starts from the outside and sometimes it dissipates because a team gets back on track and the thing it has going, if that makes sense, is good enough that the star player gets comfortable again. But a lot of times it continues to develop like it did with the Fox situation. And the guy ends up leaving town.
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Chapter 7: What were the key defensive issues for the Grizzlies?
Yeah. Before we before we go into the next phase of this, I do want to say, you know, there there was a lot made, especially recently, you know, in in other places in the media about how John Moran's role has changed. I mean, you started seeing people talking about it on ESPN. And it made me start thinking, Sam, that, okay, well, there's a little bit of a PR campaign happening here.
And now my assumption is always it comes from the player's side, right? Like, hey, the player's not happy with how this is working out. Did you get any indication outside of just, hey, Ja wants more touches, that he was just unhappy with how things were? I mean, was it all on the court and particularly about the way he's being used?
No, I haven't. I have not been given any indication about fireworks of any kind off the court that go beyond basketball. I mean, we know how challenging the last couple of years have been, you know, when it comes to John, the different kind of missteps that he has made.
And to be honest, he should probably, you know, and I imagine probably does feel thankful that the organization has certainly stood by him all the way through. And he's a guy that has been trying to just kind of get back to not to quote LeBron, but to making the main thing the main thing. Right. And, you know, this was basketball. This was a guy who has seen his star dim. You know what I mean?
He was not too long ago, essentially kind of given that unofficial title of, you know, rising American star, the guy who was going to take the mantle from the LeBrons and the Steffs, potentially right there with, you know, Zion Williamson, who also has had. his own kind of obstacles. He's just his arc has gone in the wrong direction.
And whenever that happens with a guy like that, who is so talented and who is still very young and and on the early side of his prime, you know, he's going to obviously constantly assess the situation.
Yeah, I think, man, for Jaws perspective, staying on the floor is going to be a huge part of this next bit. Like being able to be available is half of the problem here when it comes to being able to play the basketball you want to play.
I wanted to ask you about, you know, Zach Kleinman post firing Taylor Jenkins talked about the urgency and having that level of urgency to what they wanted to do decision making wise, making this decision of firing Taylor Jenkins or parting ways at this juncture. Feels urgent. And I guess the question I think a lot of people are wondering is, why now?
Why not 10 games from now when they're out of the playoffs? Why not even last summer? Why make this decision now?
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Chapter 8: How does this impact the playoff race in the West?
And that's not... disparage zach at all that's just kind of the historical context um and the idea that you you have a guy in tuamas who again was challenging to get into your program you were excited about what he would bring to the table you weren't seeing it to your liking and the clock is ticking
And then post all-star break, you know, the Grizzlies were, I believe, 35 and 16 as of February 8th. They start losing games at a pretty high rate after that. They were 11 and 20 against teams that were above 500. You know, coincidentally, that last OKC one-sided loss was, that ended up costing Taylor his job, or at least his last game.
It was on the front end of that streak going back to February 8th. They got boat raced by the Thunder at the start of that stretch as well. So the theme was that Zach, understandably, was looking at this going, we are not true contenders. And so try something different. But again, the backdrop that is worth unpacking even more deeply is that And this is across the league.
Once an organization has somebody in-house that is aspirational and who has a clean slate and who doesn't have any baggage, then the clock is ticking, I think, for the incumbent head coach. And that's, again, where you can maybe draw a parallel to the Sacramento situation.
Although, like with the Kings and Doug Christie, that was more ownership-driven, the aspiration to get Doug in that spot when he was on Mike Brown's staff. But, you know, to me, now that you look back at it a little more clear eyed, you know, Taylor was was in a spot all year long. And the only way to to not get fired here was to be damn near the top of the West.
Right. I mean, I essentially felt like if they didn't win a first round series, he was probably going to be out this summer. I think that that was the prevailing thought. And you don't make changes to a coaching staff like they did last summer. without a coach probably being on the hot seat. I want to look ahead to this summer. Obviously, they're going to be hiring a coach.
Is this Tuomas' job to lose, or does he have to go and win it here in the final few games? I mean, it hasn't gone well since he's taken over, but that makes sense. He hasn't had any time to really make any changes. Does he have to win the job here the rest of the season?
so this is me reading the room just to be clear not intel coming from the grizzlies just in my experience again given what we know of the context of bringing him to memphis and what he represented i would be pretty surprised if he was not the coach next season um that's just me talking uh because it it feels like a vision it feels like a philosophical shift
And, you know, and one that I have a hard time thinking they're only going to commit to for 10 games. On top of that, when you give the guy a seven figure multi-year contract as an assistant coach, that does not typically portend, you know, a short term relationship. You know, we we don't have all of the coaching info around the league.
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