The Zach Lowe Show
Game 7 Baby! OKC-Denver Breakdown With Andrew Schlecht, and a Warriors Postmortem With Logan Murdock
Fri, 16 May 2025
Andrew Schlecht joins Zach to talk about the two sweetest words in the english language—GAME 7—and the series as a whole from every angle (1:04). Then Zach dissects the massive Game 6 tonight in New York City (54:53), before bringing on Logan Murdock to discuss where the Warriors go from here after their second-round exit (1:04:56) Host: Zach Lowe Guests: Andrew Schlecht and Logan Murdock Producers: Jesse Aron, Jonathan Frias, Bobby Wagner The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Get started today at HubSpot.com/AI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Game 7 in the NBA playoffs?
Do you want to... Can we just go back through every game real fast and just, like, the craziness of every game? Yeah, I would love to. So, if the Thunder lose this series... Lose game seven at home. I think they're going to look back at game one as just the game that they will rue forever because they should have won the game. Definitely.
They overthought their defensive matchups, starting with Chet on Jokic. I couldn't believe they did that. I mentioned in my preview that I didn't think that would happen. I thought that was a bad mistake. The fouling up three mismanagement of timeouts, letting Jokic get back on the floor. All of it was a disaster. Um,
But that's a Jokic game, 42 points, 22 rebounds, and Caruso was awesome in that game. Game two is the blowout. By the way, the Thunder for the series are plus 32, but Denver is plus 11 if you exclude game two. I know you can't just exclude game two because it's whatever, but plus 32 is incredibly misleading, obviously. Game three...
Another you're going to rue this one game, but not as bad as game one. Up three. Shea has the ball. 40 seconds left. Misses a decent shot. Aaron Gordon. Aaron Gordon. Should have mentioned him in game one. Has the big three to put Denver up at the end of game one after Chet misses two free throws. you know, another three at the end of game three to tie the game at overtime, they lose.
That's the MPJ game. If you want a hero from that game, MPJ playing with one arm, 21 points on seven attempt shooting. Game four, I mentioned the bench guys. Game five, I mentioned Dort. Game six is Strother. Which of those games do you think they would regret more? Game one or game three?
It's got to be game one because it was like all these controllable things for the Thunder. down the stretch of that game. It felt like it was a game that they made a ton of mistakes in, but was absolutely still winnable. I mean, the fact that they fouled up three as quickly as they did was a huge mistake.
The fact that you're fouling in the backcourt up three, it just felt like rookie mistakes for them in the playoffs, which you just really can't have in round two against a team like Denver. So I think it's absolutely... I think it's absolutely game one. Game three was rough, but it was more like normal basketball rough. Like, yeah, sometimes these things happen.
Like this happens, if you're playing a seven game series, a game like that's going to happen. Game one felt way more like in the Thunder's hands, controllable. They should have had that one, but they let go of the rope. You know, Chet misses the two free throws. Down the stretch, I know he really beat himself up about it. But yeah, that's the one.
I think a lot of Thunder fans are sitting at home thinking this should be over right now because of game one.
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Chapter 2: How did the Thunder and Nuggets perform in Game 6?
Yeah, I mean, like, honestly, the biggest thing for OKC is just, can guys make threes? Because the Nuggets are similar to the Thunder in that they are like, hey, we're going to make life as hard as possible for Shea and for J-Dub. We're going to zone up. We're going to throw you multiple looks. And we're going to make your role players prove it.
And that's how the Thunder have won some of these games is that you've had Aaron Wiggins games. You've had moments where Alex Caruso has been incredible. Cason Wallace, Lou Dort. But it's like those guys are going to have to make up the margins. And the Thunder did the same thing. And they've been doing the same thing basically this whole series to Nikola Jokic.
It's like, we're going to throw guys at you. We're going to make sure that when you spin, somebody's there. And I think that... To me, and this is why you're glad it's at home if you're the Thunder, is Aaron Wiggins going to hit that wing three when it swings over to him? Because there were multiple moments last night where the ball swings to Aaron Wiggins. He's 0-4. That's an Aaron Wiggins shot.
It's on the wing. It's in rhythm. he usually cashes that in. Can he cash those in? To me, that's what this is all about because they've done such a good job of taking away stuff from Shea, from Jalen, and now it's like, okay, how do we get other guys involved in a way where they can make shots? And I think they actually did that last night.
I think the Thunder did a good enough job of executing, but it's just about shot making. And I think that's the whole thing with J-Dub. He's another one where he can wipe all of this away. He can wipe away the 33% from the field in one game. And so to me, I think the Nuggets will continue to take away driving lanes from them. They'll throw two...
at guys, you know, right away in the zone, whenever SGA or Dub drive, it's like, can the next play be good enough? You know, and that's what it is for the Thunder. And they've done, I think they've done a good enough job. I think Denver's done a good enough job, honestly, against OKC's defense.
And it's really just all about these role players and like who shows up in these moments because that's what's kind of being created by both squads.
Well, J-Dub wiped away, you know, it doesn't even need to be a whole game. He wiped away a meh game five with one big kick three wide open to put them up 106-103. And to me, he semi-wiped away a disastrously bad game four when he was two of 13 on a back-to-back possession stretch that I think I mentioned last episode where against the zone, he misses a wing three with like three minutes left.
And on the very next possession, did he airball it?
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Chapter 3: What are the key tactical battles in the Thunder vs. Nuggets matchup?
There's actually a sort of honor in scratching and clawing and winning 48 to 52 games in an absolutely loaded conference, which just somehow keeps getting even more loaded. And being a team that can plausibly make the second round and being a team that if luck actually goes your way, you could make the conference finals. And once you're there, it's like, you know, whatever. But like...
a championship extraordinarily unlikely, but there's an honor in being that competitive. And I think almost more interesting than the where do they go from here conversation, because I think we know where they go from here. They have Kaminga as a sign and trade possibility. And I agree with you. I think they have some eyes on some pieces that they think fit. I don't know who they are,
And it's not Giannis. Like, they have hot take. They'd love to get Giannis. Like, kudos to the front office for identifying Giannis as a diamond in the rough. If they don't get Giannis, I think they've got some names that they'd look at. And they have, you know, Pajemski's solid. Moody is a problem right now. They need to figure out what Moody is, if anything.
And Kaminga is either going to be on the team or going to get them something in return. And they owe their pick to Miami this year. They owe a top 20 protected pick to Washington in 2030. Other than that, they control all their picks and swaps. So after this draft is over, they have some ammo to get stuff. once that pick is sent to the Heat. So I think we kind of know where they're going to go.
I don't know if there's a big plot twist here. The more interesting question is, you know, they landed on Butler as the guy, right? That ended up being the move and it didn't cost them all that much, which I think is a win too. And I put this to you, like, Is there a road not taken? Is there a missed opportunity that's any over the last three to four years post Durant post rebuild post title?
Is there a player? Is there a trade? Is there a conversation that is a road not taken missed opportunity that would have left them in a better spot than they are in right now?
I don't know if there may be necessarily a better spot, but maybe a more interesting spot. I know there was a deal in place to send Draymond to Memphis, and then the return on that would have been interesting. It's so interesting that Stephen Adams was the catalyst to almost beating him in the first round because in that trade, Stephen Adams would have came back to Golden State.
And along with Dylan Brooks, I heard as well – Tyus Jones and a couple other people. But the reason why that deal fell through is because Tyus Jones went to got rerouted to Washington and it no longer made the deal work because that's something they want. They really wanted to back up point guard. And so that would have been interesting. Right. You would have kept Jordan Poole.
You would have you would have had you would have had Dylan Brooks, which would have which would have been had its own bit of entertainment. So they could have went that route. Right. Or they could have traded Kaminga two or three years earlier because it wasn't like they didn't identify these, their reservations from Kaminga, um, this year in the last two weeks. Right.
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