 And that doesn't even speak to the calming and emotional presence he gives a warrior's team that without him would have even more Volatility every team in the league should be worried not just the Warriors almost 60 points from their bench Yep, you got no chance Chris bruce ard here and welcome to the brand-new hoops on fox podcast This podcast will give you your daily dose of all things NBA from Fox Sports including the best content from skipping Shannon Nick right plus special guests fresh NBA content from myself post game interviews from NBA stars around the league and much much more Up first Chris Boussard joins Colin coward to talk about the 2019 NBA playoffs. I found the second person on planet Earth Who did not watch Game of Thrones? How are you? I haven't seen one minute of Game of Thrones in my life billions ever watch billions. Nope. That's good Is it I've heard great things about both. I think my wife and I will start watching Game of Thrones I'm gonna suggest it. We've been looking for something since breaking bad That's a while ago We was breaking bad like five years later. I mean, but then you can just binge it It's actually great. It's actually if you like it. You always have something to watch I agree. By the way, what did you make a tiger would yesterday? I Was in and I'm not a huge Tiger Woods fan certainly not a huge golf fan, but I was at the edge of my seat I was like Boston Indie. It can wait, you know, and I was happy for him. I thought it was great Comeback story I felt like he was unfairly true not on agree with his, you know Philandering and all that cheating on his wife But I felt there's a lot of athletes that do that right and the only difference between them and Tiger Woods Is he got caught right and so to see media people who know other guys were doing it in golf and other sports and Just to pounce on Tiger the way they did even guys in the media that do the same thing Oh, yeah, maybe not to that degree because they don't have the opportunities But they pounced on him too and I just thought the hypocrisy was ridiculous And so I'm glad that he bounced back and I'm just hoping now he can challenge Nicholas 18 No, that's just that'd be great, but it was great It was just I was by the way The tiger won his first Masters Tom Brady was a backup quarterback at Michigan It's been a long road. It's been a long road. All right sixers lost. Let's start with this more talent That team's a mess Something's happening in the sixers locker room. What is it? Who's to blame you can't lose to the Nets at home And that's the one series that we both said had upset on it Right, we both said we don't trust the sixers chemistry. Who's to blame? They got so many issues I'm gonna start not because he's the most to blame, but Brett Brown He's gonna go. I mean It's just he was great for the process But now when he faces a tactical coach, this is why I said there's no way they're beating Boston if they ever play Like there's no way because Brad Stevens is too tactical and now coaches him Kenny Atkinson is similar He's got his team playing hard 110% all the time Tactically, he's doing he's out coaching Brett Brown. So that's one two your two stars or two of your Ford Embiid and Simmons are not mature enough to lead this team deep into I don't think they like each other Well, yeah, there's tension there. It's not I don't think it's not outright You know despising one another but there's tension there because both want to be the man Embiid is still young and silly and he wants to he's you know, he wants to be this celebrity and then there are people that'll tell you Ben Really is more concerned about being a celebrity than a superstar basketball player Oh, not realizing the celebrity comes with being the superstar basketball player. Look 20 Years ago certainly in the 80s you would have been able to get away with not being able to shoot But in today's NBA, it's a it's a major problem It is it's a downright liability No question because as a point guard, he's great in the open floor, but in the half court sets don't have to guard Oh, don't have to guard him So they put him in the post and and you can't have two guys in the post anymore So that's forces Embiid to go outside which he likes to do anyway So that's why he's shooting threes and mid-range jumpers Embiid should be able to demolish them. You saw what Bobon did in the post. Yeah, they couldn't stop him So those are problems that Brett hasn't figured out how to get to buy his Harris involved They they've got major issues. They should still win this even with Embiid being hampered, but they got they got issues Okay, I read this The warriors took a 1-0 series lead you say they have an unspoken rallying cry in the playoffs one last to rock a timeout So the warriors in the locker room are saying no no no no no no I'm saying I'm in here in here They can't be spoken because they can't outright talk about KD, you know, we know he's leaving but in they in their heart of hearts They all know this is the last hurrah KD is probably out. The Marcus is certainly out Dramon they're not paying Dramon big money period. No way So maybe he's I think they will I think there's a number they'll go to to keep him in an extension But he just signed with clutch and one thing about clutch and rich Paul They try to get every last dollar. Oh, yeah, and they I don't know if Dramon thinks hey I could go play with LeBron and the Lakers I think Dramon smart enough to know that most in most teams He is not Dramon like he could go somewhere and get exposed, you know, because if you expect too much from him You expect he's a max guy. He's not that he's perfect in Golden State Hopefully stays but but my point is this could be they know in their heart of hearts. This could be it Let's go out with a bang. Let's win three straight KD wants to compete with LeBron LeBron didn't win three straight with the heat. This is another way for him to up LeBron So I that's the silent the unspoken rallying crowd. They just meet eyes and they know One last hurrah Portland beats the Oklahoma City Westbrooks. He's snippy after the game It would be easy for me to hammer on Russell Westbrook, but my takeaway is Thunder's still gonna win this series, right? Yes, I think so look Paul George is injury is a problem. I think he's going because it's his shooting shoulder He's going to have to go to the hoop more and not settle for the three-point shot. He was what four for 15 I think from three in in game one So I need him to penetrate more where he could probably finish at a better rate than he is from three with that injury Westbrook look I've said it. I love him iconic all that. He's not gonna win a title No, if they get I do have them going to the Western Conference final I think you're right at that side of the bracket either the Spurs Okay, either Denver was a newbie in the playoffs or Portland who's been bounced in the swept the last two years or Okay, see one of them is going to the conference finals. It's like a bad region in the NCAA tournament So you you thinking Spurs? Because I picked Spurs over Denver. I just don't I think they're unraveling. I think Westbrook's unraveling again I think it's who he is. I'm not trying to pick on him But I I think they'll win this series because they had better players, but I I think Paul George will they're not gonna go 5 for 35 I sat there for about an hour and they didn't hit a single three and it's bad Finally Lakers head coaching search. Who's it gonna be a minute left? Tyloo, I mean done, but I think they're doing it backwards Unless it's I guess Rob Palinke is running everything now because if if if you bring it in a president to be over him Why in the world when you hired a president and he and Rob picked the coach? I that's what I thought it's redid and it or if you're bringing in a GM to be under Rob or an assistant GM, why don't you bring him in and let them work together pick the coach I don't get it. I said it this weekend to a friend. They're picking the coach before the general manager It makes no sense and that's why look Joanne. I think he may be great one day, but you can't experiment right now You got two three years with LeBron James. You better go all in Is Palinke hiring the coach quickly because he wants to force Genie to know oh, I can't hire a GM Because I got to make Palinke the GM because he hired the coach It's it's I think Genie's all in on Palinke because he's Kobe's guy because that was the sticking point with magic It wasn't Luke so much. It was Palinke that's Kobe's next Steven Jackson joins Nick and CC to dissect the Rockets big win over the jazz What I do like is they totally reinvented themselves from last year Even so we'd like to be able to say that they would like to be in that position right for one They don't have home court advantage. They're not playing the same style and the role players They have empowered them over the last two months that they feel comfortable in the roles because they're gonna be quarters And our games that James Harden is not going to be able to at the rate He was scoring at because in the playoff the defense are gonna be totally different different and that's what we saw in game number one So I'm very confident in the style for which they play They do have a different style now and I liked it Harden was distributing the ball more was very very patient Because the defense is man are going to be tricked up and I mean there and for hard He can't be that aggressive on the offensive end all the time if they're gonna commit to playing that hard on him beyond the three-point line They're defensive scheme yesterday was terrible Send him right and just let him throw lives to Capella all night. That was that's that's horrible That was that's a horrible game plan You have to some kind of way either play him straight up and just play defense on everybody You can't give James James is too smart to give him either way now with James the way He's playing the way he's been playing our year every team in the league should be worried not just the Warriors Every team should be aware of this is the problem if you play him straight up with Ricky Rubio He's gonna go for 45 with that Ricky Rubio can't guard him Well, I don't know here's the thing and this is what as evidence by the season he had nobody right now can guard him Like this is the point Dan Tony's been making all year is he presents a unique problem for Everybody and so the jazz came into game one saying we're gonna throw something totally different at him and guess what it failed That wasn't different a lot of teams did that and it didn't work But it was different than how the jazz has guarded them in the regular right and so they said We're gonna try to throw something at you. You're not expecting and I said okay instead of going for 40 I'll go for 29 with ten assists like and that little lob to Capella When you combine it with the fact that hardened has mastered that floater a shot used to be terrible at now Once he's that deep in the lane It's over like and this is one of the things the Rockets were so frustrated about with The stat that you pointed out that's not frustrated with you specifically But everyone bringing up Yanis had more unassisted dunks than anyone in years and years They the Rockets would tell you yeah, and James Harden had more unassisted Baskets than anyone in years and years be it threes or be it in the lane What was most important for the Rockets yesterday was not the 122 It was the 90 it was that they absolutely choked out utah defensively even if they had given up 100 The overall intensity in the buy-in of everyone on the roster was totally different now that jenna That was on the level that we saw last year because people they talk about their offense last year But last year their defense was that's where they made their drastic improvement Right a reason and that and that was where and this year they don't have a reason But they have pj. Tucker who's still playing at should be in consideration for defensive player of the year They have guys coming off the what you disagree with me on that. Yeah, come on Okay, well, I think the defensive player of the year I think he'll he'll be first team all defense. He'll get votes for defensive player there We'll see when the ballots come out I don't think he's gonna win it But I said I think he should be in consideration for it point being for the Rockets the most important thing of this series Because I know a lot of people thought that the jazz f4 5 matchup jazz third best record in the NBA since the break Could they take the Rockets 6 could they take them 7 could they upset them the Rockets need to win this series quickly They need to get rid of Utah in a maximum of five games Because golden state is going to be done with the Clippers almost assuredly in four and a maximum of five And so it's not only win quickly But games like this where oh wait, how many minutes did chris paul play? Oh 31 How many minutes james arden play? Oh 32 you could rest them for the majority of the fourth quarter That's what they need because they have to go into that golden state series operating at Full capacity full health fully rested How much does Utah change the game plan though now going into game what they have to have to change it up defensively But this ain't the same Utah team that we that they played last year Their Utah team last year was way better and they had way more that was better offensively This office this team can't really score. They can't really score. I don't think this I think this might be a sweep to me You know and and you're right. They do need to get these guys out the way But I think james was pacing this stuff last night. He knew how easy this game was going to be He knew how easy was scoring. He saw the defense the way they was playing and realized he didn't have to work That hard and I think that's what he's doing this year. That's smarter He's he's pacing himself. I understand that he has to really really go out and play like an mbp Where the western carpets founds in the final rounds not the first round Yeah, this series starts in game three last night They were to send the message but game three We'll really be able to tell the difference because that will be able to tell us if houston's incomplete control Utah is a tough place to play Knowing an mba wants to play a series there and I believe that quinn sniders won the unrated coaches in the mba He'll make some adjustments as they get through game two and head back to utah for game number three So game number three becomes the critical part that first half of that game because golden state is going to sweep the clipper He's a tough nose coach too quinn sniders excellent. I I think to get back to your original question I think this rocket team is better than last year's team just for the record I think they are because in the playoffs last year Once the rockets lost mba moote They were down to essentially seven guys they could play right they played their starters They played jerald green and they were and they were on six and a half seven man rotation in those games now They have daniel house. They have austin rivers They have kinnith ferried to go along with jerald green coming off the bench They got nine guys that they feel comfortable with nene if he gets back into the rotation They don't need in these games for harden to play 40 minutes They can they can rely on their bench more and I think defensively What they've been post all star break is far more likely to what they'll be in the playoffs than what they were The first half yeah those other guys too. They don't have a whole bunch of playoff experience So when the bright lights hit them, how do those guys play that that would be Everybody can't make the same shot in regular season has to make the shot in playoffs a different shot Now chris broussard joins skipping shane and I sec the 76er struggles I am going to start with shannon here. How big of a deal is the cell phone incident I think it's a big deal for me I'm a big family guy And I don't care what the game is skip. It could be the super bowl. It could be a world series. It can be an NBA finals game If your wife's going if your wife is having a baby or your child is sick or love one is sick And you choose to miss that game you have my blessing. Okay, but all I ask If you're there you're there If you're any if you hear because he didn't play I guess he was inactive If that's the case skip because my thing is if you're worried about that and you're here Your mind is not in the game Why not just stay With your family Take care of that situation when she's better. You come back to us That's my only problem. I I not get it But for me the most important thing and it tells me that he You have to have a phone on you that the situation might be a little dire You need to be there firsthand You don't need to come to this ball game because guess what they were going to play again tonight And they're going to play again probably Thursday Friday night and they're going to have another game after that Take care of that business first. That's my only problem that I have with this situation I don't need to know what's going on with his daughter. That's between him and and and the organization of the Sixers But this was not a very good look And then you got joel and bead involved in the situation joel definitely needed to have his mind into the ball game But I would have just preferred in a situation like this if your daughter is sick or a love one is sick And you're going to bring the phone which tells me skip your mind is not going to be really focused on this Because it's hard to compartmental like some people can do it But clearly in this situation, he wasn't going to be able to I just believe he and the Sixers would have been better served Had he stayed with his wife To wherever it is and his daughter, I believe he would have been better served And the Sixers organization would have been better. Yeah, I don't really disagree with him If if she's that sick and I don't think we know exactly the nature of the illness But yeah, if he would have called off because obviously like you said he was inactive as it was But I don't think it was that big of a deal. It's wrong. It's a bad look and mb did nothing wrong He happened to sit next to amir and amir says, you know, most people are going to look down or whatever It's a teammate. So I don't think mb did anything wrong Amir was wrong For having his cell phone with him. However, in today's day and age as bad as it is, I can see a player today Thinking i'm inactive I can have my phone with me. My daughter's sick. Let me check, you know, like it's not that big of a deal If he if you are active and you're gonna play then there's no Reason and again, I don't think you should have had the cell phone. Anyway, but certainly if you're active If he's inactive why even come? No, I feel you on that, but I don't I don't know how sick she is it may not be a huge thing as again, we don't know Either way you can always have Team doctors and people getting word to you as it is Again, it was wrong. I think the sixers have handled it perfectly You find him you don't make a huge deal out of it because I don't think it's if mb'd had a cell phone Or simmons or somebody that's playing even if it was amir johnson. He had been playing. He's active I think it would have been even worse, but it was bad, but I don't think it was like horrible How did the team react to this? How did brett brown the coach react to this? He was livid They didn't give any pass to amir johnson So they probably know the backdrop of this how sick the daughter is or or not sick I don't know. I have no idea But they gave him no pass and if they had really thought he deserved one Any sympathy here that they would have protected him and they would have gone to great links to explain what the situation was And they did not they went right after him right after the game And brett brown was also not happy with joel and bead and I don't think he should have been either and I disagree with you That he did nothing wrong. Yeah, I You can say he's kind of a victim of it because you can't seem insensitive But but but still you're in the middle of game one of the playoffs And I have said all year joel and bead is the new beast of the east post lebron right But now you got to live up to it and to I still consider him the leader of that team Which may be the problem with that team because you have to You have to have enough focus that that you wouldn't even acknowledge the cell phone and and I get it Again, it's hard for us to talk about because we don't know how it's instinctive. Okay. Okay I know one guy who used to be the beast of the east Up in chicago and if you'd tried that stunt on him during a playoff game You would have had held to pay and it wouldn't matter how sick your daughter was to your point Then then go home. Go be with her. That's fine But you can't be distracting the the star player nor can he acknowledge during the fourth quarter It's just such a bad look. It's part and parcel of what's wrong with this basketball team It's there's something missing at the heart of this team the desire the commitment That the sacrifice you have to make to win championships They're not showing it to me. They're better than brooklyn And I know brooklyn's a really good basketball team and brooklyn has a bench that philly no longer has And I know that joel has some big knee issue that almost cost him the start in this game And so I'm not sure how bad it is But that still doesn't preclude what happened on the bench. You just can't do it on either He was part of what happened and that's my that and that's my only thing christ I have no problem if someone is having you know, I've heard people say I don't care if my wife's having a baby If it's the super bowl, I'm playing or if it's the world series or yada yada. I'm playing. Okay, that's you You may you and your wife make that decision that you're gonna be there or you're not gonna be there I got no problem either way But all I ask is that you do is that when you be here you be present And being present means I need your undivided attention Now if your if what's going on back home Is more than you can handle and you're not going to be able to focus on the job at hand I would prefer you stay at home. That's all I get it. But again, I don't think that had any impact on mb I don't think that had anything to do with the way he played and a mirror didn't play So I I agree it was wrong, but they got far worse problems than that Well, Ben seems to play better right where I agree with you play at all where I agree with you is This does get to the heart even though I don't think mb did anything wrong It gets to the heart mb and Simmons are not mature enough yet To lead them deep into playoffs. It's as simple as that mb is just a silly happy goal He's just not ready yet. I got it and Simmons I mean you saw everything we can talk about this play on the court But the comments he made afterwards about the fans right like stay on that side Ben Simmons and I've sat on here and I've praised him. I actually I feel kind of crazy now for I compared him to magic johnson early in his career He has become a liability to them. Yeah, because offensively he it's four on five. Yeah, period He can only lay it up and do it. Yes. Yes, and then when you put him in the post That forces mb away for spacing to go outside And now I got mb taking five three pointers and going 0 for five some of it's mb's fault I agree. He wants to go out there. He loved to hang out but at the same time for spacing They kind of have to get a get the big out of there because Simmons is down right So they got some serious issues. I think they'll still win this series But they can't guard brooklyn's guards no Simmons and reddit can't stay in front of them And you saw den widdy spencer den widdy cares laverte and d'angelo russell had field days The first two guys you named came off the bench, right? And they they made the fifth most uh three pointers per game in the season So if you when they penetrate if you don't stop them, they're kicking out They're gonna this could go seven. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah, and and and a bead is injured and he almost not missed the game They're not beating brooklyn with a 50 percent joe l and b because ben Simmons as you mentioned he's not mature enough Look, they keep on talking about oh, he can develop a jump shot Well, he needs to get on it. Yeah, because right now he is a he's a live ability on the office of end skill Because anything outside of eight feet he ain't making What did we see even taken? What are we seeing his one year at lsu when he obviously did not want to be there for that one year coming from australia? Saying i have to go here to baton rouge for one year before i can play the real basketball But he was not invested. He was not committed He had low motor and i kept saying on tv Is that the real guy or will he take it up a notch when he becomes a pro basketball player? And i don't see the motor run hot I i don't see the killer will in him that you need he's got star ability in him Obviously because he's got the passing gift and he's how tall do we say is six tens six ten all right He can do everything except shoot except shoot without that that's kind of hard That's like that's like a man that picture man that you can do everything with pitch, but you a picture 20 years ago, certainly in the 80s that would have been okay. Yes today's mba. Yeah, you can't know there's no way Well, well, he does have some magic potential, but magic taught himself Right magic was a decent set you get that set yeah, but that's the thing skip You talk about lebron needed to shoot a thousand free throw Ben sympathy to shoot a thousand shot a day a day no question and then I hate to say this people laugh at this But you know who they miss the most on this team They miss bellinelli and ili sova because coming off the bench and they would come out and just they were fearless Tough mentally tough guys who would change the flow of the game Now they got mike scott coming off the bench and i've just never loved him And he goes one for eight from three Okay, but skip you can't have you can't have your two starters Uh jj reddick score five points and ben simba scored nine that's 40 You're gonna lose and when you get and when you get guys like you know coming out their bench and they're getting Almost 60 points from their bench. Yep. You got no chance Following steven jackson is back with nick and cc to break down the lakers coaching search Steven when I teased this the last segment You said who in the world would call stef curry underrated doc called stef underrated Does stef not get enough credit for for the work he does for that team? How's he underrated? He just made past uh ray island for all-time threes and playoffs. How's he underrated? He's a three-time champ. How is he underrated? He's mv two-time mvp. How is he underrated? This kid is great I think people who don't watch basketball don't know the game Or just hate the wars because katie on the team don't give him his props Everybody knows stef is great. He's going down to one of the best players in the game Definitely the best shooter we've ever seen Uh, I was on the team when he got drafted So he was my rook for a little while before I got traded. It's a great kid I don't think he's underrated. I just think a lot of people hate him because they're so great and when you're great That's what happens. There's a lot of times I used to break down jerry rice's film I used to get specific film a certain route city ran And I always thought he was one of the greatest football players ever and definitely the greatest wide receiver But when I used to break it down and I used to really study him compared to Looking at him versus other wide receivers and going against defensive back compared to studying I think doc rivers is talking about when I study this because now I stopped the regular season I'm studying the warriors in what they do and every time I watch the clip It's like man, he moves better without the ball. You know something man, his ball handling is better Man, you know something he is not as bad defensively. Hey, you know, so he's a better rebound So even in greatness, I think when you slow it down and you start to study what you're doing these playoffs You know that man. They know all your tendencies are you and then he starts to see How it affects the team? Well, man, clay wouldn't be as good because I'll be able to help out a little more on him If Steph's not there the overall spacing and I think the system that they run They've refined it a little bit because Steph is he's a better ball handler than he was five years ago And he's definitely better more physical moving without the basketball than he was five years ago So I think those are the things that someone like doc rivers is trying to point out To people who don't study it every day and that doesn't even speak to the calming and emotional presence He gives a warrior's team that without him would have even more volatility like Steph Curry, I disagree with you, Stephen. He's 100 underrated You know how I'll be able to prove it wait till the mvp voting comes out And we see that once again he might finish outside of the top Five might not even finish with the most mvp votes of anyone on his own team When people say well, you know, we had a better year than Steph this year. Nicola It's absurd He is the he is the difference maker for them without him. Could they win a championship? Maybe without him Would they still be a really good team? Yes But what he does to defenses and the way he can dominate a possession that he never touches the basketball With his movement and with the attention the utter fear He puts into people there was a Play in this game this weekend where he takes the ball up court. There's 19 on the shot clock He's got two guys on him He's about 32 feet from the basket confidence and just pulls up and it's not a bad shot last week The reason I said he absolutely has more to prove more to accomplish as an mba player is He is he's a guy one of the three guys. I think playing today right now that has Oh, I I can get damn near the top of this pyramid as my best case scenario. What is Steph Curry's, you know Best case scenario for his career half dozen championships a couple more mvps add some finals mvps Like you can't tell the story of basketball without in the first couple paragraphs talking about the greatest shooter who ever lived Who helped create one of the greatest dynasties of modern mba history? Like that's who Steph Curry is and I think at times because of durant and because people are sick of the warriors People forget that and they absolutely forget the part you pointed out see one of the best rebounders at the point guard position We have in the league no longer a bad defender This point is a more than adequate defender and an excellent ball handler and passer of the basketball You the reason why I say he's not underrated because if you go in any locker room Sure and look at all them players in there who they're thinking about Steph and KD if you look on that board If you look on that board who we heard weird about Steph Who's the most one of the most feared players in the league? Not just because he talks trash. He had knocked you down because he's unguardable Steph Curry I don't I don't think he's not I don't think he's underrated by players right then and that's what I'm speaking from I'm speaking from as a player. He's definitely respected and definitely the top five player in the league When you talk about his his calming effect on the team I think that's something that goes underrated and people don't talk about that But but but the season the Warriors had where there has been flare-ups in tension Talk about his influence on the team and being able to keep that unit together Well, he's the calming influence if you look at the Steph is overall demeanor There's leadership in a lot of different ways and it doesn't have to always be Tom Izzo Screaming someone in your face don't have to always be someone like Dremont something like that Steph has done it in the type of way that this organization They made a bet on him when they didn't have to a number of years ago And they've invested in him and this organization is around him when they went out to get Katie Steph didn't have a problem with it. So that all leads to his overall demeanor What he's going to be about on a daily basis. There is no warrior Working on their game harder. They got a bunch of guys that work on their game But none of them can say, you know something I work harder than Steph And that brings you a great deal of cachet Inside that locker room when you go to say something It's about not only the things that you do But how you show them on a daily basis and I and that leadership you talk about I mean the the the respect that Steph has around As far as NBA players that lead that's that's from a leadership standpoint Also, not only what he does on the basketball and that means more to him More to anything that the players feel that way about him and I compare Steph to Tim Duncan He's Tim Duncan. He has the same calm as Tim Duncan A lot of you have you have to have one player on the team when guys get out of control He have a lot of Steven Jackson. You have a Draymond. You have a boogie cousins You have to have a guy like Steph that said even kill at all times It's times where uh him and uh Draymond go up for the rebound and Draymond is all our rate But Steph will go to him and and calm him down to give him a high five You need a guy like Steph and his the way he approaches the game and his calmness is very important to that team Because you got a lot of guys is all over the place Thank you for listening to the hoops on fox podcast Don't forget to subscribe and leave a five star review letting us know what you think of the show