 So there's no way you should be in the National Basketball Association making millions of dollars can't shoot a free throw. Can't shoot a jump shot. I'm sorry. No respect there. He showed me what I said a few days ago that I've always believed about Kevin Durant since he's been in the middle. He's unguarded. I look, I think there's still a chance he ends up with the Lakers, but I would say Griffin's place there makes it less likely. Chris Broussard 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 Skip and Shannon, Nick Wright, plus special guests, fresh NBA content from myself, post game interviews from NBA stars around the league, and much, much more. Up first, Chris Broussard joined Skip and Shannon to dissect Kevin Durant's Big Game 2 performance. He showed me what I said a few days ago that I've always believed about Kevin Durant since he's been in the league. He's unguardable. And as much credit as Patrick Beverly deserves for the first two games, and he was great. The fact is Durant was limiting himself by only taking eight shots. If you go, and here's the thing with Durant, if you go back to the last two months of the season, all of March and April, for some reason he wasn't shooting as much. He went from 19 shots a game to 14 shots a game. And I don't know why, nobody else's shot stopped, his did. He gave an eloquent reason for his struggles in the first two games. It was basketball savvy, it was great insight. It was right about the refs letting Beverly get into it more. But the key phrase to what he said was, I'm Kevin Durant. And that's my point. You are Kevin Durant. We can't have you being a role player. We can't have you taking 12 shots, eight shots. We need you to go out there and be the star. And so that's what Steve Kerr was trying to get to him. And last night that's what he did. And what I liked about it most was the way he did it was he didn't do it with over dribbling. He didn't do it with too much iso. If you look at last year against Houston in that series, they baited him with their switching defense into going one on one a lot and iso. And it got Golden State out of his offense and they almost lost the series in large part because of that. Yesterday it was post-ups, it was one or two dribble pull-ups, it was catch and shoot. And when he does that, I mean it didn't take away from anybody else. He was fantastic and you just need Kevin Durant to be Kevin Durant. Like I said, he's Kevin Durant. Then be that. Don't be a role player, be a star. Well, Kevin Durant didn't show me anything that I already know. He's unguardable. He's a unique talent because we've never seen a guy that's this tall, this skilled that can do what he can do. Most seven footers when we were coming up, they played with their back to the basket. They couldn't step out to the three point line. Dirk brought that in as a seven footer. But Dirk can put the ball on the floor like this guy can. He can put the ball on the floor and go to the hole. He's unguardable, so he didn't show me anything. Skip, he can score on anybody. I like that he let the game come to him. He was aggressive, but nothing was forced. You know, there's a difference between that I'm being aggressive and you're forcing up bad shots. Yeah, he had a couple of heat checks because he was feeling good. He wanted to see how far his range could be pushed out. But Kevin Durant let the game come to him. And so even when they posted him, Skip, they didn't post him down on the block. They posted him at the top of the key. So now and the clippers are like, brah, if you want to be a facilitator, go ahead. Because that's not you. LeBron can impact the game by passing the ball. You impact the game by scoring the ball. So we'll take that. We'll let you eight. We'll let you take these little eight, nine shots a game and you want to have 10, 12 assists, have at it. But the way Kevin Durant guts you is by the mid range, putting it on the floor. And if you watched him in transition last night, Skip, he went to the rim a couple of times, but he pulled up from 15. He followed up, put back and won. Kevin Durant plays like, look, he plays like this. Oh yeah, I might have to concede that he's the best player. But as Chris said, last two months, he's taken 14 shots per game as opposed to 19. And we did see the first two games. So until we see more of this, because we know what he represents, he is Kevin Durant, the most skilled player that we've seen. Especially putting the ball in the hold, seven foot tall, a 10 foot apex on his jump shot, got it, all that. So he didn't show you anything that you didn't already know skills to stop. By the way, quick point of order. I do remember him on one fast break. I think it was game three, two years ago, and he pulled up to the three point line. Guess who was gardening? That guy, the X King. He was, what did LeBron tell you? On film, what he likes to do is the hezzy. He liked, and then go by you. But he saw LeBron sinking, anticipating that. He pulled up, Skip, I gave him credit. What you want me to, we're not talking about that game. That John said, I'm the best player on the planet because that was the King's house. That was the first time they broke through with Kevin Durant to win his first finals MVP out of two straight. So Chris Broussard and I have closely observed Kevin Durant for a long time, and I have found him often baffling and perplexing and confounding because I've never quite figured him out because he's never quite figured himself out. He still suffers an identity crisis of who am I? I came to Golden State to play beautiful basketball, share the basketball, unselfish basketball, and then to your point, after a while, he wants to be a cog in the system. No, no, no, you're the system. You are the guy. Dremont Green was crying in the parking lot, calling you on a cell phone after losing game seven because they realized that group couldn't do it without one more nuclear weapon. He facetimed him, okay? We need you, I'm crying, I'm crying. You brought in, he got a triple double on us. So I have told you for two years, Kevin Durant is now the best player on the planet, but I have conceded an asterisk to that, which is when he decides to be because he doesn't always decide to be. But last night, he decided to be. It was a little bit of an indictment for Kevin Durant that he needed the media to push his button because the media pushed his button last night. He reads everything. He's the thinnest skinned superstar ever. And it doesn't seem to really thwart him in any way. Not on the court. That's what I mean. He rises above it on the court, but he reads and absorbs and takes to heart every little speck of criticism. And this got him. And he's saying, you know, media people analyze basketball, want to meet, engage with Patrick. No, we wanted you to engage with the game. How about just engage, right? Yeah, we want you to bust Patrick Beverly up right, you should, on what you do. But bust them all up. And then I loved his quote, you're reading about the I'm Kevin Durant quote, but he said, I'm not gonna get in the way of the game because I want to have a little back and forth with Patrick Beverly. No, no, Kevin, you are the game. You can't get in the way because you're it. They're going to go as far as he takes them. In the end, Steph's tremendous, he's all-time greatest shooter. Clay can be in streaks, all-time greatest shooter. And Draymond is Draymond. He can be the guts and the glue, but we know when push comes to shove, it's 35 or bust. And so last night, they're a little bit of trouble against the Clippers. They know the Clippers, as he said, we know they're gonna come out with a lot of energy, which they did. And what did he do to their energy? He just shot it to pieces. He makes his first five shots in his first two free throws. He's got 12 points at the quarter and the game's over. It's 41 to 24 ball game, right? That guy like that can score the basketball. You don't want James Harden to go five for five. You don't want Steph and these guys like KD to go for, it's over. Once they see the ball go in the basket like that, you got no chance of stopping them. Okay, so Kevin, he's had these shoe campaigns. Am I nice, Kevin? Or am I not nice? Who am I? I don't know who I am. Am I a tough guy? Or am I a really good guy? I don't know who I am, because some days he's that guy and some days he's that guy. Am I from the mean streets of Seat Pleasant, Maryland? Or am I an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley? I'm all of the above, right? And he'll wake up on a daily basis like, today I feel like I'm that guy, right? But most days, what is he? Confrontational with the media. That's what he is on most days. I've said to Kevin, because he'll text you when he doesn't like something you say, oh yeah, yeah, he'll text you. He'll let you know. He will. And I've said to him, the guy I saw in Oklahoma City is different. Like now since you've been in Golden State cursing more, calling out the refs more, going on. And he told me, he said, this is the real Kevin Durant. The guy in OKC, I was just being trying to, you know, say what I needed to say for the media. Yeah, Oklahoma, they don't curse out there. You know, kind of like, you know, they Bible. I don't know, whether you buy it or not, whether you buy it or not, that's what he told. He said, this is the real K.D. And I don't know, like I said, it wasn't just the first two games. This has gone on the last two months. I don't know, remember he even said it in his little spiel the other day, for the last two months we've been playing this way. Well, he's been playing that way. Staff shots haven't gone down, clays haven't gone down. I don't know if K.D. was trying to get Boogie more involved, his shots went a little up. And this is why I do think that I think they'll be fine, maybe better without Boogie. No offense to him, because he is a really good individual player. But you can have too much, right? Like he, given it to Boogie, takes away from K.D. and Staff and Clay. So now I think it'll be, you know, more fluid with the three of them sharing the ball and they should be able to roll. Well, I don't care if you go into the back. He could have went to a back and forth because he could have got up 20 shots and going to get into a back and forth like Ben Simmons got into it with Jared Dudley yesterday's skill. It wasn't, you know, hey, I'm just gonna do what I do. And then at the end of the day, we're gonna count it up and see who got the most points. We'll talk about it. Bottom line, Steve Kerr two days ago said, Kevin Durant can get any shot he wants at any time, period, end of the story. He ain't the only one that can do that. James Horne can get any shot he wanted at any time. LeBron James can get any shot he wanted at any time. Steve Kerr ain't breaking no news, Kevin, you ain't like he wanna interrupt our normally scheduled program to break this news. Kevin Durant can get any shot he wants. He's talking about eight foot jump shots that are unstoppable. Three point shots are unstoppable, especially when LeBron or LeBrick shoots them. There you go. Well, let us get this growing healthy. We see it especially right now. Are you still trying to get healthy? Yeah, we're getting that growing healthy. It still bothers you. We got something for you. Really? Got something for you next year, buddy. Is he going to that physical therapist in Beverly Hills? Nah, nah, we ain't going to see her. We ain't going to see her. No more social media posts. She's off the team now. Geez, now she's posting photo in. We're not going to see her. Next, Jason Mackinshire and Chris Broussard do a knockdown J talking about the Lakers, potential Rockets Warriors matchup, and whether or not the Bucks will run the East. Welcome back to Knockdown J. I'm here with my man, Chris Broussard, licking his wounds after last week's beatdown. courtesy of your boy. Broussard, how you feeling? You feeling confident today? I'm feeling great. You the one got the beat down? What are you talking about? All right, all right. We need to start all over with the truth. How about that? Let's get started. Chris, the Los Angeles Lakers not in the playoffs, but still one of the most fascinating teams in the league. Chris, I don't kneel. Tai Lu, Monty Williams, I'm just going to ask you, is this Lakers head coaching job even a good job right now? Well, it's always a good job to coach the Brown James. And I know that comes with a lot of headaches. It's stress, Tai Lu out, he had to go to the hospital because of it, right? Take some time off. So I'm not saying it's not stressful, but Shaq brought problems, right? Coach and Shaq, how about Kobe? There were problems. Michael Jordan gave problems to Phil Jackson, didn't want to run the triangle. They're always superstars bring issues. They bring different challenges than a bunch of role players who just want to do whatever the coach says. LeBron's not unique in that regard. And on top of that, with all the challenges you get, you also get the great benefit of having a chance to win a championship. Any coach, any coach who doesn't want the challenge of coaching a great player like LeBron James, I don't want you. Because you're not built for this. Number one, number two, what makes the Lakers job right now not a good one is that is the front office situation. Not LeBron, the front office situation. Who's the president? Who's running basketball operations? What did we say about Luke all year? Magic and Polinka didn't hire him. Rob Polinka I'm talking about, they didn't hire him. So if things go south, Luke's gonna pay the price. Well, if I'm a coach and the Lakers hire me and then three weeks later bringing a new president who I'm not connected to, I'm not tied to, now I could be the scapegoat again. The Lakers are doing this backwards and that says a lot about their organization. Go out, solidify your front office, hire a president, or if it's gonna be Rob Polinka, announce Rob Polinka as president and hire a GM under him, then go hire your coach. And the challenge of coaching LeBron, it disappears if you have a strong front office because if LeBron say has an issue with the coach, the front office didn't say, look, he's your coach. You're here for the next three years, so is he. If you're gonna win, it's with this guy. That's what Pat Raleigh did with Eric Sposter. It resulted in two titles. So you just have to, the Lakers don't have strong leadership right now. It's not LeBron James that's the problem, it's Jeannie Buss and the way they're running things. Jeannie Buss is a major problem, I think we would agree. I don't know if she's in over her head or what running the show, but they do need a president because if I'm looking at taking the Lakers job, what's the game plan this summer? Are we trading all the young guys? Who's on the table? Who's on the market? What are we doing as our free agent pitch right now? The Clippers across town have a much better pitch than the Lakers. You guys sell Glitz and Glamour and Hollywood and the Beaches and LeBron. We're gonna sell grit and hardcore tenacity. Look at that comeback we just made against the Lakers. Better front office. Guys who were kind of undervalued. The Lakers had Lou Williams, Chris. And they let him go and Lou Williams is now gonna be the sixth man of the year again. I don't know, this is a great job right now. There's just too much uncertainty and don't forget. You just say coaching LeBron's great. The Rich Paul angle. This is a challenge. Is Rich Paul gonna wanna shove more of his guys into the Lakers and say, hey, we need to take this guy on? But that's my point. LeBron's 34 and a half. That's my point. A strong front office won't let an agent, Rich Paul or otherwise, come in and run their team. Unless there was some handshake wink, not deal when LeBron came here. Hey, me and Rich, with magic. Who brought him here? That guy's gone. So this is a chance. So you're gonna be the guy to stand up to LeBron or Rich Paul? Organs will be the most powerful agent and the most powerful player in the league. Why are you running a basketball team if you can't stand up to a player and an agent? I'm not saying be adversarial. I want the input of LeBron. I want the good relationship with Rich Paul. No question. But I'm not gonna let you run my organization. I wanna hear LeBron out. What are you looking for in the coach? Who do you like out there? What do you think about, you know, some of our off-season moves could be? I'm taking it all in, but I'm making the final decision and it might disagree with what you're saying. That's what David Griffin did. Well, that's a perfect pivot to the next question, Chris. David Griffin named GM of the Pelicans. New Orleans, of course, has Anthony Davis who has said he's played his last game. He said his goodbyes. He wore his Looney Tunes T-shirt. Oh boy. So do you think David Griffin in New Orleans means that Anthony Davis is more or less likely to land with the Lakers? Oh. I, look, I think there's still a chance he ends up with the Lakers, but I would say Griffin's place there makes it less likely. Interesting. Not that he's not gonna end up there. So Griffin LeBron, who worked together in Cleveland, now Griffin's gonna say, no, you're not getting AD, because I- Is he working for LeBron now? Well, hold on, hold on, time out. I mean, seriously, like his job, David Griffin's job is to improve the New Orleans pelicans. True. He couldn't care less about improving the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm sure he's heavily invested in the pelicans for the next decade, right? We know these GMs. Come on, they have a couple of year job. He's on to the next one. Wait, wait, wait, wait. David Griffin could have held out, could have held off on accepting the Pelicans job. Maybe he knows. If he was really interested in the Lakers job. Maybe he knows Genie's bus. I already got somebody in there. He didn't even talk with them, to my knowledge, and it hasn't been reported. So I'm just saying Griffin, he's got a great relationship with LeBron and Rich Paul. Yes. But he's working for the pelicans. He has no interest in making anybody else better. Of course, he could be a double agent. I'm kidding, that's a joke. I mean, here's the thing though. I don't think you're joking. No, no, we've talked about this in depth, Grusar. The Lakers' best shot at a start. You said it last week. I agree, Anthony Davis, right. There ain't no fallback if David Griffin stiffs LeBron and Rich Paul and says, we're not, we're sending Anthony Davis elsewhere. If it's a better deal for the pelicans, I'm not, trust me, I know David Griffin. I've known David Griffin since he was working in the public relations department for the Phoenix Suns. He's a tough customer. He's not going to just hand the layman. If it's a tie, he's sending Anthony Davis somewhere else. If it's a better deal for the pelicans, he's definitely sending Anthony Davis somewhere else. But then we get to the point of this other deal, that doesn't exist, is Anthony Davis signing in that other place long-term? Because he has said he wants to be with the Lakers. Has he? Publicly, as he said. Well, he hasn't said that publicly. And they haven't said, they didn't even say that to the pelicans, that he definitely wants Lakers. Okay, Anthony Davis wants to be with the Lakers. Lakers are his number one on his list, but it's not Lakers or Bust for Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis, behind the scenes, the chatter is, he's going to be in space gym too. I'm assuming that's out there or something. He's going to want to be with the Lakers. He ain't going to sign in like 28 other teams. Maybe Boston, maybe the Knicks. That's, he's, there's been talk that he doesn't want to go to Boston. Okay, he doesn't want to go to Boston. So, we're crossing them off. If the Knicks get the first or second pick, maybe. They can make an offer to New Orleans that might trump what the Lakers get. Okay. Look, I'm not saying it's impossible for the Lakers to get him. Because if Kyrie Irving leaves Boston, if I'm Danny Ainge, I'm not giving up Jason Tatum. Now I don't know if Daniel shoot those craps, but I'm not doing that for a guy that could be a one year rental. So it keeps coming back to the Lakers. Well, but we don't, we don't, we have to see the landscape from Boston yet. Even without Jason Tatum, a Jalen Brown, maybe a Gordon Hayward, a Marcus Smart or, or you know, Terry Rogier, Draftpix. Like David Griffin has to look at what's going to make my franchise better. What deal? For the Lakers is Brandon Ingram, I don't want to say damaged goods. I think, you know, when blood clots in the arm, aren't as dangerous as those in the legs, but that does make it a little bit questionable. Let me come back to this. And now Kyle Kuzma, Kyle Kuzma is not a franchise player. No, of course not. Lots of ball hasn't shown us anything to believe he's a franchise player. So what do the Lakers have? I want to come back to February when the Pelicans reportedly would not pick up the phone to talk to the Lakers. Okay. And then when they did allegedly pick up the phone, they said, we want everybody in four first round picks. Griffin's not going to be that standoffish. The way these other guys would. So I, that's why I believe David Griffin in New Orleans helps the Lakers in their quest for Anthony Davis. Whoever was running to her, if it was back to Dell Demps and those guys, but seriously, during the summer, during the new, the off season, if it was the same front office, they would begin talking with the Lakers in the summer. The issue was we're not trading them there before the deadline. There was no reason to trade them in February. That's what it was. It wasn't just being upset with the Lakers yet. That was a part of it. But come off season, they would have been willing to engage the Lakers along with the Knicks, the Celtics, and any other teams that may want to get in this. But let's just wrap it up. What does Chicago wants to throw? What does Chicago got a lot of young pieces? Anthony Davis did go off the start. Yeah, it's a big city. It's a big market. Obviously a great history. So I'm just saying there are other things. I'm not saying it's impossible for the Lakers. I'm saying David Griffin is not going to give Anthony, give the Lakers any type of break. It may have to be a three or four team deal. And right now, who in that Lakers front office is capable of putting together a three or four team deal? Rich Paul, the guy who knows. Well, Rich maybe would have to go out and try to help orchestrate it, you know, to be honest, because agents do do that sort of thing. Are you ready to move on to the best player in the NBA? We're going to talk about Kevin Durant. Yes, we are going to talk about Kevin Durant. He's in the running. It's up for grabs. I'm saying grab it. I don't think that's the topic here, but if you want to fire off this question in here, I mean, listen, what is going on? Kevin Durant has averaged 12 shots a game in this, these first two games with the Clippers. Furthermore, Kevin Durant over the last month and a half of the season. Okay, March and April, 17 games total. He averaged 13 shots. He went from shooting 19 shots a game or close to 19 to shooting 14 shots a game or close to 14. It was 13.8 or something like that. So he dropped five shots a game. His scoring went down to 20 points a game from like 27. What is going on with KD? So I will, I'll be at the game tonight. I hope you will be at Staple. I'm going Sunday, not tonight. Easter Sunday, huh? Yeah, okay. So my theory here, Chris, is that Kevin Durant is testing the Golden State Warriors. He is saying to them, all I hear is I'm going to New York and the Warriors don't need me. The Splash Brothers will go back to the way it was when they won 73 games. And I believe Kevin Durant- Is he really hearing that? Or is that just how he feels? We know Kevin Durant has rabbit ears. But how many, have you heard, is that out there? I don't know that that's out there. I'm floating right here. I do know this. KD does feel that. He does feel like the Warriors feel like we made you. You need us. You know, not made him. He was obviously a great player, but you know, we made you a champion. Fans on social media feed that. The media, I think, kind of feeds that a little bit. And I- That's always going to be there. And if you look at- I don't care how many we're in- His pre and post All-Star splits are dramatic. I mean, he just stopped shooting the basketball. He had eight shots and nine turnovers in game two. And I think he's testing the Warriors and I think he's saying, guys, I want you to come to me the way you came to me in the Hamptons and said, we need you. We need you, KD. You flew across the country to recruit me and now here I am in your backyard and you're not showing me the love. And I think the Warriors need to come to Kevin Durant and say, we need you, Kevin. It's on us. We came out of our element. We moved out of our comfort zone and we messed it up. We need you back. And I think Kevin Durant, this is why I give a chance that he signs a one plus one, Chris. We need you back. Like, they've been telling him all year we need you. But are they showing him? Are they showing him? What do you want him to do? Run please for Kevin Durant. Get him on the block against Patrick Beverly. The head coach just said, I want Kevin Durant taking 20 or 30 shots. That's not, that's not, what, what? Get him the ball. Does he have to say, I want you taking 50? Maybe he wants, maybe he needs to show the ball. He's kidding, Kevin Durant, the ball. Chris, you know- I want to hear what Kevin Durant needs to hear. Chris, you know, you go home and maybe you take your wife a nice bouquet of flowers. You put them on the table. Here you go, honey. And then you go on and do your work and you watch your NBA. And you do all the right things and say all the right things, but you're not showing the love. I think, and again, this is just speculation. Kevin Durant is not- The only love from the Warriors. I think he wants to be embraced. People act like it's over. You got guys at this network, ESPN, all saying, he's gone, it's done, it's the mix, it's done. Maybe Kevin Durant likes it and has fun. How much fun does he have right now? I don't think he's having fun. He does not look joyous out there. And those- He hasn't looked joyous though for a few years, to be honest. I mean, I think he was joyous, collecting those MVPs in the finals. Yeah, but he also said- He also said- He also said he was on the LeBron and LeBron's grill. He also was quoted as saying, I won the championship and it was like, okay. You know what I mean? Like he kind of played down playing. Look, I give you, everybody wants to be wanted. I'm just saying they want Kevin, all this stuff you're talking about is periphery. It's us in the media talking about it. It's not the Warriors. Believe me, the Warriors want Kevin Durant. He knows they want Kevin Durant. Well, Draymond Green earlier this year- The players want Kevin Durant. Again, so I think they're group- That's Draymond Green. That's one player. They suspended him because he was such a jerk. Right! That's my point. Isn't that showing you love? This guy's won three championships with us, but we're gonna suspend him for something that really wasn't suspendable. Shouldn't have suspended him for cause going at a teammate, one sentence. We don't need you. Two-time finals, MVP's not a teammate. Best player in the NBA, not just a teammate. He's a teammate, just like Steph is a teammate and so on and so forth. And I'm not saying it was right for Draymond. I'm just saying, typically that's not a something you suspend a player for. They did it. That's showing Kevin Durant the love. Steph, Steve Kurt saying I won him shooting 23rd time. Who doesn't want to hear that? Well, you reminded me. What basketball, you don't think Michael Jordan would have loved to hear a coach say I want him shooting 30 times? You reminded me of Kobe Bryant in the Sun series, right? He had what, 50 in a game? Well, that's the only reason I'm not completely shutting down your theory. I think Kevin Durant's better than that. I don't think Kevin Durant will pull a stunt like this, especially in the playoffs, like, oh, I'm not gonna shoot the ball. Let's see what you can do without me. I think he's more of a winner than that. The only reason I won't shut it down is because Kobe Bryant did do that. Against Phoenix Game 7, we know years back, he was getting a lot of flak for shooting too much. And he decided not to shoot in the second half of that game. And it cost him. The difference is, Kobe Bryant did it for one half. Right, right, Durant. You're talking about Kevin Durant doing it for two months? Well, so you really think that? You made a great point with Kobe, people were calling him selfish, right? I think that was exactly what happened. And he took three shots in the second half. People are saying the Warriors don't need Kevin Durant. He ruined the NBA. I think there's, Kevin Durant is showing them, you guys need me, I'm telling you right now, they're not beating the Rockets without Kevin Durant being MVP finals Kevin Durant. Not if Kevin Durant's gonna be on the team and then sabotages and not play. I mean, but the old Warriors, the old Warriors that Kevin Durant joined, that team was capable of beating the Rockets. But if it's gonna be thrown on us like Glam, like out of the blue and I'm still here, but I'm not gonna be myself. I'm gonna be a role player. No, they're not. Cause it's gonna be jacked up. I think Kevin Durant's better than that. But I'm, look, it's a mystery. Why all of a sudden, cause Steph, like Kevin Durant tried to explain it, like we're playing differently. The last two months, well he is. He said, we're playing differently. You know, the ball's more spread. He's the only one who shots are down. Boogie shots weren't down. Steph and Clay shots weren't down. I don't know how to explain it. I mean, you got a theory. Again, I think he's better than that. I'll quickly ask this. Do you believe right now the Warriors could be in some trouble against the Rockets in the next round? Yeah, I still favor the Warriors, but they gonna have their hands full. First of all, a lot of people are saying Houston's not better than they were last year. They look better. They're way better right now. They weren't the first half of the season. Utah is no slouch. They are dismantling Utah. I mean, to do this to Utah is no joke. Yeah, they got a great chance to beat the Warriors. I would say right now I'm probably 55, 45 Golden State. All right, let me quickly move on to the Rockets now. Maybe it's because they're killing the Jazz and it's unwatchable. I don't find joy watching the Houston Rockets because James Harden dribbles the ball 600 times a game. They run the exact same play ad nauseum. It just becomes boring. It's crossover, crossover, crossover drive, either floater or step back three or alley-oop to Capella every single time. And to me, that's a little boring. I like pace and space. I like watching the Warriors and you're stewing and you're gonna kill me like that. Who else do you like watching? Come at me, bro. Other than the Warriors, who else do you like watching? I like Kyrie Irving down the stretch. He is nice. Kyrie Irving. Kyrie ain't handling it like James Harden. But he's not dribbling 600 times a game. And if you were 557. 553, I think. I mean, look. I like Portland. Damian Lillard, man. He is, I'm having more fun watching Damian Lillard than I am the Houston Rockets. Damian Lillard is going off. Lillard is going to another level. There's no doubt. He's unbelievable. You're not alone. A lot of people feel that way about Harden. I love watching. He's a great player. I'm not saying I love watching him more than I liked watching, you know, Michael Jordan or Steph Curry or something. But I love watching because I understand how difficult it is to do what he's doing. For you to come down time after time after time. They know what's coming. And shake a dude up with your handle. You're not the most, the fastest guy in the world, but you're somehow able to get around him or create space. The step back three, his three point shot is so pure. It's incredible. Like I, I like watching it. Like it's not the most artistic thing. It might be the difference between watching Muhammad Ali in his prime and say, I don't want to say Mike Tyson because it's always fun to see somebody knock somebody out. But it's just not as artistic. But I understand how difficult it is to do what he's doing. And I'm in awe. I don't want to, I'm like, I'm poo-pooing what James Harden is doing because he's incredible. He, I had Yannis as the MVP. Harden is looking like the MVP. I think Yannis is going to get it. And guarding him is difficult. But just from my point of view, watching it, it's just, it's gotten a little tiresome. And, and I'm a little nervous that if the Warriors get extinguished, we're seeing colossal ratings drops already. No LeBron in the postseason. If the Warriors get knocked out in the second round, I, I, I don't think like every night out here in LA, six o'clock, I'm like, I got to get home, watch the NBA finals, conference finals, Rockets, Blazers that I just don't know. And I'm a huge, I'll give you this from the casual fans such as yourself. The Jits are not the real fan, but for the casual fans, I do think there'll be a drop. Cause I'm enjoying the playoffs now without LeBron. Obviously I'd love to see him in it, but I'm enjoying it just as much as I would if he were in it. But the, obviously the casual fan is not. And I think it'd be the same thing. If the Warriors are gone, I do think there'll be that same thing. But I think it'd be great for the NBA and the hardcore fans because there would be an air of mystery. We wouldn't know would it be a Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto, Houston, maybe, like you said, from the other side of the bracket, San Antonio. I mean, it'd be- But you know what's going to be a bigger story than Rockets, Blazers game one? Oh, Kevin Durant just unfollowed Curry on Instagram. Like that's going to be the story. I'm not even making that up. It's going to be all, where's Kevin Durant going? Cause he ain't staying if they don't win. One last quick note. Well, are you so sure? In the NBA, wine as much as the Houston Rockets. Dude, it is unbearable. I mean, cause they expect to call every single time. If Hardin misses a shot, he's like, where's the foul? Crystal. Crystal. Golden State wine's a little bit, but nothing like it. A little bit. PJ Tucker. Kevin Durant and Dray Mastin Rivers wants Michael Jordan whistles. I mean, that's what's happening out here. It's insufferable. Stop ripping the Rockets. Sorry guys. Kill me in the YouTube comments. That's way off. He loves when you kill me. Let's wrap up here. Goatsard, McIntyre, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, second round. Who you got? Milwaukee in six. Woo. Look, Eric Bledsoe locking down Kyrie. Not locking it down, but making it. Can't lock down Kyrie. Eric Bledsoe was on my first team all defense. You can't, nobody can like down Kyrie, but he will make it tough on him. Here's the deal, because people look inevitably, they're gonna look back and say, Boston beat Milwaukee in seven last year without Kyrie. Without Kyrie. That's probably where you were going. Tayden was a rookie. I ain't going there. You don't know where I'm going. Okay. All right. That's true. I never know where you're going. Look, last year, the Celtics in Milwaukee was nowhere near as good as they are. We know that, right? And Brad Stevens, despite not having Kyrie, had a humongous coaching advantage over the interim coach in Milwaukee. All right. So that was huge. And then in the second round against Philadelphia, he had a humongous coaching advantage over Brett Brown. This season, this series against Indiana, which Boston isn't looking all that great. They do not look phenomenal. They have a talent advantage because Kyrie is there and Victor Oladipo for the Pacers is not. There's no advantage against Milwaukee. Talent wise, I'd say it's a wash. Both teams are close, but I take Yanis as the better player over Kyrie, even though I think Kyrie is more clutch. And then the coaches, it's a wash. Mike Budenholzer is a great coach. Mike Budenholzer, Brad Stevens is a wash? Yes. No question. What are you doing your wash? Who's the coach? Who's the coach? Get out of here. Stop. Brad Stevens went to the finals game seven last year in the East without Kyrie Irving. Could have took down LeBron. Are you kidding? Mike Budenholzer. Can he win a big time playoff series first? Just give me one. One. Does this say it? What big time playoff series has Brad Stevens won? He went to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. What big? Mike Budenholzer to Kyle Korver, DeMarie Carroll, Al Horford and Jeff Teague to the Eastern Conference Finals. I got swept by him. I know, but they dusted out. He didn't have the talent that Boston had. And he won. You said they had four old stars. He didn't have talent. He started. Stop. Stop. He won 60 games. All right. 60 games with a bunch of role players. Got to the Conference Finals. You said winning a big series for that Atlanta team with that roster, those were big series wins. He took a team that had the 16th best record last year in the league, now has the first best record. He took a team that couldn't shoot threes last year. Now they make more threes than anybody. He took a team that couldn't defend last year. Now they were the only team in the top five defensively and offensively. What in the world is, Brad Stevens has had a bad year, dude. He has a bad year, no doubt. But you laugh, but you laugh. What body of work? And actually, we need to go back to Jason Kidd, who was awful. What body of work? Brad Stevens, I don't know. Should we go back to the bottom? When he took a bunch of kids from the Midwest. No, we shouldn't because we don't care about college. This is the NBA, baby. Coaching doesn't matter. This is the NBA. All right, take that one of the YouTube comments. I gave him a blue chip dude in Kyrie, and the whole season was a mess. Well, do you blame it on Brad Stevens? Yeah, I'm blaming on Brad Stevens. You want to blame it on Kyrie Irving? Kyrie Irving blamed it on the other players. He didn't blame Brad Stevens. Well, Brad Stevens isn't that confrontational. And he needs to be more confrontational. I didn't think Buck Celtics would be this heated. Now I do a coming up winners gambling podcast, myself and Andrew Lynch. We like the Bucks and Celtics as great value to win the East. If they show up here and the Milwaukee Bucks get their butts kicked by Boston, which very well could happen. No, it couldn't happen. Because the Bucks are favored. You don't think it could happen? Oh, because they're dusting Detroit and just destroying the Detroit Pistons who look like a G-league team. What's Indiana look like? Indiana finished the season eight and 14. They were still a good team. Eight and 14 is a good team. I mean, they struggled, they looked to the finish, but they still got there without Oladipo. Without Oladipo, they're not much better than Detroit. Detroit loses Blake Griffin and they lose the first two games by 3000 points. Okay, let's not compare Indiana to Detroit. I think actually the Bucks are overvalued here because of what's happening and Thon Maker and the Detroit Pistons. Like, come on, dude. They're running play for Thon Maker. Like, come on, there's a little bit much. I don't even know where you're going. What are you talking about? Celtics, Celtics. Celtics in six. You're going Bucks in? Six. You're wrong. All right. Is that it? This is so much fun, folks. I know you're happy we're back. He's a glutton for punishment. Chris Boos are high. I'm like Rocky in Rocky IV against him. He's the Russian. I'm Rocky. You know who wins that battle. You like that wing? I'm just gonna let you know what it is because nobody believes you. Nobody watching believes you. Okay. Go ahead and say some more. Go ahead and say some more. Celtics. You're who? Can we talk Orlando Toronto? Do we have time for Orlando Toronto? No. All right. Sign it off. Knock down J. Now, Steven Jackson is with Nick and Cece to break down Ben Simmons' clutch performance in game three. All right, Steven, how was he able to do it? How did Ben Simmons dominate last night? By not having a beat out there. I mean, the court is wide open. I want to see him do that with a beat out there. It was good for game three for him to go out there and be dominant on the road because playing on the road, everybody can't do it. Only the best players can play like that on the road. And he showed he's one of those players that can dominate on the road. But going forward, we know that's not the team that's gonna be out there. Embed is gonna be on that court and the paint is not gonna be as wide open, okay? And that's a lot of reason why he got a lot of those layers because they had more shooters out there, smaller guards. So, and he played a bigger position that whole game. If you look at it, Jimmy really ran the offense a lot that game last night. Jimmy really initiated a lot of the offense and Ben kind of played off the ball a little bit. But at the same time, not having a beat out there, gave him the room to be more aggressive on offense, gave him room in the lane to do those things and drive and stuff like that only because Embed was out there. But going forward, but this team to be the team that we all expect for them to be a championship team, that he has to do that with Embed on the court. So, here's the thing, because I agree with you on Jimmy Butler did initiate a lot of the offense. Tell Tobias Harris was, sorry about that. Tobias Harris was bringing the ball up the court sometime. But it's not like they were playing no center. Bobon played 24 minutes. Greg Monroe played 18. Bobon played well too. Totally in unproductive minutes on Monroe's side. Bobon was excellent. So that's 42 minutes of the 48 in the game with a big man on the court and Simmons still went out and did this. I, to me, maybe there was a little more spacing, but it was more impressive because Embed wasn't out there because they needed it more because he had to play great in a game. They didn't have to win like game two, but they needed, and now he has followed up what was one of his worst playoff games ever with in back to back games, his two best playoff games ever. He was spectacular in game two. We're playing really only three quarters because it's all they needed. And he was even better in game three. And to Dudley's comment about not being great in the half court, we talked yesterday how he's a great half court defender. And he showed that yesterday. But on the offensive end, he was 11 to 13, nine of 11 in the half court. Only two transition buckets. There's not a lot of room in my mind to criticize Ben Simmons after the game he had last night. No, when you're criticizing Ben Simmons though, the criticism is real. He's not a shooter of the basketball. We are in the golden age of shooting the basketball. So for me, can a player be great, be one of the top 25 players in the NBA and not be a shooter of the basketball and not be a seven footer? It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be awful hard. But also, when you critique players, it's not sometimes on what they're doing. It's what is their potential? If I had a six, nine point guard and I compared them to Magic Johnson, LeBron James, would I allow him not to be able to shoot outside of five feet and not criticize them? So the criticism of Ben Simmons is justified. Now he's the one gonna have to be able to solve that. But last night, you missing something if you didn't think that he wasn't sensational. And I believe that Joel Embi not being a part of the team and being a late scratch. It helped for a variety of reasons. So yes, they did have a center on the court, but you didn't have to give him the basketball all the time. Exactly right. And Joel Embi does take up a lot of space. Their philosophy, Nick, has been, we're going through Joel Embi for three quarters and then Jimmy Butler gonna close them out. Exactly. But you don't have that. So initially when you go to Ben, you have a different game plan. So yes, we got a center on the court, but our game plan and how we're going to initiate the offense is gonna be totally different. Just like Kevin Durant. Those boogie shots, they were not there. So KD and through Kerr, they initiate the offense and they helped him out. That's what you saw. Ben Simmons has to keep that same aggressive approach. And if I was him, I wouldn't shoot outside of five feet. So my complaint with Ben Simmons is now, don't have players force you to try to be something that you're not ready for. You're gonna be an outside shooter at some point, but it's not gonna be in this post season. So don't settle for 10 footers, eight footers. You have the ability to get all the way to the cup and that's what he was able to do last night. How much did it help Ben Simmons that J.J. Redick and Tobias Harris were hitting threes? Well, the pace, the pace of the game helped him out a lot too, because he can continue to push them. When you don't have a shot, he has those guys there knocking down shots. And he was confident in passing the ball. J.J. Redick hasn't been playing well, but he's one of those guys that you know on the road, he gonna knock some shots down. And that's a guy like unlike Kyle Carver. I love Kyle Carver, but J.J. Redick, he'll hit those big shots in those games in the fourth quarter and that's the type of guy you need. Tobias Harris was outstanding. I mean, he was really, really great. He was six of six from three. He was the second best player on the court last night. Ben, it is to me so much more impressive that when all, okay, so our best player's out, we now need you to do more. Oh, no question. We now you are gonna have to eat up more possessions. He stepped up. And he stepped up huge. He was, again, back to back games. The first one was a must win. This one was a damn near must win. Ben Simmons has the two best playoff games of his career. Back to back games, he's the best player on the court. And Chris, I totally agree with you. If you're gonna be a top 25 player and you can't shoot, you must have to be great at everything else. That's what he is. And it's not only just a fundamental problem. Last night, dude shot more shots right-handed than he did left-handed. And I watched the warmup, man. There ain't no routine. There ain't no, I'm gonna shoot certain shots from this position. Man, he was shooting like right-handed hooks. I was like, why is he shooting that shot from eight feet on the right baseline? He's not gonna shoot that during the game. So yes, he was outstanding. But the way that you improve your game is you need some type of routine to help him, to make that defense come out to him. Just imagine, okay, I'm just gonna imagine this. It's Good Friday, man, Jesus Resurrection Sunday. What if he could shoot from 10 feet? Would that be a crime? So am I wrong sitting here saying, one of the most talented guys we've had drafted in the NBA in the last several years, man, I wish he could shoot. He's a point guard, and I wish he could shoot from 10 feet. So I'm wrong in doing that. That's the old saying. That's why I say you practice game shots. You practice the way you play. You don't warm up and take shots that you won't take in the game. He has to start practicing those shots and take them as game shots, simulate them as game shots. So when he gets those shots in the game, he's used to taking them and he's confident. But his confidence is the biggest thing that he's lacking. Listen, I wouldn't have to game. I didn't see him warm up. I do know in the game he did hit two right-handed hook shots. I also- No, go ahead. No, no, I didn't say, I mean, we just saw. From three feet. He was practicing from eight feet. I just didn't make that up, all right? Okay, well, the hook shot we just saw was from, I'd say six or seven feet, but regardless, we don't have to get in the weeds on it. What is, but again, we're in the same place. The guys coming off his best career game we're talking about the things he can't do. If we took everyone in his draft class and the class after him, because we don't really know how to classify him, redrafted him. You know what would go first overall? Ben Simmons, not Tatum, not D'Earn Fox, not Pascal Siakam. Of those two draft classes, the only one to be an all-star. Ben Simmons, one rookie of the year. Ben Simmons. But as long as we have that TV right there and as long as we criticize LeBron James, as long as we criticize Steph Curry, as long as we criticize Hardin', as long as we criticize Russ. But we don't do it after their great games. Tatum has one more, though. Tatum has got a better winning percentage. Yeah, of course, fair enough, but we don't do it after their great games. We don't talk about the things they can't do. They kill LeBron. They kill LeBron. When he misses a free throw, they kill him. Okay, so we're now holding Ben Simmons to LeBron standard. I'm not comfortable with that. I don't think, I don't think anyone should. No, no, no, no. But if you're gonna criticize LeBron for a bit of some breakdowns, he's in year two. But you have to criticize any NBA player that can't shoot, not just Ben Simmons. Anybody that has an NBA contract, listen to me. If you have an NBA contract right now in NBA and you can't shoot, go back to the drawing board or give up your contract. Because there's no way you should be in the National Basketball Association making millions of dollars, can't shoot a free throw or can't shoot a jump shot. I'm sorry, no respect there. 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.