Greetings my peeps and welcome to the All Things Basketball Podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode I'll give you my Eastern Conference semis recap as well as the finals preview for
the Eastern Conference.
So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys so we're going to talk about Conference Semifinals, we'll recap that and we will also
look at the Conference Finals.
We'll give a preview of that.
So we're going to talk about the East and all that went down there.
So we'll start with a bit of sad news for me.
The number 8 seed the Miami Heat over my New York Knicks the 5 seed 4 games to 2.
And this is how it went down folks.
The first game Miami takes, they take that one at Madison Square Garden 108 to 101.
Then the Knicks come back and win game 2 a game that had no Jimmy Butler he tweaked his
ankle so he ended up missing that game 2 and the Knicks win 111 to 105 it was a close
game guys.
I couldn't even believe that guys they got the win.
Then game 3 in Miami Miami gets to win 105 to 86 over the Knicks and then game 4 they
get that one as well in Miami 109 to 101.
And then the Knicks save face and game 5 coming back to the Garden and they got the win there
112 to 103 where Jalen Brunson goes bananas for 38 points and then in game 6
A game I was at they had a watch party at Madison Square Garden and I was there in
attendance for that.
It was a close game guys it was nipping tuck nipping tuck it came down to one possession
and a costly turnover that pretty much sealed the game for Miami.
Well Miami got the win in Miami 96 to 92 a game where Jalen Brunson he tops his performance
from game 5 he goes for 41 points in game 6; would have been nice if he got some help
that didn't happen guys Julius Randall 15 points but he shot it 3 for 14 from the field
so 1-7 from 3 and then you had RJ Barrett 11 points for him one of 10 from the field
so 2 of your top 3 players goes 4 4 24 yeah that's not going to get it done guys.
In any event let's talk about Miami first Jimmy Butler he plays 5 games and remember
he misses game 2 and he has a solid series the numbers look good across the board from
the field we held him at bay to be honest guys only 43.2% from the field he only made
one 3 point shot in this entire series guys we held him the 1 for 9 from the 3 point line
he was solid from the free throw line as always so Bam Adabayo he had a nice series although
he injured a few of my next players there with those picks he was setting but all in
all he had a solid series across the board Max Strus now remember I said you had to
hold the secondary guys at bay they weren't able to do that Max Strus had a nice series
Kevin Lowry off the bench motivated obviously because he's playing against fellow Villanova
alumni in Brunson and also Josh Hart so I guess that energized him to have a good series
coming off the bench yeah so that's your Miami story pretty much in a nutshell.
For the Knicks what else can we talk about but Jalen Brunson you know I've been singing
his praises from the rooftops guys here's what he did in the series 25 points 30 points
20 points 32 points 38 points and 41 points and they showed this graphic I nearly fell
out my chair he is the first Knick to have four 30 point game series since Bernard King
I was like are you kidding me wow that's rarified air there guys and kind of like Bernard King
back in those days he didn't get much help he didn't get much help so nonetheless Jalen
Brunson I tell you what man he has been he's been better than advertised guys and he kept
this team afloat in that series I mean it had been a sweep if you have this guy unbelievable
anyway so I digress; RJ when you look at his numbers they don't look all that bad but it's
the efficiency guys once again it's been a problem of his for a long time it's the efficiency
from the field and we saw that in game six for the series itself he only shot it nearly
43% and that's not gonna cut it guys that's not gonna cut it Julius Randall I mean he
had nearly 19 with 10 rebounds for sis but he was horrendous from the field 41% he was
god awful from three 9-32 I'll continue say man he didn't play enough bully ball in this
series he just didn't man he was falling in love with that three point shot and frustrating
definitely frustrating guys and then Immanuel Quickley your sixth man of the year candidate
only played three games in this series because he injured himself in this series then he
had Josh Hart who didn't have as good a series as he had previously against the Cleveland
Cavaliers in fact he shot it pretty bad himself from the field and from three and he was bad
from the free throw line so Josh Hart I was hoping you get better from him but you didn't
and then Mitchell Robinson I've been saying this about him you have to keep him engaged
throw him a few lobs you gotta keep him involved and I thought they could did more of that but
they didn't in this series Quentin Grimes he's gonna have to go in the gym this summer
work on his ball handling cuz he had some costly turnovers there and he's got a hoist
up threes man he's gotta work on this three point game he has to form he has everything
but they just weren't going in in this series guys he shot it awfully from the field and
he was only eight for twenty eight from three so he's gotta go in the lab and he's got a
hoist up about a thousand threes a day I mean yeah he's gotta take that next step forward
he has to in order for this next team to have success so that is your wrap up of the Miami
New York series what's next for the New York Knicks I'll talk about it briefly because
I'm probably gonna do a in-depth Knicks grade for the entire season but a star is born in
Jalen Brunson I mean between the Cleveland series and this one here I mean his star
is shining bright guys amazing they need outside shooting guys they need outside shooting in
the series from three they shot it just under 30% and there was a number of guys that were
just horrific from three I mean Jalen Brunson he was fine from three RJ Barrett as well
but the other guys they were just bad so you're gonna have to figure that out what to do with
Evan Fournier he has a year left on this deal with a team option at 18.8 million so more
than likely that's probably gonna be contract fodder if they were to make a deal in the
summer and then Derrick Rose; Derrick Rose they have a team option on him and he's getting
paid if they pick up the team option that would be 15.5 million I don't believe they do that
that would not make a whole lot of sense at all so I think yeah I don't think they picked
that up Josh Hart he has a player option he is at nearly 13 million I think he probably
opts out and the Knicks probably work on getting him a new deal because all in all he fits the
Knicks very well so I imagine the Knicks and Hart will come to a meeting of the minds
and he'll stay here he'll get a new deal so and then Miles McBride he has a team option
I imagine the team will pick that up at 1.8 million so I would think they would pick
that up for McBride so but again I'll do a in-depth talk about the Knicks at some other
time and then we have the number two seed Boston over the number three seed Philadelphia
four games to three let's talk about this this series it was like a roller coaster ride
guys from game one Philly gets the win in Boston 119 to 115 a game that didn't have
Joel and beat in it by the way James Harden and he goes bananas he goes for 45 points
in that game and then game two Boston comes back and wins 121 to 87 and then in game three
Boston takes one in Philadelphia 114 to 102 then Philadelphia comes back and wins that
game 116 - 115 and a nail bite are there and this ties the series so the series is tied
right Philly goes back to Boston and get another win on Boston floor 115 to 103 so you got
two wins that Philly got on their floor and now there are up three games to two but remember
this is a Doc Rivers team so you know he has a history of letting these kind of series
slip and that's what happened Boston gets the win and game six in Philly 95 to 86 and
then Boston wins game 7 112 to 88 a game where your top two guys Embiid and Harden and combine
for 24 points guys they shoot it a combined eight four twenty nine from the field that's
not going to get it done guys and then Jayson Tatum goes absolutely nuclear 51 points 13
rebounds five assists and two steals so your star player showing up when the money's on
the line that's all you can ask for there's all you can ask for guys for Boston talked
about Jayson Tatum for the series he averaged 29 points over 11 rebounds five assists he
was just magnificent guys he was just magnificent so you definitely like that from him Jaylen
Brown doing Jaylen Brown things nearly 23 points a game over five rebounds and nearly four
assists for him and absolutely terrific from the field from three he was on the money and
then the free throws is standard so pretty good Malcolm Brogdon then off the bench was
solid for them in this series 16 points coming off that bench you like that Marcus smart
doing Marcus smart things 15 points he averaged in this series well needed five assists for
him but all in all Boston they came to play and they prevail for Philly again you didn't
have and be he missed one of the games but he played in six he was solid you know he
had games where he was solid but that game seven you need your star players to show up
in game seven and then James Harden he had two 40 plus point games in the series but
you need him to show up in that last game you need him but and he didn't do that so your
guys guys like Tyrese Maxey they were fine they were okay Tobias Harris as well who's
always the forgotten man but you need to just star players to show up in a game seven I
laid that solely at the feet of Embiid your NBA MVP by the way and James Harden as well
so what's next for Philly Doc Rivers he now has 10 game seven losses on his resume and
in those 10 game seven losses his team was up in the series either three games to one
or three games to two so you wonder what that Philly front office is thinking of doing with
a Doc Rivers you imagine he come back again but have you hit a ceiling with Doc Rivers
have you hit that ceiling that's the question that has to be asked you got a Monty Williams
out there I'm just saying so you may want to explore that I'm just saying and then there's
James Harden will he return all signs seem to point to it but you keep hearing these
overtures about him wanting to go back to Houston which would make absolutely no sense unless
he just wants to go there and get numbers but other than that it makes absolutely no
sense whatsoever but he's a free agent he has a player option if he opts in that's 35.6
million so he's gonna want his money he's gonna want his money so I don't know if he
opts in we'll see and then Georges Niang he's a free agent Daniel House he has a player
option actually so also with a player option Montrezl Harrell which I think he's gonna opt
out I think he wants to go elsewhere Shake Milton he's unrestricted free agent Paul
Reed who's filled in very well for Embiid while he usually sits whether it be low management
or injury and so forth he played well and then Jalen McDaniels as well so you know a
good chunk of your bench now you got free agency there so it's gonna be interesting
to see how Philly addresses that so with that said guys I guess we could talk about the conference
finals why not so you got the number two seed Boston Celtics going up against the eight seed
the Miami Heat what Boston needs to do to get the win continue MVP play from Jason Tatum
also they got contain Jimmy Butler I think the Knicks kind of wrote the blueprint on
how to contain Butler because he didn't go off like he did against Milwaukee that's for
sure so so I think Boston can tear a page out of what the Knicks did in that series
and use that going forward and then don't let the role players get hot don't let guys
like Kyle Lowry guys like Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and those guys you can't
let them get loose man because if that's the case it's gonna be a long series what Miami
needs to do well they gotta have to handle both Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown good luck
with that because these guys are playing very well right now Jimmy Butler has to show up
he has to show up guys he showed up in the Knicks series when they needed him the most
but all in all I think the Knicks kind of held him at bay for the most part but Jimmy
Butler you're gonna need the Jimmy Butler of the Milwaukee Bucks series to beat Boston
that's for sure you're gonna need Bam and those other guys to show up and contribute
guys I think that's gonna be so important for Miami in this series key matchups Jason
Tatum against Jimmy Butler I think that's gonna be the matchup now that you're starting
out Al Horford as well as Robert Williams the third I think that's gonna be a absolute
key matchup whoever dominates that matchup I think their team wins the series Bam out
of bay versus Al Horford and probably he'll see a little bit of Robert Williams III
as well so I think it'll be a mixture of those two guys seeing Bam and making sure he doesn't
go off and then this bench versus bench you got the six man of the year Malcolm Brogdon
you got Derrick White there Grant Williams Sam Hauser so you need those guys to give you
some contributions from the bench that's for sure and that's versus the guys of Miami guys
like Lowry guys like Caleb Martin Duncan Robinson those guys there so my prediction
for this series if Boston takes things serious against the heat I think the ride that the
heat are on will finally end I'm picking Boston in five guys I think if Tatum and Brown comes
to play if they come to play they're serious about handling their business they like how
the Philly series went and they're spitting fire I think it'll be Boston and five oh
another key matchup well it's more of the X's and O's matchup I think it's Erik Spolstr
versus Joe Mazzulla Joe Mazzulla who we know took over for Ime
Udoka he's got the team going in the right direction that's for sure and you got to give
him a whole lot of credit for them being three games to two down and then winning the series
you got to you got to credit the coaching when that sort of thing happens so I think
whatever coach is able to make the adjustments and put their team in a position to win I
think that coach's team will prevail in the series so and Spolstra is one of the best
to do it so Mazzulla is going to have his hands full but nonetheless I'm picking Boston and
five guys I don't I think pound for pound Miami doesn't really match up I understand
I get at these undrafted guys are playing above and beyond the call of duty but I think
the ride ends I think Cinderella's slipper gets lost and the ride comes to a complete
stop so that's what I'm picking guys alright so that is it for me I thank you for listening
guys I'm going to oh coming up I'll have my WNBA season preview so that'll be coming
down the pike in a alright guys so that is it for me and once again I thank you for listening
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