Greetings my peeps and welcome to All Things Basketball podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode I'll give you my conference finals recap and also the NBA Finals Preview.
Also I have some other news items that we'll cover as well.
So just sit back relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys so we are back once again your boy GD with the All Things Basketball podcast.
And right about now we're gonna go over the conference finals in each of the conferences
east and west and then I will give you my Finals preview.
So we'll have all that to cover but I did want to start with the other news first and
then I'll circle back and do my recap of the conference finals and then your NBA Finals
preview.
So let's do it that way shall we.
So first news item Carmelo Anthony retires.
So he makes a video of it beautiful video by the way how his son is now the new generation
and what he's expecting from him but in it he announces his retirement from the game.
So let's take a look at his career 19 years in the league he was the third pick in that
famous 2003 draft the one with LeBron; the one with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and those
guys there.
He was the third pick in that draft he finished his career averaging 22.5 points per game.
He never averaged below 13 points a game in his career guys pretty impressive and then
his 28,289 points ranks him as he retires ninth on the all-time list.
So pretty amazing stuff that Carmelo's in the top 10 closing out his career along with
6.2 rebounds 2.7 assists a steal per game his shooting average for his career 44.7% from
the field 35.5 from three-point range and 81.4 from the free throw line so pretty good
stuff there.
In his career he started out with Denver that's the team that drafted him he was there for
about seven and a half years and then of course he got traded at the trade deadline to the
New York Knicks where he spent six and a half years there so a bulk of his career in Denver
then in New York.
He spent two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers a season with the Oklahoma City Thunder
a brief 10 games with Houston then he was traded by Houston to Chicago but he ended
up never playing for Chicago and they essentially waived him and then he had a season with the
Lakers where he played with his good friend LeBron James.
In his career the highest he ever finished in terms of the MVP voting was third and that
was the year that he led the league in scoring I'll get to that in a minute.
He's a 10-time All-Star, six times all-NBA: 2nd team twice, 3rd team four times.
He was on the All-Rookie team, he led the league in scoring 2012-13 season with a 28.7 point
average he was named on the NBA 75th anniversary team he received the social justice champion
award one that's now named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and he won that during the 2020-2021 season.
He started out his basketball career at Oak Hill Academy there he won 42 games in a row
and then he went to college at Syracuse and there he had one of the most amazing freshman
seasons you'll ever see where he led them to a championship he was named the Final Four's
Most Outstanding Player he was a second team All-American, USBWA national freshman of the
year oh and during his high school days he was a McDonald's and parade all-american as
well internationally for gold medals three Olympic gold medals that he got in 2008, 2012,
2016 and then in 2007 he got the FIBA Americans championship the gold medal there and two
bronze medals those he got pretty young he got his first one in 2004 when the Olympic
team played in Athens actually LeBron was on that team as well that was the team you
had Stephon Marbury, Tim Duncan and that was a team that came up short and then two years
later in the world championships they got bronze there as well still a relatively young
player so guys that is Mello's career in a nutshell a lot of people are saying oh will
the Knicks retire his jersey I believe they do actually I believe they do I said on social
media yeah they do that but they should have retired Bernard King's jersey but I digress
that's a subject for another day but I think Melo's jersey will get retired he was one
of those players who wanted all the smoke he wanted to come to New York a lot of people
questioning the reasons for him coming here was it to win or to build his brand you know
they go back and forth with that but nonetheless he came here and he was able to have some
success here got the team all the way to the second round of the playoffs one year but
that was about the size of it but he did win his scoring championship while with the Knicks
so that says something there so I think he does get his jersey retired I think the bigger
question to be honest will the Denver Nuggets retire his jersey remember he left there on
acrimonious terms basically because he basically said he wanted out he wanted to go to the
Knicks and then his coach at the time George Karl was not happy with the whole situation
and kind of been panning him ever since I think that's the larger question because he
spent the most time of his career in Denver so I think that's the more interesting question
I think the Knicks do retire his jersey Denver that's a bigger question as I said so speaking
of the Social Justice Champion award let's move to the next item Steph Curry with the
Golden State Warriors wins the 2022-23 social justice champions award and like I said previously
it's named after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and he got it for his voting initiatives two of them
that he's involved in when we all vote that's one where he's the co-chair of that organization
there he was named by first lady at the time Michelle Obama and he's still involved with
that and then the freedom to vote that's the social media initiative to get people out
there to drive the vote and voter education as well so and also awareness concerning community
safety and he does that in partnership with his coach Steve Kerr they go out and speak
and so forth so Steph Curry wins the social justice champions award kudos to him third
news item Nick Nurse to be named the next Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse has ties
to the GM Daryl Morey the president over there with the Sixers he actually coached
with the Houston Rockets G League team and led them to a title in 2013 and that was prior
to him getting the Toronto assistant coaches job which he held for five years until he
became head coach I mentioned previously his coaching record 227 wins against 163 losses
that gives him a percentage of about 58.2% win percentage the one championship he got
in his first year there and then he won coach of the year actually the following season
in 2019-2020 season so Nick Nurse also during the interviewing process he was able to sit
down with Joel Embiid and Joel Embiid gave his stamp of approval that leads me to ask
will James Horton now come back we know it's been mentioned that he had issues with Doc
Rivers so now that you bring in a Morey guy will James Harden come back will he resign
with them or is he still on this kick of going to the Houston Rockets oh by the way Jalen
Green the young player over there a lot of people tried to make it sound like he didn't
want him there he just thought it was interesting that he would want to come back here and I
am with him it's very interesting why would he want to go back there to me it's just again
to fill up the stat sheet and get numbers other than that what is his driving motive
to go there there are team still in rebuild they're gonna get a young player in this coming
draft so what is the end game for Harden I don't know but I will say I think I'll say
he'll go back to the sixes I think he'll go back to the sixes him and Maury they have
this relationship there I think he does return especially with a coach that's been in the
Rockets program so my guess is Nick Nurse know a little something about Horton as well
and he's able to get the most out of him once Harden comes back and resign so I'm gonna
say Harden stays in Philly all right so in other coaching news the Milwaukee Bucks they
are to hire Adrian Griffin - Adrian Griffin actually oddly enough was Nick Nurse's assistant
coach at Toronto so he was there five years with Nick nurse so he gets the Milwaukee job
so Adrian Griffin this is his first time out as coach so we'll see how he does over there
very interesting hire the Milwaukee Bucks like what they heard from Griffin so he gets
the job so that's your coaching news let us move on Scottie Pippen trashes Michael Jordan
oh gosh I just chuckled over this story but we'll talk about it Scottie Pippen first of
all he didn't like the last day it's documentary I think that's public knowledge he had like
how he's portrayed in it he could be seen in a better light but that wasn't the case
if you listen to the interview first of all this piece together so it seems like it's
more of a got you video than anything else because it's chopped up so and it only gets
the sound bites that people will pay attention to to me that's a bit disingenuous but I think
if you listen to it hitting behind what people are deeming as hatred him hating on Jordan
there's some kernels of truth in it then this is from a guy who I'm not the biggest Scotty
lover fact from what he did to my Knicks as well as Jordan I ain't too thrilled with him
but you know I respect his style of playing basketball but here's a couple of things that
he said that kind of can't argue with Michael Jordan didn't begin winning until the team
came together which is true remember he was playing in the playoffs against the Celtics
got the 63 points they still lost that game why it was all about Jordan it wasn't about
the guys around him so you start to draft guys like Scottie Pippen well you made a trade
in the draft and brought Scottie Pippen over then you draft guy like Horace Grant you bring
in a Bill Cartwright via trade you get a guy like Craig Hodges who's important to that
program early on you get these players in and Phil Jackson's able to mesh them together
then you have a winning team so that's not far from reality guys he didn't begin winning
until the team came together that's true and then also Michael Jordan didn't have the best
relationships with his teammates that's true that you saw in the documentary he didn't
have the greatest relationship with Horace Grant that's why he was running out the door
once he became a free agent there's some truth in that the way they did Craig Hodges I'm
sure Michael Jordan you had to get him to sign off in terms of the blackballing of Craig
Hodges so I mean there's there's truth in that he wasn't the best when it came to relationships
with his players the fight with Steve Kerr so again it's hard to argue with that you
know people want to bring up the fact that oh now Scottie Pippen's ex-wife is with Michael
Jordan's son so this is why he's got all this vitriol towards Michael that's why he's always
putting LeBron above Michael I hear you I hear you do I think some of that played into
it maybe maybe but I think when it comes to this whole goat conversation which again I'll
bring it up I think it's the silliest argument in sports right now the NBA goat conversation
it is the silliest argument because again you have different errors to measure what
a LeBron James is doing in this era where social media is so high back to Jordan during
his days sure you had 24-hour media but it's not like it is today so him being able to
run off to Atlantic City to gamble before playing the Knicks in the playoffs you know
it was mentioned but it wasn't given the kind of the spotlight that LeBron James if he were
to do that people would go nuts and then of course you have Wilt Chamberlain who played
during his era a lot of people say oh you know sinners in his day they were all short
people and you know he that's why he was able to dominate and all again to me the goat conversation
is the silliest argument in all the sports when it comes to judging the NBA greatest
of all time that's my opinion so anyway Pippen will bring up LeBron and he'll say you know
LeBron people want to play with LeBron as opposed to Michael Jordan you know there's
some truth in that too a lot of people really do like to play with LeBron because of the
way he plays and he evolves other people even saw it in these playoffs here which I'll talk
about in a minute so I don't think that's out of the realm of ridiculousness so if that's
Scottie Pippen's opinion so be it so who am I to say I'm not gonna get all labored
up over it let me put it that way so if that's his opinion fine you'll run with it so that's
all I'm gonna say about that so let us move on next news item Ja Moran's health check-in
on May 24th Ja Morant puts out this media post, social media post rather on Instagram of course
he's back on Instagram you would think he would play it low on there but anyway he puts
out this what people deemed as a cryptic message a little video montage: love you ma, love you
pops, you da greatest baby girl love you (talking about his daughter) and then the last video
clip is him saying bye a lot of people took that and ran with it they thought he was should
be on suicide watch and all kind of things but the Tennessee police did a welfare check
on the newly suspended Ja Morant after his cryptic messages on well cryptic message on
IG but they talked to him and the message really was about job taking a mental break
from social media so which you know dare I say even that this goes on social media these
you know my videos and stuff sometimes it's good to take a mental break from social media
because it's just too much on there it really is between all the comments and everything
else it can be a lot so he said he's taken a mental break from social media again he
was suspended from all team activities by the Memphis Grizzlies organization after
a second IG live with him in the video brandishing a firearm and that was done on May 13th video
that Commissioner Adam Silver when he was interviewed by Malika Andrews of ESPN he said
he was shocked by it so we'll see what kind of ramifications come behind that for Ja
Morant once the investigation is done of course so you know mental health it's a major concern
in this country but yet we are slow to do something about it it's something that people
are hanging their hat on to blame this and blame that but yet we're doing nothing about
it so I think more action should be put behind that but nonetheless it was good for the police
to check in with him because you never know with these things so of course wish the best
for this kid hopefully he can get his mind right his life right and then take it from there
but the optics are bad guys optics are bad I'm not even gonna sit here and lie about it
these are bad optics but we'll see how it goes anyhow so the last one I'll talk about briefly
is the WNBA's early rankings so far your number one team no surprise the Las Vegas Aces they
look terrific right now everything's coming together and the scary thing is Kelsey Plum
hasn't really got off the way she normally does it's been a lot of Jackie Young of course
Aja Wilson and then of course your two pieces that you brought in Candace Parker and Alysha Clark
have been tremendous pickups for them last year the criticism of if there was any of them was
they didn't have a bench now they have a solid bench yeah so as I wrote on a post on Facebook
the rich gets richer so they look real good now second not a surprise also New York Liberty
they're two in one right now I think they're about to take off right now Brianna Stewart's looking
great there is some concern about Jacquel Jones I think she'll come around she's still dealing
with that injury that she had in training camp so I think that's playing a part in her slow start so
I expect her around into shape as the season goes forth your 13th Connecticut Sun bit of a surprise
but you know a lot of the pieces are still in place there you got a solid base with Alyssa Thomas
DeWanna Bonner also Brianna Jones so you still have that foundation there so they're looking
good so far Stephanie White is pushing all the right buttons right now it's early so we'll see
what happens your fourth place team Washington Mystics Elena Delle Donne looks amazing guys
it's just you know you need the team to respond and rally around her Shakira Austin looks
fantastic in her second season in the WNBA. Natasha Cloud of course their floor general
you'd like her to shoot better from the field but that story for another day Ariel Atkins you still
have there so they'll be in the mix make no mistake about that my surprise team that's the
fifth ranked team this is Chicago Sky I said in my preview that I wouldn't count him out and I was
so right about that, wrong about the prediction of course but you know it's early obviously but
he has them playing well playing competitive I told y'all from the outset Kahleah Copper that
was going to be her team but Mabrey she's playing very well right now Courtney Williams is a solid
contributor her coming in the free agency Elizabeth Williams looks good so that team's looking good
right now and again Wade is pushing all the right buttons so we'll see what happens Dallas looks
good because Arike Ogumbowale, oh gosh, she looks amazing right now so they're gonna be in the mix
Los Angeles Sparks I expect them to be in the mix as well two of their losses came to the Las Vegas
Aces so I'll give them a pass on that I think they'll be solid this year the Phoenix Mercury
of course with Brittany Griner being back so they're gonna be in the mix I believe also
right now you well you actually have four teams with a one and two record Los Angeles Sparks
Phoenix Mercury the Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever I think of those four probably the Sparks
and the Mercury there'll be those teams there that will be among the playoff contenders and
then you have pulling up the rear Seattle as I imagine but also the Minnesota Lynx I'm surprised
they're not playing as well right now a lot of people are questioning Cheryl Reeve how she's
given the minutes to Aerial Powers and all those things so gonna be interesting to see if the
Minnesota Lynx can turn things around but it doesn't look good so far guys so that is your
quick look at the early rankings for the WNBA now let us get to the conference finals recap
let us start with the series that ended first the number one seed the Denver Nuggets defeating the
number seven seed the Los Angeles Lakers four games to none so they swept the Lakers here's how they
did it game one Denver 132 to 126 then in game two also in Denver Denver gets it 108 to 103
then going back to LA Denver gets that game 119 to 116 and then in the clinching game a game that was
pretty close but Denver pulls it out LeBron James has a monster game where he drops 40 points
but not enough guys so then was able to get the win and that game actually Roy Hachimura who had
a very good series until that last game only 10 points on three of 12 shooting along with seven
rebounds and then Anthony Davis who had a fine series but came up short in that last game only
21 points six of 15 shooting which is subpar for him but he was nine for ten from the free throw
line 14 rebounds three blocks in the game. For Denver Nikola Jokic once again averaging a triple
double his team looking very good also over a steal in a block per game shooting over 50
from the field solid from three actually terrific from three and then from the free throw line
solid across the board so Jamal Murray led the team in scoring he had another amazing series I
mean this this kid is on a roll right now guys shooting from the field absolutely tremendous
he actually led the team in that above Nikola Jokic a sensational from three he took 20 free
throws only missed one guy so this guy is locked in then you had your contributors Michael Porter
jr as well as Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell Pope, Bruce Brown you got double digit scoring for all
those guys so when you have balance scoring like that you're hard to beat guys you're really hard
really hard to beat especially with your two horses really getting things done so that's the Denver story
there for the Lakers a lot of LeBron James that's for sure he led them in minutes led them in scoring
led them in assists shot it from the field nearly 52 percent was horrendous from three
a lot of the team actually was horrendous from three except for a few players like Austin Reaves
but LeBron leading the way of course Anthony Davis when you look at his numbers they look good but
in that fourth game that's where you know you needed your big guns to show up and he he didn't
quite do that guys he shot okay from the field he usually shoots better than that from the free
throw line took 40 free throws only missed five so i mean again the numbers look good but you want
him to show up when the lights are the hottest so and then your third best performer was Austin
Reeves - Austin Reaves, I tell you what guys; he has played himself into a massive massive contract
extension he had a great series i mean all things considered he had a great series shooting was
amazing from three he was nearly automatic and he was perfect from the free throw line so Austin
Reaves really gonna cash in on these playoffs here so i expect well i'll tell you what's next
for the Lakers in a few Rui Hachimura he had a solid series but again that game four didn't really
come through for the team so then you had your guards like Dennis Schroder and D'Angelo Russell
they were pretty much MIA guys they both shot it horrendous from three point range and not all that
great from the field either between the two you only got a little over 13 points a game that's
not going to get it done not against a Denver team; the Lakers got big questions here so with that said
let us talk about what's next for the Lakers of course the big talk is LeBron's future let me say
this a reporter is going to ask him that's an obvious question you know what's next for you
LeBron and of course in this 20th season he's going to ponder things that's just the nature of
being 38 and in the league 20 years you're going to be reflective it's not to deflect it's not to
not to take credit away from Denver this is a legitimate question he gave a legitimate answer
for him to ponder his future is legitimate to me so for everybody to run and say oh is he retiring
no and then run to his IG and see oh he puts this post up of a Jay-Z song and uh what are we doing
here what are we doing first of all the man just lost in the playoffs so the emotions are going to
be where they are so for us to take what he says in a post-game press conference and run with it
i think that's i don't think that's wise let's let's put it that way so and then he headed
towards a possible foot surgery because you know he dealt with the foot issue prior to the playoffs
and the fact that he played as well as he did really says something about this man his work
ethic and his will to push himself he has two more years guys at 97 million dollars so that's
a lot of money to walk away from that's for sure so we'll see what he does but i don't expect him
to make a decision anytime soon in that regard so guys keep looking at his IG if you want to try and
find veiled messages but i'll wait until he officially says something what to do with Anthony
Davis he doesn't give you a full season you know there's always one injury or another on so forth
he has two more years left at 83.8 million so i will have to couple that with LeBron's decision
which i feel he'll come back i think if by some chance LeBron decides to hang it up i think
immediately they will try and deal Anthony Davis and just start rebuilding again because they got
a lot in front of them that that's for sure i think a lot hangs on whether LeBron and AD makes their
return with the Lakers and this leaves a big decisions here for Jeannie Buss for Rob Pelinka
and that organization there right now on your roster officially you have a Mo Bomber there you
have Jarradd Vanderbilt you have those guys for another year under contract but you got a lot of
free agents here D'Angelo Russell he's going to be a free agent Dennis Schroder, Rui Hachimura
he's a restricted free agent also Austin Reaves restricted free agent Lonnie Walker IV unrestricted
Malik Beasley who you didn't see a lot of in these playoffs here sure could have used them but they
have a team option on him so we'll see what happens there and then you know the big question of course
is will they pursue Kyrie Irving let me say this Kyrie you you go to a Lakers game you sit court side
and for you not to expect people to make speculations about your future it's just asinine
for you to think that no one would say something and connect you with possibly being a Laker
that's crazy for you to think that I'll give you example in last year's playoffs where you saw
Julius Randall and few of the I believe Coach Thibodeau was there as well I believe Leon Rose was at the
Dallas Mavericks/Utah Jazz series everybody ran with that saying oh they must be trying to recruit
Jalen Brunson and maybe they talking to Donovan Mitchell as well who knows so for you Kyrie to
think that no one should be talking about your basketball future you play basketball so they're
gonna talk about you in terms of basketball they're not talking about your private life they're not
talking about other things they're talking about basketball you're a basketball player they're
talking about basketball if you're a plumber we wouldn't be talking about what your future is as
a plumber so this whole idea that the media shouldn't speculate about your future is it's
crazy talk because you are going to be a free agent so there's going to be speculation about
your future that's just the nature of things so again there's questions about Kyrie supposedly
there's a handshake deal between him and Mark Cuban the owner of the Mavericks so we'll see how
true that is when the dust settles so all right so that is your Western Conference Finals recap
let's now go to the Eastern Conference where we just saw this series in in seven games where the
number 8c the Miami Heat defeat the number 2c the Boston Celtics here's how they did it Miami takes
the first game 123 to 116 in Boston Miami takes game 2 111 to 105 in Boston so Miami goes to Boston
and take those first two games so now Boston goes to Miami down to zero Miami takes game 3 128 to
102 so Miami's up in this series three games to none everybody said oh maybe you'll have two
sweeps in the playoffs not the case Boston comes back and wins that game four in Miami 116 to 99
then they go and win game five back at TD Gardens 110 to 97 then Miami goes back to their home and
they lose to Boston there in a heartbreaker 104 to 103 Boston gets the win on a tip in right at
at 0.1 seconds in the game absolutely crushing but with Miami's back against the wall heading back
to Boston for a game seven where Boston is pretty much has a history of closing the deals in game
seven that wasn't the case and Boston doesn't make history as the one team that overcomes a 3-0 deficit
and Miami gets to win here 103 to 84 so for Miami Miami of course led by Jimmy Butler who had a solid
series still not shooting great from the field guys and his three point shooting you know it was
it was okay in this series it wasn't as bad as the next series and from the free throw line pretty
much reliable he only missed nine free throws out of 54 so you'll take that but your second best
player was Caleb Martin guys he had a series where he started two of the games but he still
had a solid series guys averaging over 19 points a game shooting terrific from the field outstanding
from three and only went to the line eight times missed one so you'll take that bam out of bayou
i thought he would have to do more in this series but i guess he didn't enough averaging nearly 15
points a game himself over nine rebounds you know he's not going to hoist a lot of threes but he was
solid across the board Gabe Vincent who ends up missing game six that crucial game six had a
solid series very good series for him overall was terrific from three so you'll take that Duncan
Robinson you know in limited time this guy does damage man especially if you let him get off from
three and he was solid from three guys solid from the field as well so only went to a free throw
line five times made them all and then Max Strus did not have such a great series didn't shoot it
all that well from the field either guys and from the three he was okay he was okay there
then you had contributors like Kyle Lowry Kevin Love that's your Miami story there for Boston
it was a lot of Jayson Tatum not a lot of everything else guys Jason Tatum you know he pretty much
carried the load per usual so was horrendous from three though and yeah i mean that's yes your story
that's your story there Jaylen Brown that's the issue to this whole series he was below par guys
I wish I could give him out here but 19 points a game over six rebounds only shot it nearly 42
percent from the field was atrocious from three and from the free throw line you know he has his
issues there he was okay but I think that's the biggest story to why Boston goes home Jalen Brown
especially in a game seven where Jayson Tatum tweaks his ankle so you would definitely expect
Jalen Brown to step up but he didn't do that so very alarming guys in fact your guy who stepped
up in that Game Seven Derrick White had a sensational Game Seven and for the series he was pretty good
shot it well from the field shot it tremendous from three between him and Grant Williams those
two guys shot it the best from three everybody else was pretty much awful and out of 13 free
throws he only missed two so Marcus Smart he had a solid series it was it was fine it was fine but
again the shooting you know wasn't great from the field he was okay from three that was another guy
that was another guy who was okay from three Al Horford had a subpar series for him he was
horrendous from three from the field as well he only shot two free throws in this series so that
just tells you all you need to know right there Robert Williams still he only played about 18
minutes a game guys so you need to ramp that up that's for sure and then Grant Williams off your
bench yeah would like to got more but it was what it was so anyhow so that's your Boston story now
what's next for Boston I think all things considered it was a good debut season from
coach Joe Mazzulla I think given the circumstances he had overall pretty good year I know maybe
Boston fans may not feel that way but I thought he did and you know it's his first year he can
only grow from this being that they made the finals the previous year you would say this is
a step back I don't say that I think this is pretty much kind of a lateral move where if things
went for them the right way in Game Seven we'll be singing another tune about them going to back to
back Finals but nonetheless they came up short so what happens now with Jalen Brown there's been a
lot of talk and speculation about an unhappy locker room I guess him playing second fiddle to
Jason Tatum so there's talk surrounding that he does have a year left at 31.8 million so you know
there's talk he may want a supermax he was 3rd team All-NBA so there's that big decision to be made in
terms of Brad Stevens and that Boston organization in that regard I think you need a healthy season
from Robert Williams to third I think if you get that I think you will see some improvement here
guys oh and Malcolm Brogdon he didn't have that greater series for them guys in fact he ended up
missing a game with injuries so and remember he had the very good series the series prior so
and your potential free agents Danilo Gallinari who did not play for them at all he had the torn ACL
Grant Williams he has a qualifying offer so I would imagine the Boston would be wise to bring him
back and then Mike Muscala who has a team option so we'll see what happens there but for your most
but for your most part all of your other players are under contract so there's that all right so with that said let us now look at the
NBA Finals we have our matchup guys the number one Denver Nuggets who will be the home team
versus the Miami Heat what Denver must do I think continued dominance from Nikolaj Jokic of course
Jamal Murray also balance scoring that you've been getting so far from these guys Michael Porter Jr
also from Bruce Brown, Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell Pope who's the one player who actually
has final experience here so you continue to get those kind of performances you're in good shape
they have to close in on the Miami three-point shooters man I think the three-point shooting
although it wasn't the greatest in the last two games but some of these guys can get hot from out
there and you want to guard against that that's for sure and then what Miami must do they're
going to have to get continued support from their role players guys like Caleb Martin guys like
Gabe Vinson Matt Struz has to step up solid play from Kyle Lowry I think you're going to need more
of Kevin Love in this series especially going against the likes of Jokic I think you're going
to need him you need Bam to step up his game he's going to need to do that especially with the Joker
coming in the door and they must find a way to contain Joker contain Jamal Murray they have to
in order to have a chance key matchups Jamal Murray versus Matt Strus versus Kyle Lowry
it's going to have to be a combination of those guys that'll try and stop this kid but he's been
on a tear guide so we'll see what happens there Nikola Jokic versus Bam probably see some Kevin
Love on him as well but nobody's been able to slow down this big man so I don't see Miami being
able to as well Jimmy Butler versus probably a Michael Porter Jr. or Aaron Gordon I think you'll
see a steady diet of those guys maybe a Jeff Green slides in but Jimmy Butler yeah you're
going to have to put bodies in front of him that's for sure and then this one is kind of low key
guys but I think this could play a part Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent versus Kentavious Caldwell
Pope and Bruce Brown I think it's a low key matchup but I think the tandem that has the most success
in this series their team will win the series I think my prediction Denver and five guys Denver
and five Denver has been hot they've only lost three games in these playoffs they won all their
home games that home court advantage for Denver is huge guys I don't see Miami recovering in time
for that game up in that Denver air on Thursday June 1st I don't see them in fact I wouldn't be
surprised if they get blown out that first game in Denver whether they are just by game two who
knows but I see it Denver taking two games at home probably getting the game in Miami because
back in Miami they're not world beaters on that floor we saw what Boston did getting two games on
their home floor and I guess out of pride Miami gets one but I think Denver all in all gets this
one in five guys in five you know they'll say oh Miami's capable of winning on the road someone's
got to convince me somebody can go into Denver and get a win somebody's got to convince me of
that because I haven't seen it happen yet so I've seen teams go into Miami get wins I haven't seen
I haven't seen anybody go to Denver and get wins so I'm picking Denver in five all right guys so
that is it for me I still owe you guys a Knicks season wrap-up I'll do that and of course you got
the NBA draft coming up soon so we'll deal with that and then of course WNBA basketball getting
underway as well so we'll talk about all of it guys all right so on that note that is it for me
thank you guys for listening and we'll talk soon
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