Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin Tom Sports podcast.
I am your host, Justin Jackson.
And this week's episode, we'll be discussing game two of the NBA finals.
It's our instant reaction episode.
We will also have Jax's hot take.
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This is Justin Tom Sports, come and get your weekly takes.
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Welcome into the show.
Season five, episode 12, our game two of the NBA finals, instant reaction show.
You guys will hear this tomorrow morning, I'm recording about 1030 local time, about an
hour after the game, a little over an hour after the game.
In my instant reaction to game two, again, for those of you who may have skipped the
intro, if you did, you skipped B-Roy's amazing intro song.
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So make sure you guys definitely get on the YouTube show as well.
But with all that housekeeping out of the way, the Boston Celtics take game two, 105-98,
taking a commanding to a lead.
They hold serve at home.
We spoke about it in the last series, we talked about basketball, the old adage in and around
the NBA is a series has to start till somebody loses at home.
So in theory, this series hasn't started yet.
If you're a Maverick supporter, like myself, the series hasn't started yet.
However, my Mavs and six pick looks very grim.
I'm going to be honest with you, that looks over because it would take the Mavs winning
four straight.
Pretty much that prediction hinged on the Mavs honestly winning this game.
Because I spoke about it, man, Boston was going to have a bad shooting night.
Dallas had to take advantage of it and they didn't.
But this was Boston's others win you game.
So Boston in my prediction level has already used two of their wins because I said, oh,
okay, two of their ways they can win.
They had a crazy shooting night in game one, their others won game two.
This was a Drew Holiday kind of game.
This was a Derek White kind of game.
Brown did what Brown expected to do.
Tatum had another off night, but Drew Holiday really stepped up and won this game, almost
cancelling Luca by himself in terms of points and rebounds.
If that can happen, Boston's going to win this series pretty easily.
But this is others going to win this game.
So Dallas hasn't had the shooter's hit.
Dallas hasn't had their real players go off.
Dallas hasn't had what Luca just said, I'm going off tonight.
It looked like he's going to do it early.
He cooled off in the second half, but what Luca gets one of those 40, 15 and 14 games
and there's nothing you can do about it.
Ky Reed's still off.
So Dallas has a lot of ways to win this.
If I'm Dallas, I'm annoyed I didn't win this game.
But I'm going to Dallas saying, okay, look, they held serve at home.
We do the same.
We send it back to Boston and it's 2-2.
It's a new series, best of three.
You know, so that'd be my mindset if I'm the Dallas Mavericks.
Let's get into this box score a little bit.
Drew Holliday was the MVP for the Celtics after Jalen Brown was MVP of game one.
Drew Holliday is MVP of game two.
He finishes with 26 points, 11 rebounds on 11 and 14 shooting incredibly efficient night.
It's not even Conway did no defensive end.
He had a couple of huge steals.
He had a couple of huge defensive possessions that won't show up in the box score.
You had Jalen Brown with 21 and seven.
Again, what Jalen Brown's supposed to do, he's a great two way player.
He's one of the best two way players in basketball.
I'm glad he's actually getting his recognition and his just do for what he's been doing our
regular season.
I'm glad he's been able to showcase the fact that he is truly one of the best two way players
in basketball.
There was a lot of jokes about him when he got made, where he made his money.
I made it myself.
Jalen Brown don't go with left.
I still don't recall seeing him go left in this series, but what he does on a defensive
end and his consistent production on the offensive end, he's a super nice player, no doubt about
it.
Derek White pitched in 18 points, not the most efficient night from Derek White.
However, he had the huge block on PJ Washington coming down.
Now it should have been a foul.
We have looked back at the replay and that was clearly Jalen Brown pushing PJ Washington
with the full extension of the arm in the back before Washington even jumps.
Derek White gets the block.
Well, Derek White tips it first and then Jalen Brown swipes it all the way across with the
Mavs that point down five with about 40 seconds left.
40 to 50 seconds left.
So if the Mavs get that dunk or get that foul, they're down three with 40 something seconds
left, let's just say.
And who knows what happens after that.
It's kind of, remember the Kyrie Irving shot we discussed in game one, the Mavs were up,
were down eight.
They had charged back from 29 down.
They were down eight.
Kyrie has an open shot, one of those above the break wing threes.
He shoots it.
He misses it.
Boston hits it fast.
Six to eight on run.
They go 14, 16 points and they're never threatened again.
Similar, right?
But a lot later in the game, of course, Washington dunks that.
They're down three with 40 something seconds left.
If you're thinking in your head, okay, I'm gonna get two possessions at this.
We get a couple of stops.
We get a stop where we could be shooting the tie of the game.
You know, and then who knows what happens over the last 30 seconds.
Just supposed to what actually happened.
Washington gets blocked.
The foul is not called.
Boston comes down, I believe hits a three.
Now they're up eight with 30 seconds left and the game's over.
So it's one of those moments, another one of those swing moments that Dallas had in
this series.
But if you're the Mavericks, man, I'm confident.
Take out the first quarter of game one, right?
You lost the last seven quarters by combined nine points.
You're in this.
of the highlights.
You're in this series if you're Dallas.
But before I go too far into that, let's get back into this box score.
Let's go to the Dallas Mavericks now.
Luke Kudoncic with 32, 11 and 11 on 12 of 21 shooting.
Kyrie Irving, another poor night, 16 points, two rebounds, six assists on seven of 18 shooting.
Didn't make a basket, I remember.
To be honest, that was one he went down the right side of the court, picked it up, put
it behind his head and got a layup.
He goes back to back layups in kind of crazy fashion.
But other than that, didn't make a shot.
I remember finally got to the free throw line in this series.
I think it was in the second or third quarter.
He finally took the free throw line for the first time in the series.
So that was a decent sign, but he's got to make his shots.
He has not beaten the Boston Celtics since he left Boston.
He's 0 and 12 now and 0 and 7 in the Garden.
Obviously playing the Celtics in the finals, that has to change.
I think going home, getting the support of his home fans, he kind of, I thought, I think
tried to taunt the Celtics into the Celtics faith for into booing him harder.
But I think he was expecting that.
I spoke about it on the podcast for days ago.
I think he was expecting to be more taunted than he was.
And I think that affected him.
I think he came out looking for a heavyweight battle and they weren't coming as hard as
I thought they were.
So he taunted them in the first quarter.
They booed him heavy.
He made more shots and then the booing kind of cooled off and he started missing.
So I truly think, and it sounds a little off, but I truly think that he is expecting this
heavyweight titan of opposition from the Boston Celtics faithful.
And when he got it, he makes the shot.
When he doesn't get it, when he doesn't get it, he shots off.
He's missing.
He's almost like shaking his head.
Like, I know what I want to happen.
I know what I'm prepared for mentally and they're not giving it to me.
And so that's something to watch there.
I think he'll do better at home.
Now they, I'm sure they flew out of Boston tonight on a private jet.
They flew straight down to Dallas.
They sleep in their own beds tonight.
And they're in their own beds tonight, Sunday night, Monday night.
I mean, they're in their own beds for a week.
They like, they don't have to leave Dallas again.
Truly through this Sunday night, Monday night.
So tonight they're in their own beds.
Monday night and Tuesday night are non-finals games.
They play Wednesday and game three.
They have one night Thursday and then they play a game, game four Friday.
So I'm saying they send the series back to Boston.
I think two, two.
They send the series back to Boston.
They get on a plane either Friday night or Saturday morning.
And you know, they're in their own beds for five days.
That's huge.
That's a recharge.
That's you're doing your routine.
You're with your nutritionist.
You're with your families.
You're with your private facility.
You're in it.
Like everything is set up for you.
So that's big.
I think a huge advantage so that Dallas may have a legitimate shot at winning this series
overall.
I think it's going to take seven games now to do it.
And then to close out the box score, PJ Washington, 17 and seven.
Two things I want to, three things I want to point out in terms of team stats that I
thought were huge.
From the free throw line, Dallas was 16 and 24.
Boston was 19 or 20.
Boston only made three more free throws, but they shot at a much higher percentage.
Boston shot at 95%.
The Mavericks shot at 75%.
The Mavericks are routinely one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the league.
They are the worst free throw shooting team in the playoffs.
And they reared its ugly head tonight.
In halftime they went in down four and they'd missed five free throws.
This game, you lose the game by seven, you miss eight free throws.
Do I expect you to make every single free throw?
No.
Do I expect you to make 20 or 24 to make 20, 21 of them?
Yes.
But let's think about this.
Let's say they make 20 of them.
It's 105, 102.
Who knows throughout the course of a game, like halftime, instead of missing four, they
only miss one.
They go into halftime tie.
You know what I'm saying?
Who knows what kind of momentum shift.
Maybe Peyton Pritchard doesn't hit that crazy three at the end of the half or end of the
third quarter.
Like all these different swings.
Come to free throw line, one of the three point line, Boston shot bad 10 to 34.
That's under 30%.
That's something that will not happen for them very often.
Dallas found a way to shoot worse than they did in game one.
They shot six of 26.
So again, you lose three point line by 12.
You lose the game by seven.
So you lost the free throw line by three, get three point line by 12.
The rebounds of game are fairly even, points out turnover plus nine Celtics.
So you lose three major by score categories by 24, 25 points.
You lose the game by seven.
So if you're the Mavericks, man, you're going home and they can clean the turnovers up.
You have to hit more threes.
But Boston is doing a very, very good job at not giving up the corner three.
Again, before I dive too far into that, Lucas spoke about after the game, he blamed himself.
He was clearly frustrated on the court.
Looked like what his teammates put in himself.
He said that he blamed himself for the careless turnovers and missed free throws while they
lost the game.
So Lucas took the blame, as most superstars tend to do.
They take a brunt of the blame, even when it's not their fault.
So Lucas shouldered it in the post game press conference.
I expect him to be better, you know, he'll be 38 and 10 the first time, 32, 11, 11 the
second time.
I expect him to be better.
By better, I mean more efficient.
If he's going to take 21 shots, I expect 14 of them to go down.
Now two more shots to go down is a big deal, but if they're threes, it's six more points.
And I expect his turnovers to be lower.
I expect those to at least be shots on the rim, which is something that Dallas desperately
needs is a way to get shots on the rim.
But so let's talk about this game.
Let's talk about the game itself.
First of all, I want to give Dallas Mavericks credit for coming out strong.
They came out really, really strong and I think they were mad at themselves for not
coming out with any real intensity in game one, because again, the substance one game
won quarter one by 17.
This time the gap was not, I think that was actually led after the first quarter this
time.
You know, they came out with a very strong mentality.
They came out confidently shooting those above the break threes until I think Derek Jones
aired ball one and then like no one was willing to shoot them again.
So if I'm the Dallas Mavericks training people, it's all we're doing.
We're shooting above the break threes because Boston's refusing to give that corner up
and that was affecting Lucas assist numbers.
He had 11 tonight, but he could easily had 17 or 18 because he's kicking to the corner
instinctively and Boston sitting there.
So now they're rotating the pass around, you're getting guys in positions that they're not
used to shooting from.
Like I said, that above the break three Boston is not willing to give it up at all.
And that corner three rather, Boston willing to give them the above the break three or
that wing three.
And so that is strongly affecting the Dallas Mavericks offensively.
And they're also cutting off that lob that Luca loves so much as well.
So that's taking Derek Lively out the game.
That's taking Daniel Gaffer out of the game offensively because they're just used to sitting
there getting lobs from Luca.
Boston is doing it.
Boston is doing everything they can.
They're guarding that baseline.
Basically, they're cutting off the lob and they're cutting off the corner three.
If you want to operate on the wing, they're letting you right now because Boston has just
decided look, this is the area to willing to give up.
We're not willing to give you anything on the baseline area.
You're going to have to get your from the mid range and from the from the wing.
So kudos to Boston there for having a pretty good strategy.
And it's working.
I said, anytime you can have a guy in Jason Tatum shoot six of 22 and win the game, that's
big.
So actually, in this postseason, the Celtics are six and oh, when Tatum shoots below 40%.
So they've all all playoffs been able to overcome Tatum nearly did Tatum did, however, nearly
have a triple double.
He had 18 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, I believe.
So he was kind of a playmaker.
But he still again shot the ball very poorly, only to be outdone by Kyrie Irving shooting.
Like at least Tatum gave you 11 assists and nine boards or 12 assists and nine boards.
I'm sorry.
Kyrie gave you 16, two and six on seven of 18.
Now he technically shot the ball better than Tatum, but Tatum had a couple more three,
couple more free throws and he gave you like I said, 12 assists.
Do I expect Kyrie Irving to get nine rebounds?
No.
Do I expect Kyrie Irving that if he's going to shoot as poorly as he is to try to figure
out how to facilitate an offense?
Absolutely.
He's got to do something, man.
Lucas out there, like I said, frustrated.
It's like I can go ballistic and it doesn't matter because there's no one helping me.
Is this the kind of series that'll make a guy like Luca reconsider staying in Dallas?
Of course not.
Getting to the NBA final secured Luca Dodgers on a five year super max in a Dallas Mavericks
uniform, right?
That was decided the second the Mavericks made the finals.
However, what it does make a guy like Luca reconsider is his loyalty to his teammates.
Is he going to try to get rid of Kyrie Irving?
Of course not.
Is he going to look for people who can do things?
Yes.
It kind of, their team building reminds me of a young LeBron James in Cleveland where
you had LeBron who is the ultimate do everything.
He's the ultimate Swiss army knife.
So like Lucas, the ultimate charming knife, you get them a guy who can go a little bit.
They had Antoine Jamison.
They had a Mo Williams who went on an all star team in Cleveland.
Of course Dallas has had Jaylen Brunson.
Now they, of course they upgraded Jaylen Brunson into Kyrie Irving.
You had running Dunk Bigs and then you had specialists.
You had guys who were basically waiting to be spoon fed opportunities from the do everything
Swiss army knife and it didn't work.
LeBron was going to Miami.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
You know, the rest of the history.
I think Luca and the Mavis realized like they need more than just specialists out there.
They need more multitude players, especially on the wings.
They need help there desperately.
I don't think they're anywhere near the second tax apron so they have an opportunity to wiggle
in free agency.
A lot of teams won't, they'll be stuck around that second tax apron, especially contenders.
So Dallas has an opportunity to try and wiggle their way into some more people because Luca
is beat up.
I mean, he's getting wrapped like a football player before the game.
I mean, ice wrapped and trying to massage stuff out and all kinds of stuff, trying to
get that body ready to go.
And he goes and puts out another great performance and it's all for not due to his teammates
lack of ability to A score and B create opportunities for themselves to score.
So that is what's going down in Dallas.
But like my original point, if I'm in Dallas, my average man, I'm, I'm, I'm not happy because
I felt like I should be one to one, but I am okay.
I didn't get smoked off the floor again.
I could end game one.
And I can tell myself it should be one to one.
It's frustrating, but it's okay because it should be one one.
I go back to Dallas saying, okay, Kyrie is not going to shoot this bad at home.
We're going to be able to create some of those chances for those below the, with those corner
threes.
If not, as a contingency player, we're going to work on the above, above the break threes.
We're going to work on these wing threes cause they're going to give them to you.
You got to have the ability to make it.
I'm thinking that my free throw shooting gets better at home.
I'm thinking that my role players play better at home with Dante Exum, a PJ Washington,
a Jayden Hardy.
If I'm the, that's how I'm feeling right now.
If I'm the Dallas Mavericks, I don't love it, but my message to the team is we do what
they did.
We go back to Boston to, to it's a best of three for the NBA championship.
So that is definitely my outlook.
If I'm the Mavericks and if you're a Boston man, you're two wins away.
You're two wins away from Celtic immortality.
We speak a lot about, you know, this is the quest for banner 18 for Boston.
It's 11 of them and I'm missing some titles, but 11 of them came from Bill Russell.
Lay Bird has three.
So that's 14.
I am missing some titles.
Where did the other titles at?
Oh, I think Bill Walton is responsible for, no, that's one of Lay Bird's three.
Yeah, Lay Bird has three, Bill Russell has 11, that's 14.
Paul Pierce has one, that's 15.
Where are the other two rings?
Whatever.
Anyway, um, anyway, regardless, you're a, you're a Boston legend.
I mean, you're up there immediately with Russell Celtics, Burs Celtics, the big three
air in Boston, you know, the Celtics, like that's what's on the line.
If you're Boston, you're two wins away.
You have five games to win two.
Um, that is a great spot to be in.
If you are the Celtics.
Okay.
I'm actually Googling it.
So both the Lakers and the Celtics have only won two in the seventies.
Cause these are all Bill Russell's titles from 1957 to 1969.
That's Bill Russell.
Okay.
So they won two in the seventies that I didn't remember.
Um, and then of course, Lay Bird's three in the eighties and then Paul Pierce is one
in 2008.
And then of course the Lakers have 17 as well.
Uh, they dominated the league before Russell and then they picked up five from Magic and
five from Gobi.
Um, so that's how those two got their championships.
Anyway, um, so the situation is like that in Boston.
You're trying to put a banner number 18.
You're trying to be the team that went in front of the Lakers.
Both you and the Lakers have 17.
Um, so you're trying to be the team that pushed in front of the Lakers.
Um, you're trying to enter that level of Celtic immortality joining a great history
of the Celtics winning titles.
I think Jason Kidd, speaking on the coaches really quickly.
Well, I think Jason Kidd had a much better game plan.
Um, I think also Boston missed a lot of open three they normally make, but Hey, it's a
make or miss Lee.
I think, like I said, I think J.K.
Had a great game plan.
I wonder what his counter would have been.
Has Boston started making threes because Boston made 10 and two of them were a Derek, sorry,
three of them were a Derek white in the shot clock over somebody from 30 feet Peyton Pritchard
banking in a half court shot at the end of third quarter.
And then some like crazy out of bounds three, somebody hit something that was like two or
three of them right there that, you know, it's not a normally successful, it was a great
successful game plan in terms of how they wanted them to shoot the three knowing that
Boston's gonna shoot it, but you have to dictate to the Celtics how you want them to shoot
it.
And then Joe Missoula kept his team calm.
I think all the time option there appropriate.
He has that offense humming when they go five out and you know, the rotation starts off
a driving kick and it's just ball flying everywhere to open three.
It is beautiful to watch.
So credit to both coaches.
Tatum has stepped up.
Kyrie really has stepped up.
I'm not a fan of the math, so even have a shot.
So game three is off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night.
So the game three is Wednesday night.
Absolutely huge for the Dallas Mavericks.
Of course, no teams ever come out from 3-0 in any series.
So Dallas is a must win game three do or die, put up or shut up level of pressure in game
three for the Dallas Mavericks.
To be honest, the next two LeBron's only want to come from three, one in the finals.
Like the next two games are direly important to the franchise to win these two games.
So at least get it back.
I said to a new series to to heading into Boston for game five.
But that is all I have on this topic.
Next we're going to shift to Jack's high take, which is going to be the team USA Olympic
team left off the wrong guard and it's not Katelyn Clark.
Welcome back into the show.
And the WNBA has found a way to consistently give us storylines, right?
Consistently give us things to talk about, give us hot take moments.
So of course, the the big thing that's going around and I want to definitely give my opinion
on is the big thing going around is Katelyn Clark was left off of team USA.
The team USA Olympic team that is headed to Paris to represent team USA to try and continue
the women's dominance.
I believe they've won every gold since 1996 when they put their version of the dream team
together like Rebecca Logo, Dawn Staley, that team I think it was on Martin.
Like they were like legit superstars.
They had been playing overseas in other areas and this is the first time they come together
in 96.
The WNBA was starting in 97.
So it was big to have those them all together, right?
You're thinking I'm thinking like think what the MLS did after the World Cup.
They had the World Cup and then MLS starts the next year and MLS takes off.
That's how happened to the WNBA.
Their arcs are almost incredibly similar.
They started off really, really hot following in the national competition and then they
kind of die off and now they're getting superstars and they're getting stars and they're getting
rebranded, etc.
The WNBA, however, they pretty much are the Olympic team and the 12 names for the Olympic
team have been released.
They are as followed.
Asia Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Brianna Stewart of the New York Liberty, Diana Tarassi
of the Phoenix Mercury, Brittany Grana of the Phoenix Mercury, Alyssa Thomas of the
Connecticut Sun, Nafisa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, Jewel Lloyd of the Seattle Storm, Las
Vegas Aces Kelsey Plum, Las Vegas Aces Jackie Young, New York Liberty's Sabrina Yanescu,
Las Vegas Aces Chelsea Gray, and Phoenix Mercury's Kalia Copper.
Now one name that I did not say that has caused a lot of controversy has been, of course,
you guessed it, Kaitlyn Clark.
Her fans have done a lot.
She has done a lot.
Regarding this election, there's been multiple news articles written about it.
There has been, it's on ESPN all over it, CNBC World News, it's been on ABC, people
are writing think pieces, people are claiming racism, people are claiming jealousy.
There's a report that no one else talked about that it was two players, two unnamed
players on the roster said that her millions of fans would be distracting to the team USA
and that's why she got left off.
It's been a ton of discourse surrounding this that everybody feels she should have
been on it.
There's people even comparing it to Rebecca Lobo being on the team in 96.
Because traditionally the men's side has had one rookie or one incoming rookie because
the men's side is during the summer, not in the middle of the season, for the WUATB
to have one rookie.
The men's side traditionally had one rookie or one college player.
This was done because prior to 1992, the Olympic team was always college case, they were all
amateurs.
In 92, however, those amateurs who would have made that team became the select team, which
the US select team was like the practice squad players or the junior team.
Of course, whoever is your Dan Hurley's and stuff were on the select team.
That select team would have been the Olympic team any other year until they changed it
after getting tired of losing.
The dream team started with Christian Leitner in 1996, believe.
Well Shaq was supposed to be on that team.
That team wasn't as good as it should have been.
They would have been 12 for 12 on Hall of Famers individually, but Christian Leitner
didn't make the Hall of Fame individually.
He's the only player on the dream team not to be in the Hall of Fame.
It should have been Shaq.
Neither he nor they are.
So on and so forth, the tradition carried.
There's always usually an incoming freshman.
Like I said, Christian Leitner was on the dream team.
Anthony Davis was on the 2012, not the dream team part two, they were on the 2012 Redeen
team or the 2012 team was their name for it.
That was Anthony Davis on that team.
That is traditionally kind of as a pay homage to the amateurism days.
That's what the tradition was.
With Kayla Clark, many people assumed since she was at Iowa when this topic first came
up, she was a shoe in for the Olympic team.
And even to the point where it's like people thought she was going to tear up the WNBA
a lot more than she is.
People just knew she was a shoe in for the Olympic team.
They thought that of course she'd be on the team.
Like who else would be on the team like Asia Wilson, Kayla Clark.
Thought those two names were going to be on the team.
Clark due to her ability and her fan base.
Even people like Colin Carhart said, wow, major gaffe basically by the female Olympic
team, by the female Olympic committee for not putting Kayla Clark on if for no other
reason than the ratings.
Because you knew that if she was on the team and she played five minutes, they were going
to rate out the roof because everybody was going to watch just to watch her play.
Right?
Good, bad, ugly and different.
She's a lightning rod.
Her like they said millions of fans were going to tune in for the sole purpose of watching
her play.
But she didn't make it.
Most people are pointing to Diana Taurasi as the spot that Caitlin should have had.
Diana's numbers admittedly aren't all that impressive.
We talked about last episode, she's averaging or talk about my YouTube show, which will
also be out when you guys hear this today.
So we'll have back to back YouTube stuff.
We talked about on the YouTube show as well.
But Diana Taurasi admittedly is having a not as productive year.
She's averaging 16, four and one with a half the steel.
Caitlin Clark's averaging is basically 17, five, six with a steel and a half.
Diana Taurasi is shooting 37% from the field, including 36 from three.
84, 85 free throw line with 1.4 turnovers.
Caitlin Clark is shooting 37% from the field, 32% from three with 5.6 turnovers.
She's more of a turnover machine.
Efficiency wise, they're about the same.
Caitlin's doing a little bit more in terms of rebounding and assists.
So that's the spot most people are pointing at.
Caitlin Clark should have been on inside Diana Taurasi.
I say if they're the spot, it's Chelsea Gray.
Chelsea Gray has not played all season and she has a spot.
If you were going to point to a spot that's open, it would be Chelsea Gray.
Because again, in 2024, she has not played due to a lower leg injury.
So she still ultimately may not go.
And again, if there's a spot to complain about, it's Chelsea Gray, who hasn't played
all season.
But a lot of this, before I get into the other thing, there is a guard who was snubbed though.
Well, let's say that my original point is a lot of this was decided in the training
camp that Caitlin Clark herself said she wasn't going to.
Because it fell on the same timeframe of the Final Four.
She said when they were in Elite Eight, when she was named to the training camp roster,
she was given an invite basically to Team USA camp, which the men's side didn't have
this year.
Strangely, they just kind of picked 12 people.
And Kyrie spoke about that like, no, you used to have to go to the camp and earn your spot.
Or at least show up.
They just picked 12 guys this year for the men's Olympic team.
So hey, maybe that's the new wave.
But the female side still had the camp.
And it was during the time of the Final Four.
The days weren't exact.
But I think it was like, if the Final Four game was on a Thursday, the Team USA camp
was like Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday.
And then the Final Four was on Monday, whatever.
Whatever the case was, it fell around the same time period.
Caitlin said, I'm not going to go.
Because again, it falls in the same time period as the Final Four.
You know, I'm going to do the Final Four.
Hey, no harm, no foul, right?
But it's kind of hard.
It's a little hard for you to then go overweight this person on the team.
It's like not going to an interview, expecting to get the job.
That's not how it works.
It's not going to happen that way, right?
Especially with the level of talent in the world.
Luca doesn't have to go to Iowa for Slovenia.
Who else would be on the team?
Caitlin has a lot of people in front of her that could be on the team.
And so she didn't go to Team USA camp.
She hadn't really spoken about it.
Obviously she didn't make a backdoor deal.
She's not on the team.
Sucks.
But there is a person in the WNBA who has a gripe.
A guard.
Who has a gripe for not being on Team USA.
And it is not Caitlin Clark.
It is Erika Gumbuale.
She has a case.
And I think if Jackie Young doesn't go, I'm hoping.
I'm hoping that Team USA doesn't just capitulate to the fans and say give Caitlin Clark Chelsea
Gray's injury spot.
Because Caitlin's already said it's something for her to work for.
She's also in the position.
She'll say no.
Like I don't want to like, no, I want to earn it.
I want to just give it to me.
So she might say no.
But I'm hoping that they don't offer it to her if Chelsea Gray can't go.
Because again, she hasn't played all season.
So if she can't go, I'm hoping they don't just offer it to her.
Almost like I said, it's a capitulation to the fans.
Because the person who should have had that spot to Erika Gumbuale.
And remember, Caitlin Clark's numbers, 17, 5, 6, and 1 and 1 half steals.
Erika Gumbuale is averaging 27, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and getting 3.1 steals a game.
Shooting about the same in terms of percentages, 36 and 30 instead of 35 and 28.
She's shooting 95% from the free throw line.
Turnovers are up.
She's got the high uses this year.
But yeah, that's who has the case.
The case is Erika Gumbuale.
So if there is a person that is going to get that spot, like I said, Chelsea Gray, I think
get the spot that may come available due to injury.
I think it should be, correction, I know it should be Erika Gumbuale, not Caitlin Clark.
But that is all I have for you guys today.
I hope you guys enjoyed this show.
Again, the goal is to do, sorry, we are going to do an audio show after every single NBA
Finals game.
The plan is to have a couple of YouTube shows during the Finals as well.
And then it'll be a break.
We'll talk about that later.
But we'll have an audio show from me the day after every Finals game.
Instant reactions to it.
And then of course we'll have our summer break after the Finals.
But that is all I have for you guys today.
Don't forget to like, rate and subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
And don't forget to follow at JTimesports for your breaking news and updates.
As always, this is your host, Justin Jackson, signing out.