Pat Beverley’s antics, Tyrese Haliburton trolls, Kevin Durant “not maximized” | Draymond Green Show

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We're back with our third episode this week. As I promised you all, we will be coming to you a little more during the playoffs. Be that I got no job, am unemployed, and this, well, that would be a lie. This is also my job. So I do have a job. However, my normal day job, I've currently been laid off and am unemployed. So got a little more time to do pods, listen to Knicks fans try to make it out like I hate the Knicks. I don't hate the Knicks. A lot of other stuff going on around the NBA as well. We had 2 more teams get eliminated, you know, so. But let's get into this episode. It is spicy today. Spicy last night around the NBA.

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Jesus Christ. The Pacers beat the Bucks 120 to 98 to advance to the second round for the first time in a decade since the Paul George era, D-West era, Roy Hibbert, uh, pretty much since the era when the, when the Pacers passed up on me, when they didn't listen to Carl Nicks tell them they should draft me. And here we are. So there you go. Since then it's been A lot of success. So thanks. No thanks. Thank you. Whatever that should be, I'm appreciative. It all worked out in the end. But let's get back into this game. Uh, Halle has 17, 10, and 6. 7 for 16 from the field. And as good as that, uh, the, the stat line, we've seen him put up better, better stat lines, although it's a very solid stat line. Um, Where he had the pace of the game was absolutely beautiful. And essentially it ended up being too much for the Bucks. They couldn't keep up with that pace. You know, when you don't have Giannis, Giannis creates all the tempo, all the pace for the Bucks. And when you don't have him and the Pacers are playing at that pace, hence they score 120 points, the Bucks scored 98 points. Even with Dame having a good night, 28 points on 16 shots, Bobby Portis having 20 and 15, 8 for 17 from the field. Even with that, it just wasn't enough to keep up. A, can't score enough points, but that pace, the Indiana Pacers played with the same pace that they played with all year. And remember, I don't believe that Indiana Pacers is a 16-game team. I personally said they are an 82-game team. Yeah. And I still believe that. However, shout out to them. Shout out to Hallie. Shout out to Pascal. Aaron Neesmith having had a, had a very, very, very solid series. Good series. Shot the ball well, defending Chris Middleton. Chris Middleton had some big games in this series. I think averaged the most points he ever averaged in a playoff series. But it was a tough, tough road to get there. It was nothing easy. He didn't get anything easy. He had to work for everything. Chris is a great scorer.

So.

Yeah. He's gonna get points, but the goal is to always make guys like that work for their points. And man, shout out to Nii Smith. But the crown today goes to my guy, TJ McConnell. TJ McConnell, 20 points, 9 assists, 4 steals off the bench in 23 minutes. Not sure if you can be more productive than that. Um, had this running joke which TJ knows about. Had this running joke very early in TJ's career with Chris DeMarco, one of our assistant coaches. And Chris DeMarco would come in raving about TJ. And I'm like, "Man, stop it, CD. Like, TJ's a G League player. He's not an NBA player. This guy's a G League player." And CD's like, "You're crazy. Like, this guy makes winning plays." He does. I'm like, "CD, TJ McConnell's trash." Like, TJ McConnell's not a good basketball player. He doesn't even look like a basketball player. Stop it. I said that in the game one day we were playing against, I can't remember, TJ may have been on Philly at the time. And I'm like, "Yo, this dude don't even like a basket." TJ's like, "What? Like, how could you say that about me?" And man, it's been so much love between me and TJ. Ever since I got a lot of respect for him. Ironically enough, we're sitting here watching the game yesterday and Travis sitting here, he's like, TJ McConnell will be, he's a forever NBA player. Meaning TJ McConnell will have a job in the NBA as long as TJ McConnell wants to have a job in the NBA. Once TJ McConnell is done playing in the NBA, TJ McConnell would then move to someone coaching staff. He would then move to someone's front office. TJ McConnell, that is the reputation, that is the respect that TJ McConnell has around this league. And for him to go out and have a night like that in the closeout game, like, I want to try to help you all understand how hard a closeout game is, which is why you see so many people fail in closeout game. It's not the same game you played in the rest of the series. It's not. Closeout games are way harder, which is also why you normally see teams start off like shit. Like all of a sudden you see guys taking uncharacteristic shots to start out closeout games. You see guys bricking and bricking, turning the ball over sloppy. Closeout games are hard as hell. And for TJ McConnell to come out and deliver that game in a closeout game, man, it was beautiful to watch because what it allowed was at no point in the game did Indiana lose their pace. Holly go out the game, TJ McConnell going, pushing the tempo again, man. This man had 20 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals in 23 minutes. Like, 23 minutes. That almost mean he was making a play pretty much every time he had the ball. And 20— to do that in 23 minutes, he was making a, a good play pretty much every time he touched the ball. And I'm here to tell you, nobody's really letting TJ McConnell dominate a ball on their team. Like, yeah, he gonna go, he gonna set the off— but he like setting the offense up if he got the ball. He ain't like looking to get something for himself. So for me, the 20 and 9 is even more impressive. That mean he was making it happen every time he got the ball. Yeah. And I thought it was absolutely beautiful to watch. It'll get really interesting to see what happens with the Bucks this offseason. Do they, does Dame still wanna be there? We've heard a lot of talks about Dame's not happy there. Does Giannis still wanna be there? Like, do they pivot with their roster? They've kind of had some mainstays in their roster with Chris and Brook and Bobby. Do they make pivots, uh, in their roster and continue to try to swing? What happens from here will be interesting. You know, Pat Connaughton's been there for a while. What happens from here? Obviously you got Doc. Doc's gonna probably want to bring in some, some more guys that he trusts. Uh, some guys that fits his system more, you know, so it'll get interesting. It'll get interesting in Milwaukee, but. Before we move on, let's talk about the stuff that happened after the game. We had Halle trolling Dame with the ball in the game. I don't know if you all have kept up, but if you haven't, you should go back and check out the clip of Dame talking about Halle being humbled after Halle's doing the, the Dame Time celebration in the regular season. He like, you had your moment, that's cool, Dame Time. You had your moment, but be humble. It's gonna come back around. And it's unfortunate that, A, Dame didn't get to play this entire series healthy, B, that we didn't get to see Giannis in this series. But I am here to tell you, no one cares. No one cares. Nobody's going to at the end of the day be like, ah, the Pacers beat the Bucks, but they didn't have Giannis and Dame wasn't— no one cares. No one cares we lost an NBA Finals and within 48 hours Kevin Durant tore his Achilles and Klay Thompson tore his ACL. No one cares. It's not how this thing works. A part of winning in this league is staying healthy. That's actually a part of the job, to stay healthy. Yeah. Because as they say, the best ability is availability. So, as you all know, I got nothing but love for Dame and, but you just can't, like nobody, nobody, you're not allowed to say, oh, well they got this because no, that's not how this works. You play who's on the court and who's lined up against you. And that is the task at hand because guess what? If you lose, Nobody's gonna be like, "Oh, well we're gonna give him a pass because he took it lighter because that guy was hurt and that guy was out." No one cares. So shout out to the Pacers. Their fans may be somewhere in my comments like the Knicks fans talking about, "Oh, you was wrong about us." I'm still not wrong about y'all. I still think the Indiana Pacers are an 82-game team. And by the way, Indiana Pacers may need to make sure going into this next round that they get Pascal Siakam off because he's the guy that's been there, knows how to do it. And he had a great couple games to start this series. Not so great as the series went on. They're going to need a big Pascal, a great Pascal to win this next round. And so I think that needs to be the focus. Rick Carlisle is an offensive genius, so I know he'll find ways to get him involved. Yeah. But I think that'll be important. Uh, however, let's get back to this trolling. Um, so Halle goes at Pat Bev on Twitter with the quote, con man, frip from above the rim, which Dame previously tweeted about Patrick Beverley. You all also should know about the feud that Damian Lillard and Patrick Beverley has had over the years. Uh, if you remember back to the bubble, When Dame missed the two free throws, Patrick Beverley and a couple other guys, I can't quite pinpoint who the other guys were, but they were falling over the little stanchion guardrail type billboard-ish thing that was in front of the benches in the bubble. They were going crazy when Dame missed those two free throws. Then the whole thing went down on Twitter. So, It got interesting last night. And I must say, I respect Hallie's trolling. Like everybody is not good at trolling. Most people actually are bad at it. You start to see in boxing today, like how bad boxers are like talking and promoting a fight. It's gotten so bad. Like people really aren't good trolls anymore. And so to see Hallie, like number one, this just didn't come. Howie's been playing, he's been planning this. Like he's been like, oh, I'm gonna tweet this. I'm going at them this way when we beat these guys. Like he been planning this and to actually go through with it, I love it. And the reason I love it so much is because it didn't just start. Like they beat them 5 times in the regular season and was talking to 'em about it. So it wasn't like, oh, it was surprise beef and this just started. No. Yeah. Both teams got exactly who they wanted to see in the first round. Pacers came out on top. It's still talking, man. I told y'all before though, I love the way those young Pacers compete. I've talked to you about how crazy Nimhard be talking to people on the court.

Right.

And you know, it's really fun to watch. And I am always one to watch the game within the game. I'm just not watching the typical, who scored this point? Who got this rebound? Even typical X's and O's. I'm always watching the game within the game. And I can't help but watch the Indiana Pacers. And one of the most valuable players on the Indiana Pacers is a guy who does not even get in the basketball game. I'm not sure when's the last time he's got in the game, not really why he is there. One of the most valuable players on the Indiana Pacers is James Johnson. And the reason James Johnson to me is one of the most valuable players on the Indiana Pacers is because he is the very reason that Halle is talking like that. Like, and cool with it. And y'all ain't gonna do nothing to me. And it is what it is. What you gonna do? And he's the exact reason Nimhard acts the way he acts. I don't know Nimhard from a can of paint prior to playing against him, but I know the confidence that he has on the court, the demeanor that he walks around with, that's backed by something. Like, that's backed by something to know like, "Yeah, y'all, you ain't gonna touch me." And they got a vet, OG over there. I always talk about the importance of vets. I always talk about the importance of having OGs on your team. And they got a vet that's well respected in the NBA. And if I'm honest, highly feared by a lot of people in the NBA. And so they walk around like that with they chest out. Like they walk around like they untouchable and you ain't gonna do nothing to me. And guess what? Nobody has, because they know they got that backing. And so again, I'm always watching the game within the game. And to see Halle trolling the way he's trolling, called that man a con man, took Dame's quote and ran it back on his teammate. That's crazy. That's high-level trolling right there. We may have to start some troll awards on the Draymond Green Show, 'cause that is high-level trolling. And I'm rolling with that. This is not a controversial podcast. I don't really love controversy. I'm not really one to get try to get him in trouble. I thought, I just get people in trouble. I've been in enough of my own and kind of see how people try to kick you when you down and you have your moments. And I'm really not one to agree with it. I thought Stephen A. the other day talking about, I called the league to try to get Russell Westbrook suspended, was absolutely absurd. A, this is how we feed our family and you're taking it upon yourself from your media job to call and say, this brother, like y'all not suspending, like come on. Like what are we doing? Like that enjoy— Enjoy your life. Play the game. Like, that was crazy to me. Absolutely crazy. So I, hey, that's not what this is. However, Pat Bev threw a ball at a fan last night. Launched the ball, bam! Hit the girl, boop! Crazy. Apparently he didn't hit his target or he had two targets. He got the ball back. Hey, throw that back. Like he checking the rock up or something at the park in Saginaw, Michigan. At Unity Park. They checked the rock, he checked the rock and pow, threw it at the other dude. And that was interesting because Pat keep having these instances after they lose, like in these playoff games.

Yeah.

That one might've been crazier than the CP push. I don't know if y'all remember Pat Bell. CP was just walking to the bench, ain't say a word. This was, I hated CP by the way. By the way, y'all, I text CP yesterday, he ain't text me back. So y'all make sure y'all go at CP, tell him don't not respond to me because our season ain't going no more. But I'm at CP. But anyway, the push on CP, this might have been worse, um, because it opens up an entirely different can of worms. Like, I saw the police getting involved. Those people may want to press charges, but man, Adam gonna have a problem on his hands with this one because it's about as close as you can get to, to going in the stands. Yeah. And that is forbidden for us. So I don't know. Then Pat didn't follow it up very well 'cause he followed it up with getting into it with the female reporter about not subscribing to his podcast. I ain't never heard somebody say, "If you ain't subscribed to my podcast, don't ask me a question." I actually try to take the complete opposite approach because I am very appreciative of the NBA supporting podcasts the way they do. The way the league has supported players branching off and doing these things and organizations have accepted it. Like at the end of the day, we still got day jobs and I am never one to try to cross the two. Like no, my podcast is my podcast and I'm gonna do this interview and I'm gonna do the interview as such to something that I want people to see. I'm gonna do the interview as such to where people can get good quotes. And then I'm gonna go do my podcast. And I try to always be certain to stay along that line because I am appreciative of the support that the league gives. Pat Bev like, no, you not subscribed to my podcast. Get outta here. Get your microphone outta here. And quite frankly, I didn't think the lady did anything wrong.— and I'm not really sure if one subscriber is like tilting anything anyway for better or for worse. But then Pat Bev doubled down, like, "Why are you still here? Like you still in the circle? Move your microphone." And so, rough night for Pat Bev. I'm interested to see what happens because I know something's gonna happen. That ball went in the stands twice and man, rough one for Pat. You can't, Pat, you can't keep starting these seasons suspended. I know I am not one to say anything about a suspension, but I'm gonna say it. Pat, you can't keep having these moments, man, at the end of these losses. And brother, I'm on your side because I know how these things go. But they just can't come, they can't always come at the end of a loss. Like if these things don't happen, let 'em happen. Like it is what it is. But they just can't keep coming at the end of a loss. Pat Bev, you starting to look like the kid that's gonna grab the ball and say, "I'm going home." They say, "Ah, I can't play, we outta here. We leaving the park. It's my ball. Come on, Pat." But it got spicy. So. Yeah. I'm about to go subscribe to Pat Podcast 'cause I wanna hear what he gonna have to say about his instances yesterday. In other news, and you all know we gotta talk about the Knicks. I know all the Knicks fans is waiting to see what I gotta say about the Knicks. You must wait longer because we're gonna talk about Kevin Durant now. The Kevin Durant that didn't come to the Knicks when everybody thought he was coming to the Knicks and went to the Brooklyn Nets. We're gonna talk about him now before we talk about the Knicks. Uh, James Jones, and not in particular are we going to even talk about KD, although we kind of are. James Jones, uh, recently had interviews, uh, end of season wrap interviews, and he said, in quote, a constant focus for us is to continue to figure out and maximize Kevin Durant. No one has done it yet. I believe we'll be the first team to do it. And I must say, as long as James Johnson believes that they'll be the first team to try to maximize Kevin Durant potential, as long as they'll keep struggling. Because that means they're not watching what or how, or even going back to look at film of when Kevin Durant was most successful. And I must say, I was baffled when I watched James Jones make this comment because, and I get like, you gotta see the whole interview. Some of the stuff he was like, you got it and you understand. And like you could tell he was really being a true leader, which James Jones is very, very respected for. Even before the general manager job, James Jones was a real respected leader in the NBA. What he was doing was being a leader. Like, let me try to take some of this pressure off Kevin. Let me try to help Kevin and blah, blah, blah. I get it. But sometimes when we go down those rabbit holes, we go a little too far and we exaggerate things just a little too much. Because James Jones was on a team in 2017 that lost in the NBA Finals to Kevin Durant when Kevin Durant was with the Golden State Warriors. And Kevin Durant averaged 35, 8 rebounds and 5 assists on 55% from the field, 47% from 3, 93% shooter. And when you got your ass bust like the Cavs got their ass bust, I have a hard time believing that James Jones can then, after sitting there on the bench, getting in a game every now and then to see if he can hit a 3, could then come out and say, "No one has been able to maximize Kevin Durant." When your team does not have plays To get Kevin Durant coming off a pin down, get Kevin Durant catching the ball at the elbow with a live dribble, getting Kevin Durant to the spots that Kevin Durant wanna get to and like to score from. When your team is set up that way, I'm sorry, but you didn't maximize Kevin Durant. But don't say nobody has maximized Kevin Durant because you've been on the wrong side of Kevin Durant being maximized.

Yeah.

You've been on the wrong— and when I say maximize, I'm not just talking about a couple plays in the game. Kevin Durant was maximized at the Golden State Warriors. You know why Kevin Durant was maximized at the Golden State Warriors? Because Kevin Durant was allowed to do what Kevin Durant only wants to do. You know what that is? Just play basketball. Kevin Durant didn't have to worry about leading the team. He didn't have to worry about And by the way, K's a great player and he works his ass off. More of a lead by example type guy. The way he worked with us, I'm not gonna sit here and be one of those people and act like, oh, he didn't bring any type of leadership. Like the way he worked on a daily basis is leadership. Like, yes, he's not vocal. Yes, he's not gonna say, hey, come on, let's go and do this. But the way he worked every single day is leadership. Because that is a lead by example. You got young guys, you got guys who look at Kevin Durant and think he's a great player and want to, okay, this is what he's doing, I need to do that. That is a sign of leadership. So I am not one of the people that's gonna say he never led at all. Like that's garbage. But he didn't have the burden of I need to lead this team every single day from all aspects ever in Golden State. When he was with us, that was not a thing. He did not have to roll a, I need to get these other guys involved. No, none of that. You know what he did? Score. Oh shoot, they switching this screen and rolling me and Steph. Here, K, go get a bucket. Score. That is maximizing Kevin Durant. You know why? Because Kevin Durant scores. Oh, by the way, let's go look at his defense when he was with the Warriors. Yeah. That is maximizing Kevin Durant. Go look at his defense when he was with us. Go look at his defense this year. Sometimes it was good, not as consistently as it was with Warriors. When K was with the Warriors, he was one of the best rim protectors in the league. Yep, you heard it. I'm gonna say it again. He was one of the best rim protectors in the league. Our small lineup worked in part because teams would try to go small and have no rim protection. And think we just out there. No, me and K out there protecting that rim. Andre come across, strip you. Protecting that rim. K was protecting the rim, which is why I came on this podcast and said, if the Phoenix Suns want to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, K, who I know can be a great defender, gotta go guard Anthony Edwards. That never happened for a large part of the series. Guess what? I'm looking at the beach right now and the Phoenix Suns are too, somewhere in the world. And that was one of the reasons why. So to say didn't maximize Kevin Durant, no, the Phoenix Suns didn't maximize Kevin Durant. And in large part, you didn't have a point guard. Guess what? Maximizing Kevin Durant requires you to get Kevin Durant to the spot that Kevin Durant likes to score from. And y'all didn't do that because they thought that they could get it done without having a point guard. Didn't work. So I thought that was wild because yeah, you're right. No one has maximized Kevin Durant like the Golden State Warriors did. But I'm gonna give James Jones a little word of advice. You wanna maximize Kevin Durant, go get a point guard. You wanna maximize Kevin Durant, put him in positions to score. You wanna maximize Kevin Durant? Take some of the other weight off his shoulders. But until you do that, you will be singing the same tune that nobody maximized Kevin Durant because y'all didn't. And that's just the case. And that is a lie. And no, that is not how we rolling because nah. So, and moving on to the part we all been waiting for. The New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson led New York Knicks. Number one, congratulations to the Knicks. Job well done, Tibs. Coach Darin Erman, Ern. Ah man, good win by those, Uncle Wes. Good win by the Knicks. I got a lot of friends that are Knicks fans. They're all going crazy. Shout out to J-Cal. J-Cal been talking about the Knicks getting to the second round since I met him. Uh, about 12 years ago. So shout out to J Cal. Uh, his Knicks are on their way to the second round led by Jalen Brunson. Oh, but let me tell you, it was not as ball dominant as it has been. Dante DiVincenzo, who I told you all needed to play well, needed to get touches in order to get off to help the team win, finished with 23 points, 5 for 9 from the 3.

Mm-hmm.

I'm just saying, it wasn't your typical ball dominant Jalen that he had been in the 3 games before that. Guess what though? He still ended up with 40, 41 points or something like that. He still ended up with the numbers. It just, it just, 41 points and 12 assists. Still ended up with the numbers. 13 for 27 from the field. He can take 32 shots, 36 shots. 13, a very efficient 13 of 27 from the field, a very efficient 3 for 8 from 3. So I'm just saying, the ball dominant, I need to get to it, I don't like it, I don't think it's great. Jalen Brunson, when he's sharing and getting off the ball, getting to his spots, he see the trap coming, get off it, catch it, go. Not messing around. Oh, I'm gone. Like, get downhill. The Josh Hart, that Josh Hart 3 dagger. That's Jalen Brunson. Oh, I'm going. I see the trap coming. Let me go. Let me beat the hip. Now go. Not just waiting, waiting and trying to figure it out. That's the Jalen Brunson I like to see. And by the way, a lot of Knicks fans are trying to make it out to be like, Draymond don't like us. Draymond hate the Knicks.

I'm sorry.

I know y'all probably need something to rally around. Like everybody need a rally cry and I get it. I'm not really that because I quite frankly don't hate the Knicks. I'm not in the Eastern Conference. I've never, I don't really hate teams unless they're losers, which the Knicks aren't. They're very well coached. They play hard every single night. I don't hate teams kind of that I haven't really played in the playoff series because that's kind of where hate is built. Regular season, eh, you get into something maybe, but eh. Like hate is usually built during the playoffs. And quite frankly, I've never played against the Knicks in a playoff series for reasons that we know, like reasons that we can easily pinpoint of why I haven't played the Knicks in a series. Now how many NBA Finals have I played in? 2. 2? I mean 6? Let me see, I won 4. What is it, 6 NBA Finals? All right, so 6 NBA Finals in 12 years. I've never played the Knicks. So it's good reason why I never played the Knicks. However, I'm not a Knicks hater. I'm just honest. I think a lot of the Knicks fans are delusional and a lot of the Knicks fans are like, Knicks fans are nuts. We know Knicks fans are nuts. Like I don't need to go into that. I don't hate them. I know they need something to rally around, and that's cool. Like rally around the Draymond Green Show. By the way, all you Knicks fans, make sure you subscribe. Um, but yeah, I don't hate the Knicks. However, I am honest and I'm not delusional, and a ball dominant Jalen Brunson ain't gonna get you to the promised land. I said, I didn't say you weren't gonna win first round series. Yeah. I didn't even say you weren't gonna win the second round series. 'Cause if I'm honest, I think you guys should easily win the second round series. So I didn't say that. I said you can't get to the promised land. And quite frankly, if I'm honest, I still don't think you can. However, Jalen Brunson, as I told you, already had respect from me. He's earning more and more. Earning more and more respect. Guys getting done every single night. Had a couple bad games, bounced back. That's what I wanna see. When you are a up-and-coming guy and you're taking that next step in your career and you get into these playoffs, I wanna see how you bounce back from a bad game. You know why? Because a lot of young up-and-coming guys have a bad game in the playoffs and guess what the next game look like? Worse. And guess what the next game look like? Worse. Worse. And then they go into the tank and then y'all go into the summer talking about the regular season that they had when they fucking sucked during the playoffs. And I go in the summer like, he just stunk it up during the playoffs. Like, I don't want to hear this guy's this, this guy's that because he had a good regular season. I just watched him when it mattered the most, stink it up, stunk it up. And Jalen Brunson had two very forgettable games. Somehow they won both. And that's where Philly lost the series. When Jaylen Brunson had those two forgettable games, they did not capitalize. Had one of 'em won, actually blew it. That's where the, the series was lost. But anyway, the way Jaylen Brunson bounced back from those two games says a lot to me. Like those are the things that when I'm looking, when I'm evaluating these guys, when y'all talking about who's next this, who's the next that, those are the things that I wanna see. Like how you bouncing back in the playoffs from these bad games? Games. Like we saw Julius Randle a couple years ago have a bad game and keep having bad games. How you bounce back when you have a bad game in these playoffs matters. And Jalen Brunson did that at a level that not many people has done before. He came outta those bad games with 40, 40, 40, 12 assists, 11 assists, 12 assists. And although a bit ball dominant, He bounced back. You gotta give it to him. He's stepping up to the challenge each and every night. So definitely got some respect from me, earned more respect from me. Love watching it. Quite frankly, I think, you know, when, well, before we go into what I think about the next series, let's just close this series out. Be that.

Yeah.

We just saw this year kind of the growth of a new duo. Tyrese Maxey taking that next step. Joel Embiid. And quite frankly, I think it's gonna get interesting for the Philadelphia 76ers. I think they've done a good job with their cap situation of staying under the cap, so they're not really hampered by that, but You've kind of been going at this now for like 5 or 6 years thinking that you got a chance to get over the hump and quite frankly haven't made it anywhere. So what is next? You know, Maxie's in line for a well-deserved max contract. Well deserved. You look at the guys that got max contracts, Maxie don't, can't not deserve one. You got Joel who's making a boatload of money. What do you do? Tobias Harris, a free agent. Buddy Hill, a free agent. So they got flexibility to go get better. They haven't quite frankly nailed that though. 'Cause they've had that same flexibility for the most part and they haven't quite nailed the getting better over the last 4 or 5 years. It's kind of been the same. How long do you stay right here? I don't know. You come in talking about contending every year, but you stay right here. I think it's gonna get very interesting for what happens in Philly. You kind of gotta look at everything because you just staying right here. Unless the goal is to be right there, which if Philly was here, there's no way Knicks fans take over Wells Fargo. You know why? Because Philly fans are crazy too. Yeah. I don't know if y'all ever had like dealings with Philly fans, they are nuts. So that don't happen. This wasn't like Brooklyn, you know what I'm saying? New York Knicks could go to Brooklyn, of course you gonna take, they don't got a fan base. Philly got a fan base, a crazy fan base. So for them to take over their arena like that, clearly those fans don't believe you got a team that can compete. So it's gonna get interesting for Philly. See where they go from here. I got some ideas, but I don't really care to see them get better 'cause I'm trying to win a championship next year. So they better figure it out. But moving on, we got the Knicks and Pacers in round 2. Me personally, I got the New York Knicks winning that series. They're way more physical. They can keep up. The Knicks can definitely play that pace, get up and down, but they're gonna defend more. Transition defense will be something Thibs nail over the next few days. To make sure those guys getting back in transition as that is the most important number one key versus the Indiana Pacers. It's getting back in transition, getting your half court defense set, making those guys set, making those guys score against a half court defense. On the flip side, your offense will be very important because you don't want shot turnovers. You don't wanna turn the ball over. And the New York Knicks, has a very good half-court defense. And if they can get Indiana in the half-court, now they can be physical. Knicks is a very physical team, Indiana not so much. So now they can be physical, you know? So I personally think the New York Knicks have a slight advantage in this series. I think they got the young guards that can keep up with Halle pushing the ball. I think they got guards that different guys that they can throw at him. You can throw size with OG Anunoby at Hallie. You can throw Dante DiVincenzo a pest at Hallie. You can throw Miles McBride a pest and you can kind of wear him down. And when you get into these playoff series, for me personally, I think that that is one of the biggest things when you're talking about winning a series and winning a championship is having multiple guys you can throw at a team's best player. Because you just wanna wear 'em down. We already know Halle's been struggling with the hamstring stuff and all the different things. So you just wanna wear 'em down. And the Knicks, they gonna grind you out. Like that series, man, that series was exciting as hell to watch. They just gonna grind you out. They gonna keep going and keep going and keep going. And so with them having multiple guys they can throw at Halle, I think, um— Draymond Green. I think that bodes well for the New York Knicks. Not quite sure who Indiana throws at Jalen though. Maybe Neesmith, probably Aaron Neesmith, although he's not big enough. Like I don't think he has enough size for Jalen. Jalen wanna get in the mid-range, he wanna use shoulders, he wanna use floaters. I think you need length. So I don't think Aaron Neesmith have enough length. Yeah. I don't think Nimhard is big enough. You're not speeding Jalen Brunson up. He just gonna get you on his hip. And so I don't think Nimhard is big enough, which kind of leaves you with Pascal. Pascal can take the bump. Pascal can move his feet. Does he want to take on that challenge all series? I think at some point Pascal Siakam will have to take on the challenge of guarding Jalen Brunson. Yeah. If they want to have a chance of winning this series. He has the length to affect the shots. Even if he get behind on the screen, if he's in front of him, he can take the bump. He's a 4. He can take the bump, still get good contest and not have to jump, not have to give. Also, he's a 4. He know how to not give guys angles in the post. Jalen is looking to step, step, got crazy footwork. Yeah. So I think that's gonna be something that they have to look into, which brings me to my next point, which is the X factor for the series. I think the X factor for the series, I think Indiana has two possible X factors. One being Obi Toppin playing against his old team, playing against New York Knicks from New York City. What you gonna do, Obi? Use a couple of these games against the Bucks? Yeah. O.B. Toppin was what helped push them over the top. Had 20-some last night. So O.B. Toppin is one. I also think Miles Turner has to dominate his matchup. Miles Turner has to be the same dominant Miles Turner that we just saw in this last series. He gotta dominate Hardenstein. He gotta dominate Mitchell Robinson. He's athletically can compete with both. It's physical enough to compete with both, although Hardenstein is a little more physical. But I personally think that Miles Turner and— Miles Turner's the X factor. Obi Toppin's the X factor. Pascal can be an X factor. If Pascal don't play well, it's simple, they don't win. Both sides of the court, they gonna need Pascal in this series. And if he don't play well, they have no chance at winning. I mean, absolutely no chance. So those are my X factors. That's kind of how I see this series. Oh, by the way, I got the Knicks winning this series in 5, 6 max. That's my take on that series. That's how I see it going down. That is a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Appreciate your questions.

Thank you.

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