Timberwolves stun Nuggets, Pacers-Knicks Game 1 reaction, Mavs-Thunder preview | Draymond Green

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We are live post-game after the Nuggets just took down, excuse me, after the Timberwolves just took down the Nuggets.

These playoffs have been, it's been fun to watch, man. It's a lot going on in these playoffs on both sides. It's been some fun series to check out on both sides. And we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna also talk about the Knicks.

I went to F1 this weekend in Miami and there's like Knicks fans all over the place.

And I actually had an opportunity to talk to Al Palagonia about his feelings on the Knicks and Jeff Zelazny, good friend of mine, his feelings on the Knicks. And just listening to all these guys talk about the Knicks is hilarious.

Fun, but it's really interesting to hear like fans of a franchise with the magnitude of like a New York Knicks, but like hear how they think about basketball.

So we'll get into that. And as I said, we are live on the Bleacher Report app. Make sure you all check, throw your questions in the chat. We'll answer some of those when we get to the end of the show.

Uh, but first, let's get into these games.

How the Timberwolves annihilated the Denver Nuggets on their home court in Game 2 without Rudy Gobert.

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What made it so interesting that they did that without Rudy Gobert was like, if you saw them, if you watched that game and you saw Minnesota defense, like their defense, they got their hand on every shot attempt. Every drive, deflection, steals, swarming to the ball, like filling every gap. There was no gaps in the defense. And it's funny because I am someone who like, I follow quotes during the playoffs. I really follow quotes because you can learn a lot. And Mike Conley was speaking about how without Rudy Gobert, they had to be in gaps more and they had to swarm more and like—

Yeah.

They did that.

And I thought, you know, I was a little skeptical in starting the game off, number one, because Rudy was gonna miss the game.

And I just felt like, I'm a father of four, I love my kids, and I love my wife, but she gonna have to hold off for me just a few more hours for a playoff game.

Like, I just, me personally, I—

I'm with you.

Number one, congratulations to him. Anytime we, you know, we have, we bring new life into this world, it's a special thing. And that's something, as I said, as a father of four, that I don't take for granted at all. But I also don't, try not to take this game for granted and understanding in what can take place in the playoff series, how one play can change a game, how one, game can change a series, and ultimately one series can change a season.

Uh, one series can change the trajectory of history.

Uh, series has a major, major— it has major implications on the outlook of the NBA, the outlook of history, the outlook of someone's career. Because when you get to the end of career, the question always becomes, well, did they win?

And one series can change everything.

And so when I heard Rudy wasn't gonna play, I was like, wow. Like, to me it almost felt as if you were like cashing it in and like we won game one. Because my first immediate question was like, if they lost game one, would the approach be the same, right? Like, if you lost Game 1 and you're in jeopardy of going down 0-2, would the approach be the same, or would you be there? And so that's my initial question. And I don't have the answer to any of these questions, by the way, but that was my initial question. And then, so I'm like, man, like, it's going to be a lot harder for them to win without Rudy. Because if you watch Rudy, like, the, the interesting thing that Rudy did in Game 1 And they definitely aligned or matched up the way I thought they should and would match up. They put Cat on Joker, they put Rudy on Aaron Gordon, which effectively took the lob threat away. And if you watch, Rudy just stood at the rim and when Joker tried to throw that pass, he'd get it. And Joker is very deceptive in throwing that lob pass because he has such a great floater. And so in, in game 1, he's like deceptively throwing that lob. Like he looks like he's shooting and it's just a little to the right. Little to the left for Aaron Gordon. And Rudy got his hands on maybe 2 or 3 of those lobs in Game 1, if not more. And the interesting part about that is those, like, yes, you're taking, like, that's a staple in their offense. And like I told you, what a lob threat does in, and what I've told, you know, those of you all who's been tuning in to the show, actively, faithfully, is the lob threat and what it does for your defense.

Excuse me, what it does for your offense, what it does to your defense.

It effectively does the same thing as if you put a shooter on the wing because you can't leave the lob threat body where it's different for Rudy Gobert is Rudy's 7'3", 7'4", 7'3", whatever he is. And we know the type of rim protector that he is. Well, where that matters is he doesn't have to step up. And what do I mean by step up is, say if Aaron Gordon is in the dunker, Joker is rolling down the middle of the paint and he has the ball. If my man is— If my man is Aaron Gordon, then I have a responsibility to not totally give up the lob, but also affect the guy with the ball, make him think. So it's like a cat and mouse game. It's like, I'm, I'm stunning at you to kind of play a mind game with you, get you a little out of rhythm. Like, ah, should I shoot? Oh, the pass is there. And you kind of just play a game. Well, for Rudy, he don't have to play the cat and mouse game because he's essentially saying, I'm going to give you the floater. And Joker wasn't taking the floater. Like, no one really takes the floater every time or a layup every time. When you think about the game, when people like started shooting a bunch of threes a couple years ago, you wanna, like, you're willing to give up the floater because you know the percentage that they can complete that lob is way higher.

Yeah. Than the floater.

The lob to Aaron Gordon is probably 85% of succession rate. The floater is maybe a 47%, 50% if you great, 52, great.

It's a big difference.

And so you live with the floater. And what the Minnesota Timberwolves says, we're gonna give up that floater. But interestingly enough, Rudy can play both. He has such great length. He's 7 feet, 7'2", great shot blocker. And what he did was he didn't step up. He didn't step up outside the restricted area. What I mean by that is if he's on Aaron Gordon in the dunker spot, the dunker spot, if you ever look at an NBA court right outside of the lane line on the baseline, a little out, there's like a little dash and it goes up the floor. We call that the dunker spot, meaning you sending a guy to the dunker. So you get him— Draymond Green. And if your guy's in the dunker spot, the last thing you want him to do is get behind you. So stepping up could be a problem, especially if it's bang, bang play.

It can be a problem.

Rudy never had to step up, meaning the lob never opened.

And Minnesota, I mean, excuse me, Denver get more from those lobs than just 2 points.

Those are momentum builders. Those are Aaron Gordon getting his confidence. Then Aaron Gordon gets boisterous, he gets more physical, he gets offensive rebounds, he gets defensive rebounds. He's now pushing the pace some, he's all over the defensive end because he feels so good after getting the lob.

When Rudy Gobert of Minnesota was able to take that away, it wasn't the same Aaron Gordon.

This Denver Nuggets team need Aaron Gordon to be successful in order to win. Even more so now than they did last year because of their lack of depth in which we talk about. So the first 5 gotta get them everything because the depth that Denver has, well, lack thereof, it's been really exposed in these playoffs. And so, and getting back to game 2, With Rudy being out, I thought that that would now open up, right? And I thought their defense would be a little more compromised than it actually ended up being. And so now you got Kyle Anderson on Aaron Gordon and the dunker.

KAT still on Joker.

Now, number one, I gotta give credit to KAT. KAT just balled. KAT defended. He and Nas Reid say, you know what, we taking on this challenge. Yep, Rudy Gobert not here. This is going to be our matchup anyway. We've been studying this guy, we're prepared for this guy, and they took on the challenge. And man, Cat did a hell of a job on Joker, and Nas Reid did an incredible job when he was guarding Joker. They made it tough, they got under his skin, they got him frustrated, and in turn they were able to do that from the very beginning of the game.

And guess what?

You cut off the head of the snake. Yeah.

The body dies. And the Denver Nuggets were extremely outta character.

You got Jamal Murray was going back and forth with the refs more than he normally does. You had Coach Mo come on the court going crazy at the refs, which I'm not sure how he didn't receive a technical foul, let alone not get ejected. But I am happy he didn't because that is my guy. But boy, does that marker move. Yeah.

Proof, oh so often when it comes to these things. Yeah, that was a little crazy to me.

But you got, you know, KCP arguing with the ref a bit, which KCP don't ever get rattled. You had Joker kind of pouting a bit and like you never really see him get rattled.

Like they were rattled. Yeah.

Then you had Aaron Gordon starting to take like a bunch of turnaround jump shots and like mid-range jumpers. I don't know the team that I was watching.

Michael Porter Jr. was competing.

I don't know the team that I was watching though. And A, like I don't view that and was like, oh, that was a fluke though.

Nah, that wasn't no fluke. Minnesota is real. Minnesota real.

It's funny because I was just talking to my wife earlier during the game and I was telling her, you know, she had mentioned like, "Oh man, I had turned it on and you know, I wasn't, I didn't really watch, but I saw something come across that she called him Anthony." Like Anthony had 43 points. "Or 40-something points," she says. She's like, "He had 40-something points." And she starts going on this kind of mini rant about how like, how it's hard to deny somebody that's hungry and he just looks hungry. And so I go, I start to go down this Ant-Man rabbit hole, which is like, he hungry as hell and he believe that he's the best. Yeah.

And he wants to be the best.

He knows how to play the game and mean to play the game. This dude going up in the, this dude going up in these press conferences during this, during this series like, "Hey, you know Joker's the best player in the world." I ain't think he the best player in the world.

I ain't hearing none of that.

He thinks, he 100% believes that he's the best player in the world. And if you don't believe he 100% believes that he's the best player in the world, all you gotta do is watch him play. He's playing like he believes he's the number one best player in the world. While all along, all this year, he's told y'all what he think of himself. Since he came into, he's been telling you. So it is very evident that he believes that. Nonetheless, see, a lot of people fail at this. And I don't just mean him going to give Joker credit. A lot of teams fail, and I've watched over the years, even like in playoff series that I'm playing, a lot of teams fail the media game.

Because when you're in a playoff series, you can bet your bottom dollar that's a part of the game. And Ant-Man is passing that part with flying colors.

As I said, every press conference this dude goes into, like they ask him a question and he like, "Ah, I was okay, but did you see my teammates?" He's like, did you see my team? Like, my team did blah, blah, blah this, and Cat did that, and Nas did this, and Rudy was great. Like, so he's going into confidence. He's going into these press conferences giving his guys confidence, giving his guys praise through these press conferences. He's winning the media game as well. And I always tell y'all, I play— I, I I love nothing more than the game within the game. And Ant-Man is playing the game within the game as good as any 22-year-old that since I've understood the game within the game that I've seen.

Ant-Man is playing the game within the game better than some 30-year-olds I've seen, superstars. He's playing the game, the media game, even better than, than than some superstars I've seen.

Like, it's absolutely incredible. And so I go down this whole rabbit hole with my wife on like, hey, this dude has, like, when you start talking about a superstar player, Anthony Edwards actually has everything that you would want in a superstar.

Number one, he believes he's great. He wants to be great. So he has a, He has a work ethic because he wants to be great.

He has, he's boisterous enough to let you know that he believes that and ain't gonna shy away from it at all. He's the furthest thing from soft, which a lot of stars you can bully.

He's the furthest thing from soft.

Like he is the alpha male on the team.

Like the alpha is him.

Yeah. He's the leader of the team. It's very evident.

If you can't see that he's the leader, you're, hey, Ray Charles can see better than you. If you can't see that Anthony Edwards is a leader, I don't know what you're looking at. If you can't see that he's the leader of that team. He has that. He's fast as hell. He's strong as hell. He can shoot the basketball. He can get to the hole. He can finish over anybody. He can dunk on anyone. He has a mid-range game.

He has a floater.

He can play defense. He's charismatic, has a great personality, wants to win, instills belief in other guy.

He has everything that you would want in a superstar. Like, if you could build the superstar, he has everything you want. He's strong, like, so he giving KCP hell because he's just too big. Like, every time he see KCP on him, he get— and he just start backing him down. Like, I'm not sure what it is that he don't have that you will want in a superstar. Actually, I'm sure it's nothing. There's nothing that he doesn't have. And so I go down this whole like rabbit hole with him and tonight, 27, 7 assists, 11 for 17 from the field.

Aight. What he's doing has Minnesota poised to compete for their first championship.

And I think, you know, I think that is absolutely amazing. Because A, this isn't an organization that no one ever took serious. B, when the Rudy Gobert trade happened, all of us thought, all of our first reaction was, dang, they are putting Rudy Gobert in the paint. They gonna clog it up for Ant-Man. And then even in year one when it didn't work, And everybody's like, "Oh man, they gonna have to trade KAT. They gonna have to do this." And they stunt Ant-Man's growth. Ant-Man just went back to the lab, believed in his guys, continued to get those guys ready, and now they are where they are today. And it's an absolutely incredible thing to see. For KAT to come back from an injury that kept him out for most of the latter part after the All-Star break, well, after post-All-Star break, for most of the time post-All-Star break. And playing the way he's playing, 27 points, 12 rebounds, very efficient, very efficient night on 10-15 shooting, 3-5 from the field. All that's great. But what I'm seeing and I'm watching, and I just mentioned it before, is how Cat's competing on the defensive end. And I'm no longer talking about Rudy Gobert, I mean, excuse me, Imgaarden Joker. I'm talking about when he's on the perimeter a couple times and Michael Porter catching the ball and bigs don't know how to close out to wings on the perimeter and he close out to the body and Michael Porter sidestep and most bigs will be absolutely lost and stuck in mud and get that shot off and he close right back to the body and take the shot away and Michael Porter gotta get rid of the ball. The way KAT is defending, coming off a— Draymond Green.

A meniscus injury if I'm not mistaken. Man, them boys hungry. Like you can see the hunger through the TV screen, I can. Like you can feel it.

Them boys hungry. And so they sit here with a, headed back home up 2-0. Has Nikola Jokic completely bottled up? Finished with 16, 16, and 8, 4 turnovers. Looked very out of sync, very out of rhythm, very uncharacteristic for Joker. Had Jamal Murray completely in the bottle, 8 points, 3 for 18 from the field, losing his composure. What more can you ask for?

There's more.

You gotta go close the deal. Now you going back home and What more can you ask for? I want to nitpick a little bit. And if I'm the Minnesota Timberwolves coach, I'm extremely, extremely heavy on the nitpicking in our film session when we get back home. Why? Because I felt like Minnesota let go of the rope a little bit in the second half. And although they end up winning by 26 points or something like that in the end, um, I thought in the second half they kind of let— Draymond Green. They kind of played around with the game a little bit and they let Minnesota, excuse me, they let Denver in some spots gain a little confidence. And when you're in a playoff series, and this is when, talk about the know-how, right? Like we've spoke about the know-how. This is the know-how. When you're in a playoff series and you got a team down like that, especially defending champion, you step on they neck. And I will say, very happy with how Minnesota ended up closing the game out. They ultimately did, but you could have completely annihilated them, beat them by 40 points. And no, the 40 points don't matter whether you beat them by 26 or 40. It's the demeanor. It's Minnesota start turning the ball over there for a while. You know, start getting a little fancy, a little careless with the basketball, with their shot selection. And Denver's starting to make a run, mostly when Murray and those guys were on the bench and they had their bench in. Now, somebody gotta score. As I told you all before, the number one problem that I thought Denver will have is their bench. Big drop off from what it was last year. And in turn, I just don't think that they are the same team. Nonetheless, very good team still, but I don't think they're as dominant or as unbeatable.

They are very beatable now, but as last year, and in large part due to their lack of depth.

So you don't really have guys who, if you don't get it from those first 5, you could have had a Bruce Brown come off the bench and give you 20 and pick up that slack. Jeff Green come off the bench, give you dunk on somebody. Couple hustle plays, hit a 3 from the corner, get to the free throw line. All of a sudden he come up with 13, 14 points. You can't get that no more. You can't really get that like constant production from Denver's bench. And I thought that that would be an issue from the gate. Now I was just online and I see people are like, oh, Jamal Murray's probably gonna get suspended for throwing the heat pack.

Yeah. I mean, I didn't think he'd get suspended, although that was very dangerous.

Somebody step on that A Elisa West spot, B can really jack somebody up. But I didn't see that and be like, my first thought wasn't, ah, he gets suspended. It's crazy how people just automatically start calling for suspensions these days. I just don't really understand that.

But in saying that, man, Denver down bad right now.

No, not because they, down 2-0 or 0-2 in their case.

But because you can tell their confidence was snatched, their belief was snatched, there's a lot of doubt.

Not sure when they leave Denver, but whether they get on that plane to Minnesota tomorrow or the following day on Wednesday, they get on that plane doubting, uncertain.

Yeah. If they can compete with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And I'll tell you what, I'm uncertain that they can.

When you're the defending champions, you always got a chance. I see Denver getting a game, which is kind of what I thought from the very beginning. Minnesota in 5. I can see Denver still going to Minnesota and possibly pulling off a game.

Mm-hmm.

But they don't stand much of a chance in this one. This is Minnesota, this series has Minnesota's name all over it.

The length, the defensive tenacity. I'm not sure what there is that Denver can do to change that.

Speed of the game, Minnesota, Denver, Minnesota is bigger.

They're faster, have far more length.

They're better defensively.

And I'm not going to say their offense is better, although it's proven to be right now.

But overall, I'm not going to say their offense is better than Minnesota's.

Excuse me, Minnesota's offense is better than Denver. But it's not a big difference if it is.

And because of how good they are defensively, what's going to make it tough for teams to beat Minnesota right now is you can game plan for all the things that you want. The way that they are turning defense into offense is something that's very hard to game plan for. And like I said, it has far less to do with what? It has far less to do with what Denver can do and what they can do to stop Minnesota and far less to do with it being a fluke. Like, no, this is real. What you see is what you get. And so, like I said, I think, You can never count the champs out. Maybe they can go get one.

But Denver is severely overmatched.

Which brings me to point of, man. I was sitting here on the phone with a friend during the game. Benny Fowler called me and he's like, just watching this game, the only thing I can think about is y'all won 4. Like to think about how hard it is to win 4, because everybody starts building to beat you. Like this Minnesota team is built to beat Denver. It's actually built to beat them. And so when teams start to beat you or building to beat you, how long can you withhold that?

How long can you hold them off?

And right now it don't look like Denver can at all.

They look like they done walked into a heavyweight battle and they ain't, they ain't making weight and they were severely under, not over.

So we shall see what happens with this series.

Um, but I'll tell you what, it ain't going no longer than 5 and that is a fact.

Golly, I, I mean, I don't Like I thought Minnesota would beat them for sure.

I didn't know it would be this way. And like I said, in watching it, it wasn't like, oh, they having a good night. It looked like one team didn't belong on the same court as the other team. And that, my friends, my listeners, subscribers, is a big-ass problem. —and I don't think it's solvable during this series.

And moving on, my New York Knicks fans, what is good with y'all? How is everything? Y'all feeling good?

Y'all won the game that y'all shouldn't have won, but—

Mm-hmm. When you do, sets you up perfectly for the series. So now, you know, we spoke about this before, and blowing someone out in a Game 1, The New York Knicks won that game 1 just about as well as you can win a game 1. 'Cause they're gonna come in the game 2 like, ah, little afraid, little on edge, not afraid, but a little on edge.

And what Coach Kerr calls an appropriate fear, having the appropriate fear for your opponent.

And New York will come into next game with appropriate fear due to how much they were tested today.

If you're Indiana and you get today, it changes the series for you. And they let a golden opportunity go.

And when you're not head and shoulders above your opponent, letting one get away could be almost detrimental and impossible to make up. And I think that will be the case for the Indiana Pacers. Uh, Jalen Brunson had 43, 6 and 6, 14 for 26 from the field. That's the Jaylen Brunson I'm talking about. If you watch that game, he was not ball dominant at all.

Dante was getting off, Josh Hart was getting off, and then in the fourth quarter, Jaylen Brunson took over. And I mean, absolutely took over. And that's what you wanna see.

Because what happens is, what tends to happen is, Jaylen let, those guys do what they were doing. And he, you know, he was great.

He was doing his thing.

And then he took over in the fourth quarter. And when he took over in the fourth quarter, because Dante's had a game, because Josh Hart's had a game, because OG's had a game, now you done got in your bag, got in your bag, and you in your bag every play. And then all of a sudden you have to get off the ball and you swing it and who you hit? Dante, big three.

But why could you go to him?

Because he was ready for you. Because you kept him involved the rest of the game. Dante catch that ball and he 0 for 4 from 3, 1 for 4 from 3, 1 for 5. That's a totally different shot.

But he locked in, he's in rhythm.

And so then you can call up on your other guys. So I loved, absolutely loved the game Jalen Brunson played today. I thought he was, like I said, he was getting off the ball. He wasn't dominating the ball, didn't take a ton of shots. Took great shots, got to his spot, very methodical. Uh, we spoke about the Indiana Pacers having, uh, Andrew Nembhard guard him. He's just too small. Like, Jalen was just walking him to the spot and like raising up over him. He shot a 3 once in his face, like he's right there, not big enough, just raised up and shot the 3. And these are all plays down the stretch. He's just walking him to the middle of the paint and raising up over him.

And—

Nimhard is their best defender. And we spoke, or best perimeter defender for sure.

And we spoke about that.

And I just don't think that that is a good matchup for them. And someone may say like, ah, he did a good job and then Jaylen just got off in the fourth quarter. But I'm gonna tell you, it looks like Jaylen almost took that approach because he know he could get off when he wanted to get off. And—

To let that game get away was tough.

Now, if you're the Indiana Pacers, you could, in a very fool's goldish way, say Halle had a bad game and we still had an opportunity to win the game. And I'm here to tell you, you got a great game from all your other guys and not Halle.

That's the one you better win. And so for me, I thought Holly looked a little timid. He looked very timid actually.

I saw him turning down shots that he normally takes. When he's coming off the pick and roll, it was almost like he had tunnel vision and like predetermining what he wanted to do just to get off the ball.

Just some uncharacteristic plays. He looked very frantic and— like I said, just a little too timid for me.

It's like he wasn't like, it almost looked like he was a little rattled by the moment. Like the moment, the stage was a little too big because some of the mistakes that Hallie was making, A, Hallie is a mistake-free basketball player. Like this is the same guy who had multiple games with, what'd he have? A couple games with 20 assists and zero turnovers or something like that all season. This is a guy who doesn't, like, he's not a high mistake basketball player.

And some of the mistakes he was making to me was just like eye popping. Like, you know, Miles, maybe last 4 or 5 minutes of the game, comes and sets a screen.

Hallie's on the right side of the floor, then he's going middle. He take one dribble off middle and Miles pop, drops the ball, like throws it away, they go down, they get a dunk or layup. And it's like, when I say uncharacteristic is because Miles pop when he shoot, when he set a screen, 95% of the time he's gonna pop. So just to assume that he was gonna make that dive like that, like one, like not even a whole dribble off and you getting off it, that to me just looked a little timid. I said, turn down a couple shots that he'll line up and he take those shots.

And I was just, ah, you know.

Turn the ball over another play, another uncharacteristic turnover. OG Anunoby flying down court. Holly got one foul. You move out the way, it's the playoffs. Foul him, make him go to the line and take those. You got one foul in the fourth quarter. Foul him, don't just move out the way. And so I was a little disappointed in Hallie's game. See, he's too good of a player to have that game. Like, it was almost like you didn't go downswing. So if you even try swinging back a little bit, I think they actually get over the hump because everybody did their thing. TJ McConnell balled out.

Myles balled out. Like Aaron Neesmith balled out. Obi Toppin balled out.

So I, you don't, like you gotta win that game.

And now Knicks feeling good about themselves.

They won one that they shouldn't won.

They're getting game too.

And so I think, I think it's just gonna get tougher and tougher for Indiana. And I don't think they'll have much of an answer. The Knicks wanna play fast. Indiana wants to play fast.

Only problem is the Knicks can play fast, but they can defend. Indiana play fast, they don't guard. And they scored 117 points today.

I don't think the Knicks will give up 117 points to them again.

And that's gonna be an issue for the Indiana Pacers because all year they've been trying to be the first to 120. The Knicks got there by the skin of their teeth, but I don't think they'll need to get there again because I don't think, I'd be willing to bet, I can't bet literally, but I don't think Indiana gets over 115 points the rest of the series because that'll be the focal point.

Remember, we barely won this game. We shouldn't have won. So we going into this film, Tibbs coming back like, we gotta do this defensively, that defensively.

That's where they're gonna lock in the most at.

So I don't know.

I don't think Indiana has a chance in game 2.

Yeah.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Josh Hart. The way Josh Hart is dominating these playoffs.

He dominated those guys today.

He got every offensive rebound he wasn't supposed to get and just made play after play getting guys extra shots. They hit a 3 off a couple of his offensive rebounds. Like you gotta turn and box him out. Josh Hart crashing the boards like Tristan Thompson used to crash the boards in 2016, 2015, 2017 with the Cavs. Half. That's how Josh Hart crashing the boards.

He playing great basketball.

Dante playing incredible basketball. And it's been fun to watch. It's been fun to watch those guys kind of muster up and, and re-get that thing back that they had when they won a national championship at Villanova.

It's been fun to watch. Now, Knicks fans. Yeah.

As I told y'all, I saw good friend Al, Jeff, these guys are stout. These guys are talking about the Knicks. And Al, number one, Al goes, "I've told my wife for years none of the kids can get married in June because Knicks in the NBA Finals, I'm not gonna be there. I'm going, like, I've been waiting for all of these years for the Knicks to win the Finals." I'm like, "Al." Yeah. They not gonna win in your lifetime. I'm sitting there joking and messing with Al. He's like, Draymond, you stop it, da da da. And we go on and on. However, I said all of that to say, the excitement that Knicks fans have about winning this round 1 series is hilarious, is great for the sport, is super fun. As a fan of the game, I think it's hilarious, but I think it's super fun to watch their enthusiasm. Like—

Yeah.

Knicks fans are absolutely insane about the Knicks. And you know, I'm sitting there watching these guys talk about these series and what happens if the Knicks make the finals and all of these things.

And the passion for that team is unlike many things I've ever seen.

Like the passion that Knicks have for the team almost rivals like the passion that— Draymond Green. European soccer fans have for their clubs.

It's very, very, very interesting to watch. And man, I sat and I laughed.

I couldn't get around it. And so I just wanted to say to you Knicks fans, I still don't think y'all have a chance at winning a championship. I told Al this, I told Jeff this. I love the basketball that those guys are playing. It's very fun to watch. Um, I'm not exactly sure when the expiration date is. I don't think it'll come in this series.

I think they'll handle this series pretty easily, and then the expiration date is next series.

But for the time being, Knicks fans, enjoy it.

Um, there's not— there's, there's—

there hasn't been much else for you guys to cheer for over the years, so I get it.

Enjoy every single second of it. Because although I'm rooting for my man Dante and Tibbs and Irm, I just don't think y'all stand a chance. That's just my opinion, Knicks fans.

Y'all don't have to go at me, quite frankly. I know y'all are used to it, so that's just that. And I'm gonna move on from that. However, that is the Jalen Brunson I wanna see moving forward in this series. They're gonna need more of that Jalen Brunson, not just trying to get his, but making sure everybody else get involved, then take over. And Indiana Pacers are gonna need a much more aggressive, much better Halliburton. And although I don't think it happens this year, but if Halli ever wants to become the player that I think he's capable of becoming, that I believe he thinks he's capable of becoming, at some point he's gonna have to start defending on, or competing on the defensive end. Like, you just can't be a zero on the defensive end and think you're going to be an elite player in this league and win at an elite level. Have to give some effort. And with, like, Holly's 6'7".

Like, you can get in passing lanes.

It don't necessarily mean you gotta be a lockdown defender, but you have to do something. You gotta make rotations. Like, there was a couple plays where he's coming from the corner and— Yeah. Like he's the next rotation of Dante. Dante hits a 3 on the left wing. Holly's late on the rotation. It's like those things. Like I'm not saying you gotta sit down and lock a guy up, but those types of things, if you wanna win championships and be great, your best player have to do those. Because when you do those things, A, guys will run through a wall for you, and B, you can hold other guys accountable.

Yeah.

And if you can't hold guys accountable, then y'all can't win at any level. If you can't hold guys accountable, your best player can't hold the guys accountable because they lack effort on one side of the floor. So they're not allowed to hold the other guys accountable. You can never win that way. And so Holly's gonna have to make some big strides in that area as he continue to move forward, because I think he got a chance to be special. But if he wants to be special in the way that you have to be special in this league these days, which is you have to win.

You have to win.

You not winning, there's an expiration date on what people believe or see of you as a top player in this league. And Halle's big thing is gonna be he's going to have to compete on the defensive end. And right now that ain't gonna bode well for them because everybody on the Knicks team is live.

Everybody's looking to go. So you can't hide nowhere.

And I think that's an important thing for them and an important thing in his growth as he move forward.

I agree.

Before we get into these mailbag questions, we'll just go over these or speak on these couple games, couple series that we have started. Number 1, Celtics versus Cavs. I got Celtics in 5 only because the Celtics usually trick some game off. But the moral of the story is the Cleveland Cavaliers don't stand a chance. So I got Celtics in 5 just because they do their typical thing. But the reality is this series should be done in 4, but it'll go 5 in my opinion. Not spending much time there because I don't think there's much to talk about. Celtics gonna kick they ass. And moving on. Now this is a fun series. Dallas and OKC is gonna be fun as hell. You got 2 MVP finalists. You got that man Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving. You got, by the way, I think Kyrie Irving is as good of a number 2 in the NBA as you can find. And then you have Jaylen Williams, who I think could be poised to be as good of a number 2, is poised to be as good of a number 2 as you can find. Is he ready to take that step versus Kyrie right now? Kyrie animal. And I personally got Dallas winning this series. And I actually got Dallas winning this series in 5, 6 at best. And the reason I have Dallas winning that way is because I just don't think OKC's big enough for Dallas.

Dallas has length.

When you look at PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford and Luka, they also have girth. Like they're like, OKC has length, but they're mostly skinny guys.

I think Dallas physicality in this series will actually make the difference.

They're as good, if not better, offensively. I don't think they're— Dallas is better defensively, but with their length and with their physicality, I think that will make them better defensively. And so I got Dallas taking this series and then eventually matching up with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. But I think this will be a fun—

Yeah. Series to watch.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how Dallas matches up. And the reason I think it'll be—

excuse me, how OKC matches up.

And the reason I think it'll be interesting, because OKC normally puts Lou Dort on the best player, and I think it'll actually be smarter for OKC to put Lou Dort on Kyrie.

Luka gonna do what Luka does.

If you could put Lou Dort on Kyrie to make it tough on Ky, by the way, making it tough on Ky, he can still give you 30, possibly 40.

But my point is, that's who you need to stop.

Luka gonna do what he do. You need to try to affect Kyrie. And the only person on their roster that I think is capable of doing that is Lou Dort. Now, Jalen Williams, if he's ready to take on that challenge, he has great length, has great agility, 6'8". You should be willing to take on that challenge of Garland Kai. And if I'm him, I'm begging for that because I wanna show you all that I'm ready to take that next step as far as that goes. And I'm ready to do whatever it takes to win.

But I just think that's where the problem is gonna lie. I think—

I agree.

Chet is capable of giving Dallas bigs problems. I think if I'm Chet, I am, you know, if I'm, okay, see, I'm putting Chet in a lot of things to play off the dribble. I'm setting a bunch of inverted screens for Chet on Daniel Gafford, on Derrick Lively. I'm really using Chet in that way, 'cause that is how you can cause some confusion in Dallas's defense. You bring those bigs out. And start setting guard, you know, ball screens on Chet, letting him make the reads, letting him go score, letting those bigs try to navigate that. Almost like OKC runs a lot of guard, guard, screen, roll right at the top of the key and they let you make mistakes and then they attack 'em. Almost like that. But you're putting Daniel Gafford in it and seeing, and Derrick Lively, and you're seeing how they can adjust to that. But—

Yeah. Needless to say, Mavs in 5.

Jackson, before we get outta here, do we have any questions in chat, my friend?

We do. From, uh, @thraxn_jackson, do you see any similarities between Ant and Steph? Obviously not in their actual games, but I'm curious your take there.

He actually only answered, uh, your question because of your name. Do I see, hell no, I don't see any similarities in Stephen and Steph.

Quiet ain't loud. No, not at all, other than they're both elite guards. Steph is a GOAT, so I'm not even gonna put Steph in the same category as Ant.

Ant's trying to work to get to that. And I think he's capable of working, putting the work in and getting to that category that those guys are in.

But no, I do not see any similarities.

They both believe they great.

Steph is great. Ant believes he's great and is capable of it. But no, hell no.

From @MarkyMark, Jalen Brunson's now scored 40+ in 4 straight playoff games. What's the best way that you think to slow him down?

You know what's crazy is I told myself I was gonna tell y'all this when I was watching the game and I actually forgot.

So shout out to you for your question. I'm telling my guys, when Jalen Brunson drive, don't recover.

Rod is hip. And the reason I'm riding his hip is because you ain't affecting his shot being in front of him.

He just raising up and shooting over guys.

If I ride his hip, you can't shoot. Now you, I'm just forcing you to my big and then I'm making you finish over length. And so what I would tell guys is when Jalen Brunson gets a step, because he's gonna get a step, he's clever. He's clever with the ball, great footwork. When he get a step with a live dribble, Do not try to recover and cut him off. Do not try to stay in front of him. Ride his hip, drive him straight down to the big, and let's see how he can finish over length at the rim.

'Cause he gonna kill you in the mid-range all night, all series long.

If you keep letting him get to that mid-range and raise up, good night, go home, it's over. Good year, it's been real, it's a wrap. Ride the hip. Get on his hip. And I ain't even trying to block his shot. I ain't trying to recover. So there's no need for me to get overzealous and he gonna sell the foul. Nope, I'm right there. I'm showing my hands. I'm riding the hip, no recovery. You gotta go to my big. And then let's see if you can finish. If you wanna drop the ball off to Hardenstein and Mitchell Robinson and see if they can beat us with your drop-offs, great, go for it. But what I'm not letting him do is get to where he wanna get stop on a dime, step backs, get you here, raise up over you. No, ride the hip, force him straight to the big. I'm not recovering on you at all. See if you can finish over that big.

And you know, they got Miles Turner at the rim. He's a great shot blocker.

So let me ride your hip right to him.

All right, last one from Jaden 2 Nice, does the winner of Timberwolves-Nuggets series make it to the finals?

Winner of the Timberwolves-Nuggets series, no.

The winner of the Dallas-Timberwolves series is probably winning the finals. That's what I got. The West is tough.

I think when you look at Boston, they're gonna come outta the East not really being threatened, haven't played against teams like the West. And also Boston struggled against all these Western Conference teams all year because they have the length, they have the speed, they have the defenders. And so I'm gonna take it a step further and say the winner of the next series, like Denver's done, so it's less tough.

Yeah. The winner of Minnesota-Dallas, I think, is the NBA champion.

That is a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Shout out to all y'all who checked this out live and all of y'all that's gonna check this out later. Love y'all.

Till next time, peace.

Peace.