- 10 months ago
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00:00Right between the eyes!
00:03I love it.
00:04Okay?
00:04Kev, is that you?
00:05Your River Islands guest line, TNT tonight, Warriors, Grizzlies, Kevin Harlan.
00:11How are you, Kev?
00:13I'm doing great.
00:14Good to be on with you guys.
00:15Good to be back in San Francisco.
00:16Feels like I've lived here for the last month with the tournament and some Warrior games
00:21sprinkled in there, but that's fine with me.
00:23My wife was here with me for the tournament a couple weeks ago.
00:27We had a wonderful weekend, so glad to be back.
00:30I'm looking forward to tonight.
00:31Yeah, absolutely.
00:32This is a big one, and I wonder kind of your thoughts on what you've seen from the Warriors,
00:39certainly the Jimmy Butler Warriors, because the effort was to not be in this game, and
00:45they played great basketball, but they still end up in this game.
00:48So how do you think that kind of affects their psyche tonight?
00:52Well, you know, they're such veterans, and the three main guys are all in their 30s,
00:57and they have been down this road multiple times.
01:00And while Butler has not won a championship, he's played in the finals.
01:04So he knows, you know, what this time of year means.
01:08It's very unfortunate that the last five games they go two and three.
01:13But I'd like to think of that maybe as a little wake-up call, and not that they were cruising
01:18and enjoying all the benefits of Butler, and there are many.
01:21And what he's done, and I think he'll continue to do for this team deep into the month of
01:27May.
01:28But clearly, this is not the way they wanted to finish.
01:31And I think it kind of resets themselves a little bit.
01:33Gets their compass in the right direction if it needed any of that prodding at all.
01:38So I'm very high on this team, and they could have been a four, but now they're number seven.
01:43And they win tonight.
01:44They're in the playoffs.
01:45They take on Houston on Sunday.
01:46And I think that they'll be in pretty good shape.
01:51Now, they're taking on a Memphis team, clearly, that is motivated and trying to kind of work
01:58through their debris with coaching changes.
02:01And a new voice now for the last nine games.
02:05Morant, I just don't know if you ever really know what you're going to get with him from
02:08night to night.
02:10But when he's on, he'll be very tough.
02:13And they are a formidable team coming into the Chase Center tonight, for sure.
02:18When you look at the Warriors, since they added Jimmy, and you watch as much NBA as anybody,
02:22what are some of the things that you've seen him do, not only for Steph and Draymond, but
02:27for the other guys on this roster as well?
02:30Well, you know, it's been interesting because I think with him on the floor, Steve has gotten
02:34a better indication of what kind of rotations and combinations work and don't work.
02:39And so we're seeing, you know, Kaminga clearly not seeing that kind of time.
02:43Santos seems to be out of the rotation, although I do think they'll both play major roles in
02:48the upcoming playoffs in some form or fashion.
02:51What Will Bet will look like may not be what it has been like.
02:55But Butler is a very special player.
02:59He has driven up their free throw shooting percentage in trips.
03:04He's improved their defense.
03:05They're scoring more clearly.
03:09And in important situations, in clutch situations, they're 9-4.
03:14And that means in the final five minutes in a five-point game, before the Butler trade,
03:20there were 16-16.
03:22And since he's arrived, they're 9-4.
03:24So he gives them belief.
03:26He gives them confidence.
03:27He just puts another brilliant basketball mind on the floor with Green and with Steph that
03:35is really filling that void.
03:38And listen, we have been down this road before, right?
03:40We saw it with Durant.
03:41I'm not saying he is Durant, but when they added someone like him, it changed the game.
03:47And Butler has clearly changed the game for this team and what they can look forward to.
03:52So it's been a win-win so far for him.
03:55And I would not get mesmerized by what's happened over the last five games with a 2-3 record.
04:02It may be the end of a long season.
04:04It may be just exactly what they need, a little kick in the rear to make sure that they get
04:08back on track and play the way they were when Jimmy first got here.
04:13Kevin Harlan, TNT, with us here.
04:15Willard and Dibs, 95-7.
04:17The game will be doing the game tonight, the play-in game Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies.
04:21Kevin, you called what Memphis has been going through recently, debris.
04:24And I wonder your read because this team has a total of one win since the All-Star break
04:32against a team with a winning record.
04:35And so what do you honestly think that they're capable of putting up tonight?
04:39Well, on any night, I mean, you know, it's kind of a one thing, one game, one in and out
04:46type of situation.
04:49So when they come here and they know what they face and what they've got ahead of them,
04:53what they had done, listen, they fired him when they were, what, 38-20 or something like that.
04:59And just after the All-Star break, they were 38-20.
05:04They were number two in the West.
05:05Now they're number eight.
05:06They're four and five under the new coach, the interim new coach.
05:11And I think they're still trying to figure out, because he's an offensive mind,
05:15but their defense has really struggled.
05:18And that was the thing about Taylor Jenkins is he got them really organized on the defensive end.
05:23And while it may not have been the most brilliant offense attack, it fit for what they had.
05:28And it seemed to be working.
05:30I mean, like I said, they were 38-20.
05:32And they were number two in the West.
05:35And now they find themselves with a four and five new head coach and probably with a lot of uncertainty.
05:41And I think this is not the time of year you want to be uncertain.
05:44It's the time of year where you want to have everything buttoned down, screws tightened.
05:49And I don't sense that with the Grizzlies.
05:52I just sense that they're still trying to find what they've got.
05:55Now, they've lost two important players, this rookie Wells, who was in the conversation for rookie of the year.
06:02He had been just terrific.
06:04And defensively is where he really stood out.
06:07And then Brandon Clark is out.
06:08So they've lost two pretty important players.
06:11And they're going to have to navigate that.
06:14This is not the place, though, to be experimenting and trying things out.
06:18And I kind of get that feeling with this team that they're still kind of groping in the dark a little bit,
06:22trying to figure out what they are, who they are, where they can go when they need to.
06:27But you never know when that light switch is going to come on.
06:29That's the problem.
06:30You never know when Jackson and Durant or Morant are going to go off and be the kind of players that we know they can be.
06:38And Bain is playing well.
06:40They've got a big three, and they're potent.
06:42And clearly this is no pushover game for either team.
06:46But clearly for the Warriors against them, they're not going to exhale at all.
06:50They're going to bring their best.
06:51But Memphis has got to play their best to advance beyond tonight.
06:54Is there a style that Memphis can play that gives them some sort of an advantage?
06:58And I know that styles make fights, and I see a team with so much size.
07:02And, you know, Triple J's, Jaron Jackson Jr. has been so good.
07:05Is there an edge that Memphis has that maybe they can present in this matchup?
07:10Well, if they have success in the lane and everything is kind of aiming toward the lane
07:15and play inside, that can be tough.
07:19They do have size, as you mentioned.
07:21So we put that in the category of things that don't fit with the Warriors probably have best to counter it.
07:29And that will be something I'm sure they're going to play on.
07:33The other thing is I just think that, you know, you never know when Morant is going to have a Curry kind of game.
07:39And I guess we really won't know until we get into the game the extent of the injuries for the big three.
07:45You know, the neck issue, upper chest or shoulder area with Draymond when that fall the other day.
07:53Clearly, the thumb in the back, the pelvic bruise that Steph is battling through right now with the brace that he has to wear.
08:02And then, Jimmy, I know that none of these are real major concerns, but throughout the course of a game
08:09and a team like Memphis that can be physical, you just don't know where it's going to take you.
08:14And I think that's the unknown.
08:15And you're playing desperation basketball right now, right?
08:19The winner tonight is in the playoffs.
08:21The loser's got to wait and figure out what they're going to do in the Dallas-Sacramento game.
08:26So there's a lot going on here, and there's no pushover at this stage.
08:30These players in this game is a playoff game, and make no mistake about it.
08:36And you're going to see, I think, the best that Memphis has to offer.
08:39And when they have been their best, they've been dynamite.
08:42Kevin, do you believe in the idea of from play in tournament to actual contender?
08:50Absolutely.
08:51We've seen it with Miami.
08:53They went to the finals a couple years ago with Butler.
08:55This particular group, though, the Warriors, you buy this group.
08:58Oh, no, yes, yes.
08:59And the reason I say that is because they've got better depth than I think people give them credit for.
09:07We know they've changed the rotation, tweaked the rotation a little bit.
09:10But, listen, this team began the season playing the entire bench.
09:15They played the entire roster for the first, what, month of the season.
09:19And while the results weren't great, the experience and the minutes played and the development of some of these kids was significant.
09:28And they've got Gary Payton back, and that is, I think, huge.
09:31And watching Morant tonight.
09:32So, yeah, listen, I think any of these teams, you get to this stage, had they not had the two and three finish, the Warriors could possibly be the number four team in the West.
09:43So, that's what we're doing.
09:45And clearly, the best, most competitive and deepest and most vibrant conference in the NBA.
09:52I mean, the West has been just treacherous.
09:54And for them to survive and play the way they have and incorporate Butler and play the way they have, who's given them the boost they needed, the exact right player this team needed,
10:05I would believe anything right about now.
10:09In the beginning of the playoffs, I'd believe anything.
10:12Kevin, welcome to town.
10:14Have a great call.
10:15Thank you so much for spending time with us.
10:18My pleasure.
10:18Thanks, guys.
10:19Take care.
10:20All right, you too.
10:21Kevin Harlan.
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