- 14 hours ago
NBA analyst Nathan Grubel recaps the NBA playoffs so far and previews the next round.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Right now, though, I'm excited to jump on the Rude guest hotline.
00:03Rude is the official show sponsor of V. Mitch and Finley.
00:06And welcome in Nathan Grubel.
00:09Talk some hoops.
00:10Nate, what's up, man?
00:10How you doing?
00:12I'm doing well, guys.
00:13I'm doing well.
00:14I'm excited.
00:15This is an excellent time of the year.
00:17We have the NBA playoffs in full swing, the draft combine,
00:20G League of League camp just around the corner.
00:22It's my favorite season, gentlemen.
00:24Why do they do so much on Mother's Day weekend like that?
00:29That's a great question.
00:30They're going to get a lot of people in trouble for having to slip away
00:34to pay attention to the lottery and do podcasts and all kinds of stuff.
00:38The NBA has got to be very careful with that, man.
00:41That's not a joke.
00:42I think I'm going to have to go to four if they get the number one pick.
00:47Oh, yeah.
00:48Sunday at six?
00:49Yeah.
00:50I know my wife's going to be.
00:51I feel in for you.
00:52No, I'm not.
00:54All right, Nate.
00:55Last night, what was more shocking?
00:57Minnesota gets the win in San Antonio or the Sixers just get their doors blown off?
01:06I got to be honest.
01:07I'm not sure either outcome necessarily surprised me, quote unquote.
01:13I mean, Philadelphia was coming off of such an emotional high from that Boston series.
01:18When I can speak to that personally, I'm about an hour north of the Philadelphia area.
01:22So I understand how important it was for the Sixers to exercise those demons against Boston
01:28and move on to the second round.
01:29But there's a lot of interesting matchups across the board when you compare Philadelphia
01:35and New York.
01:36We saw Carl Anthony Towns do a lot of damage.
01:39We saw OGN and OB and Mikael Bridges play some excellent defense on Philly's perimeter
01:42options.
01:43And they don't necessarily have the counter punches to make if Embiid isn't 100 percent
01:48and Embiid's not playing off to his potential.
01:50And if Maxey can't really get going out of that pick and roll, they did a great job doubling
01:54him, containing him.
01:55And then on the other side, I mean, Jalen Brunson, like Philly threw five different defenders
02:01at Brunson within the span of, you know, eight to 10 minutes in the first quarter.
02:05And Brunson was cooking all of them.
02:06And he continued to hot stretch the rest of the night.
02:08All those other role players were hitting shots.
02:10So, I mean, that was a game one outcome I expected.
02:13We'll see if Philly can punch back in game two on the Minnesota and San Antonio side.
02:18Listen, Minnesota, I put out a good tweet this morning that's been getting a lot of traction
02:23about how they're just an excellent, modern basketball team.
02:27They have guys at every position, one through four, who can all handle the ball.
02:32They can dribble.
02:33They can pass.
02:33They can shoot to an extent.
02:35They can run pick and rolls, inverted pick and rolls.
02:37They can essentially take any matchup you throw at them and come up with a counter move
02:43to counteract it, right?
02:45Like, any time the ball gets skipped to them, you know, reversed, they can take somebody
02:49off the dribble.
02:50They can attack a mismatch.
02:51They can put a guy in a ball screen game.
02:53Then you have Rudy Gobert down low, who's one of the best neutralizers that we have in
02:57the post.
02:58And listen, the Spurs, Victor Womanyama in particular, had a really tough time adjusting
03:03to Minnesota's physicality defensively.
03:06All those extra bumps, those waves in which they crowd space and don't allow him to get
03:11to the basket.
03:11There was no easy way for Victor Womanyama to get any two-point looks last night.
03:16Every single thing came from the perimeter.
03:18They turned him into a jump shooter.
03:20And we just saw with Boston, I talked about if you live by the three, sometimes you die
03:23by the three.
03:23So I don't really know where the adjustments are going to be for San Antonio on offense
03:28in this next game.
03:30But I'll be curious to see, first and foremost, if that coaching staff can get Victor some
03:34easier looks at the basket.
03:35You know, I watched last night, you're right, the extra bumps.
03:38They were doing him a lot like what Detroit did, Michael Jordan, back in the day.
03:43They put elbows in his back.
03:45They shoved him.
03:46They kind of put that little hip check on him.
03:48And I think that changes his own mindset.
03:50If he can adjust to that, he'll be okay.
03:53But then he got to deal with Gobert, who had a good game in their previous series.
03:59Defensively.
04:00100%.
04:01Yeah, 100%.
04:02I mean, Rudy Gobert makes everyone's life a little tougher.
04:05And not that Victor isn't equipped to be able to score over opposing centers.
04:10But it's all those other guys that crowd that space and take away those angles for Victor
04:14to take somebody off the dribble.
04:16If he does get Rudy Gobert out and he takes them off the dribble, you have another guy who
04:20can come over and take some of that space away.
04:22Give him those extra bumps, that extra physicality.
04:24So Victor's going to have to figure out how to deal with that.
04:28But I would look for San Antonio to get him involved early in the screen and roll game.
04:33Try and get him to slip into the basket, some easier opportunities to get some two-point
04:36looks outside of just going to the rim and transition.
04:39If he's just a jump shooter in half court, it's going to be a very tough series for San
04:43Antonio.
04:44And in Minnesota, they're a live dog.
04:46They're probably the most undervalued team coming into this postseason altogether.
04:49I thought all year long they were the third or fourth best team in the Western Conference.
04:54We've seen them go to the Conference Finals two years in a row.
04:56I'm not quite sure why a lot of people wanted to necessarily doubt them outside of, you know,
05:00maybe they get on a losing streak.
05:01Maybe they get in a little bit of a slump, especially to end the season.
05:04But their personnel, their attitude, their mindset, and how Tim Connelly's constructed
05:08that roster, it's perfect modern basketball.
05:12Do not be surprised if the Timberwolves still advance past the Spurs in the next round.
05:16And it's a great point you made with the Timberwolves, specifically the mindset and
05:20the attitude, because they have that in a very palpable way when you watch them play
05:26basketball.
05:26Yep.
05:27And I just got reminded of something.
05:29I'm talking with our friend Nathan Grubel here.
05:32Give him a follow at Draft Deeper.
05:35Yesterday, we had David Aldridge on the program, and I said to DA, is it cheating that I'm already
05:41looking forward to Spurs Thunder Western Conference Finals?
05:44And DA said, don't look past Minnesota.
05:46You are now correctly saying, don't look past Minnesota.
05:50Somebody on Twitter just reminded me of this.
05:52I'm going to go left hand up.
05:54Because I said that, if Minnesota wins the series, I'll go hot dog hat for the first hour
05:58of the program after the T-Wolves clinched the series.
06:02So that's written down now.
06:05Let's go to the other side of this bracket.
06:08Thunder Lakers.
06:09That starts tonight, I believe.
06:11What are we getting?
06:12What are we getting here?
06:13Can LeBron pull off a shocker?
06:17Listen, I'll give the Lakers respect, and I will call OKC 4-1 in a gentleman's sweep.
06:24I just don't think the Lakers have enough answer for this Thunder team, particularly when you
06:29factor in how good OKC is defensively.
06:32We saw it in the regular season, these times where they matched up.
06:34OKC just has so many different guys that they can throw at these Lakers ball handlers and put
06:41pressure on them and force the ball out of their hands, right?
06:44It would take a LeBron superhuman effort to really overcome what OKC can do defensively
06:49without someone like a Luka Doncic on the floor.
06:53We don't know Luka's status for this entire series.
06:55Maybe by some miraculous stretch, he can come back for a few games and really tilt how this
07:00goes.
07:00But if it's just LeBron, it's Austin Reeves.
07:03I don't expect the heroes for the Lakers in the last series against the Rockets, like
07:08a Marcus Smart, for example, to be equipped to handle the type of defensive pressure that
07:14OKC can throw at you on a consistent basis.
07:17And then another way in which they're going to be able to neutralize this Lakers offense,
07:21you know, DeAndre Ayton had a really good series.
07:24He's played, I think, better than a lot of people expected overall this season for the
07:28Lakers.
07:28But you have a frontcourt who's equipped to deal with someone like an Ayton with Chet
07:33Holmgren and Isaiah Hardenstein.
07:35As long as those guys are healthy, playing active, you have plenty of other bodies on the
07:39perimeter.
07:39You have these rugged defenders like a Jalen Williams, J-Dub, like an Alex Caruso.
07:44So I just think OKC has enough answers to the Lakers test to counteract whatever LeBron
07:50and company are going to throw at them.
07:51I'll give it 4-1, gentlemen, Sweet.
07:53One quick one back to this Spurs game.
07:56Does that basketball court and all those like lilac colors and all that crazy, does that
08:02not affect anybody?
08:03I was looking at that.
08:04It did not look like a pro basketball game to me.
08:07You know, I've heard some people make comments about it, about how they aren't necessarily
08:12fans of that level of quote-unquote fanfare during a postseason environment.
08:17But I love it.
08:17I love it, man.
08:18That crowd is fully involved, bought in with what Victor and the San Antonio Spurs are
08:24doing.
08:24That is not necessarily just the team and its fans.
08:27That really does feel like a family when you're watching those games.
08:30And that's what makes that environment so special.
08:33It's the reason why it's a tough place to play, tough place to go in there and win.
08:36But credit to Minnesota.
08:37They've already done it in game one.
08:39Maybe they can do it in game two.
08:41What about Pistons Cavs?
08:43Battle the Midwest.
08:46That's going to be, in my opinion, I think that's going to be more of a back and forth
08:50series.
08:51I know Detroit is the number one overall seed and they've been a favorite for a reason.
08:55But this Cleveland Cavaliers team is experienced.
08:58They have some answers to the test in their own right in the backcourt in terms of James
09:02Harden and Donovan Mitchell.
09:04And Donovan's been there before.
09:05He seems to always play big in these postseason environments.
09:09I will be very curious to see where they put Asar Thompson in particular from the Detroit
09:15side of things.
09:16Asar Thompson, for my money, is the best perimeter defender that we have in the NBA.
09:20His versatility, his ability to cover multiple positions, his length, his activity.
09:25He consistently forces turnovers and really pressures the ball well.
09:29You know, able to guard somebody 94 feet.
09:31Do they put him on Harden because Harden is the orchestrator for the show a lot of times
09:36for this Cleveland team since he's come there from L.A.?
09:38Or do they put him on Donovan Mitchell to try and nullify as much scoring as possible?
09:44If Cleveland's going to get this done against Detroit, they're going to have to get more
09:48production in particular from their front court.
09:50Now, we've seen Jalen Duren not necessarily have the best postseason so far.
09:54So the door is open for Jared Allen and Evan Mobley to go in and do their thing.
09:57But Evan Mobley needs to be more aggressive offensively for this Cleveland team in this
10:02series.
10:02And when I say aggressive, I mean getting to the basket and asserting himself physically
10:07at the rim, not necessarily taking more shots at volume from the perimeter or from the mid-range.
10:12Evan's going to have to take it to guys like Jalen Duren.
10:15You know, when he gets a mismatch against someone like a DeBias Harris, someone who should
10:18be able to score over, they're going to have to take advantage of those opportunities because
10:21if it's all going to fall on the backcourt of James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, you live
10:26by the three, you die by the three, you're really getting a scary spot against a team who
10:31is tough, who is rugged, who's going to D you up just like Minnesota did to San Antonio
10:35last night.
10:36That's going to be a key back and forth series.
10:39X factor for Cleveland, I will say, if they can find some way to get Jalen Tyson going,
10:44he's a young guy off the bench for Cleveland, but he's that type of wing that provides that
10:49modern skill set you want, triple pass shoot out of a plus size wing, who really does compete
10:54defensively, has improved on that out of the floor this season.
10:57If they can get somebody like him going, that might be an X factor for Cleveland.
11:02Last series, I mean, we saw the Sixers get smoked last night.
11:06I don't think that series is close to over.
11:08I think Philly's going to come back in this thing.
11:10What do they need to do?
11:11I mean, let's not even include last night.
11:14What do they need to do to win a few here?
11:16I mean, Joel Embiid needs to keep doing what he's doing in terms of what he did against
11:22Boston.
11:22He needs to get his rear end down low in the post, and he needs to assert himself physically
11:27because he's going to be their go-to offensive guy if Tyrese Maxey can't get cooking off of
11:33some of these ball screens.
11:34If Mikael Bridges is going to be able to get through every single screen, keep with Maxey,
11:39and then they can show that second body and force the ball out of his hands.
11:43Tyrese Maxey, for my money, would be my answer as to who should be the guy who changes the
11:48series for the Philadelphia 76ers.
11:50But if they're not able to adjust to what New York's doing defensively, it's going to
11:54have to be a combination of Embiid asserting himself physically, getting some of these guys
11:59in foul trouble like we saw in the first quarter when the game was within six to eight points
12:02relatively close early on.
12:04And then Paul George is going to have to also be more of a factor for the Philadelphia 76ers
12:10offensively, not just being a catch-and-shoot three guy from the corners, but really being
12:14able to maybe orchestrate some offense.
12:16Maybe you get him involved a little bit in some Paul George and Joel Embiid pick and rolls.
12:21They're going to need some other answer outside of Tyrese Maxey, and I can't necessarily put
12:26all that pressure on the shoulders of a rookie in Vijay Edgecombe, although he's played without
12:30fear.
12:30He's been spectacular this entire playoff so far.
12:33Really had a tremendous rookie season overall, showed growth in a number of key areas offensively.
12:38I don't want to put a lot of pressure on him, though, because he's a rookie.
12:41It's going to have to be, you know, if Embiid's not 100%, it might be a tough series.
12:46I agree with you guys, though.
12:47I do think that Phil is going to have another punch in.
12:50I would pick the Knicks to win the series today, but I don't think it's going to be in
12:54a sweep or anything drastic.
12:55I think it's going to go still six or seven games.
12:58Hey, Nate, really appreciate your time, dude.
13:00Everybody give him a follow at Draft Deeper.
13:02A lot of great information.
13:04Maybe we circle back next week as we get closer to conference finals.
13:08Oh, I'll be looking for your call, guys.
13:10If you want to talk draft, want to talk results after the lottery, I'm your guy.
13:14All right.
13:14Appreciate you, man.
13:16I have.
13:17Nate knows his stuff, though.
13:18Nate knows his stuff.
13:19Yeah.
Comments