00:00And this is basically what we wanted, right? Like we want a long series in the West. I think we're
00:05going to get one in the East to the Thunder win yesterday and just barely cover that spread of
00:09seven and a half. I thought personally, just from watching, you know, the condensed, because that's
00:15usually what I do when I'm working at night, I'll come back and I'll watch the condensed game. It
00:18felt like you always thought that the Thunder were going to win. It was just a matter if they
00:23were going to cover that spread. So naturally, it sort of tells me that we could be in for a
00:27fun one
00:27here. I think the Spurs probably take care of business back at home here. And I think that
00:32that SGA and company have a battle. Yeah. I mean, this is the time of year. Like you said,
00:37you're getting the cream of the crop going head to head on a night to night basis. Exactly what you
00:40want as an NBA fan. And Craig, the most important thing for me right now is paying attention to the
00:45chess matches between these coaches. You got the two biggest words to me right now to focus about
00:50is how are these players going to respond and how are these players going to adjust each individual
00:55game is its own story, right? But that's not a part of the entire novel that we're looking at in
01:00these series. And game one was one story with Victor Wimpenyama taking over the game, obviously
01:05hitting that crazy 30 footer at double overtime, SGA having a little bit more of a pedestrian
01:10performance. But the Thunder took all of that away. They learned, they adapted, and they said,
01:14what are we going to do in game two to make sure that Wimby does not just completely take over
01:18this
01:18game and turn into exactly what we saw in game one? And what they did was is they put Isaiah
01:24Hartenstein out there and I have personal opinions about this. But however you feel about this,
01:29they just allowed Isaiah Hartenstein to play as physical as possible with Victor Wimpenyama
01:33and make his life really, really difficult. And the refs decided to not call a lot of those things
01:38that kind of changed the temperature of the game. And as you mentioned, the defending champs came in,
01:42got the job done at home and really evened out the series after getting punched in the mouth in game
01:47one. So I'm fascinated to see how the chess match continues between Dagonal and Mitch Johnson going forward.
01:52Obviously, these coaching staffs are going to spend a lot of time looking at each individual
01:57play, each individual moment, because we are seeing some cinema. Game one was one of the best
02:02basketball games I've watched in this series. Game two didn't quite live up to that bill,
02:05but it was still a fantastic basketball game. Every single possession mattering. The other thing,
02:10too, about this, Craig, is injuries are going to start to play a factor here. You've got guys like
02:15De'Aaron Fox obviously didn't play game one in game two. Dylan Harper goes out of the game last night.
02:19Jalen Williams, unfortunately, for the Thunder, that hamstring injury flared up once again. So
02:24we'll see what his status is going forward. We're at the point of the season where, as all players
02:28will tell you, nobody's 100%, right? They're all dealing with these nagging injuries and things
02:32like that, playing on a night-to-night basis. And then you get the added aspect of these are two
02:37of
02:37the most physical basketball teams in the entire association, especially on the defensive end. So
02:42I'm looking at how these players and these coaching staffs continue to adjust,
02:46how they continue to respond to the adjustments in the coaching that they're getting on a night-to-night
02:51basis, and also how they're taking their treatment. So as you mentioned, a spectacular
02:55game last night. SGA showed up, played like these two-time MVP, 30 points, played 38 minutes,
03:00was really good on the defensive end. I have opinions on whether or not they got some calls
03:05and they flopped around a little bit, and the referees kind of helped them out on certain
03:08stretches of this game, too. But regardless, they got the job done, as you mentioned,
03:12covered the spread, getting a double-digit victory, or yeah, double-digit nine-point victory,
03:17almost double digits. It felt like a double-digit victory, right? Close enough, yeah.
03:21Yeah, now it's up to the Spurs. I mean, they held home serve, right? They got to win on the
03:25road.
03:26You got to think that the defending champs are going to come in and maybe win one of these next
03:29two games in San Antonio. But I mean, the Spurs have the momentum right now, even after losing the
03:34game yesterday. I think they're going to kind of learn from what they saw in game two, how they deployed
03:38Isaiah Hartenstein, like I said, to defend Victor Wimbanyama, the different looks they threw at them
03:42offensively as well, and make their adjustments, and we'll see which team comes out on top in game
03:47three. But this is the part of the season that's the best. As a true basketball fan, you get to
03:51watch
03:51every single possession, how these guys are processing information, how these guys are taking
03:57the coaching that's happening so quickly in front of them that they watched in the film room maybe,
04:01you know, 12 hours before. This is not like they've had an entire offseason to prepare
04:05for this particular moment. They've got sometimes this much time to kind of make a decision and learn
04:10on the fly. So you're learning, you're seeing all of this happen at the best of the best on the
04:14Western Conference side, obviously. And as you mentioned, we got a banger in game one in the
04:18Eastern Conference side, and we're going to see what happens in game two tonight as well.
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