Mavs fall flat vs Thunder in Gm 1, Celtics beat Cavs & Murray fined $100k | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

I mean I was wondering am I supposed to

do it today live from New York it's the

show that's without Kevin Wilds because

he's busy trying to scrub the internet

from all his nuggets tweet proclamations

it's first things first on today's show

all right I will admit on the front end

I was shocked by Luca's performance were

you surprised by Luca's performance last

night Luca is the caliber of player yic

Prime LeBron to some degree even still

LeBron um where I'm always surprised

when they don't play well you know you

just expect them to have a great game

and you know what happens everybody

Jordan LeBron everybody's had bad

playoff games but I'm shocked when I see

a guy like this have a bad game so yes

now we know he's injured credit to him

he's not talking about the knee he's not

out there you know making it obvious

that the knee is bothering him and like

you said yesterday Nick we don't want to

play the game of when he plays poorly

the knee and when he plays great he's

great cuz he's had really good games a

game five he was fantastic against the

Clippers he hurt himself in game three

so he can be better I I'll give you a

few adjustments not so much X's and O's

but just philosophical or just things

they can do differently since Luca got

hurt in game three against the Clippers

he sprained his knee his three-point

shooting has been abysmal yes now if you

if you have a leg injury legs are an

important part of your jump shot so you

would think that your long range

shooting is going to suffer and here are

the numbers on Luca since regular season

38% from three first three games that

wasn't that's not good 30% that's a

couple makes away from being up to your

average but since the injury 14% from

three but he's still throwing up nine

threes a game 10 again yesterday day he

was five of 11 from Two and you look you

know he mid-range because of his

strength he still can score at will I

think in the mid-range so what I like to

see him do going forward is to probably

cut down a bit on the threes and get

more in the mid-range second adjustment

quickly Nick Kyrie with Luca ailing

Kyrie's got to take a an even bigger

role which he does here and there he

does it one half he does it one game

he's got to do consist yesterday he was

efficient 20 points 14 shots but I need

like 24 Shots I so I I agree with a lot

of that now let me the I'm not you know

I picked the Mavs to win this series I

actually said uh you know a week ago

that I think the Mavs can go to the NBA

finals they can win the title I I am not

you disheartened by the game one loss

because the there's a bit of a like

LeBron feel out game to Luca with the

Mavs they always they always lose game

in five under J kid and and by the way

they he's one in I think six in his

career in game ones the Mavs since he

got there but what was frustrating is

last night he was I thought oh he's

broken out of the slump he started the

game really well and then went ice cold

and we can show you the numbers first

five minutes of the game it's like oh

okay this LC is going to have what is

kind of a vintage Luca playoff game

where he has like a 40 Point double

double with eight or nine assists and

just controls everything and then could

get nothing going I and I don't think

would you agree cuz you're right like

LeBron you can actually see him feeling

out teams ear I don't think that was a

feel out game by Luca I think he just

didn't play well I totally agree I think

I guess what I'm saying is he's used to

being down 01 you know in fact the only

time he's won game one they lost the

Series that was when they went up 20 in

Los Angeles on the Clippers and the

Clippers in Kawai came back but this was

legitimately one of the worst playoff

games of his career it's the second

fewest points the third fewest rebounds

the fewest threes it was across the

board as poorly as he's played in the

playoffs and I think that the Mavs

especially without kba who is an

important loss for them because of the

shooting he adds and the stretch five

the the not to invoke LeBron again but

there has to be an element of

like LeBron and Kyrie on the Cavs when

Kevin Love was out style which is listen

man I'm going to have to control

everything Luca slow everything down Kai

you're going to have to you know save us

on a bunch of possessions and everybody

else make your open threes be and but

the only way that works is if Luca is

exceptional the only way it worked in

Cleveland was and LeBron didn't shoot a

high percentage that series I think it

was 3

I'm not even just talking about the 2015

finals I'm talking about any time that

it was those guys together right because

the because 2015 finals Kyrie wasn't

even there except for the first game and

but that your point about Luca not

shooting 10 threes when LeBron was doing

that he wasn't shooting a lot of Threes

he was controlling the game getting in

the paint and I know LeBron's more

athletic than Luca is but Luca's got a

better mid-range jump shot you know what

I mean than LeBron has and so I just I

feel like this moment for Luca is so

wild important because I think Luca SGA

ant are all looking at the fact that

Denver's on the ropes and saying man

whether we're actually the best player

alive or not we have a chance to try to

grab the claim to it by being the

superar on the champion and the M's only

path there Brew is if Luca is brilliant

I still think they can do it but he's

got to play way better than he did last

night and it's bigger for Luca an I

don't even think that's entering ant's

thinking cuz he's so young right

SGA is just beginning to kind of be this

Superstar Luca because he was so good

right away it feels like he's older than

he is right and it's like this year

Denver may be out uh OKC is Young you

know um every like this is the year

Minnesota is probably just going to get

better going forward and so this is and

you're right the Eastern Conference is a

mess so this is a great year for to try

to get it before uh you know the future

ABS or or if the nuggets are going to

revamp next year and be in a better

position like this somebody could take

care of them for you all right move on

to the Thunder side of things SGA who's

going to find out tonight I think he

finished second in the MVP voting for

The League let OKC in points rebounds

and assists in the 22-point win it's

basically they've blown out their

opponent in every playoff game except

for the first one of the year here's

Shay on their success take a listen

true are the to you are the Thunder

finally starting to look like legitimate

Championship contenders well look they

meet the eye test all right they've got

the MVP candidate like you said he's GNA

finish second I voted for Luca Luca is

going to be third but they got the MVP

candidate in SGA and that mvp candidate

lives in the lane the mid-range like he

can get into the paint and score

seemingly at will but surrounding him

is the best three-point shooting team in

the league SGA is not a big three-point

shooter but they shooter right he get

five they led the league in three-point

shooting so when you got a great player

who can get into the paint and then

surrounded with three-point Shooters

that's great defensively we know they

were top four five in the league

offensively and defensively so

defensively number one and last night

they were swarming it was like and you

saw tweets from players and people

comeing out like these young boys are

like and they're talking about OKC and

Minnesota and what they have are great

individual Defenders SGA I I had SGA on

my second Team all defense you know cuz

I think now and just a quick tangent a

lot of times now when you look at the

all defensive teams and you look at a

lot of the analytics driven media that's

voting they're going to pick a lot of

non-stars a lot of Specialists and

that's for her Jones Jaden McDaniels

those guys are great Defenders but in

the past the Jordans the LeBron we still

got to consider some of these stars for

these all def you know what I mean

defensive teams and so I had SGA SGA is

a great defender ludor like great

individual Defenders absolutely but they

also are on a string because they're

well coached oh coach of the year mark

dagnal So their defense is stying as you

said it you got the rim protector when

all else fails so they they meet the eye

test in just about every category you

know what test they don't meet they fail

the a age test the history test yeah

sure the history test we we've never

seen this and Nick it's not we've never

seen this this Century it's not we've

never seen this since the merger we've

never seen this in the history of

basketball this that interview that they

did yesterday he started off we didn't

show it saying you're the youngest team

ever to win a second round game second

round Game Y all right and look at this

you talk so we talking about winning the

finals these are the youngest five teams

to ever win a finals OKC is 24 years old

on average and so they would be the

youngest team ever to win a championship

and what you notice about all those

teams is the last one to do it this

young or even close to this young was

the Lakers 45 44 years ago right and

Lakers team by the way had you know

Kareem in his Apex of his Prime and

Magic who didn't miss a beat and then

the other the the youngest team to ever

do it was Walton Walton's uh Blazers

also in a time where the league was a

little different because the NBA and

just merged and so it's just the 70s are

kind of the oddest decade in NBA history

so that but that is the only thing

working against them this is where so

you said it I'll just reiterate it

number three offense number four defense

they don't turn the ball over they're

the best three-point shooting team by

percentage the only thing they don't do

well is rebound like from an analytical

perspective that's the only thing the

only basketball reason is the rebounding

and then there is one other basketball

question which is so sgaa I made light

of it a bit SGA just so people

understand how often he gets the line

it's not only that he led the league in

free throws he shot exactly as many free

throws this year as LeBron James and

Paul George combined okay and both those

guys played 70 plus games this year

right right last night he had like 11

correct and last night I didn't think

either Western Conference playoff game

was poorly officiated but they were

officiated so differently I'm talking

about from the Minnesota Denver game was

felt like one sport and last night felt

like you know basically first month of

this NBA season we're going to call

everything so my concern is if OKC

doesn't get if they don't get a whistle

you know what I mean where it's like hey

we're going to let you play how much

does that hurt them and yeah it is just

the age and I don't that's really the

only thing you can but I don't think

that is a bad reason not to believe in

him I know o o Thunder fans will be like

what more can we do and the answer is

honestly probably nothing other than

make history like whenever you're trying

to be the first team or the youngest

team or the oldest team to do there's

going to be even though they have I mean

they've won 10 straight games now you

date back to the regular season a lot of

them by blowouts they've done they

handled their business to get the one

seed they did all that speaking of

handling business to get the one seed

Boston won comfortably Jaylen Brown and

Derek white led the way as they have

really the entire postseason Tatum

struggled shooting again seven of 19

from the field 0 for five from three

he's been the Celtics third leading

score this postseason he's yet to have a

30-point game Brew is there there any

reason to be concerned about Tatum yes

because let's face it the Celtics goal

is not to win the East it's not to get

to the NBA finals they will now

obviously any team that gets to the

finals and loses will be disappointed

but most teams too look at it like right

like wait till next year if they get to

the finals and lose particularly as we

were talking about if Denver's not the

team to beat him then they I mean it is

going to feel like they got beat in the

first round I mean really if they were

to lose to a Minnesota or an OKC even a

Dallas all right there all those teams

are young and maybe even younger than

the Celtics or rightone close to the

regular season they did not or or have

been knocking on the door for five years

to win a championship so and I said all

that to say they can't win the

championship with Jason tayum playing

like this now to his credit he has been

rebounding he's averaging over 10 a game

in the playoffs so he's been defending

well he leads the Celtics and assist

with about five a game so credit to him

he's not letting the shooting slump get

to him and stop him from doing the other

things so I'll give him credit for that

but they need him to step up for a few

reasons one we'll see what porzingis is

like when he gets back they're lucky

Derek white is played so well but is he

going to shoot 50% from three throughout

the playoffs and here's the other thing

Nick Jason Tatum is their best player

Jason Tatum is their MVP candidate Jason

Tatum is their first team all NBA player

if they get to the finals and he's like

been the third guy I'm just he's human

it won't work thaton you see what I'm

saying you're human I totally agree

especially you start trying to do too

much right especially when whomever you

meet in the finals it's going to be

because their best guy has been

annihilating people whether it's ant SGA

if the Mavs get on

than right or Joker if the Nuggets turn

around whatever it is so this is we can

show you Tatum's numbers because it's

one I understand the Celtics have been

blowing people out I don't so you can be

like ah well he doesn't need score more

than 20 it's the percentages that are

the concern it's not that oh he's

playing low minutes he's not taking

shots it's the percentages and this is

why if I may defend my pal Colin coward

for a moment because I agree with him on

it that folks that say Tatum is a

all-nba caliber guy he is an MVP is

candidate but he is not in the same tier

as the guys in the debate for best

player in the world or even in that

periphery it's because of what you said

at the beginning about Luca like hey

great players were surprised when they

have a bad game great and Tatum is a

very very good player but the the best

guys never have six games like this

never you know what I mean in a row in

the postseason where it's just like oh

you you've been subpar for two and a

half weeks it just doesn't happen now it

happens to literally everyone else in

the world and so it is this is why Tatum

is somewhere from the sixth to 10th best

guy in the league and I don't think

fairly considered one through five the

problem is for the Celtics theoretically

is whomever they face in the finals is

going to have somebody in that one five

group and can you know can your overall

unit overpowered all right now let's get

to the suspension that wasn't a bizarre

situation here so the League's ruling

came down last night Jamal Murray's

Antics for Monday night he's fine 100

Grand wasn't suspended brw you said he

definitively should be

suspended are you surprised he won't

miss any time and do you think the

Timberwolves have a legitimate gripe

here I'm not completely surprised all

right I I said yesterday he must be

suspended he definitely should be

suspended but I'm not surprised because

we know that the Nugget and I think look

if this series is 1-1 he might have been

suspended if it's two two Denver he

might have been suspended there's a part

of me only a part cuz there's a part of

me and I said it yesterday that's glad

he's not suspended I want Denver to have

a legitimate chance right to dig out of

this hole

but even that part this just doesn't

feel right it doesn't sit right there is

no justification for him not to be

suspended you can rationalize it like

the league is doing saying hey you don't

know his intention did was he slamming

it in frustration and it slipped and

went all the way out onto the court I

mean the damage that could have been

done from something like this I'm sorry

and we've seen not under Adam Silver but

under David Stern his predecessor we've

seen series change by by things way L EG

this guys Meandering Off the Bench

whether it's Amari STM or half the damn

mix team right they had to suspend guys

in game six and then seven cuz they

couldn't feel team now I get that was a

lifetime ago a different commissioner

but this is he he this is egregious and

this is where I think the Timberwolves

do have a grip Rudy goar who plays for

the Timberwolves got a $100,000 fine for

doing this to the RS

Jamal Murray did that he did so are you

telling me goar could have then after

that chucked a couple items on the court

during live play and the fine would have

been the same like and I just I'm not a

slippery slope guy I think that's

typically a bad argument it means you

have a weak argument but I do think this

opens the door a bit to where if someone

on the bench is someone a bench player

in particular you know what I mean

someone's taken a corner three and you

throw your towel like what is the you

set a preced you set a precedent that

this isn't a suspendable action this is

a final action this is in the playoffs

not even just the regular season and it

was two items that's the other thing I

can't get over he threw the towel

realized damn it this towel is not heavy

enough it's not getting there give me

some some weight to it and through that

that's wild it is terrible it is

absolutely ter it's good for basketball

it's good for this series that we can

see him full strength but I think it's

the wrong person all right thanks for

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