Dallas Surges, Clippers Struggle & Disaster For Suns? | The Hoop Collective

Dallas Surges, Clippers Struggle & Disaster For Suns? | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Wednesday morning because we had to watch some terrific basketball that took place in the NBA on Tuesday night as they squeeze in a bunch of games between the NCAA tournament

Joining me from New York City is Tim bunps hello everybody and joining us from Dallas Texas where the Mavericks fans are celebrating tonight is B McMahon howdy Partners I’d like to point out that only Bond temps is in morning time and it’s not by much you’re like not even near bedtime on the

West coast well I have to get up at 5:00 am on the west coast to get sleep update we’re immediately into sleep update time seconds it is true what do you want night night and that’s the only reference to that team that we can have

On the Pod listen if you want me to call you at 5:00 a.m. to see how you’re doing McMahon I will gladly do so we can chat about what’s GNA what we’re going to talk about leave me a voicemail um all right so uh Dallas in the in the baseball Series to

Theoretically end all baseball series Dallas got a big win blew the Kings out Tuesday night um both coming off backto backs but the Kings an easier one and at home and uh Luca who’s been you know putting up numbers of various amounts for months had a huge first half

Established the uh the Mavericks and then they put this away uh you know Midway through the you know during the second half McMahon um Dallas is a team that as I talk to people in the league I talked to coaches talked to Scouts they’ll they’ll several

Different times in the last seven to 10 days people have been like we just played Dallas and man they’re scary or I just saw Dallas and man they look good um you know you hear it once you hear it twice you think okay yeah I’ve heard that before but Dallas is starting to

Show some teeth I know defensively that’s we’ve talked about we’ve talked about him but starting to show some teeth and in a second we’re going to talk about the west standings but the Mavericks situation is quite interesting and getting more so as they take this big game in sack they

Have certainly made it interesting they’ve won nine of the last 10 now the one loss in that stretch is when Lucas sat out uh in Oklahoma City didn’t make the trip because he had a little tightness in his hamstring obviously that was minor and and no big deal and

Look the defense is always going to be the question but this stretch of nine wins in 10 games started immediately after Jay kid having looked at this team that you know through the first five or six games after the All-Star break was literally the worst defense in the

League during that stretch and said okay we’ve got to make some changes he plugged Gafford in the starting lineup he plugged Derrick Jones Jr who is their best on ball defender in the starting lineup they also got Dante exom back after he’d been out for a while uh

Nursing a knee injury he’s their other guy who’s that’s a lot of length those three guys and and Maxi kba he’s not playing nearly as much center now they are going with a tag team the G Lively tag team but when Max’s playing the four next to one of those guys that’s an

Awfully big team and A lot of times he’ll play the four PJ Washington’s playing the three they’re they’re much bigger than they were to start of the Season they’re much more athletic than they were to start the season like drastically more athletic than last season’s team as Jay kid says they can

Compete in the layup lines now that’s his that’s his kind of favorite line and tonight’s game like it why are they dangerous it really does get back to to this they are more athletic they are bigger but they’ve got two guys who can take over games Luca dominated the first

Half still a close game at Halftime then Kyrie just came out in the third quarter and completely took the game over next thing you know it’s an absolute blowout and suddenly you look at the standings and you kind of watch you know watch the Clippers stumble all over themselves and you say man

Could they finish as high as the four seed like you know look obviously they could still stumble back into the play in they’re you know they they just kind of poke their heads out of that now but I think as high as four is is very much

In play given the way the Mavericks are playing and given how the Clippers have been stumbling well and given their schedule you know after this baseball Series they have at Houston at Golden State home for Atlanta and Golden State and Houston at Charlotte at Miami home for Detroit at Oklahoma City the next

Time they play a team after Friday that’s around them in the standings or better is when they play Oklahoma City the last day of the season a game that the Thunder could have nothing to play for like we could be looking at a situation where the Mavs go

18-2 to close the season I they’ll probably drop a couple games in there but like all those are they’re going to be favored to win just about every one of those games and and given like you said how the Clippers have fallen got Brandon ingr mile for New

Orleans certainly you’re looking at a scenario where we could be talking about Dallas having home court in the first round of the playoffs which would obviously be a dramatic turnaround from where looks like things are going to be a couple weeks go would certainly make you feel a lot differently about where

Dallas is overall in the direction they’re headed in than if they’re in seventh eth or ninth and they’re fighting to get out of the playin like we’ve been expecting for weeks now well by the way real quick um I had it muted I didn’t turn it off I had it

Muted I so I could I didn’t hear what they saying on the broadcast but Mark cubin was identified as Maverick’s proprietor on TNT tonight is that was that a joke or is that he’s not the owner of the team I know I don’t know what means I’d have to look that one up

I was amused that at the tech Summit in at the allstar game he was identified I believe as entrepreneur and something else and the word Mavericks or Dallas Mavericks were not uh listed anywhere at the NBA’s uh Marquee mid-season event so uh we need some reporting out of you

McMahon to find out what this Mavericks proprietor if that’s a legit have to look it up in a dictionary to even know what the hell the word means well I don’t even really know like proprietor means is kind of a guy who like mines the store like it’s it’s kind of another

Word for owner but is it a synonym for uh for mascot no but your point is well taken um can just so you know man proprietor is an owner of an unincorporated business Enterprise a person enjoying exclusive right of ownership to some property I mean he still has awesome seats he does

Um could he be called like chairman ameritus or something uh Governor ameritus that that whole that whole situation continues to be one of the stranger things we’ve ever seen in the NBA where this guy sold the team and still is somehow being masquerad around as being in charge of the team I

Got well Patrick deont the the governor made it clear that he’s the governor and uh that nich Harris Patrick is yes Patrick that’s what I mean I the whole thing is amazing but who cares just an amazing deal know has great seats and he’s watched the Mavericks win a lot of

Games so everybody’s happy right now he has great seats great teeth and a interesting title um yes so Friday two days off now in Sacramento let’s see how the Mavericks handle this uh Prosperity here because they put themselves in in nice position we’ll see how the uh Kings bounce back

But you brought up the Clippers Bon Temps I the Clippers actually I guess technically had a good night on Tuesday night because the the Thunder who we’ll talk about in a few minutes had a very nice fourth quarter performance in winning in New Orleans um the Clippers

Weren’t playing that’s why it was a good night for the cers so they they took took o i don’t took over uh they moved from fifth to to back to Fourth by regained um there was a day in February where the Clippers were in first place I believe it was

Just for a day but they were in first place and as as this the record I kind of feel like this is going to be a record that is going to be repeated for a long time they were at a stretch where they went 26 and

Five they looked like a team that had maybe not all the answers but a lot of answers and they I was in production meeting today uh before NBA today and we were going over the West playin race which is something we do almost every other day and we were looking at a

Graphic and I go oh no no no put one more team in there because we just couple days ago the Rockets were promoted and now we’re promoted to 11th and I was like guys red hot Houston Rockets we need to move some space down because we got somebody in reverse

Because I’m telling you the Clippers have a two game cushion if you want to call it that in the loss column as they head out east uh starting in Philadelphia on Wednesday night the Clippers have followed up that that stretch by going 10 and 12 over the past

Uh 50 days or so and go into that game like you said sitting just ahead of the Pelicans and Mavericks and the Western Crawford stings yeah and look around the trade deadline like if you asked hey who in the west really has a chance to beat the Nuggets because

Obviously the nuggets are the clear favorites and the Clippers were the easy answer and they have been mediocre at best since then not and look you mentioned he did say to be fair he did say at best at and you know they’re going to Philly obviously

Harden’s going to get the hell boot out of him they’re asking him about that after uh the game on I don’t know what day today is Monday Monday they played Sunday and he’s basically like man we we got bigger problems and honestly if you want to talk about what are the biggest

Problems for the Clippers James Harden has been awful he he hurt his shoulder I don’t know how that shoulder is doing but his his efficiency has reduced their biggest problem I mean the um he’s also back to being a Dreadful defensive player well here we go so tyo

Got the the the the sound bite uh on Monday night after they got beat by the Pacers where the day after they got absolutely boat raced in the fourth quarter by the Sixers who are terrible at theay when they played the Sixers right it was a really nice win for the

Sixers they needed it back I mean the six every win for the Sixers is a good win right now they can’t beat anybody and they absolutely demolished the Clippers at home um so tyo said they were you know he asked what was that he was asked about their mentality or their

Their charact their uh identity that was it their identity and he used a fourl word he said soft and people like oh my God he called this team soft well let me tell you going into tonight’s games and I’m sure the the the computations haven’t changed since the All-Star break Clippers are

28th in defense now they were I got it one better I got one better for you since the during this stretch after they went 20 six and five or whatever they were they’re 29th in defense only ahead of only ahead of guess what team capital W Wizards they’re 28th should be second

Guess I think you should get it probably the uh the capital l no the they well actually they’re 26th they bad the Hornets are higher up it’s the team that we’ve been joking about losing games for weeks the train with players at the Jazz oh yeah the Jazz by

The way five points worse than the Clippers in terms of Defense been a rough stretch so that’s enough Jazz talk that’s yes that’s untenable now I would say I would say 20 night in the league of defense is untenable if you’re trying to be and hard’s been the worst cont team you know

Since the allstar break among their regular rotation players he has the worst defensive rating 122.6mi honestly the best defense he’s played since the All-Star break is when he contested kawh Leonard shot which was one of stranger one of the stranger moments yeah absolutely I listened to

His explanation for it and he’d have to come a little bit ways back towards reality just to call it BS the the explanation for it was so bizarre he basically said he he was joking around trying to kind of bring life to the team which I don’t know I’m sorry didn’t

Make any sense I I reject it I reject it I can’t you know joea had this weird but he’s like a crazy maniac competitor like he might challenge like 12y old shot was trying to block a guy shot on the other team not his own team I understand very

Strange it was an insane move and he he his logic was wild but it there was there there was some sense to it he said he didn’t want to see the guy well put the but the ball through the hoop and for context for context sake over that same stretch Clippers have a8.4

Defensive ring 29th in the league James Harden when he’s up on the court 700 minutes 120.5 defensive rating the 350 minutes he’s been off drops all the way to 112 well it seems like we’ve pinpointed an issue and by the way when Paul George is out there goes from 114

When he’s out there to 122 and a half when he does when he isn’t out there and Kawhi Leonard goes from 113.9 when he’s out there 125 has anybody seen the movie Rushmore can’t say I have I I mean I think I saw it a long time ago but it’s

Been a while before Jackson was born yes I was gonna say the classic scene with Bill Murray where he’s on his cell phone yes walking by a playground there’s a bunch of little kids and he goes hold on a second and he goes over and blocks the Kid

Shot he’s a wacko I could see Joe moua doing something like that that’s all I’m GNA say could you see James Harden nope no I could not sir too much that would be too much effort yes dude there was also there was a bizarre and I

Thought this kind of this told me that Harden’s State of Mind is completely in outer space right now it was a a shot clock violation in the second quarter uh of their loss Monday and kawhai thre him a to grenade like put him in a bad spot gave him the

Ball with 1.5 seconds left on the shot clock and Nim hard wasn’t right on him but Nim hard would have had a really good contest but like you get it with 1.5 in the shot clock and he caught it couple feet outside the three-point line

Like you got to just Jack that thing up you just have to let it fly because it’s a low percentage shot but low percentage is better than no percentage and you know what also can happen you can create an offensive rebound how many time have you seen a prayer at the shot clock

Buzzer and ends up being an offensive rebound Harden did the classic I’m going to protect my percentages move where he pump faked took a dribble oh there’s a shot clock buzzer he a free agent I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt that he did the classic percentage protection

Pump fake and dribble and not that he was unaware of what the shot clock was because this is one of the smartest players in the league like basketball IQ James Harden’s top 10 in the league so either he was more worried about his percentages than trying to help his team

Win the game or he was so checked out that he wasn’t even aware of the shot clock neither one of those is is okay well I do think we got to say too if we’re if we’re trying to diagnose what’s going on with this team I do and I’ve

Been as critical of this guy as anybody I do think a big part of the problem has been the absence of Russell Westbrook over the past several weeks like say what you want about Westbrook and I’ve certainly said plenty but he for a team that has a lot of flat line of

Personalities he gives them a lot of energy and a lot of force when he plays and that has been very lacking without him I know he just came back the other day we’ll see how he plays as he gets back but but he was playing really well

For them before he got hurt and it seemed to seemed to really accept this role coming off the bench and you know that that impact I think has really been felt from that hand injury that kept him out for several weeks I also think uh sorry avit zubach she had that calf

Injury in in February and I mean right yeah there have been times where a guy’s gotten a drive to the and I’ve just watched him where those guys had a drive to the rim and he’s been in position where he could have challenged like I’m not saying he’s you know gonna be Bill

Russell but where he’s just he’s not been able to make an athletic move like he was before he was playing best basketball of his career yeah um and calf injuries are real tricky like that that’s a that can really affect your explosiveness and yeah early in the year

Like chemistry with him Harden was really good he was playing fantastic like they’ve just felt like they’re half a turn I mean maybe a whole turn off for a while now and it’s you know I mean Tai has certainly been around the block a time or two but that was certainly a

Sound the alarms presser the other day and it will be very interesting to see how they respond in this game I’ll be at on Wednesday because like I was just saying I mean the sixer team is bad right now they’re just coming home from a West Coast trip

And you know I don’t Kelly UB missed the game Monday he got banged up Sunday buddy heel sprained his ankle I don’t know if he’s going to be able to play Oly Joelle is still out like they’ve had all these injuries and the Clippers like they obviously should have won the game

The other day but they they gota they gotta start this road trip off for the win and try to start getting this thing turned around ASAP um or else you know we could be talking about them incred being down there in the mix with all these other playing teams which is like

You I don’t remember which one of you guys said it before we got on it might have been you Tim like we were sitting there at the All-Star break go well we know the top four in the west and we’ll see how it’s going to go and I mean the

Clippers have just absolutely sank like a stone and Minnesota despite towns being out and everything that’s happened there you would have thought if anybody’s going to drop it’ be them and they’re sitting right there still fighting for a top two seed in the west I mean it’s

It’s just been an amazing sequence of events yeah coming out of the break we were like okay we know the top four teams we just don’t know the reorder no we didn’t know the top four teams we didn’t and then we’re like okay we know five through 10 we just don’t know the

Order well we might not have known five through 10 either I’m gonna see it’s funny the two hottest teams in uh in the west right now well I shouldn’t say that the three hottest teams one’s Denver the other two are uh right here in the Lone Star State baby mentioned the m

Mavericks and those red hot Houston Rockets have lost a game in March they are whatever and one in March and breathing down the neck of that bar team that we shall not name well if they Dro to 11 we can name them you said n right

Nine10 well real quick that team who we shall not name who did win in who did win in Miami uh on Sat on uh Tuesday night Jimmy Butler being a late scratch uh he was he missed shoot around and was prob still probable and uh I was asked to

Make a pick on NBA today and I said I do not make predictions actually I have to do that all the time but I I said I’m gonna wait for Jimmy Butler and Butler was a scratch and then the team that shall not be named uh won that game when

Um a future Hall of Fame uh two guard moved into the starting lineup but first time in a long time that was interesting last night McMahon you said something on our group chat as we were talking about the Clippers in Big Time reverse about because the Suns had arguably the worst

Loss of the Season not arguably not AR any team I’m about to hit you guys that’s the worst loss of the Season given the stakes of where the suns are at to lose to the Victor lless Spurs that horrible I’m about to give you guys some MTH especially because he’

Already lost two him twice already hold on wy’s calculator works now all he found it on his iPhone here comes some math first off oh God here we go this is gonna be trouble get Bobby marks on speed dial the Spurs were one in seven without Victor this year okay that’s

Number one number two 19% 19% of the Spurs victories this year have come against the Suns I that’s it’s better when you just say the numbers three out of 16 yeah that’s that makes it even worse now you talked about these teams spending money potentially to be in the playin and the

Clippers aren’t there yet but you know SP a lot of money it’s time to start talking about the Clippers what they’ what they’ve lined themselves up against is it time to start worrying about the Suns the team you’ve repeatedly said not to worry about June just be quiet for a

Change okay the payroll they cut some at the trade oh you can’t say that oh sorry that’s fine blew through the you guys already blew through the ban you don’t listen anywhere 381 million including taxes for the team in not great that great the team and by

The way owe that pick to Portlands the team in eighth who is the Suns who is now facing the hardest by by by winning percentage the hardest 10 game stretch in a season in nine years mhm is what they’re going to now face down the stretch of these last 10 games

After blowing this game that Not only was a must-win game just because they were playing the Spurs without wanyama it was a must-win game because it was the last thing on their schedule that was a that was can be considered a gimme okay their payroll is 20050

Wait 258 million including taxes it’s a lot a lot of money 381 in the bay 258 in the desert now Clippers who are not in the playin but it’s on the it’s on the rearview mirror yeah 313 million including taxes between those three teams it’s 360 million just in taxes

This season and you’re approaching you’re approaching $900 million in total payroll and salary Jam is not going to fly I what anybody says I would say it’s not going to fly when it comes to the to the Suns it’s an absolutely unrecoverable number to talk about what the uh UN

Unsurvivable number that the Clippers are playing defensively over the last six weeks the fact that the Phoenix Suns have the 30th ranked offense in the fourth quarter insane is absolutely Preposterous that number is going to create Fallout and if I was Chris Paul when I go into contract negotiations as a

Possible free agent this summer and I’m trying to maybe get my last contract maybe one more year I’m bringing that number to the table because the lack of having organization and someone to get them into their offense I don’t care what anybody says there is no doubt the lack

Of a point guard has dramatically affected their ability to execute in these fourth quarters 30th I feel like they could they could at the beginning of the season I would have argued they could have played three on five with those three guys and not being in 30th and what’s crazy is the

The numbers with those three guys overall are good I think there’s like 123.5 offensive rating with those three guys on the floor I haven’t looked at that number in the fourth quarter though it it can’t be good and then of course the other problem is they’re not on the floor

Together that much and by the way another reason this was the worst loss for any team all season long was because Bradley Beal heard again a finger sprain didn’t questionable questionable for Wednesday so is Yousef nurkic sprained his ankle didn’t PR today questionable against the nuggets I

Mean you know be Beal honestly like when he’s been on the floor his numbers are fine but they’re not 50 million in the luxury tax ramification fine speaking of son’s speaking of son’s payroll on Wednesday it’s a key day for Grayson Allen because that is when he becomes extension

Eligible he is eligible to sign up to 4 years and 75 5 million I think that’s about1 18 or1 19 million a year I don’t have my calculator on that one it’s just it’s a little over 18 a year correct okay so I don’t know if they’re gonna do this

Deal with Grayson now you know they got bigger fish to fry it’s an odd time to extend your contract Drew holiday becomes extension eligible next Monday he has a um a 40 a $39 million player option uh he can sign for four years and 221 million as his max number I would

Expect as a quick aside here bontemps that they do get a deal done there with Drew holiday um that’s something in between third the 39 next year and the 221 um I think he will get a deal that goes beyond next year uh that he will

Not make 39 next year and he will not get 221 there will be a deal somewhere in the middle there um I mean that feels like a safe bet eventually whether it’s before The Season’s over this summer my suspect Drew will be sticking around I

Think so too I I I think there’s a possibility that gets done before the playoffs however on Grayson Allen he’s had an excellent year he’s been leading the NBA in three-point shooting for most of the year and the Suns I don’t know if everybody understands the new rules and I’m not

Going to go chapter and verse into the the the CBA but like Grayson Allen like that I think that like I I think 18 million a year for Grayson Allen’s you know pretty fair number I’m not sure he’s getting any more than that in the open market from Detroit or Orlando or

San Antonio May I mean maybe well listen the bigger problem the bigger problem for Phoenix is whether you think that whether you sit there and you say it’s insane to pay Grayson Allen $75 million if you’re listening you think that’s crazy the problem for the Suns is the

Same problem at least I’ve been saying since they made the Bradley Bill trade which is under the new rules their roster building and decision- making has been insane and they have built a team that is full of terrible players minimum contct they’re not terrible yeah they’re top they’re the bottom two-thirds of their

Roster don’t don’t say okay that’s a fair statement that’s now you’re well that’s what I’m talking about isn’t they have a team full of terrible players that’s the point when those three guys are on the court in the fourth quarter they’ve got a plus4 net rating okay they have injury

Problems like we’ve talked about they also went on this Gambit and signed all these minimum players hoping to get some good minimum players we saw the prime LeBron James Miami Heat fail to win the title with three of the top what seven players in the league at the absolute

Apex of their careers with how many minimum players Brian nine 10 well what happened there yeah two of their the two non-minimum key role players got hurt during the but my point is though they had absolutely no depth and that was with running Eric dampier and and Jerry

Stack house and that was that those guys were at the absolute Apex of their careers that’s correct St Miami tenure the Suns guys the I mean obviously Devin Booker is in the prim of his career Bradley Beal is not Kevin Durant is not so like when you get down to it they

Have no ability to add players going forward and if they don’t want to pay Grayson Allen that money just going to lose one of the other two or three good players they have their Grayson Allen’s Leverage is him or replace him with a minimum right so so Mark tery when he

Joined the podcast that was uh the agent who joined the podcast last uh last summer he talked about this sort of strategy of negotiating Grayson normally you’d say in in the job market you say well this is what I’d like well good luck getting it well hey Company B offered me this oh

Okay we’ll give that to you normally that’s the way it works gray s’s going to be a free agent you say Okay Grayson like um you know you know you you know we can’t give you more than 18 million because nobody else is gonna and he goes

All right well my Leverage is if I leave you literally can’t replace me not that they can’t go out and find a guy to hit the threes not that they can’t find you know a player who’s of of his quality they literally cannot replace him the only thing that the Suns can

Sign this summer other than their own free agents which is like Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal is minimum contracts and they have no first round picks to trade and they have nothing else really to trade can they split some more of those swaps and yeah and by the way

Bobby Marx and his numbers already has them over the second apron in guaranteed salary and that’s without signing Royce O’Neal that’s without signing Grayson Al two of their handful of good players and by the way in trading for Bradley Beal and not making him give up the no trade

Cause to do it now they can’t even trade him if they want to to try even they just wanted to Arbitrage it and move him on they can’t so they are as stuck as stuck can be and by the way on the same topic if we had said before the season

Since we blew through the ban earlier we didn’t BL through the ban well we did you started you talked about the all around and then you talked there’s well if you look at Kevin Durant LeBron James and Steph Curry and those guy you said before the season all

Those guys were going to play over 60 games you would have said the Suns and would have had pretty darn good seasons and right now they’re in eth ninth and 10th I think it is a sign that among other things for as great as those guys

Still are they are just not at the same level they were before in terms of being able to push their teams forward because they’ve been healthy all year and this is where they sit so I can’t as far as the Suns yes I believed I didn’t believe they were ever serious title contenders

For this season I did believe that they would get stronger as the season went along and they would be a factor I believed that they needed another year of transactions to get this roster right I didn’t think were operating on a one-year timeline um but yes it’s been

Not good I thought they were top six team I said it and I will give the uswb credit I mean his P occasionally hits the target the the the the urine was on the money in this one he said look they this was a team he predicted some playing

Potential here I think I think you are very much rewriting history Brian on your predict on your talk about the the Suns what I will say is I never thought they win the title this year I mean how could you say that that the Denver would the Suns had if everything came together

Perfectly the Suns had a window this year to potentially be a highlevel team but that required everything to come together perfectly and instead it’s been more or less I think the median outcome on a lot of this stuff and as a result they’re just not that good well you know

What the best thing the Brooklyn Nets have going for right now that they’ve got a lot of Phoenix Suns draft assets so real quick on the Suns before I move on because I mentioned the fourth quarter I just W to enumerate it big word the Suns net rating points per 100

Possessions in the fourth quarter is negative 14 okay that is that is not great that is 30th the team 29th is the Miami Heat which is interesting because that’s a team that you wouldn’t expect but who have th it they are the Heats is minus 7even so

They are twice as bad as anybody else in the fourth quarter that’s according to my calculations you got it that’s some big time math right there buddy the the the difference between the Heat and the Suns seven points per under possessions is the same difference between the team

In 29th Place and the team in 15th and by the way the Pistons who are one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the league are 12 points better in in in in in in the fourth quarter this year per 100 possessions than the Suns and no I

Didn’t see that one coming Bon Temps remember when we saw the Suns Madison Square Garden the buzzer beater didn’t didn’t see didn’t see this coming at that point I will say this when I talked to Booker I talked to him for a story about kind of this trend away from the traditional

Point guard and Booker kind of epitomizes it um I asked him about making that transition and he said that the one time he thought you might need that CP3 kind of classic run the show type point guard is down the stretch in close games that was the one thing he

Considered a challenge to be able to uh you know thrive in those situations and obviously by and large the Suns sure have not thrived in those situations assist to turnover ratio in the fourth quarter 29th they’re better than than the than the Blazers congratulations well that’s

Good um okay so uh this was a test game in my view for one team tonight which was the Oklahoma City Thunder they uh went up to uh Milwaukee on Saturday and were was it Saturday or Sunday was Saturday was it Sunday I think it was

Sunday believe it was I believe it was Sunday and they got absolutely smacked they had the Milwaukee flu um uh no they had Giannis kicking their ass up and down flu is what they had they had they they lost to another bigger team that was that was the bigger take way for me

And Shay stunk it up by his standards and Chad had a one of 10 total stinker yeah so and they got mauled on the boards again yes it’s very you know um they may end up the what they got out of the trade deadline which was a pick swap from the

Mavericks and um Gordon Hayward who might end up being he’s not being very effective on the floor at no um that’s being that’s being charitable he had a little stretch where he was productive in a limited role but by and large he’s been a dud yeah he he did not

Score in uh in the game on uh he’s 22 for 59 in 17 games now yeah it’s not great but they might be able to turn him with some draft Capital he may end up being used as a um as ballast in a trade what I’m saying is I can’t completely

Grade the thunder on their trade deadline Maneuvers yet but they elected to or at least were unable to find um right rebounding and interior help I think it’s safe to say that they stuck to the stance that whether it’s whether you agree with it or not I will

Say that Sam prey has been very consistent and that they wanted to see what this team would look like in the playoffs and then make adjustments like they did the first time around when they eventually went and got Kendrick Perkins for like did the swap for Jeff Green and

Eventually after they saw how in the playoffs they started to make changes they’re clearly here queuing to the same line again this time around now you could say they should have gone and done I’m not saying you just general they could have gone and done something but

They made it clear they wanted to you know finish their breakfast as prey famously said and they’re gonna wait and see how it looks and Hayward was as much about creating like obviously they hoped he’d be a contributor and we’ll see what happens there but he was also that’s

That was as much about creating flexibility this summer as it was uh you know trying to trying to gear up for a playoff run and everything they’ve done this year they facilitated the Harden trade you know they to to to get another swing and a lottery pick in 27 they

Facilitated the Daniel Gafford deal uh to Dallas to get what they you know what they think is a lottery swing a potential Lottery swing in 28 and look the way gafford’s playing he you know put it this way LCA donic is very very happy about the Daniel Gafford deal but

28 a long time from now and that’s a it was a a swing worth taking for the Thunder but in the here and now they have not been aggressive trying to upgrade this roster which is way ahead of schedule they made a 16- win jump last

Year and they might make it another six they probably will make another 16 plus win jump this year so I think it’s you can argue for patience when you’re way ahead of schedule um but they have not they have not done everything they could to be

Foot on the gas trying to win the West right now yeah but you know they they really had in my view a pretty big challenge against uh against them to go down into New Orleans um a team that in theory could be a um a second round playoff opponent

Um be a first round playoff opponent sure could that could EAS be that could EAS be a 36 even a two absolutely yeah so but more than anything I just kind of wanted to see how they would bounce back um after that really getting beat down um and they had

A very strong team wide performance um it wasn’t even like a a good Shay Shay game he didn’t score 30 and only shot nine of 20 said afterward he’s been dealing with some quad sess since the uh game they played against Utah a few games ago kind needing the quad in that

Game and he’s certainly tailed off a bit since then uh I think they finished the game 120 um they did Zion and Zion didn’t score over the final three minutes after dominating a lot lot of the game yeah go ahead the the the Pelicans I’m a little surprised that they weren’t

Right down there with the Suns fourth quarter I know they’ve had more than their share of struggles closing out games they’re they win a lot of games comfortably but late and close you you like your chances against the Pelicans well I will tell you in fact where they rank they rank 24th

Well there you go and still 12 points better in those fourth quarter net rating than well and look they they ran a lot with Zion at the point in this game was very interesting he was able to get downhill a lot get into Chad hren in

The paint a lot um know he ended up getting 10 free throws in the game was 10 for 17 was doing a really good job getting out in transition getting some quick attacks before they could really set the defense up against him but down the stretch thunder made some

Adjustments were able to keep him from really getting in into the defense with the ball and you know despite the fact that he had 29 and 10 assists like last couple minutes of the game they were able to to make things go in other directions and look also been very

Critical of Josh Giddy and I have a lot of skepticism of how that’s going to work in the playoffs but he’s made a bunch of Threes in recent games and went five for eight in this game and hit some huge shots down the stretch career high five career high in

Yeah I mean that that was a big performance to help them win a you know big game on the road like you said especially coming off getting smacked against Milwaukee they’ve got an interesting trip coming up they’re going to be out here um on the East Coast

They’re going to be in Boston next Wednesday they had a pretty um pretty tremendous game against the Celtics in Oklahoma City earlier this year they played the Suns Friday they played the Nicks Sunday hey hold on I’m I’m heading up to OKC in the morning they got the

Redot Houston Rockets hottest team in the league the rockets on so second night of a back toback that’s a great opportunity for the Rockets So it’s G to be they’ve got some real interesting games com up here and as we just talked about they’re in a absolute dog fight

With both um Denver and Minnesota to to try to be as high of a seed um as they could possibly be in in the first round you know and the giddy thing we talked about their patient approach sticking with giddy has been you know the epitome of patients

You argue well hey they there’s not another reasonable solution there you know you don’t want a small team to get much smaller whatever but you know their old thing was like hey he’s a young player you know he’s got a lot of a lot of talent obviously working with chip

England and they’re like give him you know give him time give him time give him time he’s learning how to play off the ball etc etc um one game does not a fit make but he was huge for him tonight and I you know the the thing with Chad obviously we

Talk about him being tough for a especially for a skinny guy a lot mental toughness is pretty critical and again after that one of 10 stinker he bounced back and had a not a like a huge number performance but 16 points nine rebounds four assists couple blocks a plus 16

Which was best plus minus in the game uh you know came back and had a really nice performance you mentioned Hayward minus 19 when your team wins by seven is pretty hard to do but he pulled it off tonight minus 19 in 10 minutes he he would have been a

Trillionaire except for he took two shots so it would have been all zeros across the board but he took two shots so one it’s not been great yeah so one thing I I wonder about this game so Zion did have an excellent game he had his first 25.10 assist game of his

Career he actually had 29 Points but 25 and 10 he also had three steals but one of the things that’s going on with the Pelicans that bears watching uh since Brandon Ingram was gone out with this uh knee injury uh they have really kept they’ve really kept Zion’s uh minutes down this

Year um I think he’s at the lowest let me check here I think he’s at the lowest of his career um they’ve had to boost his myth so he is at the lowest since his rookie season he’s been playing um a little over two minutes less per game

Only averaging 30 a game than he was last year 31 31 uh he played his most minutes since November uh a couple of nights ago when they played the Pistons and then uh in the game on Tuesday night he played 39 minutes three more minutes than he

Played any game this season maybe it was two and a half whatever however the the seconds work and um you know the fact that he was able now they they did make some adjustments on the stretch and because it was Larry Nance out there getting 33 minutes which is

More than he should be getting and not Brandon Ingram it was easier for the Thunder to pack the paint with Chad holgren um but I do wonder if part of the reason that Zion um went sort of away down the stretch in addition to the strong defense of the

Thunder play if he had if he was a little fatigued for sure I I do think that that may have been the case and so he saves energy by not rebounding yeah he didn’t his double double tonight was not with re I will give him credit too because again he we

Have poked fun at him in the past he looks good physically like he’s definitely ched weight and moving around better I mean he’s I don’t think he’s ever going to have the explosion that he once did and what you know made him potentially really like truly special

Player but or potential player but he’s he’s done a good job getting himself back to a a much better place than where he was at the first couple months of the Season look most nights there’s a highlight of of Zion catching a lav in transition I mean obviously that that

Means he’s getting up and down the floor and all that but I don’t understand how he’s that bad of a rebounder like if you’re if you if your athletic comp is Charles Barkley when you a big wide body who’s Crazy explosive and you can’t average six rebounds yeah he’s averaging under six

Rebounds and and he had five tonight in 39 minutes against a team that’s biggest flaw is struggle to keep teams off the glass yeah very fair point yeah um so I maybe they need to boost his minutes a little bit because he needs to get into a Zone where he

Plays more than 30 because they’re probably going to need more than 30 in the postseason maybe it’s because they just with Ingram they need you know him out there a little bit more but I do wonder and that’s something I think to watch um I haven’t seen Willie Green’s

Uh post uh post game um well the other the other thing to watch is the stretch of the schedule they’re going into which we’ve talked about a bunch which started with this game against the Thunder they then get Milwaukee on Thursday they then get Boston on Saturday they then get

Phoenix on Monday and then they get um Orlando on Wednesday I mean five five straight games at home against pretty high level playoff opponents like that that was going to be a really interesting test for this group obviously it sucks that bi got hurt because we couldn’t quite see these guys

At full power but still like this is a big stretch for them and like I thought they like I watched a bunch of this game I was popping back and forth between a couple games I thought they were pretty impressive performance and Laren an left for a bit with an injury Jose Alvarado

Left for a bit with an injury like especally Jose Alvarado took an unfortunate blow yeah but but they like they played they acquitted themselves pretty well in this game I thought even though they ended up losing but that’s yeah they came back from 20 down yeah but again we’re talking about for all

How bunched up all these teams are like yeah if the Pelicans could push forward here they got a shot to be fourth they also could they go one and four in this stretch then they’re going to be right in the mix for you know potentially

Being back in the playing again in a in a week and like it’s just these final couple weeks from that standpoint are just going to be truly fascinating with how bunched up all these teams are there’s a decent amount of games between them down the stretch the Kings and

Pelicans play the final couple days of the regular season actually kind of kind of uh I just looked at this now end the season at Sacramento Thursday at Golden State Friday and home for the on Sunday could be a pretty consequential violated the rule twice pretty conse could be a

Pretty consequential for by the way there was another comeback in the NBA on Tuesday night um the team that shall not be named that’s based in Southern California um came back from was it 19 down or 20 down on the four with eight minutes to play um Anthony Davis with a

3023 I think he had three game with four blocks um LeBron did not play in that game the Bucks 0 and2 against the L without LeBron this year um Che out in the last 10 days right um the Bucks were a little frustrated with the officiating

In this game um I was uh talking to a head coach the other day and he quoted almost down to the number exactly how many more free throws that the the team in the in the purple and gold which head coach I don’t know which head coach might you have been talking

To don’t know don’t know but it’s uh it’s now um where’s that hotel you’re staying in uh it’s in Los Angeles uh it wasn’t it was not at the team hotel or was not at the hotel um I didn’t say when it was you know I’ve there’s been I’ve been around a

Number of teams in in recent here in Los Ang including one that the head coach publicly pointed out the free throw disparity uh the the free throw disparity was plus 15 for the Laker oops for the uh the uh We’ve blown through it’s fine we’ve blown through it by the

Way by Friday they might both be out of on their way to like battles to be out of the respective spots one of them might be in seventh and one of them might be in 11th by by the weekend yeah it’s it’s it’s become if the way it’s

Gone it’s become a lot more relevant anyway I forgot to do I forgot do a height check on that uh Pacers game oh Jesus by the way uh speaking of that have you seen this uh State Farm I think the writers for State Farm are listen to

This podcast because there’s a new State Farm commercial where Chris Paul is in it with a referee and where he’s arguing with him big surprise is it an actual referee no he’s towering over this referee this man he’s four inches taller than this referee we know Chris Chris friend of

The Pod maybe he gave him the idea Hey listen yeah so the referee take McMahon’s Theory get a get a small ref out here please by the way by the way how about the other night I think it was last Friday Tony Brothers ejecting Chris Paul with six seconds

Left in the game and CP3 who you always got to take his explanations of interactions with referees with a grain of salt but he said it was because he told Tony Brothers he’s a Tik tocker well he posted a video of Tony Brothers on his Tik Tock account like moments

After the game uh like of some interview Tony brothers gave which I mean I’m sure he got a he got a Stern talking to from Adam Silver I bet you um Sheriff oh Lord it is now by the way have now shot 435 more free throws than their opponents this

Season but listen they go to basket sure sure Buton despite all that they’re still in ninth Le healthy they’re getting seven more free throws their opponents a game none of it matters Lebron and uh or ad was awesome Austin Reeves had pretty much the game-winning basket and a triple double

I think he had 25 Point triple double there was a great stat from uh stats at info I I want to give credit to Stats Williams but it um I want to be I want to be I want to be honest and fair here uh the last time a team had a player

With a 3020 game and a 25o triple double was did you guys see this stat NOP nope um in 1966 okay repeat the numbers again I’m gonna guess who it is are you gonna say Bob petett no um the last time uh a team had a guy with a

30p point 20 rebound game and a guy with a 25o triple double in the same night I bet you’ll get one of the names McMahon wil not Wilt Wilt it’s a very good guess but no Oscar Robertson Oscar Robertson is the one I thought you’d get the other

One’s Hall of Famer that you’re not gonna get yeah would that have been back in his uh in his it’s Jerry Jerry Lucas is who okay before L Al Cinder was in the NBA I believe so yeah by the way play with the Kansas City Royals or Cincinnati Royals I believe actually you

Know where the team that shall not be named that plays crypto.com Arena ranks and in drives per game in the league good question don’t know Bon Tims any guesses I’m gonna guess first 26th oh there you go so don’t talk to me about oh it’s because the Lakers talking

They drive to the rim occasionally 26 oh my God yeah great it’s great uh by the way anthe Davis played a career high 52 minutes in this game and they have a game on Wednesday night in Memphis I suspect he will not be playing in Memphis Andy banged his

Knee um I think in the first or I think it was the first overtime but yeah pet peeve coming out of that game by the way I I wish these coaches would sub in overtimes don’t you don’t have to sub everybody P peeve pet peeve overtime is

Too long three minutes not five three all right well if you want to change the time fine but see these teams just we see these teams just drag these guys out there for all these super intense minutes like by the second overtime of this game for anybody who was watching oh my God

Everybody on both teams couldn’t walk they were all exhausted and if you just subbed in like one guy on either team probably would have made a massive difference they were do think they should do overtimes like instead of sudden death of second overtime I think it should be like a soccer shootout but

With halfcourt shots the th those two teams were running in sand on top of mud in that second overtime I mean I mean the Lakers oops the purple and gold were barely moving and they were beating the Bucks up the court I mean ad was walking

Pretty much I mean he was getting every rebound and challenging every shot it wasn’t like he wasn’t but like he was just like he was resting on offense he was just like and they were still beating him back so I look absolutely agree with you bontemps that’s a classic

Thing that teams forget it’s like oh we finished the game with our second string uh power forward let’s just keep him in the game like what about the first Stringer uh but yeah I I and by the way I think the same for college five minute overtimes for college no three minutes

Three minutes and one minute for the second overtime that’s what we’ll settle on um but all right it’s late Jackson’s gota edit this got he said he was gonna beep out all the L’s and W’s but you know he doesn’t have all he’s GNA be up till

Dawn if he does that look at there look the the ban was instituted when those teams were like comfortably sitting in those spots but now we’re they’re not in I wouldn’t say they were comfortable yeah well you know what I mean where they weren’t going anywhere

Now like they’re in the middle of things so it’s a little waiting you’re the way things are going the Suns might be in 10th in a couple of days so we’ll we’ll see all right well it was a very high efficiency night in the NBA four games and lots of intrigue

Very very high efficiency all right thank you to uh bontemps thank you to McMahon thank you to Jackson our producer thank you for listening and watching The Hoop Collective we will talk to you later this week adios amigos

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk Dallas surging up the standings, how big a threat the Mavs could be in the playoffs, the Clippers’ struggles after an elite midseason stretch, the Suns suffering the worst loss of the NBA season, the Thunder passing a ‘test game’ but needing more help against teams with size and the Pelicans improvement with Zion.

0:00 Dallas Looks Strong In Sacramento
8:30 Clippers Continue To Struggle
25:23 Time For Panic For The Suns?
37:23 Test Game For The Thunder vs. Pelicans
58:57 Thanks For Watching!

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