Wildes was wrong about Rockets, Cavs suffer from Curse of Brou in Nick’s Tiers | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Wildes was wrong about Rockets, Cavs suffer from Curse of Brou in Nick’s Tiers | FIRST THINGS FIRST

factory. It’s where they actually make the crumble cookies. An elite group of experts, podcasters, and Bobby Wit Jr. He’s not fought and toiled and burned the Midnight Oil to deliver the best segment in all sports. It’s an honor. It’s a privilege. It’s a little bit sad as it’s the last time we’re going to see the Lakers on this episode of Tears. Rarely do we have an introduction with that many factors. First of all, everybody knows crumble cookies are fresh in store. That’s why they’re delicious. They won’t be made in a factory. My fault. Secondly, Bobby Whit Jr. was not is not on the committee and was unavailable last night cuz he was too busy beating the Tampa Bay Rays as the Royals. Don’t let them get hot now. Correct. The Lakers fought yet to be seen. Listen, round one will be over the next time we have tiers. So, the next time we have tears, there’s only eight teams left. As of now, there are only 12 teams left. Let’s start at the very bottom of the tiers. Honestly, my favorite category. Wilds was wrong, probably. Uh, there’s no probably. And I don’t think that Kevin Wild’s mealy mouth short shrift apology yesterday. I’m sorry, Brew. You were right. Really did justice. Not to Brewer eye, but to the audience. They’re not a true to the audience. Excuse me, sir. And they’re not a true two. Yes, they are. No, they aren’t. They didn’t add an alltime playoff performer all of a sudden. It’s not fair. I’m going to say it’s not fair. Okay. KW. Yeah, it wasn’t fair. KW, this is what I’m talking about. If all of a sudden the Magic had Jimmy Butler, it’d be a little tougher on the Celtics, wouldn’t it? They did that in February. You act like it was last week. Yeah, exactly. Act like you’re You didn’t. It happened after you picked the Rockets to beat him. Fair point. You should have listened. But more importantly, well, I again, I I’m hold on. I have to say this part. I’m not underestimating how much NBA basketball you watch Brew. However, over the course of the regular season, so many games on, we all kind of focus more on our either favorite teams or most interesting. So, I assumed Wilds had watched the most Rockets of any of us that a disproportionate amount and he was so big on, oh, here’s their defense, here’s Shingun, Jaylen Green’s better than you think. What about all this nonsense? And now I’m a fool. I pick them wrong. Warriors fans mad at me again. And we wasted the audience’s time. Next. Fun but fruitless. Pistons next series. It’s fun. It’s ruthless. Whoever wins this is about to get backhanded by the Boston Celtics. Correct. I’m just here to tell you. Um I’m enjoying it. I now do hope Brew ends up being correct that it is seven. I find it interesting that the Pistons still haven’t won a game in their building like since, you know, in however playoff. They haven’t won a playoff game in Detroit since Chanty was there playing the big three in Boston. And so what? Wow. Right. Cuz they won both of the two games they’ve won this series or in New York, right? A long time ago. Well, yeah, because they’ve only made the playoffs three times other than that and they were 40 in all of them or 04, I guess. And listen, I still think the Knicks are going to win the series, but I just there’s nothing you could have seen from this series that’s going to make you feel like, okay, we’re going to have a classic round two against Boston for either of these teams. Uh, still underrated even by the committee, got to tell you. True. Uh, the Indiana Pacers, they know exactly who they want to be. They have the least flashy superstar adjacent guy in the league. Hallebertton, but he’s a great flashy as a passer. So flashy is maybe the wrong word. Le talked about like Leo’s Q rating. I don’t know like whatever it is. And I I I I like their coach. He’s a champion. Seakum’s been excellent. Miles Turner, who was the subject of more trade rumors than, you know, actual discussions over the last decade. They they know who they are. Can they give Cleveland a series? Probably not. But that’s probably why they’re still underrated. Missed opportunities. The two LA teams. This is going to be an off season of real like wake you up at night, you got to be kidding me moments for both these teams if they can’t win their respective series. For the Lakers, it’s six or seven different possessions at the end of game four that any one of them could have gone different and they win that game. And for the Clippers, it really is just could we have just bumped Aaron Gordon if we would have slowed him down literally by 1/100th of a second. We are up 3-1. And then the Who was there? The Tell me who was there. Harden. Oh, Harden. Oh, I’m not even killing. I didn’t even think about I didn’t I I didn’t realize that. All right. Um flawed champions, Nuggets and Warriors. And so here’s what I mean. They are champions and they are terrifying. And you do have to give credit to what Jimmy’s been in the fourth quarter. What Steph’s been in two of the games in this series and the pressure he puts on the defense even when he’s not scoring. And obviously you saw what Jamal Murray as a number two option can explode for. We know how good Joic is. But they are flawed teams. They are teams that at any given moment at basically any lineup they have out there has one guy that you’re like ah in the off season if we could upgrade that spot. Now maybe it won’t matter and they’re high on the tiers but these are not perfectly constructed rosters at the moment which is why they are where they are. Flipping the narrative. So here’s what I mean. The Minnesota Timberwolves throughout the regular season. The narrative was wow. They were in the conference finals. Yeah. Went backwards. Made a trade to save money. Really, if we’re being, you know, that that Anthony Edwards, it looked like he was going to take the leap. And while his stats were excellent this year, might first team all NBA maybe, I don’t know. Um, it didn’t feel like it felt like this was a year where they were going backwards instead of forwards. Over the course of a weekend at home in Minnesota, they might have flipped that entire narrative. Julius Randle changing his playoff narrative. Anthony Edwards trying to catapult himself higher in the superstar tiers. The W was that the absolute right trade to make for them, not just financially, but also for their ability to win a championship? All of that, you know, they were a bad clutch team. Bad clutch team, flipping that. Luca torturing Rudy Gobear, flipping that. All of these narratives potentially flipping in this series if they can close it out and then the next series, of course. I I’m sorry, bro, but it’s undefeated. Curse of Brousard, man. And the Cavs were flying high until they found out that this man out of nowhere jumped on their bandwagon. We have seen it take down big threes such as KD, Kyrie, and Harden. We have seen it, you know, dead on arrival, Kawawaii, and Paul George and what they were doing with the Clippers. We have the poor Baltimore Ravens may never recover from it. The list is too long. And now, pour it. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley didn’t ask for this, and now they are saddled with the curse of Brousard. Tatum making the leap. Oo, I like this one. So, friend of the show, even though he’s never been on the show, Bill Simmons, for like 3 years, has been talking about is there another another level for Tatum to get to? and loyal listeners of Bill’s very popular podcast, I will speak for all of us, have been kind of annoyed by it because it’s like, no, man. Like, he’s great. He’s like the fifth or sixth best player in the league. There isn’t another level or is there? Are we seeing it in round one of these playoffs? Are we going to see it over the next 6 weeks? And maybe was Bill right? If he is, and if there is, they’ll win the championship. They might be able to win it even if he doesn’t take, you know, get even better. But if he continues on this trajectory and then last but not least at top the tiers wire towire question mark they started out 7 and0 they have been in first place in the Western Conference in the league really every single day of the NBA season. They just they started off their playoffs with a 50point win and they are undefeated this postseason. And the question is, a team that has won 72 games this year and is going to have the league MVP and has had the best record in the league basically throughout. I know Cleveland was with them as at some various points. Are they going to be able to go wire to wire? That brew is the latest edition of the committee’s tiers. As always, for the most part, the names are good. The names of the tiers are great except you undefeated. I’m I’m going all in. Cleveland, this is for you. Move them up. Move them up next to the Celtics. Come on. Right. They should be next. And I get that the Heat quit. They You don’t lose by 60. They basically lost by 60. Yeah, unless you quit in a playoff game, but they made them quit. That’s a good take. Game two in Cleveland. Nine-point win. the this the Heat were there at the end. They go back to Miami thinking we got a shot. Cleveland puts the beat down on them by 37 and they forced them to quit. So they forced Miami to quit. They’ve got everything. They got the superstar that can create offense when it’s not supposed to be there. They got shooters. They can shoot with this elves. You want a three-point contest? We’re down. All right. They can shoot with them. They got size at the rim. They defend the, you know, the perimeter as well with that size. They’ve got depth. And, you know, I’m big on lumps. Wow. They have taken their lumps. Unlike the Rockets, they have taken and even to some degree, unlike OKC, Cavs have taken their lumps. Donovan Mitchell’s been there two years ago. They go out in the first round. Yeah. Last year, they go out in round two. So, they’ve had their playoff heartache. Everybody question, are they mentally tough enough? Uh, you know, they’re not that they’re not mentally tough enough. They’ve gone through that and and Nick, I’m not putting them on this level by any stretch, but it’s somewhat reminiscent of the Golden State Warriors in 2015. And here’s why. Hear me out. Again, I said I’m not putting them on that level, but hear me out. that Warriors team. You looked at the roster and you said they got Yes. everything. They got size and bo. They had David Lee. Draymond was coming off the bench. They had the two great shooting guards, you know, and Stephan Clay. Brought in Iggy. Yeah. They had it without like it was like they got everything. They’re just not good enough. They’re just a second round playoff. They’ll win 50. They’re just a second round playoff team. They get a new coach, Steve Kerr. He he tweaks the offense more than tweaks and it changed the offense and they go to a level that none of us thought they could go to even when they got to the finals 60 some games. Yeah. We felt like no they not they’re not winning the finals. They do. This team is reminiscent of that. I thought Yeah. You look at the roster. I don’t know what they need cuz they kind of got everything. Yeah. I like that. But they’re just not good enough. They’re 50 wins and out in the second round. Get a new coach. changes the offense. They’re playing differently and now I think they got a shot. All right, so listen. This is Whoa, KW. No, I I’ll I’ll I’ll retort. Oh, okay. Go. I just my I’m obviously moving the Celtics above the Thunder, but first I’ll answer to what the Cavs don’t have when you match those teams up. They just I and I love Donovan. My kids went to Donovan Mitchell’s basketball camp. But he’s not as good as Tatum and he’s not a top five player in the world, which Tatum is. So here’s Tatum in the last games 3, four, and five. When we talk about making the leap, this is when he came back from having a hurt wrist. 36 10 and six. Shot 47% from the field. Shot 44% from three, and he hasn’t missed a free throw. I as he’s gotten 37 free throws in the last three games. Isn’t that amazing? That’s crazy. Yeah. Um he’s you sure that’s just three games? Yeah, that’s incredible. Yeah, go ahead. Um and then it’s like, well, you played the Magic, you beat, you know, you beat, but that’s a good defensive team. So, I give you I’ll give him credit. I think he was more aggressive. Uh you played the Magic, right? You win 4-1. Here’s the Celtics last five playoff series. Okay, they haven’t lost two games. 4-1 against the Magic, 4-1 against the Mavs, 4-0 against the Pacers, 4-1 against the Cavs, 4-1 against the Heat. Just rolling the second longest streak without being forced to a game six since the Durant Warriors team. So, there is a team like the Warriors, but it’s the Celtics. And then finally, and that and by the way, that team only made it seven series. No, they actually the the cuz they went seven with they went six series as well, but go ahead. Sorry. work. So then it’s uh great coaches. At some point Joe Mazula, who we do does give amazing quotes, we’re going to have to start talking about is he not only a good coach, is he not only a great coach? What What do we Hold on. What? Hold on. It’s not like Missoula doesn’t get credit. What do you So what do you This is where he’s one of the great coaches in the league. Everybody says that for the last for how many years does he have to be a great coach until he’s to be what? to be start Hall of Fame conversations. I think that you win. You go back to back. You start having greatest coaches of all time. Okay. So, that’s where I wanted to go. Yeah. I’m saying we’re we’re looking at we’re just Well, Phil Jackson, huh? Well, Jackson has slow down. Was that 11 championships? Yeah. I would not I’m not with Phil Jackson right Michael Jordan on the team. Not for five of them. Yeah. Kobe on the team. Yeah. But you guys have Jason Tatum where you’re putting in that tier. No, I I’m just saying the Joe Mazoula pompoms. I’m going to start getting ready to wave aggressively. Okay. So you So I understand that. Here is your only problem in my opinion because I agree with you that Boston’s the best team in the East. It contradicts my opinion. So many of your beliefs that the team’s regular season must be how we judge them based on what they’re going to be for the postseason. That has been your belief this entire the entire Was it a two seed? You mean what? Because Cleveland was better than them no matter how you slice it in the regular season and all regular season. We were told by you that the we were right. The record matters, the net rating matters, all of that matters. And but now it’s playoff time. I I know that it’s playoff time, but when we were looking ahead to that, you were telling us that this is the standard that we have to judge him by. and your Donovan argument I feel like is the argument you didn’t like when we were making about Tatum a year ago which was listen he’s great but is he you know best player on a champion level great which you were saying it was unfair to Tatum and you were right about but doesn’t all that apply to Donovan and doesn’t the stats being depressed but because he’s sacrificing for the winning apply to Donovan yeah they’re very they’re they’re very good I like the Cavs they’re just not as is the Celtics based off but I I’m just trying to get two and two in the regular season. Look at you got I based off the whole season and we can pull out like Drew was missing one of those games. Porzingis was missing but then the Cavs had somebody miss the whole season trying to match up. There’s so many substitutions. I almost throw it out. But I do throw in cuz look Boston obviously is is great and I think that’ll be a tall task. I think Cleveland can do it but it’s going to be tough for them to beat them. But I’m looking at some like Drew right now has the hamstring. Brown, where’s the knee at? Okay, fine. Tatum had the wrist. He’s obviously gotten past that. But I’m just saying they’ve been a little banged up. So, yeah. Listen, I agree with you. I just think you pick and choose when I test and gut is going to be persuasive. That is the That is the key to eye test and gut. Here’s the other thing. Uhhuh. They’re the champs. Yeah. Yeah. But we haven’t had a re repeat champ in We just did a whole segment about the AFC Champs and all you did was make fun of them. No, we’re do. Well, we need we getting a new champion every year. It seems I mean we could if the Thunder win this year, your Rockets with Giannis next year when be the year after. I don’t know if I if Giannis goes to Houston and Shenon goes to the Bucks. What? They’re not your Rockets. I kind of rock with Shinon. Okay, I’ll take the Thanks for watching. Subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1.

Nick Wright unveils his most recent NBA Playoff Tiers, featuring Kevin Wildes, who was wrong about the Houston Rockets and Chris Broussard’s curse on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Wildes was wrong about Rockets, Cavs suffer from Curse of Brou in Nick’s Tiers | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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