Nuggets-Thunder Reaction, OKC-Timberwolves & Knicks-Pacers predictions | Colin Cowherd NBA

Nuggets-Thunder Reaction, OKC-Timberwolves & Knicks-Pacers predictions | Colin Cowherd NBA

a stinker in game seven uh at OKC which uh I kind of had a vibe. In fact, I’m surprised it went seven. Gordon’s injury. I I even in the winning games, I felt like Joic was just running out of gas. Jamal Murray provided very little. Uh Jason Temp hoops tonight. Yeah, I felt like, you know, they play their ass off early, but you know, from Caruso on Joic to Murray’s absence, I mean, Kase Wallace is hitting shots, just like, okay, it it’s not going to be their day. I think I I I will say this. I mean, Oklahoma City was favored. I think we both liked them. I thought it would be a really good series. It was. I do think you kind of have to sort of I mean, Christian Brown played a lot better. Uh I think you do have to examine Jamal Murray. I just think in too many big games, he has injuries in too many big games, Jason. I just don’t I just don’t feel like I’m getting He was never hyper athletic anyway. Um I don’t know. I think I think it’s time to shuffle the deck. I think I would if it was me, I would keep Gordon. Um Brown U for his energy. I would keep, you know, Joic obviously. I’d move anything else. I’d take any call. How far off am I? Well, I think that there’s certainly going to be a pivot coming. I think that Michael Porter Jr. is the kind of player that I think they’ll be almost certainly looking to move. They used to need him desperately as a weak side spacer in the context of Aaron Gordon as a non-shooter, but now with Aaron Gordon really coming together as just a super well-rounded, versatile role player on both ends of the floor, I think they can actually look to target more of a defensive-minded wing at that position instead of a guy like Michael Porter Jr. who’s more of a shooter. I would stick with Jamal because I think there’s a lot of value specifically with the continuity with him in that matchup. This is a guy who’s played twoman game with Joic for over a half decade and he just has such a flow with him. I think there’s a conversation to be had with Jamal as it pertains to his conditioning and it’s routine now that he comes into camp out of shape and he basically plays his way into shape and then suddenly right before the All-Star break he kind of kind of starts to come together and then he’ll look good in the playoffs just not as consistently good as he can be. I mean Colin as bad as he was tonight he was absolutely brilliant in game six but it’s one of those things where I think internally they’re going to need more out of Jamal but I certainly think a pivot’s coming. I think the pivot’s going to center around a Michael Porter Jr. trade. That’s the kind of piece that they need to upgrade. I think Jamal, I think Christian Brown, I think Aaron Gordon, I think Nicole Joic. I think that’s a championship four. I just think they need someone more along the lines of like a Herb Jones, Jaden McDaniels type at the three than they need a Michael Porter Jr. They need to anchor this group with defense. They they need to give themselves more athleticism and pop. You could feel the difference in the athleticism in this especially in game seven tonight or today like they’re in that that beginning of the game. It’s so funny on the broadcast they show all the difference in experience. All those Nuggets have played in like 20 game sevens combined and there’s like three on the OKC side and they start the game and Denver goes up 21 to 10 and it literally feels like a classic young guy game seven. But then right at the end of the first quarter, Alex Cruso checks in. They really upped their ball pressure and man did the wheels come off. It completely came off from there and they just were never able to regain control. And even Joic to your point, especially in that late second quarter run that OKC went on right before the half, he just looked physically overwhelmed by how how physical their guards are. Sorry to interrupt this great video, but please remember to like and subscribe. Thank you. Now, back to the video. Yeah, I know. It was like a 14-2 run and they were getting up the floor and I you know I think I I think I’ve said this before. I think the first round should be five games. I I think it was that’s what it was in MJ’s era and I think the pace is faster. I think the athletes are bigger and stronger. Uh I don’t like the NFL going to 18 games eventually. I just I I think we should I I don’t that doesn’t do it for me because I think athletes now are they’re training year round. you ask more bodies break down. But I think, you know, I think we’re going to end up, you know, we’re ending up with really good coaching staffs with OKC Minnesota, Indiana and the Knicks. That’s what we’re ending up with. And I think I think we’re ending up with I mean between Hallebertton and Jaylen Brunson and SGAA and um you know I mean Ant obviously uh I I feel like the Eastern Conference feels much different than the Western Conference and the Western Conference I just love the construct of the rosters. I mean if you look at Minnesota it should not be this good. Rudy Gobear’s an offensive hole at times. Connley’s six years past his prime. Ant is a superstar, a developing superstar. Julius Randall was never a good playoff performer and struggled the first month or two with the T-Wolves. But I see this roster. I see the athleticism. I see the size. Great GM came from Denver. And I see a staff that just gets everything out of its players that like coaches them hard. It’s like almost like Spolstra coaches them hard, has no problem barking, but I feel like I’m getting every player’s best game. And with Oklahoma City, like Sam Prey, I feel again, I just think there’s just so much energy and so many guys that can do high-end rotational players. So, in the West, you can touch on this. I just think I think it’s really good coaching. obviously two two of the top four or five stars in Ant SJ, but I think it’s really good coaching, really good GMing, really nice rosters with a variety of options to throw at teams. Big energy, youth, and just it just there’s so many levers for both coaches to pull in the West. Hey, so we all make mistakes, but depth is the recurring theme that I see for sure in the sense that the Pacers have three, four, five guys that they lean on in substantial roles off the bench. Same with Oklahoma City. Same with Minnesota. You’re getting Naz Reed, Dante Dvenenzo, Nquille Alexander Walker. The these teams just have wave after wave of talent. And even with the Knicks, like the Knicks don’t have the depth in terms of like playing an eight or nine man rotation, but Mitchell Robinson is like a legit sixth starter for them. and so is Duce McBride. I think Duce McBride’s a very good backup guard. And so I think that’s part of it. Having like a rock solid seven that you can count on, I think makes a big deal. I mean, to to your point, Colin, literally, we got into the start of the second quarter and David Adelman inexplicably leaves Joic and Murray off the court at the same time. And we got to see a little bit of Denver’s bench there for a minute. It wasn’t pretty. And so I think de I think depth is a significant part of it. There is an interesting trend, Colin, towards offense and late playoff success. Two, uh, two years ago, Denver is the first team that’s not a defending champion that was not a top 10 defense to win the title. Last year, we had three top five or three top 10 offenses, two top 10 defenses. This year, all four teams in the final four are top 10 offenses, but only Oklahoma City and Minnesota are top 10 defenses, which I find really fascinating. the offensive side of the floor is becoming more important as the coaching staffs and the defensive schematics have made it so that groups like that Denver group can actually defend pretty well when they’re engaged and they’re playing hard. And so what’s really becoming important is do you have the scoring talent to actually uh put put the ball in the basket in these tight competitive environments. You know what’s interesting? There’s a there’s a real change in the league and I think it’s one Adam Silver, the commissioner wanted. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Hallebertton and uh Brunson are are high IQ EQ floor generals. You know, five years ago it was let’s get three really good players together. And I think Adam Silver looked at that and just thought that’s that’s not what we want here. Like that’s just eliminating a half to 60 to 70% of the teams. And you’re getting the basketball that Adam Silver wanted. Physical playoff basketball, no dynasties with multiple aprons. it you you know you can’t have a stacked roster. Even Boston they cheated the code a little bit for a year and then they looked really old this year like once we move off probably Porzingis or a Horford or a Drew Holiday Boston’s going to face what everybody else does right with new ownership. So I think it’s the it’s the it’s what the league wanted and I got to tell you what I really like about it. I love point I you know nothing against wings MJ and Kobe but I like point guard driven basketball. I love smart point guard play. I always love Chris Paul where you everybody gets touches. Um I went golfing this morning very early in uh BBS in Chicago and we started talking about Jaylen Brunson and we were all sports fans and we were all like, “Yeah, I watched them at Villanova. I didn’t see that. I watched them at Dallas. I didn’t see that.” But I think in you know how you know how you and I had talked about certain players when the league went threeheavy guys like Dwight Howard or Tristan Thompson it’s like man you can’t have them on the floor. It’s almost like Adam Silver has moved basketball in to Brunson and Hallebertton which is um it’s not you’re not going to have the you’re going to have these rosters that aren’t all star-studded. They’re they’re rotational players. They’re role players. intelligence, everybody getting touches, pacing becomes huge. Like I look at Brunson now and I’m like I feel like the league’s kind of built for him in Hallebertton. It is it it’s 28 points isn’t necessary. It’s it’s when you when you don’t have a a topheavy roster, Jason, and you actually have seven guys that can play, eight guys, and you get them all touches. I I don’t know. I I just I watch the league and I don’t feel like the Knicks and the Pacers are outliers. I’m like, no. Like, they’re my they’re my favorite two teams right now in the league to watch. I think you’re absolutely on to something here, Colin. I think what we’re seeing is offensiveminded stars that are able to create advantages and then these deep rosters of talent living off of that advantage. Essentially, like as the game has modernized, there’s a lot of really similar jobs on offense. Like a back door cut is a back door cut regardless of what type of athlete you are. If you’re attacking a closeout, it’s the same for the Pacers is as it is for the Knicks as it is for the Nuggets. If you’re making reads in a fouron-ree, slipping out of a ball screen because they put two on Brunson or they put two on Hallebertton, it’s the same reads in Golden State as it is in Indiana, as it is in New York. And so what happens is you can as a GM accumulate these types of talent, these two-way players that can attack close outs, make reads, play defense, you know, all that kind of stuff. And all it becomes is do you have a guy, a singular force that can constantly bring two to the ball or make the right reads to generate that first close out and then from there it’s a flow sport. It’s all about the the uh aggregate talent on the floor capitalizing on that advantage. But Tyresese Hallebertton is succeeding because he’s one of the best advantage creators in basketball. Brunson does it a little bit more of a lean towards scoring, but I mean keep an eye on this series in this matchup in particular. The Pacers have been able to hold Brunson’s scoring down a little bit by constantly putting two on the ball. This will be a series where we’re going to see a lot of Siaka or excuse me, OGNobi and Male Bridges and Josh Hart looking to make plays. It it is a very interesting directional change for the league in this offensive theme that we’re talking about. This is why guys like Luca are so valuable. This is why guys like Nicole Joic are so valuable. When you have somebody that’s like got to throw multiple pieces at this guy, all of a sudden there these really achievable roles appear for role players and that those are the kinds of guys that good GMs are picking up all over the league. To Sam Prey’s credit, he’s got like eight of these dudes that can defend multiple positions, knock down a catch and shoot three, drive a closeout, make a read, or grab a rebound. And so as a result, they they just they just come flying in. It’s like, “Good. Oh, good job. You finished the JDub and Dort phase. Here comes Kesan Wallace and Alex Caruso for your next shift. Have fun with that. They might actually be better at it. Yeah. No, I and I and I and I like I mean I don’t think you know I think the league would do better if it’s OKC. Um well actually Ant Edwards probably Ant against the Knicks would be really good to have Ant go for 42 in the Garden. Um you know it it’s fans always root for the home team. So when the Knicks win, you know, the fans are going to say, “We told you so.” I think a really fascinating team though is the one that lost. And we see this a lot in the NBA, the end of dynasties. That’s not the case because the Celtics were never a dynasty. But I do feel like I felt when Denver won, I thought, “Oh, here come the Spurs.” And then they weren’t. And then I thought when the Celtics won, I thought it was going to be like a three-year run. And then they weren’t. And next year, obviously, without Tatum. Tatum is fine if he misses four games, two games. When he misses the season, you can just it’s just a different ball game cuz Jaylen Brown can be a little hot and cold offensively. You know, Boston and again, there’s so many smart front offices in the NBA. We all we both kind of agree they’re going to get rid of some kind of expensive older guys. Do you think Do you think they’ll go big game hunting in Boston? I don’t think they’ll go big game hunting right away. I think it’s got to be more of a a big picture two-year kind of window to make this sort of transition because like essentially you could take all of next year you own your own draft pick. So like you could be bad and that could lead into more talent coming in through the draft. There’s the ability to offload young like older role players in hopes of bringing back younger role players. So like flip a Drew Holiday to a team that needs a a better player right away. Like for instance, like I would be calling Dallas and I would see what I could get for Drew Holiday. Like, okay, we need a center. So, they’ve got Daniel Gaffford and PJ Washington. They Cooper Flag is literally going to be playing the forward next to Anthony Davis, next to Derek Lively. Maybe we can turn Drew Holiday into PJ Washington and Daniel Gaffford. Now I got a four and a five that could both start in this league that are 26 years old instead of 34 years old like Drew Holidayiday is. I think I think those are the kinds of moves they’ll be looking to make and then it’s essentially going to be just asset accumulation in hopes of being able to pivot around Jason Tatum in that following season. But this is the challenge, Colin. I mean the Raptors win, they lose Kawawaii, then they end up losing the next season, right? The Lakers win, but then Anthony Davis and LeBron get hurt. They make a tweak. can’t repeat. The Bucks, they don’t pay PJ Tucker. Chris Middleton gets hurt. They can’t repeat. The Warriors, they Jordan Pool and Andrew Wiggins both fall back to what they’re normally like. The the uh Nuggets, they can’t pay Bruce Brown and they can’t pay uh Contavius Cwell Pope. Suddenly, they are second tier contender. the Celtics. You these windows look long, but OKC is going to have to pay all these guys and it’s only a matter of time before suddenly it’s Shay and Jdub and some lesser level talent around them and all of a sudden it’s going to be a harder game. The NBA it. Here’s something else, and this is another shift which I think is great for basketball. I think with the NIL, more players will stay an extra year in college or go to college. So, I do think when they enter the league, um, they’re they’re more ready to play. I mean, we’ve had a lot of Jaylen Greens over the last 10 years, like guys that are talented, but you you just see in three years, you know, like like get some polish, but if you if you play, you know, for Bill Self or Hurley for even one year and maybe two, I’m not saying you’re a Villanova guy, but you’re ready to play in the league. And I and I do think the um growth and explosion of NIL money actually helps the NBA. I think Adam Silver’s always known there’s um you know it’s a little bit of a liability. First of all, you want more tape on a player so fewer players are bust like NFL GMs have such an advantage. They got three and four years of tape and you’re kind of guessing because college basketball coaches often control the offense. So you’re like is he a good decision maker? What am I getting? But you’re going to get a couple years of tape. You so you you have a better evaluation and I think you’re going to get more mature players. They’re just more refined because I think college coaching and the college environment, we talked about this March Madness, you know, conference championships, those are intense NBA feeling like environments. So, I actually think basketball’s in a really good place. I think, you know, baseball right now is so lopsided, you know, where it’s just like Dodgers are throwing out like eight all-star level players. They’re going through massive injuries and it doesn’t matter. But I think basketball is in a really good place and I think, you know, I think if when you start looking at the market, I don’t think markets have the the levers they used to. Like I I like watching OKC play. I’m fine with it. And I’m I’ve been kind of market sensitive in my life. Um, as a broadcaster, I always kind of looked for the bigger, more interesting markets, but I I don’t know. I like watching Indiana. I I like OKC I don’t have a problem with. So, I’m, you know, I think the the league would, you know, we all know if New York faced Ant, it would probably be the win. I will say this. I part of me thinks Minnesota I, you know, they always say styles make fights. Like, I’ve gone to a lot of boxing matches and I have to watch two rounds to get really comfortable. I’m not sure. I don’t have strong senses on the series. I like the experience of Minnesota and the coaching staff. I think Oklahoma City should win, but I’m not sure. And I I think Indiana is better than the Knicks. I just I just think they have more depth. I think they again they I think Let’s talk about that. I think Indiana and Carile has more lineups to throw at you. He’s got a little more dexterity. That’s that’s my interpretation. you. Yeah, they are. They have like six different dudes that could go for 20 plus points on any given night. And they are they play with such pace and they play with such energy. The reason why I like the matchup with the Pacers versus the Knicks. They the the Pacers don’t have a single player in this postseason, Colin, that’s averaging over 35 minutes per game. On the Knicks, Male Bridges and Ojanobi are both averaging over 40 and all five starters are over 35 minutes per game. They lean on a whole lot of the the heavy minutes for their core five guys. What the Pacers do, as you’ve seen so many times already in this postseason, is you got them, you got them, you’re up 13, you’re up 14, and you feel you feel like you’re in good shape, but the problem is is like they make one layup, and then they pick you up full court again, and then they do it again, and they do it again, and every time you turn it over, they run it down your throat again, and they play with so much pace and so much energy, and they literally never let go of the rope. And the Knicks, as we’ve seen a ton of times in the Pistons series and even in the Celtics series, they can have really sloppy nights where they get undisiplined. And I think they’ll pay the price against Indiana in this matchup with that. Also, like to your point, I I think the Pacers are just playing really good basketball right now. They’re peing at the tail end of the season. They’ve been go they’ve been playing like this for for the last couple months really. They’ve been really cooking at this level. Tyresese Hallebertton is playing every bit as well as Jaylen Brunson just in a different way because he’s more of like a Steve Nash than he is a a legit on ball scoring guard. Seakum is is has a lot of similarities to OG and Anobi. Aaron Nmith is literally averaging 15 points a game in this postseason and he’s knocking every three down off the he’s shooting over 50% on open threes in this postseason run. Andrew Nehard is just a playoff gamer who can do a little bit of everything. Miles Turner is shooting like 45% on threes in this postseason. like they are just everyone’s playing super well. They go like 8 n deep. They never stop coming at you. I have a feeling, this is the the last thing I’ll say about it. It kind of reminds me, Colin, of the of the Golden State Warriors back in the day where they play such a unique style that there’s like this shock and awe phase at the beginning of each series where it’s like you’re used to playing a certain type of team and then all of a sudden here come the Warriors and they’re running Steph and Clay through a million screens and it’s just bizarre and they catch you off guard and they go up 2 in the series and all of a sudden you’re fighting upstream. The Pacers jumped the Cavs in game one and that was I know Garland didn’t play. That’s a good Cavs team that was at home. They got punched in the mouth by the Pacers because they just they were not ready for the way they play. And the same thing happened to the Bucks in the first round. So like I look at it as a kind of series where Indiana probably steals game one and then New York is fighting upstream against a deeper team that never stops playing hard, that never plays their main guys big minutes. And I I just think it’s going to be too much for them to overcome. I do think the Knicks have a chance, but I would make the Pacers a decent favorite. Well, I think my my take is if the games are close late, I love New York’s shot making ability. I think they’re really good. I think they I think they’re very physical. They’re well coached. They make shots. They’re totally unselfish, but it’s Brunson’s team. Uh I think if you told me there were three, you know, three 12point games in the series, I’d take Indiana. Indiana can wear you out. Um and and and but I I think those I I think my of of the entire playoffs if I had one kind of um wow it was Jaylen Brunson and the Knicks shotmaking in multiple games against the Celtics. A good defensive team like wow. And it really Jason it really made me look at the Knicks differently from through a different prism. I I I really felt all year, go get Y Giannis. Go get Durant. You need a big piece. And I’m like, no, not really. I think you need a piece. I don’t think it’s a huge piece. I thought I thought Bridges OG’s just big and physical. And again, the league now has said, we’re going to let guys like, oh, the the league stylistically is playing right into what the Knicks do. I think they need I think they need um you know C doesn’t defend Mitchell Robinson you don’t trust offensively. I feel like if you could morph and get a you could get Listen, didn’t we? It was Isaiah Hartstein Colin. It was Isaiah Hartenstein. Like they should have just made some sort of salary dumping trade with Julius if that’s what they were going to do and just picked up Hartinstein cuz he would literally be perfect as the two-way fulcrum for this team. Yeah. Yeah. No, he is that’s exactly right. Um, but I I um I I don’t look at the Knicks as needing a big swing and and a credit to the front office, the executive suite, which was impatient for years. The Knicks have made like male Bridges, I like the move, and then halfway through the season, I’m like, that’s a lot of firsts for Male Bridges. And then you watch in the playoffs, you’re like, oh no, this works. He he’s a really really good player and he and he fits their culture. So yeah, they uh the Knicks, it came together in the right way for them late in the season. It started with a couple of different things and mostly it comes down to me the conversation we were having earlier, which is all season long when I watched the Knicks, I’m like, why are they bad on defense? They’ve got three really good They’ve got three really good defenders on the floor all season. And and like and by the way, like Male Bridges wasn’t very good on defense this season. You know, uh Brunson and Cat were abysmal most of the season on defense. In this postseason, male has turned into one of the better point of attack guys in the league. OG Anobi has literally been flying around like prime Kawaii making plays and Jaylen Brunson outside of game five against Boston has been very good defensively in this playoff run. And so what’s happening is they’re leveraging a higher level out of themselves defensively and they’ve been a great offense all year long. And so it’s really coming together in that way. I just worry to me I just think the Pacers are a little bit better. I just think they’re a little bit better on defense. They have a better rim protector. They’re a little bit better on offense. They’re a little bit deeper. That that to me is what it comes down to. And now for our next segment, Well, think about this. That’s why the T-Wolves beat the Lakers. And I mean, that’s really it. That’s why the T-Wolves beat the Warriors. That I mean, if if you say, “Well, they’re deeper. That’s why OKC beat Denver.” I mean, the depth thing when you allow this level of physicality, it wears players out even more. And I think I think you’re seeing that depth really. In my entire life, there was always two things that were true about the playoffs. It was more physical and um depth was overrated. It you know, you you play eight, you trust seven. And it was like, oh no, it’s more physical and depth has been huge. I don’t remember a year uh well, we all know veterans tend to be kids. That’s kind of a given, but I don’t remember a year to me where it was like one of the first punches is well, they just have they have more levers. Um, and I think Indiana and OKC probably should win the series because of I never I mean when Denver won the title, we didn’t think I mean they had KCP or a Bruce Brown. We didn’t we didn’t think depth, right? We Joic at the time was a poor defender. We didn’t think about we just thought, listen, they have the best player. They’ve got they were hitting on all cylinders. They had enough good guys off the bench. Depth matters and I don’t remember it ever in my life being this big of a factor in the playoffs. Maybe I’m wrong. I think the I think the physicality plays a big role. I think you’re right. I think I think that the depth is giving you the ability to withstand physicality. I mean ultimately like Denver blew this series in game four and game five when they had fourth quarter leads and all their stars looked exhausted down the stretch while the Thunder Stars looked fresh and they were able to make plays. the younger, more athletic, deeper team just came on strong late in the game. I think the second thing that the physicality has done which has actually been pretty interesting is do you remember Colin over the the previous few years how we just had so many blowouts where like it just felt like teams would go back and forth like blowing each other out. And I think one of the things that the increased physicality has done is it’s made it really difficult to shoot threes because everyone’s legs are cooked. And like even in this game seven, you see like no no one’s stepping like there’s a whole lot of games where teams are shooting 20% from three and it’s just a blood bath. And I think that’s dragging the games down into like everything finishing every every you’re looking at the clock and it’s 93 to 93 with eight minutes left and and it’s causing for a lot of great games. This is a great point because um and I and I think you’re right on because I I was talking about this the other day as we were preparing for a show. I’m like, man, just there’s a lot of bad three-point shooting nights. And I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. But I again, I think when you get into tush push basketball and it’s just leaning on each other, teams are tired and it brings the offense down. And I think that’s a great point. In fact, what it also creates is um when you’re not hitting threes, you tend to you realize it. The coaching staff knows it. longer the series goes, you start shooting fewer. One of the things I never liked about three-point shots is you it’s not you can box out all you want. The rebounds are long and weird and you can’t and so you can have great position, but when you’re playing a more, you know, a more physical game inside the ark, you run like traditional fast breaks. You get, you know, a 4ft carum. You get it the outlet. So it the aesthetic of the fast break like OKC did it about six, seven times over a fiveminute stretch. Oh, it looked like old playoff. It looked like old college, high school, old ‘7s NBA fast break. Here’s the point card. Two guys in the wind wings fill in. A guy’s backpedaling, finished with dunks. Three-point shooting’s so weird. And to me, I don’t like the idea of you miss and a ball carams 20 feet out to the corner, it stops play, you come back up. I I think I I really do, this is a cliche, but it it looks it’s giving me a little bit of a college feel and a little bit of an old NBA feel. And I’ve said this for years, I like the layered basketball more than three-point shooting basketball. And I think your point’s great, is that the more, you know, the benefit, I don’t know if they thought about this, but the more physicality, the lousy your three-point shooting and the less you scheme up three-point shooting. You’re scheming up baskets. it feels like to me. No, absolutely. I think I think in general it’s a better version of what old basketball looked like. It’s physical. It’s ugly, but you have the impressive skill level that we have in the modern NBA. And so, it’s kind of given us the best of both worlds. But I’m super excited for OKC Minnesota. I’m with you in the sense that I have almost no feel for it because Minnesota was a team that was much better than their regular season looked. If you talk to any Timberwolves fan all season, they were like, “We just weren’t playing as hard on defense as we did last year.” Minnesota’s a little bit Minnesota has some more veteran guys than you’d think. Like Julius is a vet. Rudy Goar is a vet. Uh Mike Connley’s a vet. Like they’re they’re they’ve got some guys that have been around for a little while. And so they just kind of took it easy through the season. Oklahoma City, everybody not named Caruso in their rotation is 26 or younger. They’ve just been going crazy all 82 games. And so they’re two there two teams that I think OKC is probably not as good as they’re they looked in the season. Minnesota’s better than they looked in the regular season. Two great defenses, both anchored by both rim protection with Cet and Rudy Gobear and two big looks with Nas Reed as well as Isaiah Hartinstein. Elite on ball guard with size that can shoot over the top like Ant and Shay just which one of them makes more jumpers over the top. Huge part of this series cuz guess what? There’s not going to be a lot at the rim for either team in the series. Role player shooting. You we we just watched Lou Dort and Quesan Wallace and Alex Caruso take a bunch of threes. It’s going to be Jaden McDaniels. It’s going to be Julius Randle, Nquille Alexander Walker, Dante Devincenzo. I do think there’s a real like veteran experience advantage for Minnesota. Yes. But Oklahoma City also has homecourt advantage and they’re probably just a little bit deeper, a little bit faster. So, it’s it’s that’s going to be a fun one, Colin. And what a what a like if we had to have the new guard for a playoff quarter, final four. These are pretty interesting series. The Knicks and Pacers kind of hate each other. They’ve played each other in the playoffs before. She vers is literally the battle of the two best guards in the league right now. I think this is going to be an entertaining quarter or semi-final. All right, Jason Temp hoops tonight. um little shorter version as uh we get ready for the conference finals. Um I’m I’m just going to watch the I’m going to take Indiana and OKC just because of depth and the coaching options. I don’t feel great conviction. I feel I feel a I I I think this is Ant’s moment. Ants knocked a lot of good guys out of the playoffs. I mean, you start looking the last two years, Ant has knocked a lot of legends out of the playoffs. I but it it’s not just an SGA thing. When you’re watching them annihilate Denver in transition and in the paint, I’m like, Jesus, it’s just a it’s a 10 player. I mean, 10 rotation. That’s just unheard of. Um, yeah, I I think I lean slightly towards Minnesota right now. I think the thing I keep coming down to is JDub. And again, I’m going to watch a bunch of film and I’ll make my pick when I do my series preview tomorrow morning. But JDub was super inconsistent in this series. Julius Randle’s been fantastic in this postseason run. I even think I trust I think I trust Nas Reed more to score the ball than Chad in terms of over the top shooting and stuff. I think I I think I trust Minnesota’s experience. I I I’m leaning just slightly that way at this point in time. Yeah, Randall’s been a revelation and in the end and I think it was funny. I talked to Chris Finch off the air about him. I said, “What do you make of this?” He’s like, “He’ll get there. He’s not there yet.” This was like three months ago. He’s like, “He’s going to get there, but we’re asking him to do other stuff.” He’s become a much better um distributor. I mean, his assist numbers are up. So, it’s like, and he’s hitting three-point shots. So, yeah, it’s funny. Two Knicks, the shot making of Jaylen Brunson and and really a revelation in Julius Randall are my two sort of wow. I can remember when Julius Julius Randle was a Laker. It was becoming a three ball league. And I can remember going to a Laker game saying, “God, this guy’s just a bit he’s a house. Like this guy is this his body is like a 38-year-old man.” And thinking to myself, and I remember the Lakers were cool on him because he didn’t shoot threes. And I’m like, “Yeah, but I’m getting like 18 and eight. He defends. He’s always got a smile on his face.” Like I’m like, “God, if he’s not a NBA player, like what is the league?” Remember when they said Zack Edy wouldn’t fit? And you’re like, “No, no, Zack Ed’s fine in the NBA.” Like I remember going to a Laker game, watching him and thinking, “Dude, he’s he’s, you know, he’s just really consider his energy is great.” You know what I mean? Just like he’s just he wasn’t a pretty player. He was really old school. So, I always love when a guy’s coachable and coaches coach hard. I think Minnesota’s done that with a couple of players. Like they coach hard and the players are like they digest it, they consume it, and it’s I don’t know. I think that, you know, when when when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving said, “We don’t need a coach.” I’m like, “Guys, really, come on. Give me a break.” Like like the great players all want great coaching. Come on. Yeah. The the Julius Randle piece, too, he’s just so physically imposing. Like he’s a much better athlete than he gets credit for. I mean, I know I know LeBron was 40, but he kind of kicked LeBron’s butt athletically in that series a few times and like he ultimately that’s to me what makes him a good playoff player. I thought his playoff struggles originally were a little overblown because he was just injured. He was like either playing through an injury or had just returned from an injury and was clearly out of rhythm. He had a long runway this year and was playing great right when he like he was playing great when he got to the postseason and he’s a decent passer who legitimately can battle for position and make little short jump shots in the lane that is going to help an NBA team in the playoffs. Like it’s get like he just has a he has a skill set that’s kind of built for this environment. I actually think he’s defended really well in this postseason. And the one guy that I was really worried about him defensively was Steph Curry and he got out of that matchup because of an injury. So, it worked out pretty fine for him. First time in NBA history we will have seven different champions in a seven-year stretch. Uh, and I’m here for it. Jason Tim Hoops tonight as always. Thanks, buddy. Good to see you, Colin. See you next week.

Colin Cowherd is joined by Jason Timpf to react to the Oklahoma City Thunder beating the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. They give their takes on the game and which players the Nuggets should try to trade this offseason to build a better team around Nikola Jokic. They give their early predictions for the Eastern Conference Finals between the Indiana Pacers & New York Knicks and their picks for the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder & Minnesota Timberwolves.

TIMELINE
00:00 Nuggets-Thunder Reaction
19:50 Knicks-Pacers & Timberwolves-Thunder Predictions

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