Thunder take 3-2 lead over Nuggets, Cavs lose series 4-1 to Pacers | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Thunder take 3-2 lead over Nuggets, Cavs lose series 4-1 to Pacers | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

It’s a show that is counting down to the schedule release. I love schedule release week. Yeah. And I don’t trust leakers. No, I I don’t trust them. No. No, I don’t trust them. I I need the official sourcing. Whatever helps you get excited about Yeah. I’m an official guy. I don’t need like Oh, did I see the Patriot schedule? You saw Did I believe it? No. Exactly. No way. Official. Exactly right. That’s what I like. Even though it’s probably 100% Did I or did I not buy a ticket to Brazil for the first weekend of the year? Maybe. Well, that’s just for but but so I just know a games being played there. I don’t know who. I don’t know. Uh but we’re starting with a battle in OKC. Joker had 44 and 15, but it wasn’t enough. SGA poured in 31. Lou Dort hit three straight threes in the fourth that erased a Denver lead and gave the Thunder a 3-2 series lead. You don’t like that? I don’t like the followup. How confident are you that you’re going to win the next game? I’ll be honest with you. And I think we’re cooked. Check. This was our chance. And you know, I actually have non-refundable plane tickets to I said goodbye to everybody. I mean, that’s I’m not trying to pick on the working media. That’s just a tough No, you are. That’s a weird. What’s he going to say? Biggest takeaway from game five. Well, I do have several takeaways. One, you guys know all year or half the year, whatever, I’ve been talking about how OKC because of their youth have to take their lumps, go through some things. This is what I’m talking about. Now, this isn’t a lump. This was a victory. But the tension, yeah, that they have experienced in these playoffs, some last year, more this year. These are the growing pains I’m talking about. Now, maybe they’ll grow to the point where they win it this year, but these are things that are necessary. That win last night was far more valuable than the 40point win in game two. Like that was a gut check win. The first three games of this series, they were outscored in the fourth quarters. Game two didn’t matter. That was a blowout. But that’s why they lost games one and three where they had controlled most of the game and then Denver outplayed them in the fourth. The last two games they have outplayed Denver. In fact, outscored them by 26 points in the last two deficits in both fourth quarters. Yes. So they are growing right before our eyes. That’s number one. Number two, I don’t want to Joic was phenomenal. I mean, that was incredible. I don’t want to hear anything though about his teammates not helping him out. Now, they were one for 15 in the fourth combined. They didn’t give him help, but they have been carrying too strong because he’s still their best player and obviously put up numbers, but they have really, for lack of a better term, carried him the last three games as he has not been himself and shot 33% from the floor. So, what Denver has to do is find out how they can get Jokic and the other guys or at least most of them to have their A or B games together. That’s the how they can win. And Nick, the depth is is a huge thing. So, that’s the difference. Listen, this is they have in back-to-back games, they have run out of gas. Yeah. A and I I understand your point, Brew, that Joker had, you know, the 44 and 20 in, you know, a remarkable game earlier than this series and aside from that hadn’t been playing up to his standard, but the fourth quarter last night, he was let down by his teammates. I mean, we can I mean, that is egregious. No, they were right. I’m just saying for the series. No, for the series in general. And and listen, I think Russ these playoffs has been objectively good for them until these last two games when he and Michael Porter Jr. in what were their two biggest moments of the season. It’s not just Russ, we can show it to you. He and MPJ, I mean, this is games four and five. They are combined giving you seven and a half points on 15% from the field and two of 22 9% from three. Not great. And so and that what makes it so much more damaging is these are games that are in the balance. You know what I mean? It’s not a blowout. And we I said after game two that the Thunder have the ability to blow out the Nuggets. the Nuggets don’t have the ability to blow out the Thunder. That the Thunder’s path is to win the clo, you know what I mean, to win three of the five close games and, you know, get blown or I guess four of the six close games get blown out once would would be their hope. And you’re seeing it in real time because the minutes played in this game, it’s a remarkable amount of faith that was justified by Dagenol in his depth. They didn’t have a player play more than 38 minutes, right? They only had two players play more than 34 minutes. They got off their bench 23 11 1811. Those are minutes, not points. Which is why at the beginning of the fourth when even though the Nuggets had the lead, the uh Adelman felt like I can’t take Joker out. Sheay is sitting. Dor stretch is huge. And then at the end like I thought Joker made that amazing shot. I just said it might have been the shot of the year. And I thought Joker was really good in the fourth despite the fact that not only was he gassed, he seemed even by his standards to be doing a lot of extracurricular weird try to draw a foul by like lurching into a guy or hooking an arm. And I think that was partially because trying to get to the free throw line and partially for the stoppages like you know what I mean like way as many as many rest breaks as we can get. And so listen I I still think it’s go I said yesterday whoever won game five I think is going to lose game six. So I think we’re going to get a seventh game but it is going to take a jo a a Joker masterpiece and some other stuff for them to have enough in the tank to beat this team. Drew, can I show you the stat from Josh uh about having Joker score too many points. So every time he scores high or mid mid 40s, 53 last night he had 44 they lost. First game what do you have? 40 even 42 I think 42 cut 42 is good. 43 is bad. So Brew what does a masterpiece for game six look like? 34 35 and double digit assist. Like that’s much better. Look, obviously those are great games by Jokic. You’re not killing him for what he did last night by any stretch, but they are better when he’s getting in the 30s and a ton of assist because that means and some of that’s just other guys making shots, right? You read the graphic about Westbrook and Porter Junior. If they’re hitting shots, he may have nine assists last night or more. And so they just that’s why I said they got to get all the guys playing well together. And I mean all the guys because as you said it OKC is going 10 deep. Denver had three guys play over 40 minutes for the series. Jokic and Murray are both averaging 41 minutes. OKC doesn’t have a guy averaging 40 minutes. They only got two guys averaging 35 or more. Denver only wants to play six guys. Yeah. The only reason you got real minutes from Watson and Strawther yesterday was because Michael Porter Jr. was struggling so much and has been these last couple games. I I understand what that graphic shows. I think for them to win any they are going to need for them to win the next two, they are going to need at least one more Joker 40point game because they didn’t lose last night because Joker’s doing too much scoring. They lost last night because they needed all 44 of those points and a couple of those generated open threes to go down. And I listen I I didn’t include Christian Brown in that graphic earlier, but the last two games from Christian Brown, he also has struggled. And I think he was three of 11 and three of 12 over those two. Not quite as bad as the other guys. The reality is in this series, the o for the totality of the series, the only Nugget who has played better than you could have hoped for is Aaron Gordon. Joker has had two awesome games, two bad games by his standards, and one fine game. And then Jamal Murray’s been right around where you would expect him to be overall. But Brown hasn’t been good. Porter Jr. and Russ have gone ice cold. And you’re not going to get anything off your bench other than that. And they need M. Murray does have to be better. Like remember he play he’s playing at a he’s playing well. When they won the championship he was a superstar. Correct. And they need him to play at that level. And last night 28 for Jamal but on 27 shots which is he even admitted he he needs to play better. Game six Thursday in Denver. Meanwhile in Cleveland the Cavs were home and are headed home. Hallebertton 31 eliminates the number one seated Cavs who won 64 games this year. Pacers win three games in the land headed to their second straight Eastern Conference finals. Okay, Brew, your number one takeaway. Don’t you dare. Called it. Hold up. Why? Don’t let him. See, this is not an act, bro. It is a fact of my life. I understand. I am from Naptown. That’s true. You picked the Cavs to go to the finals. Well, I’m from Cleveland, too. Well, but that’s it’s what Why Why is it a trip when I claim my hometown? When you claim the Chiefs, there’s no question. You claim Sacramento a few years ago cuz your wife’s family’s from there. No question. When you claim New England, no question. I’m not questioning. I had to bring proof. I Yeah. I cut my teeth as a young star athlete in Indianapolis. Fourth grade, my first year basketball. You got to bring that hair back, bro. That Hey, I had the best afro in America in 1977. All right, but it wasn’t just hoop, bro. Oh, there’s more. There’s more. I was a football star in in Indianapolis, baby. And again, the best afro in the country. All right, I’m not But it was I was a multi-port star. I was on the diamond, baby. Where? I was on. So I am I am knock town through and through. Yeah. So you can’t question I’m not questioning where you’re from. I’m questioning your analysis. You before the series picked Cleveland to win this series and go to the finals. You’re now dusting your shoulders over them getting gentlemen swept. It seems unfair. No. Here what’s unfair was Darius Garland’s towing. They miss one game. Unfair was Evan. No, he missed two. Oh, he missed two. Garland missed two. And before this series, I get it. He was out in the first round. We all thought Garland was gonna play. This is shameless, right? We all thought he was going to play. I just couldn’t lose in this series. That’s good for you, buddy. You’re right. I mean, it’s all s we here, baby. And I’m telling you, we’re going to Indie quickly. Yeah. They remind me somewhat of the Thunder. Like, this is the era, Nick. We’re in the era of the teams. Like in the 70s, you had eight teams win championships, right? Then you know, Magic and Bird dominate, then Jordan dominate. Yeah. Dynasties. And now this will be assuming Boston loses. This is Sorry. But this will be the seventh straight year we got a different champion and nobody even coming close to defending their title. Right. Right. Not even getting to the conference finals. Correct. And they remind me of OKC because they both, you know, Ty Hallebertton isn’t as good as SJA, but I think he’s a star and maybe he’ll become more than that, but he’s great. Your second guy is kind of Seakum and I think Jaylen Williams are similar level of play, you know, good. They got they go 10 deep just like OKC. They’re not playing the huge minutes either. Their guys are in the 30 minute mid30s and you know they they don’t play the defense. No, I was going to say playing them is unlike any other team on your schedule. Playing OKC is like that because every single guy they put out on the court can defend and they can have a they can have a fiveman bench unit on there if you’re OKC and it’s like all these guys can defend. Playing them is different because they’re like what if we just played as if the shot clock was eight seconds. You know what I mean? and that we are we are going against all of the conventional wisdom which is the game slows down in the playoffs like not for us and you saw it last night the where Donovan was gassed the c Donovan missed three straight free throws like they they the Cavs were absolutely gassed um by the way from a statistical perspective Don missing three straight free throws less likely than the Mavs winning the lottery so I’m sure that was rigged too guys um and So, um, the it is. So, I I am not dismissing them either and I think Hallebertton deserves a ton of credit. I do think though because they keep going. We’re going to get more time to talk about Indie. I want to talk about Cleveland for a second because you can’t run it back. You can’t expect, you know, it to be different. You do and you do have right now a massive opening in the Eastern Conference because Giannis might be on the move and Tatum sadly we now know what we feared yesterday which is torn Achilles which means probably means next year’s gone and and even if New York were even to win the championship nobody’s looking at them like oh well you can’t beat them right and I give New York a ton of credit but it’s still no one team you’re talking down in the east as opposed to 10 in the West. Absolutely. And their starting small forward, much like their previous starting small forward when they were down 3-1, sent a group text along the lines of um if you don’t think we can do it, don’t get on the plane. Now, the previous small forward responded to that by himself having the greatest three-game stretch in the history of the league. This small forward responded to it by going 0 for nine and scoring zero points. Was tough. Sorry, Max Struce. It is what it is. What the thought was in the right your heart was in the right to which I say this just go home bron I mean it’s interesting it’s from the area it’s year 23 no one can say he’s front running they just got they haven’t in the entirety that the Cavs have existed they’ve never been past round two except for when he’s been there and they’ve lived in the finals there was a lot of you know, chatter this year. Is this the best Cavs team ever? Is this the most fun Cavs season ever? How fun is it now? How fun was And by the way, it’s it happened like this. They won their first round series by more points than any team in the history of the league. They looked like they were going to win, right? And Donovan, who made Right. There you go. who made I think even in defeat a compelling club superstar case is now on this very weird streak of every year he’s been in the league he’s been in the playoffs and every year it’s ended before the conference finals. It can only happen if Braun is willing to play for close to nothing. But man, Cleveland can’t even trade. They can’t aggregate. No there. So it would really just have to be him being like you know what I did my job in LA. I brought them a championship and helped them get the player that they then use to get the next, you know, the the next iteration of Laker basketball. No one can say I didn’t get I gave him seven years more than I think anyone realistically expected. And I think as good as as great as Luca is, I think Braun has a better chance of winning a championship playing with the Cavs. Not because the Cavs would necessarily be better, but because they would have to win two tough rounds in the playoffs, the conference finals and the NBA finals, and the Lakers, like the West is just so deep and so hard. Look, if you bring if LeBron went back there, like I I don’t see this happening. I don’t see LeBron going for the minimum. I don’t see him leaving the Lakers, but if it did and they didn’t have to lose Moby, like if I if the Cavs could aggregate players and trade say Garland and Moy for LeBron, I wouldn’t do that because I would not the Lakers. I would do that. Of course, that’d be great. I’m talking about LeBron signing there. They would be easily to me the favorite in the East. Easily. cuz they’re still and again the injuries aren’t an excuse cuz it was guys were I think Indiana would have won this the way it’s looking anyway but put LeBron in there a guy that won’t melt down like some of these guys did they he brings them more toughness they’re not a tough team which is odd for Cleveland’s a tough city they’re not a tough team he would bring some toughness they don’t need Brown in the regular season he could well he’s going to play though he’s going to play but my point is he maybe can keep it closer to in third gear if you’re not fighting for you know seating or stay out of the playin or all you know guy all that stuff because they just won 64 games but and the fact that now he’s playing like it used to be a fear of well if LeBron comes in everything’s got to change not anymore he showed he can play off the ball with Luca he could let Donovan still be the guy and and play Drew you’re so good at TV and analyzing basketball you’re like I don’t think this is going to happen boom boom We’re not We’re not talking about Brown. It’d be great and he’d have a legitimate chance. There’s no doubt. There’s a legitimate chance and one and one of the I mean I just don’t think he’s taking the middle. Just one of the coolest story lines ever in sports. Yeah. I wouldn’t say ever cuz he’s he’s he’s done it. That was the cool one. Yeah, but he did it. It’d be nice. But yeah, I mean the first one was the one. All right. Finally, let’s head to Boston where the Celtics are favored by almost five, even though they’ll be without Jason Tatum, who had Achilles surgery yesterday. Celtics were eight and two without Tatum this year, but most of those games were against non-playoff teams. And the Knicks, of course, won both games in Boston already in this playoff. So, are you surprised that New York are the underdogs? No, I I’m not surprised because the, you know, America’s been listening to folks like Kevin Wilds who just say the Knicks are lucky frauds and that and is tweeting out two normal games and one two right exactly right one. You’re right. Two you just games one two normal games. No, that’s that’s in normal games and one. So So that’s fine. And so even by that analysis, if the teams in two normal games were one and one and now one of those teams is without their best player by a lot, you would think, hold on. But Wilds Brew, you don’t follow on Twitter. He’s tweeting out clips not about this game, but about this series from the ’04 Red Sox saying where who was it talking in the clip? Kevin. Kevin Mar saying, “Don’t let us win. Don’t let us get one.” Well, they already got one. Wild already had a schedule. And so listen, Wild still thinks Boston’s going to win this series. I’m not sure they’re going to win the series. Okay, I’m glad you’re not. But the idea that everyone’s like, “Well, the Knicks are just moving on.” I don’t think that’s fair for a few reasons. One just in general, if they give out an award for the best bench player called the six player of the year, six man of the year, Celtics have that. So automatically, if you had to pick all the teams, boom, we take that. too. The one thing that I and I like Jason Tatum, the ball has stuck. Even when Tatum gets hot, the ball sticks with Tatum. So I think tonight, my prediction is less isolation. This postseason passes, the Celtics are last. Assists, second to last. ISOs first, dribbles, I don’t even know what this stat is. Dribbles per touch. Dribbles per touch. That’s two point. That’s hardesque. That’s too many. So, less pounding the ball. I think the ball is going to move around a little bit. It’s going to be less Superstar Tatum focused and add a little bit of a Jaylen Brown game, a little bit of a Derek White game. Porzingis, little extra dose of Porzingis. Well, look, five and a half. I’m not the only person. It’s four and a half. I I actually think there’s a good chance Boston wins tonight. Okay. And then the Knicks close them out in six. They could, you know, they want to rally behind Tatum being in, you know, the Knicks subconsciously, subconsciously maybe the Celtics obviously can win tonight. Take a breath, but so I guess can I just button it with this? You seem I feel like more optimistic. This not be this is not an anti-Tatum thing, but if the Celtics had lost game four, the way it was looking like they were going to lose Yes. and Tatum hadn’t been hurt and it was just they just lost. And the story yesterday was not where we’re really focused on the injury. It was the Celtics blew it again. Another big lead. The Knicks walked them down. This time they didn’t take a one-pointer overtime. They beat them by a lot. I think the whole analysis today would have be the Knicks have proven they can overcome the big deficits and clearly they’re the better team in the clutch. So I don’t and I feel like you feel almost you with more optimism post injury than we would have been in the alternate universe where they lose that game the way it looked like they were going to lose with three minutes. I just never like when anyone when you write a team off. I I’m not writing them off for the game. I barely written off for the series. Thanks for watching. Subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1.

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver nuggets 112-105 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and are now up 3-2. Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes ask if the series is over, and they reflect on the Cleveland Cavaliers being eliminated by the Indiana Pacers.

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Thunder take 3-2 lead over Nuggets, Cavs lose series 4-1 to Pacers | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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