Paul Pierce says title race is over — crown the Oklahoma City Thunder | NBA | SPEAK

Paul Pierce says title race is over — crown the Oklahoma City Thunder | NBA | SPEAK

Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. So, Paul, can anyone stop the Thunder this postseason? Can anyone stop the Thunder this postseason? When I look and see who’s left, the Wolves, they’re cooked pretty much. You know, this series is over. They’re going back to Oklahoma City. They’re going to close the deal. Indiana, the Knicks. If one of them were to get to the finals, I think Indiana probably have a better chance because of their depth, their coaching, uh the style of play. You know, they play fast, they play, uh selfless basketball. But could either one of those teams beat them? I don’t think so. I’m looking at a team that won 68 games this year that has the MVP, and they have a young core that looks so dominant last night. I couldn’t believe the ages on them when they said it. and their MVP is the is the elder statesman on the team at 26. When you look at their core, if they win the championship this year, they’re they’re they’re lined up to be great for a long, long time. Uh they haven’t lost three in a row games all year long. So, the series is 3-1. Joy, Key, and Rick. That means Minnesota got to win three in a row to win the series. Not happening. Lost two in a row only twice this season. have never lost four games in a seven game stretch all year. Well, they played seven games in a series and they haven’t lost four. You can pretty much wrap up the title, the trophy, and hand it to the OK, the 2025 NBA champs, the OKC Thunder. I’m telling y’all right now, Shay Gilas Alexander the MVP cuz right now he’s looking like the best player in the league and his complimentary pieces are growing each and every game each and every series. I saw him grow check Jaylen Williams and then the the compliment other complimentary pieces they look unstoppable. Just hand them the trophy now. Go ahead and take it, guys. We’re on Let’s get ready for next year. Do do they really But do they really look unstoppable? So you weren’t convinced with last night’s game. They barely won. No, seriously though, in all honesty, let’s be honest with ourel. Yeah, we like Shay. We like he’s got the MVP and they the young hot team that’s running up and down the court in in checks dunking on people and they’re doing all the things that look ooey, but they barely won. It wasn’t like they won by 20. Okay, a win is a win is a win. I get that. Mhm. But I understand what you’re saying, Paul. It’s over. It’s going to be hard to Look, it’s Minnesota done. They cooked. That wasn’t good math that Paul just read for anyone else that’s playing them. Yeah, but nobody else, but they’re going to see the one of those two teams out of the East. And one of those teams out of two teams out of the East, although Indie has a better depth roster to compete with them, but I’m not going to count out the Knicks yet either because it ain’t over with yet. And then whichever one of those two teams they play, we can’t just all of a sudden hand them the trophy based on what they’ve done against Minnesota. I’ll just in the middle it’s in the it’s in the UPS. It’s in the FedEx. They they got two different pieces. But again, the yellow rope, everything is Was it not a two-point win and not a 22-point win? So, let’s not act like they just ran away with the game. They beat up on a Minnesota team that that the superstar player has struggled this this this this series in particular at times other than the one game where he went nuts. So, it’s kind of like I’m not ready to just say that they the NBA champions and give uh uh uh Shay the the MVP trophy. I’m not I’m not ready to do that. You’re not ready to do what Paul just did. Not yet. So, your your concern is whoever comes out of the East because you don’t think the Timberwolves No, it’s over. Minnesota they gone. Hey, this over a nothing. They can’t How you going to win three in a row? How you going to do that? Yeah, it’s just not going to happen. Agreed. I think they know that, too. And this game five is in min in in um OKC. So, they ready to go to the championship since the last time they gone with KD in company. I’m not ready to give it to him either, but I they’re prohibitive favorite. There’s no doubt. And there’s only one team out of the East that I see as being capable of giving them a run for their money. a puncher chance, if you will, and that’s the Indiana Pacers because, as Paul noted, they can match them in depth. They’ve got the coaching. Uh they can match them in three-point shooting. Uh their intensity, their chemistry. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of similarities as I see it between those those those two teams. My hesitation is in seeing what Carl Anthony Towns has done to Miles Turner. And if Carl Anthony Towns can do that to Miles Turner, then Chad Homegrren, who has more in his bag than Carl Anthony Towns does. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no. I’m not going to let you do that, Rick. That Chad Chad Hamra has more in his bag. Chad has more in his bag. Chad putting the ball on the floor. I was going to say he put the ball on the floor athletically get there. I saw that last night. No question. If Cat is going past Miles Turner, Chad Homegrren will be going past him twice as fast. There’s that that’s that’s not even debate. just saw a dude go 20 in the fourth. I mean, I ain’t seen Chad do nothing like that. I mean, Chad is a good player. Shooting shooting three, but you can’t count on that. Cat will have that every once in a while. Yeah. And he hits some he hits some logo threes like But Chad’s Are you Are we questioning whether Chad has more allaround game than Cat? Cuz I’m not even as young as he is. No, he doesn’t have more all-around game than Cat. Because if you want to go back to uh the last series with the New York when Cat wheeled them when he hit the fadeaway the three down the stretch versus uh versus the Celtics. Yeah, he has I saw that. Cat has that cap. And then when I saw in game three him 20 in the fourth contested threes down the middle dunk and ones. I mean it looked crazy at times but he it looks it looks unorthodox but it gets the job done. And then at the end of the day when he up there he got 25 and 15. He took over he’s taken over multiple games in this playoffs. Like Chad is great complimentary and I well Chad has played a complimentary role. I have very little doubt that if he had to step into that role, what’s his what is he? Third three behind Jaylen Williams. He would be three. He’s the number three. He’s the third option where cat is the second option and at times but but let’s let’s say that’s fine. Let’s The fact is that as the third option going up against Miles Turner, he’s going to be on an island. He’s going to have advantages. Like I don’t I don’t like however you want to size up what the role is. I don’t like that matchup. And I think it favors OKC in a big way. Yeah. And I think something about Cat Joy is he can go on the milk carton in a heartbeat on you though too where he comes up missing even though he even though he can have those fourth quarter stretch runs and make you think oo we but sometime you start looking for him you you know and Chad’s not in that position because of Jaylen Williams and because of SGA where you don’t need to depend on him nearly as much. Yeah. I feel I understand. I feel I feel a little uncomfortable. I don’t I think Cat’s a little further along than Chad. Chad’s doing a great job. He’s proven more. I’m just I’m just looking at what Chad has shown me. He’s doing a great job. He’s doing a great job. Yeah, I like I I like what he was showing me last night. He’s doing He’s doing a great job. I I’m I’m going to put Cat a little further ahead of him at the moment. Yes. Okay. Paul’s making it impossible for me to do my job today. No, you just got a you got a joy like wacky. You got a power. I think the match up between the Thunder and whoever comes out of the East series. They seem to be the team of destiny right now. I am literally reading off of my notes at this point. There’s a lot of basketball left to play. I think that the Pacers Thunder will be very interesting. A lot of show left, too. I’m You all right, Joy? I think good luckers and Thunder will be a great matchup. I don’t know that the Knicks and the Thunder would be a great matchup, but I I also don’t I don’t know why I want to see the Knicks in championship, though. I think I just care about the the look of it. Yeah, I mean, that’s probably what it is. I think we’re also less convinced that the Knicks are going to make it past the Pacers at this point. I mean, they’re still think that quite in the middle of their series, but if they go 2-2, they got to go back to the Garden. No, 100%. I just think that the Pacers is a better matchup for them. No, I understand. I just don’t want to see OKC destiny right now. They look they look like they are the best. Do you again, as I said to you a week ago, do you really want to sit in front of your TV and watch OKC in Indie? I do. Okay. That’s going to be some good basketball though. High level basketball. Like I do. And I mean, and if that happens, look, the Knicks and Timberwolves had the opportunities. That’s true. No, that’s true. Everything’s true. Like there’s no there’s no excuses for why this that would have gone down the way it did at this point. The other thing the other thing though is we just never know with a young team that’s never been to the finals before. But this applies to both but they look like they’ve been in the finals. They do. But you know who else? You know who the finals though? That’s the thing look like it. OKC looks like it. You know who looked like it last year? The Dallas Mavericks. Dallas Mavericks looked like they were primed. Uh and and you think about Luca Donuch’s experience playing overseas and like never shrinking from the moment and all of that. And then you saw in the finals where it turned and that that’s my only only reservation. To your point, I agree. OKC team it looks like they got it all and they got the right mindset and they got they got everything. But I’ve just seen it where you get for whatever reason, and Paul could speak to this, like there’s something about the atmosphere of the finals and realizing you are on the doorstep of getting the thing that you’ve always dreamed of getting that causes guys to suddenly be seized by the moment or not play with the same ease and liberty that they had previously. Yeah. When you look at the four teams that’s left, even though OKC is young, it’s just something about I’m watching a leader in the press conference. See, I I take a look at all these little things. I’m watching Shay and like his maturity. Yeah. It’s beyond his years. He talks like he’s been in the league like 15 years. Like, you know what I’m saying? They’re very poised. And it’s not just for the cameras cuz he’s doing it on the bench, too. Yeah. the way he talks, the way, you know, after the game’s doing his interview and the guy, the the culture, it’s just like they carry they like they’ve already won it before and been there. Yeah, that’s what I say. They look like they won a championship. Yeah. Well, the Timberwolves got another 60 plus point output from their bench in game four. In game three, it was enough to win when paired with Anthony Edwards 30 points. But last night, Ant only scored 16 points on 13 shots and was 1 for seven from three. Ant was asked after the game why he and Julius Randall struggled. Paul, did Ants let the Timberwolves down last night? Yeah, I don’t agree what Ann said uh that he’s didn’t struggle yet, you struggle because for one, me being the number one option and a scoring threat that gets the ball anytime I want to get that a guy who’s dynamic and as athletic as he is can get any shot he wants, no matter what the defense at this point, he’s seen every at this point in his career based on the things we’ve been calling him. At the tender age of 23, he’s seen every single defense possible. you know, every single defense that’s coming at you, you can get a shot off. I was so disappointed and it was still a close game even though they only took one shot. He took his first shot under a minute. When you look at this, when I look at it and I say, “Dang, the bench gave you what? 60. This should have been a game that Minnesota won by 20.” When your bench I played in the Eastern Conference Finals, game seven vers Heat. Our bench gave us two points. We lost by four. Something like that. You get 60 points from your bench. Like all you got to do is have your stars star. If your star star then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We’ll be having a conversation like whoa. Minnesota has the momentum. And now their bench has confidence. Shay did what Anthony should have did last night. He said from the beginning, I’m gonna put pressure on you guys for 48 minutes. Every second, it was like every second he had the ball, he’s putting pressure on the defense. And that was his mindset. He came out with the mindset saying, “Listen, if we going to go down, we going to go down fighting cuz we just lost by 40. We lost by 40. Nah, I’m the MVP. This is not happening again.” And Ant should have been like, “Nah, not in my house.” But what I’m seeing in this series, I’m not seeing that same energy had Ant had against the OG’s. I’m not seeing that same energy he had against Braun. I’m not seeing that same energy he had against KD and Joker. You know, now he facing his peers. These is his peers now. And and he got to bring that energy and that level back up. He can’t show I mean, it’s respect, but you got to be like, you got to get that growl back that I saw if you want any chance to get back in this series. And if you’re a great player that we all say that you are, he’ll find a way and won’t make excuses. That’s it. Yeah. Yeah. He He let them down. Uh I I don’t want to hear from my best player that I made the right basketball play. No. I want to hear from my best player that you you imposed your will on this game. And when you’re the only player who plays 12 minutes in the first quarter and you don’t take your first shot until there’s one minute left in the quarter and that’s the only shot that you take or in the fourth quarter it takes you six shots to score six points and I got two guys off the bench scoring more than that. And if he had had a load of assists, if they were trapping him so hard or he’s penetrating and he’s drawing so much attention and he’s feeding everybody and they’re getting a bunch of shots, then he’s going to end up with a ton of dimes as a result of that. But he didn’t. He had six assists and five turnovers if I’m not mistaken. There was a lot left on the table. And that’s where I just when when aunt says these things, I just feel like, you know what, he doesn’t really understand what being the superstar on a championship team is all about. That he just hasn’t figured that out yet. He knows how talented he is. He knows how good he can be. But in terms of leading a team and doing the things that psychologically lead your team, I don’t think he’s got a sense of of the power that he has because of the player that he is. And until he gets that, then this is a team that’s going to follow his lead, which is they play really young, they play play really well at times, they play really erratic at other times. until he steps into that in full, then they’re going to continue to be what we see, which is this team that always feels like it kind of underwhelms us based on the talent that they have. You know, I don’t I I don’t necessarily like the did Anthony Edwards let the Timberwolves down question, right? I just don’t like the way it sounds cuz letting down sounds like he packed his bags up and just decided to leave like he quit on his team or something something along those lines. Um that’s why I don’t really feel like he let him down. His performance let them down. I I would say yeah. Good question. Here’s the question. Performance, right? His make it personal, right? Yeah. His performance, right? I would say let him down because to Paul’s point though, when you are the guy, they ain’t going to say nothing to you, right? Take every damn shot cuz I’m going to be a hot dog. Green light. Yeah, I got I’m I’m going to be the hot dog out there. I’mma shoot it every chance I get. Even if I’m being doubled or they’re pinching me, squeezing me, when I get to my spot, they coming and forcing me off of my spot, I now could kick to everybody else. The problem with that, what he said is in the first half, you only had two assists. You didn’t have seven assists in the first half. If you had seven assists in the first half, then it’s justifiable. We could say, “Okay, I’m I’m all in with you on that one.” But when you wind up with six assists in a game, and four of them is in the second half, and you’re telling me you giving up the ball, they get you the ball out your hand. That may be true. Maybe it’s a hockey assist in these situations opposed to a straight assist to Paul and Paul kicks it to somebody else and I don’t get the credit for it. That may be the case. I haven’t watched the film. I don’t know how it went. And that could be the case in the situation. But I don’t care if you are the star cuz I done watched Hot Dogs like Paul. No, seriously. I done watched them. He going he going to shoot the green light out of it. I watch Kobe Bryant. You watch Kobe. Kobe going to wave everybody. Man, no. I’m even if I’m missing. Yeah. So, do you think it’s that he is uh maybe being selfless to a fault? No. You know what? I will say this. OKC had a lot to do with that cuz I was watching uh Lou Dort and they call him the uh the the Dorture Chamber. Y that’s a cold name for defense. The Dorchure Chamber. And I saw Alice Caruso. Yeah. They knew what kind of toothpaste he brushed his teeth with this morning. That’s how close they was up on him all night. They was squeezing him for sure. I’m talking about they they knew what kind of lotion he was wearing. They man was on them so tight like they were they I’m talking about from the time he hit half court. They had a lot to do with that too. When he was off the ball they hands I’m talking about always touching them and that I think that kind of rattled him a little bit. No doubt. you know, that can be intimidating cuz, you know, I’ve had guys play me like that and, you know, it can be a little aggressive and you you not get you don’t get used to it. Not to say I didn’t get used because that was that was the style we played, you know, where guys was always aggressive, holding, grabbing arms distance from you. And I think he didn’t get used to that physicality of it. And so, it’s a it didn’t come as easy as it did in the last game. What he has to understand to win a championship, to get to a championship is hard, very hard. It’s mentally draining and physically draining. And you have to wrap your mind around how tough it’s going to be. This is the toughest defenders he’s had to play in all of the playoffs. This ain’t Luca and LeBron no more. This is some dogs out there. I’m talking about these guys looking for new contracts. These guys don’t get the headlines. They they don’t get the recognition when they win. But these guys are hungry and they can play and they smell championship. So I give a lot of credit to the OKC defense. Lud Door, Alice Caruso, even Jaylen Williams at times when he’s playing them. It’s they making it tough. Lud was so aggressive he had he fouled out. I just have a hard time. Right. When we talk about Ant Edwards the way that we do and what his capability is, when I look at his physical ability, like I’ll ask the question, why can’t he have the game that SGA has? SGA is not built like him. SJA gets trapped and blitzed and double teamed, but he finds his way to his spots and and if you’re too physical with him, he finds his way to the free throw line. Like I don’t see why Ant can’t have all of that. And it’s not like SGA has been in the league for years and years beyond what Ant has. That’s where I I I feel as if Ant’s game has to evolve, which is the psychological game in terms of leading the team, but also the psychological game and how do I utilize all that I have. not necessarily just blowing by guys and finishing at the rim or shooting threes, but like how do I get you on my hip and how do I get to my spot and then make forcing the defense to make a decision and then I’m either kicking it for to somebody for a wide open three or I’m hitting that little mid-range. This is the most damning uh statistic that I found. SGA through these playoffs averages six 5.8 field goal attempts from the 10 to 16 foot range. Ant averages one a game. I was going to say that that has to become part of his game in order. He he he doesn’t feel like a three-level scorer to me right now. It’s either I’m getting to the rim or I’m shooting a big three or I’m shooting a three. So before you go, Joy, is he a pure scorer? Yeah, man. You said he doesn’t feel like a three-level score, but is he a pure Cuz you said Jason Tatum wasn’t a pure scorer. Jason get it because a couple weeks ago we going, you know, Celtics’s been done. Yeah, but I’m saying I just want to know the definition as I get my I’m trying to up my basketball, you know, uh acumen up too cuz I don’t know a lot about the game. I’m still learning. You shouldn’t be talking about I’m still learning about the game. But since we have the senior NBA analyst on the panel, I would like to know if Ant-Man is a pure scorer since Jason Tatum’s not. Neither one of them has a has a reliable mid-range game. So, I don’t know. I’ll leave it to Oh, look. I got him. I got him. I got him. I can’t I can’t based on what we’ve seen in these playoffs. Can I count on on Ant scoring? Well, that’s what I was about to say. I mean, game three, not even throughout the playoffs. Let’s just look at this this series. Game three, obviously, they had a brilliant game. Blew them out. SGA and weren’t great. It was over in the first quarter. But if you’re going to have if you’re going to go up against a team like OKC that’s playing the defense that they’re playing and you’ve you’re going up against the league MVP who’s steadily scoring 30 plus every night, you have to match that scoring. You can’t rely on your bench to do that. And if you do have a performance like that from your bench, you should win the game. To Keith’s point, this wasn’t a blowout. This is a two-point game. Two point game. It’s not about like him Yeah. It’s not about him letting them down in in his effort. He was aggressive at times, but if you’re not going to lead the team in scoring, then you’ve got to find a way to get whoever it is off the bench or whoever else that’s that’s cooking right now to stay in that space. And it just feels like there’s these like lulls throughout the game that they’re not staying at the same intensity as OKC. You’re talking about Minnesota in particular or in general or or ANT in particular? Also, Ant because Ant sets the tone for Minnesota. So that’s what feels that’s that’s what feels frustrating about like it’s not that he had a bad game. It’s not about a bad or good game. It’s about wins and losses at this point. Blowout or not. They are down 3-1. Got to shoot one 13 times. You you you just have to Is there any chance that Minnesota comes back in this series, Rick? I And I don’t see comeback. I I call it a comeback. Can they extend the series another game? Can they push it to six? I’m gonna give them that. Do you think you think they push it to six? I you know there’s there’s there’s there’s thinking and there’s hoping. You want it to go to six. I want to see actually I want to see another game at least another game like I saw last night. I want to see a competitive game. I want to feel I want to I want to see a game where I feel like Minnesota is uh has an opportunity to win the game and and and on top of it I want to see Ant be a part of that. want. It’s an interesting word. What What is going to happen? I don’t see how they turn the tide at this point. I mean, obviously, for what OKC has done and they’re going to OKC, OKC, I think they’re seven and one at home in these playoffs. Uh, cooks key. Yeah, it’s over though. It’s over with. What? What you going? They lost the first two at OKC. Now they going back to OKC. It’s going to be tough. They said, “Okay, see it’s 7 to1 at home. These folks in Oklahoma going to be going crazy. They’re gonna have the white out. Everybody gonna wear white.” And you know, this is the hard part of it. When I look at what Minnesota did in game three, when I look at what they have, but that’s game three at We should be talking about this in a different way. I think it had less to do with where it was and where they were. They were down two. They were like, “We can’t lose this game.” Yeah, but they at home. Think about that though, Rich. That helps with the home down 200. So they got they they they scrapping it and fighting. They went but but hey, they was on life support. Didn’t they go Didn’t they go into LA? They went in. Yeah, but that ain’t the same. Well, that is not the same. We all know it’s not the same team. I agree with that. Well, we we all know that the Lakers is not where we wanted them to be, Rick. So, just leave the Lakers alone. I just can’t let go of the fact that the Timberwolves are way better than what they’ve shown in this series. That’s what I can’t I I would agree with that. Is there any chance they come back in the series? Joy Key, if they come back. If No, I’mma walk. Go ahead. Yeah. Tell you walk. You can walk. All right. You got a better chance. Uh oh. Oh, no. No. No. At finding the Malaysian 370 flight. Okay. Okay. No, we’re not doing that. Okay. Coming back. Okay. Okay. Wow. Okay. We going to move on. Exactly. You have exactly 4.4% chance. To come back. Subscribe here to get the latest from Speak and go watch a few segments from our other shows on FS1.

Joy Taylor, Keyshawn Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Ric Bucher react to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s dominant postseason run and discuss whether anyone can stop them. The crew also debates if Anthony Edwards let the Minnesota Timberwolves down in Game 4 — and if there’s any hope left for a comeback in this series.

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Paul Pierce says title race is over — crown the Oklahoma City Thunder | NBA | SPEAK
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