Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals Game 3 Reaction: Indiana bench shines, OKC gassed | Colin Cowherd + Timpf

Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals Game 3 Reaction: Indiana bench shines, OKC gassed | Colin Cowherd + Timpf

all right welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume happy Wednesday everybody hope all of you guys are having a great week well coming into the series we were hopeful that things would be competitive that they’d be interesting and here we are after three games of the NBA Finals and the Pacers are up 2-1 two games away from potentially stealing what would be one of the craziest NBA championships that I’ve seen in my time covering the NBA i can think of nobody better to break this down with than Colin Coward who’s been kind enough to give us his time tonight and join the show colin where is your head at after three games of the NBA Finals well um the Pacers you know and you and I had talked about this um the Celtics this year were better on the road than at home denver is the same team um Oklahoma City is not the same team on the road they’re not their their bench players their rotational players are young that’s the downside to youth they are not the same team on the road they’re very vulnerable tonight they had 19 turnovers they got really sloppy i didn’t think SGA ever got into a great rhythm um he did a great job coaching and proddding and poking his team um but my takeaway is like tonight was a game that you know in football there’s the old thing about you can steal yards and field position and over the course of a game you get better field position i thought the Pacers between steals blocks they had 11 uh between offensive rebounds stole about 8 to 10 points tonight just sneaky points you know like one of them is McConnell on the inbounds I think from Caruso steals that point that’s a huge huge play especially when you’re the home team and the crowd erupts and I just thought over the course of a game just eight four or five baskets either denied or provided sneaky points and that’s kind of the difference in the game it was just I mean that that game until the last three minutes I didn’t know who was going to win it it was just a very tight game and I think they deserve a lot of credit i mean Indiana’s bench Jesus i mean God that that again bench at home bench on the road matherin who starts sometimes for them who’s reminds me a little bit of a a little Westbrook you know he Westbrook was hyper athletic matherine was a quarterback and a hockey player in Canada goes to Arizona as you know crushes it super athletic but not as out of control as Westbrook like he’s going to be a he’s going to be a great player in this league but I I guess that’s my the Pacers just a lot of blocks and steals and effort points and that’s the ball game yeah you know I had my eye on Matin and and McConnell in particular off of the Pacers bench coming into this series not because I’m an Arizona fan although obviously it’s been awesome watching those guys just kill it i mean 28 points in an NBA Finals game that is like a real feather in the cap for a young basketball player and honestly like when you I’ve had a lot of mailbag questions and things like that from fans over the course of the last couple of weeks who’ve been asking like what’s the next step for the Pacers like where’s their next leap and it’s that kid it’s him it’s him becoming age 25 26 an all-star level guard yeah and you know I I said this and I don’t know if you and I talked about this oklahoma City’s got more depth but there’s this sense that okay Oklahoma City’s talents here and Indiana is his blow and I’m like I don’t I don’t really buy that i I think I think McConnell I think TJ McConnell is a really really good basketball player i think Matherin who started some games for them this year he started he was like their third or fourth leading scoreer he’s exploding um I mean we all know that Seakum and Harley are great miles Turner’s defense in the second half was unbelievable like I don’t think the gap in talent especially when you go back home i don’t think it’s that i mean Obie Topphen his dunk I put it put him up by seven and then he got a block on the other end like I think the talent disparity here is inches not feet i I think Indiana’s got a real team and they and they have a lot of different players i mean Obie Toppin’s hyper athletic Miles Turner’s a rim protector seokam’s got a pretty touch hal’s more assist than scoring but can do both n Smith can hit threes mcconnell’s the spark plug uh Matherin’s the young emerging hyper athletic guy i mean they got a lot of levers to pull so I I watch this i It’s just fun watching this series i’m like at the end of the game I’m like does Indiana have more good players i mean they just pulled a lot of levers tonight i do think they’re better down the roster in terms of just the the level of like consistency they get from all of their supporting players like there’s like I’m watching the end of the second quarter and like Ben Shepard’s out there and Matan and uh uh McConnell and I’m sitting there and I’m like this is Carile riding his bench in like what is typically a starting group session i think where you see the talent gap between OKC and Indiana is like just that like top end shot creation like when things really bogg down and both defenses are locked in Shay is just so much better at like getting to his spots and finding those like shots that he can make i think the I do think that Oklahoma City at their best their ceiling is higher than Indiana like when they’re moving the ball well when they’re knocking down shots and for the record like if you’re in a matchup like this where you’re a substantial underdog you’re trying to create variance you’re trying to create margin and all the stuff you’re talking about i agree with you they won this game in the margins they won this game forcing turnovers blocking shots at the rim and ball pressuring Shay Gilders Alexander so much that he looked exhausted by the end of the game like and and this is all lowhanging fruit in basketball that’s available for basically everybody anybody can pick up the ball full court anybody can uh be aggressive in rotation and play passing lanes there’s a certain athletic minimum you need to have but anybody’s capable of taking advantage of these margins and to me that’s been the story of the Pacers this entire postseason run is they have been so good on the margins they’re making it so that the the the the variance is much lower than other teams because they’re getting so much of that lowhanging fruit every single game so Oklahoma City is two and four on the road in the last three playoff rounds so we have found the hole you know every boxer every baseball player even Barry Bonds when he was on cattle steroids there’s there’s a there’s a there’s part of the strike zone and he can’t hit usually for a batter it’s on the hands and and we’re looking for where’s the hole in Oklahoma City’s game and it’s this young team on the road there is a great variance what you get at home and what you get on the road and we found it and Indiana is a tremendously good home team uh it just it’s it’s I gotta tell you Miles Turner doesn’t get a lot of love you know his his aesthetic he’ll hit the corner three but that dude in the second half I mean homegrown was great early but Miles Turner is one of those guys that in the league everybody knows about Miles Turner i mean if he’s on the market Lakers included there’ll be multiple Sooners for Miles Turner everybody in the league gets it but on this team you know like tonight we’re watching McConnell and we’re on Hallebertton and we’re always watching Seakum i thought I thought in the second half I thought Miles Turner was huge at the end of the season there’s only one team that can call themselves NBA champs agree he uh he the specific dynamic he struggled with a little bit in this series is Carile has him coming way out to the perimeter to show at the level of these ball screens and the Thunder Guards are just so fast that he’s had some trouble containing them there but in that second in that second half it was almost like he found his second win to where he was moving a little better so he wasn’t losing contain as much carile had him start to be more aggressive and attack the ball in more of like a blitz too which worked he forced a couple turnovers that way and then at the rim like Miles Turner has always been one of the best like shot blockers in the league he always racks up high shot block totals and got Chet at the rim that close out he’s got crazy length that close out on the three-point shot from Chet late that was a big one the the stuff with Matan and McConnell I find really fascinating the reason why I was keyed in on them to start the series is when you’re playing these young super athletic teams like Oklahoma City the guys that become super important are your athletes the guys that have like some sort of physical trait that’s tough to match up with tj McConnell is unassuming but he is actually one of the very best guards in the NBA beating people off the dribble so he’s immensely valuable in this matchup because he can get that first bit of dribble penetration that breaks down Oklahoma City’s defense and he’s such a good staunch athlete like in terms of like his but being a fire hydrant low center of gravity guy he can pressure the ball and pick up full court he had three steals on baseline inbounds in this game those were huge sequences in this game and then Ben Mathan same sort of thing he is capable against a very athletic Thunder team of getting to his spots and rising up and knocking down shots because he’s a supreme athlete that can handle the ball nemhard is a good ball handler who’s not a supreme athlete and Nes Smith is an elite athlete who’s not a good ball handler tj and Ben are both great athletes and great ball handlers and that’s made them very valuable in this matchup and again like like Ben that like we’re we just saw a young player put up a massive 28-point game in a in a must-win NBA Finals game like that is a huge moment for for a young player there and like as far as like zooming out and looking at the series like I still lean Oklahoma City we have seen before teams like you know the series this actually reminds me a lot of is Cleveland in 2015 versus Golden State where Golden State is clearly the better team but they’re young and they’re inexperienced and it’s their first Finals appearance and they look a little shook from the environment yeah and and LeBron goes up 2-1 on them now obviously Indiana doesn’t have the LeBron element but there was obviously way less talent down the roster but Indiana does have more veteran experience they’re an older team right but what happens with Indiana here is they’re up 2-1 but Golden State was the better team they came and won game four then they went home and won game five then they went back to Cleveland and they won in game six i am going to give Indiana a a good chance to win at least one more home game so I do think this has a good chance to go seven but I would still make Oklahoma City the favorite at this point before I kick it to you just so you know the Thunder are still from DraftKings minus 230 to win the series and the Thunder are minus6 favorites in game four where you at in the series moving forward at this point well I you know game sevens in Oklahoma City and they’re really good at home um and again bench guys rotational guys are different players at home i mean the Indiana’s bench in the second quarter tonight was insane i mean it was literally I mean I think Carile was shook he I mean it was just like wow that’s one of their best quarters of the playoffs um I think like I one of the things that was a little surprising to me I thought Oklahoma City looked tired in the fourth oh yeah and now now the first half it was 6460 i think the pace was in it totally Indiana’s pace it it’s slowed down as games can is that it situationally as the possessions get very very big but do you noticed it too i thought OKC looked a little gassed in the fourth they had a bad fourth quarter yeah so that’s the advantage of ball pressure like there’s been a lot of talk about the coverages i have had my concerns with how they’ve used Turner because I think Turner is a very good shot blocker so I want him at the rim i I I don’t think he’s particularly fast so I don’t want him on the perimeter so like I’ve wanted him sitting further back but a lot of the fullcourt ball pressure stuff has also had some downsides in that one of the things Oklahoma City will do is they’ll have Hartinstein come out or Czech come out and they’ll screen like almost at half court while Shay’s battling the ball pressure and then he gets ahead of steam from like 60 ft away from the rim and he got a lot of layups early in the game out of stuff like that and so there’s a downside to ball pressure in that you can beat ball pressure and get dribble penetration the upside with ball pressure is in the big picture which is for 48 minutes in front of that crazy home crowd when you’re facing Nesmith and Mattherin and Nemhard and all these guys just in your jersey the entire game down the stretch you just don’t have the legs cuz beating that ball pressure just takes it out of your legs and so there’s no doubt that like Indiana played the long game tonight and and Oklahoma City controlled at various points but down the stretch Shay had his hands on his knees he was trying to grift a little bit more down the stretch looking for foul calls like you can tell he was tired you know the other thing that you know this is just something you don’t talk about a lot we don’t analysts don’t but I I remember talking to um Mark Waranteen uh I covered him at UNLV with Jerry Taran and he was a an executive in the league and he used to always say he the most underappreciated part of those great Michael Jordan Bulls teams was their length he was like Rodman was long Pippen was wrong Luke Longley was long everybody but Steve Kerr was long like Ron Harper and he was just like they just got their hand on the balls indiana is long when Toppen Seyakum Turner Hallebertton’s long yeah they’re tonight just to show you their length OKC had four blocks indiana had 11 okc had six deals indiana had 13 how many balls how many times in this game did you see the ball loose around the free throw line and it was just a pacer that got their hand on it and keep when they there there are certain I mean TJ McConnell is obviously not long but he’s feisty and quick gets his and he’s fast but then when they’ve got Turner and Hallebertton and Toppin that is that the length of the Pacers and I thought it really frustrated okc Chad Homegrren had multiple shots blocked so we we don’t talk a lot about that rebounding is a lot of things beyond length but length gives you those extra possessions and touches and disruptions blocks and steals tonight I mean are just totally one-sided and I think again that’s stealing points which I thought the Pacers did yeah like there was a play where uh JDub got a clean corner catch out of the left corner might remember this one in the uh in the first half and or no it was in the it was in the second half it was in the the early part of the second half and JDub drove baseline had a dunk but Tyrese came over and Tyrese has long arms like Tyrese has got length to your point and he’s the longest point guard in the league yeah and he’s got reasonable vertical athleticism too so he got up and he contested Jdub and Jub missed the dunk he missed the dunk and there there have been a few plays in this series like I actually think Hallebertton has been a very good defensive player in this entire playoff run like he’s been sneaky really good because he’s the thing with and this is to Carile’s credit everyone’s committed to doing the job and then Tyrese like plays hard like he’s got his limitations he’s not very big and strong and it kind of looks like a a chicken running around with his head cut off sometimes on defense but like he’s got the length to be impactful in that in that situation and yeah like there was a there was a stretch there late in the game where Carile rides top end for that exact reason like him being able to go over the top of Oklahoma City on offense or meet somebody at the summit at the rim on the other end like those were that that those have been huge parts of Indiana success throughout this entire postseason run and again like you want to know how you play passing lanes with length because all of a sudden it looks open the passer makes the read and it’s not open because you have the ability to close that ground the one thing I will say and this is one of the reasons why I still lean towards Oklahoma City to win the series there was a stretch in the third quarter where I thought Oklahoma City really leveraged their their athleticism yeah they’re a good third quarter team too they’ve done this in the playoffs multiple times yes and like going back even I thought game two felt like the entire night felt like that i don’t think Indiana can beat Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City in a must-win game because I think they can leverage their defense and physicality and overall athleticism to the point that’s like almost too much for them to overcome so I think Indiana’s pathway is they have to win the two home games they absolutely can for the record I’m not saying Oklahoma City is like the surefire going to still win the series i lean towards Oklahoma City but Indiana I think has to win on Friday and I think they have to win next week on Thursday i think that’s their path well in the first six minutes of the game Oklahoma City was very disruptive the Pacers were frustrated uh the starters they just weren’t getting good looks um so I mean Oklahoma City when they weren’t gassed late and they they’re disruptive there’s no getting around it they’re just fast and long and and uh it’s almost collegiate like we’ve talked about it doesn’t look like other defenses so you know I I just don’t want to fall for this because I fell for it with Denver and Boston and I’m like “Oh these are going to be dynasties and there are holes in Oklahoma City i mean they they’re they’ll probably lose Jaylen Williams eventually they can’t pay everybody and they’re going to pay Homegrren because he’s just you know he’s just physically a different there’s not a lot of him out there they’re going to pay SGA and you know how it works now you can’t pay three guys you know Boston’s going to go through this.” So I mean it it’s it’s I know a lot of people look at Oklahoma City and think “Oh boy this is going to be something that that they’re going to be bad for the league.” And my take is this series is great i mean we have two of the games in this series have been alltimers and I also think I think Indiana is a real team i mean I’m watching Matherin tonight and I again I think he’s got a little bit of Westbrook but with he’s not out of control he’s he’s a little bit more refined at this age he was a better college player than Westbrook again more defined and I think he was the pack 12 player of the year if I recall wasn’t he like I can’t remember actually yeah he was a great player but my my takeaway I watched him and I’m like oh they’re going to be good hallebertton and him and McConnell and and Syakam it’s like Indiana’s going nowhere this I I I don’t know i I I said this going back to the Cleveland series i love watching the Pacers play i love their style i love their I love Hallebertton um I just there’s just there’s something about a team there’s a joy when Indiana plays they are having a really good time and I think it just comes through the TV understand some of the the uh the negativity surrounding the finals in the sense that like it lacks some of that juice for you know especially for casual fans in the sense that it doesn’t have doesn’t have huge games yeah and game two is super boring like and it it like and and it obviously has not been hitting great TV ratings but there is a natural eb and flow with the cycle of the NBA as stars age in and out and we’re definitely in one of those lols right now but I do think that the Pacers are providing an excellent showcase for another up andcoming team in the Eastern Conference and by the way the East is pretty wide open like you could argue Indie has every bit as good a chance to make it back to the finals next year as Oklahoma City does with how open things are in the Eastern Conference right i love the point you made about Oklahoma City like it will get tougher like I think Oklahoma City needs to get this one because the reality is is that once you start it to your point if you pay all three of those guys maxes and by the way they’re not going to be regular maxes these are going to be all NBA players they’re going to be Superman you know like and so once you pay all those guys they’re going to basically have to surround them with a bunch of guys on rookie contracts like I think they’re going to end up using all these draft pick draft picks they have to just cycle role players through and they’re going to be hunting like three fouryear college guys that play for major programs like Kansas and Villanova that they can trust to come in and play role player basketball in the That’s what I think that they’re going to end up that’s what I think Sam Press is going to end up doing and so their margin will get smaller because they won’t be surrounded by as much talent this is a particularly important series for them to win but I wanted to uh move on to the Knicks so I I see this report this morning and it’s from Shams talking about how they’re just calling up around all these big shot coaches in the league jason Kid Emma Udoka Quinn Snyder Chris Finch what do you make of this bizarre behavior from the Knicks right now i’m not a tinfoil hat guy but um James Dolan who’s been in a band I’m not sure if he still is views himself as an artist and that’s why he is his his um his greatest achievement is not the Knicks i mean he he inherited the cable vision from his dad right it’s the Sphere in Vegas which is a remarkable Have you been there i think you have i’ve been there six times Colin i absolutely love it yeah so it’s a remarkable musical uh engagement achievement all time in in the world and that’s really where his heart is irving Aes off a former great promoter um now I think he’s MGM management is one of his closest friends he was uh you know he was a had a record label that’s who that’s who James Dolan is so when he wants to get a GM he goes after a star Phil Jackson then he wanted Steve Kerr and Amari Starttomire on bad knees out of Phoenix and Tibs isn’t his kind of guy so who does he go after jason Kid who’s a star he’s interested in Kevin Durant who’s a star that’s who James Dolan is he’s hangs around stars he loves stars he’s a creative this is not a criticism but I think he listened to his players grumble you know he sat down with his players and again he relates to artists and athletes and stars just go look at the history and when he was doing the spear for two years he was disengaged from the team and they got very patient and very pragmatic and very basketbally and very villainova-ish just went right up and that’s Tibs and so you get rid of Tibs it’s not the same culture it’s not the same team you still have the Villanova guys but it won’t feel the same so it just it just feels like James and I don’t I almost you know he he reminds me a little bit of Jim Ers in that Ers would rather sit with his guitar and and hang out with Dylan uh outside of football more than anything else and I think James Dolan’s a little bit of that and I I think he’s an emotional guy he’s an artist he relates to artists and back listens to his stars and he didn’t have a plan and I I think it’s a big big mistake um it this by the way this is what every Nick fan dreaded is that when he came back from the sphere he would get hands on and there various reports on who has their fingerprints on this but they’re not getting rid of Tibs he just signed a new deal without Dolan um you know acquiescing to a suggestion or making the move himself so in the end this is what the Knicks man this this league’s crazy owners in the NFL and the NBA you know that all owners now Jason are billionaires it was 10 years ago they weren’t they made they were worth 600 million or 800 million they wouldn’t blow out staffs they didn’t want to write a 46 million check that is a rounding error now to these owners and they’re all I see it in the NFL all the time guys will just blow out staffs david Ter write a 60 $80 million check the donors didn’t want to do that 8 10 12 years ago they do now so I I don’t know who they’re going to land they they I mean they’ve been turned down by seven coaches all the good ones Finch and Emo Dooka and Jason Kid and they’re just getting turned down by everybody yeah matt Ishbia blew out of staff twice within two years of owning the team it’s completely ridiculous i uh you know it’s it’s fascinating because like I I tried to look at it in a very open-minded way because like I actually do think Jason Kid’s a better coach now than he gets credit for i a couple years ago I I wasn’t super high on him but he just like anybody else as a competitor has been doing it for a while now and he’s gotten pretty good at it like I looking at the Knicks for a second like I I agree with you in terms of the the the kind of topsyturvy unstable nature with which you look and you portray to people when you fire your coach in a situation like this but I also think Tibs left some meat on the bone with this Knicks team i thought they underachieved all season like right out the gates they underachchieved he brought it all he’s not He’s not a creative offensively he’s not the team got very predictable offensively nba finals are here this is with this team schematically was spacing and it actually impacted both ends of the floor on offense the me what you’re mentioning in terms of creative offense like his what he did on offense in terms of his creativity the spacing for this team was extremely poor which made life very difficult but it had a trickle down effect in the sense that poor spacing also affects your transition defense like if you don’t have your guys situated in proper spaces on the floor then on misses and turnovers you don’t have guys in position to be back in transition defense and the Pacers annihilated them in transition in worse than ever in game six like embarrassing fashion in game six as Seakum and everyone else was just getting run out layup after runout dunk after runout layup so like I did think there was like a defensible case with to move on from Tibs to more of a a tactician i actually see Jason Kidd as a solid option in the sense that he was a master of modern four out spacing with Luca when he was there which actually I think is a really natural fit with Brunson and Brunson co played for kid before so there’s like some natural stuff there and then he did a good job with transition defense with the Mavs despite them not being super athletic so I give him credit for that would work the the thing there is it’s just unrealistic and if I’m Jason Kidd why would like I don’t actually see the Knicks as that great of a like insane New York pressure the roster is really good but it’s not amazing it’s not like and oh by the way Male Bridges wants a new contract og’s getting paid brunson’s getting paid like the Mitchell Robinson these guys are getting paid like that Dallas thing Lively’s not getting paid cooper Flag won’t get paid i don’t know if uh uh Max Christie doesn’t cost much ad’s getting paid but you get 24 and 11 like I look at Dallas and I’m like I get excellence when they’re healthy and I get an incredible top end with Lively and Flag i know what the Knicks are and there’s a ceiling and I see it all the time yeah exactly like I I don’t see it as being the kind of job that Jason Kid would be willing to basically sabotage his situation and force his way there and then like the other names I saw I didn’t even particularly like like EM Udoka is a motivator he that’s like his primary role i don’t think that’s a specific need for the Knicks like I think the specific thing the Knicks need is just someone to come in and take them to the next level in terms of their offensive organization and their spacing which will lead to them having a bunch of additional benefits in transition defense i understand there’s a hesitancy to call a guy like Mike Malone and the reason why is because he has a reputation for being a hard ass and Tibs was kind of a hard ass and like I don’t think they want to go down that route again but there’s like hard ass and then there’s Tibs like Mike Malone leaned on his starters big minutes but still not even close to what Tibs did and one of the things I’ll say about Mike Malone he was an excellent defense and spacing coach he made a championship defense out of non- championship defensive talent and they were always consistently one of the best floor spacing teams in the league and they were very good and again we can we got to at least acknowledge Joic was there so Joic makes it a lot easier obviously but he specifically was very good at making spacing opportunities out of non-spacers guys like Aaron Gordon guys like Christian Brown guys like Bruce Brown over the years guys like uh Russell Westbrook even so like fitting a guy like Josh Hart Mitchell Robinson some of these non-shooting types of players even Male Bridges who has struggled a lot as a shooter in this postseason run like I actually think Mike Malone is a really good fit for this Knicks team who I think he’s a completely reasonable option that doesn’t involve you doing something insane like calling around the league cuz here’s what gets crazy let’s say you call the Mavs and they’re like “Okay sure let’s talk about Jason Kid what are you going to offer us we already acknowledge this is not a championship roster so you’re going to give up assets for a coach you need players you need talent in there.” So like and specifically defensive talent your front court so I don’t really understand what the endgame is here yeah i I just I I am on the short list of people that think Dallas is going to be really good really fast um I I think Flag and Lively are you know they’re Duke guys they’re going to be quick learners they play at the highest level of competition collegiately i think one’s going to be one’s 21 or 22 he’s going to be a rim protector for the next decade so Cooper Flag can be out in transition won’t have to worry about being down low and getting jammed up which has always been what LeBron loves he doesn’t want to be messed up in that junk he wants the you know he wants that ball out and up the court so uh and I I just you know PJ Washington Christy if Kyrie comes back I’m not sure what they’re going to do with him ad I I would forget the taxes forget everything else i would not leave Dallas i think Dallas is a good job the the the the situation that’s fascinating to me is Houston because I think I think right now San Antonio is about ready to pop um so I like San Antonio and they could get Giannis and I think OKC is set and I think Houston’s going to be in that group of three young teams a little lost because Jaylen Green Thompson’s excellent shenon’s excellent but there’s just a lot of athleticism that’s not very good in a halfcourt game and I think I think OKC has popped san Antonio’s going to pop and I so I I could I if I’m if I’m Adoka I I would consider the job i think Houston’s one of those that the national media we hover in we drop in we go oh look at Houston i I didn’t like what I saw i’ll be honest and I I think you can push them around i don’t think they have a lot of halfcourt possessions that are just sort of lost you don’t get good looks they look a little disorganized i but but Jason kid to me the next five years in Dallas are going to be fascinating with just this trajectory that goes through the roof the roster is weird because it’s kind of imbalanced in the sense that they just have an absurd amount of front court talent like you you don’t need Lively Gaffford Anthony Davis PJ Washington and Cooper Flag like that’s five starting caliber players that all play the four or the five so like I I I do see an imbalance there but there’s an insane amount of talent and I actually go the other way there which is like they can afford to go into training camp and just bring all these guys in and start playing and basically look around the league and be like “Who’s going to throw us the Godfather offer for PJ Washington for uh Daniel Gaffford for Anthony Davis?” Like you could argue that AD is going to be the target that someone goes after if like if cuz AD’s hurt now so he’s got that classic everyone’s down on him they think he’s old they think he’s beat up ad comes out of training camp looking like he’s in great shape motivated and kicks everybody’s butt for a couple months he instantly becomes like a dude you could flip for the an enormous mountain of assets and so I I I look at I look at Dallas as a very very healthy situation moving forward it’s not the same Luca Donuch were right on the doorstep of the title but they do have a lot of big picture potential sorry to interrupt this great video but please remember to like and subscribe thank you now back to the video so let’s talk about Kevin Durant we got a report from Shams today that uh Kevin Durant and his business partner Rich Kimman are kind of canvasing the league looking for potential opportunities the five names that were thrown out in the Shams report were the Houston Rockets San Antonio Spurs the Miami Heat the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks what did where did your head go when you saw that report this morning well I think he works everywhere i think there’s very few players that fit everywhere and KD is one of them um he doesn’t necessarily need to be the soul of the team he doesn’t need the ball constantly in his hands you get great length a willing defender um 24 26 I I think KD fits everywhere um you know if I was KD I New York I think he fits New York well but Brunson has the ball in his hands i mean in his mind is he thinking Brunson’s got some Westbrook like dribble the air out of the ball and I’m sitting in the corner like I could see him like I’ve been through that you know Kyrie who he played with also can be a little bit like that so I I could see KD just saying you know cuz he’s got the leverage here i could see him saying “I’ve kind of done the ball centric guard thing um I I just don’t want it again.” Um Pat Riley and Spolster are very convincing people miami is a great place to play no state tax it’s a winter league a lot of warm weather like Miami is a really attractive place out east um but I I’m a KD fan i think he fits in a lot of places and Minnesota he obviously fits um and and you know we’ve talked about this like LeBron in his prime was great but he had to be the offensive ecosystem you had to Chris Bosch had to reduce you know got marginalized kevin Love can get marginalized guys get away from the rim go you know Kyrie Irving you can’t have the ball that so Kevin never provides that kind of um obstacle like he just kind of fits so I I can tell you this if if if if you were a GM and you talked to a coach or players a lot of guys would raise their hands and say “Get KD because I think he loves basketball he’s a good teammate he’s got a good sense of humor he doesn’t need to be the media darling.” I I think he’s really liked and respected in the league i 100% agree i you know I love the point you made about his fit like he all five of these teams the basketball makes a lot of sense there’s one the one team that I was like that doesn’t make as much of a a sense in terms of the basketball fit to me was the Spurs because it’s like I don’t love the idea of putting a super thin front court player that likes the perimeter next to another super thin front court player that likes the perimeter i wasn’t a huge fan of that one it also just doesn’t really fit San Antonio’s timeline so the Spurs one was weird for me the Heat I like the fit i just don’t know why KD would go there because it just feels like another move to a team that’s not good enough to win the title like I’m just not sure that like is is Kevin Durant Tyler Harrow Bameio is that enough to win the title i don’t I don’t think so when I’m watching that kid Benedict um Mine yeah Matherine for Indie tonight i mean I’m not trying to overreact here but when I’m watching him and I’m like Jesus he’s just a kid like he’s going to you’re going to get this two out of three games next year like this is this I mean he by the way again I think wasn’t he the third leading scoreer on the team or fourth leading scoreer this year like he coming into the uh coming into this series he was actually the highest perm minute scoreer for the Pacers in this playoff run cuz he was in a shorter role but his like points per 36 minutes was the highest on the team yeah okay so I watch him and I think oh he’s going to become a full-time starter and it will be Seakumi and Matherin are their three leading scorers so I mean I just I’m looking at the East and I’m like I I think Indiana’s going to take a leap next year you know they’ll play with a finals level confidence so I I just I don’t think I I I just I I and I’m not just saying this because they’re up two to one i look at Indiana and I’m like man that is a team with I mean outside of I mean Saiakam he is what he is if I feel like H 75% of Indiana all those players will be better next year i mean out Seakam’s game is his game they’re better than they were last year yeah it’s just like all of them i just I was just so impressed with them tonight so we we can start talking about with Tatum out next year it’s going to run through Indie we got to be honest about this it’s going to run through Indie they are deep they’re well coached most of their players are ascending the East is running through Indie yeah I I agree and I don’t see the Heat as like an obvious like oh he goes there and he’s all of a sudden the favorite in the Eastern Conference i like the Rockets fit i think it his skill set is desperately needed as a guy who’s a shot creator they shoot from the perimeter he also brings length at the rim which is not like the Rockets are a big strong team they’re not like a long arms team like Jabari Smith Jr is like the one guy they have that offers really the Rockets need him Jason and I would argue the Rockets need him more than any other team that he would play for they need him they their halfcourt offense gets lost a lot yeah and and he would go in there and immediately vault them into top tier championship contention so that move makes some sense i will say by far out of these five teams my favorite fit is the Timberwolves it’s a similar lack of redundancy in the sense that he brings kind of like exactly what the team doesn’t have which is a rock solid secondary ball handler next to Ant who can really generate shots for his team but they can surround KD with elite super physical defense which is what he hasn’t had in these other destinations and also similarly Naz Reed not super vertical julius Randle not super vertical rudy Gobar is vertical but like they they Kevin Durant would be a guy at the four spot different from Cat last year different from Nas who brings real vertical length to the table where you can imagine Jaden McDaniels Kevin Durant and Rudy Goar on the floor together in that front line and it’s like all arms just everywhere and it would just be really really difficult to handle but it’s going to be really interesting i’m I’m hoping I’m hopeful that we get a pretty quick like uh set of action here in late June where we find out where all these guys land but Colin I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to join us tonight it was good to see you um everyone who’s hanging out here on the YouTube stream we are heading over to playback so that’s playback.tv/hoops tonight we’re going to be hanging out for an extra hour here after the show taking callers and stuff colin it was great to see you man great to see you buddy [Music]

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Colin Cowherd & Jason Timpf react to the Indiana Pacers beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Colin & Jason give their takes on how Indiana has taken a 2-1 lead and what OKC can do to comeback. Who do they like to win Game 4 and the NBA Finals? They also discuss the Knicks coaching search and potential landing spots for Kevin Durant.

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