Spurs Win Game 3 at MSG | Real Ones

It's popping. Real ones. Real ones after dark. To be exact, we are reacting on game three of the NBA finals between the Spurs and the Knicks where the Spurs win 115-111. Are the Spurs back in this? Are the Spurs going to win the series? Are they going to mess around with the mess around with the get down on the you filming with the rebound? We get into all of that and we get into your mail back questions. We got Howard Beck alive from MSG giving us the scene of what happened from the Root of Titituda and then we get expert analysis from Roger Bell. Then we get into your mail back questions and then we have a really, really fun into the pod where I just burst out everyone. It was awesome. This episode of The Ringer NBA Show is presented by Ferreiro. The world is watching. Go all in for your team this summer with Ferreiro. Enter for the chance to win a range of prizes just by purchasing your favorite treats like Kinder Bueno with an irresistible chocolate wafer and creamy hazelnut filling or Kebler chips deluxe cookies with indulgent and rich chocolatey chunks or Ferreiro Roche squares with crunchy hazelnuts and milk chocolate wrapped in iconic gold. Go all in by any two Ferreiro brands and you could win $1 million. Official rules apply. Learn more at go all in and win dot com. It's Bob and Rewinds. Logan Murdock here, Roger Bell there, Howard Mother fucking Beck in the very, very, very, very, very top of Madison Square Garden. We are talking to you guys after the nicks lose to the San Antonio Spurs in game three of the NBA Finals 115 to 111 Victor women Yama 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, probably his best game, the most complete game of the finals. It's been a long time since we've talked guys. It's great to see you guys. It's great to do this. I'm going to start with Roger. What, what did you like about Wimbee tonight? And what was your overall takeaway from the game? I like that, you know, they came out and it looked like they were making the real effort to try to get him some baskets. They were easy. There was a lot of double drag just putting them and putting the mix in a tough spot when Wimbee's rolling to the basket, just trying to figure out how you were going to tag from the weak side or if you were going to give him the lob. So I thought they got, they got him going in a way that forced him to kind of score from inside and then work his way out a little bit. He's great at his size being out there on the perimeter, but I've said before in the pot, I know a lot of the people have said I like when he gets going from close proximity to the room and then he can kind of expand his game and kind of and go out from there. In terms of the game, like look, like that, you know what, you know what I would say about this series and other stuff? I do not like the way this series is being officiated. I don't like it at all. I just, I don't like it. I think it's, you know, they change the tenor of the game mid game. This isn't one way or the other for spurs or for the mix, but like they're really letting them wrestle out there, which fine, if that's what you're going to let go of the entire game, but then there's segments of the game, these little chunks of the game where they stop doing that and now they're blowing the whistle like for things that have been allowed to happen for the entire game. And that's confusion for players. And it's confusion for me as a fan watching the game. Like I don't know that anyone else sees it like I do, but I'm not enjoying the way this series is being reft at all. Either let them go or, you know, call it like you do in the regular season. And either one I'm fine for, but switching midstream the way they have in this series from time to time has kind of thrown me a little bit. Love the way when we played, love how aggressive Stefan Castle was tonight. You know, they've given Brunson some problems. I know we got 32 tonight, but it's not a pretty 32. It's not an easy 32. Like he's working for that. But generally speaking, I just don't, I leave these games not loved in the way they're being reft. I'm sorry. You said that at the end of when we were all on me and Howard, we're in MOSFETs in Sweden. You were talking about how and we were talking about you were talking about how Roger was talking about texting us, just talking about how I believe it was game too when the officiating wasn't up to par in your mind. In fact, it made the game closer than ever. Can you talk about the evolution from each game of how you been annoyed about the officiating because it's been different parts of it, right? Like it's been you said the general part of this physicality, but it has been in consistency. Can you take us about a through your annoyance of the officiating through three games like step by step? I don't know that I can do that. Okay. Anyway, it would be entertaining for the listener. Like I don't know. I would, I would, you know, I would just say like, look, you're watching a game. And if you see the, the man handling of cat by when be or the man handling of when be by cat on any given possession before they're even near the ball, like those two are in a wrestling match the entire game. And if you're going to allow that, I'm okay with that. But there seems to be for me stretches of the game whenever that the whistle starts blowing more frequently than in other parts of the game. I'm not saying there's any conspiracy or anything like that. It could just be, you know, like we've got to get control of this now before it boils over. And so it manifests itself. And hey, we got to make these calls to kind of reign this game back in. So I'm not saying anything to fairies is going on. But what I'm saying is like, I don't think it's consistent. And as a player, all we wanted was consistency. We wanted to know coming out of the gates. A bro, this was going all night low. This is how you were going to allow me to play this pretend, you know, this scenario. And if you changed that on this midstream, that was difficult. Now, I don't think it's deciding necessarily the outcome of these games, but just watching it as a former player. That's kind of frustrating for me. What have you thought of the physicality overall, though, Raja? I mean, especially this game, it felt like, it felt like when he was just on a mission, this fuck up Branson. And then it just went snowballed from there. Yeah, like, look, I mean, I don't have a dog in this fight, right? But, you know, I, I, again, I think it's kind of crazy that, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, it should have been a flagrant on one beat early in the game when, when he, uh, when he much jail in Branson, right? And then a few plays later, I do not think that that was any kind of, like, flagrant activity by, uh, what's big fellas named the backup center for the Spurs. I don't, I don't, I think he ran into Josh Hart after the bucket. And then Josh Hart should have gotten a techie. He kicked him. You could have kicked him out of the game. I was suspended for, for less than that. So like, you know, no, I'm being honest. Like, like, I was suspended for less than that. But, you know, I, again, I think those are, those, those happen within two minutes of each other. And I think it's just an illustration of like, look, you're, you have to have some level of consistency. And then, and then they let it become like the street brawl, which I'm for. If that's what we're going to do, like, I love that. But then when you put a team in the bonus in the first, like, three minutes of a quarter coming out, like, that's not what we were just doing. Yeah. And that's, and that's hard to, that's hard to make that adjustment, like, on the fly like that. I, I think, you know, look, Jalen Brunson has a lot of gamesmanship with his, like, like, flopping and like, his, you know, managed genobiles, kind of like, you know, head, head, he's great at it. But they're beating the living shit at it and bringing them all up to court. Like, they're, they're, they're, I mean, that's got the point, right? They're giving, is the castles giving them a, um, and then Dylan Harper's giving them a, um, and then he's going into the lane, he's getting fucked up. Yeah. Like, they're, they're beating him up. And so, again, I'm good with it. But then we can't be putting people in the bonus on ret, like, Rick, you know, just tiki-tank stuff with, you know, three minutes into a, into a, like, crazy quarter that could have decided the, you know, the NBA season. I just don't think, I don't think that's right. Howard, you are an, our interpret reporter, live from Madison Square Garden at the moment. We just finished the Billy Joel concert that I'm sure you and your generation love. So like, that was just catnip for your generation. Oh, what, can you speak to overall environment and maybe how that maybe affected the next tonight? If at all? Just to clarify. So, uh, they have always played New York State of mind by Billy Joel at the end of every next game. So this song plays in my head almost on a, on a loop like, like this, being here just like triggers it because I've covered like, I don't know how many hundreds of games here. Uh, over the last 20 years. Um, we did have to wait for copyright purposes for Billy Joel to stop playing before we could start this. Much to Ross's chagrin. Um, you already know. Listen, like, I just atmosphere wise. So first of all, obviously, atmosphere, um, airs out of the building by the end, of course, because this is the first Nick's loss since April 23rd, fellas. Uh, and their first loss at the garden since April 20th. And those were the back to back losses to the hawks. Um, the last team to beat them in the post season. So, uh, sobering moment, I think for the fans here, obviously, for the next themselves. I think everybody kind of thought this was coming. The spurs were, we're so good. The first two games, building double digit leads, blowing double digit leads, but building them in the first place, like they showed they can hang with them. And they showed clearly the physicality that, um, that Roger has noted, and that it's sometimes being called and sometimes not, was something that was, I think, working to the spurs advantage. Um, And it was just a matter of I think of leveraging that and then just staying cool in some moments, I felt like they, they were a little bit more mistake free, not mistake free. If you were just fewer mistakes tonight, fewer rest shots, fewer just, you know, dumb looping passes that we're going to get picked off, right? Like just fewer mistakes tonight overall for this first. They showed their composure to, we've talked plenty about this, but like for this time to be this young and obviously already in the finals to come into this building to try to save their season to not go down 3.0, which we know is the death nail is like of all the impressive things that we've seen from Wembee and Castle and Harper in this crew. This ranks right up there and not for nothing on a night when the energy in this building was profoundly bizarre to say the least because of all of the things. And we were talking about this several of us pregame, just the fact that like the finals have a different energy than any other part of the NBA, than any other part of the schedule. The finals have just have a strange energy. It's an intensity, but it's also just strange, it's like a just attention in the air. So you take that, then you take the fact that it's a finals game at the garden for the first time since 1999, layer that on top of it and the Nick's fans New York just ready to explode at the possibility of a championship and they're already anticipating a sweep. Now on top of that, throw in the fact that a certain somebody decided to make his presence felt tonight and it was just a really, and you didn't know where it was going to go. Does that seep into the players? I don't know, like maybe they're being asked that right now as part of the post game pressors that we are not watching because we're potting, but it was definitely a strange energy in the building. I don't, I would guess that that had very little effect on how the game actually unfolded itself once we're past all the hoopla and the weirdest of it all, but it was, yeah, I've covered it because this was my 24th finals. I don't think I've ever been to a finals game quite like this. I would agree though, like on television, I mean, they showed Trump, the, the, the man you are referring to, they showed Donald Trump. I think twice on television, once during the, the National Anthem and in another time just during the game, I think it was after a quarter break or something, but other than that, like it felt like a normal NBA finals game that was great, but can you, could you talk to us about like people that weren't in New York, like what New York was like around the garden, right? Because they can't have the watch party and seems like it's, like there's gates everywhere. You had to get there very, very early. Can you give us a step by step on just what it was like going into the game and just like a weirdness, right? Because finals, finals games always have a, it's always different than any other game including playoffs. But then you put this other dynamic that is, that is just unforeseen and then we have to deal with it. Can you just give us a step by step of like, you know, you're walking into the building and then, then from there on, give us a play by play. Yeah. I mean, listen, I've got the good fortune of being able to get to a subway line pretty easily that pops me up right into Penn station, right? So I'm taking the A train into Penn station. So all I have to do is walk up some stairs and make a U-turn at, at, at street level and I can walk in except that when I got there at like 430, which is the earliest we could get in the building, 830 tip, 430 was the earliest in the media could get in the building. There's already massive lines, fans over here, um, you know, garden employees over here, media over here and then a lot of people not knowing where to be. There are barriers, the size of which I have never seen in my life just for event control, right? Like, there's these, I think people probably saw on social media, these really tall gates that they had put up lining like 33rd Street and other areas trying to just wall people off from the entire sector. And that's why they pushed the watch parties away. I'm curious to know if there were watch parties like, I don't know, five more blocks down. Did they find somewhere else to just come into your the street? I got a big breakfast. There was Bryant Park had a watch party, I think that's where it went down to. There we go. But like I've never seen security like that, obviously, because I've never been to in 24 finals that I've covered. I've never been to one where the president showed up with secret service and everything else that went with it. There was confusion. I saw reports online confusion about by fans who were trying to get into the arena, who had tickets, who weren't sure where to go. The cops weren't sure where to go. There was just a lot of confusion. So it's just, it's this combination to thank God it was only 72 degrees today and not like the 90 that it was a couple days ago, because we would have been us and the fans been baking out there. But it's just, it was, it was tense, it was confusing, obviously all completely unnecessary too, right? Like, if a certain somebody just decided not to come, you can say, you fucking chase them, bro. He did. I mean, not for nothing. There was a hell of a lot of talk about karma and bad vibes and bad juju and everything else. The second that that was a certainty that he was coming and people feeling like this is what's going to turn the series and wrote it for the next. It certainly made it incredibly inconvenient for Nick's fans who were coming to the game, not to mention all the Nick's fans who can't afford to come to the game, who have been enjoying themselves in these watch parties on the streets and couldn't do that even. So all of that was a bummer and cast like a, how's that cast a pull over it's still fucking NBA finals. It's still great. It was a fantastic game, but it made just for a very strange start to the night for the rest of it. So for the media, we come in, you know, we had more security than normal instead of me just having my, my bag go through a conveyor belt like they hand searched it. I was bracing myself for the full strip search. Fortunately, that did not happen. Thank God for humanity. Jesus. I made sure to shower just in case, you know, but they did not go that far. That part of it all went fairly smoothly. We all got in and then we just had a lot of time to kill. Did catch up with friend of the pod Ben Stiller for a little bit pre game. Did see spike pre game on the court, Tracy Morgan. I mean, you guys, I'm sure saw, look at how we're just flexing, man. Look at this like that. I'm not saying I was like, you know, I'm saying they're all here. Okay. Yeah. You were hanging with Ben, bro. We're kind of jealous. Yeah. Well, we're kind of jealous. He is. Um, let's get back to basketball. It seems that that was was enough. Roger. Like, we haven't talked to you in a second. Like, what have you thought about the gameplay between both teams in the first two games? Like, what have you, what have you thought about this series so far? Yeah. Uh, I mean, look, the theme of this series for me is, it's just physicality. Like there, there, this has been a really, really physical series and, um, I think both teams at times have thrived in the physicality, um, Howard, you know, you made a good point tonight about San Antonio kind of cutting down on the mistakes. I thought with that, they also came out, um, in the second half and just raised their level defensively. I, you know, like, I, I, I thought they were, they had some possessions late in that fourth quarter where they were running people off of multiple shots. I mean, they were on a string. They were flying around and so, you know, I talked about the rest at times, but like, that's not to try, to take anything away or diminish like what San Antonio was able to do, you know, defensively at times. So, um, I think it's been a pretty cool, a pretty cool watch. Uh, it's, there've been a final series where the home team has lost the first three games of the series. You know, I'm going to look right now because somebody I think noted this, um, but yeah, I, I think this may be a first, um, yeah, Kirtika. What's going on? Like do we have a stat? Kirtika was going on. Kirtika. Okay. All right. Is that all right? She typically has all the stats. She typically, whenever we have a question, it's how we're going to blue sky and talking to talk about. Okay. I'm pretty sure she hit this already. So I'm, I'm looking, the road team is one three straight games to start the NBA finals for the first time since 1993 and the second time ever, according to Kirtika. Thank you. Kirtika. Um, um, uh, you knew she was on it. Who was she? She was on it. 93. That would have been, uh, bulls, uh, the third of the, the third place, uh, no, bulls, uh, signs, uh, third of their, uh, bulls signs of their first. Yeah. Um, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. Like, there've been three games, man. It's late. I don't have the Greek. I can create breakdown of the three games, but look, if, if San Antonio is going to make Jalen Brunson's life as difficult as they've made it, right, um, you know, there was, there was, he had 32 tonight, they had, they had 18 assists. I think at San Antonio had 28, they, they have to find a way to get into what they're doing quicker, in my opinion, uh, there's, there's, there's a, there's way too much of him. Um, fighting to get it across half court, and then fighting just to get it across the, the, the, the hash, if you will, you know, and he's starting offense at half court. There it's 15, 14 seconds on the shot clock in their way out there. It doesn't give you a lot of time to find the answer to the problem that San Antonio on any given possession is trying to throw at you as a defense. And so like, I just think they got to play a little quicker. And I think, you know, maybe again, I said it, I said it was shame when they, when they played shame and they always have them at the top with the ball in his hands. It's, it's, it's a lot easier for a defense to have their five defenders in all sets of eyes kind of loaded. They'll trap you. If you're coming off a pick and roll, they got multiple big bodies. They can throw you defensively. So you can't always beat him off the balance. You need the pick, but that's bringing the second defender kind of organically into the play. It's, Shay struggled at times. I wouldn't, I don't imagine you're gonna see Brunson just going bananas in the series at any given time offensively. He's gonna have moments, but they're making it really, really, really difficult on him. And so I just like, you have to have games from bridges and cat, they have to have games. If that's what you're going to do to Brunson, they have to have games. Yeah, I mean, this has been the story of the series, man. In my opinion, it's basically been spurs of the better team that can't close. I think that's been the story of the entire NBA finals, right? Where, I mean, we were watching Game 1 up in Stockholm and it was like, okay, the San Antonio Spurs are taking control of this game until the third quarter and they just can't finish, right? Sam goes for Game 2 where, you know, they do get it. They do drop a lead, but they can't finish because Wombu Niyama is messed up down the stretch. They don't really have anyone that can necessarily organize. And you could see that even in the last stretch of this game, right? Where, you know, before that castle bail out three that sealed the game, they were having some trouble, right? There were just costly turnovers from Fox, right? And I know we talked about, we talked about Fox throughout this series. And I know Roger, you pointed out like they end Howard, like they need Fox, they need him to be right. But he isn't that war general that you need, right? Like they need guys that can kind of organize this offense and we've seen this throughout the season with San Antonio where, you know, they play great defense. There was a sequence with four minutes left in the game where I think they caught Carl Anthony Towns behind the three-point line. He threw it to Shamit and then they got it into the lane and then Wombu just blocks it, right? Just an incredible defense of performance from them. They have the defensive vacuum in, but they just can't close down the stretch and that's the thing that's really been frustrating to watch. It's like whenever I watch the Spurs Howard, I feel like, damn, I can't wait to see what they are in a few years, right? When Dylan Harper's just not only looking for his own shot, but he can get other people involved and is a little bit more comfortable and they're just older, right? And I'm like, when I see so many plays and I'm like when they're two years older together, they're gonna be a lot better than they are right now and they're just playing on raw ability that's great, but they can't finish. I don't know what you can do with that in this series. They're down only two-one now, but they're trying to figure themselves out in a way. They're trying to get where the nicks are in terms of chemistry and knowing each other of NIST, but they're just not there yet, but they have more talent than the nicks. And I feel like that's the conundrum and the two things kind of coming at each other during this series. I think there's something to that. And I really think that 'cause you see these moments from Dylan Harper where it's just like holy crap, I cannot even believe this fucking kid. He's amazing. And but it is definitely those amazing moments are I'm gonna go get mine and then he gets it. And occasionally it's I'm gonna go get mine and he gets there and then can't quite complete it, but it's never like I'm gonna go get it and ooh everybody just collapsed on me and I'm gonna hit Vaselle in the corner or I'm gonna hit Teared Fox at the top of the key or something. Like he doesn't have that vision yet. He's a little bit tunnel vision, which is not a knock. It's totally typical of rookies in this league and of young guys in this league who have an incredible amount of individual talent. And I think Logan you absolutely nailed it. There are so many times you're watching this team and we're watching them in the NBA finals. So this is the time to be thinking about the present and not the future, but it is hard not to think like, oh man, in another year or two, he's gonna see that play. He's gonna see that rotation. He's gonna see that opportunity and he will. Like Dylan Harper seems to be like a very intuitive and smart basketball player and same with Steph Castle. Like and when he's got other places to evolve too and I thought tonight, you know, Roger hit this earlier, like you can see like the clear intent to get him shots closer to the basket tonight right off the top and he got him on a roll. They had a hard time getting back to that later. I'm sure the Knicks had something to do with that defensively, but there are still those moments with Wembee in particular where you can see like, especially when he's out at the arc. It's like I can knock down this shot, but like if he's missed a couple of them, then now he's hesitating a little bit but he's not sure exactly, he's hesitated too long to turn that into like, oh, they're closing out of me. Now I'm gonna make a move and blow past them, right? Like he's just a half a second too long in his decision making. And that'll all speed up eventually. And when that happens, these guys are gonna be impossible. - They remind me a lot of the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder, right where they have all of the talent. And I'm not sure they were better necessarily than the Miami Heat, you can make the argument, I think that they were going in the series. I don't know, but when you look, when you looked at them going into that series, they had a whole bunch of dudes, right? They had Westbrook, they had Hardin, they had Kevin Durant, but they all didn't know how to play with each other as well as the Miami Heat. Simply because the Miami Heat year before went through the fire, right? And this next team has gone through the fire in a lot of ways. And Roger, we've always talked about like, throughout this season, like, when is San Antonio gonna get tested? Like, who is going to make them work, right? And go to their third or fourth option. And I remember seeing in like game one, in particular, you see San Antonio get out to this big lead, but then you see New York, who knows each other and like knows everything about how to play together when the chips are down. Also, they're a team that tends to rally. And you could see that like how, what's going to give throughout this series in your mind, right? You've been pretty spot on throughout this post season. Is it going to be San Antonio's youthful energy that is just, they don't know what the hell they're doing? They're just more talented than you. Or do you think the Nick still have the edge in terms of because they know each other? Do you think they still have the edge in the series going into the next game? - Yeah, it's interesting. Because, well, first of all, let me just, like what San Antonio needs for me, like, I mean, they'll obviously get better as they all mature and get older. But like right now, one of them, they lack closing, right? Like they lack just overall closing. So that could be from an organizational standpoint when someone's setting up your offense again and going. But like also, you know, from like a bonafide closure with the ball in his hands. Like, who is that going to be, right? Like, and so if these games are going to come down to the wire over and over again, I'm taking New York because they close, like they have a closure. They have a guy that you know, even if you make it difficult for him to do seven-eighths of the game, like he can close and he'll make big shots at the end. Not the San Antonio has guys that can't ever close, but they don't have that consistent closure. Like, when he, he'll never be like a true post player, but like that's a part of his game. Like you gotta develop that. You gotta get to where we can give it to you down there and you can get buckets or get bass. Like it's critical for you to be seven, whatever you are. And for us to close games, that's where we have to get you the ball. You know what I mean? Like they have to have that. I think that emotionally, there's gonna be, I think a rebound from the mix in game four. Not that there was a letdown from them in game three, but I think you feel that series slipping away from you in a way that game four becomes a must win for you if you're the mix. Like, and so they're gonna throw everything they have at that. They're gonna come out with like a, they're gonna come out and punch first. Now, I don't know if that manifests itself and then being up early in a way that they haven't in this series, but like, I imagine they're gonna be like razor sharp coming out in game four. That's just my gut. I would lean towards them slightly, but I'm afraid for them because the spurs got a taste to me. And that's what you did not want for a team that probably is mono, mono, like, you know, man to man, like just better than you across the board. And that taste can be intoxicating. I think, you know, they were loose coming into it. I saw a lot of the press that they were doing and a lot of the behind the scenes that concerned me. You know, I know the mixed fans were all like, these dudes are locked in, many dudes are business cool. But I did not like, if I was a mixed fan, I did not like that the spurs looked Lucy Goosey like that. I did not, that was not making me feel good as someone who would have been cheering for the mix. So that would be my concern. I think the mix went in game four. But I'm worried for them. They had a real opportunity tonight and the spurs, you don't, when you have young players that are inexperienced, you gotta get rid of them. You gotta get rid of them. You can't, you gotta get rid of them, bro. Like, you just gotta use whatever advantages you have, maximize those and get them to fuck out of there. 'Cause I wish you would be like six years ago, get your sons, is that how you had to like, stave them off, just like, hey, I gotta fucking kill you real quick. Is that what you should do? Nah, I just should've mushed them a little more. But like, you gotta, you gotta get them up out of there and they didn't do that tonight. And so, yeah, it could be interesting. I like the mix though, and I think again, I would just say this, sorry. If we're gonna play in these, if we're gonna play in these three minute games down the stretch where someone is up two or three points and every game is gonna live in that area, I'm probably taking the next end of the series. The Ring or NBA show was brought to you by Fandall. It's all come down to this. Who do you think will be wearing the ring at the end of the NBA finals? Make your call with Fandall. Right now, new customers can hit the court with $350 in bonus bets guaranteed after betting $5 for seven straight days. Fandall is the best place to bet all of your favorite players during the finals bet on their baskets and boards or build same game parlay for a chance at a bigger payout. I don't know, man. I think I'm gonna take the, I think I'm gonna take the spurs to tie this series up and I'm gonna take the over on points and rebounds and assist for Victor Wombanyama. And I'm gonna take the over on Dylan Harper points. And I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take the under on cap points and rebounds. That's how I feel right now. Just visit Fandall.com/Ring or NBA to get started. Let's be 21 and older and select states 18 and older in DC Kentucky or Wyoming. First online real money wager only minimum $5 required for seven consecutive days bonus issues is non what's robable bonus bets, which expire seven days after receipt. Ambrum all 100 gambler called 1 8 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 7 or visit ccpg.org. Backslashchat and Connecticut. There's a couple of things here. One, let's start with this. I always say that you get clues for the rest of the series and the final two minutes of each game, right? And or I would say maybe final four minutes of each game. And how that relates to what you just said about the spurs, right? You see the big three from castle, right? It was it was a bullshit possession. He gets the ball shoots a three. You see the step back three from Dylan Harper. Then you see the Fox turn around after he had that after he had that terrible turn over down the stretch, right? But I'm saying is these young guys are building confidence, right? They're growing. They do this every series. They seem to be growing in front of our eyes. That would scare the shit out of me, right? Where like these guys are starting to make shots. They're starting to just kind of find themselves. They're also. There's also like a comfort in being on the road, right? I think you saw that from both teams because both teams had different set of circumstances that gets them overly amped, right? Like you saw it in San Antonio where it's like, oh shit, this is the first finals we've had of this new era. Like it's crazy. And they came out swinging, but then I'll say also got a little lemon booty down the stretch. And then like you saw the same thing with the nicks, right? Man, it's our first final since 1990 or since 1999, it's the lockout year. Man, we got to really put on for the city. Wow, there's so much going on. Fat Joe and Jada kiss are at our presser, bin stillers at our presser. What the fuck? This is crazy, right? And that tends to go into your mind. It's hard to like, you know, insulate yourself. And the first, and I think like the thing that would scare me if I'm the nicks right now is like, damn, like you say Roger, these young guys, they're starting to wake up. Like they're starting to be like, oh, okay, all that noise is over with. We're actually a fucking better team than you. Like I'm actually, we're actually better than you. We're younger than you. We got Wimbing Yama. We just, all we had to do was funnel him, funnel you guys into Lane. He's going to block everything. And Wimbing Yama's like, oh shit, I can actually go to the cup. Like he wasn't going to the cup the last fucking two games. I have Carl Towns on me. I can go to the cup. He's starting to like, they're starting to really just kind of wake up now. And I would be scared. How are do you, do you share these fears? You guys hit it earlier. The nicks have the best closer in this series. One of the best closers in the NBA period of the last several years in Jalen, Brunson. Deer and Fox did hit, by the way, that fucking huge free throw line jumper late. Cat was tying up Wimbing. Like Wimbing was trying to get loose and Cat just like was like wrestling him. And I think Fox just like saw, like I've got an opportunity to just kind of like skirt in behind them. Huge, huge shot by Deer and Fox. And like, that's why you got him in the first place, right? And like, I'm the moron who was it earlier this season last summer. I'm like, okay, Deer and Fox is now expendable. They've got castle and Harper and they've got this young career. They got the cell. Like they don't, you know, what do you need? You're on a trade with me. Why, why, why we need a max point guard? Deer and Fox just showed his, his worth. And obviously he's been hugely critical to them as just kind of a steadying hand of veteran influence. We saw what his absence meant to them in that thunder series when he was still ailing a little bit. He seems fine. He was fine now. But I think I'd be concerned to answer Logan's question. I think I'd be concerned with the fact that like Jalen Branson, despite the number of like clutch shots, he's hit first to get them up to oh in the first place. And then even, you know, some of some of what he did late tonight. He's what 11 for 25 tonight has not shot well in the series. The NBA stats. I just not updated yet. So I haven't been able to like look at his composite for the series. But like he's he's got got you. I got you right here. He is shooting 37% from the field 31.8 from three point line. But he's averaging 27. But that's been a tough 27. Yeah, 12 for 30 shots in the first half, 12 for 31. Yeah. 12 for 31 in the first game. I'm just now able to pull it up. Like that. Like it's been a struggle the whole time. And this is what this was the one thing I said. Like, and you know, I'm one of the people who thought the spurs would win this series. I think I said spurs and six in our in our preview for the ringer. It was in part because I thought the spurs are just so uniquely built with all these big physical guards. And then when we back in them all up that that Brunson was going to have a hard time finding space to operate. Now the guy is one of the best tough shot makers and just finding little seams that there is in the league. And he does that and we've seated over and over in the series. But still the efficiency is way down for him. And if that's going to be the case, then it's got to be okay. How much, you know, what are we getting from cat and it ain't get much tonight from cat? Where are we getting from a kill bridges and an OB at least, you know, was shooting well tonight for them. But it does put a lot of pressure on everybody else who they can all have those breakout games. But you're not going night in night out to any of them. That's not the history of these guys. So, I don't know, Roger, like, like, is there what's the counter when your best player is being bottled up to this extent? Yeah, this was my fear for them coming in. I don't know if you guys remember me saying how similar I saw Jalen Brunson and Shay as players, as scorers, as shot profile, like where they want to get to, how they want to score. And San Antonio is, you know, they're not unique in that, like, there are other teams that don't defend. But with that shadow of Wembee behind, they are kind of unique, right? Because if you don't have a true number two that is going to just pick up any slack, like true number two's when number one's can't eat, they're just waiting to eat. So like, once you throw it over to them, they're like, "Fuck it, I got it. I've been waiting for this." Like Oklahoma City didn't have it. And the nicks are looking for it. Hopefully, you would hope that Carlinth and he towns would do that. But so far, you know, like, when Carlinth's. I mean, Carlinth's for the first two games. No, but he's in and out of that. He's in and out. And so like, if he's going to be good, they're going to win. Because what this person is doing to that driving force of your offense, Shay or Jalen Brunson is just making their life miserable. Game plan, stacked floor, Wembee shadowing. So you have to have cat or chat or it would have been Jay Dub. Or somebody on that weak side when that ball comes out has to make them pay over and over and over again. And only then would they have to like say, "Okay, we can't employ this strategy anymore. Let's play Shay or Jalen Brunson straight up." But I think even as cats been great, like you talked it to beginning of the pot about like, you're like a case the spurs were like, "Yo, we fumbled the bag a few times." Even though cat play great. So like, I don't see them switching it up, you know? Like, they're going to let Cat. Hey, beat us. And yeah, it's, it's, I don't see any real home for Jalen shaking free in this series. Again, he's going to have, he's going to have moments. Like, don't get me wrong. He's a bad mofo. Like, he's going to have moments. But like, it's just really difficult to shake free of what that entire team is doing to you on a nightly basis. It's their only focus defense. Cat was a four of 10 tonight. 11 points can't have that. You know, especially after when he would get 18 and 12, game one, 21 and 13, game two. Just was a monster, right? I was even, I was joking. I think with Howard, somebody in Stockholm just talking about like, damn, like, Chad is looking at, Chad Hunger and is looking at this film. Like, god damn it. I've just missed a golden opportunity to get my team to the finals, right? Like, it seemed like the, the blueprint was right there. McElbridge is also has a step up, right? But the problem is, when I look at this next team, I'm like, aside from Brunson, I really don't know who is going to be a consistent player outside of Brunson. I don't know who's going to be there on a night in and night out who can do that, right? Like, I'm not talking about Landry Shamant. Like, he's going to ball out, but he's not that guy, right? Like, OG is, he might get you some, he might, he can get you 20 on a given night. But is, are you going to, can you bank and stamp 20 points from OG? I don't know. Can you bank and stamp McElbridge? I don't know if you can tell Bridges 20. In theory, you should be able to, but I don't know. - Yeah, I wouldn't, oh gee, in a series like this, I would stamp close to, I don't know what he's averaging, but I'd have him high teens like to 20. Like I think you could count on that, but it's not winning you games. - Right. - That makes sense, right? It's not gonna win the game for you. You need to give the ball to Carl and Anthony Towns more. I'm just telling you. - What if you thought of his defense? - You guys give it, by the way. What if you thought of his defense? - I think it's gonna be great. - Yeah, I think he's been pretty good. Like you can't, look, when we got a bunch of shit behind him tonight. Carl and Anthony Towns had hit and bottled up on the perimeter, like, you know, when we was looking to get to that step back, cat knocked it away a few times. Even that last possession were not the last possession, but when he hit step on a castle, I think it was like a, he wanted to hit that as he pulled and cat was all over that and he made him, you know, off of it. I think cat's been really good. I think he's been physical, but you gotta give him, you gotta give him the ball more. Yeah, get that ball out of Jim and Brunson's hands if that's what they're gonna do to him. Not saying that he's gotta take a back seat, but get the ball moving in a way where cat can get it with a little bit of time to figure out what's going on. And then he can either score or he's very capable, like, playmaker. So then let him make the play to get Sam at the easier shots. Like, if you watch that next tonight, there's a huge difference between the ball moving crisply and me catching it and allowing myself whatever that beat is on my natural shot. Like, you know, whatever time it takes for me to get that shot up, the next looks sped up in the second half in terms of catching, trying to get it up real quick. Like, catching, trying to get it up real quick. Like, they were just, they were sped up in that way. And so you have to get off the ball earlier. Let, let, cat, 'cause he's the only person on your team that can do that dog. Like, he's the only person outside of Jim and Brunson, that can be tasked with doing that. Like, it's just, it's what it is. So he's got, you've got to see if he can do it. And, and if he does, maybe, you know, well, you've won two games with him fucking doing it. But like, if, if they adjust to that, now it's freeze jail enough to do what you ultimately want to be able to do anyway. - Yeah, no pun intended. I've been catting off OG's average of 20 points per game. But to your point, Roger, it's not going to win you games. That's not what I'm talking about, right? Like, you need a bona fide just like due to be able to win you games in that way. - Um, I, damn, it's kind of distracting. It's popping over there in MSG Power. What's going on right now? It's popping. I'm gonna be your human voices that I don't even know. And I'm like, what the fuck is going on? - I think people kind of clean it up, doing their thing. Just like, you know, breaking down, baby. - Break it down, break it down. - I don't know if there's something here on the off night between games or not either. So, you know, this is work to do. I do have from this perch. I can see, you know, Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, Shaq, all doing their thing down on the court down there. So, they're still working hard. I can tell you that. - Are you sure they're working hard? - I think one person is working hard. I can guarantee that one person on that panel was working hard. - Maybe. - Dremel, was he really? I saw Dremel pregame. I don't see him out there now with them. So, I don't know if he's just like roaming. Is he just like, is he like that? - He had a wild like, I don't know, man. I'm not the best dress in the world. He had like a wild like, pink and brown ensemble going on. It was a lot, it was a lot going on. It's, if Saginaw, Michigan was an outfit, that was what that was. Okay, let's get into, let's get into Club Mailback real quick before we get out of here. Let's get to an hour. Cliff, what's happening? Cliff, are you there? - Cliff is falling asleep. - I did not fall asleep. - Wake up Cliff. - Are you still jet lagged from Stockholm? - No, I was in Riverside Jail real quick. That's what happens when you're in the back. So, when you're in Riverside Jail, I can't unfree myself. So, I needed a bend of free me from Riverside Jail. So, now I'm back. - Did you have those big barriers that Trump had in your jail? It was like, there's like a big glass awning. (laughing) - To date, I was in solitary, I was in solitary, Logan. - I only saw it 'cause I'm here. I only saw it popped on social media. Did they show on TV where he was basically like, Trump was basically like, I sleep in the sleep. - Yeah, he did. - And it was hard to tell if Dolan was even awake next to him. Like, I'm like, what? Yeah, that's old and worse though, bro, because that just happens, man. That's just a litter of all the people around their age that just happen. 'Cause this is an exciting game. Wake that ass up. - Who's the side? - This is a really nice-- - Roger, wake your ass up. Old ass. - I'm about to say, I'm about to fall asleep as we speak. (laughing) Yo, just keep a calm on Roger 'cause he's gonna fall asleep right now. - Almost there, Roger. Almost there. - All right, this is a random question here, so bear with me. This is, hello, real ones. I have what I believe is an interesting question for you today. With the current day, 2017 Warriors be a contender right now. I don't mean import the 2017 Warriors. I mean, we take the current version of the 2017 Warriors roster, let me make the case. You still have two top 10 players and a goat level scores and Stefan KD, a high IQ all defensive caliber defender and Dremon, and a 38% plus three point veteran sharps you during clay. You could also add in Harrison Barnes of that contributing to a finals team right now. Let's also say they start in round one of the playoffs and don't play a regular season. So what do you think? Thanks for answering. Andrew, this is from Andrew Fan, very random, but Logan, it seems like you covered that team. You got some mystery behind that. I think you'd be perfect to answer that question. - Right now, like this current team right now, can they stay on the floor for three months straight? Can they do that? I don't know, I don't know if they could do that. I'm sorry, this current group? No, I don't think with this kind of-- - You're basically subbing in by going back to the 2017 roster. You're basically subbing KD back in for Jimmy Butler, but everybody is like nine years older. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, no, sorry. - No, they're gonna go against Jada and Shay, are they gonna go against-- - What is this current? We've seen what the current KD is doing against current women Yama, bro. Like, that's not happening. - I tend to be the biggest warrior optimist on this pod and like, no, I'm just, I can't wait. We're not there. It's not happening. You wanna stick up for the ages for the old people around? - No. - You stick up for them? - No. I don't think people understand the difference between like what a really good 21-year-old, 22-23-year-old physically has in terms of advantages over even a really good 35-36-year-old. I mean, no disrespect to them. Like, those are some of the best players on the planet, but, you know, they're gonna have advantages in terms of like, experience and understanding and probably tricks of the trade. But, you line up a 22-23-year-old fresh legs against a bunch of 35, that's not even a chance. - Yeah, man. Like, I would say even like, if the 22, the 22 lawyers and they had all of those people, that would be like the last like gasp in terms of like the team that would win a title. If you put that current version of the roster together, - If you could get Andrew Wiggins to also replicate what he did, that seems for them. 'Cause he was the one young guy who could actually do something, right? And it gave them a little bit of that athleticism. - Hey, man, Jordan Poole with one of the games too. He went around. He went around, okay. - Fine fair, just fair. - Just fair. - I'm not gonna have the erasure. Okay, what's the next question? - All right, this next question is like a week old, so just bear with me 'cause it's still kind of relevant and interesting. - Okay. - This is catharsis from Uruguay. Can we stop at the next dynasty talk? Matthias Prostini, Matthias Prostini, I hope I'm saying that correctly. Hey, real ones, what's up Logan and Roger? This is Matthias rocking with the show for a long time now, all the way from Uruguay. I'm writing to you guys today because I need to vent a little bit and I know you two are gonna fill me. Now let the spurs be okay, see? And I'm already exhausted by the media narrative that's being shoved down our throats. Everyone is acting like San Antonio is a lock for the next dynasty and that nobody else stands a chance for the next four years against Wimbee and Co. It feels like we never learned our lesson. We had this exact same conversation when Yochuch won his first ring. He hasn't won one since. We had the same talk when Yannis won his first ring. He hasn't been back since. We said it about the Celtics after they won. No repeat. We spent the whole year hearing about O.K.C. Dynasty and this year, once again, it didn't happen. We've now had eight different champions in the last eight years. How long is it gonna take for people to realize that the game has completely changed? Is it harder than ever and NBA history would repeat, let alone build a dynasty? Parity is real, injuries happen, trade's happen. NBA is a butterfly effect, bucle, nice word. Every year is different and it's amazing. I'd love to hear your take on this, keep you on keeping it real, much love, Matthias, Matthias from Uruguay. - I was just gonna say, San Antonio, I mean, I get the comparisons to Yochuch and Yannis, but Yannis and Yochuch were not Wimbee's age when they were on the verge of winning their first title, bro. That's the key difference here. And all those guys weren't as young as the Spurs team is right now on the brink of the title. I can tell you what you're saying, well, OKC and all that stuff. But San Antonio has the reason why we're now anointing Spurs prematurely is because they beat OKC pretty handily and seem to have their number. That's all I really have. I don't have any like sweeping thing. I just wanted to point out the key differences. And I'm sure Howard's gonna say something way more smarter than I am. - Let me go before you go Howard. Let me just go like I agree with you Logan and not only is Wimbee a younger player with more probably upside at this point than some of them had, but I think his supporting cast is also, when you look at them, I think you see multiple people that in the next few years, you could make a case for being all something in the NBA, right? Like you guys are real dudes. We're doing a hard part. about to be crazy next year. - No, so it's not just him. Having said that, I'm with you, Matthias. I'm with you. Like, did you just play both sides, Roger? - I, no, I'm not. - Nope, I'm not playing because I'm telling you where I'm standing, I'm standing with Matthias. Like I can say all of that and say like I see that for the spurs, but recent history suggests to me that he's right. Like it is super hard to find yourself no matter what the circumstances are or what your team looks like or what we feel about it to find yourself back there again. And, and dynasty, I think is, while, if anyone could do it or looks like they should do it, it would be the spurs. I think I'm taking Matthias aside on this one. - I would just say this. - Do you agree that the MBA is a butterfly affect vehicle? - I love that. I would just say this, what is that we all tend to do this thing where if there's even a couple of people maybe on social media or one podcast or one loud voice somewhere who's saying, oh, this is the thing. This team's gonna be the next dynasty. Then we react to it. It's not like this is like some consensus thing. Like, oh, we need to all stop doing this. Some people maybe did at various points, maybe with the bucks, maybe with the nuggets, maybe with the Celtics when they went theirs too. I did not feel that for any of them. But I, and I will just say, as the person who wrote a couple of weeks ago that the whole league is trying to figure out what to do about the thunder and spurs because these two teams are both very young, very loaded, and very flexible with all the cap room and draft picks that they have to use in the coming years. The reason I wrote that is partially because that's the way the league is talking about them. But not to say that either of them are a dynasty. It was not annoying to either them. Just saying that like when you are that young with that collection of talent and the ability to keep adding as the thunder and spurs both do, it does put you in a position to be a power for a long time. Being a power for a long time, being a contender for a long stretch of time is not the same thing as saying it's a dynasty. So in my own pseudo defense, he wasn't coming after me, but since I wrote that story, I will just say like it's about the idea these teams are going to have to be reckoned with at a high level for many, many years to come. But it is true, also, I will agree with him. Like eight champions in eight years tells us something about the state of the NBA right now. And it was engineered this way. This is what the league wanted. This is what Adam Silver wanted. It is tough to repeat. It is tough to even get back as we just saw once again. There's a war of attrition you're fighting. We keep talking about or we have discussed like, oh, what if J Dubb and AJ Mitchell had been available? Do the thunder win that series? Are they now in a position to repeat the thunder and they're playing the next instead of the spurs? But there's a war of attrition. They lost those guys because it's hard season after season, especially when you've gone deep. And so yeah, I agree. We all should take a beat before anointing anybody as dynasties. I do think the spurs in the thunder, no disrespect to the nicks at all who are still up in this series and may yet win this championship, but that the spurs in the thunder because of their combination of age, array of talent, and picks and flexibility for years to come are going to be very, very difficult to deal with. All that said, there's a second apron in this league. There's all these other mechanisms to force you to part with talent. And yeah, that's what's made the league so fascinating and volatile in recent seasons. And on some levels has made it very exciting. For sure. Let's do one more just a week, make time. 'Cause I'm also about to fall asleep. Sorry, Russ, it's 51 minutes dog. One more, dude. We gotta make time, dog. Come on, Jesus. You can go to sleep. You just go to sleep. Me and Howard got this one. Just go take it, take a nap, take it on. We gotta hit it. We gotta wraps it 'cause I gotta get down from here. All right, thank you. You're fucking Howard. How are we done? Wait, one more. Can you got one more time for one more? No. There's not a go. Yeah, your muscles are, your muscles go. See, man, I want my hair. Keep it all that shit. Hold on. We're just gonna keep it the whole all week. We was just hold on. Yeah, keep on, I got a question. I got a question for you. I got a question. You want a question? I want a question. Yes. How you signing off tonight, motherfucker? There you go. There's your question. You know what? I'm gonna just say this, man. You know what? I'm gonna just say this. Cliffs that are ain't no good questions. I got the real one's fucking mailbag log in right here and I hate this erasure. And I'm not even going, I'm gonna just say, Musa, you had a great question. What's good in the bay? You ain't shit, Cliff. Howard, I know you gotta leave. Fuck you, Roger. And that's another edition of Real One's, okay? I ain't gonna let you in. (laughing) Side pod for Musa. Could be the best sign off of all time right there. (laughing) It might just be, you know what I mean? Fuck everyone. This is Musa saying that he saw Roger play his first NBA game and Roger went five of 17, one of 10 from three and the sun's still one, one of five, one of one. Roger you're a real one and I hope to see tying the NBA some day, some day. But you know what, fuck all day. Fuck Roger. Fuck Dan. Fuck Howard. We will see you guys next time, next pod. This has been another edition of Real One's. Make sure if you want to let, you know, we love our fans contrary to what Roger and Howard and Cliff are doing, but make sure you tap in real ones [email protected], real ones [email protected], real ones [email protected]. We're kicking the fucking Howard out of MSG. Roger you take your ass asleep, Cliff. The Marathon continues, all this shit. Bye. 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