The Shot Clock Pod - NBA 2024-25 Playoffs Finals TIED 2-2

Untitled project from SquadCast === [00:00:00] Jose: Alright, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket.net. He's Steve Purciello, longtime educator, vice-principal, high school basketball coach and athletic director. And this is the shot clock pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random thoughts online. I. If this is your first time listening, welcome. We're glad you found us. This podcast was born out of the content in Steve's 13 Rules, random b, A Thoughts articles which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 15 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA today. We'll discuss his latest 13 rules, random MBA thoughts article where he shares his thoughts as the NBA finals. Continue. It's been a good one, tied to two as we record this show. Steve, are you ready? Let's start the timer and we're off. Alright. A lot was made of the Pacers winning game, one in dramatic fashion, and taking home court advantage away from the thunder. The thunder had I. A must win game in game four. They have the [00:01:00] MVP in Shea, Gil gis Alexander. He had to show up and he did, and you called it out in your article. And a must win game for his team. Shea Gil gis Alexander was special. So what did you like about his play with his, with in that game four with the, really the series on the line. Steve: All the great players when they have to, they come up big. I'm thinking back a couple years ago in Giannis, in the finals, I guess it was what game six or so where he just, took over. I. His team wasn't, hasn't played well. Oklahoma City has not played nearly as well as they are as have they played during this regular season. But he put the team on his back in the last five minutes of that game and just won the game they were losing. And they put him away. All because 15 outta 16 points, the last 16 points, 11 straight. He just said, come on boys, here we go. We're going, we're going somewhere. And he did it. And to become. What he's considered one of the best basketball players in the NBA to be that [00:02:00] you have to come through like that when it counts like that and he did it. There, there's nothing else to say. That's, you are witnessing greatness. When you see something like that, go on. Jose: Yeah, that's, it's so interesting and again, for those who have listened for a while, you might know I'm in the LA area. Steve is in the East coast and Shea, of course, was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers. Played a great game here for the Clippers in the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors. You saw how good he could be. But when the rubber hit the road they had to make a decision. They wanted Kauai, Kauai wanted Paul George to give Paul George. You had to give up. She Gil, just Alexander. Nobody in the franchise here wanted to do it, but they did it. There's a lot of conversation. This is off script, Steve. This is not something we just plan on talking about, but when you said, when you elevated shade to superstar status and I wouldn't argue with that. It stings. For folks here in, out in la. I made the argument 99 times out of a hundred you make that [00:03:00] trade. 'cause Shea was, as if you knew then what you know now, you don't make the trade. No, no doubt. But nobody knew then. Steve: a barometer with that if, and it didn't happen, if the team wins a title. Jose: Yeah. Steve: off, but the Clippers never won a title, so Jose: Yeah. Steve: a good deal. It would be a good deal if they, everybody wants to win a title. So if they would've won a title you'd say, oh, what a great deal, Jose: Yeah. Steve: deal, but, this is the price you pay. But Jose: Yeah, Steve: where the whole thing gets a little, muddied, Jose: no doubt. No doubt. And out here again, in LA from an LA perspective I. The year to win it was 2020, but that was when the world turned upside down. And then you had to go to the bubble. And, mentally I guess the clippers weren't strong enough to handle it. And everything fell apart. But that team was good enough to win a championship. But yeah, it just, you as a fan here of Shea. You love to see his elevated play that every single time he does something spectacular. It stings. [00:04:00] But let me ask you this, 'cause this is the flip side of this, I think undeniably a superstar. I. But when I think of somebody like, let's say Anthony Edwards, spectacular dynamic yage doing historical things we haven't seen in the NBA for decades, if ever, there's nothing about Shea that is. Spectacular. You know what I mean? He's just really good at everything. Would you agree with that? He's not a great passer. He is not a great shooter. He's not a great facilitator, but he is just really good at everything. A weird superstar, right? Steve: you and going back to the Clippers, when they traded him I'm sure people saw he, this guy could be very good or great or We, as somewhat fans, we're not aware. The work ethic and the other things that go into it, Jose: Right. Steve: we don't know what's inside him unless we talk to him and watch and see over a period of time. Evidently, guy is not happy with where he is and continues to get better. Other [00:05:00] people who have been given all a lot of talent might not have had that push. And you'll always read, there's always a, an article somewhere about the guy who knew he was very good, but geez, I wish I would've worked harder and so on. This guy does and from what all accounts are, he has a teammate. He's tremendous, and these are all the attributes you want in someone on your team. So sure. OKC when they dealt for him, understood what kind of person he was and that, that's an important piece to this because there's a lot of great player or talented players that were traded that really didn't pan out and the deal worked out. Jose: Yeah, it's working out for OKC and we've got a series, which is cool, which will likely go seven. We'll see. Let's go back. Let's talk a little bit about the other team, the Indiana Pacers, who have been great in this series. A lot has been made because of the Luca trade that, defense wins, wins championships, but you call this out in your article, it's hard, if not [00:06:00] impossible. To stop a great offensive player when he's on a roll, like Shay was in that game. But you made a point to call out Emhart for his defense on SJ ga. He was just a little bit better than m Hart's defense. So I'm gonna ask you a point blank, right? And we've talked about this before, but does defense really win championships when you can have a great offensive player that you are not gonna stop? Steve: I that's a great question. I think it does, but I think it it's sometimes, the great players, you're not gonna stop offense. But I just think it, look at the first three games. Nihar wore him down. He was tired. He had. He had, so at the end of games, Jose: Yeah. Steve: documented that he was running outta gas and so on. Now, and I wrote about this, daal made a little adjustment. He didn't bring the ball up Time because bringing the ball up doesn't tax you. But the fact that. Emhart was guarding him all 90 feet, made him work to bring the ball up. So Jose: Yeah. Steve: kind of things were the adjustment that maybe got him over the top. But [00:07:00] going back to the defense, I, you know what? Good defense I always think will win in the long haul. going to, when you got a guy as good as him, again, good defense against an average team. You're go, you're usually in with some offense, with enough offense, you're gonna win. You're going up Jose: Yeah. Steve: star sometimes it just doesn't, it's not enough. I'll take the defense though from players. Jose: Yeah. Yeah. I think it's interesting. I think you've gotta be able to defend when you know it's time when you've got a tie game. The other team's got the ball. I. And, you've gotta lock down for a possession. You've gotta be able to do that. And what's interesting about this series is both teams are really good in that scenario. So it's just gonna, who somebody's gonna break. And we'll see how it plays out. Steve: To it. Are you gonna double him to get the ball out of his hands? And if you do here, the Celtics a couple years ago against Miami, gambled on Butler and they were run some doubles at him and all. And they were [00:08:00] letting Martin shoot. Martin killed him. So did Vincent. Jose: Yeah. Steve: him. Because they were getting open shots and they were hitting them. So sometimes, your gamble could pay off. Now, I don't know if Indiana will decide to begin to try to get the ball outta Shay's hands or they'll just continue to play it the way they're playing it. And being, there's five people and the term, the NBA uses have all players on a string that means able to help recover and do all the That need to be done. And now maybe they're gonna have to make an adjustment to figure out if this guy start, we can't let him get off on us, so we have to Jose: Yeah. Steve: else. But you need all five guys. You can't just have one. And I think the Knicks are a great example of it. They have two bad defenders and teams want at them continuously. Jose: Yeah. Steve: It's just a normal way of thing. But you gotta have everybody playing on a string. Jose: Yeah. And I appreciate the softball setup here. We are going to talk about the Knicks [00:09:00] now. We'll leave the finals aside 'cause there's a lot more going on, actually a big trade today, which is interesting. So the, the ball is rolling. The off season started, but what, where the Knicks thinking, now you talked about this before, you wrote about it extensively, but we gotta talk about it a little bit. It looks like their plan was to fire a successful coach in Tom Thibo. Then ask for permission from teams that have coaches that are under contract. Was that the plan? What's going on in New York? Steve: a surprise. Thibo has got a, a grading personality. I don't think a lot of people liked him in the higher up. That's Jose: Yeah. Steve: the owner. So they were looking for reasons for years on this, or for a year or two, whatever it is. But they've been looking for reasons was a decision they were gonna make unless the Knicks won the title, they were gonna do this now. That's fine. But you know what and I, some smart GM once said, there's always, I have a list of coaches just in [00:10:00] case like that I can try to Jose: Interesting. Steve: And the point being, you're gonna do that, you know you're going to do it or you're thinking about doing it. If they don't win the whole thing, you should have a list. And Jose: Right. Steve: Knicks their arrogance. By going out and trying to go to five different teams. It's so absurd that they would even try to do this and they, they might get lucky, and by the way, they're a dysfunctional mess. They might get lucky here, get a coach, win a title. They might. And that might, be okay then they, everything's fine. But I don't, I think this thing this function takes a mark on everybody. I heard PJ Carimo call 'em out for what they're doing. And a few other people in the NBA circle have called them out. And just stupid. And I'm not a nickel lover, but what I'll say there though, I watched all the years of them being terrible. And I thought to myself, you know what? It's a mess. The [00:11:00] whole situation's a mess. We on, rose came in. Now he doesn't talk to the press, he doesn't talk however, and that's wrong. However, got better. He made good trades. team and I started thinking, oh, the bad days of the Knicks are over. know what? They might come through this and they might do okay, but I hate to say it, it's the same old Knicks. And meaning the stupidity and just the moves. As a person who doesn't, as I said, doesn't like the Knicks, I don't, didn't want, I'm glad they fired Thibodaux because he's a good coach. He's a good Jose: Yeah. Steve: your team, a team plays them, they're gonna have a game 'cause they're gonna play hard for him. Every time. So he might not be great X's and O's, he might not. He's good defensive coach, but he might not be the greatest offensive coach. But there go, there's going to be a game that team comes and plays when guys get Jose: Yeah. Steve: matter what they show. So Jose: Yeah. Steve: something they lost. [00:12:00] Good luck. I hope they get something that can bring them back. Jose: Let's see how things work out in New York. Tibs is one of those coaches who has a, an expiration date, I think at some point, right? Steve: Oh yeah, I'm surprised the Jose: Yeah. Steve: call Pat Riley. I'm sure he would've wanted to help the Knicks with Bolster but I guess they didn't. Jose: Let's talk about another East Coast team the Milwaukee Bucks. You had some nice things to say about Giannis who is now expressing an interest in staying 'cause it is nice, it's refreshing to see. Superstars say, I wanna stay. It's a small market team. I won one, I want two. There's value there for sure. Let's say he stays and you called out. He might change his mind, and of course who knows what's gonna happen, but if he does stay what's the path forward? I don't see one in Milwaukee. Steve: The team gotta take. They're gonna take a hit next year. They've reset themselves with the They don't have a draft picks. The positive is the East, the Eastern Division, Eastern Conference is weak and anybody, Boston is done until Tatum [00:13:00] returns. And you Jose: Yeah. Steve: gonna be left after all the trading. Orlando's making moves if man Carroll continues to improve. They made the trade today. They could be, Jose: Yep. Steve: be dangerous. Real dangerous. Indiana's good. So there's a whole bunch of teams that the Knicks can contend. One of the teams we don't even think about is Philadelphia. And Philadelphia. If MB is somewhat Jose: True. Steve: really good. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Going back to Giannis, in today's players, there's no value in playing for one team for your whole career. It shop yourself and go to another winning team. Jose: Yeah. Steve: you don't gut it Jose: I, Steve: And I don't think that's good. So when you see Giannis do this, boy that's refreshing. I mean that, that's really great to see because this guy, Jose: yeah. Steve: and he means so much to Milwaukee, the city as well as the team, and he understands that. I'm sure maybe down the road he'll wanna get out. I hope not but it just makes you respect his value system a lot [00:14:00] more than many of the players in the game. Kevin Duran, every time if you blink, he's looking to get traded. Guys like that, LeBron he picked the team so he can win a title. I didn't see Jordan doing that or anybody else. Jose: Yeah. Steve: Those are admirable qualities a player to have. I. Jose: Yeah. And again, let's see if it plays out this way. But right now, most recently, I think he was in Brazil when he expresses interest to stay, and it'll be interesting to see. I think Milwaukee's got a, like you said, a bumpy road ahead. But if they could keep Giannis in the fold, I think that's a win for the NBA certainly. And for Milwaukee. Steve: wanna make a point. I understand it's a business and I think fans are start, are beginning to. Jose: Yeah. Steve: And I'm gonna show you the other side. A couple years ago, I guess it was what, 2013, Boston had an old Pearson Garnet. Now I would think Pierce would've wanted to go out with the Celtics, but Danny Angel, and it was a shrewd deal. He got those picks that became Tatum and Brown [00:15:00] traded them. The team isn't always loyal to the player, so I, in some ways I can understand a Jose: Sure. Steve: to get out. Jose: Yeah, no I, again, it's easy to see both sides, at the end of the day you love seeing, somebody like Dirk, stay in, in Dallas, Kobe, in la I can't, for some reason, I can't think of anybody else. Steve: not many of them in today's game. Jose: There's not many, there's not many. Steve: And Kobe for a while was talking. He wanted out, Jose: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. He came very close to signing with, I think Memphis, the Clippers. Yeah. But it just never happened. Steve: That's where you go back to Jordan and you're like, wow. He stayed and he didn't like the general manager. He didn't like a lot of things, but he was there and he didn't have anything to say in who they brought in players because that Jose: Yeah. Steve: baby. And he didn't wanna Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: just, he shut his mouth played and he was great. Of course. But, Jose: Yeah, Steve: that's. Jose: a few championships Steve: yeah, not [00:16:00] bad. I, I think there's a couple players with a few more but yeah, he, in the modern game, I guess he did. Although I think, what is LeBron too behind him? Jose: I think so, yeah. Steve: sells himself to the right team for the next year or two. He might be able to pull it off. Jose: We will leave that for another day. Is there's a, yeah he just posted a very cryptic Instagram video. I don't know if you saw it, where a reporter asked him, and it's totally a mockup. It's totally staged. The reporter asked him, is there truth to these retirement rumors? And he says and then it cuts to black or something. So he's fishing. There's something going on. Steve: the reason LeBron is a physical, but. I think the reason he stays, he loves this attention. He loves. He loves he when it is his last year. he starts next season without saying he's done, he's not retiring he is going to It. He's going to get gifts in every [00:17:00] state arena he's in and he is going to play that to the hill. Jose: You know the, was Kareem the last one to do that? Because I remember Kareem's goodbye tour every spot. He had something. It was pretty cool. As a fan. Steve: Kareem he wasn't as outspoken. Jose: He hated it, I would think. Yeah, they did that for him because they felt that they needed to, but he was the last player I think that had a going away tour. Steve: LeBron will, you know that he loves the me, like he likes to play games with the media. Last year he talked about, Jose: Yeah. Steve: know what I'm doing and all that. Garbage and Jose: Yeah. Yeah. Steve: LeBron. What could you say? Jose: No. I'm in agreement and I do know Kobe made his decision to retire, but he didn't have at every stop. He didn't have a going away party like Kareem did. And that's what I was referring to. But let's see how it plays out. It'll be interesting. The 20 24, 25 NBA season. It's almost over, which is crazy. But our show is over. You heard the buzzer go off. Please make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules run NBA Thoughts article. We'll link it wherever you're watching and listening to this show to get all of [00:18:00] its thoughts. After the NBA first four games of the NBA finals. Join us next week as Steve share's thoughts as the NBA finals continue and might even be over. We'll see. And of course, please consider subscribing, liking, sharing, and all that stuff matters. It goes a long way and we're grateful for it. Again, join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod, the best 15 minutes of NBA random thoughts online anywhere. We'll talk next week. Thanks, Steve.