The Shot Clock Pod - NBA 2024-25 Playoffs Finals Week 1

13 Rules: Jun 1 === [00:00:00] jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: All right, it's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, Editor at thePeachBasket net. He, Steve Purciello, a 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 anywhere. This is your first time listening. Welcome we're glad. 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, an NBA thoughts article where he shares his thoughts as the NBA playoffs continue in the 20 24 25 BA season. The finals are now set. Talk a little bit about that. Alright usually Steve is is the one traveling today, me if you're watching us. So apologies for any kind of muted audio. In advance, but Steve, are you ready? Let's do it. I'm start the timer and we're off. All right. Let's start with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The prohibitive favorite to win it all. Not only that's changed the [00:01:00] thunder's defensive rating. The best in the NBA this season. And we know we heard from the Dallas. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: I think every guy they draft is a good defender. They just, they and they picked up who's. Probably has the best defensive rating of the whole group, and they got him as a free agent. But look at what else they, Holmgren's, a freak because he's, he's got long arms. He's big, he's not, solid, a big body, but he's a freak. You got Alex Caruso and he's probably. The best on the ball and off the ball defender in the league. Combining both Lou Dort, I thought should have been the defensive player of the year. I think he's great. He contains the dribble drive. He's just a good defender. And he's made himself into a pretty good offensive player he can shoot, which he couldn't do when he first came into the league. And then Cason Wallace is another what a good defender he is. And he, I don't think somebody, I was [00:02:00] reading something, somebody said, he doesn't even, he just plays, he doesn't go by scouting or anything. He's just, he's a natural athlete. And by the way, the MVP, he's a pretty good defender. He. So they, naming six, seven guys and they're all pretty good. So you take that and you put 'em out there and they're relentless and they play and they're big, they're wide and they're thick and they can play. So I think as I wrote last week, just think Oklahoma City, unless they mess up with contracts or injuries. They're looking they could win two or three. And depending on the money and how that goes. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. All right, let's flip it now real quick. This is a little off script, but it's certainly on topic. We know now as we're taping this, who the finals what teams are gonna be in the finals. We just talked about the Oklahoma City tender and really their historic run defensively. How does that compare defensively? Just defensively? How do the Indiana Pacers compare [00:03:00] defensively to the Oklahoma City Thunder? They've got some good defenders on that team too. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: Think the difference would be OKCs got really no weaknesses. You get a guy like Halliburton, everybody's trying to isolate him. So that's a jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: Miles Turner against towns and towns is a really good, great offensive player. I. Miles, Kerner looked like. He really, he was in a different league. Towns was, he couldn't do anything against him, is my point. So there's some weaknesses I guess, on Indiana. Obie, Toppin has trouble keeping guys in front of him. His weaknesses, although, and on a positive emhart was just great last night against Jalen Ronson Knee Smith, if he's healthy, is an outstanding defender and watch, and Stan Van Gundy kept saying it throughout the playoffs. Watch him get through screens. He just gets through screens and that's great because then you don't have to switch and you don't have a big on a guard. There was so many, they have some good [00:04:00] ball defenders defenders, but not comparable to Oklahoma. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Okay. You said something that, that's interesting. You and I are baseball fans. We know the game and one of the things that's changed about the game of baseball is you've got this, these specializations, right? You've got the guys who, your six inning guys. Seventh inning guys, no starter goes, nine anymore. It's just the game has become very specialized and you called out something that I'd never heard about before. This guy's skill is getting through screens. That just, that was just wild to me. Does that speak to the birth of analytics in the NBA and now we're looking at the minutia and these very particular things? It's interesting to. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: go back into the game, and let's say when Chuck Dailey coached The Bad Boys, the Pistons, it was all screen and roll offense. It's all Chuck Dailey ran and he would create those mismatches. And most teams allow the mismatch. What Indiana, what nesmith does well, is he takes away the mismatch by getting through the screen and staying with his [00:05:00] man. So now you don't have the big guarding guard. if the Knicks were able to do that. They wouldn't have gotten killed in the fourth quarter by Halliburton hitting those 12 footers because all they kept doing was the screen and roll. Towns were supposed to pick 'em up, and he kept dropping and he was dropping deep into the paint. Sat Halliburton just drove to the middle a little bit past the Fon and hit those little push shots. It, it probably hit three or four of them and every time the Knicks scored, Halliburton came back with something down in the fourth quarter. If you have somebody can get through a screen, it takes away that mismatch not, I haven't seen a lot of it. Knee Smith did it really well and that that's rough that, that's a problem for the other team because you don't have a mismatch. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Interesting. Yeah. Analytics is taking over and we're looking at the minutia now and again, fascinating hall. [00:06:00] Great segue. He had a phenomenal game, a game that we haven't seen before in game four against the Knicks. Then he disappeared in game five. You called that out in your article. So I gotta ask you, is he a superstar? squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: good player. Superstars bring it every night. They don't have games like he had two nights ago or three nights ago, whatever, jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: game. What was that? Game five. They don't have those. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Right. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: They come out and they give it to you even on a bad night, they're gonna go get you 20 and keep you. And let's face it, Halliburton isn't out there for his defensive ability. So he's gotta, he's gotta get you, the 10 assist 20 points to, to have an effective night. You gotta bring it. He's a good, really good player and on any given night, he can take over a game as he did in game four. Game four was one of the great games of all time, but jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: right. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: to do that every night now. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Okay. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: use as a comparison, Jalen Brunson's out there for one reason. He can score. Last night he [00:07:00] didn't have a great night. He still put up 19, which 19 is not a bad night. Score Usually gets 10 more, but it's not a bad night where Halliburton's bad night was a lot worse. other. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. And the players that I grew up watching, right? The superstars magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Off Night, and I think magic specifically, he had one game where I think he scored a point, one or two points. Just a horrible shooting night bat. But he had 22 assists in that game, or 18 assists something stupid. So when one side isn't working, the superstars finds another way to really contribute. That's fair, right? I mean that, that's still a superstar. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: I look at it where a guy's, even on a, on an, on a, on an average night, you gotta walk away saying that's the best guy on the team. Meaning the ball might be his all the time. In other words, he's handling it, he's doing things with it, whatever. But you. There were times in this series Pascal, aka, was [00:08:00] the best guy on the team. So you didn't come away saying that, and I can go back in different teams. I'll use the two thou, the Celtics that won in 2008, Paul Pierce every night bought it. He played, he scored and he kept you in a ball game. Yeah, Garnet was great and those other guys were great, but Paul Pierce brought it every night. You didn't see many bad nights from him. And that's what I mean by bringing it every night. Paul jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: He a great player, but very quietly was a great player. people didn't realize how good he was until Garnet and Ray Allen came along with him. And that's what I'm talking about with Halliburton. Like I, I go back and think about the Olympics. He was the 12th man on the team. And if you really ask yourself, does Halliburton fit with those other 11 guys? No he's not in their class. And that would be another way to define it. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yep. Nope. All fair. [00:09:00] All fair. You talked. Paul Pierce needing those complimentary pieces. I think that might be where the Knicks are at. The Knicks are going home. They've got a really good player, Jalen Brunson, you called them out, but maybe those complimentary pieces aren't right. You wrote a little bit about the Knicks actually. You wrote a lot about the Knicks, specifically about coach though Tom thi, how would you grade the work he did this season, F, B, and F and A being outstanding. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: That's a tough question because beating Boston, he deserves an a. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: Probably a B or a B minus overall, I think he grew up he figured something out and it's a shame he's as old as he is to finally figure it out that a bench can help you. that was jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Right. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: and always the big knock. Why he would never win a title. I think now he's figured it out I think the next step, if he has enough talent, then maybe he can win a title. I don't think. I think he, he [00:10:00] overdid it with his players for years and really pushed them too hard. In fact, Mikhail Bridges called him out on it in March for that. So I think he's starting to he gets it. The other interesting thing, Tom is a throwback if you watch during, in a game. There's not much speaking going on between him and his assistants. you watch other teams, there's a lot going on between assistants and head. Again, now the contrast Carlisle, got the young lady, not the young, but the lady, Jenny Busick, who does a lot of work and time timeouts and huddles, and every walls with the Knicks. Tibs dominates everything, and that's a throwback. You've A million guys on your bench that are coaches use them I don't know if jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: that point to understand it. I think he's a very good coach. But I think there's horses for courses, and by that TS is a good coach [00:11:00] with a team that will overachieve but not a title contender. And so if you're gonna have a team that you are building, he's great. But when you get to, when you get to the, I don't know if he, I think he might be getting it now, but I don't know if he's got that. I. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Interesting. Like every team that is home, it's gonna be an interesting off season. I think the Knicks, we might see them run it back. Oh, we might see some big changes. I think it's 50 50 shot. We'll see what happens with the Knicks. Let's finish this off with something you called out in your article, which I found fascinating. It's one of these stats that were buried and you called it out. I think again, it's incredibly interesting in short, NBA playoff teams are getting younger. Tell us about, about that stat and what you think be is behind it. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: the four teams in the finals, in, in what, 2000 I believe, or 99? average age was 30 years old. This year, the average age was 26.9. I [00:12:00] believe now teams are getting younger, and if you really start thinking about this. Guys were making max money. They're older, obviously they've been in the league about eight, 10 years, whatever. They're more susceptible injuries. So here you are paying big money for this guy more susceptible to injury and doesn't play as much. Young legs are the thing. Look at Oklahoma City. Young legs young legs can go every night. And so are you getting the bang for your buck when you look at it and. See these guys who can't, can't go every night. Even Giannis missed a bunch of games this year and he's making ridiculous money. So it really is becoming a younger game and I think that's something these teams to begin to analyze. And by the way, they're cheaper. Much cheaper. You get a, the first four years they're on rookie contracts, so you're getting [00:13:00] guys for a lot cheaper. Yeah, they're getting better. They're not there yet, but you're getting 50, 50 million cheaper player. Of course, you're not gonna compare with Giannis, you're gonna get, somebody's gonna go out every night and you're, you are gonna compare with somebody like Paul George, who's on the down end is making crazy money. So you. legs. Young legs is becoming more of a trend in the NBA. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. Yeah, and we talked about this before on the show. Every single NBA champion that's ever won it all, every other. All the other 29 teams look at that and go, okay, we're gonna do that next year. I think it's hard to emulate the Oklahoma City Thunder though, because like to your point, this is a young team that defends really well. You're not gonna flip a switch and get younger. You're not gonna flip a switch and get better defensively. But that's gonna be the model. And I cat's out of the bag, I. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: I think the thunder, unless, and there's been crazy things in the history of the NBA, but I there's jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Sure. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: I think five games [00:14:00] would be the max, Oklahoma jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: should be able to do whatever they please. The Western Conference is a lot tougher than the Eastern Conference. I think in the East, the Lakers might've even won a series. It's that much weaker. So yeah I I think there's, a difference in the two conferences. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna leave aside the fact that you called out the Lakers to, squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: i'm using that to exemplify how. You know what I mean? How the, like the Lakers, which are an average team, they could do better in the East. came in, Detroit finished I believe, fifth or sixth. Sixth. I think the Lakers would've been, fifth or sixth in the east. What were they in? jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Wow. They, wait. I think they finished weren't. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: Oh wow. But okay. Let's say this, their true value as a team would've been like in the East. They would've been comparable with Milwaukee. Is that [00:15:00] fair? jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Somewhere between Milwaukee and the New York Knicks. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: York Knicks? jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: The only way they could. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Between there, squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: they can, jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: somewhere between there. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: could with the Knicks if they watch 'em on tv. They, the Knicks were a better team, much better team. there wasn't, a lot to compare there. I thought, like I said, they were better than Detroit. I. They weren't better than Indiana, they weren't better than the Nicks. They weren't better than Boston or Cleveland. Did I miss somebody? And Milwaukee, they were comparable. That's fifth in the east. I know the Lakers did try to win. They played hard every night and a lot of NBA teams don't do that, so that's why they had a high wind total during the regular season. Yeah. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: And there is our extra credit. Lakers talk. It's a habit. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: They're a good measuring point for that young up and coming team because, they're not, the Lakers aren't real good, but, like Detroit, maybe in another year Detroit will pass the Lakers, but that's an enough coming jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: Yeah. squadcaster-05h3_1_06-01-2025_122338: But that's, anyway. jose_1_06-01-2025_092338: No. Interesting [00:16:00] conversation for another time. But that's it. You might have heard the buzzer, I'm not sure. And, 'cause again, I'm not in my home studio here, so I'm not sure if you guys heard it or not, but it did go off. But that's it. Our time is up. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, random B thoughts article. We'll link that wherever you're. He didn't just write about what we talked about. There were some more things to read. Make sure you you read that article. Join us next week as Steve shares his thoughts as the NNBA finals begin. It's gonna be an interesting matchup, hopefully between the Pacers and the Thunder. And of course, please consider subscribing and join us next week on the Shot Clock Pod. The best 15 minutes of pos.