It is the JR Sportbree Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Shay Gilgus-Alexander has been named the NBA's MVP. We're minutes away from tip-off between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Joining us to talk about the final four teams that stand in front of us in the NBA is someone who covers all things NBA basketball. He writes, he contributes, you can catch him on CBS Sports HQ. Joining us right now is Sam Quinn. Sam, how are you, man? I'm tired. That's what I am this time of year. Just a lot of basketball, a lot of rumors, a lot of awards getting handed out.
Hard to catch a break. No doubt about it. Well, we saw what Nicole Jokic did this year. He already has three MVP awards. He has to be the best player to not win an MVP, wouldn't you think? Well, it's funny you say this. I just wrote this for today that we published.
I did a deep dive on this. I think it's the second best non-MVP season that we've ever seen. I think the winner, and I don't think people are going to be surprised by this name, was Michael Jordan in 1989.
He was pretty good. It's a very, very short list that I think Jokic is on that you're talking about the best non-MVP Jordan seasons and Wilt averaging 50 a game. And you know, like some of those seasons like that, Kobe averaging 35, some of Harden's best years. Statistically, I mean, there are very, very few peers for the year that he just had among non-MVPs. Frankly, there are very few peers for this season among players who actually won MVP. I think this was the best season that Nicole Jokic ever had, and he's not going to get a trophy for it. Now, do I think he's shedding any tears over that?
Probably not. He's won several, and I think there's a chance that he wins a couple more. So in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it bothers him much, but Jokic was my pick. I mean, I think this race turned out to be maybe not super close, but I think Jokic ended up with 29 first place votes. I don't say that to take away from Shaquille's Alexander. I think he was a very valid MVP choice two years ago when Joel Embiid won.
I did not feel that same way. I thought it was the third best candidate by a landslide winning. SGA played an MVP caliber season, right? I think if you compare the year that he had to almost any other guard MVP year, whether it was Harden or Westbrook or Kobe or Rose or whoever, you'd feel pretty good about it lining it up. Like, I think this was an MVP caliber season. I just think the year that Jokic had was above MVP.
It was downright historic. So that was my pick. But, you know, my picks are not always correct. Sam Quinn is joining us from CBS Sports. Well, we know that Jokic, he might be riding his horses somewhere right now. And we just saw that Shay Gilgus Alexander did pick up the MVP and he certainly was was at his best last night taking the Thunder over the Wolves.
What are your thoughts on his style of play? A lot of people are starting to really complain now that he's getting deeper into the playoffs about his style of play and attracting and looking for fouls. I mean, look, he's he's clearly a foul grifter, but I'm sorry, there are a lot of foul grifters in the NBA.
We're going to watch one of them tonight. His name is Jalen Brunson. This is just kind of a reality of the sport that a lot of the best players, especially the best guards, know these tricks and they know how to get to the line, especially when things are tough elsewhere against great defenses. Like this is just sort of what the NBA is. As far as I'm concerned, this is a don't hate the player, hate the game situation.
Right. Where the onus is on the league to not only create rules that prevent this, but to enforce the rules that are already on the books. Where there were a lot of moments last night where I found myself thinking, didn't we change these rules a few years ago?
Wasn't it meant to combat? I think it was Trae Young and James Harden, guys like that. I thought we changed these rules, but I guess they're not getting enforced. Remember a year or so ago, a year and a half ago, early in the twenty three, twenty four season when the flop technicals were getting called? What happened to those? That rule is still on the books, by the way.
It was adopted permanently. I know fans might not realize this because they're never called, but there was a vote in everything. This is a rule. You can call technical fouls for flops. They just never actually get called in games anymore. So I think this is up to the league now to create rules that prevent players from doing this and to actually enforce the rules that are on the books.
I mean, look, I almost think of it kind of like tanking, right, where I'm sorry you can't create an incentive within the league to lose games and then act surprised when teams do it intentionally. As long as players have an incentive to seek out these, you know, easy free throws with some of these tricks like SGA has, they're going to do it. And as a league, it's up to you to say, no, if the offensive player is initiating the contact, we're not going to give you free throws for that. So I don't blame him for trying to get these free throws out of it. He's doing his job. He's trying to win games for his team. And it's clearly working. It's on the league to say, hey, can't do it this way.
Yes, Sam Quinn is joining us on the JR sport reshow coast to coast. That was game one. It ended up with a victory. Do you ultimately think that the Thunder will advance past the Timberwolves? I think not only am I going to say they're going to make it back to test symbols, I would be pretty stunned if they didn't win the championship. I felt like their real test was against Denver. I thought games four and five, those fourth quarters especially. I'm not going to say that I felt like the championship was on the line in both directions because I think Denver could have been beaten. But I felt like Oklahoma City got its real test and they ended up passing.
And now they're just so far ahead of these other three teams remaining. I mean, Minnesota scored, I think it was 20 points in the paint last night. They don't give you easy baskets against anybody. They're going to turn you over 17, 18, 19 times a game. They're going to generate 30 points off of those turnovers.
Forget about SGA's whistle for a minute. They might have the best defense I've ever seen. They won last night by 26 points. If you take away SGA's free throws, they're still winning by double digits. The gap here is just pretty significant. Now, does that make them unbeatable?
No. We saw this in Minnesota last night. The Timberwolves got 51 threes up. They made 15 of them.
If they had made 21 of them, the game looks a lot different. But you can't really rely on shooting 44, 45 percent from three four times out of seven. And even if you do, the Thunder are capable of doing that as well. So I think they're going to walk pretty comfortably to the championship at this point. I think, like, I picked Thunder in five in this series.
I feel pretty good about that now. I will pick Thunder in probably five against whoever they play out of the East next round. They are the best team. And the two teams that were close were Boston and Cleveland, and they're both out. So barring extreme shooting variance or somebody tweaking an ankle or something like that, I think we are headed for Oklahoma City's coronation.
Sam Cornish joining us covers basketball for CBS. Well, you think the Thunder is going to walk away with the championship. What do you think is going to have second place coming out of the East? That one's a little tougher. I think that series could truly go either way.
I ended up on Nixon seven. I think home court advantage is really going to matter in that matchup. And it really came down to the simple fact that Indiana has just never been able to figure out how to stop Jalen Brunson. Very few teams have, right? He's the clutch player of the year. He competes for first team all NBA every year.
I think him going from Asar Thompson in that Detroit series and then Derek White and Drew Holliday last round. Aaron Neesmith is a good defender. Nembhard is a good defender.
McConnell's fine. Like that's a significant drop off. And I would not be surprised at all if we came out for game one tonight. And Brunson looks a little bit freer playing against these like kind of standard defensive players instead of those monsters that he played in the first couple of rounds. There are matchup advantages on both sides here, right? I think Indiana's ball movement and its speed is going to cause a lot of problems for Karl-Anthony Towns. I think the Knicks are going to bludgeon the bases on the glass.
There are a lot of interesting little components here, a little like micro advantages that both sides have. I just have a very hard time picking against the Knicks in a game seven at home and what I think will be a very close series. I know the Pacers won a game seven at Madison Square Garden last year. I think we can throw that series out given all the injuries that were involved. These teams are very, very close. I just give the slightest of edge to the higher seed. All right.
Final question for you. I'm thinking about the offseason just hitting the fast forward button just a little bit. What intrigues you the most? Is it Giannis Atteracumpo and where he ends up? Is it Kevin Durant?
What's capturing your attention? Is it what the Celtics do? Well, I think it's interesting you bring up Giannis and Durant because they're interesting for different reasons, right? Giannis is the one that's going to net, you know, maybe a historic trade package, right? Where whoever's getting him is giving up, you know, ideally like a young star and then several draft picks and maybe a veteran or two. Or like you are going to potentially have to gut your team to get him. But he's an MVP in his prime.
He's worth it. Durant's a much more interesting case because he turns 37 before opening night and he's on an expiring contract. And he's still a great, great player. But he's lost a little bit of what made him special. He's not really getting to the rim anymore.
His durability is a concern. I think people are going to be surprised for what Durant goes for in a trade. I think it's going to be less than people think. It's certainly not going to be in the stratosphere of what it was when he went to Phoenix. So I think that opens up some doors, right? Where like Denver has no chance whatsoever to get in on Giannis, right? They don't have the stuff. But could Denver get in on Kevin Durant if he applied a little bit of pressure and said that's where I want to go?
Maybe. And I think similar concepts apply to like Minnesota. Like to teams like that that are probably just not asset rich enough to get in on Giannis. But you can still get like a top 10, top 15 player.
He's older. He's an injury risk. But like Kevin Durant is really good. And if he ends up on the right team, he could absolutely still swing a championship. So Giannis is one that like you get him and you're going to be in the mix for five years. I think the Durant trade is a little bit more interesting to me because a much wider group of teams could be involved. And we could see a team that we don't look at right now and say they're an inner circle contender.
Get Durant for a price that's pretty reasonable. And then all of a sudden we have another team that's a realistic threat. Well, we got to get there. I mean, we got to get through these final four teams. This offseason is absolutely going to be bananas, like every NBA offseason.
And I know, Sam, I know you're tired. Man, you're going to be even busier. And so what, middle of July, maybe two more months? Two more months. We got to get through the finals and draft and free agency. The thing's going to be busy.
Hey, Sam, thank you so much for the time and the insight. Please fill everybody in on where we could follow you and watch you and read your work. CBS Sports dot com. CBS Sports HQ. I do all my work there. We do a lot of great work. Come check us out. I promise you I'll be disappointed.
