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Go to TuneIn.com or download the TuneIn app to start listening. One, two, three, four. Those are numbers, but you already knew that. If you want to know what number you're going to pay each month for your car, use Kelly Blue Book My Wallet on AutoTrader. They're really good at numbers.
AutoTrader. Nick, how are you, coach? I am doing great. Great to talk to you, JR. It's been way too long. It's been way too long.
I'm happy that you can join us. I know that you have intently watched Game 1 of the NBA Finals right out of the gate. Did people expect the Celtics to smash them?
Probably not, but the Celtics have a deeper team. When you watched the game last night, what were your initial observations? Well, I think we were all surprised how well KP played coming off of a huge layoff where he was injured.
So that was a big one. That said, he was on fire in the first half and really didn't have an impact in the second half. So if the Mavericks were looking for any kind of solace in that, I think that they took a haymaker and it was a real big one that knocked him and staggered him back. But there are some things they can probably take away that get them back in the series. So I think ultimately the score probably doesn't indicate how this series is going to play out by the end.
Coach Nick of B-Ball Breakdown is here with us, the JR Sport Brief Show. We saw Kyrie Irving had a poor shooting game, 12 points. Luka Doncic got his points. Nobody else really had anymore. He had 30.
What are some of the other effects? They couldn't score on offense and they seemingly gave up everything. What are the Mavericks doing wrong and what does Kidd need to adjust? I think the biggest thing perhaps is going to be who they're matched up with and some lineup stuff.
I think that's always the big thing you're trying to figure out as the series starts. So they were trying to get away with trying to find who can Luka guard on that end and how can they hide him. They had him on Al Horford, but that doesn't work as well because Horford likes to set ball screens and then that forces switches. So now Luka's going to have to guard Paytamer Brown. Luka was really bad on the defensive end. I don't think he was really good on offense either, even though he had a lot of points. But defensively he was killing them all game long.
So they've got to find a better way to do that. And my take on it, and I'm looking at this thinking, maybe they can kind of hide Luka on Derek White. Now I know they tried doing that with Ky Reed, but I think Luka is the guy they're going to want to target. He's a bigger guy, less mobile.
So that's what I'd be more interested in. And then I think the other thing is Gafford generally on the Mavericks side plays like three minutes in the first quarter and they yanked him real quick. And they wanted to match, I know, Lively's minutes with KP, but I don't know. I would like to see a little bit more Gafford because as we saw, you know, rookies don't always get a great whistle, especially deep in the playoffs. And so Lively in there, by the way, he earned all of his fouls. So I know people were mad on the Mavericks side, but those are all real fouls.
But he needs to be smarter than that. But Gafford has a little bit more experience, is a veteran, and posed a lot of problems. Even from the get go, you might remember they threw it right down to the block because they had, I want to say they had Drew guarding him, I think, and they instantly had to rotate. He hits Jones for a three.
So like that was something I would like to see more of happening. I think the Mavericks can get some more mileage out of it. Well, Nick, when I look at this series, I pretty much started with the Stars. I said you got Luka and Kyrie here. You have Tatum and Brown, and then you have additional depth on the Boston Celtics.
From how you're describing it, you're saying pretty much almost the same thing. Is that they're at a defensive deficiency as well, the Mavericks. A, they can't score as much. You got to rely on two people. And then they can't keep up with them defensively. Is that accurate? Well, I think it's just a question of who they guard and who they put on who, and I think they can figure some things out, but yes, the Celtics have guys that can shoot all over the place.
So I don't blame them for trying to figure out or making a real difficult decision here on how you do it. I might want to push back on who's deeper, because after the top five, and then you have Porzingis coming off the bench, which probably won't last that long. They bring Hauser, Pritchard, maybe Cornette. That's not a deep, deep bench in my mind. That's not a ton of talent coming off the bench.
They all fit beautifully, but I don't know. I would think that if you're looking at Lively, Hardy, Josh Green, Cleaver, I think they match up pretty well as far as depth. Okay, head coach Nick Haussleman is here with us from B-Ball Breakdown. Having said that, who the hell do you think is going to win the series, Nick? Well, I initially chose the Mavericks in six, but I was also saying if KP comes back looking like the best version of himself, then you probably got to pick the Celtics to win the series.
It's only a question of how many games. I think a lot of people in my sphere were saying Celtics in seven and that kind of take. So right now, jeez, I might have to stick to my guns and sort of say the Mavericks in six and know I might have to nag in my face at this point. Certainly the Celtics won at home big. But you know, game two becomes so huge. So I'm going to put some eggs in that basket and feel like the Mavericks have a response.
And then at least with 1-1 going back to Dallas, I don't feel like completely thinking that I'm out of my mind by picking them to still win in six. Coach Nick is here with us from B-Ball Breakdown. There's been a lot said over the years of the pairing of Tatum and Brown, and they have certainly added a lot of talent around them.
How have you seen their usage change, if any, over the years? You know, I don't know if it's changed that much. The one thing I thought was interesting was that when they went to the finals two years ago with Kudoka, in the middle of that year, you might remember, it was very mediocre going up through the first 40-some games. They weren't playing that great. And then something clicked. Kudoka grabbed some people by the jersey.
I don't know what he did. And then all of a sudden they got the beautiful game happening on offense where everyone was driving and kicking and won more passes and flying all over the place. And it looked beautiful. And for the first time ever, we were really, in my mind, seeing Tatum and Brown existing in that kind of way that they could be the best version of themselves. We don't really have that this year. They don't drive, kick, pass, skip, pass, pass, shot. They just do a lot more of the ISO, one quick action, get the advantage, and boom, it's over. And that's a testament to how good both Tatum and Brown have become and have developed.
So, usage-wise, I think maybe some people might be surprised. I might gravitate toward thinking that Brown has been more impactful than Tatum so far. And maybe it's a credit to Tatum who's been willing to play more of a role to get everybody else to play better and have a better team. But we might end up finding out, you know, Brown might end up having a better series. It's very easy, in my mind, to see that happening.
And by the way, what Brown is doing on Luca is also terrific defensively. So, he's going to probably get a few more headlines, maybe a little bit more usage on that end, too. And so, as a result, you might end up looking at him as getting that little extra trophy at the end. Well, Nick, we might see two Americans hoist the trophy.
The Larry O'Brien, it might happen. We certainly know that Luka Doncic is continuing to expand his game in the NBA at 25 years old, get a lot of respect. And over the past several years, whether it's a Luka or a Jokic or a Giannis or an Embiid, now we got a big Frenchman, a Wimbenyama. The international explosion of the game is huge. I know you sit down and you watch a lot of NBA, you watch a lot of EuroLeague. For a lot of our listeners who don't understand, why are there so many European players coming over to the United States of America and dominating the league? Well, first of all, the talent pool is so much larger if you look at the world versus just America, right? So, that's a big part of it.
And we always knew this was coming, I think, right? Because, again, when you're talking about billions of people out there, you're going to find 10 or 15 or 20 that can really play basketball. So, that's kind of what it is. But I certainly would imagine that, like, a lot of these swim coaches will tell you that the methods they're using, like in Europe, for instance, are superior as they're developing young players. And a lot of that is they're not doing, like, an AAU circuit where they're playing games so constantly that they don't have a time to, like, really develop their own games and individual skills like shooting.
And that's probably part of it, too. And I think the biggest adjustment that they've made in the past, for a long time, the dribbling wasn't good enough. And so, Americans would go in the Olympics or in the FIFA tournaments, press them, and, you know, win easily. Well, that ain't happening anymore because all the guards have figured out better ways of training dribbling.
They already had better methods of shooting. And so, as a result, and they play less games. They play a lot more small-sided games, 3 and 3, 4 and 4, and they build up that sort of soccer mentality where the ball moves. And as a result, you're getting, you know, a beautiful mix of players that have individual skill up the wazoo but also want to play a team game and develop that. And that's really what's been a revelation for, you know, guys like Muka and Jokic in the league. And Coach Nick is joining us from B-Ball Breakdown.
I know you're based out in Los Angeles. There's a lot of talk about a potential future coach in Dan Hurley or Redick. What are your thoughts? What makes Dan Hurley so enticing? LeBron called him a genius. J.J. Redick, we haven't seen. What are your thoughts on what the Lakers are doing potentially with their coach? I mean, listen, I would be really, really surprised if Hurley leaves the comfy confines of Connecticut to come all the way out here in the NBA.
I think he's got a great situation there. The way he coaches doesn't necessarily translate so well. I know he's talked in the past couple of years about an enlightenment that he's had in terms of not using the kind of things that his old man would do, like a source of anger and disgust in his communication methods, which are, in my mind, very suboptimal and certainly don't work very well at all in the NBA. If you want an example, you could think of like Latrell Strewell, if you want to get over to the New York side of things and how a yell or screamer kind of coach could fare in the NBA.
That's extreme. But even still, would Dan Hurley be able to really change the personality? Like, I don't think so. The other thing is his beautiful offense, which is beautiful, mixture of Princeton's, Triangle, it's got pistols, got all sorts of great stuff. They have a 30-second shot clock and they use a lot of that 30 seconds and they don't have that same idea. You only have 24 in the NBA. Plus, if you want to get any of those actions going, you've got to get the four in a hurry to get into the half court and start running it. And I don't think LeBron and AD and those guys, you know, they've had a very slow pace for this whole time they've been in LA. I don't see them necessarily in those last couple years wanting to sort of push the pace there to get into these complex actions where you're running hand up in the ball screen, in the back door, in the, you know, skip. I think that would probably be too much. So as a result, you know, what could Hurley do with some freeze-dried versions of his beautiful offense?
I don't know if he's going to want to do that. When you think about the potential of adding J.J. Redick, you've heard rumors that Borrego was wanted by Anthony Davis. From your perspective, seeing all the Laker games that you do, who would be the best coach or what would be the best offense with a LeBron and a Davis out there?
Well, it's a great question. And, you know, LeBron, LeBron's last title was won by a rookie coach who took over in the middle of the year. So there's a little precedent there. And it's a complicated thing when you're talking about a LeBron team and who the coach is. And you can certainly don't have to go very far to ask Darvin Ham how that went. Because, you know, and by the way, I don't think that necessarily LeBron, you know, had everything to do with all that. But I can tell you right now, if the ownership had gone to him and said, hey, we were thinking about maybe making a change. If LeBron had said, no, I want Darvin Ham here, then Darvin Ham doesn't get fired, right? So we know that. And as a result, his input into the team and the tactics and how they play and how they substitute and all those things, this is LeBron talking about, you know, makes it an interesting situation for a head coach.
So with that in mind, it would have to be someone that he has the immense respect for coming in already, right? And that's a big hurdle to get over. But as we've seen with what JJ's been doing with their podcast together, which very well might have been a part of the whole thing, right? Like, it's interesting how this all developed.
It started the podcast. We're seeing them interact together. And now all of a sudden, JJ, out of the woodwork, out of the blue, is now, you know, a serious contender.
So you have to imagine, like, maybe this is all not planned. But, you know, in the back of LeBron's mind, that probably would work better than I almost think what Hurley would work. Coach, final question for you. I need your evaluation of Bronny James. What is he now?
What could he be? I went to UCLA in February, I think it was. I really wanted to see first-hand, in-person, got great seats, and was watching the game. And, you know, here's the thing about his numbers, right? Because everyone's looking about, you know, how can a guy who averages six points a game or whatever it is, you know, get trapped in the first round and even make it in the NBA. But he's playing it behind a 50-year guard, ball-dominant guard, who was really good. And remember, Bronny missed the first, like, couple months of the season with a heart problem.
So he didn't get any of the normal things Refreshen would have gotten in terms of development, getting used to the team and all that stuff. So I'm not surprised that he was struggling and having a hard time finding where he could fit in. But what I was looking for are those little moments here and there where he would flash some of his ability. And in the game I went to, even one time, the ball swung to him as the clock was running down, he did a beautiful ISO move, turn around jumper in the lane, elevated, and knocked it down. That was an NBA move. So I know he's been impressive in some of those workouts that we've seen little snippets of, in which he never misses a shot.
It's kind of amazing how that works, right? But I think he might actually have a chance. I think he could develop.
He's certainly been grown up in this environment and knows what it's all about. So I think he, not that he might be a first round draft, because it's probably too high, but I have a feeling he might be able to get out there and not look completely overmatched. And that's probably the biggest goal anybody would have because, in theory, are you going to get LeBron if you draft him? Like, supposedly that's going to happen.
And if that was you or a small market team and you had a chance to have LeBron play your team for a year or two, oh my goodness, you'd have to do that in the heartbeat. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think he has a shot in the future. I just think right now, well, we know why he is where he is, and part of that is due to Dad.
Let's see if his skills can kind of jump out. Hey, Coach Nick, where can people follow you, your work, your videos, everything that you've done with B-Ball Breakdown? Well, I've been doing this for so long that if you type in DBALL B-Ball, it'll probably autofill the B-Ball Breakdown on any platform. YouTube is really the hub. Twitter, you can actually get me directly if you want to talk to me. We have a great conversation every day over there, especially during the games on Twitter or on X, whatever.
And then, you know, it's everywhere on Instagram, TikTok, everywhere you find social media, I'm there with B-Ball Breakdown. Hey, Coach Nick, thank you so much. I'll be looking forward to chatting with you down the line. Enjoy the rest of the finals, okay? You got it. Thanks, JR. We'll talk soon.
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