All Things Basketball with GD - 2022-23 Season, Eastern Conference Semifinals Recap & Conference Finals Preview

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Greetings my peeps and welcome to the All Things Basketball Podcast with your boy GD.

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In this episode I'll give you my Eastern Conference semis recap as well as the finals preview for

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the Eastern Conference.

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So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

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Okay guys so we're going to talk about Conference Semifinals, we'll recap that and we will also

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look at the Conference Finals.

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We'll give a preview of that.

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So we're going to talk about the East and all that went down there.

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So we'll start with a bit of sad news for me.

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The number 8 seed the Miami Heat over my New York Knicks the 5 seed 4 games to 2.

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And this is how it went down folks.

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The first game Miami takes, they take that one at Madison Square Garden 108 to 101.

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Then the Knicks come back and win game 2 a game that had no Jimmy Butler he tweaked his

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ankle so he ended up missing that game 2 and the Knicks win 111 to 105 it was a close

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game guys.

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I couldn't even believe that guys they got the win.

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Then game 3 in Miami Miami gets to win 105 to 86 over the Knicks and then game 4 they

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get that one as well in Miami 109 to 101.

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And then the Knicks save face and game 5 coming back to the Garden and they got the win there

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112 to 103 where Jalen Brunson goes bananas for 38 points and then in game 6

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A game I was at they had a watch party at Madison Square Garden and I was there in

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attendance for that.

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It was a close game guys it was nipping tuck nipping tuck it came down to one possession

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and a costly turnover that pretty much sealed the game for Miami.

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Well Miami got the win in Miami 96 to 92 a game where Jalen Brunson he tops his performance

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from game 5 he goes for 41 points in game 6; would have been nice if he got some help

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that didn't happen guys Julius Randall 15 points but he shot it 3 for 14 from the field

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so 1-7 from 3 and then you had RJ Barrett 11 points for him one of 10 from the field

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so 2 of your top 3 players goes 4 4 24 yeah that's not going to get it done guys.

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In any event let's talk about Miami first Jimmy Butler he plays 5 games and remember

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he misses game 2 and he has a solid series the numbers look good across the board from

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the field we held him at bay to be honest guys only 43.2% from the field he only made

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one 3 point shot in this entire series guys we held him the 1 for 9 from the 3 point line

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he was solid from the free throw line as always so Bam Adabayo he had a nice series although

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he injured a few of my next players there with those picks he was setting but all in

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all he had a solid series across the board Max Strus now remember I said you had to

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hold the secondary guys at bay they weren't able to do that Max Strus had a nice series

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Kevin Lowry off the bench motivated obviously because he's playing against fellow Villanova

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alumni in Brunson and also Josh Hart so I guess that energized him to have a good series

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coming off the bench yeah so that's your Miami story pretty much in a nutshell.

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For the Knicks what else can we talk about but Jalen Brunson you know I've been singing

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his praises from the rooftops guys here's what he did in the series 25 points 30 points

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20 points 32 points 38 points and 41 points and they showed this graphic I nearly fell

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out my chair he is the first Knick to have four 30 point game series since Bernard King

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I was like are you kidding me wow that's rarified air there guys and kind of like Bernard King

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back in those days he didn't get much help he didn't get much help so nonetheless Jalen

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Brunson I tell you what man he has been he's been better than advertised guys and he kept

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this team afloat in that series I mean it had been a sweep if you have this guy unbelievable

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anyway so I digress; RJ when you look at his numbers they don't look all that bad but it's

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the efficiency guys once again it's been a problem of his for a long time it's the efficiency

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from the field and we saw that in game six for the series itself he only shot it nearly

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43% and that's not gonna cut it guys that's not gonna cut it Julius Randall I mean he

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had nearly 19 with 10 rebounds for sis but he was horrendous from the field 41% he was

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god awful from three 9-32 I'll continue say man he didn't play enough bully ball in this

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series he just didn't man he was falling in love with that three point shot and frustrating

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definitely frustrating guys and then Immanuel Quickley your sixth man of the year candidate

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only played three games in this series because he injured himself in this series then he

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had Josh Hart who didn't have as good a series as he had previously against the Cleveland

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Cavaliers in fact he shot it pretty bad himself from the field and from three and he was bad

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from the free throw line so Josh Hart I was hoping you get better from him but you didn't

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and then Mitchell Robinson I've been saying this about him you have to keep him engaged

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throw him a few lobs you gotta keep him involved and I thought they could did more of that but

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they didn't in this series Quentin Grimes he's gonna have to go in the gym this summer

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work on his ball handling cuz he had some costly turnovers there and he's got a hoist

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up threes man he's gotta work on this three point game he has to form he has everything

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but they just weren't going in in this series guys he shot it awfully from the field and

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he was only eight for twenty eight from three so he's gotta go in the lab and he's got a

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hoist up about a thousand threes a day I mean yeah he's gotta take that next step forward

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he has to in order for this next team to have success so that is your wrap up of the Miami

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New York series what's next for the New York Knicks I'll talk about it briefly because

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I'm probably gonna do a in-depth Knicks grade for the entire season but a star is born in

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Jalen Brunson I mean between the Cleveland series and this one here I mean his star

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is shining bright guys amazing they need outside shooting guys they need outside shooting in

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the series from three they shot it just under 30% and there was a number of guys that were

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just horrific from three I mean Jalen Brunson he was fine from three RJ Barrett as well

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but the other guys they were just bad so you're gonna have to figure that out what to do with

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Evan Fournier he has a year left on this deal with a team option at 18.8 million so more

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than likely that's probably gonna be contract fodder if they were to make a deal in the

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summer and then Derrick Rose; Derrick Rose they have a team option on him and he's getting

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paid if they pick up the team option that would be 15.5 million I don't believe they do that

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that would not make a whole lot of sense at all so I think yeah I don't think they picked

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that up Josh Hart he has a player option he is at nearly 13 million I think he probably

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opts out and the Knicks probably work on getting him a new deal because all in all he fits the

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Knicks very well so I imagine the Knicks and Hart will come to a meeting of the minds

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and he'll stay here he'll get a new deal so and then Miles McBride he has a team option

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I imagine the team will pick that up at 1.8 million so I would think they would pick

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that up for McBride so but again I'll do a in-depth talk about the Knicks at some other

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time and then we have the number two seed Boston over the number three seed Philadelphia

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four games to three let's talk about this this series it was like a roller coaster ride

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guys from game one Philly gets the win in Boston 119 to 115 a game that didn't have

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Joel and beat in it by the way James Harden and he goes bananas he goes for 45 points

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in that game and then game two Boston comes back and wins 121 to 87 and then in game three

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Boston takes one in Philadelphia 114 to 102 then Philadelphia comes back and wins that

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game 116 - 115 and a nail bite are there and this ties the series so the series is tied

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right Philly goes back to Boston and get another win on Boston floor 115 to 103 so you got

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two wins that Philly got on their floor and now there are up three games to two but remember

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this is a Doc Rivers team so you know he has a history of letting these kind of series

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slip and that's what happened Boston gets the win and game six in Philly 95 to 86 and

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then Boston wins game 7 112 to 88 a game where your top two guys Embiid and Harden and combine

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for 24 points guys they shoot it a combined eight four twenty nine from the field that's

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not going to get it done guys and then Jayson Tatum goes absolutely nuclear 51 points 13

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rebounds five assists and two steals so your star player showing up when the money's on

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the line that's all you can ask for there's all you can ask for guys for Boston talked

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about Jayson Tatum for the series he averaged 29 points over 11 rebounds five assists he

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was just magnificent guys he was just magnificent so you definitely like that from him Jaylen

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Brown doing Jaylen Brown things nearly 23 points a game over five rebounds and nearly four

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assists for him and absolutely terrific from the field from three he was on the money and

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then the free throws is standard so pretty good Malcolm Brogdon then off the bench was

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solid for them in this series 16 points coming off that bench you like that Marcus smart

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doing Marcus smart things 15 points he averaged in this series well needed five assists for

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him but all in all Boston they came to play and they prevail for Philly again you didn't

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have and be he missed one of the games but he played in six he was solid you know he

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had games where he was solid but that game seven you need your star players to show up

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in game seven and then James Harden he had two 40 plus point games in the series but

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you need him to show up in that last game you need him but and he didn't do that so your

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guys guys like Tyrese Maxey they were fine they were okay Tobias Harris as well who's

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always the forgotten man but you need to just star players to show up in a game seven I

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laid that solely at the feet of Embiid your NBA MVP by the way and James Harden as well

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so what's next for Philly Doc Rivers he now has 10 game seven losses on his resume and

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in those 10 game seven losses his team was up in the series either three games to one

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or three games to two so you wonder what that Philly front office is thinking of doing with

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a Doc Rivers you imagine he come back again but have you hit a ceiling with Doc Rivers

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have you hit that ceiling that's the question that has to be asked you got a Monty Williams

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out there I'm just saying so you may want to explore that I'm just saying and then there's

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James Harden will he return all signs seem to point to it but you keep hearing these

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overtures about him wanting to go back to Houston which would make absolutely no sense unless

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he just wants to go there and get numbers but other than that it makes absolutely no

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sense whatsoever but he's a free agent he has a player option if he opts in that's 35.6

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million so he's gonna want his money he's gonna want his money so I don't know if he

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opts in we'll see and then Georges Niang he's a free agent Daniel House he has a player

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option actually so also with a player option Montrezl Harrell which I think he's gonna opt

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out I think he wants to go elsewhere Shake Milton he's unrestricted free agent Paul

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Reed who's filled in very well for Embiid while he usually sits whether it be low management

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or injury and so forth he played well and then Jalen McDaniels as well so you know a

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good chunk of your bench now you got free agency there so it's gonna be interesting

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to see how Philly addresses that so with that said guys I guess we could talk about the conference

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finals why not so you got the number two seed Boston Celtics going up against the eight seed

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the Miami Heat what Boston needs to do to get the win continue MVP play from Jason Tatum

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also they got contain Jimmy Butler I think the Knicks kind of wrote the blueprint on

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how to contain Butler because he didn't go off like he did against Milwaukee that's for

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sure so so I think Boston can tear a page out of what the Knicks did in that series

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and use that going forward and then don't let the role players get hot don't let guys

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like Kyle Lowry guys like Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and those guys you can't

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let them get loose man because if that's the case it's gonna be a long series what Miami

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needs to do well they gotta have to handle both Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown good luck

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with that because these guys are playing very well right now Jimmy Butler has to show up

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he has to show up guys he showed up in the Knicks series when they needed him the most

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but all in all I think the Knicks kind of held him at bay for the most part but Jimmy

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Butler you're gonna need the Jimmy Butler of the Milwaukee Bucks series to beat Boston

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that's for sure you're gonna need Bam and those other guys to show up and contribute

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guys I think that's gonna be so important for Miami in this series key matchups Jason

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Tatum against Jimmy Butler I think that's gonna be the matchup now that you're starting

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out Al Horford as well as Robert Williams the third I think that's gonna be a absolute

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key matchup whoever dominates that matchup I think their team wins the series Bam out

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of bay versus Al Horford and probably he'll see a little bit of Robert Williams III

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as well so I think it'll be a mixture of those two guys seeing Bam and making sure he doesn't

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go off and then this bench versus bench you got the six man of the year Malcolm Brogdon

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you got Derrick White there Grant Williams Sam Hauser so you need those guys to give you

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some contributions from the bench that's for sure and that's versus the guys of Miami guys

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like Lowry guys like Caleb Martin Duncan Robinson those guys there so my prediction

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for this series if Boston takes things serious against the heat I think the ride that the

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heat are on will finally end I'm picking Boston in five guys I think if Tatum and Brown comes

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to play if they come to play they're serious about handling their business they like how

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the Philly series went and they're spitting fire I think it'll be Boston and five oh

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another key matchup well it's more of the X's and O's matchup I think it's Erik Spolstr

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versus Joe Mazzulla Joe Mazzulla who we know took over for Ime

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Udoka he's got the team going in the right direction that's for sure and you got to give

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him a whole lot of credit for them being three games to two down and then winning the series

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you got to you got to credit the coaching when that sort of thing happens so I think

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whatever coach is able to make the adjustments and put their team in a position to win I

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think that coach's team will prevail in the series so and Spolstra is one of the best

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to do it so Mazzulla is going to have his hands full but nonetheless I'm picking Boston and

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five guys I don't I think pound for pound Miami doesn't really match up I understand

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I get at these undrafted guys are playing above and beyond the call of duty but I think

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the ride ends I think Cinderella's slipper gets lost and the ride comes to a complete

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stop so that's what I'm picking guys alright so that is it for me I thank you for listening

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guys I'm going to oh coming up I'll have my WNBA season preview so that'll be coming

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down the pike in a alright guys so that is it for me and once again I thank you for listening

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allthingsbasketballwithGD.com you can find me there on YouTube on all the platforms

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alright so thanks again for listening and we'll talk soon so my peeps if you like what

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