This Week's Show
We recap the Warriors vs. the Rockets. Does the NBA have a problem with how it risks its star players? And LeBron is pretty impressive. It's another Boxscore Geeks Show! Tune in.
Hosts
- Andres Alvarez (@nerdnumbers)
- Patrick Minton (@nbageek)
- Produced by Brian Foster (@boxscorebrian)
Sources
You can watch us live at twitch.tv/nerdnumbers almost every Monday at 9:30pm EST.
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Video Show
This Week's Poll
Show Notes
Last Week's No-Show
Brian called in sick with the hopes of watching the Warriors sweep the Rockets last Monday. You know how that turned out.
I then ended up with a double-ear infection and was so out of it the rest of the week, a show wasn't happening!
Production Notes
In honor of being on Twitch, I show off my Zelda 2 world map poster. I'm a bit of a fan.
The Warriors
The 72-win Bulls only lost three times in the playoffs. The Warriors are on pace to match that with a sweep in the finals.
We talked a fair bit about why the Warriors were good earlier this season. They did not let up.
The Warriors outrebounded the Rockets by 20 in their series-deciding win. That was with Dwight rebounding like mad.
It's ironic that Charles Barkley has been taking shots at Draymond Green. Barkley was the prototype for the "undersized" forward that routinely outrebounded/outdefended opponents.
Was Draymond Green robbed of the Defensive Player of the Year? Patrick also brings up Rudy Gobert.
I'm so happy this series was the end of Josh Smith's playoffs. I could not handle him getting remembered for "winning when it mattered." Unlikely that's the narrative as he shot them out of game five.
Cuban said the Rockets weren't a good team. Though the Mavericks couldn't contain them, maybe he was right, and just needed a top defense to reveal it.
Patrick points out that the Rockets were still very beat up. Jason Terry was playing lots of minutes. Dwight Howard was playing on an injured ankle. It's not surprising to see the top defense in the NBA dismantle an injured team.
One of the cheat codes the Warriors have is most of their players are good at many things. Even Curry on an off-game shooting can pass, rebound, steal, etc. Iguodala is a Pippenesque player as well.
Brian adds another notch to Kerr's coaching resume. The Warriors did not play small ball, because they understand that bigs can help win.
Brian says Bogut has been outstanding. He's a player we often feel is underrated.
Broken record time. People don't realize how good this Warriors team is. We haven't seen a team like this since the Bulls, and they are a relic of an NBA that no longer exists!
Tanking doesn't work in the NBA. Sorry. But, it used to, and the Jordan Bulls were one of the last teams in that era.
Playoff Injuries
Kelly Olynyk took out Kevin Love in the playoffs.
Matthew Dellavedova injured Kyle Korver. Although, Patrick notes it looks unintentional.
Dellavedova has played dirty. He did it again Taj Gibson. He also did it against Al Horford. Ironically both Horford and Taj got ejected!
Patrick has an unfortunate truth. Dellavedova is not unique. This play is typical, and in some cases the NBA referees let bad play go on too long. It has a risk of injurying stars.
Steph Curry took a major blow to his head against the Rockets. Klay Thompson did as well. Both returned to the game. We found out later that Klay did, in fact, suffer a concussion, bringing the NBA's concussion tests into question.
Apologies, I call out Bruce Bowen for checking Steve Nash in the playoffs. This was, in fact, Robert Horry.
CM Punk has talked concussion testing and has called it bunk, at least in regards to the WWE.
We delay games over rain in sports like baseball. For things like concussions that might take hours to diagnose, maybe we should delay NBA games over that. I acknowledge this will never happen.
The NBA should also consider how it penalizes instigators of dirty plays. Patrick notes, they don't tend to get punished enough.
Patrick compares Dellavedova to a wrestler trying to sell a bump. He notes, no athlete naturally moves like that in response to a shove.
Brian has bad news. Kevin Love re-aggravated his shoulder in the NBA celebration.
Bron, Bron, Bron!
LeBron James will be the first player since Larry Bird/Kevin McHale/Dennis Johnson to hit 700+ playoff minutes in five consecutive seasons if he plays around thirty minutes a game in the finals.
LeBron James is "only" thirty years old. But he has played an absurd number of minutes. Here's a comparison. Wilt Chamberlain has a distinct record of playing the most minutes in a single NBA season. Here's how Wilt and LeBron compared by age thirty.
- Regular season minutes: Wilt - 29,208 | Bron - 35,769
- Playoff minutes: Wilt - 3187 | Bron - 7287
Patrick notes that LeBron gets 5-10 more games per season than the average star given how often he goes deep in the playoffs.
I note that LeBron was a bigger part of his team's title runs than Michael Jordan was, particularly in the second threepeat. Patrick notes that the East during Michael Jordan's time was a good conference. Both good points.
We have a "fun" discussion on how much pace matters. Tune in!
Shout Outs
Patrick shouts out Cavaliers' fans. Particularly those mad at him for calling Dellavedova a dirty player. Enjoy the shout out now, they will be much sparser come the finals.
Brian shouts out the webcomic "Sunday Morning Breakfast Cereal" for a fantastic comic on economics. That's right, economics!
I shout out the great ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Sole Man" Sonny Vaccaro was a huge name in shoes and helping grow the huge sneaker empire tied to the NBA. Also, I can't believe Adidas once made a James Harden level mistake in trying to lowball LeBron James!