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00:00You know that when the Warriors play, we do our engagement poll.
00:04And so let's do it right now.
00:05Let's get engaged.
00:07Before every game, you want to vote in our engaging Dumb Nation poll.
00:10We put it on 95.7 The Game's Twitter page.
00:13It's all brought to you by Shane Coe, your friend and jeweler,
00:15where you'll find the Bay Area's best selection of unique engagement rings.
00:18And they're unmatched, free, lifetime warranty.
00:21Visit ShaneCoe.com today.
00:23Very simple one based on the conversation we're having.
00:26Are Warrior fans getting overconfident as we head into Game 2?
00:30Yes or no?
00:31So head over to Twitter, 95.7 The Game's Twitter feed, and vote.
00:35Are Warrior fans right now, in the wake of a Game 1 victory, overconfident?
00:40Yes or no?
00:41That's a great question.
00:43Actually, you all came up with it, so good job.
00:45Yeah, no is the answer.
00:47I agree.
00:47I would vote no.
00:48Like, no.
00:49If you want to talk about the Warriors sweeping Houston,
00:52then that to me is a little bit of an overconfident stance.
00:55And, I mean, they're allowed to sweep Houston.
00:57Houston can't sweep the Warriors.
01:00And, you know...
01:01That is accurate.
01:02And if the Warriors win this game, then the sweep is still intact.
01:06I do think that you look at a Houston team that has the ability to score a lot of points.
01:11If you look at all 82 of their games, and I didn't watch all 82,
01:14but there were games when they scored 130, 135, and 140.
01:19And watching them play against the Warriors, I'm having a hard time believing that that actually happened.
01:24But it happened a bunch of times where they got a lot of points,
01:28and they were able to score a bunch of points.
01:30And so, Houston has that in their bag, kind of?
01:34They do.
01:35They do.
01:36I just, like...
01:37Actually, we'll go to the calls, and then I want to tell you something that Amin Thompson said today in practice to the media
01:43that, to me, suggests that exactly what many of us predicted would happen,
01:48which is that the Rockets are kind of...
01:50They're too much in their head, which is an example of inexperience.
01:55You've never been to the playoffs before.
01:57The Warriors have.
01:58They know exactly what you're doing, and you don't.
02:02You just don't.
02:03Like, it's not a rip.
02:04Like, I don't know how you can know what you're doing when you've never done it before.
02:08They've never won a playoff game before, all of these starters.
02:11Right?
02:11Except for Van Vliet.
02:12But Brooks, too.
02:14But you know what I'm talking about.
02:15The guys who are supposed to...
02:16Jeff Green.
02:17Yeah.
02:17Well, the guys who are supposed to...
02:19The core of the team, they're all brand new.
02:21They've never won a playoff game before.
02:23And so, what I heard today was an example of somebody searching.
02:28And guessing for answers.
02:31But let's hear from the listeners.
02:34Let's go to Karen in San Ramon.
02:35Hi, Karen.
02:36Thank you for calling.
02:38Hi.
02:39How are you?
02:39What's up?
02:41Hey.
02:42I listen to you guys daily, and I'm doing great.
02:45I'm a long-time Warriors fan, but born a Laker fan, believe it or not.
02:50Whoa.
02:51Transplant.
02:52I know.
02:53But I'm a transplant and total local diehard now.
02:57And I just agree with you that the team has recently found themselves with Butler on the team.
03:06And they are going to win first round.
03:12No doubt.
03:13No doubt.
03:13I think I'd like to hear...
03:14How long did the process take when you had to go to rehab and get rid of your Lakers fandom?
03:21It took some time, but not that long.
03:26I've been, you know, a Bay Area local now longer than I was for an L.A.
03:33So, probably, what, 22?
03:36Well, I didn't move up here until after college.
03:38So, it didn't take that much time.
03:40But I'd say probably 10 years.
03:41Okay, beautiful.
03:42Was there, like, an intervention where a bunch of family friends came over and, like, made a circle around you, and they were all wearing Warrior hats and shirts?
03:51Did that happen in your life?
03:53Yeah, no, no.
03:54I mean, the reality is, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, you know, in the entertainment L.A., Magic Johnson era.
04:04Huge Laker, Dodger fan.
04:06But I am a full-on convert now of Giants, 49ers, and Warriors.
04:11I literally hated them all growing up.
04:13Oh, I love it.
04:15I love it.
04:15Karen, welcome.
04:17Welcome.
04:18Welcome to the rebellion.
04:20And we're glad.
04:21Yes, glad to rid yourself of the dark side.
04:24Thank you for calling, Karen.
04:25Exactly.
04:26Of course.
04:27Thanks so much.
04:28All right.
04:28There goes Karen.
04:29She used to have an aimless life.
04:32And now, everything is wonderful.
04:34It's great.
04:34Yeah.
04:34And she is a fulfilled Warrior fan, and that's great.
04:37And now you can fully enjoy this.
04:39And what's neat about the NBA playoffs is when your team is not playing, you get to pick
04:43a side.
04:44And I know that you're doing a little bit of the dibble-dabble on the wagering, and you've
04:48done quite well.
04:49We're doing all right.
04:49And I'm kind of like, you know, gravy training off that, not financially, but emotionally.
04:53And so I'm pulling for you.
04:54But when the Lakers play, it's fun to be a fan of whomever they are playing.
05:00Yes.
05:00And I've actually stayed away from, I've not done anything financially with that series.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Because I know, the same way I haven't done anything with the Warriors series.
05:09If I've got any kind of emotional pull going on, I use that as a demerit with regard to,
05:16like, should I or should I not dive into that game?
05:20Because my rooting interests get all skewed.
05:23I don't want to, you know, like, last night I kind of agreed with you.
05:27I was like, yeah, the Lakers are probably going to win this game, but I don't want to
05:31root for that.
05:32Right.
05:32So just leave it alone.
05:33Austin Reed's for three.
05:34Yeah.
05:35And you're pumping your fist.
05:36And you're like, what am I?
05:38What am I doing?
05:39Put the kids to bed, and then you're, like, sitting in a room by yourself rooting for the
05:43Lakers, and you stop and look at yourself, and you're like, what has happened to my...
05:46Luka gets bumped, and you're screaming out, that's a foul?
05:48I mean, my, that's gross.
05:50We're going to put a visor on and sweat, and just, like, life will have gone awry.
05:56I don't want to do that.
05:57So, anyway.
05:58No, it's, yeah, it's fair.
06:00Just real quick, you asked me to do the numbers on fouls in the playoffs.
06:05Oh, yeah.
06:06Like, you said, so 38 fouls is an average NBA game, regular season.
06:11Yeah.
06:11What about in the playoffs?
06:12We're at 36.3.
06:14Okay, so they are down a little bit.
06:16Yeah, about 5%.
06:18Okay.
06:18But in a small sample, you know, although kind of not that small of a sample.
06:24That's 13 games, right?
06:2513 games in.
06:26That's, you can feel that.
06:27One interesting thing I found is Minnesota beats the Lakers in game one, and there were
06:3221 fouls against Minnesota, 10 against the Lakers.
06:36Wow.
06:37And they still, and that game...
06:38Well, Minnesota hit everything.
06:40Right.
06:40They shot 50% from three.
06:42But they were minus 11 in fouls.
06:44Right.
06:44They committed 11 more fouls.
06:45Game two, which was last night, 46 fouls in the game.
06:49How many on Minnesota?
06:50I didn't write it down, but I would imagine it was slightly skewed LA's way.
06:54Wow.
06:54I mean, how many people need to call up and talk about the Laker whistle?
06:59We've heard, and I don't mean from fans, I mean from actual people who work in the NBA.
07:04Right.
07:04I can tell you right now, free throws shot...
07:06Yeah, 24 against LA, 22 against Minnesota.
07:09Okay.
07:10And free throws were almost even.
07:11Oh, yeah.
07:12Minnesota actually shot more.
07:13But the nature of the whistle, like the Lakers benefited in this just quick glance at
07:19more whistles, and I do think that the Warriors are kind of in that same camp.
07:23Yeah.
07:23Also, one last postscript before we go back to the phones.
07:27These numbers are skewed by the OKC series because there's not a lot of calls that you
07:33need to make in a game that's a 53-point blowout.
07:37Yes, because they're dunking at the other end, and there's no Grizzlies even on that side
07:41of the court.
07:42Right.
07:42It's an absolute...
07:44Dude, are you old enough to remember Teen Wolf?
07:47Not you.
07:48I know you are.
07:49Sadly.
07:49Anybody...
07:50Grandy, do you know what Teen Wolf is?
07:52He's chewing.
07:53Michael J. Fox movie.
07:54Do you remember Teen Wolf?
07:56He's heard of it, but I don't think he's ever seen it.
07:58That's my guess.
07:59It was a newer adaptation of the show.
08:00Okay.
08:00Yes.
08:01But anyway, the point is, is the movie...
08:04Let the man eat.
08:05The movie changes, like what would happen is a team would be down by 20, and Michael J.
08:11Fox would like wolf out.
08:12Like all of a sudden, you know, it's kind of like Clark Kent going into a phone booth,
08:17which is an even older reference.
08:18But anyway...
08:19You're on fire.
08:20We're just getting older by the second.
08:21But the point is, is that when you're down by like 25, Michael J. Fox would wolf out,
08:27and he would become a wolf.
08:28And then he'd go back out on the basketball court, and he would like literally score the
08:32next 30 points of the game by himself and bring his team back to victory.
08:36That's called wolfing out.
08:38And it's when you just go like you're the only player on the floor, and the people you're
08:42playing against, right, they're just diving for you and missing and everything, like you
08:46see in the movies.
08:46That's what the Thunder Grizzlies series looks like.
08:49It looks like, oh, is KC wolfed out.
08:52And Memphis is just...
08:54They're the Washington Generals.
08:56They have absolutely...
08:58They've got nothing to say about these games whatsoever.
09:01They're blowouts at the end of one quarter every time.
09:04Yep.
09:04Yep.
09:04Which I think leads to fewer fouls.
09:07When it's a 53-point game, and you've got the third strings in there, you don't necessarily
09:12need to like call it tight.
09:14So yeah, fouls are down a little bit.
09:16And in the Warrior game, there were 33 fouls, which is slightly fewer than the norm in a game
09:22that should favor Houston.
09:24And yet they still lost by 10.
09:26How about Jonathan in the city?
09:27Let's go to Jonathan.
09:28Hi, Jonathan.
09:29Thanks for calling.
09:29Jonathan!
09:36Hey, sorry guys.
09:37I had to switch the AirPods.
09:38You know, the AirPods kind of running low.
09:40Okay.
09:41Hey, I just want to say, you hit the nail right on the head.
09:44I'm totally with you, man.
09:46Since the arrival of Jimmy, that Jimmy effect, took care of two things that used to be my biggest
09:52pet peeve watching Warrior games is that they don't shoot enough free throws.
09:56And their turnover is just too much.
09:58You know, it's closer to the number 20 than to 10.
10:01Real quick on game two, if they use the same formula, you know, balance attack on offense,
10:07ground game and air attack both, they should win this game.
10:12I mean, I don't want to sound too overconfident, but if you got a young team inexperience and
10:18feeling a little bit of desperation sensation, it's not a good mix.
10:23So go Warriors.
10:25Okay, Jonathan.
10:26Yeah, that's right.
10:28Cash him out one time.
10:31I can tell you exactly what the Rockets are going to try to do tonight.
10:34And there's two things I'd like to say about this.
10:36Number one, this is Amin Thompson making a rookie mistake.
10:39This is a rookie mistake.
10:41You don't go to reporters and tell them how you're going to approach game two differently
10:46so that the Golden State Warriors can hear you.
10:49It doesn't really matter because I know the Warriors would have been ready for this anyway,
10:52but I also think that this is a snapshot of a young Rockets team searching for answers
11:00in the playoffs.
11:01He said today to the assembled media at Houston's shoot around that the Rockets may have listened
11:08too much to the noise going into game one, and the noise was telling them that games slow
11:17down in the playoffs.
11:19They listened to that too much and maybe ended up purposefully playing a slower game, and that's
11:27not what they want to do.
11:28No, they'd like to speed it up, and he believes that if they commit to it, they can do that.
11:36All right, so A, you just told the Warriors what your main new goal is.
11:42B, I don't think the Warriors are going to be surprised by that, but C, you're searching.
11:47You're searching.
11:48You're the two seed, not my two seed, but you're the two seed, and after game one, we're already
11:54doing the, well, we got beat by the noise, there were people talking, and we listened
12:01to them, which made us change our gameplay, but now we're going to change it back, and
12:06we're like, come on, man, like this is not, this is not a good sign for the Houston Rockets.
12:11The Warriors know this.
12:13They know that if they don't turn it over and they get back on defense, they're going
12:17to make you set up in a half-court offense, and you're not very good at it.
12:21They know this, so you can commit to it all you want.
12:24I'd love to see them actually execute it.
12:27Yeah, they can execute it if they make shots, and we always talk about this being a make-or-miss
12:32league, and it's especially more that as a case when you don't have as many possessions,
12:38and I'm looking at the pace, and he talked about them playing faster, and the Warriors
12:42and Rockets played the exact same pace, 88.2, which is about 10% slower than they both
12:48played in the regular year, and Steve Kerr actually said it to us when we had him on yesterday
12:53about pace and how, you know, it was a much slower game, but the playoffs are always going
12:58to be slower.
12:59And so if it is a slower game, and the Warriors then have fewer possessions, and if they turn
13:04it over fewer times, then you're going to limit the amount of damage that Houston can do against
13:09you in an open floor and in a broken floor.
13:12So does Houston really want to get up and down against Golden State and get into that kind
13:16of game?
13:17I don't think so.
13:18You don't shoot it as well, and you can't defend as well when it's going to be up and
13:23down.
13:24So for Houston, I think a slower pace is the only way they can win.
13:28Well, I think what he's saying is they want to get to the rim, right?
13:32We're tall, we're athletic, we can't shoot.
13:34So how are we going to beat them?
13:35Yeah, get to the rim.
13:36Get to the rim.
13:36And you do that in transition.
13:39The problem is, is again, the Warriors are a phenomenal defensive team.
13:42Again, especially my two-seeded Golden State Warriors, they're a phenomenal defensive team.
13:48They're a top three defensive team since Jimmy Butler arrived.
13:52So they're smart, they're good, and they know how to try to prevent that.
14:00And again, it's turnovers and bad shots that lead to transition buckets in the other direction.
14:07So keep doing what you're doing, which is be mature, and limit the turnovers.
14:12And if you do that, I just don't see many nights where Houston will beat you.
14:17Maybe they have a good shooting night tonight.
14:19They're certainly capable of it, but I'd bet against it, it's going to happen way less
14:23than 50% of the time.
14:24Right.
14:25So anyway.
14:26It's probably going to happen maybe 33% of the time.
14:29So if you play six games and Houston shoots it great twice, that doesn't mean that they
14:33win both games.
14:34That means in those two of the six, they have a good chance to win.
14:38And if you add in the other elements of Steph Curry gets shut down, which has happened, and
14:44or the Warriors turn it over a bunch, which happened twice this year, the Warriors are
14:500-6 when they have 20 or more turnovers.
14:52Two of those games came against the Rockets.
14:54So you shoot it great, and the Warriors turn it over, or you stop Steph Curry.
14:59That's a win, Houston.
15:00Can you do it four times?
15:01I don't think so.
15:02Probably not.
15:02Yeah.
15:03Um, let's see.
15:04Ray, Highway 24.
15:06Hi, Ray.
15:06Thanks for calling.
15:08Hi.
15:09How are you guys doing?
15:09It's been a while.
15:10Um, I was just wondering, what do you think?
15:12You know how they say, you know, a team has to peak on its way into the playoffs.
15:17It's the best to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season.
15:20I'm not really sure if I agree with your numbers 100% because I'm not sure if we were playing
15:26our best basketball.
15:28You know, now that Jimmy is aggressive, now that he was trying to score, we might have
15:33another gear.
15:34This might be the peak.
15:36We're not.
15:36But I still don't think we've seen what the Warriors can do with this lineup because we
15:41haven't seen Jimmy purposely try to get 30 yet.
15:45Ray, I actually, I agree with you.
15:48And I think we, like, again, whether or not they were peaking before they got to the playoffs,
15:54if your point is that you think they can be even better now, then they're even more of
16:00the two-seed than I would say, wouldn't you think?
16:03That's why I was saying I don't disagree completely because I think maybe, maybe they could even
16:09have been better.
16:12Yeah, I guess I said that wrong.
16:14I don't mean, I didn't mean to say I disagree with you.
16:15I meant to say they're probably even better than that.
16:18You know what I mean?
16:18Because we haven't even seen exactly what they can do because I don't want to say Jimmy
16:25has been blase, but he's been trying to fit in, get in where you can fit in.
16:29He's been trying to figure it out.
16:31Now he's like, I got it figured out and it's time for me to get some buckets.
16:34Now we're going to see what this team can really do.
16:37Yeah, Ray.
16:38And that might, it might surprise the world.
16:40Ray, thanks.
16:41I like it because, you know, A, you are seeing not just like, is Jimmy going to ramp up the
16:47aggressiveness, but we're obviously watching a shorter rotation.
16:52That's what happens in the playoffs.
16:54You start to go with your best.
16:55Your best start to play more minutes instead of playing 31 minutes.
16:58Steph might play 38, might play 39, something like that.
17:02You're going to have more Steph on the floor.
17:04You're going to have more Jimmy on the floor.
17:05They've tightened this whole thing up.
17:07There's the Kaminga factor as an example of that.
17:10And again, that's not saying what they would look like with him, without him, whatever the
17:15point is, is you tighten those screws a little bit.
17:17And, and Steph Curry has even said, whether you buy this or not, but he has said, look,
17:24we're also still learning each other.
17:26Like, this is still new to them.
17:30If you add in the playoffs and the play in, what do we got with Butler now?
17:34I think 33 basketball games.
17:36That's it.
17:36Like not even half a season.
17:38So they're still learning each other, which in theory would mean that, yeah, they could
17:42keep improving.
17:43And the idea of Jimmy being quote unquote blase is partly incorrect, but he is definitely
17:50now impressing upon the league exactly who he wants to be in playoff Jimmy.
17:55And he had 28 against the Spurs.
17:57Then he had 24, 30 against the Clippers in the overtime loss.
18:01He had 25 in game one.
18:03So yes, Jimmy has shifted into aggressive mode.
18:07And so if it's not Steph looking to score, if Jimmy's out there, he's going to try to
18:11do it.
18:11And if neither one can get a shot, then you get down to Moses and maybe Quentin and Draymond
18:17and GP two in the corner, whatever it is.
18:20But Jimmy Butler is now aggressively trying to get his.
18:24Let's keep going.
18:25Johannes in Alameda.
18:28Kalen Azebuki is going to join us here in just about six or seven minutes.
18:31Hi, Johannes.
18:32What's up?
18:33What's up, guys?
18:34I'm just curious because I think we're a little overconfident going into this game.
18:39I think probably what the coach, at least Curry, is telling everybody is we've got to weather
18:43a bunch of storms.
18:45A game like this, I think the Rockets are going to come out.
18:47They're going to try to punch us in the face and keep the pressure on the whole game.
18:51I don't think Curry is going to be able to go off like he did last time.
18:54We rarely see him make crazy shots like that back-to-back games.
18:57So, the X factor, I think, is going to be who's going to show up.
19:01They're going to put some pressure on Jimmy, too.
19:03But it's going to be a wild one.
19:05I think it's going to come down to the end.
19:06And the Warriors are more experienced.
19:08So, if we can steal this game, go up 2-0.
19:11It's done.
19:12Done.
19:12Yeah.
19:13Johannes, thanks.
19:14I'm not...
19:15Let me say this.
19:16I'll buy, if you want to label me as overconfident for the series, I wouldn't say overconfident
19:22for this game, though.
19:23I can see him losing this game.
19:25I can see the Rockets winning.
19:26Yeah.
19:27And if I had to make a pick, and I will make the pick, and I won't bet it, because I'm
19:31like you.
19:32I'm not going to bet against my team unless...
19:34Well, I probably won't ever bet against my team.
19:36But Rockets are laying three and a half.
19:39I wouldn't lay the three and a half because I think it could be a two- or three-point game.
19:43But if I was a betting man looking at it from a neutral observer standpoint, I would take
19:49the Rockets in this game.
19:50I think that the officiating crew, combined with the home court, combined with Rockets'
19:56desperation, combined with the fact that the math would tell you that the Houston guards
20:01won't be as bad as they were.
20:03They're not good.
20:04I'm not going to sit here and say that Van Vliet and Jalen Green are good shooters, are
20:09good scores, but they're better than they were in game one.
20:12They can be.
20:13They have been.
20:13They can be.
20:14Well, they have been, is what I'm leaning on.
20:16Their track record is such that they're better than that.
20:19Well, but their track record is also that that is what they struggle with.
20:23That is their bugaboo.
20:26Yeah.
20:26It's not their bug tussle, but some bugaboo.
20:29Yeah.
20:29Listen for bug tussle on the broadcast, and you're listening to NBC Sports Bay Area.
20:34Bob Fitzgerald has promised us that a Steph Curry 3 will come from bug tussle.
20:38Yeah, and we should probably let Kalena know that that's coming so it doesn't catch him off
20:44guard.
20:45Bug tussle.
20:46The hell did you say, Fitz?
20:47That's right.
20:48Bug tussle.
20:49You let him know.
20:50Steph shot that one from bug tussle.
20:53So what?
20:54Well, I find it interesting.
20:55That's what.