NBA Finals Game One: Vets Take Out The Youngins

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Support him at SoundCloud.com slash May 1st Music. Normally when I come on here, I try to give you straight, crazy analysis, hardcore analysis, instantaneous analysis. You know, even though the whole society with social media is analysis by paralysis. But we got to go to the four-letter network. The four-letter network did something that I think is egregious. They tried to pass this off as Tony Parker. I want y'all to take a look at that and tell me why did they think that they could AI Tony Parker?

Did anyone catch this on the broadcast? They tried to make this man look like Monsieur Parker. They couldn't just pay Getty Images for the photo? Is that what we not try to do? As the broadcast showed all the CEOs and the presidents for Walt Disney in the arena, They couldn't pay the 50 to 100 bucks to get the images, to get the real Tony Parker photo? Is that what we're doing? Fold out of network?

Okay. Okay. That must be what it is. Y'all tell me. Y'all tell me. All right. So, look, Knicks get game one.

Y'all know what we do here. We're going to do better than what Shaq tried to do in the postgame by just literally looking down and reading the box score. We're going to interpret what the box score says and compare that to what we just witnessed, right? So, big win for the Knicks. Big performances from the others, as Shaq has coined them. There's a lot to get into, right? So, be active in the chat.

I will be in there. Patrick, I'll see you in there. We'll get to you in a sec. Josh Hart, 15 boards, six dimes. He got into some early foul trouble. He was able to stave that off, locked in in that second half. was very vital in the Knicks' comeback.

Spurs were up 14 at one point in the third quarter, and they let the Knicks crawl and scratch and claw their way back into it, right? Cat with a double-double. Everyone's going to go crazy about his defense. His defense was good. He's been playing defense ever since he's become a Knick, to be quite honest with you, from the meniscus tearing taskmaster Tom Thibodeau to now under Mike Brown. Cat has had a renewed emphasis on defense, right? And you saw some of that tonight.

Although I think Big Vic, Victor Webinyama, let him off the hook. And the Spurs guards let Cat off the hook by where they tried to get the ball. The few times that they did try to get the ball to Big Vic. By where they tried to get Vic the ball against Cat, we'll get into that. Because we have the shot chart. That's not how we do here. We dissect the shot chart.

And it's a very stark difference between Game 1, Victor Webinyama's shot chart in the NBA Finals against the Knicks. compared to game one of the Western Conference Finals for Big Vic Victor Webbing-Yama against the OKC Thunder. We'll talk about it. So double-double for Cat. Brunson obviously gets the guy. He's the leader. He's the one, right?

A 30 ball in game one, the bulk of that of which was in the second half, the bulk of which that was in the big third quarter run to chop that 14-point lead and then closing the game out late in the fourth, right? But you see two of nine, horrible shooting night. This game was not pretty. This was an ugly game. This was a, at times, a defensive struggle, a lot of bad shots, a lot of early shots taken in the shot clock. Both teams, whether we call it the feel-off process or what have you, there was a lot to make of in regards to tempo and pace. And Kenny Smith, even though the headline guys on that inside the NBA show are Shaq and Barkley, a lot of the times, the one who's actually giving you real basketball analysis is Kenny Smith.

And Kenny said that halftime is that the Spurs pace of play is allowing them to be able to control the tempo and the Knicks need to slow it down. Now, that seems like generic analysis, but it played out that way in the second half, because in the first half, because the Spurs are the youngest team in the league, or at least the youngest team to make the finals, what Brain said, since the 70s or something. The Spurs are an extremely young, raw team, so they don't know what they're doing yet. They have no idea what they're doing yet, and they're doing it just off GP. They're doing this off of guile. They're doing this off of just natural instinct, instinctive play, right? You slow that down, you make them think.

You slow that down, you make them consider every possession, because in the second half, it felt like the Spurs were thinking that every possession mattered. Every possession was tight. That free-flowing that we saw in the first half where the threes were coming in bunches, guys were being aggressive, going to the rim. None of that seemed to happen in the second half. The second half seemed to be extremely tight. The Spurs played tight in the second half, and it allowed the Knicks to slow it down. Brunson was able to get the pace of play, control the rock, milk the shot clock, get to his spot, and get his shot.

And we're going to have to talk about Victor Webinyama in terms of his aggressiveness or lack thereof, in my opinion, in this first game one. He put up a lot of shots, but the shots were not the shots we were accustomed to seeing him take as we have watched the Spurs run to get here to the NBA Finals. When you look at the Spurs, the second best Spur tonight was probably Harrison Barnes, if I'm going to be honest with you. Castle had some moments. Harper had some moments, but more so in the first half. Champagne had some moments, but mostly in the first half. Again, when everything was fully flowing.

But when the possessions got tight in the second half, Harrison Barnes, to me, looked to be the second best spur. And that's a problem. When you have a De'Aaron Fox, when you have a Castle, when you have a Vassal, when Harrison Barnes looks to be the most poised, And it makes sense. He's a vet, right? But Harrison Barnes, to me, looked to be the second best Spurs tonight, especially in that second half. And that's a problem with the Spurs are trying to hoist up a Larry O.B. But we see with Big Vic, 26 and 12.

But the 12, to me, is very misleading because I never felt like Victor Webbingama's defensive presence was established or his physical presence was established. It felt to me as though he was just out there. Now, he's 7'4", 7'5", on a good day. Him just being around is a physical presence, right? Him just being there, it's a physical presence. But when it came down to, are you establishing who you are? Game one's a fill-out game.

Game one can also be, I'm going to set the tone. Game one against OKC, when Big Vic went 40 and 20, he set the tone. He was in the paint. He was bully-balling in the paint. Now, I'm not saying treat Carl Anthony Towns like Chet. That ain't going to happen. But what I'm saying is there was opportunities for Big Vic to go get a bucket or at least to go try to get Cat in foul trouble or even Mitch Robb, the minutes he was out there, to go and try to draw contact and get a foul.

He was trying to get into his KD bag. And as opposed to that game one against OKC where he was a bully, he saw Chet, he saw food. When he saw Cat and he saw Mitch Robb, he did not see food. but it's not even he saw them as prey. It looked like Big Vic was the prey for Mitch Robb and Cat defensively. That has to get flipped if the Spurs are going to make this a real series. That's going to have to get flipped if the Spurs are going to be taken seriously in this series.

You cannot have your best player looking tentative in the paint. We hit the chat. Patrick, great defense from the Knicks guards tonight. No doubt. No doubt because what the Spurs guards and small wings were able to get off in the first half. They got none of that off in the second half. You know, I was texting with one of my homies who's a Knicks fan.

Shout out to Ant if he's checking it out. I said, this is why you got Bridges and OG. This series right here is why you kept OG and Bridges. The Knicks were tempted or have been tempted to try to break those two up because it looks like you got the gluttony of wings. But when you have good defensive wings, this is why you have those two. Because whether it's Vassell, Castle, Chipangy, Harper, or Fox, or even Keldon Johnson. Keldon Johnson gave you nothing tonight.

He was on his Jared Allen wave tonight. The lights were bright for Keldon Johnson. But the reason why you kept OG, the reason why you kept Mikael Bridges, and you paired them together in tandem is because when you switch, You're switching off from one good defender to another great defender. And that was important for the Knicks tonight. Patrick, Jose, Deuce, Landry. And Joshua Phenomenal. No, look, man, especially when we talk about Landry Shammott.

Landry Shammott, journeyman. Landry Shammott, who's been also ran. Just a guy. The fact that Landry Shammott has found a role and is confident in that role. Like the others are always going to be a factor, right? There's very few teams, especially today in today's NBA, where you're one guy can just do it all and get you home to a Larry OB. You're going to need your Landry Shammott.

You're going to need your Josh Hart. You're going to need your OGs and your Mikael Bridges. You're going to need those guys to get you a Larry OB. Those guys allow Jalen Brunson to get hurt multiple times. Those guys allow Jalen Brunson to have to go back to the locker room to get x-rays. Those guys allow Jalen Brunson to be able to cook up and go crazy in spurts in the third and fourth quarter. Because those guys are able to do their job and fill in their role and keep things steady.

Your role players keep things steady and allow the star to figure out and pick their spots. And that's what those guys are able to do tonight. His call anything. Towns arguably could be a star, but right now, because Brunson is Brunson, even Cat is a role player. But your role player is getting a double-double. If we want to look at the Spurs, right, home cooking wasn't really home cooking. 11-43 from three.

25. We'll round up 26% for the Spurs tonight from three. You're not going to win a game at the crib like that. You're not going to win a game like that. OK, so. And I think they out rebounded the Knicks, right? So even though the physical presence, yeah, they beat the Knicks by five on the glass.

But that physical presence wasn't there. The guard play alone in terms of hitting the glass and, you know, the broadcast made a lot of points about that in terms of the Spurs guards hitting the glass. The problem with that is if they're on the glass, they can't then get out in transition. So somebody else besides Big Vic from a wing or, you know, a front line standpoint needs to get on that glass. And that was not happening tonight. So the guards had to chip in and Josh Hart still ends up with 15 rebounds. So even though the Spurs guards were doing their thing on the glass, you see Vessel with nine.

Castle had eight. Darren with four. Harper with eight. That still allowed somehow Josh Hart to have 15 boards. So you're going to have to pick your poison if you're dispersed. Let Josh Hart get the 15 boards. Let him get that.

That's his job. That's what he's supposed to do. He can't go get 15 boards and then your guards are also not getting out in transition doing what they do best, which is getting out and run. So the Spurs are going to have to make some adjustments. Big Vic is going to have to make some adjustments. And let's go ahead to the shot chart. Let me hit the chat real quick before we do that.

Bingo about Wemby. He didn't establish until it was too late. Yeah, I mean, we're about to tap into that right now. Right? Absolutely right now. Victor Webbing Yama, let's go to the shot chart. And we'll blow that up.

Get to that shot chart. All right, so Big Vic. you see it here on the screen. Six of 21. 29%. Six of 21. And you see all these damn threes.

You see all these threes. And there's a lot of red X's in these threes because they were bricks. Okay? Way too many threes. In comparison to game one against OKC, I think he only took two threes. It was a 40 and 20 game and he only took two threes. Game one against the Knicks.

way too many threes. Two, four, five, seven threes. Nine threes. Nine threes and you only made two of them. Two of nine from three. And again, he catches some balls at the elbow and that's fine. These shots I'm not mad at.

Even if these are heavily contested, even if he's getting double, I'm not mad at that. But let me see. Let me try to pull up that box score against the box score against OKC. Big Vic went crazy. Let's go to Spurs. Spurs. Game one.

Okay. Game one, shot chart. Spurs. Big Vic. All right, hearing lies the difference. Hearing lies the difference, right? Only two threes.

And look at all these shots in the paint. This is game one against OKC. All those shots in the paint. Not even a lot at the elbow. He was in the paint. As opposed to tonight, He's all damn near all perimeter shots, elbow. Now, again, call Anthony Towns and Mitch Robb are way better defensively than Chet Holmgren.

Right. So this isn't to suggest that he should be able to do this against the Knicks. But what it can't be is this. It cannot be a repeat of this nine threes. And if you want to give me the nonsense of doing everything in the flow of the offense, He took what was given to him. You're not there to take what is given to you by the Knicks. You are there to be the best player in the world.

A lot of people are giving you that mantle. They are giving it to you. They're handing it to you. They're saying, Big Vic, here's your spotlight. Take it. And then you go two for nine and look at times lost offensively. He didn't seem to have a feel.

He didn't seem to have a rhythm. and this comes with wanting to be the guy. It's scrutiny like this. Being in a spot where you could take control of a series. When they were up 14 and the Knicks started chipping away, Big Vic was on the bench and then the Knicks kept chipping away, kept chipping away, kept chipping away. Then they got it down to six and then they decided to put Big Vic back in there and when he did, The lead was already squandered at that point, and it took him a while to get his rhythm back. So let's see if we can get to the by quarter.

All players. Let's go second half. Second half for Big Vic. The bulk of his shots were perimeter in the second half. Six of his nine threes were in the second half. Nine threes overall, six of them. And I think the last two were just hoisted up because they were down late.

But the fact still remains. Let's go to that third quarter. That vaunted third quarter where they gave up the lead. Big Vic took damn near all threes in that third quarter. All threes in that third quarter. He took more threes than twos in the third quarter when the Knicks made their comeback. Fourth quarter.

He tried to give you something in the paint, but it was too little too late. Carl Anthony Towns not being in foul trouble is going to be a real issue for the Spurs. Carl Anthony Towns needs to be in foul trouble. And it took until late in the game when Cats started picking up fouls because Victor Webanyama finally started doing something in the paint. Again, game one against OKC, you see it. Game one against Nick's tape. It's a real problem.

Real, real big problem for Victor Webbingama. So and he talked about in the postgame, he said, you know, they let one get away. And I agree. The problem is I'm not sure if he knows what the fix needs to be besides him just going and trying to be a bully. I would have rather him try to go be a bully tonight and fail as opposed to what we saw from Big Vic tonight. Patrick Jose coming in the second quarter set the tempo for the whole game I mean yeah Alvarado was huge played well defensively which is his his penchant but then he also was able to chip in and give you some buckets get some transition stuff Alvarado all the others if the Knicks were going to quote steal a game they needed the others to step up Brunson's going to do what he does even though when he went down with that knee injury it looked like oh my god this could be if for for the Knicks to go through what they have gone through just for Brunson to get hurt in game one and impact the rest of the series would have been ridiculous right but be that as it may while Brunson's in the locker room get intended to the others like your Brunson's like your Shamans were able to steady the ship can't have this from Victor Webbingama big big miss for the Spurs tonight young energy young energy youth versus vets even if it would have been OKC it still would have been youth versus vets but at least OKC is young vets with their last couple of playoff runs including the chip last year. But what you witnessed tonight was a thing of, is there going to be a scenario where the Spurs can look how they looked in the first half and then come out and be completely flat in the second half?

Can they play a game free as they were in the first half for an entire game? Because if the game is close, the game is going to get slowed down. Can they execute in the half court? Sometimes basketball come down to very simple things. Either it's physical dominance, you know, accuracy in terms of shooting or passing the ball, or sometimes it's controlling the tempo. Can you execute? There's a couple of nice inbounds plays, out of bounds plays from both teams.

So some of that was executed well before the Spurs. And this is where point guards matter, right? Point guards matter. when you have a guy like Victor Webbing who has the skill set of a Kevin Durant and he just happens to be 7'4", 7'5", on a good day there's going to be times where he's going to be playing against physical bigs like a Carl Anthony Towns which is a wild thing for me to say in 2026 that Carl Anthony Towns is a physical presence but here we are but when you're going up against physical bigs like a Carl Anthony Towns and a Mitch Robb you're going to need someone to get you the ball in spots because they're going to deny you. The Knicks have watched tape. They know where Wemby likes to catch the ball. They played them in the NBA Cup and all that nonsense.

The Knicks have done enough scouting to know where Big Vic wants to rock. So they're going to try to deny that at every opportunity. So it's going to take a guard, a point guard, to be able to set Big Vic up and make sure Vic gets the ball in his spots. And I can't remember if it was Legler or RJ that said it tonight, but it was like, Vic's not getting the ball at the elbow. Because that's where Victor wants, because then he could survey the floor, see if the double's coming, and know where to swing the rock if he needs to. He did not, as you saw in the shot chart, he didn't get a lot of shots from the elbow. Let me pull up the chart.

He did not get a lot of shots at the elbow. And this is where he likes the rock. if he's not doing, you know, game one OKC where he's bully balling, he wants that ball at the elbow. And that was not the case. So the guards are going to have to do a much better job. I think at times, and you saw it in the second quarter and they were able to withstand when the Knicks made another run in the second quarter. Vic was being guarded by wings or guards in transition.

And that to me should be, oh, that's bully ball time. Maybe he can't bully ball Cat at this point in his career. Maybe he can't bully ball Mitch Rob at this point in his career. But you're telling me he can't bully ball Deuce on a switch. Well, we never found out because the guards didn't get him the rock in transition. there was a couple times in the second quarter especially where i was like wait a minute vick's not getting the ball in transition he's being guarded by by little dudes now everyone's little compared to big vick but he's literally getting guarded by dudes that are a foot shorter than him and he wasn't getting a rock but if you had a real point guard not just short dudes playing the guard position a point guard would know oh feed vick take advantage of that whether it's free throw line or drawing in the defense that collapses the drive and kick. Those threes that they were hitting was primarily off of drive and kick.

Collapsing the defense, kick the ball out, double team, swing the ball, reverse swing, all that. But there were a couple of times in transition where you had early offense, again, pushing the tempo, executing and establishing the pace of play. But that was not happening. who's going to be a actual point guard not just a guard who happens to play point who is going to be an actual point guard De'Aaron Fox was supposed to be that but I can tell you from watching him in Sacramento all these years he's not a true point guard he could get you five to eight dimes but that doesn't mean you're a point guard I mean Brunson averages seven dimes We know he ain't a point guard Knicks take game one Interesting interesting fallout From this game I am extremely looking forward to game two. And he already starting to put that in our ears. Oh, it's a must win for the Spurs and all this stuff. I'm not saying that it ain't.

I'm also not certain that it is. Because I think there's certainly scenarios where it could play out where the Knicks can go and steal both games on the road and still come back to the Mecca with all the pressure, three and four in the Mecca, the Garden going crazy. And they could lose two straight. They could most certainly lose two straight. But I think if you are the Spurs, Victor Webbingama, and he admitted in the postgame, I'll pull up some of his quotes here. Victor Webbingama, I was bad tonight. It's not more complicated than that.

And while that may be the case, while you were this good against OKC in game one, you cannot be this bad against the Knicks in game one of the NBA finals. Being bad is, like I said earlier, if he was trying to be physical and he was overaggressive, picked up some early offensive foul, something like that, or just was brick sitting in the paint, I could live with that. He's 7'4", 7'5", on a good day. He's supposed to be the face of the league. I get that. What I don't get is being two of nine from three in game one. Victor Webby Yama, I'm not worried in the slightest.

I mean, he's saying all the right things. He's saying all the right things. Unfortunately, it's going to take a lot more. Like Chet Holmgren's not walking through that door, right? Chet Holmgren is not walking through that door. There's going to be a lot of questions being brought up tonight. This is a good question.

Why was Dylan Harper benched in a one-point game with four minutes left? That's a good question. Although the second half, Dylan Harper wasn't going crazy. Of the guys that went off for the Spurs in the first half, Champagne, Castle, Vassel, and Harper, Harper was the better of that bunch, but not by a lot. So why was he benched with four minutes to go in a one-point game? I'm not sure. I don't think it was a Jared Allen type of deal where the lights were too bright.

But I certainly didn't see anything that was like a glaring omission. The glaring omission for me was when the Spurs were up 14. The Knicks are starting to come back and Big Vic is marinating on the bench. that's your only trump card his presence alone whether he is established or not his presence alone is enough to detract shots when brunson is getting into the lane and get into his shot he got to his let's pull up his shot chart while we're here and let's blow that up this looks like your normal jalen brunson shot chart right how many shots 31 shots i mean good lord 31 shots for their point guard so this looks like a normal jalen but this right here this is his spot if you if you haven't figured it out if you haven't realized it and for those that are listening right elbow right elbow is Jalen Brunson's sweet spot the majority of his shots are always going to come from the right elbow out when he's coming off those screens and he gets the switches this is where he's trying to get to but then these layups right here this right here with all these circles and attempts in the paint this should have been Victor Webbingama's shot chart This shot chart looks eerily familiar to Big Vic against OKC. The Jalen Brunson shot chart looks more like Victor Webby Yama's shot chart from game one against OKC. That's extremely telling because he got to his spot and he's able to get some layups and able to get the ball on the glass quick before Vic could get to it. the few times that Vic was able to challenge him, that to me is going to be a thing to watch going forward.

Having the opportunity of having your best player get hurt multiple times, even go to the locker room at one point and still come back and get up 31 shots. Bad job by the Spurs. Jalen Brunson went all the way to the locker room, got treatment. came back, got hurt again, went back to the bench, and still got up 31 shots. Spurs got to figure something out. The league wants to coronate Big Vic. His teammates need to step up.

They looked good in the first half. They look like the team that we've been watching over this playoff run in the first half, second half, when the game got tight, when the possessions mattered, when the intensity picked up, they didn't match the same energy. Vets versus youngins. Vets take game one. let's see do we have anything of significance Darren Fox in the fourth quarter zero points zero assist two turnovers 0 for 2 from the floor in 11 minutes Dylan Harper led the Spurs in scoring through three quarters, but only played three minutes and 33 seconds in the fourth. Also very telling. All right, let's see.

What more can we do before we get up out of here? You know how we do these. We do these quick, easy, my fresh, authentic thoughts, not being judged or whatever by, or not being influenced by others and their opinions. And then I'm just regurgitating or remixing what they say. No, this is my fresh, authentic thoughts, fresh off of watching game one. And this is how we do. We're going to do these streams after each game, whether it's right after the game or the morning after, because it will be some days where these games coincide with me working.

So on the days like that, like I think that game two is Friday, But not get a stream Friday night. After game, I'll be working that night. So probably get a stream or a drop early Saturday morning. So that's how we're going to do that. Nights when I'm off, I got you with a stream. Nights when I'm working, next morning. That's how we're going to do it.

All right? All right, Knicks take game one. Three more Knicks tape. Three more. Will the Knicks do it? Will the Knicks do the unthinkable? Will the Knicks do something that they haven't done in 53 years?

The last time the Knicks were in the finals, they faced a Spurs team with a youngin' big man that was going to be the best player in the world. That was soon to be the best player in the world. 27 years later, the Knicks are in the finals, Facing a Spurs team with a player that is going to be the best player in the world. Knicks lost in five 27 years ago. Right now the Knicks could still lose in five. But something tells me that's not going to happen. Knicks are not going to lose in five.

What I do think is Tim Duncan was better at this point in his career going up against the Knicks in the finals than Victor Webigama is right now going up against the Knicks. That says more about Tim Duncan than it does Big Vic, but Big Vic will have his moments. Unfortunately, if he's not going to be given the ball in the spots that he wants it, he's going to have to go force it. And while he was able to do that against Chet Holmgren, he's going to have to learn how to figure out how to do that against the likes of Carl Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, O.G. Inanobi, and Mikael Bridges. Because that's the only way this is going to work for the Spurs, is if Victor Webinyama goes crazy. Doesn't have to be 40-20 like game one against OKC, but it can't be 6 of 21, including 2 of 9 from 3.

it can't be that I go by the name of DCMD this has been Timeline T on the YouTube side on the podcast side on the audio side this has been the DCMD podcast gonna be doing these streams after every game these recaps streams or recordings after every game so if you haven't already subscribe on the YouTube side hit the like button turn the bell on for notifications all that usual YouTube algorithm stuff on the podcast side you already know what it is subscribe and rate five stars nothing less tell a friend podcast available on all major podcasts and platforms I go by the name of The Sam D this has been Timeline T and the The Sam D podcast I'll catch y'all again after game two peace you know what it is this has been the The Sam D podcast a podcast that is talking about sports and sports in addition to other things. Soon we will be talking those other things. The brand is growing. The brand is evolving. Walk with me. Stay with me. This podcast is available on all major podcasts and platforms.

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Thank you again for listening to this episode. I will catch you again on the next one. I go by the name of the Sam D. This has been the Sam D podcast. I'm out.