CROSSOVER: OKC Thunder vs. Nuggets Preview | Rivals? | Ajay Mitchell Returns

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2:04You are locked on NBA crossover, part of the Lockdown podcast network, 14 every day. Let's get it going on a Lockdown Thunder Lockdown Nuggets, crossover episode. I'm Roland Style, social lockdown thunder, that's Ryan Black, we're a co-host of Lockdown Nuggets. We've got quite the game this evening in the Pay Com Center on national television, Ryan. How excited are you to watch the Thunder and Nuggets go at it again? Not super. Being honest has been, this has been a stressful Nuggets season because I think Nuggets fans really thought that this was going to be, hey, you stay healthy, you stay good to go. He's excited. The feeling for both fan bases is like, all right, these are the two best teams in the NBA. Let's get after it. And for the Thunder, they've delivered exactly that. For the Nuggets, it has been so overwhelming in terms of the amount of injuries that they faced.

3:05Fortunately, it doesn't look like Jamal Murray's injury was super serious, although that was a fear that a lot of Nuggets fans had in the building on Friday, on top of losing by the most points that they've lost to since they were the 11 win Nuggets in 1998 against the Jordan Bulls. It is obviously a disappointing way to enter this game for Denver. The fact that Jamal Murray is questionable, though, that's good news. The Thunder get AJ Mitchell back. That's great news for OC. The Thunder have not had AJ Mitchell since January 21st. And so his table setting ability is going to be awesome for this team. The ability to be a playmaker and another creator for this Thunder team is what they really need and his ability to get to the paint, get to the free-to-line. Those things really helped this offense go. And he's a really improved defender from where he was a year ago. But Ryan, Jamal Murray being questionable is big time. I don't know that we have any lean one way or the other if he's going to play tonight, but just regardless of if he plays tonight, it's great to see because you mentioned it Friday. It did not look good. No, it did not. I was sitting on the opposite side of the arena, so I didn't actually know whether he

4:08heard his knee or his ankle because he grabbed the lower leg. And so it was very scary with him being down for as long as he was, but he got up. He limped off apparently the message that he gave to nuggets, players and coaches in the locker rooms that he was fine. He was okay. It was just a scary moment for everybody. But yeah, that could have been Denver season. They still might have some residual issues from that. But if he does play, then that's great. I still don't think he's going to. I wouldn't expect it, but he's going to try his best because he really does try to get up for these OKC games. He understands the value of this. I think all the nuggets do. And I think they understand that it's go time for the team, whether they like it or not. And I think that both these teams have that same mentality. And that's why I think this is an easy question to answer. Do you think that this is a rivalry? I mean, what do you get from this nugget side of things? Because from the thunder side of things, I think it's a rivalry and the respect factor of they understand what this game means.

5:09And like they're going to add into every game against Denver, looking to get better. Iron sharpens iron. You can look at every quote that Mark ever gives, the players give, they have the utmost respect for who Denver is and understanding that they're going to have to deal with Denver. Who cares who the records are? Who cares what the clutch stat is? Who cares what the defensive metrics say? They know that in their quest for another championship, it's once again going to be in a large part about Denver and San Antonio, of course. But for right now, we're talking about Denver and Denver. To deal with ROKC and their respect for Yokech and this entire core of Denver, like it is a rivalry in the sense of, to be the best you want to beat the best and you want to continue to have success against these teams that you view are in your same tier and you view are going to be in your championship pathway. So I don't think that there's like any hatred for the team to team. And I want to know what you think about being around that team. I obviously think that the fan base is a lot of hatred for one another and it's a rivalry in the fan base. But I think that these teams take it as a rivalry just out of sheer respect. Undoubtedly, Thunder fans hate me.

6:11So they can get it off their chest immediately. Like I understand I have not been quiet in terms of my, it's not disdain for the thunder. It's more disdain for how good they are because like this is, this was the problem. And when the Nuggets won the championship in 23, I think if you asked them in 24 when OKC and Denver and Minnesota were all tied for the top, I think Denver still wouldn't have full respect at that point for OKC because they had improved it yet up until that point. It was still an upward mobility trying to, like Denver was the top dog at that point. So they didn't have respect for anybody. Now like, hey, you lose to Minnesota in a heartbreaking series. You lose to OKC in a heartbreaking series in the next year. And there's a lot more healthy respect, but yeah, it's a rivalry. There's undoubtedly a rivalry there. These two teams, there was a quote that went around earlier today on Sunday that basically said, yeah, Yokec, he watches OKC a lot. He loves and respects their team and the way that they play and the style which they play,

7:14which is really funny when you talk about how much criticism there has been from style play from the fans themselves, but Yokec, of course, respects them, the team respects them. I think the ludor incident certain, like the battles back and forth between Yokec and Jalen Williams and Shay ripping their hearts out on a couple of occasions these like last couple of seasons. Yeah, there's a healthy respect, a rivalry aspect. And I think these two teams still feel like they're going to have to go through each other when it's all said and done. And Denver couldn't get through it last year. They are trying to get back to it again. Where do you think that this game goes from a tension standpoint? You mentioned the ludor play. Obviously, we can point to, you know, Coach Adam and talking about this before the Minnesota game, a couple of 36 hours after the fact and being asked about it again, once the ludor responded. Yeah, I'm going to blame, I'm going to blame local media for that more than anything just because like everybody's trying to squeeze all the juice out of the clips and the kind

8:17of the ability to get reactions and quotes and engagement and things like that. I think that Adam and moved on, but he continued to get asked about it, which annoyed him thoroughly. Yeah, I think that that was the same way with Oklahoma City. I mean, Coach Mark Dignol was asked about it before the Mavericks game because it happened hours after Denver game, which if Denver did not get asked about it, then Mark doesn't get asked about it and then it kind of ends. So it just was a cyclical cycle that to keep feeding itself because it was the biggest talking point in the NBA after that game. I think that both teams are ready to move on from this. Like, I'm not going to guarantee that the tensions don't boil over. I don't see another skirmish, but I'm just going to say I wouldn't imagine that the mindset at opening tip off is like revenge for the ludor play. I think that something could always happen. No, but I don't think there's anything like that. I think it's way more revenge like from Denver's perspective. It's revenge for losing twice in a row and losing game seven in that situation and Denver

9:20kind of being overtaken in a situation where they thought they had an opportunity and advantage and ultimately that didn't work out. So I think that's like everybody in Denver, including the nuggets, understands the beast that they have to go through with OKC and one of the ways I think they believe that they can attack this is they have to be as physical as possible. You got to match OKC's physicality and try to break them at their own game. And whether that's the right thing or not, I don't know, but like Denver went to overtime in Pacom Center a week ago doing exactly the same thing. So I do think that there is something to be said that when everybody is dialed in, if Denver was a little bit more efficient, they walk out of there with a win. So they're going to try to be physical, but physicality begets physicality on both sides of the floor. So when surprised me if these things ramp up and you see another uh, escapade. Yeah, and that's the thing about about that game on that Friday, they went to overtime.

10:22If you stripped away just that incident and like all that, that the brujah that went on there, from side to finish, it was a physical game for both sides. It was a fun playoff game. Like if you, if you just took away that side story and just watched the basketball, there's a great team and somebody had to win somebody had to lose, but it was a great game hard fought and you know, you mentioned getting up for these games. I think that you can really see it and Denver fans do not like me either. But you're every day or so listen to locked down nuggets and remember our locked down nuggets thunder crossover from that playoff series. They seem to like me at least a little bit. So you guys know that I'm all in on the Denver Nuggies. I'm a nugget guy. I'm a nuggets guy. And I think that whenever I look at this nugget team, uh, and you watch a lot of the thunder games whenever the thunder aren't playing Denver, I do see a difference. And I'll just call that my guy because I love him and I have the right to I think as a J. Hawk fan. Like I like a Christian Brown. I love Christian Brown 82 games of the year. Doesn't matter who they play, but when they play the thunder, I love him even more because of the way that he ratches up on the defensive end of the floor. And that's why Ryan, I don't care what you're going to throw at me. Whenever we're going to talk about contenders, I don't care if you're going to throw

11:23me their clutch stats or their defensive metrics or whatever. When the ball is tipped in the biggest moments, I trust this nuggets team to scale up. Just like I trust this thunder team to scale up and these are the two biggest contenders to me in the Western Conference along with San Antonio. Uh, I think it's great. I think it's a really, it's a really valuable lesson for a lot of people to learn that the regular season and the playoffs. There's like while there is a really important factor in terms of gaining seeding, like that is certainly a factor in terms of actual talent level. And in terms of actual like impact in a playoff environment, it's never been more disparate in terms of what you're showing in the regular season versus what you're showing in the playoffs. There was a, quote, a couple, couple of weeks ago, I think about David Adam, and especially in the clutch, like he says, I know we can run empty side pick and roll, guys, I know we can run empty side pick and roll. But they're not going to because they're saving stuff because they're not going to show things extensively in a clutch time environment and games that matter. But like you would rather save that for a key moment in a game five,

12:26six or seven in a playoff series. And that's just a, it's an understandable factor. So I think that Denver has the ability to ramp up. Obviously they've been hamstrung so far in terms of not being able to, like they, they have played their intended starting lineup for five minutes since November 12. So let me, let me say that again, five total minutes. Like this is, this has been a situation in OKC fans. I think can sympathize with that because they've been in these situations before too with Jalen Williams, especially this year and last year, but also Isaiah Hartenstein and she had Holmgren and like a whole bunch of guys that have missed a whole bunch of time. Like when you have that, you start to get into later environments when those guys come back and you're like, and it looks a little bit clunky. It looks a little bit weird. Things, things aren't flowing as well as you need to. Denver needs a little bit of a ramp up time for that. They're not going to be great in the regular season. Doesn't mean they can't be great in the playoffs. Yeah, they certainly can be. And you mentioned it there. I think that that's a thing that both these teams are able to do of they have some new parts.

13:26You know, of course, mentioning Cam Johnson and for the Thunder, they've seen some new additions of Jared McCain and also just guys getting better. It's where like I say, Joe looks like a new player. Case in all this is a new player. Like, yes, you know what your fastball is. I like the empty side pick and roll. It's like, you know, you know what your teams really good at. But not only do you want to save some of it, you also want to see what else you have. And if you can put on film something that looks really great that isn't your fastball, then it also gives you an advantage of well, then what do you prepare for it? If if all of a sudden you come out here and it's like, you're going to see Shay and you know, four shooters next to him. And now you're really gearing up to defend that. And in the playoffs, they zig back to just playing how they used to. You're just having double bigs in there and having Jada. Now you've prepared for something that they're not even going to go through a whole lot in the in the postseason when it actually matters. Just as an example, but I think that there are there is some of that too of the balancing act of trying new things, exploring new things kind of getting data that you can use later on. Because you also, if you get into a spot where you think that, you know, empty pick and roll, empty side pick and roll is your fastball. You think that that's going to be your bread and butter. And somehow that gets taken away. You want to have something else that you've done at least before

14:27that you can go try out in a big spot like that. So it's all tied together. I think that these two teams, you can't overthink. They are at the top of the West with San Antonio as these are the teams that not only are the top of the West, but I think the top of the entire NBA. When you look at these teams, these teams in the postseason environment coming up, we'll stick on the contenders topical also. Talk about that very same topic. What do you want to see in this game? Is there anything that you're dying to still learn about these matchups? Or have we kind of figured it all out? It's just going to be two great teams battling it out the rest of the way. We'll talk about that coming up on today's lockdown, Thunder Lockdown, and I get to crash over. But first ones, they're right now. We're going to friends over at BetterHelp. Go check out BetterHelp today, folks, because they are incredible. And when you do, you will see that this episode is not least sponsored to you by BetterHelp. But March, it's a time to celebrate women, especially around international women's day. And to recognize just how much they carry at work, in relationships, in families, and all the unseen roles that they step into every single day, it's important to see that,

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18:30Let them know we sent you because the listener of this show like yourself will get $75 in sponsored job credits to get your job to the premium steps that deserves to go to indeed.com slash podcast. And again, by going to indeed.com slash podcast right now, you'll be supporting our show by saying that we sent you to indeed.com slash podcast. Terms of addition apply need a higher. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. We're back in the lockdown thunder locked on nuggets. Crasse over episode. I'm Roland Sousa locked on thunder that's Ryan Blackburn. Host of locked on nuggets. Ryan, we've talked about them being contenders. These, they've seen plenty of battles with one another. Divisional foes playing four times a year. Plus that seven game series last post season, which could have gone either way. We can go through the Mary of injuries that Denver suffered in that series that helped it in OKC's favor. Is there anything about this matchup that you're very curious about? Or do you think that we've kind of seen these two teams do get out so much that we know what to expect. These are going to be tightly contested games, very physical games, and some teams going to get the bounce at the end and some team won't.

19:32Yeah, I don't have that many questions in terms of how these teams are going to match up with each other. I think Christian Brown's going to guard shake. He'll just out Xander and he's going to do a pretty solid job. I think that like one of the, one of the things that we noticed from the first matchup between these two teams was OK, Peyton Watson was on Shagel just out of Xander for that one. And I don't think he made much of an impact in that particular matchup for obvious reasons. Shagel went off and went crazy. And Denver was just behind the ape all that entire game. Denver was upended by the physicality in that one. And Yokech, obviously, OK, first couple of games back. He was clearly still getting adjusted. OK, so he's a pretty tough team to adjust to. So there was, there was no question about that second game. Yeah, the physicality that Denver was able to deliver and they got off to a big run, but shockingly. OK, so he comes back and does the thing that they always do, which is they are staying resilient and they know what they're going to be running up against. And in those bench units that Shay is staggering with,

20:33that's a really, really big deal for any team to match up with. So I guess my question with AJ Mitchell back, what is Shay's rotation going to look like now? Is it going to go to that same staggered look or is it going to be first 12 minutes of the first quarter and third quarter and then last six minutes of the second and fourth? I think that with AJ back, it does let them have the option to go back to 12 minutes and the first 12 minutes and the third and then half of the second and fourth quarters. The fact that Shay is still coming back from that abdominal strain and has been a little gassed at times, honestly, since he's returned, that might throw a wrench into things, but I think ideally they want to get him back to a more normal rotation. And so I would be interested if the thunder did change his rotation. I think that it'll be back to normal tonight. I'm going 12 in the first and 12 in the third quarter and then checking back in around the seven minute mark of the second and fourth quarters and letting AJ Mitchell really shine as that lead creator, lead score, if you will, during the non-Shay minutes.

21:34But if the injury could throw a wrench into that, so that is a good point about this in particular game. Another one for me would be on Denver side of things, not having to worry about Jay Dubb, does that change with having Gordon back what you would like to see them do defensively of? Yes, I think that we mentioned at the top of the segment. I think that that question's been really good defensively against Oklahoma City and he really does kind of match the moment that this is of trying to defend Shay, trying to defend the thunder. But could you see them with only one guy that you're really concerned about on the court with the ball in his hands? Could you see them having a zone? Could you see them using Gordon Moore on SGA to get that kind of physicality, that size onto Shay and not really being too worried about the fact of, you know, not have to worry about Jay Dubb and you can put Gordon onto Shay. And even though Shay is shifty and even though it's Shay, you would imagine of course more athletic than Aaron Gordon. Shay also uses a strength a lot to get to a spots

22:34and to get to his buckets. So having a guy who's a bit stronger like Aaron Gordon on, I wouldn't be the worst thing in the world considering that the nuggets don't have Peyton Watson to deploy on him. Who I think is the best option for Denver on Shay is Watson, but he's obviously out in this game. Do you think that that could change the method all of how Denver tries to defend Shay, not having to worry about Jay Dubb? It's a good question. I kind of think that Cam Johnson is going to be the guy that goes up against Jay Dubb and that they leave Aaron Gordon to go against Chet. Like that would be, like that's what I would do if I were them. And one of the things that as the nuggets that they have to figure out, like the matchup with Chet, I believe didn't you have 20 rebounds in that game against Denver? Like just a tremendous rebounding presence for a guy who is not known for that. That was a massive performance from them. I think adding physicality to that rather than leaving Cam Johnson against him is the right call for Denver in this particular matchup. And then they keep going with Christian Brown against Shay. I think one of the things that they're learning

23:36about this matchup is that Shay is going to get his, sometimes he will be above average efficiency and sometimes he'll be elite bonkers efficiency, but you're not going to hold him underwater no matter who you put him against. So have a guy who can just make him work and Christian is the guy that that is for. And then Aaron I think is the matchup that you want against Chets to try to disrupt him at least a little bit and put a little bit more pressure on him, maybe put him into some foul trouble at some points. Keep in mind though, Aaron's still going to be on a minutes restriction. I doubt that he plays over 25 minutes in this game. And as a result, okay, so he's still going to have the advantage despite all of the injuries that Denver's recovering in that, but they've still got some questions to answer. And I think that that's why the coordinates are so huge. I think the nuggets have to overwhelmingly win those minutes and they have the clear pathway to do so because I do like him as a Chet defender on a multitude of fronts, like Chets not been very efficient at creating his own shot. So he's really got to be set up to do so

24:36in a play finishing role. And if Gordon can keep pushing him out to the three while being close from, of course, to contest that three, that really does take take a lot of way of what Chet likes to do. If you can get set up in an area where Chet can find him in the mid range or at the rim, that's where Chets at his best offensively. If that gets taken away, that's a big time and no, as it's a hard and starting this game, the nuggets have to dominate the glass and they should dominate the glass in this one. And that really helps on both ends. If you can dominate the offensive glass of your Denver, not only do you get more chances to score second chance points, but you limit the transition opportunities for OKC off of that. On top of limiting the turnovers, of course, which is the same thing for every game it's ever been played from down at local high school to the NBA. You wanna limit turnovers, but controlling the glass will be a big one because yes, Chet did have 20 against Denver, that was awesome. But how many of those were set up by IHART? Just banging down low, boxing out, and just letting Chet get boards, like letting it happen. It versus Chet going and taking it. I don't wanna take anything away from Chets overall game because obviously you don't just stumble into 20 rebounds,

25:37but you was certainly helped by having Isaiah Hardenstein. And now there's gonna be situations where they're not gonna have that typical bruising center to help them not only defend Yokech, which is gonna be a lot on J-Wail and you're without J-Dub who likes to scale up and try to defend them. You're questionable to have Karuso and questionable to have Chet, but typically whenever the Thunder elevate guys to questionable, they end up getting up playing. So hopefully for the Thunder Shake, they'll have those two guys there. But it is gonna be very interesting. All the advantages that Denver can create, especially in this game, where I think that it does line up for a big bounce back win for Denver on a multi-different bouncing back from the next loss, but also bouncing back from being 0 and 2 against OKC. If they can handle the glass very well and keep Chet and Chet as a score, they can really have a pipeline to victory here in a pretty substantial way. A lot of that's gonna come down to Jamal Murray plays. He's one of the guys that, of course, takes advantage of the size advantage that the Nuggets would have, where OK, Jalen Williams is banging with Yokech.

26:37Chet Homegren has to deal with Aaron Gordon. If Jamal Murray is then able to be freed up in some of those situations, then he gets to take advantage of that size disparity as well. I am interested about the Yokech versus J-Wail matchup. I was laughing about it just in the background of all you're talking. I don't know if there's a guy that has annoyed Yokech more in the past couple of years than J-Wail. I think it's the, he is very fundamentally sound. He's really smart. The getting into position to take charges definitely bothers Yokech. That's something that he may have a moral, like our ethical dilemma against or something of that nature, but the way that J-Wail consistently brings physicality and tries to annoy him and just get under his skin, that's something that I'm gonna be watching. I'm gonna wonder how Lou Dort matches up with Jamal Murray if he does play. If he doesn't, who does Denver start a point guard in this game? The second half of the game, yes, are on Friday. They started Julian Strother and then had Julian Strother

27:38and Christian Brown in the back court. That did not go well for Denver for obvious reasons. They don't really have a great second unit point guard to be able to go to. Maybe it's Bruce Brown. Maybe it's Tyus Jones. That'll be an interesting wonder, but I am more pessimistic about this one, especially if Jamal Murray doesn't play, than you are just because I really wonder about, okay, he's the ability to turn Denver over, especially if they don't have their leading ball handlers. Not only is Jamal Murray questionable, but Peyton Watson is out. He's another guy that could bring the ball up the floor. They do not wanna put that on Aaron Gordon. Probably gonna have Yokech bring up the ball a lot of the time. And that could be interesting for a few reasons. This last thing that I had, and I want to let you just get out, whatever you need to get out. And we can wrap up this bonus episode for our audience here. Speaking of Yokech, I love you guys, it's show. And I know that whenever you first return, a talking point around Yokech was just like, hey, he's not as comfortable right in this second, which is understandable.

28:39You first returned from injury of getting back to the basket, of getting downhill as frequently. And now in this game, that's Oklahoma City, with no Isaiah Hartenstein and the Thunder, in general, haven't done a ton of chat and J-wheel double big lineups. They've done more of it this year than ever before, but they still haven't done a ton of it. And they just simply don't have the bodies required to handle double big lineups for strong stretches of a game, considering their lack of depth without Isaiah Hartenstein. With that being said, the Thunder gonna have to place some small ball lineups. Have you seen, as we're further and further removed from the Yokech injury? Have you seen a return to form of him being able to want to put the ball on the deck and get to the rim? Because if so, I mean, the small ball thunder might have some issues in those stretches of the game. He's definitely done better. In this last game against New York, one of the things that was hidden in that game is that Yokech started the game 12 of 12 from two. Like he was unbelievable inside the arc. Now he started 0 of 6 from three outside the arc. And so that is probably something

29:40that they will try to go away from. But it wouldn't surprise me if he tries to establish himself on the block. Perhaps at the elbow, there will be some cutting angles for guys. There will be some opportunities for him to turn and face and hit a jumper over somebody. But it will be an interesting situation that if he gets doubled, if he gets harassed, one of the great things about OKC and their defense is that they can help and recover. There is not a choice between the two. They are one of the only teams in the NBA that can do that as well as they do. So it's gonna be interesting. He has to avoid the turnovers. He has to avoid the miscues, drawing offensive fouls in tough situations. Like that would be an absolute killer for Denver in this game. But I do think that he has improved in that, especially since even even a week ago when OKC and Denver played, I do think that he's made a lot of progress in that. He's had to deal with a lot of these small lineups, man. That's the thing against whether it's OKC or Minnesota. Utah, of course, the Kionte George play was very big

30:41and that went very viral for a lot of reasons. But the Lakers did this as well and he managed that extremely well. I thought he handled it despite he had nine turnovers in that game, but that doesn't tell the story. He actually did handle it extremely well in terms of making the right decisions. He just made a lot of decisions and racked up some bad turnover. So there's progress to be made. I do think he's getting better at it, which is a weird thing to say about what we think is the best player in the world over here. But I do think that if Denver is going to have a chance against OKC, he has to play at that level. There's no question about it. One of the things that Denver's running into is that he has been more mortal over the course of these last six weeks or so than he's ever been in the last five years. It has been really weird for Nuggets fans to deal with and I think caused a lot of panic. Him playing at that level again would I think still a lot of rapidly beating hearts, if you will. Yeah, I mean, Shane, Yoke, you're obviously the players to watch.

31:43I think that beyond that, you're looking at the rebelling disparity. You're looking at the turnover disparity. You can give them a lack of Nuggets ball and handlers giving the lack of size for OKC for those two things. Shot variance just frankly. I mean, both these teams could stay. I mean, how lucky are the Thunder that came drowns in brick that shot that Yoke was not official in the three. A lot of buckets at the end of that game. I mean, like both teams really had some sigh relief possessions to get it to overtime where teams left the door open. On each side for the Thunder and Nuggets, who's going to be an overwhelming shot variance advantage game? Is there going to be one for either side? Like those are the three areas that if you can win two or two of the three, you're going to win this game and your guess is as good as mine of who's going to come out victorious. But those are the three that I'm really looking for. Would you add anything to that list that you're really thinking can change the game? Foul trouble will of course be a thing. I want to see what Denver does. If Christian Brown, for example, gets into foul trouble, how are they going to handle the matchup against Shay? What are they going to look like?

32:43Are they going to go super big in some of those lineups? They may have to, especially if Murray is out. So it's going to be really interesting to see. I want to see a bounce back cam Johnson game. If I'm a Nuggets fan, like he's gone through the ringer. He has had a tough run of it. So they need him to be better. And this is a great opportunity for him to do it. Even though it's one of the toughest matchups, he will face this year. And Foul trouble is going to be a huge one because I think that these officials can't help but understand what happened last came and how fresh it is to. It's not like this happened two months ago, right? It happened the last Friday between these two teams. So because of that, I would imagine that's going to be a very tight whistle. I would imagine that they're going to want to nip anything in the bud and give Yolk at your fair whistle whenever Smalls are defending him to the best that you can, which has been a problem for the entirety of the NBA. It's not just the Yolk at the entire NBA. You've seen Smalls get an advantage with defending Bigs. But again, like this in an environment like this, I think that all the tighter whistle, so Foul trouble could be paramount for both teams. It'll be very fun to see how this all plays out. And that's why we have this bonus show crashing it over Ryan.

33:45This was a lot of fun. Absolutely. Ryland, it's always a pleasure, my friend. Hopefully we get to see each other in the playoffs or else San Antonio upsets you guys at some point. That'll be great. Yeah, I mean, the one seat is not the prize at once was right? If you have to go through both Denver and San Antonio because Denver's in the four or five, it's not exactly the prize. Hey, they're dropping to the three six and they're dropping to the six. I'll tell you that. I'm okay. See his perspective. That'd be fun. That'd be fun if the Thunder hold on to the one seat in that happens. But Ryan, this is a lot of fun. We'll both be recapping this game for Lockdown Thunder Lockdown. Let's go check it out post game. And until next time, folks, be good and be good to one another. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no way to pass because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your state farm agent comes in, whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll upset you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there. Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility vary by state.

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