Spurs Advance to the NBA Finals in an Epic Game 7! | Thunder vs Spurs Live Reaction | The Warm Up

The Western Conference Finals delivered everything basketball fans could ask for, and it all came down to Game 7.

After a hard-fought seven-game battle, the San Antonio Spurs have punched their ticket to the NBA Finals. Join Jah and Ben live on The Warm Up as we break down an unforgettable winner-take-all showdown between Victor Wembanyama's Spurs and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder.

We'll discuss the biggest moments, clutch performances, coaching adjustments, and turning points that decided the series. How did San Antonio complete the job? What went wrong for Oklahoma City? And what does this mean for the future of both franchises?

From the opening tip to the final buzzer, this game had everything: superstar performances, momentum swings, playoff intensity, and a trip to the Finals on the line.

Tune in live as we celebrate the Spurs' Western Conference Championship, react to the aftermath, and preview their upcoming NBA Finals matchup against the New York Knicks.

Subscribe, join the live chat, and be part of the conversation.

#NBA #Spurs #Thunder #VictorWembanyama #SGA #NBAPlayoffs #Game7 #NBAFinals #TheWarmUp #SanAntonioSpurs #OklahomaCityThunder

Transcript

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How are we doing, man? Dude, I I love everybody. The sky, the sky is blue, the sun is shining. I'm oh it's dude. I'm so excited. It's gonna be a great finals. I'm glad San Antonio pulled this out. I had a feeling it was gonna happen, but I mean, dude, it was an incredible game. Absolutely incredible game. I can't believe we got the game we got. Um season. Um we'll get into it. We'll get into it. I'll get ahead of myself. So hey, drop a comment if you're in the live right now. Um, we about to dissect this game. Hell of a game. Um, yeah, uh like, comment, subscribe on the video. We are live, baby. Tell us your thoughts on the finals, where the thunder goes from here, how say what tell us anything. Um hit that notification bell so you never miss an episode of the warm up when we go live. We're going live after each finals game. It's gonna be electric. My god. What then? Talk to me. So when we when we finally got Thunder Spurs, um this is what we wanted, and you know, it's very rare where everyone hypes up a matchup and the matchup exceeds our expectations, and that's what we got in this series. Yeah. After between game one to game seven, we had a couple blowouts in there, but this is what we live for. This is the basketball that we fell in love with 10, 15, 20 years ago, where it's like, this is what we want. So talk to me. How are we feeling? I feel I feel fantastic. I think this was a treat for NBA fans that we've been waiting for for years and years and years. Um, as far as like a really competitive Western Conference Finals where you truly have the two the two best teams in the conference. And in this case, it was the two best teams in the NBA. Um, it was an absolute treat to watch all seven games. I mean, I I have not been this dialed into a playoff series in years. Um hats off to a few specific guys I want to, you know, shout out on San Antonio. Obviously, Wemby, legendary performance all the way through. Um, Dylan Harper was absolutely spectacular. Hats off to him. Um, I would also I want to give Carter Bryan his props for playing through those tough moments, being able to help his team in those big moments in game, I believe it was game five and game six. Yeah, my biggest shout out though has to go to Stefan Castle. I mean, played played an absolutely fantastic series, had Shay completely locked up all seven games, was doing it on the offensive end. He was getting getting the rebounds, getting to the paint, getting that his layup package is incredible against the contact. Um, his defense was spectacular. Um, just completely hats off to him. And also, like, huge shout out to one specific play tonight, Luke Cornett's block on Isaiah Hartenstein. They will remember that block. If they go on to win the championship, they will remember that block in San Antonio for a very, very long time. Um, so super excited for the finals, super proud of the Spurs. They've earned this, and it I'm I'm just so excited. It's awesome. So I'm no, I'm totally with you. So let's get into it. So, like the gate, so we have this game. Um, game one, Wemby absolutely shows he's not human. Yeah, then he comes back to earth game two. Game three, it's like, oh, Spurs back at home. Show me what you got. Spurs in championship fashion, go out there, handle their business, go up two one, cut, let their hair down, and then from there, games four, five, and six all blowout. Yeah so going into game seven, I mean, we talked about off camera, what are we like what was gonna happen today? It was either like we didn't want another blowout, we wanted a close game, and we knew we knew Shaver's gonna come out. He was due for one, and we thought the game would be dictated by how Wemby came out. I thought he came out, he looked good, he set the tone. But man, let's talk about the evidence on the Spires, man. You talked about already Luke Cornet. I mean, I I think I'm with you. That's the that I think that changed the entire game. That's an incredible block. Incredible. Uh Champenny, who was awful the first three games. Turned it up to three. Shout out Mitch Johnson instead of just taking him away, let him keep shooting, shooting. I mean, he was huge today. De'Aaron Fox, who didn't play the first two games, yeah, was awful in games three, four, and five, and six. Yo, I'm the vet. I played in the game seven and lost to Steph Curry before. Let me do a little bit better. I know I'm hindered, I'm a little injured. Let's go. He was magnificent today. Um, who else? Dylan Harper, the the second round pick, a rookie, is going against arguably the greatest defenders we've seen in a row between Caruso, Dort, Casey Wallace. I mean, you name it, they have defenders. He looks like a vet. And then Victor Wemanyama. What can he say? What can you say about this man, man? Absolutely spectacular. He is 22. He's only gonna get better. He had a lot of adversity throughout this series, and man, did he look so good today. He was he was incredible. Um, I think one of the things I love about Wemby is the emotion he shows when he when he wins and gets victories with his teammates. It just shows how much he cares for the game. That's something that we don't really see out of superstars in the NBA anymore in these big moments. So it was really cool to see him be able to like have that emotion um completing the series. And it truly took every single bit of like ounce of strength that San Antonio had to get this done. So I will take this moment to give OKC their their props for you know having the ability to, you know, take the San Antonio team as far as they did. Um, but at the same time, San Antonio um did exactly what they needed to do. They followed the formula, they made it through a lot of like I'm I I don't want to have the main conversation of tonight be this, but they made it through a lot of flopping, a lot of bad calls, a lot of things that did not go their way. I think we can specifically point to um the uh the out-of-bounds play that was not overturned in game five, lost all their momentum. They they overcame a lot that was going against them, and they still got this thing done. And it was not because of anything but the fact that the Spurs stuck to their play style, they ran it through Wemby, and their role players dominated tonight's game. So it was it was absolutely fantastic. This was by far one of the best team effort wins I've seen in a close situation. Absolutely. Um, and it had to be because when you're on game seven on a road, your first game seven, your first time in the playoffs altogether, I mean, you just needed uh um together effort, and that's what we got today. Um I thought Shay was amazing for the Thunder. Let's let's get in the Thunder a little bit. So I thought the Thunder played honestly pretty good, like the entire game. I thought they came out pretty flat again, but I thought where the game went wrong was I thought I thought they were they were trying to let the game come to them instead of going and take the game. I thought they were way too aggressive on three on threes when it was too late. And I mean, I don't know. I think they should have shrunk their rotation just a little bit more at the game seven. Why are we playing nine to ten people? Like, yeah, I don't know. I feel like you gotta hey Cruto, I need 35 minutes. Hey Shay, I need 48 minutes. Like to get that tonight. Um, I thought Shay was spectacular tonight. Amazing. Um, I thought Shay was I I, you know, I'll say that. I thought Shay was absolutely spectacular tonight. Um here's my biggest thing with OKC. I I think this this was a very eye-opening series for Chet Holmgren. Yeah, um, in general, very eye-opening because his inability to be able to play his role at his best was very eye-opening this entire series, especially tonight. It got to the point they had to take him out and put shooters in because you know he was a basic non-factor. So um he needs to get back to the drawing board when it comes to how he matched up in this series and really take a hard look at you know what happened in some of these games. Um, but let's elaborate on that. Um Chet, I mean, Wemby from game one or from the first from his rookie year, him and Wemby been having this um feud and they don't like each other. Wemby obviously doesn't like Chet. I mean there's a lot of psychological battle, and I think that was uh abundantly clear from game one. Uh Wemby won their psychological battle, and Chet never bounced back. Chet had a great game five, and that was it. Um Chet, I mean I said after game one, whatever game Wemby playing psychologically, you're gonna have to participate in. Because of this, oh, I'm not saying nothing because I'm too cool. No, we we see it. You looked affected the entire time. Like, hey, let's dance a little bit. Yeah, so I completely agree. I thought Chet looked absolutely um not disposable, but just not himself. And his own. No, he wasn't the entire series. And you're you're down AJ Mitchell, you're down Jacob, who scores 40 points in the finals last year. I you would you would just thought it would it would have been Chet that stepped up. Yeah, I completely agree. Um, it's it's very it's very uh oh here. Let's let's go ahead and read this comment. Um, what is Chet's avenue for offensive improvement? If it doesn't get better, the Thunder will have a decision to make regarding him. Um you want to go first on that one or you want me to take it? Yeah, I mean his avenue for offensive improvement. I think in this iteration of the thunder, I think it's him shooting just more threes. And then I think I think um doesn't get better. I mean, if you're if you're gonna move Chet, it's like, what are you moving him for? Like Hartenstein's making 33 mil. We'll see what they they have that team option if they pick it up. Like, they don't have a lot of size. I thought as as tall as Chet is, they just need more size in the interior. Like they have all these small uh switchable guards, but they're just not big. You know what I mean? They're just not big players. And then if you're Chet, like you're gonna need to put more muscle on, you're gonna have to take more threes, and you need a go-to shot. And and and and I can't part this enough. Like, I get you're young, you won the finals. You need something that, hey, I got Harper on me, I got Castle on me, I got Keldon Johnson. Let me get to that three throw line extended, let me get something. This one, I'm trying to get a lot of things. He can't post me. You know what I mean? He can't post me in you up. Like, he needs to he needs to reinvent himself a little bit and have like I he has some dog. I'm not uh discrediting his his mindset, but hey, you need to be uh way more aggressive. This I'm taking 1.8 threes a game, and it with a team that is missing like 35 shots between AJ Mitchell and Jacob, you need more shots from him. You need more um for me, it's a lot simpler. Um, I agree with everything you said, by the way, um, especially the free throw line extended. Um, could not agree more. Um, for me, it's really simple. Like, you know, his his body frame is it's a very interesting frame. I think if he puts on a little more muscle mass, I think he can, you know, kind of reinvent his paint game a bit because you could visibly see like when he got into the paint against Wemby, yes, I know Wemby's 7'5, it's a turn and burn situation where he's like immediately looking for the outlet. You know, he's not going up strong against those like really strong Wemby closeouts. Um, can't guarantee you the little muscle mass wouldn't change that. I I don't know, but it's like he looked very, very passive in his paint game. And yeah, obviously, if he can step out and shoot a couple more threes, I think that would be helpful. But it's like, you know, when you put Chad against any kind of regular team that does not have a seven foot-five player, like you can see like more of his game comes out and you know, he plays way better. But in this case, looking at this series, something was just really off. Like mainly just his paint game. Like anytime he'd have feet in the paint, it's a pivot and it's like a kick out to a Caseon Wallace or a Caruso, or it's like, all right, get it back to Shay and let him go do his thing. So, you know. Um, and like I did he did he score tonight? I mean, like, I Yeah, well that's what I'm saying. He needs to be impactful where we we remembered him. Like like I don't remember an impactful. I don't yeah, I don't think he I I don't remember he had he had four points. And a game seven, close up. And a game seven. Meanwhile, you know, Caseen Wallace was your second leading scorer with 17 points. Yeah, and then Shea has 35. And then off the bench, you had solid performances from McCain, Williams, and Caruso all getting into double figures. So that was good. But like you're the second best player. Like J Dub's not there, you're the second best player on the team. Like, you gotta something's gotta be done there, especially in like those non-wemby minutes, too. So um, yeah, and then when you say he said, I think Jet may not be their long-term five. He may play four going forward. I would agree with that statement. Um, yeah, I think they used they used Hartenstein in a lot more five situations, especially to start the game. Um, I think game four was like the biggest specific example where they literally just fed it to him in the paint and let him do that floater like six times in a row. So I would agree with that. Well, and that's so valuable in a series like the Pacers last year, where like he was guarding Miles Turner pretty well. Yeah, Chet was very impactful in their championship last year. No, so it's like going to this, and and I get it's Wemby. Wemby's so different, but it's like, how many times you're gonna let Vissel beat your shit off the glass? How many times are you gonna let Keldon Johnson body you up? Like, I it it I don't even try to post up those players, just shoot over them. There's no need to post them up, just get get you know, free throw line extended, pull up, rise up, because at the end of the day, you're not like even with Wemby with Hartenstein. What what what made Wemby so effective? He's just shooting jumpers over um Hartenstein, and that's the best way to take a slow-footed um center up is to take him off the dribble. You know what I mean? So no, I agree. Yeah, yeah. Chat has a lot to do. I I'm I'm with um Wendy on that. I don't know if he could be the long-term five, um, which is scary because they don't there's a team that doesn't have a lot of size. They they have no, I mean we'll we'll get into it a little bit later, but what's Hartenstein Hartenstein gonna like are they picking up that option? I don't know. Are they picking up Dort? I don't know. Yeah, um I I think Dort will be um I think Dort will be the first one to go. I've I've had a lot of conversations with OKC people and um like fans, um, not connections. I'm not that great. But anyways, um like I've had talks with a lot of OKC fans. They they agree with the same thing. Um, as far as like, you know, probably Lou Dort is the first domino to fall to add another guy. Um, I think you pick up Hartenstein. I think he's proven to be a good asset for them um going forward, so I wouldn't mind to see that. Um spawned Michaela here. Did the finals MVP actually go to the right player? Yes, Victor won Victor won that. We're good there, and then um Wendy City uh said interesting to see Sorber next year. Um yeah, yeah. I mean, I like Sorber, but he's not like he's big, but he's not. I don't I don't know. I haven't seen Sorber. He's just an unknown. Yeah, I haven't. I haven't much. I mean, it's yeah, I haven't much either. They have the 12th and the 17 pick. I mean, if a day Mara falls to 12, I feel like that's an easy pick for them. Yeah, I forget, I forget they have a lottery pick. They they can maybe both of those up just to get a day Mara. Like, I they oh uh the Spurs aren't going nowhere. And you lost it by six out on your home court in a game seven, so I wouldn't overreact too much and you run out of J Dub and AJ Mitchell. You know what I mean? Like, I wouldn't do anything drastic, but I think when you look at like why I I think when you're looking at from Mike Dagamell's standpoint, it's like, yes, we're like this crazy deep team, and Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins and Kendrick Williams hardly getting minutes for us. But I just felt in a game seven situation, you go with your best eight. And and I mean, to the we haven't even talked about him yet from Spurs, like sixth man of the year, Kelvin Johnson had. Oh my gosh. I mean, yeah, I felt like those two threes shifted. Yeah, absolutely. I think it was the uh it was the uh the two threes and then the block. That was when I knew like, okay, San Antonio's got this. That oh my gosh, Keldon was absolutely fantastic. Um there there was a point there in the third quarter where there were a couple turnovers, a couple mistakes by Keldon. I thought it was too much Keldon, yeah. Yeah, too much Keldon. And then he quickly, he quickly flipped the script on that. It was it was oh my gosh, it was awesome. So awesome to see. Um, let's see, we got a comment from Kalen. What a game. Ten years from now, what will people remember most about this conference finals? Um, it depends. So if the Spartans go on and win this, and 10 years from now they have four rings. We'll think about this is the the dragon they had to slay to get over the hump. And we'll look back, we'll be like, how crazy of a game seven would it be? And and as crazy as this game seven was, it's not that they just won and they're going to the finals and they have a chance to win. It's the experience you gain moving forward. Now, hey, you just won a game seven, beating the defending chance. Any game separate from here on out, even if they have one in the finals, they have experience now. We we've seen them do it. There's there's a belief around the team. Um I think that's invaluable um information for them. No, absolutely. I think uh to answer that question, I I would honestly go the same route you would is like this was the the dragon to sleigh. I think this was the this may be the Wemby coming out party of just like this is where he's going to emerge. I know that this year after the first game against Dallas, we kind of knew like, okay, this is where Wemby's gonna like snap, like he's gonna snap out of it, and this is where they're gonna make the run. We didn't think San Antonio was gonna be this good, but now looking at things, you know, um this is a real opportunity for San Antonio to build a dynasty. Um, I think Wemby's stealing is unlimited if he stays healthy. Um I I know this is far fetched. I think he could be one of the greatest basketball players ever to play the sport. I mean, like he he could. He has he has all the things necessary. He's got the right organization. Like looking back, I I I when when Wemby was uh when the Spurs won the lottery, like I was thinking the Spurs? That's that's that's kind of weird. But like now that I look at it, it's like there is no place I'd rather have him. Yeah, it's a fantastic organization combined with a fantastic player who has a heart for this game that you don't see out of superstars anymore. And it it drives me crazy, you know. Yeah, well, to your point, too. Like he has that fuck you attitude to you, like a little like I don't give, I don't give a fuck I'm bumping the Hartenstein's chest. I'm uh I'm a I'm an elbow. Hey you want to keep following me? Hey Nas Reed, check this elbow real quick. Bet you don't try to do it again. You know what I mean? Like, he has that or that's I mean, look at the all-star game. All-star game been shit the last five years. He comes, oh, I'm playing hard. He has 30. Now everybody playing hard. Yeah, yeah. You had Ant you had Ant you had Kawhi out there with 29. Like, you know, you that's the his his impact on the competitive level that the NBA runs at is huge because we live in a league now where it's like all the superstars are friends, and like, you know, there's no more rivalry, it's all kind of cutesy. It's like, no, no, this is the NBA, like, you know, yeah, toughen up, get ready for the ride, and let's go win a championship. You know, I don't care who's in my path, I don't care how friendly we are. It's like I'm going to go win this for my team. We need more guys like that, and that's why I love Wemby and everything he brings to this game. Just just an amazing game for Wemby, dude. No, absolutely. And last, I won't get into it a little bit later, but like undoubtedly the best player in the world. Yes, like you know what I mean. We didn't see Luca this year, we didn't see we we saw Jokic and he didn't look good, and it was like, okay, Shay the best player, and then it's like hold on, wait, is Shay the best player? Because Wendy just looks like something else, and then I mean, game one looking back, I mean what uh back to Kalen's question, like what we'll think about. I'll think about that game one shot he took from 35 feet out to go up. He doesn't make that, they lose. It's that simple series, and maybe in five. Yeah, you know what I mean? Maybe in five or six, like it's not as close as of a series, and like there's all these stepping stones, and this team's so young, we're like, can they do it? We don't know, like, just because we haven't seen it, and like God, they are just they are checking every step and they they look amazing right now. Yeah, I want to dive into the best player in the world conversation real quick and just give my thoughts. Yes, SGA, back to back MVP, um, gets a lot of criticism, and he gets criticism from me as well. But I I do want to comment on SGA real quick. I think that SGA is a tremendous basketball player, I think he has a very deep bag. I think defensively he's got it. I think he's got it on offense. I think he has all these things. But I think the thing that everybody gets caught up with is the way in which he plays the sport, right? Like, you know, there are times where he will decide, I'm going to turn it on and get a bucket of my own. And there are times where he will decide, I'm going to get a defender in the air and I'm going to launch my body towards him and I'm going to go get my free throws because I'm going to use my skills to get to the free throw line. That one thing he had when he was diving to the corner to the other two. Yeah, exactly. And like, you know, and even on the shots he makes, you know, no one around him, and he just lets his legs fall out from under him and he falls. So I think, you know, there are a lot of things that there, there's a lot of criticism that comes his way. But if we are talking about SGA from a pure basketball, like, you know, backyard court perspective, SGA can play this game. He is deservant. He's deserving of his MVPs if you look at the numbers. Um, but but at the same, I have to give him those props. Yeah. But at the same time, we got to respect the way the game is being played. Um, and I I think we were, you know, we were kind of what's the word, getting close to day. We were getting dangerously close to disrespecting basketball with kind of just some of the way that the flopping was going on with OKC during the series, but that's all I have to say about that. Yeah, and like, I mean, to add on to that too, it's like, um, like losing the series is only gonna make him better. Like movie's only gonna make Shay better. And I think, yeah, I think there's some things he can do that could that he can improve upon. Like, I think if I'm him this summer, I'm looking at when Katie was getting guarded by Tony Allen against in that Memphis series. Yep. And I would compare that to Castle. We're like, hey, why am I trying to dribble the ball with Castle? Let me let somebody dribble the ball up and let me come off a screen. Let me pull up for that mini. Because that mini deadly, it's just they're not getting into that. He like he needs to make the game easier on him. As great as he is, he still has so much to improve on. So yeah. No, I I I wholeheartedly I wholeheartedly agree. Wow. Um so yeah, um should we dive into what we got coming? Yeah, let's uh read these comments real quick. Uh the fact that Wendy and the rest of the team are only going to get better if healthy should terrify everyone. 100%. I've been saying it this entire playoff series. This is the worst villain Harper will ever be. This is the worst Castle will ever be. This is probably the worst Wendy will ever be because he's not going back to what he was. That's such a scary thought. And you know what I mean? This is just absolutely terrifying for the rest of the. They still have a lot of their picks. They have um, you know, rostered spots. I mean, Champagny was a buyout guy they got. Um, just insane that like they're only gonna get better. Harper's a rookie. Castle, he'll get better. I love Stefan Castle, man. I love the way he plays this port so much. The the uh I don't think people understand how hard it is to play hard in every single possession. And like that that's a skill. That shit is such a skill because like he's going out every single night guarding the best player, and they're still expecting him to have I mean if he has 15 plus points, six plus assists, and then low turnovers, because early in the series, he I mean he had 11 turnovers in game one and game two. I mean, it's hard for the it's hard for the Spurs to like I mean, we'll we'll look back next year and be like, Whoa, they're just because when you win that when you win like in this fashion, you don't get worked. You know what I mean? No, so you do not, you build from that. That's how dynasties are built. That's how you know legacies are built. I think that's a that's a deep term, but it's like that's that's really the reality of where we're at. So I'm very excited to see where this goes for them. And like that, we we we forget this too. I I know I talk about him constantly, but Carter Bryant is a rookie and his ceiling, uh his ceiling's very high, in my opinion. So I'm also excited to see what see what happens. Well, shout out to him because he's guarding SGA. He had the some of the best defensive rotations tonight, and and he just looked amazing. Yeah. I love that comment. Steph said, praying that Yaxel falls to the Spurs in the draft. Oh man, imagine that'd be crazy. Yeah, that's terrifying. Um, let's see. Anything else before we head into the future here? What was going through your mind during the last two uh few minutes? I was losing my mind. I was like, I was like excited, but I didn't want to like jinx it out loud. Oh shit. Yeah, I was like, please, casen, stop shooting the ball. I was like, Caseen, stop. Well, when Caruso shot that one, I thought, ooh, that might be money. When Shay, because there was one that Shay had to cut it to three, and I was like, if he hits this, it's gonna be like pandemonium. So I'm very it was so bad. Um let's go, Spurs. Yeah, Frost. Yes, sir, Frost. Big Spurs fan, big Spurs fan. He's very excited. Um, Michaela, who is the Ung Sung hero? Nobody is talking about. Yeah, I keep coming back to that. Dylan cornet play. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The block. Yeah. Like that that was a if they don't if they don't have that block, it's like a three-point game. Yeah. And then to block it and then get a uh a shot, it was a four-point swing at that point. I thought that that didn't seal the game, but that felt like very deflating if you're a thunder yourself. Man, these are some fire questions. My goodness. Um let's go to the uh go to the last one. No, yes, uh, very, very much agree with that. The uh, what take were you completely wrong about before this series started? What I hate to I hate to say it. Like I feel like I had this series. I I told people I said this series is going to go seven. I said that San Antonio would steal a game and OKC that would surprise everyone. I said OKC would punch back. And um Frost can attest to this. He he can say in the comment section, after they lost game five, I said to him over and over, I said this series is not over. If you give the Spurs game six, they will go to Oklahoma and they will win. And I said that to him over and over because you cannot give a player like Victor a big moment. Like if you give Luca a game seven, if you give Steph Curry a game seven, if you give LeBron James back in the day a game seven, if you give the big time players a chance to have their moment in a game seven with their team alongside them, they have the opportunity to take it or they don't. And that separates the good from the great. And that is what happened tonight. So if I had to pick anything I was wrong about, I would say I thought Carter Bryant was gonna be like very, very, very impactful in this series. He was still impactful, but not like, you know, not like crazy. Um, but yeah, I I again I've talked about Carter Bryant for probably two hours on this show. So I think what I was like, well, I well, I was completely wrong. I after game one, I was like, no way that Thunder keeps shooting this one. I was like, I love their catch-and-shoot shooters, but to shoot this well, like Caruso was shooting, he shot 29% from three in the regular season. He was up at like 65 after game um five. Like he was absolutely unbelievable. And so from that standpoint, I just think I didn't think Caruso would keep it up, or J Dub would keep it up, and to their credit, they may shot after shot after shot shot. So they did. I think uh like you know, there were a lot of timely threes throughout all the games. Champagny would have a timely three, Vassell would have a timely three, Keldon was hitting his timely three. No, he didn't. Well, I played the defense. Oh, that dunk, that dunk he had at the end got me out of my chair, man. That was dude, full full extension. Oh, dude. That was fantastic. That's how you end it. No, that's how you end, that's how you end the series. It was awesome. Kelvin Johnson. Hey, Kelvin Johnson was awful the first six games. And I'll just man of the year, man. I mean, that's another unsung hero. I mean, if he doesn't hit those two threes after him and Wallace are going back and forth, it's completely it's maybe a one-point game. Yeah, they were going after Kelden on Instagram, bro. So bad. I was like, come on, come on, y'all. Really? They're like, oh man, he just asked for the award. I'm like, okay, bro, come on, relax. Oh, he calming down. Yeah, I see. I see. He knows, bro. He knows. I told him, I was like, dude, relax, it's gonna be fine. No, that was that was incredible. But um, any any last thoughts um before we look ahead to the finals? Like, you want to talk about a little thunder where they go from now. We'll talk about them in the offseason. Yeah, I don't really have any thoughts for OKC to be not any big ones. Maybe make a roster change or two. You were the number one seed and you lost in game seven of the West Finals. You were you were minutes away from getting it done. Uh it just it just so happens that best player out. Yeah, and with your second and third best player out. I'm not giving I'm not giving San Antonio uh I'm sorry, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna discredit San Antonio because J Dub and AJ Mr. weren't weren't there. I think it would have been the same result regardless. Um, that's just how I feel. Um so yeah, I I think you retool a little bit and come back next season and and you'll face them again, probably, unless there's a new team in the West that wants to take over. I mean, this is what probably it should look like for the next minimum three years. Yeah, this is a rivalry. It's on. Like it's on. We knew it in the regular season. We knew we knew it in the playoffs, like we knew this day was coming, and here it is, and San Antonio is victorious. If I had a million dollars, I would bet right now that this is our Christmas Day game in primetime. Oh, by the way, there was a that there was a yes, 100%. There was a better. He bet 2500 that the finals was gonna be Knicks in San Antonio, and he just cashed out for 1.7 million. Before this, the cash out was 612. It's ridiculous, bro. Let's look ahead to the finals work. Man, I mean, man, go ahead. I'll I'll let you start with the Knicks. Yeah. Give it off, get it off. So, all right, all right, okay. I said in October that the Knicks were gonna go to the finals against the Thunder, actually, and that they were gonna win. Now, granted, I was wrong on that. I wasn't wrong by much, so I and I'm I'm glad the Spurs are there, so I'm gonna I'll be fine with that. Now, my case for New York winning this championship. Um, I think their biggest advantage is Madison Square Garden. Um MSG is the toughest place to win a basketball game in the world. Um, I think New York will not have too hard of a time covering their home games. Um so it's really gonna come down to can New York steal a game in San Antonio? And I gotta tell you, I don't I don't know if they can because you look at the way the Knicks are constructed, right? They have they have bodies to be able to defend the wings decently. You've got bridges, you've got Hart. Um, and I'm assuming Jalen Brunson, I don't know, defensively for the Knicks, that could be interesting. But I mean, the biggest thing for me is gonna be when you look at the four and the five, and you've got Carl Anthony Towns, um, your backup big as Mitchell Robinson, you're you're even smaller than the Thunder. So um it's gonna be very interesting to see how they handle Wemby's size, what Mike Brown's plan is to be able to stop him. Um, I don't have a lot of confidence they're going to be able to. I think games one and two, especially game one, um, is gonna be like within the first five minutes, we're kind of gonna know how this game is gonna go. Um, I don't think this will be a bad finals. I'm I'm thinking probably like, you know, if New York wants to win it, it's gonna take six or seven. Um, and if San Antonio, you know, goes in there and dominates and they could they could get it done in five or six. Um but looking at it and evaluating, like, I I really just the biggest thing for me is it's Wemby versus a very small basketball team. And that worries me if I'm a Knicks fan. Um, because he yeah, I'm gonna have to go back and watch the film from the two games they played this year, especially the one at Madison. OG because you guarded Wemby. OG, that's another guy. That's another guy. So he's taller than Dorf, but he's probably just as strong. I kind of like and he's way taller than Cruz, I kind of like that look for them. Um I think you I think you also hit uh you was right, like Kat. Cat's gotta be huge. Because I don't know how he's gonna do it. Wemby's not gonna guard Kat because they're gonna have him run. So Wemby probably guards Josh Hart. But I mean, if Kat pops off and and he's an effective shooter, I think that could that'll go a long way against a Spartans team that hey, they just won a game seven, they're still inexperienced, it's the first time they've done it, but it's also the Knicks' time. First time, too. You know what I mean? It is, yeah. So it's like it's just hard. I think this is gonna be such an interesting series um just because the Knicks are so like the Knicks haven't done it, the Spurs haven't done it, they're gonna be figuring this out. The Knicks haven't played like the time Game One starts, wouldn't have played in eight days. There might be a rust factor um from that standpoint, but I think this is about to be an incredible series. I can't wait to see the coach. We get Dearon Fox versus Mike Brown again, like that's crazy. Oh, I didn't even think of that. Yeah, I think where I'm a little worried about is as great as Jalen Brunson is, I think Kim offball has a chance to win them the series because Castle Castle is like Castle just went against SGA, and I love SGA. Or I love Brunson, but Brunson's not SGA. And Brunson is about three inches shorter than SGA. Castle is about two or three inches bigger than Brunson. Like, there's a height advantage, a strength advantage, and depending how the refs call it, there's a physicality advantage for the Spurs as well. So yeah, I um yeah, my my number one concern for this series is Jalen Brunson on the defensive end. Um offensively, I think he'll be fine. Um, you know, we all know there's that lack of size defensively. It's an unfortunate thing that he cannot help, but um the Knicks have to play defense in a way that they can build it around him. Um I think that's what you have to do with any superstar that can't play defense. Um I've been in this boat before as a Mavs fan. So it's like, you know, you have to build a team around him that can withstand um an onslaught of offense. I think they have that. Like I said, you've got Mikau, you've got Hart, you've got OG, you've got wing defenders that can take care of your castles and your harpers, not shut them down, but like, you know, at least contain them. Um, but you know, you get Brunson on the switch, it could be could be trouble. So um kind of to flip it to the San Antonio side, I think what they need to do over the next couple days is they just need to rest. Like they they just don't touch a basketball for a little bit. Uh, you've got a home game, you've got you got two of them at Frostbank. Um if if I'm San Antonio, like I also want to look at it at it this way. They have not played well at home in the playoffs, um, all playoffs. You lost, you dropped a game against Portland, obviously when we didn't play, you dropped the game against Minnesota, you dropped the game against OKC. Um, so if I'm San Antonio, number one priority has to be covering at home because the second you don't cover at home, you're at very risk of losing the series because it is going to be so hard to win at the garden. It's gonna be so difficult. I so because yeah. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Nothing. I was gonna say, you got that crowd behind you. I'm sorry. Like, I I'm I'm good, you know? Yeah. I think I think the Spurs lose game one. I think just this emotional battle of going against OKC. Might be gassed. Okay. They might be gassed, they might, they might need another day or two. Just because the Knicks, I mean, eight days of rest, and then because I mean, think about it. Like, this the Knicks haven't had long series. They just had two sweeps. So they swept the Sixers had like three, four days off. They swept the uh Cats had eight days off. I mean, they're fresh. The only injury knocked on water right now is Mitchell Robinson's pinky. He doesn't see free throws, so doesn't he? He shouldn't play. He's gonna be I mean, I didn't think the pinky was as massive because we didn't know who they were playing yet. Now he all of a sudden looks like he could be an X Factor because he was awesome against Wendy in the NBA Cup. And um from that standard. Did they did they play did they play in the championship of the cup, right? Yes, this is the so this first time the NBA cup goes to the finals. And I forgot about that. Uh-huh. I mean the Knicks won. Okay, wow. And Wemby Wemby's this is not an excuse. Wemby's grandma had passed the night before, so that's why he didn't play good. But wow. And then both from both teams, like both teams are way better then, or way better now than they were then. Night and day. So absolutely, yeah. Oh my gosh. You know what I mean? So, but it it is just crazy that they played each other in that NBA Cup finals, and you know, stuff with that NBA cup. Here we are. The Pacers went a couple years ago, went to the conference finals and finals. Lakers won it, went to the conference finals. The what's one? Oh, okay. She went to the finals and the Cups and then. No, that's very so the NBA Cup got some it got some. It reveals a little bit, yeah. Yeah, as much criticism as I give it, it does reveal some things. It it got some juice, so I'm just so but I'm with you. I think the Spurs, if they can come out, handle common nerds at game one, because this is different. Like a lot of people don't talk about this part, but the NBA finals is like you got media, the media's head, you gotta go like an hour and a half before just to do media. There's like a 30-minute halftime show. There's like just so much different coverage, and it's like this is it. This is like a build up. Because it's like, you know, it's the same principle of like, you know, when we were in Las Vegas for summer league, like, you know, the whole league is there, so it's a different vibe. And I remember I went to the final, I went to game four, the finals in 24. And like, even just walking outside the arena, media badges everywhere, like people like there's just a different vibe, different feeling when you walk into the arena. And obviously, this year you're gonna look at the court and you're gonna have that giant gold trophy sitting behind your logo with the cursive finals, and you're just it's gonna take me back to when I was a 10-year-old kid. So it's like there's a lot of these nostalgic feelings that come with this game and this series that I think within the first five minutes and like like both these teams are gonna have to be like, all right, like like, you know, just like let's calm down, play basketball. There's a lot going on around us, but like the goal remains the same, and that's to win this championship. So it'll be interesting to see, like, because it's a weird dynamic, too, right? Because the Knicks have been rested forever and the Spurs just finished. And it's like it's a really wide gap, like much wider than like most playoff series, just because the Knicks took care of business in the East. So it'll be really interesting to see. You know what I mean? They could have put their head down in game four and like, oh, we'll close it out at home. And yeah, they tackle business, and yeah, here they are. So and and here's why I here's why I want to give the Knicks a lot of credit as well. Because the New York Knicks, historically in the playoffs, are a team that has not done well closing series, you know, like Pistons and Sticks last year. I think it was Cavs and six, then it was Pacers losing to the Pacers in seven. This season, after the one they did Hawks and six, one by sixty, then swept their next two opponents. You know, that's for me, like, you know, that's a very big deal. And it gives me a lot more confidence that they'll be able to compete in this series because they're playing at such a high level right now. So I think that's something that we can't ignore, even though the East is what we might call, you know, pretty bad. No, I mean, I said after the Sixers series, they can every bit win the championship right now. They're at such a high level, and it's not it's not Brunson Ball, I'm going for 40 each night. I mean, they're all playing so connected together right now. It looks absolutely all the guys, they're humming on offense, they're humming on defense. OG looks amazing. Cats kind of found his role where he's like maybe 20 points tonight, but he's like having 13 or 14 boards. The rebounding battle is gonna be huge for them. Oh, yeah. Um, yeah. Um Miles, um, Alvarado, yeah, Clarkson, those guys are shaming. Like, dude, like in game three, he hits like four in a row in the fourth quarter. Like, you know, it's things like that where I'm like, you know, if these role players continue to do what they're doing, like we're in for a we're we're in for a decently long series, you know. I think the the two main factors that will contribute into how long this series goes are what is it gonna look like to guard Wemby and what is it gonna look like for Brunson on defense. Those are the two things that will determine the length of this series and will determine who wins this. 100%. Mainly it's just Nick's defense. That's that's really it's just Nick's defense. Yeah, hey, you know, like from a from the spy standpoint, you're going from there's not any weaknesses on the court, maybe Jared McCain defensively, but even he wasn't a slap um defensively. And now you go, hey, we can go it, Brunson. We could go with Cat. I just wonder if that opens up a little bit more things for the Spurs because the three-point shootings hit or miss. Um, if they're if they hit the threes, they're just tough to beat because um when Wemby's so dominant down low. But what I would like to see from just Wemby's standpoint is kind of more what he looked like in game one, where he's more inside then out, than what he looks like in game three and game five, where he's like, let me do my first 10 shots as all jumpers before I take a lane. I think that'll be like if if he's like, hey, I'm gonna dominate inside, and then he becomes because he's a great passer and he becomes like a facilitator, I think it's gonna be it's gonna be a long series for this. Yeah, I agree. Um any other comments that you guys have on like the NBA finals, anything that you guys think we should cover um that we have not talked about, any like series dynamics that would be important to mention, please go ahead and uh drop those right now so we can talk about them. But yeah, I I think another another thing I want to cover is you know, we've talked about obviously the the size advantage that San Antonio has. Um compare the benches here. What are we looking at? I like so I like I like Deuce McBride a lot in this series. I think his three-point uh shooting can be a huge swing factor in this series, along with Shamit. Um, I don't think this is an Alvarado series at all. Um, yeah, unfortunately. I don't like Alvarado for the series. Um, Jeremy Soham wins a ring regardless of who wins this series after getting waived by the earlier the season. That's true. That's true. I forgot about that. Um I I I kind of I'm gonna give the nod to the Knicks bench, but all that could go out the window if Harper plays like it continues to play how he's been playing. Yeah. Because Harper's like, I mean, he's he's really a starter at this point. Like he's so good. He's he's so good. I wonder if that's a lineup they'll run um kind of to match to like to guard Brunson or Mikkel a little bit better. Um if they do the three guard and the cell with Wendy, we didn't see that a lot, and I always this whole um postseason. I just I just think that's their best lineup um on the floor. But they haven't ran it that much. So I wonder if maybe they they do this. I mean, just because like you have all those ball handlers on the on the court, you put uh Jalen Brunson so many picker rolls, cat in so many picker rolls. It's interesting. I go slide advantage Knicks as well, just because the non-wemby minutes have just been really bad. Um atrocious. Yeah, I I like yes, we give Cornet credit for the block, but he has not been good in the in in the playoffs. Um Carter Bryan is still growing, um, has had his bad moments. Um Keldon's been good, obviously. But like if you look at the Knicks guys, like Shaman is on a heater. Mitchell Robinson's always there when you need him. Alvarado's been great. Even though he said it's not his series, I think we'll that's kind of a wait-and-see thing. Um, Deuce McBride has been fantastic. So it's like, you know, slight edge right now, but um we'll see what happens. We got some comments here that I really want to cover. So Seth said the first one was um he believes that Wemmy needs to be more consistent in the finals and not do the whole one good game, one underwhelming game pattern. Could not agree with you more. Um, I think specifically, and I was saying this tonight, like there were moments during the game, especially in the first half where Wemby was very passive, just kind of like handing it off to the other guys, which was working. But at the same time, I'm like, Wemby, put the ball in your hands. This is game seven, this is your moment. Like, take it. So I think that needs to be his mindset, like you know, every single game um in this series. But I completely agree with that. No, yeah. Um there was this time, it's so funny. Like every first quarter, you knew what type of Wemby we're gonna get. If he goes out and has 11 points and two blocks, we just knew, oh, it's Wemby's nice first one. Every time he balled out in the first quarter, the game is basically over. And so, like for Wemby, like just knowing that you have so much, like I think when we talk about generational superstars, like I think we use that term so uh loosely, but like Wemby he's not in the realm of these players, but he has the gravity and the and the intentional force where if he plays good, he can take over any game like a LeBron, like a Curry, like a Giannis at his absolute peak, like a Luca. Like he he even to like a Kobe Bryant, like a Michael Jordan, like it when he plays good, there's nothing that the other team can do because he's that great. And I think once and he's young, he'll understand it. But if he plays good for all like he he played good for four games last series and they won in seven, you know what I mean? If he plays good for four games earlier, maybe they win in five or six, you know what I mean? Like he completely his like, oh, I'm gonna go out and look like the best player, then kind of mope and tell Biz MacBiamo, Mason Funley, the hard foul because I played like shit. Like, he needs to find that balance, but that's part of being young. And to his credit, I think he he's starting to find the right the right balance at the right time. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I I agree completely. This is just a comment. Mitch also needs to stop taking Wemby out in the middle of big runs, especially the first quarter runs we've been having. Yeah, I yeah. I mean, that's pretty much it's interesting consistent just like all season. They don't want Wemby playing 35-38 minutes with. Yeah, they could they stagger. They stagger. I mean, we're in the we're in the finals now. Like, yeah, if he has to play 42 plus minutes, he has to. I I get trying to save his energy because it's not injury prone, but they just try to keep it low because he's so big and he gets winded pretty quick. But hey, this is what you work your entire life for. Exactly. And the Spurs K is a lot shorter life than you know it takes for some people, but hey, yeah. Um let's do this next one. Do you think we'll see these teams back here next season? Um no, I don't. The Spurs and Knicks? Uh oh yeah, absolutely not. No. Yeah. If we're talking about West finals, I'm still going no. Um I am. I look, we look at it this way. We live in a we the NBA is a very changing league. Teams emerge out of nowhere. There's no guarantee the Thunder finish one and the Spurs finish two, and the bracket goes like this, they could easily meet in the second round. Um, I think there will be the West is just so jam-packed that I think there will be a team that emerges that will come out of nowhere that will be competing at this high level. Um, would I like to see this again? Yes. Like, absolutely. Like, maybe like even if it's not conference finals, if it's semis, I'm there. Like, you know, give me another seven games of what we just saw. Right. But I ultimately do not think that they will be back next season. Yeah, I mean, I don't think we'll see the Knicks and Spurs in the finals, but no, definitely not. I I I I wouldn't be surprised if we get the same conference finals just because I think I I think like to your point, I think the West is so good, but I think the teams one and two are just so much better than that third, fourth, and fifth best team. Yep. Like it's not even close. And I just don't see like particular trades or moves that could happen for Lakers, Nuggets, Wolves, Rockets worth like Giannis. I love Giannis. Giannis hasn't played in the playoffs in three and a half years. You know what I mean? There's a few teams, and we don't have to get into this because we could do two hours of this, but like, you know, yeah, there are a few teams that I'm like, if you put Giannis on them, they're right there. Like, if you put Giannis on the Lakers next to Luca, done. If you put Giannis on the Warriors, possibly. Um, if you put Giannis on it's such a debt league now. Like, what do you have left after you get Giannis? I I don't know. All I know is that if all I know is that a Luca Giannis pick and roll is winning it all. That's just all I have to say about that. But like, you know, that's another that dude. I oh my gosh. Yeah, that'd be crazy. But anyways, yeah, I I get what you're saying. Um, yeah, so looking ahead to game one, you got any parting thoughts? Like yeah, I think we'll we'll we'll go more in depth and have like a we'll pick what we want the series in in a couple days, probably Tuesday. Yeah. Um for game one, it'll be it'll be kind of it'll be kind of weird at first. I think the first five minutes are gonna be a lot a lot of misses, a lot of turnovers, a lot of like, oh shoot, sorry, I didn't mean to do that, like on both sides. And then once you slip into like the end of the first quarter, late second, then you'd be like, okay, this is kind of the vibe that we're getting here. Um, so I think it'll be a feel-out game. I genuinely don't know who's gonna win. If I had to pick, I'll pick San Antonio just because they're home and they've got a clear advantage, in my opinion, on that. But um, we'll see. That's my prediction for now. Yeah, I mean, my tentative predictions right now without going into it, like I think it's Spurs 55, Knicks 45, but I got I gotta dig into it. I just that's closer than I thought. Yeah, I I think the Knicks are humming at such a different frequency right now. Like, I get the East has been so bad, but I think they're every bit as good as at least the Spurs are. I thought the Knicks would have struggled a lot more against the Thunder just because they have so many, like door all of a sudden become super important again. And yeah, yeah, like I love Castle, but Castle, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it's gonna be a little wild ride. I do have to say this though, to anybody who's watching this that commented and said I was crazy in October. If the Knicks win this championship, can I get some credit, man? Like, literally, like some of these comments, like people I know, like close friends, like siblings, would just text me like, hey, by the way, like, are you crazy? And I'm just like, man, like, you know, so like, hey, I want some credit that they at least got here. Like, I told y'all that they were gonna be a force to be reckoned with in the East because it's a down year. Everybody thought I was crazy, so I want some credit if they end up winning the series. But we'll see, man. Like, everybody thought I was crazy. It was wild, but you know, yeah, anyways, yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a good NBA finals. I'm excited. There's gonna be I I cannot wait to see that court logo. I cannot wait. I cannot from like the NBA standpoint. Like, as much as like OKC would have been cool in the finals, too. If you're the NBA, you're sitting back like I get Victor Wembin Yama in Madison Square Garden. Oh my gosh, yeah, dude. I got aunts, uncles talk that don't watch basketball, yeah. Asking me, like, who's this Wemby guy? Who's this French guy? You know what I mean? Then you got yeah, all of a sudden you in the finals with it. Like, they could not ask for a better finals specifically for this year. I mean, you can have like you can have Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Chalamet all in the front row, like you know, it's oh my gosh. Then uh Bon Jovi, Tracy Morgan, like all all the all the celebs are gonna be out. Yeah, and then the Knicks, uh the Knicks alumni, Walt Frazier, E-Wing, like it's dude. I game three, I'm so excited for game three. It's it's gonna be it's gonna be fantastic. The environment. I looked at it, I think it was like there are seats like courtside that I think are over a million. I don't know. Um I think I think yeah, I think to get in the door, it's at the very least, like three grand, probably to get in the door. So that's that's what I would think. To get in the door and to get in the door at San Antonio, I believe it's over a grand, probably like 1200. Um, nothing why not nothing like insane, but like at MSG, it's it's at least three for sure. Um, but yeah. Um, we got one more comment, then we'll get up out of here. What do you think is one thing that was dumb they did on each team? Um I think the foul baiting for OKC was stupid. I I really do. It's like play the game. I I think you got excessive at shout out to the ref. They didn't they didn't call, they don't call like two of them tonight. There was a couple that they could have called. I was probably the ref. Shout out to Davis. You might disagree with me on this. I think one dumb thing that San Antonio did, I think with the Mason Plumley and Bismek Biombo, like cheap shots. I don't think that was necessary. I think that was kind of super stupid. Yeah, I think that was stupid. Like, you know, be be classy like we know San Antonio. That's not San Antonio. Ask Greg Popovich. I don't know. Yeah, like Wemby literally was like, you know, hard fouls. Like, come on. Yeah, you know, like I get I get that you're annoyed, I get all that, but you know, sh be be San Antonio, be classy, be what Greg Popovich has built over these last 30 years. No need to do that crap. So um, I would say that was one dumb thing San Antonio did. Yeah, 100%. All right. Um, I think we better get up out of here. Um, appreciate everybody joining. Ben, it's a good one. Yes, sir, bro, as always. Um, if hey, let us know in the comments how you guys think the finals will go. How do you think the Thunders should go about their offseason? Um, yeah, turn on that notification bell, subscribe to the warm-up, and until next time. Peace and job less. Stay safe, y'all. Stay safe.