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February 17 2023 State of the NBA. Basketball discussion
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February 17 2023 State of the NBA. Basketball discussion
Listen to Episode 3 Nico's Sports Insights Podcast by Nicolas Jaramillo-Vesga MP3 song. Episode 3 Nico's Sports Insights Podcast song from Nicolas Jaramillo-Vesga is available on Audio.com. The duration of song is 33:22. This high-quality MP3 track has 171.975 kbps bitrate and was uploaded on 18 Feb 2023. Stream and download Episode 3 Nico's Sports Insights Podcast by Nicolas Jaramillo-Vesga for free on Audio.com – your ultimate destination for MP3 music.
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The speaker discusses recent basketball games, focusing on the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. The Bucks have been on a winning streak and are tied for the best team in the NBA. The Celtics, who were previously leading, have been struggling and losing important games. The speaker mentions how pressure can affect performance and gives examples of players who thrive or choke under pressure. The upcoming All-Star weekend and events like the three-point contest and dunk contest are also mentioned. The speaker predicts that Team Giannis will do well in the All-Star game. Welcome to Nico Sports Insights. Today with Nicolás Jaramillo. So today we'll start off with our basketball talk. A few days ago, actually on Tuesday, we had probably one of the most important, if not the most important game of probably the whole week since the Super Bowl. It has been, it was such, such an important game. The battle of the top two in the East. Whoever won the game, if the Celtics had won that game, they would have gone two games in front of Milwaukee. Instead, Milwaukee won that game and they moved now one game above, now one game below. But now, a few days ago, I think it was probably yesterday, they beat the Raptors, their 12th win in a row. Do you think anybody can beat the Milwaukee Bucks? I think so. When you consider that downfall, it would be how many games? Well, they're on a winning streak, who knows? That is true, but the thing is, they're on a 12 game winning streak. They beat the best team in the NBA, now they're tied for the best team in the NBA. So, depending on the Celtics, if the Celtics game has already happened, please do not tell me, but I will find out. But, depending on the results of the game, if the Celtics lost, the Bucks are the best in the league. If the Celtics won, the Celtics are the best in the league. How important do you think it is now? Because just like two weeks ago, the Celtics were the best team in the league by like six games. Now, they're tied. What do you think has happened to the Celtics lately? I don't know, you tell me. Really, I don't know, it's just been like they have lost games. When they're on a big winning streak and they've won a ton of games, then they suddenly start losing a ton of games. Then they win a few, then they lose a few. And it seems that they just can't seem to win those very important games. Now, sure, they have captured a playoff spot, but now they do want to win the best team in the league, because that does add a lot of bragging rights and it does make you better. And it also, sure, it does give you harder competition and more expectations, which might be hard, but then again, it also means that you are a good team. But then again, I would also consider not getting so much pressure, because, as the quote goes, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. If you start really good and then you just lose in the end, that's what we can say about the 2016 Warriors. They were 73-9 in the regular season, best record ever, under 10 losses. I mean, that's unbelievable. That is unreal. And then they were winning three games to one against the Cavaliers in the finals, and then they only needed to win one more game and they would win the championship. Simple. And then you would become the greatest team ever. Instead, they lost three straight games. They did, though, well, it was really... Was it in 2016? Yes. It was Steph Curry's unanimous MVP season. The greatest, probably, arguably one of the greatest seasons of all time. The first time somebody had gone a unanimous MVP. That means everyone in, like, whoever votes, everybody votes for the same thing. Shaquille O'Neal in 2001 was one vote away from being a unanimous MVP, but not a unanimous MVP. So... Was Michael Jordan ever a unanimous MVP? No. Really? Yeah. Michael Jordan wasn't? No. Not even Michael. And the thing is, when you look at it, Dreamon Green had the pivotal mistake of just going... He did something that you should not do in the NBA Finals when you're winning... When you're already going to win the game, you're going to win the title, and then you blow it. How did he blow it? So, LeBron, he had just, like, he was walking by LeBron, and then, well, he's kind of ducking because he's trying to guard LeBron's shot, and then... This is kind of odd. LeBron walked over, kind of, like, stepped over him, in a way, and then Dreamon Green, without even knowing, just hit LeBron's private parts, and then they ejected Green for the entire series. So they lost their best defender for not really much. Kind of like a week's call. Then Kway Thompson got injured, so it was all down to Steph Curry against LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Tyree Irving. So they single-handedly just blew it. They blew it when it was really, really important. Even though you're up by two games, it's 3-1, 3-0, you just can't afford it. You can't afford one mistake, which seems it might be a minor mistake, and maybe just turn everything down, the team morale, and also it might just lead to, like, something bad, things that are bad, and then suddenly you lose it at the last second, and, well, that's why I think it's also you want to win, but you also don't want to win, so you don't have so much pressure. Yeah, it's kind of like you want to be the best, but then you also think, well, if we're the best, then we have so much pressure because everyone expects us to win every game, so then sometimes you choke. You don't think, well, you choke, yeah. You don't think the champions want the pressure, thrive on the pressure? Depends what type of player they are. Michael Jordan, he thrives on the pressure. He thrives on the pressure, but there are some types of players that are great when they don't have the pressure, but they just choke when they have a ton of pressure. And this applies to regular players, too. Not only the amazing players who win MVP pretty much every season, it applies to the regular players who have very important jobs. Any player can choke when it matters. You just have to, like, at first, Michael Jordan in his first six seasons couldn't do much. He had a 1-9 playoff record, I believe, and, well, it just didn't go well for him. It just didn't go well. In the first six seasons? In his first six seasons, I think he had, like, a 1-9 playoff record, which is very, very bad. You know that, right? It's a bad record. And what I think is that it also, because, and then he got Scottie Pippen, and then they won three championships. He retired for the first time, then they won three championships again, then he retired, and then he came back, and then he did nothing. Maybe it was Scottie Pippen was the superstar. Yeah, he kind of made it click. Because if it weren't for Scottie Pippen, we probably would not have thought of Michael Jordan as a GOAT. We would have thought him as Dr. J. Julius Erving, really, because Julius Erving was not the GOAT, but he was really good at dunking, which is the only thing that Michael Jordan had. And we would probably say this guy, who probably not that many people know existed, we would probably say that he was better than Jordan because he was better than Jordan at dunking. Well, maybe not better, but as good as Jordan at dunking. And he won championships, which is something that probably, maybe he won a championship himself, but most likely he would not have a single ring instead of six. So what I'm saying is that, that's the thing why I'm saying, the Celtics, Jason Tatum, they weren't a title favorite or a title contender. With Jason Tatum alone. Then Jalen Brown arrived like two years later, and then they just became a good duo. And this season now they're the best duo in the entire NBA. So I'm saying, you also need a duo. And they have proven that they have like adapted to the pressure, and they are also pretty much some of the best players under pressure. Really good under pressure. They have demonstrated it in many games. And fun fact, Jason Tatum is the only player to hit a buzzer beater at Celtics home court at TD Garden. Only player in Celtics history to do that. Not even Larry Bird did that. Not even, not even all the greats. Jason Tatum, first person to do that. Sure, it felt like it happened like this week, but it happened. So Jason Tatum has proven himself. Jalen Brown has also proven himself, as he just scores a lot, a lot, a lot when it matters. So, yeah. I mean, he scored a lot against the Lakers in overtime last time they played. And that's one of the reasons that they won that game. It was also their defense in overtime. And what's on deck for this week in the NBA? Just, oh, watch out. The All-Star weekend is this weekend. Today I think the thing started at 6. And well, the All-Star game is going to be on Sunday. And school challenges are going to keep going. One thing you have to watch is… How does that work? They take the best players from the… They make, the fans make votes, and they like make votes for like if they're going to start, if they're going to be reserves in the All-Star game. And then first they vote them in, and then you get voted on the team. And Jason Tatum happens to be the starting small forward on the East team, and Jalen Brown is the reserve on the East team. And one of, two events to watch, the three-point contest and the dunk contest. That's the two things that everybody watches. The dunk contest this year has a lot of good people. The highlight of the three-point contest this season is going to be Damian Lillard. Though, Buddy Fields actually has the most three-pointers in the entire NBA. That is kind of shocking. We did not expect that, but he does. And he's also in the three-point contest. So, two things to watch for. So, anything that you think might be important? Oh, Giannis, I know why, did not, oh, by the way, he's in the skills competition. Team Giannis will be on the All-Star team for like the third year in a row. They have just been doing, they have just been doing really, really, really good lately. Yara Saunders Kumpo has been probably the best one. And, well, all I can say is that I think that they may have a chance, but it's always the same team. I think it's always like the Cavaliers team. The Giannis, no, under the Kumpo team, the Cavaliers team, and the Rookies team. That's been at least the All-Star skills challenge the last four years. It's always been the same thing. Same thing. And this year, I mean, last year I think it was the Cavaliers that won, I believe. This year I believe it's going to be the Kumpo triplets. And, um, just one thing. I do, so what do you think about the games that are upcoming? What do you think is the importance of the next 21 games? I was going to ask you that. What do you think is the importance of the next games? After the All-Star break, there are 21 games left for approximately every team. Some teams have played less games, some have played more. Some will play 22, some will play 23, some will play 20, some will play 19, some will play 21. But they will all finish the season at 82 games. And right now, Celtics are at 21 games to go. The Bucks are on 21 games to go. The Nuggets are on 21 games to go. They're the top three teams in the league. The Denver Nuggets have hit kind of like a wall almost. They were one game behind the Celtics a week ago. Now they're like five. And now the Bucks have just made up a ton of ground on the Celtics. And now it's a point of worry for Denver. They have all their healthy players for the first time in like two years. And they were really good before that. And now when they have everybody, they just suddenly start losing games. Like what is the cause? What is the cause? What do you think? I don't know. That's why you're the expert. You can tell me. Could it be injury? Could it be lack of training? Could it be... It can't be lack of training because they have probably some of the best players in Nikola Jokic, back-to-back MVP. And, well, they have a good team. Injuries, as I just mentioned, they are finally healthy for the first time in 18 months. Literally. So all I'm going to say is that I think it might be that they have either a lack of confidence or too much confidence. It could be either that they're worried about their game, they don't have a lot of confidence, and then they just don't go out and give 100%. Or they maybe get a little too confident and try and get a little bit too flashy and show off, and that costs them. And then the other team just goes and just goes on and plays and wins. It could be one or the other, that's what I think. And the Memphis Grizzlies just hit the stop button immediately. They were like one of the best teams, if not maybe the third best team in the league at one point. That was three weeks ago. And now they're losing more games than they're winning. And that's just brutal because they were tied with the Nuggets at one point, which now is out of their dreams. Now they're like, I don't know, nine games behind them? And they were tied with the Nuggets a month ago. And now they're losing too many games, too many games. And, well, the Denver Nuggets are also losing too many games. And all I'm saying is that, well, the Western Conference, the leaders, are just not doing good. They're just not doing good. And that's probably a point of worry, maybe, for the entire Western Conference. Because the Eastern Conference is gaining too much ground. And whoever plays in the NBA Finals will probably outnumber the Western Conference. Now, to a new topic. The rise of the Lakers has commenced. Is it too late? Or do you think they still have a chance to rescue their playoff spot? I think it's not too late. LeBron James actually, I believe last week, broke the NBA scoring record. And there's this big blooper by Thomas Bryant. He was asking for the ball when he was double-teamed on three, like, five feet behind the three-point line on the play that LeBron broke the record. He was asking for the ball? When he was, like, five feet behind the three-point line when he was double-teamed and LeBron was wide open. And that was the play that he broke the record. And he was asking for the ball. He's like, hey, pass it to me. I'm wide open. Have a good shot. And he's like, nope, I'm going to break the record right here. Was there a big celebration? Very big. Like, the stadium, like, you know at the top of the stadium, they have, like, those little, like, lights and they tell you things? They were like, glory to the new scoring king. New Lakers. Was that here in LA? Yeah, I think that was here in LA. It was either here in LA or in New Orleans. And, like, they were like, they were like, the new scoring king is now number two and number one are Lakers. And welcome to new number one, LeBron James. And then it was almost like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James because they were two Laker legends now have the number two and number one spots. Also, I have to say with Chamberlain, I have no idea how he did not score more than 38,000 points because he had, like, a 71-point game, a 72-point game, a 73-point game, a 74-point game, a 75-point game, a 76-point game. You get points all the way up to 100 points. And it just makes you wonder how he is not in the top five. One of the reasons, I think, is because they didn't have three-pointers back then. So you take out a lot of... The modern players have a big advantage. Then how are modern players not scoring, not averaging 50 points a game, which is what he did in one season? He didn't score 50 points a game, literally. Interesting. I think the defense is much better these days also. Yeah, the only reason that his numbers were so flashy is really just because NBA teams average 70 rebounds a game per team. Now that's less for both teams combined nowadays. That's why he was getting, like, 34 rebounds, which is absurd nowadays. It's absurd to get 34 rebounds. If you get two points, people will still say you're the best player in the NBA. If you do that. For him, that was expected. In the game they scored 100 points, he also got 34 rebounds. Could the other reason be that he didn't play as many years as LeBron James has? The longevity of Kareem Abdul and LeBron James is very high. That's true. I don't know how many years they've played, but it's a lot. Yeah, LeBron's played, like, 20. Abdul-Jabbar played, like, 17. Wilt played, like, 15. So close enough, but I think if there were threes back then, his numbers would probably be bigger. That could be the cause. The reason that we don't say that he's a GOAT is because he only won, like, what, one championship? And he made it to, like, eight. The only reason we don't call him a GOAT is because he was the right player at the wrong time. He crashed into the, let's say, the non-regular people, Boston Celtics. Because the rest of the NBA was literally, like, plumbers and cow milkers. I'm not kidding. Like, back then, the Lakers, one time, drafted Snoopy. They would draft, like, Snoopy. One time, they drafted a two-month-old girl in the 80s. Because they had no players available, so they would just draft random people. What? What are you talking about? That's true. It's happened. No. Yeah. It's true. Where did you read that? Dad, you would know. It's in the book. I hear you. So, really, it's kind of shocking. And it's also kind of, like, sad because they really had a really easy schedule. It was the best player in the world at the time against plumbers and, like, architects and, like, factory workers and truck drivers, that type of stuff. And it was, like, but they would, like, lose games against these people. Yeah. And it was kind of, like, it was almost kind of like... So maybe he wasn't that good. The stats are just maybe, like, it's that it was him and plumbers. Literally. I'm not kidding. It wasn't until, like, his last year when he had somebody else good. The guy who was on the logo of the NBA, Jerry West. And he made it into the Boston Celtics with Bill Russell. You know, this guy never played with less than three Hall of Famers with him. And as many as, like, I don't know, what, 13 Hall of Famers playing with him. He never touched the NBA court without three other Hall of Famers playing with him. Never, not once in his career did he step on the court and there weren't three other Hall of Famers with him. That's how good the Celtics were. Yeah. And that's why he won 11 NBA championships. Yeah, sure. But there were only, like, what, 15 teams, 16 teams? So you only had to win two games. You had to win two series. So that was win eight games and you were already in the finals. Nowadays you have to win, like, 12 games if you are not in the 6th and 5th seats. Or else you have to win 16 games to get to the finals alone. And then you'd have to win four more games to win the finals. And back then it was, like, for the first round it was best of five. So all you had to do was win three games. Three games, yeah. And it just demonstrates that the NBA back then was a weak era and he had Hall of Famers everywhere. And the only competition were the Sixers with Will Chamberlain, the Warriors with Will Chamberlain, and the Lakers with Will Chamberlain. Nobody else could challenge him. Nobody. So that's why we don't say he's a Dill. I understand. Well, the growth of the NBA is fantastic. I think it's a sport that has grown a lot in the last few years. And the valuation of the teams has gone up. And the quality of the players has gone up also. And the game is very different than it was in the 80s, actually. Yeah, very different. I think the game was more beautiful in the 80s, but I'm just older. It's just my time. And there is one thing. About four years ago we were saying 24 points a game was a lot. Now, I don't know what, like 30 players score more than 24 points a game. Now, what we think is big is 33, which is the league high. 30 is what we expect now. From these good players we expect like 35 points a game. And that's why it shows that in four years you can go from being a really low scoring league and a very just share the ball and a lot of people getting scored to still scoring but more scoring. And just teams like taking more threes and scoring more threes. And one part of that is Luka Doncic. This guy is like going to win MVP. I'm not kidding. He's going to win MVP. Unless Tyree Irving messes the Mavericks up. And that's what my next topic is going to be. What is going on with the Mavericks? They're supposed to have a super team. They got Tyree Irving and Luka Doncic who is literally going to win MVP. And they lost and they scored under 95 points. What? Without Doncic or Tyree they were scoring lower than that. What in the world is going on with the Mavericks? They're supposed to be the best team in the league. On the other hand, their sons who just acquired Kevin Durant and now they have the big four. DeAndre Ayton, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant. Their team is locked and loaded. And they have I think just enough time to win and win big also. I think they can maybe make the Western Conference Finals. Western Conference Semis at the least. And they just have good potential. And a lot of teams who we don't talk about enough are making a run now. Back to the Warriors. The Warriors have done nothing but get worse. I'm sorry Warriors fans but I have to say it. The Warriors cannot make the playoffs. Sure it's not official but the way it's going it's not going to go. Oh you don't count them out yet. They could make it. They're champions. Steph Curry is not Steph Curry anymore. He is not Steph Curry anymore. He is not the guy who drains six threes a game and he hits 40 flutters easily. He's not that guy anymore. He's the guy who now he's the guy who air balls 30 flutters. He's the guy who air balls 30 flutters. So I'm just saying the Warriors aren't doing nothing good. I don't see them winning a championship for another 10 years. What? Yeah. They just won their fifth ring. The Steph Curry era is over. Okay. The Splash Brothers era is over. All right. Well Nico I cannot wait until the soccer season starts. We are going to see. Something to talk about. The Bayern Munich against PSG game actually happened earlier this week. It turned out to be 1-0 Bayern Munich win. It was actually highly anticipated. And well that's just a game. The second leg is going to be soon. I believe maybe March 8th. I believe it is. And that's just a game to watch later. And that's just something to tell you about. And Real Madrid-Liverpool is another game you should watch. Keep in mind that these games are some games you should watch if you're a soccer fan. I cannot wait until the MLS starts. Oh yeah. Right. And as soon as that starts we're all in for the LAFC. We'll be at the stadium. Reporting from the stadium probably. And keeping track of that wonderful tournament. LAFC has a game in the CONCACAF Champions. They do? They do. That's cool. Who's it playing? I don't know. We'll see. We'll find out. All that's good. And that's what we're going to be reporting on on our next podcast. And for now this is... Goodbye and see you next time. See you next time. Buddy you're a boy. Make a big noise. Playing in the street. Gonna be a big man someday. You got blood on your face. You big bitch face. Kicking your can all over the place. Singing we will, we will rock you. We will, we will rock you. Until next time fans.
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