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  • 5/2/2025
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00:00We also need to get engaged because that's what we do on Warrior Game Day.
00:04Before every game, we ask you to vote in our engaging Dub Nation poll.
00:09Are you going to propose or am I?
00:10Because we're side by side, which is rare.
00:12I already did, and it wasn't to you, and you're just going to have to deal with it.
00:16Yeah, maybe next time.
00:17All right, 95.7, the game Twitter page.
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00:22where you'll find the Bay Area's best selection of unique engagement rings
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00:28Visit ShaneCoe.com today.
00:30All right, here's the question today.
00:32If the Warriors were to lose tonight, oof, tough premise.
00:37Yeah, I don't like it.
00:38If the Warriors were to lose tonight somehow,
00:41who do you think would win Game 7 back in Houston on Sunday?
00:48Warriors or Rockets?
00:51How would you answer that one?
00:52Well, I'm a little bit torn because, you know, I'm a big trends, stats, and numbers guy,
00:57and eight of the last 11 Game 7s have been won by the road team.
01:01So you're saying there's a chance, there's a great chance, including the Warriors beating Sacramento.
01:06But I looked at the history of Game 7s.
01:08Overall.
01:09The home team is 112 and 39.
01:12Yikes.
01:1374.2%.
01:14And this is obviously historical.
01:17And you go back to the 40s and 50s where the home team won,
01:21like the road team won the first ever road Game 7.
01:24The Philadelphia Warriors beat the St. Louis Bombers 85-46.
01:28Oh, wow.
01:29Impressive road victory.
01:30It is.
01:30I don't know that that one applies to the potential game on Sunday.
01:34I don't think so.
01:34Because then it was 20 more years until a road team won a Game 7.
01:38Wow.
01:39So the history would tell you, and I went too deep to talk about modern history,
01:45but I do think that an aging team, a tired team going on the road,
01:50and Houston would feel like they had lightning in a bottle,
01:53I would think that Houston would win Game 7.
01:55Yeah, the gravity of it suggests that 22-year-olds might have a little problem with it,
02:00and you love having Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler in a game like that,
02:02but I'm also with you.
02:04I would love to be wrong, but I think the Rockets are going to win on Sunday.
02:08If that game comes, I don't think that game's coming.
02:10I think the Warriors are going to win tonight, and they need to win tonight.
02:13Before we go to the phones, the reason I say that,
02:17that tonight is probably the game that decides whether or not the Jimmy Butler trade was a home run.
02:24They absolutely could still get to round two, even if they win tonight,
02:28but I think they set themselves up for disaster.
02:31They set themselves up for what could be a very short round two series.
02:36Minnesota is excellent.
02:37They are excellent.
02:39I told you before the playoffs started that an NBA play-by-play guy confided in me
02:46that he would, quote, be shocked if it wasn't Thunder and Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
02:51That was said before the Lakers series even started,
02:55and most people thought the Lakers were going to win that series.
02:57So he's already on the right track with his prediction,
03:01as both of those teams just sit there with their feet up,
03:05waiting for either the Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, and Nuggets to arrive at their building.
03:10So, yeah, they're in pretty good shape,
03:13and I don't think the Warriors are going to have what they need
03:17in order to compete in round two if they don't win tonight.
03:22Conversely, if you win tonight, you set yourself up to compete in round two,
03:26and if you go deep in round two, I do think that's sort of the line.
03:30That's the marker where we decide whether or not this Jimmy Butler trade was just successful,
03:36which it already is, or highly successful,
03:39which if they get to the end of round two, or who knows, even the Western Conference Finals,
03:43then I think it's a total home run.
03:45And I just don't think they're set up to do that well at all if they don't win tonight.
03:49So probably it all comes down to tonight.
03:52In a way, yeah.
03:53Although eight of the last 11 road teams did win game seven,
03:56and if you want to profile the teams that can go on the road and win a game seven,
04:01this would be that team.
04:02Agreed.
04:02You know, Jimmy Butler took Miami on the road, and they won a game seven on the road.
04:07And we know that, you know, Steph and Draymond and even Kavon have been in deep, deep series and big series.
04:13And so I don't think that this would be a team that would be shaken or startled by that proposition.
04:18But you don't want to have to get in deeper.
04:21And, yeah, even if you go to Houston and you win that game, 74% of the home teams do win game seven.
04:26But then you turn around, you fly from Houston to Minnesota, and I was slightly off yesterday on the mileage.
04:32It's about 1,400 miles, so it's almost 2,000 from here to Houston.
04:38And then you play a game, and you turn around, you fly to Minnesota, and you've got a game the next day.
04:42It doesn't set up well for you to get a split on the road in games one and two.
04:47So, yeah, it becomes more difficult if you have to go through that.
04:51They're obviously allowed to do that and, you know, go to Houston and go to Minnesota and get a split.
04:56But I agree with you that it would become more difficult.
04:59Very, very difficult.
05:00This is the biggest game of the Jimmy Butler Warriors era, no doubt in my mind.
05:05888-957-9570.
05:07We throw that premise out to you.
05:09Let's talk to you.
05:10Guess who?
05:11First up.
05:12First up.
05:13Got it right when we started today.
05:16Incorrect.
05:17It's actually...
05:19No, it's...
05:20Thanks, Grandy.
05:20It's BPA, Brian.
05:21I knew it.
05:22I'm just trying to play along.
05:23What's up, B?
05:24How you doing?
05:24Thanks for calling.
05:27Hey, what's going on, Jeff?
05:28I think it's already a triple, the trade, because you committed to whatever's left of Steph's
05:36career, and they made a choice, finally, about what path they were going to go down.
05:41I think they're probably a piece away.
05:42I think they probably know that, by the way, when they decided to not trade Kuminga.
05:47The hope would be that they can sign and trade Kuminga this offseason for, like, a Cam Johnson
05:53type.
05:54But I do think they're probably a piece short, but I do think they'll win tonight.
05:58Probably not get past Minnesota.
06:01But, yeah, that's my take.
06:03It's a triple.
06:05If they win tonight, it's a home run.
06:07And, yeah, just need a super aggressive Steph Curry tonight, right?
06:13Steph cannot come out and, you know, stand in the corner and wait for the game to come
06:18to him.
06:18He's going to have to take the game.
06:20And I think if he does that, I think they're going to win tonight.
06:22So, that's my two cents.
06:24Yeah, BPA.
06:24I mean, I tend to agree.
06:26You changed my double to a triple.
06:28I don't think that's terribly different.
06:30That's the left center field gap versus the right center field gap.
06:33Fine.
06:33Willard's on the move!
06:34I'll buy it.
06:35I'll buy it.
06:37But, yeah, I do also.
06:38I believe that.
06:39If you win tonight, that cements that this was a total home run of a trade, number one.
06:45And, number two, I'll also buy what he said.
06:48This game is tailor-made for the Warriors 3 veterans.
06:53This is what makes them who they are, is these situations and being able to be completely,
07:00like, have total amnesia about what happened 48 hours ago in Houston, and now in your building,
07:07the place that you built, take these young pups that are here in town and show them about
07:13closing basketball games in May in the fourth quarter late in a series.
07:19It's tailor-made for them, so yes, I would expect aggression for four quarters from all three
07:24of them.
07:24I would, too, but I also look at what Houston has done, and I don't want to get too deep
07:28into the X's and O's, because today's about feelings and emotions and fandom.
07:32I'm in a jersey.
07:33I'm wearing the T-shirt and the whole thing, but Houston has done a great job of playing
07:37zone and going into a box-and-one on Steph and saying to the rest of the Warriors, okay,
07:42rest of you, you go ahead and beat us.
07:44And I think about going back to game four here, and, you know, you and I were both in
07:50the vicinity, and the Rockets went to a lot of box-and-one.
07:54They went to a lot of zone, and you saw Pods flash to the foul line so many times, and he
07:58got there, and he made good decisions, and he was also out on the three-point line knocking
08:03out shots, and Buddy Heald was making shots.
08:05Steph Curry wound up 6 of 13, 17 points, a fine game below his standard.
08:12You got the win, and he hit a couple of big shots, but I do think that Houston has found
08:16a blueprint that they like to take him, not totally out of it, but to limit him.
08:21And here come the officials to fix that blueprint.
08:24Maybe.
08:25That's my opinion.
08:25Well, and I gave you the stats on this crew, and if this crew wants to, and, you know,
08:30Steve Kerr talked about it yesterday with us, like, he knew three fouls in that it was
08:34not going to be their night.
08:35Right.
08:35They committed three fouls that were not great, and their opening possessions were not great,
08:40and Steve Kerr knew early.
08:41He's talking about the defensive end.
08:43Right.
08:43And that is where you see it.
08:44You know, that's where you will see, in my opinion, that's where you will see the Warriors
08:51either win or not win this basketball game tonight, is if they show up and be the defensive
08:56presence that they've largely been, especially since the Jimmy Butler trade, then I do think,
09:02you know, the young Rockets, they're going to have trouble.
09:04This is a very, very pressurized game for a bunch of young players in Houston to score
09:10at will like they did a couple nights ago, and I'd bet against them doing it.
09:14So let's go to Mark in Marin next up.
09:18Hey, Mark, thank you for calling.
09:21Hey, Mark, how you doing?
09:23Just checking in.
09:24First of all, we got this tonight.
09:26The chef is going to serve up a buffet, six-course meal, no problem.
09:30All you can eat, all he can eat.
09:32As far as the T-wolves go when we get there, no problem.
09:36They face some light defense from the Lakers.
09:40They don't see our defensive juggernaut coming at them.
09:42We got those guys in six.
09:44That's my call.
09:44What do you think?
09:45What happens when they face the Thunder?
09:47They beat the Thunder in five, and then the Eastern Conference just decides to not show
09:51up, Mark?
09:53We're getting through the T-wolves.
09:55They've had four straight games of light defense.
09:57We're going to get through them.
09:58We get to OKC, our experience, in seven.
10:02It's going to get them.
10:03No sweat.
10:03Don't sweat it.
10:05Yeah, Mark, so here's the thing.
10:07Well, I won't, I can't say that his analysis is nuts.
10:12What I'll say is, I find, you know, when he says, what do you think?
10:17Here's what I think.
10:17I think it's bad juju to even talk about.
10:19I have no interest in talking tonight about the Minnesota Timberwolves.
10:23The Warriors have a very hard basketball game that starts here in about three plus hours,
10:30and they need to win it, and outside of that, I have no takes for you today.
10:35No, me either.
10:36I'm just looking at Minnesota, and they did beat them three out of four times in the regular season.
10:40Big whoop.
10:41Two of those were the stay and play.
10:43Minnesota came here.
10:45All pre-Butler, too, right?
10:46Oh, for sure.
10:47They played them three times in a 15-day span.
10:51Anything that happened before Jimmy, good or bad, I find kind of irrelevant today.
10:56And Minnesota is a different team.
10:57They have the same personnel, but they're playing a lot different, and they're playing a lot better.
11:01Well, they were like, okay, if you want to talk about teams making an acquisition at the trade deadline,
11:06Minnesota got healthy at the trade deadline.
11:08They played so many games without Julius Randle, without Dante DiVincenzo.
11:15There were some without Rudy Gobert.
11:17Edwards was healthy, but they were not as deep of a team as they are right now.
11:22They are healthy.
11:23They are incredibly talented.
11:25I got nothing to say about them until after I see this basketball game tonight.
11:30Yeah, I like that, and I'm with you.
11:31You know, Minnesota ended the year on a 17-5 run, and then they won 4-5 in the playoffs.
11:38So that is 21-10.
11:40They are very, very good.
11:42No doubt.
11:43Yeah, let's go to Jonathan in the city.
11:45Hey, Jonathan, what's good?
11:46What are you doing?
11:48Hi, just taking my lunch break.
11:50You know, I tried to answer your question, but my brain refused to go there.
11:55So I'm just going to say, because that's about PTSD from, you know, the Father's Day of a few years ago against Cleveland.
12:02But I just want to say, man, set the tone early.
12:05Be more physical than the Rockets, you know, bang in there, points in the paint, make your layups, make your free throws.
12:15And that is the number one key, and it's always going to be the number one key in my book, especially in the playoffs,
12:20is keep that turnover number closer to 10 than a 20.
12:25And if it's possible, to make a request to the house DJ just to, you know, pump the crowd in a warrior's drowning pool.
12:37Let the bodies hit the floor.
12:39Let the bodies hit the floor.
12:40Let the bodies hit the floor.
12:42Wow, Jonathan.
12:45And he's out.
12:46Those bodies hit the floor.
12:47I don't know if that works for the rest of our audience.
12:49I could barely hear it myself.
12:51No, I got it.
12:51I got it.
12:52No, I got it.
12:52No, I got it.
12:53I got it.
12:53I got it.
12:54I don't think it sounded very good, but I got it.
12:56I think it was pretty good.
12:57I got it.
12:58He could have been a little bit more loud and guttural, but he went with the whisper instead.
13:02I'm never going to criticize Jonathan in his call-ending song references.
13:07Yeah, 888-957-9570.
13:10Let's go to Diego in Tracy.
13:12Hi, Diego.
13:13What's good?
13:16Hey, what's going on?
13:17Nothing much.
13:18Just wanted to talk about Jimmy Butler.
13:20Let's go.
13:21It is very important that Jimmy Butler sets the tone for this game.
13:25What I need from Jimmy Butler is what I need from game four.
13:27I need Pujemski and Jimmy Butler to set the tone because, unfortunately, Steph is banged up.
13:32And I don't entirely feel comfortable about his thumb.
13:36He's been serviceable, right?
13:37He's passed a couple of games, but we need Pujemski and Jimmy Butler to set the tone for this game in order for the Warriors to win.
13:46Diego, that phone is a little bit tough.
13:51But, like, I actually – can I push back on this?
13:55I don't like saying that Steph Curry's been serviceable.
13:58I don't agree at all.
14:01You know, I like just –
14:02I mean, I'm comparing him to his own standard.
14:05Yeah, but that's also recency.
14:07Three games into this series, we thought he was chef's kiss.
14:11Right.
14:11And then he had –
14:11The last two games, he's been all right.
14:14But last game barely even counts.
14:16He played half of it.
14:17The whole team was awful.
14:18Nobody played well.
14:19But he gets demerits for also being awful.
14:23Sure, sure.
14:23But, like, again, they're ahead in the series.
14:26They're largely ahead in the series because of his early efforts.
14:29I'm not going to use the word great, but I think he's above serviceable.
14:33I really do.
14:34He's been okay in the last two games.
14:37Like, the first three games –
14:39But why are we only spotlighting the last two games?
14:41The Warriors lead in this series because of what they did in the first three games.
14:44But what happened in game four, they won despite him.
14:47And all I was saying is that Houston has –
14:50I believe Houston has a blueprint in how they can slow, not stop,
14:55Steph Curry.
14:56They did it in game four.
14:57In game five, he and Jimmy and Draymond were all patently bad.
15:01And you fell behind by – Steve said 29.
15:04I thought it was 27 at the half.
15:06I could be wrong.
15:06He could be right.
15:07It was almost 30.
15:09And so, yeah, whatever that was, that was bad.
15:13Yeah, but, again, I'm just going to –
15:15If I'm looking at this as an overall five-game stretch,
15:18I'm going to put Steph Curry a touch above the idea of serviceable.
15:23I just said that over the last two games is what I said.
15:25Yeah, and, again, I'm looking at it as the entire thing.
15:29And then, you know, he brings up the turnovers.
15:32Because it was such a blowout, we never really even got into it.
15:36But the stat played again.
15:38It was close.
15:39The Warriors had 14 turnovers.
15:41The Rockets had 12, which is kind of funny
15:44because what's the number that you and I keep throwing out there?
15:4713.
15:48Right.
15:48If you have 13 or more, you're in bad shape.
15:52If you've got less than 13, you're in good shape.
15:54The turnover battle has been definitive in this series.
15:58All five games take care of the basketball tonight.
16:02Well, the bigger point for me in game five
16:04is that they had 10 turnovers in the first half.
16:06Yep, absolutely.
16:07So forget the total because the starters played five minutes in the second half.
16:12I don't know how many of those turnovers in the second half were theirs,
16:15but they had 10 in the first half.
16:18And I've said this all along.
16:19You tip your cap to Houston in game five because they shot 69% from the floor
16:24in the first half in game five.
16:26So even if you didn't turn it over 10 times in the first half
16:30and Houston did what they did, you would have been down by 17.
16:33You still would have been getting blown out because Houston was that good.
16:36Absolutely.
16:37No, no doubt about that.
16:38All right.
16:38888-957-9570.
16:41Let's go to Terry in Walnut Creek.
16:44Hi, Terry.
16:45Thank you for calling.
16:47Hey, guys.
16:48Thanks a lot.
16:49Just a couple quick things.
16:50I coached for 30 years, and I got to coach in three Olympic games.
16:54And the key to my coaching, which I see in Coach Kerr,
17:01is his ability to get his team healthy and create a team culture
17:06that just explodes at the right time.
17:10I also wanted to say that in regards to Jimmy Butler,
17:13whether or not they win tonight does not make valid the trade.
17:20The trade has been great all the way through, and he's been a great addition
17:24and will continue to be a great addition.
17:27So thanks for listening to me, guys.
17:29Okay.
17:29Yeah.
17:29No, thank you, Terry.
17:31Again, I would just say this.
17:33I think we've already stated that it's already really, really good.
17:38But here's the perspective I come from on this.
17:41It's not even just the idea that they would be in bad shape in round two
17:45if they don't win tonight.
17:47I think there's a really, really strong, if not likelihood, chance
17:51that they don't even get to round two if they don't win tonight.
17:55And if that's the case, I have a hard time believing.
17:58Forget what you think, I think, or any of us think.
18:01I have a hard time feeling like the Warriors are going to walk out of a first round out
18:07where you had a 3-1 lead feeling good about where they stand.
18:12I just don't think they would.
18:13I think they'd feel terrible.
18:15Even to your point, I think if they go into a second-round series with Minnesota
18:20and they lose, no matter how they lose, they may not feel terrible,
18:25but they go into the offseason figuring out what they need to do better
18:28and who they need to bring in to be better.
18:31Because you got Jimmy Butler in, and you've called it a double already.
18:34Brian in Palo Alto called it a triple, and all the rest of it.
18:37I get it, and you're not wrong, but you want a home run.
18:41And you know what you want?
18:42You want a grand slam.
18:43And the grand slam is you winning the NBA championship.
18:46So you go from what this is, which is good, and if you get into Minnesota, that's great.
18:52If you beat Minnesota and you get to OKC, that's excellent, and all the rest of it.
18:57But the bigger point is you've got two years and this run left of Steph, Draymond, and Jimmy.
19:05So how do you make it better?
19:07So no matter how this ends, you go into the offseason and you try to make it better.
19:11All right, 888-957-9570.
19:14That's, although, to a degree, that's true even if they did win the championship.
19:18I mean, that's standard, right?
19:21But I wonder, in other words, if something did go wrong this weekend, how broad is that search?
19:28How big do you go?
19:30I mean, I know everyone's going to...
19:31Oh, it's bigger.
19:31It gets bigger.
19:32Right, like, everything's back on the table, right?
19:35No?
19:36Not everything, but yes.
19:37Yeah.
19:38No, I mean...
19:39What's that on the table?
19:40Steph, no.
19:40Draymond, no.
19:41Jimmy, no.
19:41For me.
19:42Like...
19:43I wonder.
19:44I wonder if you don't...
19:45I think you look at what...
19:45Don't you just go back and just...
19:47Like, that's worked.
19:47Don't you just go...
19:48It's worked, but they also, again, would look at this as...
19:53I mean, you lost in the first round.
19:55Right.
19:56You know what I mean?
19:56So, again, I don't think that it's going to happen.
19:59I think that they're going to win the basketball game tonight, but at the same time, the way
20:05that this organization thinks, I don't think they're going to be patting themselves on the
20:09back if they can't get to next week.

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