Tea Time with Huw Hopkins from Sky Sports and Double Clutch UK

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / RSS

Brian Bosche and Skylar Smith chat with Huw Hopkins, Lead Writer at Double Clutch UK and Analyst at Sky Sports, about the NBA and WNBA Playoffs on this episode of Tea Time. They discuss the Denver Nuggets WINNING Game 7 against the Clippers, the Heat beating the Celtics in overtime, the Connecticut Sun beating the Chicago Sky, and Shey Peddy's epic buzzer beating 3-pointer to get the win for the Phoenix Mercury over the Washington Mystics. 

Full Transcript

Brian Bosché:
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to High Tea Hoops. This is Brian Boscheé at the Duke of hoops and as always we have Skylar the Duchess. What's up Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
Hi Brian.

Brian Bosché:
And we have a very special guest today, Huw Hopkins lead writer at Double Clutch, UK and analyst at Sky Sports. Huw, welcome to the show.

Huw Hopkins:
Well, I'm the lucky one, guys. Thank you for having me. Such royalty a Duke and a Duchess. I don't know what I did to deserve to be on this show.

Brian Bosché:
And as we've proven Duchesses can be American. It's a real big breakthrough in the world [crosstalk 00:00:38].

Huw Hopkins:
Apparently.

Skylar Smith:
It's true. Thanks Meghan Markle.

Brian Bosché:
Apparently. But let's just start off. We want to get to know you a little bit better Huw. I'm not sure our audience knows you as well. So just want to give a quick background on yourself and what you do.

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah, certainly. So I'm a basketball fan, ultimately but I am a writer and I do some podcasting and do, well, occasionally pop up on a video feed mainly with Double Clutch. So Double Clutch has been where I sort of started my basketball writing journalism career and in the past two years I've been working with Sky Sports doing their WNBA and NBA content just as a sort of analyst a couple of times a week. But yeah that's been super fun.

Brian Bosché:
And if you don't follow Huw, it's coach Huw on Twitter, right? @coachhuw?

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah. On Instagram as well @coach_huw. The Welsh spelling of the name rather than the English.

Brian Bosché:
Got it. Incredible interviews, go follow Huw, incredible stories. But before we hop into the incredible line up of games we had last night which, four in a row. Amazing. Huw, we just want to start off with some of your favorite moments in the bubble and wubble so far. So if you want to start off, what has been your favorite... let's start with the NBA. What has been your favorite moment or maybe you can go to two or three, favorite moment of the bubble so far?

Huw Hopkins:
I think it's difficult because I'm a Spurs fan by heart but I think-

Brian Bosché:
Sorry.

Huw Hopkins:
... the coolest thing absolutely in the NBA bubble is that the Phoenix Suns, went eight in a... It feels like a lifetime ago now, but that was a totally cool moment, right? No other team did it, but then they did so well and yet they didn't even make the playoffs. That's just sports in a nutshell really isn't it? You can have the highest of highs but you can be just knocked down so quickly and so easily.

Skylar Smith:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). That literally feels like it was so long ago. I forgot that the Suns were even in the bubble at any point. Huw, who's been your favorite player to watch in the bubble?

Huw Hopkins:
That's a good one. I really enjoyed what Chris Paul was doing because he basically was... it felt like he was facing off against the world because he dragged this ragtag, a bunch of little OKC mini Chris Pauls to the bubble and to the playoffs and then he went up against his old foe. And I'm not a huge Chris Paul fan to be honest but that was a really cool story. But then also, well, I'm sure we're going to get into it, but I have been loving Denver and-

Brian Bosché:
Yes Huw. Skylar hasn't.

Huw Hopkins:
... I'm such a huge fan of all Europeans that are in the league, but I've had the opportunity to sort of follow Serbian national teams a little bit which we don't necessarily have to go into right now, but I'm such a huge fan of Nikola Jokic because of everything that he's done for the national teams and for Denver. So yeah, I've been enjoying that. And of course, you can not love what Luca was doing at various stages. I think it's been a huge success, ultimately. I think if they want to do the bubble each year I wouldn't be against it. I don't get to go to the games anyway because I'm over here so I think, if they want to do the bubble again next year it's been super exciting.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Great call on you coach. I'm going to do my best to not make this a Nuggets podcast and good to have another Nuggets ally because Skylar does not enjoy watching the Nuggets. They don't have enough charisma.

Skylar Smith:
I think they're boring honestly.

Huw Hopkins:
What?

Skylar Smith:
I don't know. I'm sorry. I just don't like watching them. There's something aesthetically about how they play that I just really don't like. And also I'm just falling asleep through the first half every single time. I just don't want to watch it.

Brian Bosché:
It's better content anyway Huw, it's fine. We have to have some conflict.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah [crosstalk 00:05:12].

Brian Bosché:
And going over to the WNBA which has... and I do love the bubble. It's also been great for UK friendly times because they're on the East Coast of the States so having the early, early games especially early on in the playing in the playoffs I think has made it a lot more accessible to the UK for both the NBA and WNBA which has been cool.

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah, for the first few weeks, at least. I mean, I think for the end year, I don't think we have any more early games even on the weekends where we tend to see a slightly earlier start time. I think we are starting... I think most of the game starts like 11 now which is doable for diehards like myself and some of the other people that you've had on here from the UK. Those guys and myself, they will tend to stay up beyond one o'clock to watch live games. But yeah, there were some glorious moments where we had games starting at like five o'clock, then seven o'clock and then nine o'clock and it was beautiful. You could just watch it while walking around the house and just getting on with your day. I miss those days. I mean, the WNBA is still doing early times on the weekends so that's good but I think we're reaching the important stages of the playoffs now so it's going to get harder.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I think the Hoop Genius moments, we had that Twitch stream last night at like 2:00 AM where they're going super late with Laurence and Yani, but I don't think a lot of UK people are going to stay up for that. All right, let's go over to-

Huw Hopkins:
No. Credit to them for trying.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. All right, let's go over to the wubble. Favorite wubble moment so far. This could be on-court or off-court, fishing trips, exciting games. What's been your favorite.

Huw Hopkins:
Okay. I think some of the best moments... when the WNBA season just started and all the teams just got to the wubble, you had... One of my favorite moments was the Chicago Sky. They did this video where they were all on their bikes and it started with like a closeup shot of Courtney Vandersloot and then it panned backwards and all of a sudden all the other players started coming in from different side roads and outside of other houses and stuff. And then you had Gabby Williams on the long board and it was just a such well-produced video. But being the Chicago Sky, possibly the coolest team in the WNBA, they then went away and showed all the outtakes and all the people laughing and trying to get Courtney Vandersloot face perfectly in shot while all the others joined. I love that team. They've got such a great social media presence. All the WNBA teams do to be fair. But some other moments I mean, it's pretty recent but Shey Peddy hitting that game winning shot last night was just-

Brian Bosché:
Oh my God.

Huw Hopkins:
God, how beautiful was that for her?

Brian Bosché:
And I think Skylar has a whole segment on this.

Skylar Smith:
I can't wait to talk about it.

Brian Bosché:
Amazing. And then favorite WNBA player. Who's been your favorite to watch so far?

Huw Hopkins:
I think, I mean, to be fair I got put Courtney Vandersloot up there. She's absolutely one of the most exciting players in the league and she just got her 9.59 assist average up to 10.0 and so becoming the first player in WNBA history to reach 10 assists per game. That's totally cool. The first jersey I ever bought, WNNBA jersey I ever bought was A’ja Wilson. So I'm a huge fan of hers simply because she's just got this amazing personality that translates on and off the court. She's super hyper focused and competitive. But then in between plays, she'll just make fun of herself for shooting such a dorky right-hand layup because she can't shoot with her right hand. And yeah, that's a really fun team. And of course you've got to love Seattle Storm. They are just a world class professional sports organization. They really know how to do things properly and they have done ever since they entered the WNBA. And it helps having Sue Bird on your team.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I did not prep Huw before this podcast Skylar, so the Nuggets praise and the Seattle Storm praise are all on his own. I did not tell him to say that.

Skylar Smith:
This is a Storm podcast.

Brian Bosché:
She has to tell me every time not to talk about the Storms [crosstalk 00:10:12].

Huw Hopkins:
I'm all about that.

Brian Bosché:
All right. Let's go into the incredible line up of games we had last night. Celtic, Heat, let's start there. First game of the Eastern Conference finals. Skylar, I'm going to set this one out for you.

Skylar Smith:
Thank you.

Brian Bosché:
You deserve it.

Skylar Smith:
Thank you.

Brian Bosché:
Give us your reactions, your overview, your Jimmy Bucket segment, whatever you need. The floor is yours.

Skylar Smith:
I just want to get this out of the way. You can call me a hater for not liking the Nuggets, not thinking they're fun to watch, but when you watch the Heat, it just feels like such a difference. The heat are just so fun to watch and so you contrast that with the Nuggets and the Nuggets get tough to watch for me.

Brian Bosché:
In your opinion.

Skylar Smith:
Just want to get that out there. Just saying, just saying. There's a lot of hyper on the Nuggets. It's okay if you just want to watch the fun teams. Anyways, this series is going to be so fun. The way that these two teams were battling back and forth, it was one of the most fun games I've ever seen. Let's talk about the Bam block first. We just have to get it out of the way. I have not stopped watching it since last night. I've literally like once an hour pulled it up and just rewatched it. It makes no sense the amount of wrist strength that Bam had to have to block that shot the way that Jayson Tatum had cocked that ball back and was about to slam it down, it boggles the mind how strong Bam had to be to block that shot. And just want to remind people that Bam was robbed of most improved player this year.

Brian Bosché:
Fair. I thought we saw the best single appendage block with Kawhi with that middle finger block, but I think this one was more impressive because his hand was in the bucket. It was all the way down and full strength throwing it down with a running start. I could not believe that. I was shocked.

Skylar Smith:
Me too. We watched this together last night Brian and you can attest to the fact that I was getting so hype about clutch Jimmy Buckets just coming through when they needed him. Thank God for Jimmy Buckets.

Brian Bosché:
What do you think Huw watching this?

Huw Hopkins:
I mean, shout out to teenage boys everywhere. They know about that immense wrist strength and I think Bam has to be one of the... The thing that I'm most excited about is, Bam is one of the best big men in the league right now and he's one of the most, going back to what you said, Sky he's one of the most under underrated and underappreciated outside of the sort of core diehard NBA followers. And the thing that's amazing about him is that he's not just a center, he is also a guy who can bring the ball up the court and he's also probably the best defender on what is a team of ridiculously talented defenders. He can pretty much do it all. He can shoot from the outside, he can post down low on the block and also face up his man. Yes, he does need to improve in some little areas, but does anybody doubt that he won't improve as he gets older and better? I mean, the improvements that he's shown already.

Huw Hopkins:
And going back to the big man thing, he's one of... we have four teams left, right? That's right [inaudible 00:13:51]. Yeah we have four teams left and three of those four teams have elite big men. Now that's something I think three or four years ago we were like, that's never going to happen again. But it's showing that basketball doesn't have to be played one way and everybody's got these different styles. And even within those different categories of big men, you've got these different styles of being played. And I just think Bam very much has put himself up in the elite category of big men in the league right now. And yeah, that block was incredible but it's everything that he does on the court that deserves the praise because he is such a well rounded player.

Huw Hopkins:
And having someone like Jimmy Butler sort of bring out the competitive spirit in him, you could sort of describe it as a more intense description for Jimmy Butler because I think he takes you up to another level but whatever team he goes on, he brings out that fire on any team and I think we're seeing it in Bam Adebayo as well. So they're a great pair and I'm looking forward to them for the next few years.

Brian Boscheé:
That's where I think my biggest takeaway from this, excuse me, is. The Western Conference we saw a lot of teams almost look like they gave up on the court. The Rockets, the effort wasn't there, things were off, the Clippers, the same thing in their series, but with the Heat and the Celtics every role player is stepping up, they're all competing, they're coming back. So I think this was a crazy roller coaster of a game because Boston outscored them 26-18 in the first quarter, Miami came back 37-29, then Boston hit them back with 28-16, then Miami came back in the fourth with a 35-23.

Brian Bosché:
So every quarter they're like throwing haymakers back and forth. And you had almost four of their players on the Heat score over 20, you had Tatum step up, Walker step up, Marcus Smart step up, Jaylen Brown and it just feels like these teams are more competitive and want it more. And I think you're right I think it's the Jimmy Butler, being that leader, bringing everyone up and then you see the kind of young leaders, young squad around Kemba Walker and Tatum stepping up for the Celtics. This series is so much fun. I wish-

Huw Hopkins:
And Marcus Smart.

Brian Bosché:
... we had one of these on the Western Conference. Marcus Smart.

Skylar Smith:
Don't leave Marcus Smart out.

Brian Bosché:
A just master at drawing fouls [crosstalk 00:16:23].

Huw Hopkins:
The Boston fans will hunt you down if you leave Marcus Smart out.

Brian Bosché:
He did step up. And Skylar to Jimmy's credit, he had a little bit of a quiet game but then really came through in the fourth, which he seems to do every time.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I mean, I'll take it.

Brian Bosché:
They stormed back. He hit the big three, he's getting the and ones. It's really fun to see. But I have one question for you coach Huw.

Huw Hopkins:
Go for it.

Brian Bosché:
Was that a foul on Marcus Smart at the end of regulation?

Huw Hopkins:
I mean 9 out of 10 times it is with Marcus Smart. I don't know. If I was coaching against him, then absolutely say it's a foul. If I was coaching him, if I was on his team then absolutely not. He's someone who infuriates fans and coaches because he does flop every single time and God damn it he should be fined every time he does do those stupid flops. But the thing that I loved and especially in the previous series against the Raptors is that all the Boston fans hated Kyle Lowry because he did exactly the same stuff Marcus Smart was doing and all the Raptors fans hated Marcus Smart because he was doing exactly the same things that Kyle Lowry was doing. Which pesky little man is going to win this series? Boston, to be fair to Marcus Smart, he did sort of help them win that series and if Boston come through again, Marcus Smart will be a big reason. But I'm not entirely convinced that they will go through. We'll see.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. So Skylar, I'm going to throw it over to you. What do you think is going to happen with the rest of this series?

Skylar Smith:
I am standing by my original prediction for this series, which is Heat come out of it in seven. I feel even better about it now. I'm not entirely convinced of the seven games, but it's selfishly just what I'm hoping for because I want as many of these games as possible.

Brian Bosché:
That's fair rooting for basketball. What about you Huw, what do you think is going to happen in this series?

Huw Hopkins:
It's so tough, isn't it? I think it's probably going to be... man it's hard. I think I'm going to go with the Heat because they do have-

Skylar Smith:
Yes Huw.

Huw Hopkins:
They do have that offensive big presence whereas I think again, we're going to hear from the Boston fans, certainly Daniel Theis doesn't really do a lot on that end of the court. He's a great defender and I'm a big fan of him, but I think they're going to... if all of your points are coming from attacking out on the wing and then going in, that's what tires teams out. That's why we see the Rockets getting tired at the end of games. That's why we saw the Milwaukee Bucks get tired and get absolutely dispatched is because if you don't have that versatility, it's going to be quite difficult.

Huw Hopkins:
Even if it's not Bam Adebayo on the inside, the Heat actually have good big guards. Jimmy Butler can post up anyone and even Goran Dragic. He's smaller, but he is big for a point guard and against Kemba Walker, he's overpowering him a lot of the time. So I think having the inside presence will help because [inaudible 00:20:27] he just so good defensively that they're going to force the Celtics into some tough three point shots and then they're going to be able to protect the pink quite well. So I'm going to go Heat in six on this one.

Skylar Smith:
Yes.

Brian Bosché:
This is one of the most evenly matched teams and series I've seen in a while where they are pretty similar teams, the chemistry is off the charts, they have these good wings that both coaches are making really strategic moves back and forth. So it's been really fun. I'm not a huge fan of either of these teams, but I'm sticking with mine too. I'm going with Celtics. I think they are primed and ready to take this next step. They've played together a lot longer than the Heat, we see that chemistry has made a big difference in other series. It's going to be tough though. I just felt like the Celtics had this game and kind of blew it and they're going to come back with a vengeance. So I'm going with Celtics. Let's move on.

Huw Hopkins:
It's tough to shoot against the Celtics at the moment.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, they've been incredible. But let's move on to our Denver versus Clippers series that was just the talk of NBA Twitter. It was one of the most explosive moments in NBA Twitter I have ever seen. So much fun to follow that last night. I'm going to start with you Huw as I temper my excitement here. What were some of your reactions from this game seven?

Huw Hopkins:
Well, I mean first up the game itself was just an incredible and it's amazing the... I personally had the Clippers in the finals at the start of the year.

Brian Bosché:
Me too.

Huw Hopkins:
I saw them go in all the way. We have seen it before where you put a super team together and they really are quite a super team, they've got such huge talent and such great depth but it sort of reminded me of Miami Heat in that first year where they've got all the talent, they've got all the depth but they don't have the chemistry. Between Dwayne Wade and LeBron James, there was confusion over who's the top dog on this team. And I mean, undoubtedly Kawhi is the top player on this team and he's the go to player, but I think because you do have so many people who are used to having the ball, even going down to like Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell they're used to getting the ball in certain times in the game and just being able to score because that's what they're good at.

Huw Hopkins:
But you also have Paul George, who I think he's in his own head a little bit in the sense that, because he doesn't know if it's his turn to score or his turn to shoot. That's then throwing his entire shot off and it's throwing the entire game plan off. And I don't think Doc Rivers necessarily put Kawhi in the best positions that he's good at especially in that fourth quarter, I think he went 0 for 5 or 0 for 6.

Brian Bosché:
I don't think any... neither of them scored.

Huw Hopkins:
And I think the majority of them. I haven't checked. I haven't checked the sort of shooting patterns, you'll have to forgive me, but to my memory I don't think Kawhi really got into the paint or got into the mid post which is his spot really. I think the majority of it was coming off the screen over the top or dribbling the ball and shooting it from distance. And that's not what, I mean, he can do it and you do want a steady diet of it to sort of keep the defenses on their toes but I think Kawhi needs to really be down low from time to time on offense. And I just think the game plan stalled a little bit on whether it was hesitancy because nobody knew who was going to be the guy in the clutch or whether Doc Rivers didn't have the right game plan. I'm not really sure.

Huw Hopkins:
But I'm not entirely surprised. I'm a little bit disappointed that they didn't sort of reach the finals at least but... it was always going to be tough in the first year. It's always tough in the first year. I don't think they're going to be falling apart. I think they'll come back and they'll have a good couple of years together hopefully.

Brian Bosché:
I think you hit the nail on the head though. The Clippers didn't really know what to do in those clutch moments. When they're up 3-1 how do they close this out? They had never been in that situation before. They were even a little lackluster against the Mavs in those tough games. And it was kind of just, okay, is it Paul George's turn to miss a three or is it Kawhi's turn to get to a spot.

Brian Bosché:
And they didn't really know where the Nuggets came out of a game seven where they came back from 3-1. They knew exactly what they had to do, who had to do it if they were going to win. Jamal Murray has to step up if they're going to win the game, Jokic has to power the offense. That's how they beat the Jazz. And they both executed and played some of the best two man game I've ever seen in these kind of down 3-1 in these clutch moments. And they came through, they knew who they were, they knew what they had to do, they had chemistry over years, they played together a long time and it was so much fun to watch. Before I go on further though, Skylar, we watched this together. You don't enjoy the Nuggets because they're not charismatic and also because the Clippers have great walk and fit. So you're letting the off-court stuff affect the on-court stuff Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
Always. I think that it's ridiculous to think that anyone doesn't do that.

Brian Bosché:
That's very fair. But what were some of your reactions from watching this? We watched together. So I saw you in pain. What are your some of your reactions after you've sat on it and gone through NBA Twitter?

Skylar Smith:
I mean, first of all, just want to thank the Clippers as a Rockets fan for taking the heat off the Rockets for a little bit. Maybe everyone will just forget it that the Rockets collapsed because the Clippers had such a brilliant collapse last night. Just to echo what you guys said, it's 100% a chemistry thing with this Clippers team, but I also think that there's... we talk about the X factor with players and I just don't think Paul George has it. I think that there was a little bit of a mismatch in kind of expectations in this year. I'm going to read you some quotes. Lou Will, last night in his post game press conference said, "We had championship expectations this year and we're disappointed to not have reached that." Paul George in his post game press conference, "We didn't have championship expectations this year. We haven't been together long enough."

Skylar Smith:
I mean, Paul George... we talked about the X factor. I was watching all of Paul George's post game press conferences after all of these games and after every loss they'd be like, "How are you guys feeling going into this next game?" He'd be like, "We feel good. We feel positive. We feel okay about it." Which I know you want to posture and make it seem like you're not freaking out, but at the same time to be like, we're coming off of these awful losses, we feel good, that just does not make sense to me. It's okay if players are out there saying, "Yeah, we're disappointed with our performance. We want to be doing better." So it's really weird to see these kind of mismatch expectations from two of the major, major players on this team. And I've said it once, I'll say it again. Maybe it's just not a great idea to play for your ex-girlfriend's dad who you cheated on. Maybe that doesn't work.

Huw Hopkins:
Maybe that affects your mental game a little.

Brian Bosché:
Yikes.

Skylar Smith:
Sorry [crosstalk 00:28:18].

Brian Bosché:
Very good points Skylar. We have a lot of good relationship comparisons here. I am just happy that Jokic has been an incredible player in the regular season. Jamal Murray was better last year. We've been kind of criticizing him as Nuggets fans this year for not stepping up. And I think Jokic was top five MVP candidate this year. So to see them taking this next jump in the playoffs. And I think Jokic has, I think I saw this random stat where he has the highest increase in points per game from the regular season to the playoffs of any player ever. I think he went from like 17 or 18 or 19 up to like 28, 27 in the playoffs. So he has really stepped up.

Brian Bosché:
Murray after the unfortunate leaking his own sex tape incident has really stepped up. We're on fire today Skylar. He's really stepped up and it's been really fun to see them get the respect where Jokic gets was the best player in this series where there was Kawhi and Paul George. And Yani tweeted at me this morning and said, "Really good to see the chunky Serb and maple Curry back at it again." I just love this duo.

Skylar Smith:
I also think-

Huw Hopkins:
I think I've struggled on praising Murray in the past because he has had hot streaks but never put it together for a whole season or a full playoffs. But I think to be fair he is deserving of the praise that he's getting this year whether or not is because he's trying to prove that he is a top performer because I know people sort of criticized him because of that sex tape and how he wasn't a top performer. He's really showed up in the playoffs now and I think with Jokic as well. Jokic is the best big man in the NBA. I'm not questioning it anymore. He's been one of the best big men in the world for quite some time but this year he's really shown. He had like 22 rebounds last night. That's crazy.

Brian Bosché:
Insane.

Huw Hopkins:
That's crazy.

Brian Bosché:
And Murray had 40 points. He had more than Kawhi and Paul George combined by like 13.

Huw Hopkins:
That's crazy.

Skylar Smith:
I do want to talk about Kawhi for a minute.

Brian Bosché:
Okay. Let's go.

Skylar Smith:
So I feel like anywhere you plug in Kawhi, there's a good chance they have a championship run, not a championship run but it's going to be a very good team and a contending team anywhere you put Kawhi, but this just proves that it took so much more around Kawhi at the Raptors to win that championship. They had a cohesive unit around him, they were well coached, they had a game plan that made sense and so just plugging Kawhi into any old team it's not going to get you to a championship the way that it did in Toronto. Toronto is not the standard is what I want people to understand. But also I feel like there's something to be said about-

Huw Hopkins:
Well...

Skylar Smith:
Go ahead.

Huw Hopkins:
No, no, sorry. Go on, go on. I interrupted you.

Skylar Smith:
I feel like there's something to be said about how the Raptors were thought about with Kawhi and how the Clippers were thought about with Kawhi. The Raptors, they were playing as underdogs all year and I felt like the Clippers because they had such big expectations coming into this team and people were hyping them up so much it looked like they were coasting through a lot of the year and just kind of putting together wins how they could but they weren't really in it. And when you're doing that, it's not like you can just switch it on whenever you need to. If you're coasting, you have to get your head into the game. They weren't able to just turn it on when they needed to.

Huw Hopkins:
I think that's the difference between chemistry that we were talking about earlier. So you have Toronto Raptors who by and large last year they were the same team that they had been for the previous five years that kept on falling short. They didn't need someone to take them over the hump, but even a new head coach was their old assistant head coach so he's been in the locker room, he's been around for quite some time. And actually shout out to Nick Nurse I tried to do it on every podcast I can for the only coach in the BBL who has then gone on to win a championship in the NBA as well. So they had Nick Nurse come in, but he was already there. They basically had the whole team there that had been built for many years previous. The only additions they made was really Marc Gasol and Danny green and Kawhi.

Huw Hopkins:
And now Danny green didn't do very well. Last year, he was okay. He did his job, but that's about the most basic request you can have for him for last year, Marc is always excellent because he is a proven winner. He's a FIBA World Cup champion he knows how to lead a team, even though they fell short so many times in Memphis. And then you had Kawhi who has been built as a winner. He was taken from the ultimate winning franchise and he was a formal finals MVP for that ultimate winning franchise. And basically, he just took the most recent information of winning on this ultimate winning franchise and said, "So I just put it here in this team."

Huw Hopkins:
And I think the mistake that they made was that, you can't just do that on any old team. You could do it on the Raptors because they've been built over many years, but you can't just build it from nothing. But hopefully he realizes that and hopefully they give it a good shot next year. Maybe some elite tweaks, but I think they've got a good championship contending team for a couple of years.

Brian Bosché:
And it's sad to see... we love the Raptors we're known to love the Raptors. I think they would have won it this year if Kawhi would have stayed. And that must be a tough pill to swallow for Raptors fans and even for Kawhi where you're out in the semifinals when he's looking at the rappers and going, "Man, I could have made it to the finals. We could have won this entire thing again."

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah. Especially because the Raptors went out in the same round as the Clippers they didn't go any further than his previous teams so...

Brian Bosché:
Tough loss there. Let's go into Western Conference predictions. We've got the matchup everyone's been looking forward to this entire season, Denver versus LA. Adam Silver must just be like, "God, damn it we almost had it." I don't think it's as bad because it's not going to be Staple Center. It's in the bubble so we don't really get that. But Skylar, who do you think is going to win this series? What's going to happen? LeBron versus Jokic, A.D versus Jokic. What's going to happen here?

Skylar Smith:
Brian, I'm sorry. I think the Lakers are going to dominate the Nuggets.

Brian Bosché:
How could you doubt us after that last series?

Skylar Smith:
I honestly, I don't know, because I don't know how I'm still doubting Denver. They keep proving me wrong and they keep going down 3-1 and me being like, "All right, there it is. I was right". And then they just keep coming back. So, maybe Brian, maybe this is me doing you a favor. If I just keep hating, they'll keep winning. So you're welcome. I'm going to take the Lakers in six.

Brian Bosché:
All right. Fair enough Huw. What do you think?

Huw Hopkins:
No, she's crazy. I think we're going to see... I'm fully on board with the Nuggets. Going back to what you were saying earlier Sky, I'm going to push back a little bit on them being boring. Is that what you said, they're boring on the court?

Skylar Smith:
I did say boring.

Brian Bosché:
Uncharismatic.

Huw Hopkins:
Not charismatic.

Skylar Smith:
It's a charisma thing.

Huw Hopkins:
For me, I just don't see that because you have a guy who just looks to throw the ball down the court every time he catches it off a rebound, but when they're in the half court it doesn't really matter who has it? Yeah, they have a two man game between Murray and Jokic, but actually they're just sort of like, "It didn't work let's just throw it over there. And how about you try and create something cool." It's always just like, "I don't know what's going to go on but I'm pretty sure something cool is going to come out of it at the end." It doesn't look like they have a plan and yet they have a plan. Shout out Mike Malone he's done such a fantastic job sort of, he's clearly built in good, solid base of understanding of what he wants out of that team because they are able to freelance when things don't go their way.

Huw Hopkins:
And I think that's like Jason Kidd, that's like Steve Nash where you can just, "Okay, shit's hitting the fan, let's just make it work." And I don't know what's to not love about that. The Lakers and Nuggets series I think it is going to be an interesting transition because we've seen the league is not really complete with the big guy on the court for a little while now. And I think going up against Jokic they're going to have to bring out JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard, but you might even see Anthony Davis and even LeBron James. They might have a couple of possessions against trying to guard against the big guys.

Huw Hopkins:
So it's going to challenge the Lakers defensive coaching a little bit. And I think it is going to be an interesting series, but I don't know. I think I've said this for a little while. I think, you've got the one-two punch in LeBron and A.D but you can't really just win a championship with just a one-two punch these days. I think the creativity that the Nuggets have with Jamal and Nicola Jokic but also you have a couple of X factors, Porter Jr being one of them and I think they have a few more pieces who are at a level where they are, they might not be yet, but they are about to be sort of all star level type of plays. It reminds me of like the 2015 Golden State Warriors where you had one or two stars and you had a couple of others who were going to be on that level in a couple of years time. And you also have the chemistry. So I think the Nuggets do have a few more things going for them at the moment.

Skylar Smith:
Do you mean to say that Alex Caruso isn't an X factor Huw?

Brian Bosché:
He has been.

Huw Hopkins:
Alex Caruso, I'm sure his mother loves him but I don't think he's really got that elite talent. Don't get me wrong, I actually think Alex Caruso is actually, despite all the unnecessary hype he gets, I think he is worthy of some of it. He's an incredible player and I think in some ways he's underrated because people just look at his balding spots and awesome dunks. They don't realize the defensive effort he puts in and that he's actually just a great swing man who can do a little bit of everything, not to an elite standard but he can do a little bit of everything. I like Caruso. I think he's a great player but he's not really on like that Jamal Murray stage, I don't think.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. I've said this from the start where the Nuggets still seem like they're a couple of years away where they're building up their core, MPJ is improving and stellar rookie, but I don't know how they're doing this right now, I don't know how they pulled off the winner over the Clippers so I don't want to doubt them, but I can't bet against the King. I'm also going Lakers. I think it will go six. I also did this last time with the Clipper so it seems to work for me. So I'm going with Lakers. It seems like LeBron can just decide this series by himself still at 35. So I'm going Lakers.

Huw Hopkins:
That will be the difference. That will be the difference is if LeBron James just says, "I'm winning this one."

Brian Bosché:
Yep. I don't think the Nuggets have a person that can do that yet. But let's move on to the electric WNBA games. Let's start with the one that was first on the roster, the Suns versus the Sky, not the Suns-

Skylar Smith:
The Suns.

Brian Bosché:
... the Sun versus the Sky. Connecticut Sun versus the Chicago Sky. We had Meredith Minkow from Bleacher Report last week, the Sky again Huw, agreed such a fun team to watch. It's been really fun. Unfortunately they didn't pull through here so we don't get any more Sky. But what were your reactions to this one Skylar kind of seeing this one go through?

Skylar Smith:
I mean, this was truly just the Alyssa Thomas game I think.

Brian Bosché:
Amazing.

Skylar Smith:
She had 26 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists. Huge game from her, love to see her thrive like this. Just have to get it in there. I'm really sad to see the Sky go, but I also was not quite ready to give up Curt Miller in the wubble so-

Brian Bosché:
I know.

Skylar Smith:
... happy to have the Sun going through. But I think you can see like, they talked to Alyssa Thomas after the game and she was talking about like, she's so fueled this year by how close they were to winning the championship last year. They lost in five games to Washington and you can really see that fight in this team.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. What about you Huw?

Huw Hopkins:
I sort of feel bad for Alyssa Thomas. I feel bad for Alyssa Thomas because she's been with that call for a little while now and even through the, I guess the [inaudible 00:42:54] period where there was some inside squabbles I think. I don't know the full story. I'm not going to try and gossip more than that, but I think there were some issues within the locker room there but they sort of rebuilt that in the image of John Paul Jones, but still you had this tough physical leader in Alyssa Thomas, and you had the supreme swag of Courtney Williams and you just thought, "Yes, this is the team that I can follow for the next three years because they are going to be so cool."

Huw Hopkins:
And then all of a sudden, it just all crumbles [inaudible 00:43:36] can't join because she's concerned about COVID-19 which is cool. But then you have Courtney Williams going in the off season and all of a sudden everything just seems to be going wrong, but they managed to land DeWanna Bonner and that is working out. I don't think any team could land DeWanna Boner and say, "Hey, I'm a bit concerned about this." And I'm super pleased for her that she's still able to be this tough, amazing leader that she is and push her team to the next level. I did sort of suspect that they might win this game because the Sky they've always struggled with big physical teams and there is no one bigger or more physical than Alyssa Thomas.

Brian Bosché:
She looked like an athlete more than anyone else I've seen on that court where she's just taking it coast to coast, laying it up. She was amazing to watch and Bonner, you're right, I just compare this to Kawhi. Kawhi was zero for zero from the free throw line in game seven, didn't shoot a free throw, Bonner was 13 for 13. So that's huge. That's a huge difference where you're attacking, you're getting into the paint, you're wanting to take that win instead of Huw, like you said, just kind of settling for the outside shots not really getting into the paint. So this was fun to watch. Again, though, this was a crazy roller coaster game where it's pretty even at half and then the Sun in the third quarter scored 27 to Chicago's 11 and just took this game and held onto the end. So this one was a lot of fun. Let me ask you Huw, what do you think about the single elimination format? Because this was a really fun game to watch. The next one was really fun and we only get one and now the Sky have to go home.

Huw Hopkins:
I mean, I love it because anything can happen, but at the same time I mean, you might end up setting me off on a complete different tangent here now but I think the WNBA just needs to rethink its season entirely. There were so many concerns coming into this year. The WNBA was going to be competing against NBA playoff action and who's going to watch the WNBA but actually people have. And if anything they've watched it more because you're able to promote them, you're able to cross promote them, you're able to have them on a different times, you know that there's going to be a game every day in the WNBA and there's always something to watch. That's been so exciting and the storylines have really held up.

Huw Hopkins:
And actually, I think they just need to stop going with these silly 34 game seasons now in the summer to try and work it around the NBA schedule and just say, "No, we're good enough. We've got a good enough following. Let's go head to head, let's turn it into a 46 game season and have a little tournament hanging off the back of it and then also have an all star game every year and then also have the playoffs and make it three game series in the first round if you want, and then five games in the second round if you want. I've realized they just worked out CBA so this isn't going to be changing anytime soon. But they've proven that, it might be the least watched sport in America in terms of professional sports compared to NFL, NBA, NHL even baseball, but it does have a dedicated following and all they want is more.

Huw Hopkins:
And if you can double the amount of games the players are going to play, then hopefully you can double the amount of salary you can pay them and then they won't need to travel abroad to go and earn those salaries. Now for me I'm quite happy. I'm a European basketball fan so I get to watch them in Europe anyway, it makes no difference. But I think if you really want to say the WNBA is the best women's basketball league in the world, which to be honest I don't think you can say that at the moment, because the same talent over there then just goes over to Europe. I think if you want to say, it's the best women's basketball league in the world, then you need to make more games, you need to have it going up against other sports and between say October and March. Sorry that completely went off on a rant and all you asked was, do I like single game eliminations, which I do.

Brian Bosché:
I agree. It's been really fun to watch this at the same time as the NBA, the cross promotions have been great. What the WNBA hoodies, a lot of the NBA players supporting with the D.T goat shirt that Devin Booker wore.

Huw Hopkins:
That's one I need.

Brian Bosché:
I know you've been active on Twitter of wanting to get those WNBA march over in the UK. But it's been really fun to watch these at the same time and I agree. Skylar, what do you think of these single elimination?

Skylar Smith:
I mean, single elimination games are always going to be super fun but it's... single elimination games are never, I mean, I guess not never, but it's not always going to have the team advancing that it's the better team necessarily. I think, the Sun and the Sky, I think the right team came out of the Mystics Mercury team. I think the Sun and the Sky, they were both so good this year. But I mean they're always going to be so much fun and selfishly we didn't get March madness this year, so we haven't really seen very many single elimination games.

Brian Bosché:
So you like it?

Skylar Smith:
So I like it.

Brian Bosché:
That's fair. Well, goodbye Chicago Sky. It's been incredible, bye Vandersloot and everything you're bringing. First WNBA player to ever average 10 assists in a season, so really fun to watch, but now the Connecticut Sun move on to play the Sparks on Thursday night. So looking forward to seeing that. Let's get to the Mystics Mercury game which... wow, this was one of the best games I've seen in basketball period. Skylar, do you want to start off with some of your reactions to seeing this game?

Skylar Smith:
I mean, I feel like I say this all the time but I just feel bad for anyone who has to go against Diana Taurasi at all times. When her and Skylar Diggins kind of started that 17-0 run to come back last night you could just... from the time that Diana Taurasi hit those two back-to-back threes you could just feel it. I mean, you could just feel that they were going to take over and they were going to win this game.

Huw Hopkins:
Yeah. I wrote a story for Sky saying, how you cannot count Diana Taurasi out. Don't ever count her out because she is the ultimate... she's, going back to what we were talking about earlier with LeBron, you can never bet against him, you can never bet against Taurasi. Doing this at 38, which is... she's coming off the back of a really tough back injury last year. I think because she spent too much time carrying her team for so many years. Your back is bound to hurt a little bit after that but I mean, she and Skylar Diggins-Smith, they struggled in that first half. I think they only had like two field goals made between them. But you knew that that wasn't going to be the case in the second half.

Huw Hopkins:
I got into this debate with someone, I can't quite remember who it was in the preseason, how trading Sky, I mean, they didn't trade, but they got Skylar Diggins-Smith in and then they lost DeWanna Bonner and I think you could argue that the talent level, the talent swap there it's not as high. But Skylar Diggins-Smith offers so much more I think and it changes the setup and that ever since... and Brittney Griner has gone down. The Mercury, they're playing small ball, essentially. They've reworked the offense a little bit where you've got Taurasi on defense. She's sort of playing power forward position at times. And that's easier for her because she doesn't have to chase these little guards around. And she's such a smart player that she can play any position anyway and it means that the floor is more open and they've added a few little pieces here and there.

Huw Hopkins:
We mentioned earlier but Shey Peddy was such a great pickup even though she barely made the team for Washington Mystics before they cut her. It's such an incredible story and I'm really pleased we get at least one more playoff run of Diana Taurasi. Who knows how many years this is going to last.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah. Agreed. I've loved the fight of these two teams because like you said, Griner went down, the Mystics are defending champions stepped up, [inaudible 00:53:13] was incredible, Mitchell just raining fire down from threes which was really fun to see, but D.T and Sky that was insane. Just in people's faces, just spotting up. It was amazing to see. But yeah, D.T and Skylar Diggins-Smith just, they would not lose this game and that's what people were talking about before D.T does not lose this one, the most competitive athletes ever and they just took it. I think the fourth quarter 26 to 14, they just rolled and they were not going to lose this game. And then the Shey Peddy story, Skylar, I'm going to tee this one up for you. Incredible, not only a credible play in shot but an incredible story behind it. And Skylar, do you want to kind of go through this a little bit?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. So Shey Peddy had one of the best stories in the WNBA before she even hit this shot. So I'm just so happy for her for this to kind of be the cherry on the top. But let's run through it. This is credited thanks to Lindsay Gibbs on Twitter for putting this together. She's a great WNBA reporter so follow her @linzsports. She put together a full timeline on Shey Peddy to kind of tell the story. So she was drafted 23rd overall in 2012, cut from the Sky camp in 2012 and '13, she was invited to the Mystics training camp, cut before the season. In 2019, she was invited back to the Mystics camp, again cut before the season. They had two players go for the EuroBasket in 2019 so then she was signed as a replacement player. So she ended up making her WNBA debut at age 30. So she was a 30 year old rookie.

Skylar Smith:
She played for a month, but it was mostly just when they were up by 20 or down by 20. It was pretty much just garbage minutes. And so then when their players came back from EuroBasket, she was cut again, but then they ended up keeping her on as an assistant coach. So she has actually won a WNBA championship but it was as a coach. And so this year before the wubble, the Mystics called again and asked her if she wanted to join them for the summer. And she thought that they were saying as a coach again but they actually meant as a wubble player. She ended up getting cut by the Mystics again. I think they were trying to just move some players around or something. They were saying like, "We're going to waive you and then we're going to resign you." I don't know. Some technicality that I'm sure Huw understands better than I do.

Skylar Smith:
But in that time that she was cut, she ended up going and signing with the Mercury. And so now here she is hitting the game winner after being cut so many different times, she's finally getting her shot. What an incredible story.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, really amazing.

Huw Hopkins:
Amazing.

Brian Bosché:
And also just a testament to the WNBA where you see the Jayson Tatum final shot at the end of regulation where it's just iso 35 footer and it seems like the WNBA actually always plays as a team here has a drawn out play, gets it in, they're unselfish. I think Skylar Diggins kicks it out to Shey. That whole story behind her and she's the one that she kicked it out to, pump fakes hits it as time expires, they win the game. It's was an incredible thing to see.

Huw Hopkins:
And it was beautiful because you also had... because she was so tight with the Mystics players and of course, all the Mercury players went up and hugged her but then you had Mystics players hugging her as well because they were just so happy for someone who was on their team and someone who was in their coaching staff the previous year. It was beautiful.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosché:
So much fun to see. And Phoenix will play Minnesota also on Thursday so we get another really, really fun second round where we get to see the Lynx and the Sparks go against these teams who just came out of single elimination. So it'll be a fun few days of basketball through the end of week here.

Huw Hopkins:
Definitely.

Brian Bosché:
Huw, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it. Skylar, it's been a pleasure as always. But Huw, we appreciate it. If you don't follow coach Huw on Twitter and Instagram go, he produces amazing content. Thank you so much Huw.

Skylar Smith:
Thanks Huw.

Huw Hopkins:
Peace.