A 2024 NBA Playoffs Award Show | OM3 THINGS

On this Monday’s episode of The Old Man and the Three Things, JJ Redick is joined by Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. of the The Dunker Spot to create and hand out awards for the 2024 NBA Playoffs ahead of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown) and the Dallas Mavericks (Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving).

Subscribe to The Old Man and The Three podcast w/ JJ Redick (ESPN / First Take) and Tommy Alter YouTube channel today for more NBA analysis, player interviews and highlights.

welcome to the old man of the three things with JJ reck and the dunker spot Nik Duncan and Steve Jones fellas I hope you’re doing very well on this Monday morning we have reached essentially the apex of the NBA season it is the week of the NBA finals and I know you guys will be doing um your full finals preview on the dunker spot so please check that out uh Lebron and I did um a uh it’s mostly Celtics but there’s some Dallas stuff in there as well we did a finals preview uh that’ll be out on M the game and zacko and I are recording a finals mailbag later today so rather than spend today’s episode focusing on the Celtics and the Mavs only uh I thought it’d be fun if we just did a playoff award show and each of us were allowed to pick three Awards uh they could be based on um Oscars they could be based on something that we came up with that uh on our own like Nas uh we just got what his awards are very excited to hear these so how I think we should do this we’ll just go one at a time and we’ll we’ll say our three Awards we can discuss each one um but today’s episode let’s just have some fun all right uh let’s start with Steve let’s start with Steve Steve what are your three Awards and then let’s let’s break these down uh so my three awards are are best sound best sound so which crowd brought it the most in the playoffs I have a best historical documentary uh bear with me on that one but it’s just fun facts that happened for the first time in these playoffs that I fell down a rabbit hole because I was like wow a whole lot of stuff happened I forgot about this uh and then I have a best cinematography which series gave us the most Cinema those are my three okay I like that that’s great uh where you want to start let’s go best sound sound I love it do I give my nominees okay let’s do it Nomes I had uh the New York Knicks in the garden I had the Indiana Pacers crowd they they were they were active Dallas Mavericks especially during that Clipper series they were they were fun in the Minnesota Timberwolves I went with the Knicks in the garden yeah that was a really fun run that they had the crowd was live we had every old Nick jumping up in down celebrating that was really fun so I wanted to salute the Knicks fans for that that’s that’s my first one n’s thoughts on that um honestly I don’t have qus like those are good nominees like I’m glad that you snuck the Mavericks in there as the crowd is loud and so are the rims and so like just in terms of pure volume like they may have an argument over the Knicks but I’m with you the Knicks fan crowd was I mean Nick crowd was great so no quals here I think there’s something that’s really cool about the Garden in general and if you ask most players what’s your favorite road Arena to play they’ll say it’s the garden and there’s something about the stage New York City the fans and it felt like throughout the season and certainly in the playoffs they took it up another notch there’s also something really cool and I wish more teams would would do this on a regular basis about having former players that are part of beloved teams sitting courtside going crazy during a playoff game like JN Starks being OD is just now I’m pretty sure I’m pretty sure all these guys in some capacity are getting paid as ambassadors by the New York Knicks and they get the court side seat so it’s not it’s a sweet gig it’s a sweet gig I’m looking at you Orlando I’m looking at you LA Clippers come on I’m looking at you Philly let’s get his Courtside come on I agree with this the next thing by the way Mavs I had three of those games in the first round against the Clippers phenomenal crowd phenomenal crowd and I would I would just in general say the Boston crowd is always awesome um so I think in terms of sound we may be as good as the nexts were we may be getting something on par during the NBA Finals with these two teams uh best historical documentary this is there’s each of you have one that I just can’t wait to hear this is the one for Steve that I’m excited about hooray hooray so uh I I did a nayas thing I had 15 facts that I ended up whittling down to five so I just wanted to salute to you n uh Joel embiid becoming the first player in NBA history with 50 or more points on fewer than 20 shots in a playoff game uh Jamal Murray becoming the first player to hit two go-ahead shots inside the final five seconds in the same series uh Jaylen Brunson becoming the first player in NBA history to have four consecutive 40.5 assist playoffs games uh the Miami Heat making 23 three-pointers in game two against Boston which was the most ever by a team in a road playoff win in NBA history and the Indiana Pacers shooting 67.1% in a game seven have the highest field goal percentage in any playoff game in NBA history uh that was the winner for me because I still don’t know how and what that I saw in that one they lost their minds it’s wild to think how well they shot from mid-range in the playoffs and that that game was not certainly was an aberration historically but within a few percentage points it wasn’t from the mid-range it wasn’t an Aber like Joe Missoula talks all the time about the expected shot value so he’s getting all those real-time stats within a game he checks it at halftime and you know they obviously want to create a lot of Threes they want to generate good looks all that stuff and he’s playing against a team that’s going like 14 of 21 and a half from the mid-range and you’re just like no you’re not supposed to do this I I think that’s a great one um the jayen thing was special because it was it was more than just a game you know Jamal Murray of course was great the heat that was that was incredible Joel shout out to Joel um I think he’s not going to win one of K’s Awards I have a feeling there is one particular award that Joel is not going to win um but yeah I I man the Indie Indie thing was cool I probably would have gotone jayen Brunson if I had a vote on that one I probably would have gotone jayen but it’s all good uh Nik did you have a vote on that one um like those are all good like the Pacers one is fun like I probably the Joel one honestly especially in light of what he had to deal with injury-wise this year and just the different types of defenses that the they Tred throw in and how they trying to mix in the doubles when to send them when not to send them etc for him to have that kind of game in the midst of all of that I just think was a lot of fun it’s kind of a nice reminder that hey I may have only played like 40 games in the regular season this is kind of what I was like this year that’ll probably be my vote God that series seems like it was so long ago yeah feels like a distant memory feels like a distant memory all right best cinematography you I by the way you and I both had uh the same award so you added this on and I appreciate you having a backup plan so no worries I always got to try and pivot you know what I mean uh best cinematography which which series gave us the most Cinema I had Nick Sixers I had wolves nuggets I had wolves Mavs and you always got sneaky little indie film in there so I had Cav’s Magic you always got a sneaking in film in there hey there’s always something you ain’t heard of on one of these award shows am I lying that’s pretty true you guys hold that one no disrespect to Cleveland Orlando it did go seven games I personally had a tough time because that Nick sixer series while long ago was very fun um The Wolves Mass series was fun I went with Wolves nuggets just because just Haymakers back and forth Anthony Edwards screaming at every single person he can in Denver multiple times what yic ended up doing it was that was my one that was the one for me interesting interesting I like it I I think there’s man there was so much in Nick Sixers as we’re just rehashing that series now there were so many a whole lot of stoppages but it’s because of so many things happening in that game and then you in fact dur in both crowds on top of that like that’s it’s tough sledding not choosing Nick Sixers so salute to you I know that was not an easy decision for you um but yeah you’re brave man you’ve got a lot of Courage the blow the blowout the the the couple blowouts were tough but then I I I think a game seven on the road where you’re down 20 in the second half and then you just come back and absolutely dominate the rest of the game I I agree with you on that the Nick Sixers was so entertaining though God that series was good that series was good all right great Awards great Awards uh nikayas why don’t you go next please explain your three awards for this year’s playoffs and I don’t know if you have nominees I appreciate Steve you you’ve done done real work today good stuff the backup plan and having a nominee for each one I love it that’s someone who also had a backup Awards I’m so glad that neither one there’s no overlap here I can just rooll with our top three um as far as my three Awards um I have best screen play which I was trying to incorporate literal screening into it at some point uh but it just end up being like my favorite set play favorite set piece of the postseason so far so I do have nominees for those uh the fan service award uh any kind of fan interaction Andor things that get the crowd hype uh Steve is going to laugh when he hears what my selection was for very obvious reasons um and then the ethical Hooper award who got the tough playoff buckets who did so with volume who did so with efficiency that was more straightforward a little bit of subjectivity did pop in had to dig deeper into a couple of other numbers to kind of split hairs since there were a lot of nominees for that one but uh those are my three I love it best screenplay best screenplay we’re gonna get into I had the fact that it’s some kind of T some kind of movie reference there but uh best screen play for me uh that award is going to go to the Dallas Mavericks uh their double pick and roll with a back screen attached is going to do it for me uh if you remember uh after the PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford uh trades the first PJ Washington bucket of the Dallas era was on that play no pick and roll for Luca Don Tim Hardway Jr setting the bat screen uh OKC with a switch Isaiah Joe ends up on PJ Washington he gets a lob uh went to it a few times throughout the regular season sprinkled in during the postseason we saw it in particular in the game five against Minnesota to where you get a lot for PJ Washington they run it again we go Bears like absolutely not that’s not happening again let me drop back deeper and Luca just walks into a floater and Minnesota immediately calls timeout like this is not what we’re doing here uh so that is going to be my bet gets the best screenplay award for me um other nominees uh I’m always going to be up for Spain stat pick and roll shout out to Indie shout out to Boston shout out to OKC uh the Lakers going guard screen into a dribble handoff with LeBron and ad against Denver in particular they absolutely blitzed them on that the entire first round though it did not matter in terms of the result result um so just wanted to sprinkle those in there I like it I that that play in particular for Dallas um different sort of alignments sometimes it’s an empty side there was one in Minnesota where they ran it almost like an Oklahoma small where I think it was Lively that was the big but he went to go screen for PJ and uh um they topl locked PJ and goar was so worried about Luca and it was an empty side and PJ just went back door for a layup and then they ran it again in the second half like there’s a lot of lot of options about I think D we talked about this I believe we talked about this maybe with it might have been with legler like the double drag think about Maxi in the nick series uh Brunson had some success with it but that double drag depending on which Defender you’re using as the first screener could be the could be the duck could be the Target and of course you could put the put him as the second guy as well just to create confusion is it an empty side is it a single side like all of this stuff double drag it’s a great play I love it I love it it’s tough stuff it’s tough stuff and then going to the game five again I think it was Carl ethony Town always defending the first screener there to Luka just got two on the ball and they just could not navigate the back end of it it was very fun to watch so quick shout out to the Dallas Mavericks to luuka donic as obviously we’ll get to see them a little bit later this week so want to start with that one um with the fan service award as Steve can attest to uh I I don’t dig too deep into the like Unwritten rules and all that good stuff if there’s one thing that I do hold on to with NBA players if you have a fast break and you have a true Breakaway no threat of a chase down blog foul etc etc I do think you have the responsibility if you choose to daunt The Guild the fan something it doesn’t have to be a 360 between the legs or anything crazy give us a reverse OG and noi gives us like the the basic reverse dunk all the time give us something and so for me the fan service award goes to Obie toen for getting a breakaway in game one of the Nick series and giving us a between the legs dunk that’s what it’s supposed to be about I do not want that being lost in history I don’t want that I don’t want history I’m just hey hey man he gets the salute for me what’s up Steve two points is two points man that’s true get your two points in the playoffs he missed that same dunk last time New York that’s fine it’s fine I think as a fan and someone who who didn’t uh dunk particularly frequently once in my career uh twice in college I had some I had some dunks in high school when I was young but um I’ve always thought about this like dunking is not boring like and I feel feel like I feel like certain times you know the one I’m talking about one foot you go up with two hands and you just kind of gently put it over the rim yeah ah it drives me crazy just just just yam it back throw it in that’s all I’m saying that’s all I’m saying you on this one shout out to Obby to Obie was great in the playoffs he was just a fun run did a good year for him man this was a good year for him I actually said now that I think but very early I think it was Tom Tommy’s last old men of the three things in October before you guys and and legler uh came on uh full-time Tommy and I talked about underrated free agent signings or maybe it was underrated Acquisitions I can’t remember maybe it was just Acquisitions in general and I said I said I think Obi toppen could have a career year a breakout year here for the Pacers and it happened feel good I don’t remember my other two picks so I’m fairly confident that I was wrong on those so but OB was great this year and I love I love the flare I’m with you on this one guys see there we go I just need to sprinkle that one in the other nominees uh Luca donic versus whoever that M fan was I mean that wolves fan was in game five buddy I made the joke with Steve like hey this is not a situation where you try to get clout and claim it was you just let that rock you do not want your name attached to that and then I think in both the buck series and the Nick series uh Tyrese Alberton had some kind of interact with a fan a section or something that just kind of activated him early in a couple of those games and so I just got a good kick out of that so shout out to Friend of the program Tyrese Halton so those are my nominees for those there are certain guys hold on there are certain guys by the way like I feel like Luca has talked about this actually on this podcast but I know you you watch certain guys and it to me it’s like the last thing you want to do like even with Tyrese like if he’s kind of floating and he he floated some in the playoffs and he floated some at the end like if he’s floating last thing you want to do is get him going Luca he normally has like the killer mode activated from the start like he normally does there nights he doesn’t he talked about it somebody says something to him somebody gives him a cheap shot it’s like okay now it’s on and just don’t don’t it’s not a good idea ah shout out Bryson tiller okay um last one for me is going to be the ethical Hooper award I just who gave me the inside the arc non Rim buckets in the half court who did it at a high level who did it with efficiency and just uh you know to Plate some of the Twitter folks uh you did get deed a little bit for high foul drawing so I wanted the unassisted buckets it’s going to be a a round one nominee here getting the award for me but I want to give a hat tip to Chris Middleton who absolutely cooked in round one uh without yann’s Dame also getting hurt in that series but on shots inside The Arc in the half court setting non- Rim nearly 52% from the field on those shots outperformed his shot quality by over 14% which is the highest among 25 players to take at least 50 of those shots uh in that round one only 41% of his twos were assisted uh as far as some of the other nominees that I thought about that was around 56% for Pascal seaka 52% for nicoa yic 14% for Shay but wasn’t as efficient on those shots and then also the foul drawing element had to split some hairs somewhere and so I just wanted to give a quick hat tip to Chris Milton almost had Jaylen Brown for this one I didn’t want to make sure I said his name on the podcast and not forget he was up there in terms of the uh the half court makes in this number also up there in efficiency as well so really between him and Chris but want to get the Hat tip to Chris so that is where I go with the eth Hooper award uh Steve you you seem to have a very visceral reaction to this award I I am stunned that you brought this award up to hand it to Chris Middleton I just want you to know that but let me ickets Donovan Mitchell also got tough buckets a lot of Threes like the inside the art portion kind of okay so it’s purly the inside the art portion okay yeah okay that’s that’s your qualifier okay that’s fine the the the need for two-pointers uh in the playoffs we talked about a little bit with the Pacers and that’s gonna it’s going to lead me right into uh one of my Awards so my my three Awards and this is the one that Steve and I overlapped on was Best Supporting Actor um my other one was best director and uh my third is not I don’t don’t think this is an Academy Award but it my other one was best innovator and I’ll start there I’ll start there because I I I I think about coaching in the NBA and coaches that have had success for a long period of time I think one of the markers of a coach that has had success for a long period of time is that he adapts to his players he adapts to the evolution of the NBA and in some cases he says [ __ ] it this is how we’re going to play and it’s different and it goes against probably some conventional Norms so my best inov innovator is Rick Carlile and you think about you think about the Dallas teams with Dirk I played for him with Luca and I was in a playoff series and I’ve I’ve said this before he’s probably the best tactician that I played for and then you know we’re sitting there and I obviously i’ watched a ton of Indiana I’ve watched them throughout the playoffs but we’re sitting there in uh the coaches meeting before game one I talked about this on the air so this is not like was not off the Record but he said you know we are we are a concept team we are not a setplay team and you think about that team right and what they were able to do offensively in the playoffs against the number two defense in the in the regular season in Boston the number nine defense uh in the regular season in the second round against the New York Knicks Milwaukee of course uh you know middle of the pack but they were the best offense in the playoffs where they obviously Boston’s still playing so they could exceed them they’re the number one offense there was no dip in efficiency from the regular season and I think about the way they play whether it’s a make a miss it is all about getting the ball cross half court within two to 3 seconds sometimes less and then it’s like a race to see how much random [ __ ] we can run and they don’t they don’t take a ton of they didn’t take a ton of Threes in the regular season they were about League average they didn’t take they took even less in the playoffs they they play to their personnel strengths and they play to the group strengths and I just that is it’s different it’s different I I I think about like throughout that series because I called every game it’s like how would you game plan for this it’s just random so as a as a as an opposing coach you’re going in there Joe Missoula it’s like he he said there’s so much noise we go to we got to they create all this noise we have to stick with what we’re willing to give up right and I think Rick just did a phenomenal job throughout the year but I I think in in particular in the playoffs the way they played offensively it’s against the norm of how everybody plays which is we’re going to control the pace we’re going to we’re going to manipulate every possession we’re going to try to create a mismatch on every possession we’re going to give the ball to our best player and he’s going to manipulate and control and command and it’s it’s not it’s TJ McConnell it’s Andrew nard Tyrese off the ball now of a sudden Aaron n Smith’s coming off a dribble handoff at 995 miles an hour it’s just a different way to play and I loved it it was it was really fun to watch them I think one of my favorite Parts was they would be in these games and it would feel like the Pacers were down by like six or seven and then two minutes later you look up and they’re five of seven from the field it’s like oh they’re still scoring but they haven’t gone away and the one thing that is funny if you think about it in that Pacer series Once Tyrese halberton went down and they’re like oh Boston’s switching you know what let’s just throw in the post yeah and that’s like really fun for a team that’s go go go Pace Pace Pace it’s like actually we can just get these post UPS real quick like honestly can I ask you a question J no yes did you think no no no yes you can of course you can did you think Rick carow who used to stop everything to call out a set play would be on a team that is a concept team and runs all the time um I think it’s just a it’s a it’s a testament to him as a coach being able to adapt um again I played against those Dirk teams with Jason Terry and Josh Howard where everything was it was like I mean they basically at times were running flexs Josh Howard cutting along the Baseline pin down for uh Dirk you know jet setting a pin down for dirk or jet coming off one of those pin Downs was Flex action at times and then you go to like the Luca years and when we were there and it’s like all right we’re going to Target that guy we’re going to Target that guy Luca brings the ball up let’s go Target let’s play out of ghost screens whatever and then with a Pacer it’s just no rules I mean they they certainly have Concepts but it’s like n just go play basketball and I I I I I’ve used this but I was thinking about you know I said this during the the Philly series and it’s like what makes Tyrese Maxi so hard to guard even in the playoffs is you can’t get a hold of them right and outside of Miles Turner in games three and four looking to post in the middle of the painting at smaller players and outside of the occasional Pascal cakam end of shot clock ISO they’ve got a team of guys that you just can’t catch it’s just so random and quick and fast and it’s one thing to another to another and all of a sudden they’ve made five out of seven shots from 11 feet you know it’s just different it’s different um Best Supporting actor who who was your best supporting actor by the way uh I’ll give you my nominees it was Derek Lively NZ Reed Nick Batum and TJ McConnell wow I went with people who just did not start okay I thought about it a different way you know when you have a great you know when you have a great film with um a bunch of highlevel uh thespians that are very famous and like the writing is like there’s certain times you’re like oh this person won an award because the writer said I I I wrote this for them and then there’s other times where it’s like an aisk cast and somebody’s got to be the best supporting actor right and there are scenes where that person steals the show and maybe the main actor right maybe he also gets nominated maybe he also wins an award because he was so good but there are points in the movie there are points in the film where you’re like all right the reason this film is great is because of those three scenes and that guy killed it and he wasn’t the main guy but he killed it and he’s a star this is like uh I’m trying to think of a historical example but you know Robert Downey Jr’s won I think a Best Supporting Actor he’s a [ __ ] Phenom he’s an aist guy right dairo has been nominated I’m sure for a Best Supporting Actor like the there’s this is what I’m talking about so my best supporting actor was Kyrie Irving and I I thought about each series um in at times picking and choosing his spots at times playing a little bit of a different role on the ball versus off the ball I don’t think they win that Series in six against the Clippers without Kyrie particularly in the second half um certainly had some quieter games against Oklahoma City but had some big moments and then you go to the Minnesota series where he was so important particularly in the fourth quarter of a number of those games and you look at his splits I mean even in the OKC Series you know he’s the scoring volume wasn’t up all right but he had 6.2 assists per game and he shot 42% from three so he was still a super effective player despite a lower volume and then Minnesota obviously LA series he just was like the I the best version of Kyrie the the Kyrie that we all love to watch hoop uh so he was my best supporting actor if there was a let me ask you guys if there was another nominee because I have one other one that I think about in this same sort of uh ilk uh and that’s Jaylen Brown for me is like if we’re going to go with this the sort of the second star jayen throughout this playoffs has been incredible um obviously W Eastern Conference Finals MVP but jayen and Kyrie there’s a reason these two teams are in the in the NBA Finals when your second guy has been as good as jayen and Kyrie you’re going to have a [ __ ] chance to win every night well that just took my question off the board my my question to you was going to be if you chose a Celtic for this award who would have have been and you went Jaylen Brown so yeah it would have been Jaylen I guess beyond that yeah think I’m pretty good on that front Kyrie’s been great I’m trying to think of a third person like would Tyrese Maxi count cuz they got bounced early like I’m trying to I don’t know it depends on what side of the discourse you fall on ah uh Pascal seak count there’s a good one there’s a good one there’s a good one uh all right last one best director uh I don’t know that the academy has ever had this but uh we do have co-winners of this and I just want to not that these guys haven’t got a ton of love over the last week or two but I just want to ackn uh because we don’t talk a lot about front office stuff here but I want to acknowledge Nico Harrison Brad Stevens and certainly some pieces that were there before they got there particularly your 1A uh and and certainly some some sort of uh I wouldn’t call them uh the the core role players were there before these guys took over their positions but Nico you know the trade for Kyrie that’s worked out pretty well well in the long term uh the trade for PJ the trade for Gafford getting Derrik Jones Jr essentially on a minimum contract uh Brad even going back to the D white trade uh turning smart into KP uh and then getting Drew for bragon a Rob like the way these teams have been built uh certainly have some players that have been drafted there but just like timely trades hitting hitting on the lower end uh in terms of uh you know whether it’s pton Pritchard later in the draft um although I think that was before Brad took over uh but Sam Hower all this stuff I just think these two guys have done an incredible job best directors Nico Harrison Brad Stevens I like that one I was about to toss like hey you had a split for your own voted for one one voter panel but you mentioned the finals team so no quals from here that Mak sense just you know GNA give maybe maybe one guy if if a team wins what a team wins one guy gets the the revote the recount can I Circle back with a question really quickly yeah with the best inovator award as you went with car uh how close was moula for you you know it’s a great question um that’s probably for another podcast fair enough probably and I mean that in a positive way I and I’m not being cryptic it’s just um it’s probably for another podcast yeah yeah I’ll just say that so uh guys always fun appreciate you guys uh and we’ll be checking in throughout the finals uh everybody go listen to the dunker spot NBA Finals preview which will be out tomorrow [Music]