Chuck & Shaq React to Nuggets Defeating Heat in Game 1 | 2023 NBA Finals

Welcome to Game Time live at the finals presented by YouTube TV. Great to have you with us here for our post-game coverage. The Hall of Famers, Shaquille O'Neal, Grant Hill, Charles Barkley. I'm Matt Weiner. Good to have you with us. I thought Denver won this in the first quarter. Jack? Yeah, they came out with great energy. Joker, what can you say about him? You know, he's sat here and watching. Very impressive passing, scoring, leadership. And he's the true definition of letting the game come to you. Charles and myself, and Grant sometimes, we would go get it. But, you know, the first five, six minutes, he probably didn't even take a shot. He's making sure. Right here. He's not going to let you get away with this. Mismatch right there. We're going at Vincent. You're too little. He read that play way before it happened. Right here. You know, most guys, especially if they're the number one option, they're going to get it. I want to score, but you know what? I'm going to look for my teammates. I'm going to create opportunities for them. And he's the true definition of a great player. Not only does he make himself look good, he makes everybody else look good. And I don't know if he's a pass first or a shoot first big man, but he definitely plays the game the right way. And, listen, he was super impressive to watch. This is the new age era of the big man. He can go inside. He can go outside. He can pass. He can start to break. But, again, if you're a smaller defender and your teammates are, you know, going against a smaller defender, he's not going to let you get away with that. He's going to make the right play every time. Right here. A little soft double. Take your time. Pass right here. A little pick and roll. Slip the pick and roll. Get it back. He could have scored that, but you know what? Jeff Green cutting into the basket. Made a great play. This guy is super impressive as a big man, and I'm happy I got to see him a lot. He identified every mismatch in that opening quarter. He found his bigger teammates guarded by smaller heat players, and they punished them 20 to 6 in the paint in that opening quarter while Jokic was handing out six assists. And 46 points overall in the paint. But early on you said attacking. And the thing on that clip that Shaq showed us, the guys were all moving. Cutting. Moving without the basketball. Because they know that Jokic will find them. He's dominating the game in the first half with those passes that Shaq talked about and not scoring. And that's the danger of him. He can beat you with scoring, but really dangerous there with the pass. And setting the tone early, Aaron Gordon. Take a little bit of throwback where you find the mismatch and you attack. You mean actually play smart basketball? It's so easy to play in today's NBA game. But two things really bother me. Number one, these guys are so impatient. They never try to take advantage of the mismatch. They just jack up threes. And the second thing is these guards, if you're a great guard and they had to put one of these big guys on you, you should score every single time. If you're an elite guard, a center or a big guy should not be able to guard you. But these guys are so impatient today. And I love Shaq's pitchers because, as Grant said, it's old school. I'm like, I didn't realize it was old school when they put a little-ass dude on a big old dude. That's just good basketball. Seems more like remedial school to me. Like a bad idea, right? We used to scream, and it's so funny. We can't say what we used to say. But now we say, mouse in the house, mouse in the house. And then everybody knows, oh, where's the mismatch at? We'd be screaming, people like, I have fans coming to me, man. Why do you all scream mouse all the time? Dude, when you put a little guy on a big guy, that's what it's like. Jokic dominated this first half while taking one official shot attempt, and that was in the final minute of the second quarter. Listen, he's a great player. Again, fun to watch. You know, John Wooden said it best. The true definition of a great player is one that gets his teammates involved. And Grant makes a great point. When you cut like that and he finds you, you know they're going to keep doing that. They're going to keep cutting and keep cutting and keep moving. That's why this team is very hard to defend. And then when he decides to score, he can score at will. And it's so old school. It reminds me of Rick Smith's Louis the Bonus. He's not giving you four or five moves. Contact gets you out of the way and go to the, you know, little fadeaway. You got to go to Michael Malone. I want to say something what Grant said earlier. Beautiful to watch. Thank you.