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TABLE TALK: The 2025 NBA Playoffs! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We've got a great
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: guest and discussion coming your way this week here on
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Table Talk, coming to us from the Dime with Josh
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and Quab podcast, great, great podcast. I've been on their
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: show a number of times to talk about the Sixers,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the Knicks, the Eastern Conference, the NBA in general. We've
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: got our good friend Josh Rodriguez.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Hey don't buddy, Jeff.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Always great to see you, man.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I lovely on Yeah yeah.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Game one today, baby, Oh my gosh.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Look, I mean, it was a disaster of a Sixer
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: season for US Sixers fans, and thankfully, you know, we're
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: hoping that our team is going to be able to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: get back to the postseason at some point.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Who the hell knows when that is gonna happen.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: But I do have to say, my friend watching the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: New York Knicks, and my best friend is a New
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: York Knicks fan, and knowing that you, my friend, are
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: such a huge fan and have been for so long,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: it's got to be a fun time for you.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: It is, but it's not at the same time, I mean,
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: if I'm being completely honest with you, the Knicks fans
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: had higher expectations for this team.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Oh I know, yeah, And I think you know this team.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: They haven't won a game this year against the Celtics,
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: the Cavs, the Thunder, the Warriors, or the Lakers or
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: the Clippers. Literally haven't won a game against any of
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: those teams. So going into these playoffs, we're just kind
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: of like, Yeah, this team's pretty foogazy, which to see
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: how this ends.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Just look, I don't know about see as somebody looking
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: from the outside in, I don't necessarily know about that.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: And maybe I'm actually keeping hopes up for the Knicks
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: because look, I think we've seen a lot of fun
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: basketball being played in the first round of the playoffs
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: in general. And again, what a series we saw against
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the Knicks and the Pistons, And I had a feeling
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that last game would potentially be a bloodbath, and that's
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: just about what we saw. You follow the Knicks very closely,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to dissect really how they won that
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: series of what type of Knicks.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Team that we saw, Josh, what were those key moments
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and situations where certain players on this team were really
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: able to rise to the occasion. And we're certainly going
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to get into some Celtics talk as the semi finals
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: are right around the corner here and starting today as
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: we're recording this, But in terms of what we saw
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: in that first round, what are some of those key moments,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: situations and the type of Knicks team that we saw.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, Jalen Brunson, Jalen Brunson.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: Jalen buns right, But honestly, I mean there's more to
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: that as well. I think this Nick team, especially with
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Knicks fans this year, we are constantly comparing them to
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: last year's team, which is not favored them. They're not
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: last year's team, for better or for worse, and we've
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: labeled this team as soft, not greedy, just not like
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: last year's team.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: But I do think that there was a toughness.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: And a greediness that you had to show in order
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: to beat the Detroit Pistons the way that they I mean,
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: every game was close, she had to pull it out
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: at the end. There were comeback games in the fourth quarter,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: there were times where you lost the lead and came back,
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: And I don't think a mentally weak team wins three
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: games on the road in that type of environment, So
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: I do think they showed some mental toughness there. Obviously,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Jalen Brunson being clutched in the fourth quarter all series,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: with the exception of Game two, which was one of
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: the worst performances I've ever seen in my life, we
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: don't have to talk about it, but Jalen Brunson coming
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: up strong. And then also Karnty Towns had a you know,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: Game four where he hit the game time and jump
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: for the game winning three. So he showed up. He
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: didn't really show up in Game six, but he showed
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: up for most parts in this series. And you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: a lot of times people talk about BNBA playoffs and
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: like it's about your stars, and for the Knicks, honestly,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: it was about their stars.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk all you.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Want about Kate Cunningham, Jalen Brunson outplay Kay Cunningham the
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: whole series.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: That's what it needs to be. That's what it needs
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: to be for this next team.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it does.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: And there was a lot of talking to the series
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: going talking There was a lot of talk going into
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: this series about how Kate Cunningham was the best player
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: on the court from some people in the media, Jalen
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Brunston pretty much wiped that away. Anytime Kate had an
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: opportunity to, you know, do something at the end of
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: the games, he didn't do it, and the Knixt did.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Jalen Brunson hit big shots and they did it. And
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: sometimes it's that simple. I mean a lot of these
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: games came down to the last possession type games, and
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: you know, the Knicks were able to pull.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Through, absolutely were Josh, where can folks find you on
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the interwebs out there, especially with the Dime podcast with
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: you and your co host Quab. Where can they find
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: you out there?
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we're trying to build up our YouTube channel,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: So just go to The Dime with Josh and Quob
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: that's KWAB. Just type it in your search bar on YouTube,
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: subscribe to the channel. Would do game recaps? Foll me personal,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I'm everywhere at Josh Underscore Rodriguez underscore.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: All right, very good.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about what the Knicks need to do
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to beat the Celtics in the semifinal round here. And
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: as much as it pains me to say, and I'm
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: actually gonna be rooting for the Knicks series. Let go absolutely,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I have to be in a six er. The hate
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: for the Celtics is so real, It's always real.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: But look, like you.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Mentioned at the top, this is a Celtics team that
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: has swept the Knicks in their four regular season games.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: So what type or I should say, what do.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: The Knicks need to do consistently to compete with this
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Celtics team game after game in this series to inevitably
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: and hopefully come out on top.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: The Knicks equipment staff has to infiltrate the Boston Celtics
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: locker room and give everybody to flu somehow, pretty much
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: how this series is gonna go. I think the Knicks
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: just do not match up well with the Celtics at all.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: There's a reason why they lost four games to this team.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Three of them weren't even close. I mean, the Celtics
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: just blew the doors off of them. And at the
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: end of the day, you can't change your personnel. But
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, the Celtics are gonna
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: consistently put Jalen Brunston in Carlnthony towns, in pick and
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: roll situations, picking pop situations and get the Knicks defense
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: rotating where they love to feast hit open threes. So
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: unless what I just said happens, but on in real talk,
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: unless the Celtics just go absurdly cold from three, I
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: don't see a way this Knicks team can win.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: I can list like certain things that need to happen, right, Like,
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: Jalen Brunson has to be the best player in the series.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: Karl Anthony Towns cannot disappear. Jalen and Carl he Towns
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: are gonna have to play probably the best defenses of
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: their career exactly. Help Bridge is just gonna have to
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: get involved on the offensive end. The Knicks are gonna
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: have to get some type of bench production from Duce McBride,
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Landry Shammett or Campaign. They can't do this with just
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: the five guys that start. Like Mitchell Robinson's gonna have
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: to play a key role because he's their best defender
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: in the paint and also he's their best big defender
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: on the perimeter as well. Like all these things have
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: to happen. Jason Tatum has to be missing his threes
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: when the Knicks are and drop coverage. Christophsperzing Is is
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: gonna have to happen with rough Sea, Like, there's just
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: so many things I talk about. When I think about
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: what the Celtics have to do, it's just it's we
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: just have to be the Boston Celtics. Yeah, they don't
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: have to do anything out the orders.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: That's why we hate him so much. Yeah, that's what
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: we hate him.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Honestly, I think, look, you just listed it. You just
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: went through a laundry list of things. In terms of
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: what the Knicks need to do, I do think that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: defensive performance is high on that list because if they
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: if the defense doesn't show up, I mean, it's gonna
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: be a sweep. Quite frankly, I think that's what's gonna happen.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: But I do have faith that we will see some
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: good defensive performance from this Knixt team.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: And kat is really gonna need to show up in
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: terms of that, I think, yeah.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: I mean he's the most important because he's the player.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: They're gonna pick on them.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: They're gonna pick on Jalen two to try to get
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: a switch and get mismatches going. But Karnthony Towns has
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: had a hard time guarding the pick and pop with
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: porzingis the pick and roll, he just he doesn't meet
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: the on the drop, he drops too far.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I mean it's food.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: I mean, at the end of day, Carl Anthony Town's
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: is gonna have to play way better defense than he's
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: played against the Celtics all year.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's move over to the West Coast.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I want to get into the La Clippers. You know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: what we've seen from them during the postseason and where
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: their future is actually going to go, because we finally
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: saw a healthy team in the first round of the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: playoffs and at the end of the day, they just
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: couldn't get it done. As you know, Josh, I mean
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: they It really makes you wonder how that team is
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: going to look come next year. I'm wondering what are
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the Clippers not being able to get
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: out of the first round after being healthy here and
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: where this team now goes during this upcoming off season.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know where they go. I mean you
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: could look at it two ways. One ways, you've lost
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: in the first round and you need to blow it up.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: The James Harden thing.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: You know, as a Sixer fan, I mean, big games
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs, for some reason, he just turns into
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: a different person. I don't understand. It doesn't make any
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: sense to me. But you can say, oh, hey, that's
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: what he is, this is who we are. We need
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: to blow this up and move forward. Or maybe we
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: keep Kawai and just try a different way around him.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Or if LOO get it in a way where it's
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: like they lost in seven to a Denver Nuggets team
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: that has won the championship a few years ago. They
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: needed a miracle dunk at the buzzer from Aaron Gordon
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: to flip that series. Who knows what the Nuggets do
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: from here on out right, Like the Nuggets can go
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: on win the NBA Finals and all of a sudden
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: it's like, yeah, we lost in the first round, but
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: we lost in.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: The team that won the finals, you know what I mean.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: So I think it's all.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Relative into what the Nuggets do. Like if the Nuggets
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: get embarrassed by the Thunder, then you can say to yourselves,
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: all right, we're not.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Even closed here.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, But if the Nuggets have some success going you know,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: Western Conference finals, maybe NBA Finals, then you could look
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: at yourself and be like, we were one game away, guys.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: And I do think that the Clippers are closer to
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: contending than they are to having to rebuild. I know,
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: when you lose in the first round, it's a bad look.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: But again, this team was one of, if not the
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: best team down the stretch in the second half the season.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: They had one of the top tier defenses. You still
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: have someone in Kawhi Leonard who when he's healthy, is
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: one of the best players in the league.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know how you fix the James hard and mental.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: That's where I was going to go. That's where I
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: was going to go with this, because yeah.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: You maybe you move him the offseason, I don't know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: but even moving him, you're just replacing one position, which
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: to the point guard position, and you could probably get
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: some value Richard for Harden.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I think so too.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, the guy just does
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: not show up during the postseason. I mean, this is
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: this is consistent year after year after year with his
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: level of play. Look, he's not the James Harden of
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you know, ten years ago, of course, but my gosh,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: it's it's really amazing to look at when he is
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: on a team, the postseason comes for that team.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: And he is absolutely silent. It just it absolutely amazes me, Josh, So.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't make any sense.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Yeahs er absolutely all right. Well, moving on to I
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: want to get into the Calves and Pacers series with you.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I think that's going to be a great series from
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: what we've already seen from both of these teams. The
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Pacers I think are really going to need to pressure
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: off the perimeter from Andrew Nemphard and for Miles Turner
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to really step it up defensively in the pick and
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: roll without really sacrificing, you know, rim protection for him.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: So how do you see this series going for an
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: offensive and defensive standpoint as it pertains to both of
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: these teams. I think this is going to be a
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: fantastic series to watch.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have the Cavs winning this. I had them
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: in six.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna stick to it even though they lost Game one.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: But the Pacers are a lot better than people think
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: they are. I mean, they got off to a slower
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: start this season, and I think a lot of people
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: thought last year's Eastern Conference Finals run was a fluke,
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: and I do think there's true to that, But that
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: doesn't mean you can't get better and be a better
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: version of yourself. This year, and I think that's what
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: the Pacers are like. They are playing better defense this
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: year than they did last year. They're picking up full court.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: They have perimeter defenders and Nem Hard and Nests Smith
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: that can pressure, pressure the point of attack, make it
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: difficult for you know, the Tiger Roams of the world
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: and sometimes Donovan Mitchell.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Donovan got off in Game one.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: But they play defense, and they can score the basketball,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: even with Tyger Caliburton off the ball, which they showed
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: in Game one. And when they're moving to basketball, they
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: have shooters like Nemhart and Nest Smith and Obie top
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: And who can hit the three, and Ben Sheppard who
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: didn't do anything in Game one, but he can hit
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: the three. Pascal can step out. So they are just
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: a well rounded, well oiled machine. But so are the Cavaliers.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's a coinsitance of the Cavaliers are
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: the one seed. I do think that they are the
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: better team, but Darius Garland has to play, especially Knights
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: like last night, where you can't get a stop on
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: the other end, you're going to need to go bucket
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: for bucket with the Pacers, and they just weren't able
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: to do that at the end, and I think having
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: someone like Darius, even though nem Harden to give him
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: fits this season, I still think having him on the
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: floor does a lot for the Cavaliers offense because without him,
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: you're taking out a dynamic that existed all season and
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: now you have to figure something out in crunch time.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: So if Garius comes back and he's healthy and plays,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: I still think the Cavs win this series.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: But it's this might go seven, I said, Kas, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: I want to change it to seven.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think so too. I think it's
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: going to be a fantastic series to watch at the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: end of the day. So as we're moving along here,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: two part question for you, Josh, we really want to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: talk about some under the radar players that we need
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: to be keeping our eyes on during this NBA postseason.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I want to start off in the Eastern Conference with
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: you here. You know, what's that one under the radar
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: player that we really need to be keeping our eyes
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: on in the East as it pertains to you know,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: how they're going to be able to accelerate what their
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: team can do on the court. Who's that in the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference that you're going to be keeping your eyes.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: On It's one Tijerome clean Cavaliers, yep. I mean he
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: comes off the bench, he's instant offense. They run the
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: offense through him, he handles the rock. I mean he's
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: been one of the more underrated, underappreciated players all year.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: A lot of casual basketball fans don't even know who
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: he is, right right, He's been fantastic for the Cavs
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Game one. He came in, struggled right away, but was
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: able to pick it up. He ended up scoring twenty
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: one points. He's a big reason why the Cavaliers bench
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: is what it is. There is no drop off from
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: the first unit to the second unit. And I do
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: think if Tijerome continues to play well, this Cavaliers team
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: is going to be very difficult to handle because a
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: lot of times you see with the Knicks, right, Jalen
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Brunson goes out, how are the Knicks going to score?
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: The Calves don't have that problem because of a player
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: like ty Jerome, and he's greatly underappreciated by the NBA
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: media and by the casual NBA fan.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. But on the flip side of that, let's move
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: over to the Western Conference. Here, same question, who's that
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: under the radar player that we need to keep our
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: eyes on in the Western Conference that could really help
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: propel their team forward here in the postseason.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: All Right, your your listener's gonna roll their eyes at this. Okay, biased,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: but it's not Julius Randall baby oh man.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: I mean, he has his reputation of not showing up
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs, but there's context to that. The first
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: time he was in the playoffs with the Knicks, he
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: was facing practical like triple teams against the Atlanta Hawks, right,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: And the other times the other time he was injured
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: he had an ankle injury. He rolled his ankle, missed
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: a few games and was just playing on one leg,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: and then he missed the whole playoffs last year, so
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: he never got a chance to show up healthy with
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: people who can help him out, like he just never had.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: The game that can help. In the first round.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: When he has a great series against the Lakers, everyone's like, well,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: where did this come from. It's like, when he's healthy,
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: he can ball. Oh, Julius Randall is and a lot
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: of people are forgetting that. And it's not a coincidence
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: that when he came back from injury towards the end
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: of the season, the Wolves were able to shoot up
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: the standings. There's a good Julius random there's a bad
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Julius dam I'm not say as a bad Jewish Randall, right,
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: but the good Jewish Randall is really freaking good.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: And if he plays good, the Warriors are. I'm not
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: the worries the Wolves are sleeper team. I'll see that
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: they're a sleeper team.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I think so as well.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: I think that's a great pick.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Julius Randall for sure, not not being a home or anything,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: you know, considering my own exactly, all right, buddy bo
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: before I let you go and to close us out here,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering, and it's a it's a general question. What's
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest underrated storylines during this NBA postseason
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that we're really good or that's really gonna be consequential
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: for whatever team as they're heading deeper into the playoffs? Here,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: what's that one underrated storyline that you're looking at here?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Is we're moving forward?
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm gonna just stick with the same topic.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: It's the emergence of Julius Randall in Minnesota timber Wolves.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Okay, I mean, if.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: You talk about the the Cat trade with Juwis Randall,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: a lot of people didn't understand it from the t
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Wolf standpoint. Even like sixty games into the season, they
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: weren't taking series. And I do think they're gonna beat
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: the Warriors in the semifinals, and I do think they're
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: gonna start turning heads like, Wow, this is the same
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: Minnesota Soda team that we thought was gonna win the
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: NBA Finals this year. Maybe they can win the NBA
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: Finals this year. I think by next week, week and
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: a half or whatever it is, we're gonna be talking
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: about the Minnesota Timbrelves. Maybe not as the favorite to
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: win it, because I still think the thunder will probably
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: be the favorite in the West, but we're gonna be
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: talking about the Minnesota Timbrels as one of the teams
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: that can actually win the NBA Finals. I think people
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: forgot how good they were defensively. I think Addam Julius
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: adds another dynamic that they didn't have with Cat last
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: year because he could run the break, he can play make,
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: he's a great passer. Cat is too, but Julius more
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: off the dribble, getting into the paint, driving and kicking,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: which bodes well for three pointers. I think people are
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: severely still underrating the Timbrels and not realizing what they
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: are right now. I think they're Finals contender for sure.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be fun to watch this postseason for sure.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: And folks, make sure that you subscribe to on whatever
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: audio podcast you are listening to us on or if
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: you're watching us on YouTube, The Dime with Josh and Kwah,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: great great podcast, great great content. Where else can they
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: find you on the interwebs?
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Out there, Josh, I'm everywhere, Josh on your score, Rodriguez Underscore.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: If you want to fall the podcast, it's everywhere at
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: the diam MBA.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Very good, very good, buddy. It was great talking to you, Jeff.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for jumping on the Table Talk podcast.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: That's not gonna hate you this, I hate you, but
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: six it tromultuous.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Last year we hated each Oh my gosh, it was right,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: it was rough, it was it was nice to fail
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: this year the way we failed.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it was nice to watch you, Gosh. I hope
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: we get a decent pick.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm absolutely, buddy, I'm gonna let you go.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us. Come back and
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: join us down the road.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: My friend.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: All right, JE, appreciate you man.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
• 17:48
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• 17:51
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• 17:55
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• 17:59
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• 18:01
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• 18:05
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• 18:09
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• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Sports Table, and over on Instagram as well. Take care
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: and we'll catch you next time.