Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / The NBA Play-In Tournament Has Been Electric

Transcript

The NBA Play-In Tournament Has Been Electric · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Steph Curry had not done that in his career until after this game.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: He was asked about uh the future of him, Dre, and Klay.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I don't know, man.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to win.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is enough pressure to me to make Mike Dunlavey and him have to make some really tough decisions.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm happy for Steph.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: It took him long to get here, but I'm happy for Steph because he ain't getting no younger.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beach and podcast on today's episode.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, a little bit different.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: The vibes are a little bit different, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I am filming this maybe 10 minutes after Chicago Bulls punched their ticket to go against the Miami Heat to punch their ticket to lose to the Boston Celtics at four.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm still excited about it.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I am so very excited.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I went into this playing game thinking, if we lose, no big deal.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I got the Donovan Klingon Photoshop ready so we can jump up to the third overall pick and select them.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: If we lose, we get a lottery pick.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: If we win, then hell, anything is really possible.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Kobe White turned into Michael Jeffrey Jordan.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: He is the greatest guard ever drafted out of UNC to the Chicago Bulls after tonight.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: After tonight.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, let me let me chill, let me chill.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna talk about this playing game, all the other playing games.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about the futures of some of these teams that have been eliminated.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to get to, including a player getting banned from the NBA.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think that might be the second band that I could think of of my lifetime, other than OJ Mayo's like substance abuse thing.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, now I'm Jonte Porter for gambling stuff.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to get to.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Leave a like, subscribe, go over to the audio platforms, give us five stars as we are on the road to taking over the number one basketball podcast in America and pretty much everywhere else.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I done seen a screenshot of how we rank in New Zealand.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: We're pretty damn high.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want that number one spot too.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we can't do that if you don't leave a like, subscribe, and listen to those episodes.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get right into it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Hawks needed this loss.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: For the sake of their franchise, for the sake of their future, they needed this loss.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Trey Young has been the all-time leading scorer, all-time leading assister of playing history.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was 3-0 going into tonight, and now their season is wrapped.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Trey Young's a guy that just came back from an injury not too long ago.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: But even when he was healthy, him and DeJounte Murray as appearing did not work.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: I this is not news.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been watching him for the last season and a half, you know this.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been looking at the stats for the last seven and a half season and a half, you know this.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Traditionally, when your two best players are on the court together, you have a positive net rating.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Hawks are one of the few teams that have their two best players on the court and it's negative.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you saw that in today's game, you've seen that in pretty much any game they play together, that you can kind of tell whose possession it is.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: These guys don't play well off each other.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I always always want to give them the benefit of the doubt because when you have two guards, it is difficult to play off of each other unless one of your guards is a large guard, like a Luka Doncic or something like that.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to play off of each other and be successful.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it's always been your turn, my turn.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that happened earlier in the season, and y'all know I was very high on the Atlanta Hawks going into this year because I believed in Quentin Snyder's ability to build a competitive defense.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I believed in Quentin Snyder's ability to kind of help Trey Young evolve as a player.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and one of the things I remember seeing somewhat a decent amount earlier in the season is Trey Young being used off the ball quite a bit.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, that was the next elevation uh evolution of Trey Young's game because we know he can shoot it from deep.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: We know he's had has some of the best vision of basketball.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: He has uh he's one of the better passers just in general.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if he doesn't have a ball in his hands, he's somewhat of a non-threat.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of the time when he wasn't moving off ball, he's sitting at the hash.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, that's a shot he can he can make.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he's actually the the greatest 30 shot, 30-foot shot shooter in the history of basketball, at least in the tracking era.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a shot he can make.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm a defensive, I'm a defensive player, I'm okay with him taking that shot.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So he's sitting at the hash and letting DeJounte work, but then we started to see him move a little bit more and it looked a little bit better.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then in this game tonight, all of that was gone.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's coming off a surge off his uh offhand and everything.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I didn't expect him to be the Trey Young of normal, but he also kind of struggles against the Chicago Bulls, whether it be Alice Caruso, whether it be Ayo Desumu, whoever it may be.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in this game, he ended with 22 points, he ended up with 10 assists, but he shot 30% from field.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: He had six turnovers, and he did nothing when DeJounte had the ball.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And DeJounte did nothing when he had the ball.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's just ugly.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: It has been ugly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Kobe White just sent one of these guys packing, at least one of them.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I guess there's a world where both of them get moved this offseason, but there's no way if you land your fields, you see this season, the season and a half of sample size we have together and say, hey, this backcourt can coexist.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way that they can try to convince themselves that is the case, that it doesn't make sense to trade one of these two guys, is that A, the offers that you're getting are low balls because everybody is seeing what I am seeing right now.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Every all the other 29 GMC that Trey Young and DeJounte can't coexist.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So hell, instead of paying a premium for Trey Young, what if I give them 70% of it?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: 75 cents on a dollar, 50 cents on a dollar.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you land your field, you're trading Trey Young, you probably don't want to do that.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Especially considering you don't own your own first-round pick for 2025.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if we trade Trey Young away and this team is offering me three first-round picks and maybe a decent young player, traditionally that might be something you're interested in.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: But because you don't own your own first-round picks, maybe not so much.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's too many teams across the association right now that we're seeing be bad that don't own their own picks.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Brooklyn, Brooklyn Nets.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mean to take shots, but the Brooklyn Nets just won 32 games and they're not gonna reap the benefit of being bad because they don't own their own first-round pick.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few other teams like that, that like the uh Toronto Raptors did everything in their power on the last two months of the season to try to retain the odds to keep their own first-round pick.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they had no incentive to tank unless they're keeping it in what, top seven?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't want to be one of those teams that's doing something similar.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if we traded Trey Young or we're trading DeJounte Murray, the idea is probably from their perspective to trade them away to give the keys to the other guy and get a player back that can help elevate this team.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that trade exists.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm being honest with you.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that trade exists.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: The teams that would be calling for Trey Young are not thinking about giving you real players because we're adding Trey Young with our real players.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that be the LA Lakers with their three first-round picks and stuff, whether that be the San Antonio Spurs, we don't really have young players to really give you.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you want Malagay Brandon?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, but you know, we can give you your own first-round pickback.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: TheJounte Murray is a phenomenal basketball player.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Love him or hate him.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's very, very good at what he does.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: He he gave me a huge scare today because he was in his bag.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't matter what defender we threw at him, he was in his bag and he has been in his bag um for a lot of the last month or so.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So there might be teams calling about him because his contract's not bad at all.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of those dudes that he continues to sign contracts that feel like undervalue for him.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're like, maybe that's the perfect value.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe him taking that money is exactly what he deserves to take.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it was a lot of bogey Bagdanovich guard and Kobe White in this one.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Kobe White saw him as food.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The one possession that I'll never forget.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Kobe White on a one-on-four fast break.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: He does a spin move, go right up.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the man and everybody else in this game are getting right to the basket, right to the basket.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want to remind you that Kobe White signed a contract that's worth three years,$30 million.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would assume who signed a contract that is three years,$21 million.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls have got banged for their buck in a lot of places, like Alice Caruso's contract, obviously they're banged for it for the buck.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Martin Rosen one is gonna be up for an extension um this offseason.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Vusevich just signed an extension, and I think it's decent value.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't really like Vusevich on the team, even though he gave us a good game tonight.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the only sad thing about this for from our Bulls fans' perspective, that in the next game that we talk about, the Miami Heat versus the Philadelphia 76ers, Jimmy Butler got injured.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the Bulls probably go into the next game.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I guess I could check this.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls probably go into the next game because we don't know what Jimmy Butler is is uh dealing with right now.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's maybe not the favorite, but they have a real chance to win, is all I'm really saying.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what that can mean from the front office if the Bulls make their way into the play in, remember, if they make it to the play in, they're just gonna lose in four or five to the Boston Celtics anyway.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: But that can be from the front office perspective, say, hey, look, we made we even made the playoffs now.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Lonzo ball might be back, and Zach Levine gonna be back, but probably not.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: We could just run it back again.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that is my biggest, biggest fear.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I am so happy that I got to see one of my favorite players, Kobe White, drop 40 in a win ago home game.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm scared to what that means for the franchise, as they might be able to just convince themselves that being this mediocre team is the right answer.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And as of right now, if you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Bulls are a two and a half-point underdog to the Miami Heat, even though we don't know what's going on with uh Jimmy Butler, which that still feels okay.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think Terry Rogier is going to be questionable and has a chance to play in the next game.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they could desperately need him because in that game versus the Philadelphia 76ers, it was a great game, but for the opposite reason.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: For the Bulls game, we got two higher-powered offenses tonight, where Trey Young and them were doing their thing, at least in that for uh that second quarter, and made it somewhat interesting.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the Bulls obviously put up 131 points on the one of the worst defensive basketball.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Miami Heat Philadelphia 76er game was so interesting because it was so um uh it was two coaches trying to coach each other off, and then the defense, the defense, the defense, the defense.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: The last time I watched these two teams play against each other was earlier, or it was last week, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Miami Heat played against the Philadelphia 76ers, and in that one, that was the game that Jimmy Butler was fumbling the goddamn ball all fourth quarter.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember that, Jimmy.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, oh no, no, no.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm sleek.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the game they they he did that against the Orlando Magic.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: My bad.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: The game I'm thinking about was April 4th.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this one, the Philadelphia 76ers came up with the win.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Tyres Maxie had 37 and yada yada yada.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the game plan in this one for the Miami Heat was dramatically different than that random regular season game.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: They ran that zone in that second quarter, late first quarter, second quarter, and and it was as well uh well oiled as it could be as a zone.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And on the broadcast, JJ Reddick, who's one of the better basketball minds in media, um, pointed out that this is not a one-two-two, this is not a three-two, this is not a two-three.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is like a living organism moving along together with great communication where it doesn't have a number, so it doesn't have a name to this zone.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give a lot of credit to Kevin Love.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give a lot of credit to um to like Harold Highsmith, Jame Hawkes, even though they lost this game.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm we're gonna talk about the 76 and their win.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: But when they were running that zone, they did everything in their power to deny the ball from Joel and B.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there is times where I'm watching this, and I obviously JoJo's not moving exactly the same, but in the seven regular season games that he played, he averaged 29 or 49% shooting.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So he had to be doing something right, right?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but they were denying the 9.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was not moving where I'm like, man, if they want to win this game, which they do, no team wants to be the eight seed.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: You'd rather take your chance against the Knicks than take your chances against the seven or against the Boston Celtics.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's just better that way, it's easier that way.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Knicks are just not as good as uh the Boston Celtics, and they almost fumbled this game away until the third quarter or the last three minutes because Joel and B did not have a good game.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say this again aloud.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Joel Embiid did not have a good game in this one.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: But in that last three minutes, he hit a big time three.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: He had a drive to the basket that ended in a layup for him where he was definitely trying to draw a foul, but didn't get the call, but he still got it.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then he had the pass to Kelly Ubre.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had the pass to Kelly Ubre that was the and one late in the game.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I again three and a half quarters, three, three and three-fourths of the game.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was not good.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But in the last three minutes, he put it together.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you got to give a lot of credit to Nicholas Patoon because this was his best game he's played in like a year, two years.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Given the circumstance, given the stakes involved, this might be his best game in the last three years.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, he was all over the place offensively and defensively.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: But how many threes did he end up hitting this one?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Six threes, I want to say.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: He ended up hitting six threes off the bench, five rebounds, 20 points for for him, man.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's more than Maxie.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's the second leading score.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not in the game, because Tyler Hero had 25 on 27 shots.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: But this this is so important, especially when your star player is having a down game, that somebody else steps up for the time being.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that was Nicholas Batum.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then your star player, Jordan B, took you home.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all you can really ask for.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now they go against the uh the New York Knicks next, and we're gonna eventually talk about this series.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to talk about this Miami Heat stuff because Jimmy Baller got injured.
• 12:29
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• 13:00
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• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was a play.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was like a weird collision.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: We landed weird and he was on pain.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was on the floor in pain for five minutes.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: They cut to a break and came back and he was walking again.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: He had to take his free throws.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking to myself, he's 100% coming out of this game.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we probably won't see him again because he looked like he was in that much pain.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: But eventually he came back after the timeout or after the end of the quarter and he played for the rest of the game.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there were times in this one where he was moving really good.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, so the injury must have been just like a knock-knee or something like that, where the pain is gone, or maybe there's 100% adrenaline.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it don't like it's nothing too crazy until we got into this late game and he was deferring, deferring, deferring.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not the Jimmy Butler that we know, especially the one that told us he was going to be locked in again come postseason.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a locked-in Jimmy Butler.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually, when it got down to the last possession of the game, he wasn't on the court at all.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then we get got the notification from Shams that's saying that they fear it might be some MC MCL stuff and that his future for the next playing game on Friday is up in the air.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's unfortunate for the Miami Heat.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe not.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Miami Heat, I mentioned this before, are a team that I believe need change.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Kenny, they just made an NBA finals run last season.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely they did.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I will never be able to take that away from them.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: But from the team I'm watching today, and the team that I watched in, and listen, these things are so eerily similar because they lost the first play-in game last year and then went on the NBA finals run.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess it's still possible.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the team cannot be satisfied with making their way from the play-in to the finals every single season.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, two years ago, granted, they were the one seed, right?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And for two years in a row, they've been injury-riddled.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just a that's just a fact.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I know every team is dealing with injuries because anytime I talk about a team dealing with injuries, the comments saying it's like, Kenny, the 70s Centers had injuries.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Kenny, the the Clippers have had injuries.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I understand everybody deals with injuries for sure.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: But the Miami Heat this season and last season, two years running, have lost the most amount of games for their top 10 players in their rotation.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that takes a lot of it, right?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you're completely healthy, I would assume that this is not a play-in team.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: They can't really get healthy.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: And even when they are healthy, I still can't see that team as a championship-winning team.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what are we gonna do about it?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: If they if they make it to the NBA uh playoffs, which again, anything can happen, it's still a favorite against the Bulls.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, I know what team I'm rooting for, but I don't know if that's a smart team to pick.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel like they need to be more aggressive.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they were aggressive, right?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Damian Lillard was all almost in their pocket, if you ask some people.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a year, a year ago, they slept through the deadline and they made it to the finals.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm done referencing last year's last year because all of the bad things that happened still led them to the NBA Finals.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: This year they added Terry Rozgier, and Terry Rozier couldn't suit up in this one.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he's questionable for the next game.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I watched this team play, and the offense is as bad.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see if I can find the stats of this.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: As bad as you can imagine for a game and for a 2024 game.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because yeah, I'm I remember watching stuff growing up that was worse.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but their points per possession in this one, uh, points per 100 possessions was 109, and um, that's just not good enough in the nowadays NBA.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: They played a near perfect defensive game today.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: They turned the um the 76ers over.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see this now 15 times.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: They turned the team over 15 times, and that doesn't even account for like um in the shot clocks that they they forced them to get up a bad shot, you know what I'm saying?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: 15 times, and they weren't really able to capitalize on it much because the offense sucks.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And because Jimmy was hobbled for three quarters of this game, and there's no scary Terry, there's no Duncan Robinson, there's no other person that can really create their own shot.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Tyler Hero take us to the promised land, and that's how we get to the point where he's attempting 27 shots in this one.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now the last one is inexcusable.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much time on the shot clock.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was too much time on the clock.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I had to look back at the at the thing to be like, wait, did he take was it one second on the clock?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, he had a lot of time.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: But because nobody else on the team could create for themselves, it was a Tyler Hero show.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the Tyler Heroes show is a 10 out of 10, and it's a great show.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And other times, like tonight, you want to turn the TV off.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the performance you got.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I also have five turnovers in this one.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not it's not ideal.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's not ideal.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: There were just a few times in this game where Jimmy Butler just sneaky, sneakily just took the ball out of somebody's hands and went in for a layup, which I thought was cool.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, same thing with Delon Wright.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Technically, he ended up with two steals, but I promise you, it felt like he had a lot more than that.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: They had people contribute, right?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: They had Jame Haquez give them 15, Kevin Love gave them 10 and great defense the whole time.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: But that was it.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Nikola Jovich only played 14 minutes, and that was a surprise because I thought he looked pretty solid in his minutes.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: It says that he was a minus 10.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really think about plus-minus in a game like this, but in the minutes that I watched of him, it looked like he was moving well enough.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess Spoestra didn't agree.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I'm not here to question Spoestra, he's the greatest coach in basketball right now.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's just that's my personal opinion.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: But that next game on Friday is just gonna be an interesting one.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get to the the games before that, yesterday's games, I do want to talk about Jonte Porter.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, I completely understand the irony of me talking about this story and uh uh condemning what Jonte Porter did when my presenting sponsor is also a sports betting company.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I understand that, and I am I am reviewing these things, and come next season we'll see what ends up happening.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jonte Porter got a a lifetime ban from the NBA.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you don't know who Jontae Porter is, he is Michael Porter Jr.'s brother.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um he was a uh a great um high school athlete, dealt with a lot of injuries throughout his career until he got to the league and he was a part of the Toronto Raptors on a two-way contract.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: He got busted about a month or so ago for allegedly gambling on himself slash the the Toronto Raptors.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: He gets investigated and boom, they find out all of the things he did, all of the bets that he made for$86,000, whatever, whatever type of bets.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um, a lot of them were based on his own unders, where he would fake fake an injury or an eye injury or a sickness after betting his own under on an associate's phone, and boom, he he walks out in the green, still making less money than his two-way contract, but I digress.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he gets caught.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: He even bet against his his own team to he bet his own team to lose a game.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just ridiculous.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I said when the uh when the idea came out that he was being investigated, that Adam Silver and company had to put the hammer down because sports gambling and sports betting has just become a part of sports in general nowadays, where even when you're watching ESPN tonight, um when when we're watching the game, they're telling you about the odds, they're telling you about the spread of the game you're actively watching.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a part of what's going on in sports right now, it's a huge part of the next TV deal.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the people that are gonna get in on the NBA are gonna be sports betting associated, so it's just becoming engraved in what we do.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And for a large time, I was indifferent about it.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um but other The fur after further notice and kind of reflecting a little bit, I hold a new opinion about that's why I said the next season.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm under contract right now, but I understand, uh just understand the next season things are going to evolve, and maybe I don't have a gambling presenting sponsor.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't really know.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um because of things like this.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: This this guy, again, he's a two-way player, but this NBA player, whether it be just because of addiction or because of whatever, thought it was a good idea to gamble against himself and his teammates.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's not like these are his teammates forever.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, he probably was not gonna be on the roster after the last game of the season.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it's nasty work.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we've seen this happen in the NFL where people are making bets, um, not necessarily on their favorite their own team, but making bets.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, where some people weren't even leaving the facilities in the NFL and making bets and got caught up that way.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's happening way too often.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Adam Silver and company um wanted to lay their hammer down for sure.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that a lifetime ban, considering how engraved it is in our culture now in sports, I don't think a lifetime ban is going to scare many people from trying it.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it called is a different thing.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: But trying it, I'm not completely sure.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing Adam Silver is so happy about that that it was Jonte Porter and not Michael Porter.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or it was Jonte Porter and not another player that actually matters in the grand scheme of the NBA.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: That we can set an example on a two-way player that might have been out of the league next year anyway.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't do this.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it was one of your top guys, maybe it's not a ban, but it's a little suspense.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, but because it was a guy that, let's be real, the NBA don't really care about too much, you can give the ban away.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just disappointed, I guess, is the word.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've never met Jante.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know him.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean his brother was on our show, but that's that's all I really know.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the idea of betting against yourself is just something I can't compute.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: It betting against the teammates, something I can't like being on a team flight and being on a the private jet looking around and looking at Scottie Barnes and be like, he's about to have an off game under.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at RJ Barrett and be like, hmm, I saw him tweak his ankle, we losing tonight.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's insane to me.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: But he did it, and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for them meddling kids.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I let me know what you think about the Jon T Porter thing.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: We decided to order Athletic Greens one because we had heard about how much it can help on your energy, on your digestion, and a lot of other things.
• 24:33
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• 24:34
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• 24:40
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• 24:41
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• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: But since she started drinking athletic green, she feels like she can run with a two-year-old all day long.
• 24:51
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• 24:58
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• 25:07
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• 25:16
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• 25:22
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• 25:27
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• 25:33
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• 25:37
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• 25:40
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• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know I always got a deal for that.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let me read you the deal.
• 25:46
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• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: All you got to do is go to drinkag1.com slash Kenny.
• 25:59
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• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to AG1.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into these other playing games.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, starting off with the Sacramento Kings beating the Golden State Warriors.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Give a lot of credit to the Sacramento Kings.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: They came out, they played, they put the smack down immediately, like the beam.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Keon Ellis looked great on national TV.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: De'Aaron Fox had some big time shots.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Keegan Murray had one of his better games of his NBA career.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the Warriors is where I'm kind of gonna have to focus for the time being because, well, the Warriors have been a huge part of my adult life as far as an NBA fan, where this team has been as dominant as any team.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a dynasty, in my personal opinion.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people might disagree because they had the one year in between with D'Angelo Russell and Eric Pascal and and other players where they were awful.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in my I I think that this was a dynasty and it's done.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's done.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I said it was done last year, but it's really done now.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's completely done now.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Where there are real questions on whether or not Klay Thompson will be back.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: When he's asked about it, he said he don't he's just trying to take some time away and recoup, and we'll see exactly what that means.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But they offered him a contract earlier in the season that he turned down.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: He turned down.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the number was, but the last month and a half, two months of the year, Klay Thompson was looking like the normal version of himself.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But in this game against the Sacramento Kings, he shot over 10.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's just harsh because Klay Thompson, or the go to say words in general, are just not really a team that gets to the free throw line a lot.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: So what if Klay is shooting over 10, then he's probably gonna end the game up with zero points, and that's exactly what he did.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nobody that's gonna get off the blame wagon because Steph Curry had a bad game, and part of that was the the Kings threw the kitchen sink at him every time he touched the ball, which is pro that is the right thing to do.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: The last time they played against each other in a winner-go-home scenario, he dropped 50.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm Mike Brown, yes, I am trying to get the ball out of his hands.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: They felt so damn comfortable with letting uh Wiggins on a roll play four on three or three on two just because Steph Curry is so crazy of a person.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever Wiggins do, it doesn't matter.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be worse than whatever the hell Steph Curry would have been able to do.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they felt so comfortable with it, and the Warriors did not, and that is something they've been playing forever.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's that's the thing about a 9-10 matchup.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because even though the Warriors came in as a favorite, most people, most of the analysts, because the Warriors came in looking pretty good over the last month, and the Kings were missing Malik Monk.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: They were missing uh uh Kevin Herter, and they were just struggling to get to the finish line.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Most people pick the Warriors, and the great thing about basketball is it's a game-by-game basis, and the Warriors shit the bed in this one.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wiggins ended up with 12.0.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty of times I'm watching this and I'm with the homies in Discord, where I'm like, Steve Kerr has to get Wiggins off the court because he is a complete non-threat.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then he's playing as the role man, and he doesn't have the playmaking chops to make the not the first, he can make the first read, but if that first read is covered, he doesn't have that to do the second one, and that's what Draymond Green is great at.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it just wasn't Draymond Green.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Draymond Green, I think at the first three of the game, I was like, oh, snap.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe you're not the 10th seed if you don't get suspended, buddy.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to bring up old things, open up old wounds, but hell, you have to take some responsibility, and maybe he will, he probably will, take responsibility for what this season turned into for y'all.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's suspension.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: You play through that, you're probably not losing that many games.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: They had found something with Trace Jackson, uh Trace Jackson Davis and Draymond Green together.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you maybe maybe Steve Kurt finds it earlier in the season if you don't hit Yusuf Nurkits in the head with a with a Tomahawk smash.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So Dre deserves some blame for this.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Clay deserves some blame for this.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: 0 for 10 is crazy.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Steph Curry deserves some blame for them.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: See how six turnovers to his two assists.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Steve Kurt deserves some blame in this one.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Trace Jackson Davis and maybe maybe Steve Kurt said, hey, Sabonis is too physical of a player, and Trace Jackson Davis just don't have it to hold his own against them.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that is the case.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: But playing him 10 minutes when we've seen Draymond and Trace play so well together, plus minus, if I test all of that tells you, him only playing 10 minutes, I question that.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing in Kevon Looney, I understand that, right?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: When Kevon Looney and Sabonis battled against each other in the uh first round last year, that man Kevon Looney held his own.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you can argue that he won, he won that series.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: If it was a mano imano, him versus a DeMont Sabonis.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, De Mont Sabonis' stats are gonna look better because he's an all-NBA player.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you can argue that Kevon Looney outplayed him.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, bring him back to the rotation, even though he ain't really played much since January.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that idea.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but when that went working, and we didn't go back to Trace Jackson Davis, just question a little bit.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: They were completely okay with letting um uh uh uh John DeKaminga.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, John DeKaminga go out there and take every single shot imaginable.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Brown outcoached Steve Kerr.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And now Mike Dunvy Jr.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: has some real things to think about.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Bob Myers left at the perfect time.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: He left at the perfect time.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm gonna leave on a relative high.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever comes in, best of luck, because trying to rebuild or retool a former dynasty has to be one of the hardest jobs in ball.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And a few months ago, I made a video on my Kenny Freel channel.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is right after the Draymond Green thing.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the name of the video, if you want to watch the whole thing, is I'm tired of Draymond Green.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And in that video, um, I expressed my frustration with Steph Curry because he was one of the few, one of the few superstars in basketball to not really put pressure on the front office to make the team better.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I gave him a little bit of leeway because him, Clay Thompson, and Draymond Green, for the majority of their time playing together, they have been unfuckwittable.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: When they had been healthy, no team was messing with them.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: So coming to the reality that it's time to move on and retool and get some better players in is definitely tough.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: But my criticism to Steph was that he didn't put enough pressure on his front office.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: All of the other great players involved do it for better or for worse.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James puts pressure on, boom, they trade for Anthony Davis.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James put pressure on, boom, they trade for Russell Westbrook.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, for better or for worse.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Things are gonna be good, some things are gonna be bad.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Giannis puts pressure on, boom, they trade for Drew Holiday.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: They win a championship and then they lose in the first round.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: He puts more pressure on, boom, they trade for Damian Lillard.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It goes on and on and on.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: When a superstar player's team is not holding up their side of the deal, usually you'll see that superstar player, maybe it's not public, but try to do something to get his front office to recognize hey, I ain't looking too great around here.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Steph Curry had not done that in his career until after this game.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was asked about uh the future of him, Dre, and Klay.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I don't know, man.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to win.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is enough pressure to me to make Mike Dunlavy and him have to make some really tough decisions.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm happy for Steph.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: It took him long to get here, but I'm happy for Steph because he ain't getting no younger.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this was not the best Steph Curry year at all.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Especially because he had ended the season on a decent slump for his own being.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're comparing him to only him, it was a slump.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And now he's like, hell, I can't do, I can't do this all of my own if Klay Thompson's not playing up to par or Draymond Green can't stay on the floor, and Wiggins turned into went from uh I don't even know.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: The Monstars took his talents or something.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was an all-star starter a few years back, and he was unplayable in his winner-go-home game, if you ask me.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so shout out to the Sacramento Kings for making things interesting um and advancing to go against uh the Pelicans who end up losing their game against the LA Lakers, and Zion got injured, which is as unfortunate of a thing, man, because Zion was the best player on the court in a game that had Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: He was the best player on the court where two nights before this, they forced Zion to take like five jump shots.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: I watched that game in disgust.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I picked the Lakers to win this game because of one of the reasons, because that game, because they guarded that man so very well, but in the plan, whoo that he was a bulldozer, he was so so strong that LeBron James, a player that I have watched for 21 years, and I've only seen him be injured maybe twice, three times, LeBron tried to take a charge on Zion, and LeBron was injured.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: He stayed on the floor for multiple seconds.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron had his feet set for a charge, but because Zion is so powerful, LeBron James kind of kind of like jumped, he he took a contact and his whole body lifted off the floor.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa! Zion had 40 and he came down awkwardly and got injured.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And in the last couple minutes of this game, they had to try to close it out without their big guy, their big fella, and um they lost.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is after Willie Green had opted to bench Brandon Ingram because Brandon Ingram wasn't contribute.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this is game number two of Brandon Ingram coming off a long injury.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I didn't really expect him to go out there and do anything super crazy.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is after Willie Green also benched CJ McCollum.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: So Zion got injured, and your two other max near max players both got benched late in the game.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's not ideal.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: But Trey Murphy III hit some big shots.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Jose Alvarado also got injured like four times in this game.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how, but he got injured like four times in this game.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he hit some big shots.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Larry Nance was the better option.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that Willie Green didn't feel like he needed to play his star players.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not new for Willie Green.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's done it a few times too the regular season, but hell, it wasn't no winning, like a somewhat winna-go-home scenario.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't expect him to do it in the biggest game of the year, but he did.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um but ultimately it was Braun and him taking the cake.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this one, Braun wasn't phenomenal by any means.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: But they were fouling the hell out of the Lakers.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I know everybody's going to talk about the Lakers' whistle.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a part of history, all right?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be complaining about the Lakers whistle for four years in a row.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: If that's just the way it is, that's just the way it is.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the real guy here was D'Angelo Russell.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: He had some huge timeless shots.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing about D'Angelo Russell, he's gonna let you hear it when he hits it.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what he did.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really have much to say about this game in particular because it was a couple days ago.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just sad that Zion is gonna be out for this next game versus the Kings.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know who's walking away feeling pretty good about this?
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: The OKC Thunder.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: The OKC Thunder is sitting at the one spot waiting for either Sacramento or New Orleans.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Sacramento, um, they probably are the favorite to win this game, mostly because there is no Zion Williamson.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I would be correct, it's a one and a half point favorite, so it's very, very close to even odds.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but without Zion Williamson, let's say the Pelicans can still win this game for sure.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if Zion is as injured as we think he could be and he's gonna be reevaluating in a few weeks, OKC's like, hey, we're gonna go against the Pelicans with no Zion Williamson for a seven-game series.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: We feel pretty good about that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Or we're gonna play against the Sacramento Kings, who are very competent, a very well-coached team.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: We still feel good about that.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: We just didn't want to see the Lakers.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: We just didn't want to see the Warriors.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll take either of those two teams.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think they feel really good about it.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: No matter who ends up winning, they feel good about their odds.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I would I am gonna pick the OKC Thunder eventually when that series starts, no matter who they're going against, um, whether it be the Kings or the Pales.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: On the other side of things, again, I don't care between the Bulls and Miami, I know exactly where my head is at, and I am taking the Celtics to win that series, no matter who comes out of that.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Check it.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we're gonna end today's episode.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now that we are in playoff mode and things are shifting so very rapidly, we will be transitioning back to our two times a week schedule, which is dope.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm excited to do some more game breakdowns and all of the above with y'all.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to leave a like, subscribe to the channel, give us five stars because it goes a very, very, very, very long way.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: I need to give me some sleep.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've been up for a very, very long time.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I definitely need to rest up after that game.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Love y'all.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: See you soon.