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Best of The Ben Maller Show · The Ben Maller Show

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  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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  Speaker 1: from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
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  Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
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  Speaker 1: station for the Benmatlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot com.
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  Speaker 1: You can find it there or stream us live every
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
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  Speaker 2: This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
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  Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Lakers with a great effort. They reached their team total
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: over one hundred and a half. Ruy Hachimura he reached
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  Speaker 3: over fourteen and a half points. Ruy reached over two
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  Speaker 3: and a half. May three. That's all betting, that's all
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  Speaker 3: betting angles.
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  Speaker 4: So that was great.
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  Speaker 3: I was back in the Purple and gold tonight, so
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  Speaker 3: they came through for me.
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  Speaker 4: That was very nice. They covered the spread.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't have anything on that, but put the betting
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  Speaker 3: to the side. The Lakers had a real chance to
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  Speaker 3: win the game. They lost one fifteen to one. Ten
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: got away from them at the very very end. They
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  Speaker 3: were down by a point. Lebron had a close shot contested.
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  Speaker 3: He'll tell you should have made it, which you should
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  Speaker 3: have it was just a little bit off. Didn't go in. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: see you had a couple of free throws down the stretch.
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  Speaker 3: They win the game by five points. But it was
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  Speaker 3: a great game, a lot of fun.
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  Speaker 4: I was.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, maybe I lead with
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  Speaker 3: football tonight, maybe I lead with ball. As the NFL
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  Speaker 3: has started to slowly unveil a game here, a game there.
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  Speaker 3: The NFL schedule will be unveiled in bulk in its
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  Speaker 3: entirety on Thursday.
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  Speaker 4: But you know how it goes. They give you a little.
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  Speaker 3: Little strict tease throughout the week, like, oh, here's the
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  Speaker 3: Sunday night opener. Here, here's the week two Thursday night game. There,
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  Speaker 3: here's one of the Thanksgiving Day games. We'll get that
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  Speaker 3: throughout the week. It'll be the same thing on Tuesday,
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  Speaker 3: on Wednesday, then we'll get the whole schedule on Thursday.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm like, maybe I start with that. But that
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  Speaker 3: thunder Lakers game was so good. I have to hone
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  Speaker 3: in on that. Okay, have to hone in on that,
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  Speaker 3: and I will get to Donovan Mitchell aka Spider.
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  Speaker 4: One of the best nicknames in all of sports.
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  Speaker 3: Spider was game in the second half after a lackluster
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  Speaker 3: first half only four points, Spider Mitchell erupts for thirty
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  Speaker 3: nine second half points, tying an NBA Playoff record most
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  Speaker 3: points in a half. Spider Mitchell. He dropped thirty nine
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  Speaker 3: of his forty three points in the second half alone
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  Speaker 3: as the Cavs even their series against the Pistons. But
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  Speaker 3: that game was greatly outstaged by that thunder Lakers game.
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  Speaker 3: It was a great, great basketball game. It was a
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  Speaker 3: lot of fun. And look, I think you have to
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  Speaker 3: take your hat off to a couple of people. One
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  Speaker 3: would be SGA. I know, I know, it's oh gosh,
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  Speaker 3: Shay Gildess Alexander. It feels like anytime we talk about
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  Speaker 3: Shay Gildess Alexand, it's like, oh, got Shay the foul baiting,
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  Speaker 3: Ah this, I don't like his game, Like it.
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  Speaker 4: Just is so I don't know, negative all the time.
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  Speaker 3: It seems like if you listen to a game, it's
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: so funny, it's the exact opposite. It's Kevin Harlan and
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  Speaker 3: Dwayne Wade Candas Parker, They're on Prime and they're like, Oh,
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  Speaker 3: this freaking unbelievable.
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  Speaker 4: Look at what he's doing.
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  Speaker 3: You look at the moves upon moves, and then I'll
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  Speaker 3: listen to sports radio or sports TV, and a lot
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  Speaker 3: of it it's.
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  Speaker 4: Like, oh, that'sgah.
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  Speaker 3: This guy got thirty five points on Monday night, steady
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  Speaker 3: as it gets eight assists. Also, he's not a ballhog.
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  Speaker 3: He's not the black hole out there. He will share
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  Speaker 3: the ball, but just sneaky points. I call him sneaky points.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't mean this as some sort of sneak
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  Speaker 3: dis or anything. But you'll be watching SGA. He had
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  Speaker 3: fourteen points in the first half, and you're like, all right,
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  Speaker 3: he's doing his thing. Nothing's really standing out. It's some
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  Speaker 3: free throw jumpers, some elbow jumpers. He's working the mid range.
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  Speaker 3: You know, he's getting to the foul line. All of
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  Speaker 3: a sudden, you look up and you're like, all right,
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  Speaker 3: he's got He's got thirty three points. Holy cow, it's
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  Speaker 3: about four minutes to go. He ends with thirty five points.
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  Speaker 3: A true star, and really he's a refreshing star if
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  Speaker 3: you really think about it, because after game three he's like, look,
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  Speaker 3: I haven't played my three best games of my career, but.
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  Speaker 4: We're winning games.
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  Speaker 3: I'll take that. I'll take winning games every time. I
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  Speaker 3: don't need to be the star. I don't need to
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  Speaker 3: drop thirty five on a nightly basis. That's refreshing. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know why Shay gets as much flack as much
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  Speaker 3: negativity as he does. It doesn't have to be the
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  Speaker 3: most entertaining style of basketball. It just has to be effective.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know why people can't give credit to someone
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  Speaker 3: who's highly effective. It's my whole thing with not to
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  Speaker 3: switch sports on you, but Floyd money how much negativity
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  Speaker 3: did you hear during money May's career where it was just, oh,
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  Speaker 3: this guy, he doesn't knock anybody out. He just he
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  Speaker 3: gets a lead and then he just kind of dances around.
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  Speaker 3: It's like, the goal is to win, Okay. The goal
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  Speaker 3: isn't to just entertain the masses. The goal is to win.
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  Speaker 3: And I thought money May was focused on the right things.
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  Speaker 3: Inside the ring. He was focused on winning. He wasn't
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  Speaker 3: focused on being a showman. He wasn't focused on being
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  Speaker 3: a Mike Tyson knockout artist. He was focused on winning,
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  Speaker 3: and he was also focused on getting paid. But when
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  Speaker 3: it comes to you know, the true goal, it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: oh I gotta be a showman, I gotta take wild risks,
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  Speaker 3: even though I'm clearly ahead on points. I gotta try
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  Speaker 3: to knock this guy out to appease the fans. He's like, no,
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  Speaker 3: I just gotta win, and SGA has a similar mentality.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, it's the sport of basketball, but it's the
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  Speaker 3: same mentality. He's not out there like, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: got a stop up with the foul baiting.
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  Speaker 4: The fans don't like it.
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  Speaker 3: I gotta be a little bit more razzle dazzle, put
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  Speaker 3: on a little bit more of a show for the mass.
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  Speaker 3: He's like, I'm trying to win. Why wouldn't he go
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  Speaker 3: to the free throw line? If he's highly effective at
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  Speaker 3: drawing files, why wouldn't he do that. I just don't
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  Speaker 3: understand the logic behind the SGA bashing.
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  Speaker 4: It's so dumb.
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  Speaker 3: But he drops thirty five. It was clearly his best
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  Speaker 3: game of the series. He was not playing very well.
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  Speaker 4: I love this.
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  Speaker 3: It's my favorite sound from the series. This is from
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  Speaker 3: Lakers head coach JJ Reddick. So this was after Game three.
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  Speaker 3: All right, they just played Game four on Monday night
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  Speaker 3: for sweep City, but this was after Game three. JJ
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  Speaker 3: Reddick is like, look, man, we're holding this guy to
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  Speaker 3: like seventeen points, twenty two points.
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  Speaker 4: He was seven for twenty.
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  Speaker 3: He hasn't done much offensively, not what we're accustomed to,
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  Speaker 3: and they're still washing. This is the best sound of
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  Speaker 3: the whole series.
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  Speaker 4: I love this.
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  Speaker 2: The MVP is you know, eighteen twenty two, seven of
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  Speaker 2: twenty to night, and they've kicked our ass three straight games.
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  Speaker 2: They're an incredible basketball team.
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  Speaker 3: He's just like, I mean, good lord man. They're more
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  Speaker 3: than just a one man band. They're much more than
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  Speaker 3: who's soon to be named the back to back MVP.
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  Speaker 3: Side note, I have no idea why they're taking so long.
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  Speaker 3: Why are they taking so long? Name SGA the MVP.
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  Speaker 3: We know he's gonna win it. I don't get this.
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  Speaker 3: I really don't understand that. But in any event, it
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  Speaker 3: wasn't just SGA. The other guy that deserves his roses
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  Speaker 3: from the OKC thunder That would be A J.
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  Speaker 4: Mitchell. And there are a lot of people that are like,
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  Speaker 4: who AJ Who AJ? Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Exactly AJ Mitchell. He's filling in because Jalen Williams is hurt.
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  Speaker 3: You know the guy that dropped forty points in an
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  Speaker 3: NBA Finals game last year? Yeah, that guy from Santa Clara.
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  Speaker 3: He's been hurt. He didn't play a game in this
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  Speaker 3: series against the Lakers with a hamstring issue. So in
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  Speaker 3: while in aj Mitchell and what does he do While
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  Speaker 3: he's probably just the star of the entire series. He's
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  Speaker 3: the best player for the OKC Thunder. He's the best
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  Speaker 3: player on the floor. He's the most productive player. He
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  Speaker 3: dropped twenty eight points on Monday night very efficiently too,
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  Speaker 3: twelve of nineteen from the field. That's a guy that
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  Speaker 3: if Jalen Williams is healthy, he's getting some minutes. That's
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  Speaker 3: how loaded OKC is. The guy that's getting some minutes
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  Speaker 3: when Jalen Williams is healthy. Is the guy that's filling
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  Speaker 3: in for Jalen Williams and just dropping twenty eight and
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  Speaker 3: getting thirty plus minutes a night. The guy in his
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  Speaker 3: second year from UC Santa Barbara is doing work. That's
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  Speaker 3: how deep OKAC is.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I don't want to paint the picture that there's some
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  Speaker 3: impenetrable machine.
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  Speaker 4: They can't be defeated.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be really interesting if we get
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  Speaker 3: Spurs Thunder. That's gonna be a heck of a series.
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  Speaker 3: If that's what we get. No disrespect to the t Wolves.
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  Speaker 3: They're still in the thick of that series. But if
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  Speaker 3: it's Spurs okay See with the Alien, with Wembin Yama
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  Speaker 3: out there, with the way the Spurs put it on
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  Speaker 3: okay See in the regular season, it could be a
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  Speaker 3: really interesting series. And beyond this season, I think Okac
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  Speaker 3: and the Spurs that sets up to be a rivalry
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  Speaker 3: for a long long time, and it's gonna be really
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  Speaker 3: interesting to see how that plays out over the next
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  Speaker 3: five to ten years, how the cores of those two
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: teams sort of say, stay the same. The small we're
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  Speaker 3: talking like two three players are probably gonna stay the
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  Speaker 3: same for a long time, but the other pieces they're
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  Speaker 3: gonna change over the years. Over ten years, there'd be
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  Speaker 3: a lot of change with these rosters. But to see
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  Speaker 3: how oka See and the Spurs stack up, if indeed
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  Speaker 3: that's the matchup, that's gonna be a lot of fun
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  Speaker 3: this season. But Oka See is just loaded, man, absolutely loaded. Now,
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  Speaker 3: if we look at the Lakers side, you know, shame
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  Speaker 3: on me, right, Ben always starts with the losing locker room.
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  Speaker 3: That's where the true story is and that would be correct.
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  Speaker 3: So not to bury the lead here, but Okse and
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  Speaker 3: their emerging dominance. They're emerging dynasty potentially. Sorry that took
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  Speaker 3: center stage in my book. Now we get to the
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  Speaker 3: Lakers swept. Lebron swept for the first time in his
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  Speaker 3: career in the second round.
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  Speaker 4: And look, man, I thought he played well.
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  Speaker 3: All thanks considered on Monday Night, twenty four points, twelve
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  Speaker 3: rebounds for Lebron James. I actually I timed it out right.
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  Speaker 3: I took his under six and a half rebounds in
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  Speaker 3: Game three and he barely he was at six. And
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  Speaker 3: then the next game on Monday Night, you know, he
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  Speaker 3: goes for twelve and it's like betting is so weird.
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  Speaker 3: But put that to the side. Lebron was good. He
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  Speaker 3: played well. Austin Reeves. He led the Lakers in scoring.
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  Speaker 3: That's the good news. He was efficient, eight for sixteen
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  Speaker 3: from the field, hit three three pointers, seven rebounds, six assists. Right,
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  Speaker 3: what's the problem? Eight turnovers for Austin Reeves.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what.
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  Speaker 3: It was, such a weird mixed back game for Austin Reeves.
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  Speaker 3: He was awesome at times. He hit one three where
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  Speaker 3: the shot clock was running down. He had no space whatsoever.
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  Speaker 3: He gave the guy a little bit of a shoulder
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  Speaker 3: and then just jacked up a shot swish. He made
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  Speaker 3: a lot of great plays, hit some really difficult shots.
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  Speaker 4: He had one.
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  Speaker 3: Where Lou Dort was hounding him. He got by Loo
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  Speaker 3: somehow and then he had to flip the shot ever
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  Speaker 3: so carefully over Isaiah Hertenstein, which is hard to do.
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  Speaker 3: I say it like that because that's how the OKC
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  Speaker 3: announcer does it. He sounds like a strip club announcer.
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  Speaker 4: Man.
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  Speaker 3: I love the guy, but he's just like coming to
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  Speaker 3: the stage. Isaiah Hartenstein listened to him every time. Every time.
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  Speaker 3: That's how I say it. Anytime Hertenstein gets a rebound
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  Speaker 3: or scores, that's what I say. I could be watching
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  Speaker 3: a game by myself. I'm this crazy person, Isaiah hartenstet
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  Speaker 3: But that was a high degree of difficulty for Austin Reeves.
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  Speaker 3: At times he was awesome, at other times he was
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: freaking awful. Eight turnovers, horrible passes, some careless passes. There
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  Speaker 3: was one where he had it was sort of like
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: a football pass right tried to football pass it up
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  Speaker 3: the court and it wasn't even close. It was like
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: some justin field stuff right there, and he hit a
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  Speaker 3: guy in the first row to knocked his beer out
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  Speaker 3: of his hands, dripping down his leg the whole I
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: don't know what happened with Austin Reeves passing ability, man,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: it was it was mi I A on Monday night.
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  Speaker 3: But the shooting was good and he poured in twenty
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  Speaker 3: seven points. My guy Ruy Hachimura Ruey had a great
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: playoff run here against the Suns well in the first
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: round he did his thing, and in the second round
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: against OKC he was good as well. He was lights out.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: He shot the ball great against the Rockets. He shot
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: the ball great against OKCE. He dropped in another four
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: three pointers. This guy has been money all playoffs long.
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  Speaker 3: He scores twenty five points. So if you took the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: little betting advice yesterday, that worked out well. He was
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  Speaker 3: over fourteen and a half points easily. He was over
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  Speaker 3: two and a half made threes easily as well. He
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  Speaker 3: had two of them in the fourth quarter, including a
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  Speaker 3: four point play. It's a good game, man, it was
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  Speaker 3: really good. Now, listen, I uh, I hate to even
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  Speaker 3: do this, but it's true, and I'm just obligated to
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  Speaker 3: say this. And it reminds me of the movie Point
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  Speaker 3: Break Okay, you've seen the classic movie Point Break right
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: with Patrick Swayze Keanu Reeves in it.
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  Speaker 4: Right, give me two, Talk, you talk, Give me two.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Right, the classic lines, and there's one line that's not
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: as classic.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: As Utah, Get Me two, but it's memorable.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: It's Patrick Swayze is talking to Keanu Reeves and he
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: was like, this will sting a bit. That's what he says.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: It's an insurance policy. He's got Keanu's girl in the
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: movie and they're they're holding her as a ransom, so
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Keanu will rob Banks with her the whole thing, right,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: But he says, this will sting a bit. And that's
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: how I feel about this With Laker fans. You know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: far be it from me to kick them while they're down.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: They just got swept. Laker Nation is reeling right now.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: But I'm watching the game on Monday, and it's something
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I've thought for a long time, and it's just it's
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: just right there in front of my face. Lebron James
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: has a chance to hit the winning well the go
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: ahead bucket, give the Lakers a one point lead late
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: We're talking, you know, twenty ish seconds to go something
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: like that, and he had a point blank shot. Maybe
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: that's why point break jumped into my mind.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: He had a point blank shot and he missed it.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: He's human. I'm not gonna crush him for doing that.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: But in that moment, I thought, Lebron is a C word.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: He's not that. I'm not saying that, But do you
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: know what sea word Lebron is? Lebron is a compiler.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: That's what Lebron is. Now, before I go any further,
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: there are certain trigger words like buzzwords, and you think,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: oh my gosh, this guy is the biggest hater on
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: the face of the planet. And I'm here to tell
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: you I'm not. I'm not a Lebron hater. I think
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: the guy has been a marvelous basketball player. I think
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: he's been marvelous in terms of not being an idiot
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: and not ever getting in trouble. Do you realize how
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: many people would have gotten in far more trouble being
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: in the same shoes as Lebron. You're a teenager, you're
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: on the cover of SI, you're a millionaire, You've got
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: every temptation thrown at you in waves, and that guy
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: was the furthest thing from a disaster compare him to
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: like Jahn Morant. John Moran is getting in trouble, total moron,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: screwing up left and right. Lebron has never done that.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm not a Lebron hater. But this is the
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  Speaker 3: truth of over here.
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Lebron James is the all time leading scorer in the NBA,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: and it's crazy to me that he has one scoring title.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: That's the definition of a compiler. Now, the point I'm
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: trying to make is, if you hear a buzzword, you'll think, oh,
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: this guy's just being negative across the board. He's not
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: even accurate with this. And it's not to be negative,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: it's not to be a hater, it's not any of that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: But you can't tell me Lebron is not a compiler
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: when you last as long as he has in the NBA,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: and that's awesome. I give him a ton of praise
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: for being as having the longevity that he's had, but
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: that's allowed him to compile all of these numbers. Like,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: make no mistake, even though Lebron is the number one
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: scorer in NBA history, he is not a top ten
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: scorer in NBA history. He's not one of the best
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: scorers the game has ever seen.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: He's just lasted the longest. He's lasted forever.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: He is a modern marvel in terms of longevity, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: that is awesome. But a lot of times that gets
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: twisted where it's just like this guy's the number one
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: all time scorer, and it's like, yeah, because he compiled
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: a bunch of points, it doesn't mean he's an all
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: time number one scorer when we're just talking about the
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: best scorers the game has ever seen. If you just
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: look at the the guys in terms of active players
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: that have the most scoring titles, Kevin Durant has four
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: of them. He's got the most, followed by the Beard
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: He's got three of them. Luca, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: each have two scoring titles. Lebron has one. He's got
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: one scoring title, and look, I'll meet you halfway. It
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: does halfway speak to his great that he's been that consistent.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: He has one scoring title and yet he's the all
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: time leading scorer, which means that he might not average
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: thirty four in a season. He might average twenty eight
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: point nine, you know what I mean. And that's impresiveent
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: and of itself to do that for that long is
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: an amazing accomplishment. I don't mean this in as hater
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: of a way as it sounds. It's like a buzzword.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: If you call a player overrated, it's just like nobody
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: hears anything aside from that, and they're just thinking, you're
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: killing this guy, and it's like, no, not really, hear
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: me out. And that's how I am with Lebron. Lebron
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: is a compiler. Lebron has compiled a ton of points
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: over a long period of time. That doesn't mean he's
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: the best scorer the game has ever seen. I don't
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: want to make this a Lebron mj thing, trust me,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: I don't. But Michael Jordan has ten scoring titles. Okay,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Lebron isn't half the scorer that Michael Jordan is. He's
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: compiled points over the long haul, and that's just the
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: truth of it. Can we just say something that's critical
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: in nature that doesn't rise to being total, full blown
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: hater in nature? I think we should be able to
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: do that. There's some nuance to this stuff. So although
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: Lebron is a compiler scoring wise, that doesn't detract from
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: his outstanding greatness. And for all the talk of is
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: this Lebron's last game in the NBA. Let me just
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: tell you it absolutely is not. Okay, Lebron is not,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: you know, two weeks from now, like, hey, guys, just
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: so you know, that was my final game. I'm just
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: gonna do some other stuff now. No chance he doesn't
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: have a retirement tour. There's no way that happens.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: This might be his final game in a Laker uniform.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked about that, but his final game
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: in a NBA uniform, no way, no chance that's the case.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: He deserves a retirement tour. He should have that. Gobe
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: had one, right, Like, Lebron has been an all time great.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: He should have a retirement tour. So that's not a
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: knock on him. But to think that he's just gonna
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: be like, yeah, you know, just thought I would do
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: something really tame. The guy had the decision televised. Lebron
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: has a patch of himself on his jersey doing the
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: chalk toss. Okay, Lebron loves him some Lebron. Lebron has
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: been chasing the praise, the recognition. He's trying to shoehorn
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: in it into existence. Right, He's trying to do a
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Jedi mind trick on us. He was doing that one
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: special where he was like, yeah, that three to one
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: comeback against the Warriors. I said to myself, that right
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: there made you the goat. That right, it's like a
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: Jedi mind trick, and we're all like.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: He is the goat. He's right about it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: It's so Lebron, trust me, Like that guy is not like, Hey,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: by the way, that was it for me. I'm done.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna make films now and do other things. No chance,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: but last game in a Laker very well could be
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: the case.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maler
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: the same tired narratives down your throat.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Every day.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: I love the way the NFL does it with the
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: schedule being released because they do it in bits and
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: pieces and just sort of, you know, we the whistle,
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: just give you a little taste, little strip tease, and
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I just you know, because we're ball a hal like's
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: over here. I love when they just slowly unveil certain things.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: Give me just the key match up here, another key
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: match up there, and let me react to it and
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: get excited for the upcoming season instead of just like
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: here you go, here's everything on Thursday, and it's just
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: like holy it's overbearing. It's everybody's schedule at once. I
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: like the little strip teas, little slight reveals throughout the week.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: So we have a couple of games that we know
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: of as of right now. So the first strip teas
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: that would be the Sunday night game to begin the season.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: This will be September thirteenth. It'll be the Cowboys at
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: the Giants as the first strip teas.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that's right, that's very nice. Like it. So
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: they show a little they show like a little shoulder
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: right there, like, oh, here's a Sunday night game.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: Cowboys Giants. Now, this will mark the eighth time since
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: twenty twelve that the Cowboys and Giants will face each
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: other in their season opener, and so the matchup has
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: been met with a collective boom.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: We don't what we went?
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Cowboys Giants again. That's what a lot of people are saying.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: I'm totally fine with this. I am absolutely fine with this.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: I went to a Cowboys Giants game at MetLife a
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: long time ago. It was week one, started off the season,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: and they it was kind of cool. They gave us
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Oh man, I'm trying to think of the year, but
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: it was probably after the Giants won it in twenty eleven.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: It was probably in twenty twelve, because they gave it
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: was like a scarf. They gave you like a It
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: was their fourth super Bowl and they just gave you
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: this like giant scarf, like here you go, here you go,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: season opener.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: Check it out.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: We've won four super Bowls. It's very popular in soccer,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: the little scarves.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: That's cool. And I enjoyed the game. It was fun.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: It's fun to go.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: I have no problem with Cowboys Giants, not just because
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: I went to a game one time, but just.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: Look at it. It's John Harbaugh's Giants' debut.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Like that might not run and make you rush to
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: the TV set just for that, but it's another storyline
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: in the game. And then it's mostly about the players
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: on the field. You get Dak, you get cd Lamb
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: back in action. Can the Cowboys do anything this year?
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: You get Jackson Dark, Cam Skataboo, Molik Neighbors, all of
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: them return from injury, and you get some rookie debuts.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: You get Caleb Downs safety with the Cowboys. Might play
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: a little slot right. You get Rvel Reese with the Giants,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: top five pick. They were teammates at Ohio State. You
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: get to see their debuts. This is not a bad
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: game at all. I've heard some people like, give me
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: anything but Cowboys Giants, like it's just the worst of
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: the worst. Give me gosh, give me Arizona. They give
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: me the Cardinals against the brown so that'll be better.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: It's like, what are we doing? Right?
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: That's fine, I'm fine with that matchup. I have no
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: issue with that.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: In New York City Sunday night football, you're not watching
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: that you're busy, Okay, I'm watching it from beginning to end.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: I'm excited for it. Maybe I'm just a sick Oh,
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: I don't know. We also have other games that have
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: been unveiled right here. The next strip tease. How about
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: we've got a Thanksgiving matchup. How about it's the Cowboys
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: once again, but they always play on Thanksgiving. They will
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: be hosting the Eagles, little divisional matchup. Eagles Cowboys Thanksgiving Day.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: Totally fine with this.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: Last time they played on Thanksgiving was twenty fourteen, so
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: it's been a little while and it was crazy the
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: numbers that they did last year on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: hosted the Chiefs and beat them. They beat the Chiefs
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: rough season for KC.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: That was an other game where Rashie Rice key moment
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: in the game. Like, I forget exact scenario, but the Chiefs,
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: I think they were down seven points. This is a
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: big you know, down in distance. Chiefs were maybe on
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: the move. I can't remember if it was third or
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: fourth down. I think it was third down and passed
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: right over the middle right to Rashie Rice drop. I
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: guess Rashie Rice is a really good wide receiver. Man,
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: but way too many mental lapses, way too many mental mistakes.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: I will see if he can put it together this year.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: But the whole point is Chiefs Cowboys. Last year on Thanksgiving,
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: it averaged fifty seven point two million viewers on CBS.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: It was the most watched regular season game in league history.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Fifty seven million people watching that game, Chiefs Cowboys Thanksgiving
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: last year. So Eagles Cowboys have their work cutout. But
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: I mean goodness, it's not like the NFL is going
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: to be crying poor if we got it like a
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: measly forty million or what a forty five million watches
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: to be down millions and millions of viewers. They're still
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: printing money left and right. Okay, we got one more game,
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: one more little strip teas here from the NFL.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: How about baby? Say that again? Loreno? What did you say?
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Take it off?
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Baby?
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: All right?
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: What do you think?
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: What do you think this game is? Week two? Are
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: we showing like a little left elbow here? Are we
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: a little more daring than this? Yeah?
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: All right? We got to go slow here.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: With the NFL schedule release Week two Thursday night game
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: the Bills, they will open up their brand new Stadium,
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: and they put a lot of work into this thing.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: They put a lot of thought into it where it
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: really cuts down on the wind. Right that they designed
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: the stadium a certain way where it's keeping a lot
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: of the wind away from the football field. It's very
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: wendy over there in Buffalo, right, So they designed it
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: with that mind. So this brand new, state of the
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: art Bill Stadium. They will be there in week two
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: on Thursday Night Football hosting the Detroit Lions. That is
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: a great matchup Lions Bills Week two, Thursday Night Football.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Let's freaking go over it. We just had Week one.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: We had the Wednesday game. We had I don't know
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: if it's Thursday or Friday. I don't know which. I
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: don't know that part, but there's a game, forgive me.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: I think it's Thursday night. So we've got the Wednesday
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: night opener right and we don't know who Seattle will
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: be facing just yet. We don't know that yet, but
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: we'll have the Wednesday night opener. I believe we will
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: have a Thursday game right after that because it's I
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: want to say in Australia, and that's the weird body
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: clock game. It will actually be Friday morning in Australia
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: when they're playing that game, and we'll see it on
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Thursday night. So after the Wednesday night season opener, Seattle
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: hosting whoever they host, then we get the international game.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: I think that's Niners Rams at ten thirty five local
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: time in Australia.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: In the morning. Pretty weird.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: We get all the Sunday games, we get the Sunday
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: night game, we get the Monday night after a full
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: week and a ball in week one, we get Thursday
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: night Lions bills. Totally fired up for that, man. I
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: think the Lions are gonna have a great season.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: I really do.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: I think that the Lions went from a gauntlet of
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: a schedule last year, so difficult, man, and now they've
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: got a last place schedule that was a last place
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: nine and eight team.
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: Last season they went nine.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: And eight and it was just like the wheels are
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: off the tracks for the Lions. You know, it was
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: just it was a brutal schedule. It was a tough season.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: But now you get a last place schedule. I'm just
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: looking at what the Lions have in front of them.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: Here you go, So the Lions, they get the NFC
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: South which is bad top to bottom. They get the
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: AFC East, which is bad top to bottom. Toughest team
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: is I would say the Bills this season. I think
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: the Patriots gonna take a step back their season. Their
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: schedule gets tougher. Vrabel is, you know, knocking boots with
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: pregnant ladies. Just I don't think it's in the cards
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: for the Patriots to have even close to the season
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: they had last season. So I like the Lions are
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: playing the AFC East, the Dolphins sock, the Jets are
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: a disgrace, right that's a favorable path right there, and
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: then they get last place, you get the Giants, You're
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: hosting the Giants and the Titans. You're at the Arizona Cardinals.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: That is a really favorable schedule. I think the Lions
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: are I think they're gonna be a really good team.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: I think I think they're gonna have a resurgence. I've
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: already bet them. I like over ten and a half
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: wins for the Lions and Intrude Degenerate Mode one of
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: my bets. I don't do parlays very often and very rare,
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: but I did love Jalen Duran, who, by the way,
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: was on a milk carton on Sunday night. I'm sorry
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: Monday night again. Game four, Jalen Duran a complete no show.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: The guy had two rebounds. He's an all star. He's
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: a double double gay. He's like a twenty and ten
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: guy all star. He's not doing anything. Two rebounds. Two
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: rebounds for Dalen Duran. But anyway, I had Jalen Duran
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: in one of the games against the Magic under twenty
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: three and a half points and rebounds, so that leg
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: of the parlay hit. Now I just have to wait
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: about eight months to see if the Lions can get
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: over ten and a half wins. Seems to make a
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: ton of sense, doesn't it. So I have the Lions
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: by themselves over ten and a half wins, and I
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: have that goofy parlay with them over ten and a
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: half wins. So I need the Lions, and I like him,
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: I like them to get to at least eleven wins.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: I think they could. I think they could do even
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: better than that. Their division is very tough. We know that,
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: what's their record in division? If you get to four
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: and two with the rest of their schedule. If they
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: can get to four and two in their division, they're
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: winning eleven games. They are winning seven of the remaining games.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: I just don't think any chance that they don't. You
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: would have eleven more games. You have to go seven
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: and four right against Saints Tampa. This is their home
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: schedule outside of the division games, Saints Tampa, Patriots, Jets, Giants, Titans.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: Very favorable on the road at Atlanta, at Carolina, at
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: the Bills, at the Dolphins, at the Cardinals. That's more
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: than doable for the Lions. I think they're gonna have
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: a resurgence, but I do love these early season games.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: That's a good litmus test for the Lions. On the
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: road at the Bills brand new stadium. We know the
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: Bills fans. Bill's Mafia is one of the best fan
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: bases in all of sports, not just football.
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: Well, they are die hards.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: They'll be completely geeked out of their mind jumping through
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: tables getting ready for the new stadium, and that's going
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: to be a madhouse over there. So if the Lions
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: can go on the road get a win against the Bills,
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: that would that'd be a pretty nice, pretty nice accomplishment
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: from them. But good litmus test early on for the Lions.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: Very much excited for that game. How long do we
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: have to wait for the season to begin? What are
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: we talking about here? Like or we may June July August.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: I'm using a lot of fingers over here. Goodness, we
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: got you know, three plus months. Boy, still have the
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: rest of May. We got the rest of May, June
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: July August one week. So we got them almost four
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: months roughly pretty close. All right, we'll get there. We'll
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: get there.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: We always do. We'll get there slowly but surely.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: Okay, last thing here with the schedule being released, slowly
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: but surely, so with the Sunday night game being announced
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: Giants they're hosting the Cowboys.
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: So we know that the.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: Seahawks, they're the defending champs, so they're going to start
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: off the whole season on Wednesday, September ninth. Okay, so
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: now we know that they will not be hosting neither
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: the Cowboys or the Giants. Right, So you take a
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: couple of teams off of the potential list of home
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: games for Seattle to start off the whole season. So
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: we've got a couple of choices over here. Would you
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: like to see Seattle face the Bears, the Cardinals, the Chiefs,
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: the Chargers or the Patriots. What do you think right there?
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: Do you have any preferences? I think we can eliminate
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: a couple of these. So we also eliminated the forty
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: nine Ers and the Rams because those teams will be
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: playing the very next night. They'll be playing I think
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: in Australia. I think that's the international game in Australia.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: So no Rams, no Niners, no Cowboys, no Giants. We
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: can get the Arizona Cardinals off the list. No one would.
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: People would freak out if they're like, hey, and the
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: defending champions Seattle Seahawks will host to start off the
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: entire season the Arizona Cardinals and everyone's like, what your trunk?
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: That can't be the matchup. NFL's like, but Jeremiah Love,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, come on, number three overall, pick no nothing.
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: It's not gonna be the Arizona Cardinals. It's between the Chiefs, Chargers, Bears, Patriots.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: If you ranked those four, what would it look like
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: from top to worst, and there's no bad matchup? I
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: would say my top matchup, I'd like to see the Bears.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: I'd like to see the Bears at the Seahawks Caleb Williams.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: I thought he took a big step forward last season.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: I think he can take another big step forward this season.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: Bears were making a nice little playoff run. They gave
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: the Rams all they could handle in the divisional round,
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: So you.
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: Know, I think that.
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: I think that Bears Seahawks to start off the season
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: is a great way to do it. I would say
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: next in line, I would go Chiefs. I'd say Chiefs
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: at the Seahawks. Mahomes coming back from the ACL tear.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: He will be ready week one, so there would be
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: some added intrigue. Can the Chiefs rebound from an awful season?
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: I would say Chargers. Next that Patriots would be the
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: least one that I would want to see outside of
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: the Cardinals. Cardinals would be like the last one. I'd
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: say second from last would be the Patriots, just because
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: I don't know, man.
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: The whole vable thing.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: I'm just like, all right, dude, I'm kind of I'm
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: kind of over this right now, really, but you know,
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: I would put that as the last of the four
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: that I want to see. But guess what, I'll watch
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: whatever they throw at me from beginning to end, and
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: That'll be that. I won't go kicking and screaming into
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: the night at all.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meler
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Show weekdays at two am eastern pm Pacific.
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: Speaking of Roberto, I've got a Dodger thought that he
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: might hate or kind of agree with. I have no
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: idea what would Roberto would think of it. I'll give
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: my quick cliff notes version here of Otani and what's
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: going on. Otani's trying to win a cy Young. That's
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: what he's doing. He's focused on winning the cy Young Award,
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: and in the meantime, his offense is struggling like crazy.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: He's been on this bad streak. His numbers are in
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: the toilet for his standards here and so my take is,
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: I think Otani's being selfish. The Dodgers need his offense,
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: they need his bat. Their offense collectively leaves a ton
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: to be desired. They have not been good at all offensively,
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: and here Otani is like, well, I want to win
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: the cy Young Award, and he's not focused on what
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: he's bringing to the table offensively whatsoever. It's hurting the team.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: I think Otani's being selfish. He's chasing an individual award instead.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: Of trying to be a team guy and trying to
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: do what the Dodgers need most, which is they need
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: his bat in the lineup for the season. His numbers
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: are not very good at all for a player of
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: his caliber. So I just don't get it. I don't
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: get his whole approach.
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: So glad we got rid of that guy.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, right, there's music to your ears. And look here,
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: I'm just looking at his numbers. My gosh, the amount
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: of numbers in baseball.
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: It's insane. It's holy.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: We got the categories. I don't even know what they mean.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: We're way over doing the categories here in baseball, my lord.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: All right, So just to give you a baseline idea,
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: So here's Otani. Let's look all right, good, how many
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: categories do we have over here? Okay, his batting average
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: two forty one. He's hit six home runs, he has
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: sixteen RBIs.
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: This is like Otani the last Okay, we'll give you
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: the last two seasons as a Dodger. Fifty four home runs,
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty RBIs. That was a career best,
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: fifty five home runs, career best one hundred and two RBIs.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: That was the second career best right there, right so
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: is the second best season in terms of runs batted in,
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: and then this season he's got six bombs and sixteen RBIs.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: His batting average is two forty one. His batting average
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: the last couple of seasons. First year with the Dodgers
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: three to ten, last season eight two eighty two, way
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: better than two forty one. I don't know what Otani
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: is doing, but I think the pitching I don't know
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: if it's taking a toll on him and affecting his offense,
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: but the Dodgers are basically like, hey, man, do what
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: you want to do if you want to chase the
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: cy Young, all right, I just I don't. I don't
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: like the approach by Otani. I think he's focused on
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: himself more than than he is the team.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: That's my thought. I don't know if.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Roberto would agree with that or hate me for that.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: I really have no idea. I'm might have to text
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: him and say, here are my thoughts on the Dodgers, Roberto,
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: do you approve or disapprove? You know, I'm curious what
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: he would say about that. As far as the two
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: teams that you cannot trust, they were both in action
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: on Monday night. That would be the Calves and the Pistons. Okay,
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: so Cleveland won. They won the game. That even the
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: series at two games a piece. Series shifts to Game
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: five in Detroit. That would be on Wednesday night. And
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: look Donovan Mitchell, we've talked about him at bits and
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: pieces on this show. Where he had a thirty nine
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: point second half, tied an NBA Playoff record for the
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: most points in any half, tied Sleepy Floyd. It was
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: kind of funny because Spider had a chance to surpass
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Sleepy Floyd. He made the first free throw to tie him,
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: missed the second free throw which would have given him
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: the record. But it's like, well, you have to settle
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: for a tie over here. But man, I just both
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: these teams, they've all won home games. It's weird with Cleveland.
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: Their last series, the home team won every game. Cleveland
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: won four home games, the Raptors won three home games,
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: And in this series, Detroit has won two home games,
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: Cleveland has won two home games. Neither team is to
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: be trusted. Now, with Cleveland winning at home, you saw
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: a much better version of the Beard. James Harden was
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: way way better at home than he was on the road.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: He had the first two games against the Pistons more
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: turnovers than made field goals.
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: Not good at all.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: But then at home he came up huge down the stretch,
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: scored seven points in the final minute thirty in game three,
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: and then on Monday night it was good again, had
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: a very good game. Beard played well. And it was
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: funny because Donovan Mitchell deferred to James Harden in the
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: first half because Harden had the hot hand. Donovan Mitchell
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: did nothing. He had four points in the first half.
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: He didn't make a field goal. He was over and
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: then Spider got hot. Donovan Mitchell erupted in the second
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: half and Harden took more of a back seat. So
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: they just complimented each other. But a very efficient twenty
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: four points by the Beard, twenty four points on five
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: of fourteen shooting, got to the free throw line, hit
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: five three pointers. It's a good game by James Harden.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: The Beard played well, eleven assists, two turnovers. Take that
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: every time. Donovan Mitchell just went crazy in the second half.
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: But you can see on Monday night game four, you
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: could see how the Pistons are just not to be
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: trusted whatsoever. Kate Cunningham, I swear he had twenty seven turnovers.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: Somehow he only had five turnovers. It felt like he
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: had twenty seven. I swear it felt like that the
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: team collectively was so sloppy. Eighteen team turnovers. Just an ugly,
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: ugly performance by the Pistons. You had Jalen Duran again
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: on a milk carton. This guy is an all star.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: He's a twenty to ten guy. He had eight points
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: and two rebounds. Jalen Duran had two rebounds in the game.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: That can't happen. So you can't trust these teams as
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: far as you can throw them. Right now, the Knicks
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: are just kicking their feet up and waiting for whoever
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: emerges in this Cavs Pistons series. But I can't trust
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: either team at all. You can't trust the Beard in
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: the playoffs. You can't trust the Pistons. They were down
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: twenty four points in Game six against Orlando. That's a
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: closeout game, that's their season on the line, and they
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: came back and won the game that matters the most.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: But to be down twenty four points to the match
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: with your season on the line, how do you even
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: get to that stage, and they got there. So yeah,
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: I'm not a believer in either team. The Knicks are
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: obviously the class of the Eastern Conference thus far. We'll
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: see if they peaked a little early. But the Pistons
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: and the Calves, man, it's an uphill battle against the Knicks.
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: It's an uphill battle that survived this series. They're two
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: pretty evenly matched teams. They have strengths, they have some
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: glaring weaknesses. And by the way, from a betting standpoint,
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: the Tobias Harris streak of streaks for him came to
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: an end on Monday night, very sad. I was betting this.
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: I had the betting advice on last night's fill in Show,
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: and I said, if you want to ride the hot hand,
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: it would be Tobias Harris over eighteen and a half points.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: The guy had fourteen points at halftime. I bet this also,
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: I bet over seventeen and a half. It dropped a
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: little bit, and so I'm like, all right, I'll hop
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: on and Tobias Harris had fourteen points in the first half.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: He had no points in the third quarter. He made
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: two free throws. In the fourth quarter, he had two
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: good looks at the end at a wide open three
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: in the corner that would have gotten us there. Clang,
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: and they had a driving layup attempt that was contested,
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: almost went in, just went rimming out, didn't get there.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: So he had scored twenty points at least twenty points
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: in eight straight playoff games, which is crazy because he
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: didn't score back to back twenty point games all regular
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: season long. That's insane to me that he just woke
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: up like this in the playoffs. But the twenty point
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: streak came to an end for Tobias Harris, it continued
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: for Ruy Hachimura. Ruey was great. He was over two
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: plus threes if you're on that prop. He had four
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: of eight three pointers. So for the playoffs he shot
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: thirty three of fifty eight from three. That's insane. So
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: Ruy did his thing. Lakers came up short. But look, man,
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: the Pistons are not to be trusted. And look it's
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: doom and gloom for the Pistons right now. They lost
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: the last two games. They were horrible on Monday night,
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: so turnover fast. Like all their starters in terms of
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: their player props, all in the gray.
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: Everything that is under is gray.
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: They are a lot of gray when you're grading the
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: calves over here was let's see the only players to
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: go over because I keep track of points, rebounds, assists,
• 46:38
  Speaker 3: and three pointers.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: If you're not a gambler, you're not interested in this,
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: but I find it interesting whether you're gambling or not.
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: Kate Cunningham, he went over his three pointer prop. He
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: just had to hit two of them. It was highly
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: juiced to the over, so you didn't make you either.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: Had to risk a bunch of money to win a
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: little bit. But he got there. He made two three pointers.
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: Tobias Harris went over and rebounds, over and assists and
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: he hit a couple of three pointers. So he went
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: over his three pointer prop. That's it in terms of starters.
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: Everybody else, Asar Thompson gray across the board. Kate Cunningham,
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: under points, under rebounds, under assists, Jalen Duran, terrible game,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: under points, under rebounds, Duncan Robinson was on a milk
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: carton two under points, under rebounds, under assists, under threes.
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: It was just as an awful game for the Pistons.
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: What really saved them was Caris LeVert off the bench.
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: He dropped twenty four points. He kept them afloat, but
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: the starters were terrible for Detroit. I don't know about you,
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: but if a team is horrible on the road against
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: the Calves, I just if their starters just think out loud, how.
• 47:46
  Speaker 4: Do you trust them going forward? You can't. You can't
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: trust either team. Now.
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: Like I said, the series shifts back to Detroit on
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: Wednesday night, and if the trend holds true, the home
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: team will win again and then it'll be dooming gloom
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: for the cab A. You can't trust the Calves man
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: the Beard again, more turnovers than madefield goals.
• 48:04
  Speaker 4: Who knows what the story will be.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: But I just I can't trust either team going forward,
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: and I think the Knicks would beat either team. The
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: interesting matchup would be against the Pistons because the Pistons
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: had the nixt number in the regular season. So we'll see,
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: we'll see who emerges. But it was it was an
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: ugly performance for Detroit on Monday