Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / The Playoffs are Here! + I Made my Official Awards Picks

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The Playoffs are Here! + I Made my Official Awards Picks · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Small Bar with Kenny Beachum.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all as excited as I am?
0:11
SPEAKER_00: It's finally over.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Not that I needed the regular season to be over, but it's finally over.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: And these games matter.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Some team in a couple days think that they're gonna make the playoffs, and that's not gonna be the case.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: We got the play in.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: We got the playoffs shortly after that.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: Y'all, this is what we've been waiting for.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: And starting April 19th, playoffs do start.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: And the playoffs are now on NBC and Peacock, so you don't want to miss out.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, last year's playoffs was great, and I'm just assuming I'm just gonna go off an assumption that the 2026 playoffs is gonna be as going to be go be great too.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: All right, are we ready?
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready for this?
0:45
SPEAKER_00: I am.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Um I do want to say before we even start the show, I was just I was just talking to my wife on the uh before I came over to the studio, and I kind of didn't think about how ridiculous the schedule has been for me all season long.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: Let me let me quickly look this up.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: So the regular season is 25 weeks long.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: So for the last 25 weeks, I've been doing five shows a week, small ball numbers on the board.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: That number's about to increase now that we're in the playoffs.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to spoil too much, but I got another show that's gonna be starting in the playoffs starting next Monday.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: And I also got the YouTube channel.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: So I say that to say every single one of the different platforms I will be creating content for for the playoffs, hopefully is a little bit different, right?
1:26
SPEAKER_00: The Kenny for Real YouTube channel should be instant reactions to playoff games and my just what I saw in that.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Then we'll follow that up with small ball, the numbers on the board, a more in-depth breakdown of some of the things that we saw, and not just the pure excitement of the game being over.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing, I can't tell you too much.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: But I'm sure I'm extremely blessed to be in the situation where I can put together seven shows a week for for the 10 weeks of the playoffs, and I cannot wait to get it started.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: So on today's show, uh, we're gonna talk some playoffs now that we know everybody's seating.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: What I have learned over the last couple years of doing this in the play-in being a thing, it doesn't make sense to make a play-in preview, damn it.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: You know what I you know what I mean?
2:06
SPEAKER_00: It's what it's a one-game elimination.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: And a one-game elimination in the NBA is way different than a one-game elimination, like the NFL, right?
2:12
SPEAKER_00: So, like you could believe that so-and-so team is significantly better than the team they're going against in this play-in, and it won't really matter, right?
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Of all the play-in teams out east, the Charlotte Hornets have been uh leagues ahead of those other teams since January 1st.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: There's a real chance they just lose in the first play-in game, and that's the end of their season.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not doing a preview of those, but I do want to give you my initial reactions to the seedings that we know for sure, the four-five matchup, the three, six matchups, and so on and so forth, because I think it is kind of cool that we did see a little bit of finagling to try to get to some spots.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: But we also gonna give you a breakdown of the official Kenny Beachum ballot for NBA Awards.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, I will say right off rip, I don't have an official ballot, so there's no real reason to get really upset with me if your favorite player doesn't win MVP because I don't have them as my MVP, because my vote doesn't matter.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm just a guy that watched a ton of basketball this season, that cares about the numbers, that cares about the analytics, and take his ballot pretty seriously, but it doesn't matter, you know?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: And even with that spill, I can't wait to see the tweets in the comments.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Kenny, how can you not have my guy inform me?
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Let me know.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: You missed on this, and here's why.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: And we can just have a discussion about the NBA uh standings or or um awards because my MVP, my rookie of the year, my most, not my most player, my sixth man of the year, hell, even my coach of the year, four of those awards, I can be convinced one way or another.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: That's how tight it is between those awards.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: But I do have my ballot.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you what I think.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: But if you have the other rookie of the year, because it's a two-man race, I'm I'm open to to listening.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm open into maybe changing.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Right off rip.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: The MVP of the league this season for me has been Shea Gilgis Alexander.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is the first time since I've been doing this whole thing professionally, where we got to the last couple weeks of the NBA season, and there was like a three to four-man race that really was a race.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Because every time you get like, oh, so-and-so should be in the conversations for uh MVP, and you're like, being in the conversation is a lot different than actually being able to win it.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: So this is one of those years where I went with Shea, but if you have Jokic or you have Wemby Hale, even if you have Luca, depending on what's going on with his um his birth of his kids, that he may be getting that 65 game rule reduced or whatever.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: I can't call you crazy, right?
4:26
SPEAKER_00: I I really cannot wait to see what the overall ballot will look like from the actual voters.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: ESPN did their last forecast where they asked 100 writers and people in the NBA space, Suzy MVP, and Shay won it there, which is pretty interesting.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: The Athletic did their anonymous poll from NBA players, Shea won it there.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So I'm starting to feel like Shay will win it, but also NBA.com had their ladder and Wimby has been the number one guy for the last month or so.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's really up in the air, but I can't wait to see who finishes second, third.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And I'm assuming Luca will be fourth, just based off, you know, the game's plate and all.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: But my argument for Shay over the other two guys, because I don't have any argument against Jokic, I don't have any argument against Wimby or so on, those guys have phenomenal seasons.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: And again, if they're your MVP, they're your MVP, and I'm not mad at you.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: But the thing that put it over the top for me is I think that of these candidates, Shay has been the one that has been most consistent, right?
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, whether it be, you know, Wimbin Yama coming back from his injury and coming off the bench, um, and and and maybe not looking like the best player in the world, whatever the hell you got, Wimbenyama, whether it be Shay, I'm sorry, Jokic coming off his injury for those two weeks where you're like, Jokic is looking a little bit weird.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Whether it be Lucas starting off the year or in the middle of like the let's say November, December range, where he was getting his counter stats, maybe the impact didn't feel that great.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: I feel like Shay from the very first game of the season to game 81, I guess, um he had been the most consistent superstar of them all.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And I know it's hard to kind of internalize some of the stuff that we're seeing in real time, some of the legendary things.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Hell, I think Jokic had a legendary season this year again.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think Wemby had a legendary season where you account for the offense and the defense, but it's hard to really internalize that because we're we're watching that in real time.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: But to have a guard be as efficient as Shay is, it's just a whole nother level.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: The another part that put him over the top is that he also is my clutch player of the year this season.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: I have many, many memories of the season where Shea Gilgus Alexander has gone into a fourth quarter and dropped 10 or so points.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: He's gone into the last two minutes of a game and hit a game winner.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Hell, he had a game early this season where he hit what we thought was a game winner.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: He got called for a push off.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: They went into overtime, and then he hit a game winner in that overtime.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: There's been moments on top of moments on top of moments.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So they have the team wins, which is very important as well, obviously, when you talk about the MVP race.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And he's done it without, at least for the most part, I think J Dub's played with 33 games.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: J Dub was just an all-NBA player, all defensive player just last season.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: J Dub has missed over half of the season this year, and nothing exchanged for the OKC Thunder.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Hell, Dub missed the first half of many games, and they were 24 and one, right?
7:02
SPEAKER_00: So all of these things, I don't think he leaves a single thing when you think about the MVP race unchecked.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Both sides of the ball, I know people have different opinions about Shea as a defensive player.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: Is he really good?
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Is he just a product of everybody else being really good, regardless?
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's the thing.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And then just like these other guys, man, some of these on-off numbers are scary, right?
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Jokic obviously has always been an on-off beast.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: Wimby has an on-off beast, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, people may look at Shay and try to discredit him because the team wins through defense.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: That is 100% true.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: They were a legendary defense last season.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: They were a great defense again this season.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: They went through their defense for sure.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: So Chet, who was in conversation for DPOY, but obviously not going to win it.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Alex Caruso, when he plays, Lou Dore, Casey Wallace, is all my all-defensive team.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: So they they went through defense, but they still need that closer.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: And when Shay is not on the court, they have a league average, below league average offense.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: And when he's on the court, they have one of the best offenses ever.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: That's one man, that's a one-man swing.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: A guy that don't even really take threes, mid-range jump shots, get into the basket, draw some fouls.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: That's what Shea has been able to do.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: So he is my MVP.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: I understand the yoke conversation or the yoke um, I guess, argument.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: The Wimby argument where you talk about uh possession by possession, impact.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to beat Wimby out there, but I'm gonna give this one to Shea Gilgis Alexander.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, I spent a lot of time on MVP.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I won't spend that much time on all these other awards uh because we actually just did MVPs and Rookie of the Year's or Numbers on the Board.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: But one thing I had to remember is that the demographic over here, the people that are watching smallball are not the same people that are watching numbers on the board.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: They're not the same people that are watching the Kenny for Real channel.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to leave y'all out the loop.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: So some of these ones, if you want to hear me go more in depth, we did it on numbers on the board, and we also did it on Kenny for Real.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Rookie of the year, another super tough one.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Khan Knipple or Cooper Flag is a question.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: And I truly do believe this is one of those years where it will be the eye of the beholder because Khan Knipple was able to do what he has done on a team that was competing on a nightly basis for a playoff spot.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Will they make it?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't really know.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: While Cooper Flag was doing it on a team that wasn't, I wouldn't use the word tanking when you watch the Dallas Mavericks, at least until we got to the last half of the season or quarter of the season.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: They were just a team that was didn't have a lot of talent, I guess, at the end of the day.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Anthony Davis being out, Kyrie Irvin being out for the entirety of the season.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: So he was doing it on a team that just wasn't winning games.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: So what do you value more?
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Do you value stats maybe being slight, just slightly lower on a playoff team, or stats being higher on a team that wasn't winning many games?
9:35
SPEAKER_00: And I fought with myself about this personally as well.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Khan Knipple set the record for most three points made by rookie.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Hell, he led the entire league in three-point shooting over Curry, who missed a lot of time, but over Curry, over Donovan Mitchell, guys who are usually at the top, over James Harden, over Anthony Edwards.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: It was a rookie con Knipple.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Right?
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Cooper Flagg was the youngest player to ever drop 50 in a game.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Even if you watched that game, which I was doing, he dropped like 20 of those in the fourth quarter in the game that was already over.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't care about that.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: He dropped 50.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: So I was I was wrestling with myself for so long.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: And when we come back, I'll give you look at that cliffhanger.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you my final vote.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I think that people sometimes look at rookie of the year and think that the way people are voting on rookie of the year is them trying to say, oh, this player will be the best player in this class.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's not the case.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: We've seen so many players win rookie of the year that ended up being the third to fourth to fifth best player in the overall class where we're looking at the body of work for what it is.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Cooper Flag was the number one option on this team.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: The entire offense ran through him, specifically in that second half of the season.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: It was all Cooper Flag all the time.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Conkinim was the second option, third option on some nights, and he was pretty damn good at that as well.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: To be a rookie shooting at efficiently and off the dribble, and both of these guys hit phenomenal years.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, I did give the nod to Cooper Flag for rookie of the year.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm open to be swayed one way or another, but Cooper Flag is going to be my rookie of the year.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: And I think that I mentioned the MVP race being close.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I think this race is going to be even closer.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: It's been 30 years since we had a co rookie of the year.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to call it a rookie of the year, by the way, unless it literally is the exact same vote number.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: But if it happened, it's like it makes sense.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: It really is the eye of the beholder.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: If you put these two guys in the um schoolyard draft, I think 100% of the time Cooper Flag is drafted first.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: But again, that's not what this award is about.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: It's about the rookie season and the body of work.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And Con Ki Nipple's advanced stats are looking better.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I listened to Zach Lowe, and he explained it mostly as the fact that Conkinpple is contributing to a winning organization right now.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: And also the three-point shooting adds X amount more of value when it comes to the on-off advanced stats, yada, yada, yada.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Flag is gonna be the guy for me.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: But it was very close.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: DPO wise, Victor Wimedyama.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: No, no uh ifs, ands, or buts about it.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: We ain't gotta spend too much time on that.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: You know who that is.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Most improved player, I went with Nikhil Alexander Walker.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: He went from a guy that, you know, before the season started, if you remember my most intriguing player episode, this might have been the episode two weeks before the regular season kicked off.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: And in that, I said Anthony Black was one of the most intriguing players this year.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: And Anthony Black ended up having a phenomenal season, then he got injured, and then now he's back.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things I was hoping for for Anthony Black is that he had a kill Alexander type of arc.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all remember that?
12:36
SPEAKER_00: The Khill gets drafted as his guy that can score a little bit.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: He gets to his first couple of stops, the Pelicans, and that's his role, right?
12:42
SPEAKER_00: He goes out there, he scores, but it's like a lot to be desired from this young player.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: He gets traded to his next team.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: He's still trying to find out what is my role as an NBA player against the Minnesota where everything changes.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Where instead of being the guy that is the secondary creator on the second unit, he went from a guy that's like, okay, if I really want to stick around, I've been on three teams already.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: If I really want to stick around, I got to put my head down to be one of the best defensive players in the league.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: My points, they're gonna drop.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: 15 points per game down to eight, whatever.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: I have my value on the defensive side of the ball.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: And I was hoping that that's where we were going to see for Anthony Black.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Hold your head defensively, make open shots in the corner, play off the ball, but you're gonna be a long NBA player because of that.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: The man to kill Alexander Walker decided to play best of both worlds where he is that bucket getter that he was trying to be at the very early parts of his season, but also still playing an all-defensive caliber.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: Nine points per game to 21 is something you don't see often from a 27-year-old, right?
13:36
SPEAKER_00: It usually happens when they're 22, 23, or so.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: No, he's been in the league for some time.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Right, situation.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the offseason was very important for him because not only is he scoring, he's getting bag work done again.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: So he is my most improved player.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: My second was Jalen Duran, who went from a, oh, I'm curious to see how much money he gets to, oh no, he's going to get pay pay.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to both of those guys.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: Six man of the year.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm in Jame Haquez.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of my favorite players to watch off the bench all season long.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the main reasons why he's here.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: A guy that it doesn't matter who's guarding him.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: There's no such thing as a defender that's too big or defender that's too small.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Jame Haquez is going to get to that basket.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: He's going to use his size, um, and he's going to be one of the guys I think benefited the most from the new system in Miami.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: My second guy was Keldon Johnson, who has been great this season.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Coach of the year, the top three guys, Mitch Johnson, the team blossomed to a 61 team out of what seemed like nowhere.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us held stock in the Spurs as a playoff team this year.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anybody expected them to be what the second best team in the league record-wise.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Insane.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: JB Bickerstaff, another team that was a sixth seed last season, had an offseason that was a bit questionable at times, right?
14:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of them not by their own doom, Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dennis Schroeder, guys that play really important parts of their playoff run, all gone.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: And people thought that maybe there's a world where they take a step back.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be the best team in the entire conference.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have games where Kay Cunningham is out with a collapsed lung, and it will not matter because we have our identity and we're going to do our thing.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: We did an all-cast on Friday night.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: It was a very important game for the Charlotte Hornets, right?
15:01
SPEAKER_00: They needed this game to be in the 7-8 matchup.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: They lost because Detroit in the fourth quarter legit did not allow the Charlotte Hornets to get within 12 feet of the basket.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of a massacre.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And that is JB Bickerstaff changing the entire culture.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, my culture ended up going to Joe Mazzo, who, you know, a lot of times coach of the year ends up being expectations versus reality, right?
15:25
SPEAKER_00: We talk about Mitch Johnson's expectations versus what he did.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: The expectation for Joe Missoula and the Celtics, at least from a lot of people's perspective, like mine, was like at the best case scenario, they're like a 6C.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Worst case scenario, they decide to buy into tanking a little bit and doing basically what the Pacers did, right?
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Take a gap year, Tatum is going to be out for most of it, if not all of it.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Take a gap year, get a good pick.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: AJ DeBonte is a Celtic fan, and he's number one in this draft.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Joe Mass was like, nah.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Jalen Brown obviously had a big part in that, but it also is the others, right?
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Whether it be, you know, putting players in the right position, Missoula ball is a real thing.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: They value possessions to a T.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Hell, a great example is the last game of the season, where the Orlando Magic go into it with a necessity they needed to win in order to host a 7-8 matchup of the play-in, and they weren't able to win because Joe Mazzo and Luke uh Luka Garza and you know Delion Benton was out there side of Delional Benton.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Baylor Shire, man, all of these guys that like there's no starters, and it's just like Celtics second and third stringers versus the entirety of the Orlando Magic and the Celtics second and third string to wins.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Those are the coaching duels that I love.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming, I mean, maybe I shouldn't assume this because, like I mentioned earlier, the play in is such a crazy spot.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: The Orlando Magic get bounced, they lose two games, just like Doc Rivers got not fired, they departed.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about that in a second.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm expecting the same thing for Jamal Mosey because it's not a game you should lose, but Joe Mazzo is could be the best coach in basketball right now.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's gotta be top three, you know.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: But shout out to Joe Mass.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Clutch play of the year, as I mentioned earlier, I went to Shea Gilders Alexander.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so many moments, game winners.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's hell.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Clutch player of the year when you didn't even play 24th quarters because the team is blowing the other team out, is pretty impressive too.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, then we get to all NBA, and I'm not gonna spend a ton of time here.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read you the names, and if it is one that I feel like maybe controversial, I'll try to explain it through.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: Shea, Jokic, Wimby, Luca.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm assuming that he will get cleared to be eligible for the 65 game rule.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: And Jalen Brown.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: That is my five.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: As y'all know, about a month or so ago, I did what I thought was my All-NBA Awards, but I told y'all it was fluid.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I had Kawhi Leonard.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: I bounced Kawhi Leonard for Jalen Brown, and a lot of it had to do with the one game that he had against the OKC Thunder a few weeks back where he was the best player on the court in the game that Shea Gilles Alexander was in.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Jalen Brown.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: My second team is Donovan Mitchell, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Jamal Murray, and Jalen Brunson.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Murray's probably the outlier there, if you will, for a lot of people.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: His season has just been has been spectacular.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: The stretch where there was no Jokic and he was averaging double-digit assists and the team was still winning games.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: I think they finished like six and five or one game above 500 in the non-Jokic game, something that I did not see coming whatsoever.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: So I have to Peyton Watson because he played a big part of that where he was averaging like 22 points a game in that stretch.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: But Jamal Murray, phenomenal, phenomenal season, start to finish.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: And that's all we've really been asking for for Jamal Murray.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Start to finish great.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Usually it's December 13th to the end of the season where he's great, not the first couple months, but from the very first game of the year, Jamal Murray was on his stuff and he continued to do that.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, my third team is Jalen Johnson, Jalen Dern, Tyrese Maxie, Chad Holmgren.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: And eventually I went with James Harden.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: That was the toss-up spot.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: It was between Harden, Scotty Barnes, Bamma de Bayo, Shingoon, and Denny.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And I went with James.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm I could be convinced of Scotty.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: I think Scotty would be the first guy off for me.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Scotty Barnes.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: All defensive team, we'll go through these quick because I might be the only person that really cared about defense so much.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: So I made three teams.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: First team is Wimby, Chet, Gobert, Scotty, and Asar Thompson.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Asar was on my my second team last time we did this.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: He has jumped up to the first team, the most disruptive uh wing defender, slash perimeter defender in all of basketball, bar none.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: He deserves to be first team, at least on my ballot.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Then we got Bam, Derek White, Kaisen Wallace, Ojanobi, Amit Thompson makes my official second team.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: But y'all know I try to do a little bit more with All NBA because I think it is a travesty that all NBA um gets three teams and all defensive only gets two.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: The NBA decided to incorporate a third All-NBA team when the NBA expanded to what 20-something teams.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: And the fact that they didn't do that for defense, I feel like is lame as hell.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: NBA defense does matter.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: And these guys that I'm about to name right here deserve some type of recognition because they've been phenomenal defensively this year as well.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Starting off with Evan Mobley, Dyson Daniels, Chris Dunn, Tumani Kamara, and Stefan Castle.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: My apologies to Jaden McDaniels.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, really quick, all rookie teams.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Cooper Flag, Khan Kanipple, VJ Edge Comb, Jeremiah Fields, Ron Harper's, my first team.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: Ace Bailey, Maximine Reyneau, uh, Derek Queen, Cedric Howard, and Colin Murray Boyles will round out my ballad for this year.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Whew.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: All right, when we come back, we'll get into a coach being the first one out of the offseason and what that means for the NBA.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Before we go any further, I want to say thank you to our partners over at DraftKings.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: You may know all about DraftKings pick six by now, where you can pick more or less the different players' stats for the upcoming games.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: We've been doing it for the entirety of the regular season.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: In the postseason, it is no different.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: What I do is like to find some of my favorite players in the NBA, look at their projected stats, go more or less, put them into my pick set, and then sit back, relax, and see if I made the right decision.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Now, as of today, as I record this episode, we know what the first round of the play-in is, but I don't have the official numbers.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: So instead of telling you what I would put in my pick set, I'm gonna tell you the things that I'm thinking about putting in my pick set, and then I'll see the numbers and eventually um we'll decide if I actually do that.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing we got is the the 9-10 matchup, the Charlotte Hornets hosting the Miami Heat.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: I know the Heat are a 10 C, but I trust Spostra so much in a game like this.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be the real, real deal for Charles Lee.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: His first uh taste of what a postseason game could look like.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm thinking about the Miami Heat and how they match up against the Charlotte Hornets, one thing I'm actually I'm gonna shift this a little bit.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna look at Musa Diabate.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: I look at the Miami Heat, and trust me, I love me some Bam Matabayo, like I mentioned, a snub of mine for all NBA this season.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: I think Musa's the way he plays and the intensity that he plays and the effort that he plays, what will shine in this game.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And one thing I would look at is his rebound numbers.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: And if they end where I think they should be, I might go more on his rebounds once the time comes.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I think that might be the thing that I'm trusting the most for the Charlotte Hornets.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm also thinking about, you know, it's been a little time since LaMelo has been in the play in.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the last couple games for LaMelo had a 36 point game.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Against the uh Boston Celtics a few nights ago.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: And then in that game that eventually lost to the Detroit Pistons, he also had like 25, 27 points.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: So he's been playing up to par.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Hell, he was a guy that I should have mentioned on my all-NBA snubs.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also looking at what his points are like.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how short that rotation will get for Charles Lee.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm I'm very curious of how much we see of like a Ryan Kochburner, right?
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Because they've been running a lot of Grant Williams at back of five and in a one-game elimination.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Can they trust the big fella to, you know, play a four-minute stint in the third quarter?
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't really know.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: But those would be the two things I'm looking at for the Charlotte Hornets.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: But on the other side, when it comes to the Miami Heat, I don't know.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Six man of the year, how many, potentially six-man of the year, how many hockey is might be something I'm looking at here.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, it seems like traditionally his stats more or less has been like 15 and a half.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: And if it was that number, I think I would put more on that and put that into my pick set.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Bam, because he is fighting so much or Musa Diabate, I wonder if he will over-index and like just go crazy on the glass, which we've seen him be able to do before.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: So I'd also be looking at those numbers.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: After that, we have the Phoenix Suns hosting the Trailblazers.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: And boy, Trailblazers, fans, I got so much love for you.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna talk about y'all a little bit later once we get to the next block here.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: But this is a huge, huge game.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Winner gets in, loser gets another shot to get in.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Suns have been playing, you know, pretty steady basketball as of recent.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: This is one of those matchups where I'm looking at the star players first.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at Devin and I'm looking at Denny.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Denny is one of those guys that people question how his game will translate to games that matter the most, in this case to play in.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also looking at that.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: So I want to see what his number is at, and that will decide determine whether or not I put him in my pick set on the more.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: As you, if you've been around, you know, I don't really go less very often.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: I kind of like to root for the guys instead of the other way around.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Devin Booker, I don't know what his number will be at, but I'm definitely looking at the more on that.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, also thinking about, you know, the big fella, Donovan Klingon.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: There's times Donovan Kling Kong is a 14 rebound game.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: There's also times it can get you four.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: And against the Suns, I think that's something we should be looking at as well.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's where my head is at before I put together my pick set for this upcoming playing game tomorrow.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, you let me know what you think.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we'll talk about Doc Rivers and then get into some of the potential playoff series.
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24:38
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24:46
SPEAKER_00: So a couple days ago, Doc Rivers went into a presser where he gave us the idea that this might be it for him, right?
24:53
SPEAKER_00: He talked about his grandkids and they want he wants to see his grandkids a little bit more.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And that felt like writing on the wall that this day was gonna come.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Their game wrapped up.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: As you can imagine, they end up losing because it's the last day of the season and they're not playing for anything.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: And about 10 minutes after that, we found out that Doc Rivers would no longer be the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, but that what they say, similar to set eight-figure, eight-figure contract will still be paid out by Milwaukee.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And golly, Doc, the way Doc has been able to keep not just keep a job, but keep getting the bag with the job, I gotta admire it.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: There's a time where Doc Rivers, in my mind, was one of the better coaches in basketball.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: That has not been the case over his last couple stops.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, even if you go back and watch the video I dropped when Doc Rivers was hired, all of them years ago.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: I said that very publicly.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't really like this hire.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: I think that the times have passed, Doc Rivers.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: When you think about all the really good, not all of, but a lot of the really good coaches in basketball, this is right now like a young man's game when it comes to coaching.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: And Doc Rivers at times feels like a very old school coach.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: And not old school in the sense that he don't let his team shoot threes, you know, but like old school in some of his ways, some of this, his lack of adjustments and playing specifically to his system.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think you can do that.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Some of the guys that we mentioned earlier, uh Doc, um, like a Joe Maz, he has a system and it works perfectly.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: But some of the other guys, like a Mitch Johnson or like a Jordan Ott, who we didn't get to talk about when it comes to um uh Coach of the Year or the young Charles Lee, it feels like their game plans are changing on a nightly basis.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And again, I don't want to discredit Doc too much because obviously he's got game plans that are changing depending on the opponent.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: But I just remember vividly watching um how Jordan Ott was able to change whatever his defensive coverages were on a day-to-day basis, just depending on the team he was going against.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: And I just feel like I didn't get a lot of that from Doc Rivers, right?
26:40
SPEAKER_00: This is what Bucks fans have been asking for for so long.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like this is just one of the major things that may happen for this organization this offseason.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: Wink, wink, wink, you maybe got an idea of what I'm talking about.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, man, there's times when you are putting together a team and you think like, man, I wish they didn't do that.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Like if you could if you could take back one thing if you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan, and actually, that's a good question.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan, one, let's say one acquisition, one change for the last sister championship, bro.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: What would be that thing?
27:13
SPEAKER_00: What would be the thing you would take back?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Is it simply not giving Doc the keys after Adrian Griffin was, I don't know, 38 and 11 or whatever the hell this record was?
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Is it, you know, some of the not traded for Dane, right?
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Not that Dame was the problem or anything, but obviously it didn't materialize to the place that you you wanted it to, and maybe you use those chips and you cash in other places.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it simply is this offseason where you gave Miles Turner that bag while waving Damian Lillard.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: So now you got a max contract spot being taken on, taken on by a center that's like, I don't know, the A center or basket.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what Miles Turner ranks nowadays.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm not about to do the research, but I know he ain't top 10.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, Doc Rivers, I hope, I hope and pray that he spends his time with his fam.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I hope and pray that teams kind of learn their lesson now.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: This has now been like two or three stops in a row where you squint your eyes and say, ah, that ain't 2008, Doc Rivers.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: And even 2008, Doc Rivers was like, you know what I'm saying?
28:10
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's move on to the playoffs, ladies and gents.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it is right around the corner, and it is here on NBC and Peaky Gots to tune in.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: So of the set series, the set series, and we only got four set as of right now, but of the set series, there's a few things I'm looking for before I do like a huge, huge dive in.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm really, and I mean really, really intrigued.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wait a minute.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait, wait, wait.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: Let me just let me just double check something because this was not the case this morning when I woke up.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: This is not the case this morning when I woke up.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: The Hawks did lose to the Heat, so they did push them down to the six seed, they were the five seed this morning.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's a that's that's something.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now the four-five matchup is Raptors versus Cavs.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's take a step back and look at Knicks versus Hawks.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: The Hawks have been one of the hottest teams of basketball over the last 20 or so games, and I actually like their matchup versus the Cavs a little bit better than I like their matchup versus the Knicks.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is one of those teams that like, though they have been taking care of business, I had been, even in that big stretch, they won 11 straight games.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: I'd had questioned what it would look like on a high level.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's sometimes it is hard for me to like watch a team play against a bad, oh my god, 2020 game from Derrick Queen.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the NBA.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: The last day of the season is always crazy.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I just questioned how some of the things they were going to be able to do would translate to a seven-game series against a team, a better team like the New York Knicks.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: And one thing I admire about the Atlanta Hawks that would have made them uh pretty, pretty damn good over this stretch, is when they decided, and I don't want to make it a Zachary Richasse thing because he's a second-year player, but we decided to move Zachary Richasse to the bench and really uh go in on all of the ball handling, right?
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Nikhil, CJ, Jalen, uh even Dyson, who may not be a threat from shoot the ball, but all those guys can dribble past and again until we got to Dyson, shoot at least a little bit.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that has opened up their game.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they have been able to put together lineups that can rebound great.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: And I, if you remember, like when we talk about most disappointed players, again, it's not about Richard Say specifically.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, he was on the list and it was like, hey, sometimes the shot's not gonna fall.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Hey, sometimes offensively you may not be developing up to average 15 points in the NBA.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: But can you grab a rebound?
30:32
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be 6'9, 6'10, can you just grab a few rebounds?
30:35
SPEAKER_00: And since Risha has gone to the bench, the defense defensive rebound rate has gone way up.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: And I say that all to say, I don't, I don't think they match up great against the New York Knicks.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: The one thing they will have is a ton of defenders to throw at Jalen Brunson between Dyson, between the kill, you know, so on and so forth.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: So that's could be cool.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: I think they should probably, if I'm Quinn, I'm probably trying to send one at Jalen Brunson all series long, 94 feet to kind of tire him out in the same way the Pacers did in the last year's conference finals.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: And when we get to the last five minutes of the game, though Jalen Brunson was the clutch player of the year last season, those last five minutes are a little bit tougher because the legs are a little bit heavier.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I mentioned, their defensive rebound rate has gone up, but I wonder how that looks when the Knicks decide to go double big with Cartenny Towns and Mitchell Robinson, who has one of the best offensive rebound rates and all of the NBA.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: The Knicks have not been as good as we maybe expected them to be, but like I mentioned about a month or so ago, I'm still a believer in their ability to win a few playoff series to get back to the conference finals or so on.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: And though I would pick the Knicks today, um, I think that might just be the end of the sentence.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: I pick I'll pick the Knicks today, and I would have to go back and like the last time they played against each other.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: What did that look like?
31:47
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that just a couple days ago?
31:48
SPEAKER_00: I think that might have been a couple days ago.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: I fake remember um watching that game, and that was April 6th.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, a couple days ago.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, this was the game where CJ McCollum threw that half-court heave up, right?
32:03
SPEAKER_00: He threw a half-court heave up and it went in, but it was still on his fingertips.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that this game?
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that this game?
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay, is my mind going crazy?
32:09
SPEAKER_00: No, that was his game.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, in this game, Jalen Brunson, if I'm not mistaken, because again, I've I watched this one.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Jalen Brunson scored like 15 straight points in the fourth quarter to close his game.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so that's something they gotta think about a little bit.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: But I'm I'm happy for this matchup.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy for the Atlanta Hawks.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: As I've said all season long, they are in a very good spot as an organization to like be competitive today, but also like another first round pick from the Pelicans.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the opportunity to do something more, if that might be the direction they're going down.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: And I just don't know if that's the direction they want.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: They want to go down, but they could.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: They could.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: The Cavs versus Raptors is interesting, man.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: The Raptors are a team that they're a tough team, just straight, just straight up a tough team.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think that might be the advantage that they have over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: The Cavs, over the last couple of seasons, when they got to the postseason, when they went against a more physical team, they just didn't play well.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: If we go back a hundred years ago, the lights were too bright when they went against the Knicks.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, they went against the Pacers, and they were just way too physical.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: And some of these times they had legitimate injury concerns and injuries.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the first times I'm not thinking about an injury going into a Cavs series, which that's good.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: But the Raptors do have an opportunity to really test Evan Mobley, to test Jared Allen.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me see what y'all are about in the seven-game series when we put a couple shoulders into y'all.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: The game slows down in the postseason, and the Raptors, as we mentioned, like a month or so ago, they have of the playoff teams one of the worst half-court offenses.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And the Cavs are just, I think that there are times where the Cavs can look like an offensive juggernaut between James and Donovan Mitchell creating and what that means for Jared Allen when it is him and James and like Evan Mobley and James Harden's connection has got better and better since they've played together over the last couple weeks.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't think this series is as cut and dry, as cut and dry as it may seem on paper, right?
33:58
SPEAKER_00: The Cavs were 64-win team last season.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: They've been pretty solid since they traded for James Harden.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: And for the most part, the Raptors have been what slightly above 500 for like a month or two.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: But I do think there are some things that the Raptors can do to make it really difficult for the Cleveland Cavaliers on when the Cavs are on offense, right?
34:17
SPEAKER_00: The way they use Scotty Barnes defensively, I'm so excited to see what that really looks like.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Do you have him straight up on Evan Mobley?
34:23
SPEAKER_00: Do you let him roam and have him guard some of the other guys?
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Actually, think about that three spot.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: No, this is the bigger question.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna be the three for the majority of this series when it comes to the unit for the Cavs?
34:34
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it be Max Struuss when he came back from his injury, we've seen it be Sam Merrill for a lot of it.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it be even Dean Wade.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: And and so I don't really know.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: So where does Scotty end up being defensively?
34:46
SPEAKER_00: And how how disruptive can he really be?
34:56
SPEAKER_00: And the more I think about it, this is this is pretty good for the Raptors.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: Not that, not that I would pick them in this series, but I think for me, if they were going against the Knicks, it was like cut and dry.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm taking New York in 5-6.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: But this one, I I really think I think about quite a bit.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: And because we still have a full week before these series start, I will give an official, official prediction next week, next week's episode probably.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: But when you think about the last three times the Cavs and the Raptors played against each other, they played on Halloween.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: They played November 13th and then November 24th.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: They haven't played each other in the year of 2026 at all.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: And the Raptors won all three of the previous games.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at the box score here.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, Lonzo Ball and Jalen Tyson started at the guard position for the Cavs in one of these games.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: So it's not, it's not as though both these teams were completely healthy.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: So you maybe can take that with a grain of salt.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: But it is pretty interesting to see these scenes play this many times, and the the um Raptors have won every single one of them.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: I think right now my initial my gut is saying that I still take halves, but I'll think about it a little bit more.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: On the other side, the Nuggets versus the Wolves.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Wolves, of course, have played the Nugg very, very well in the playoffs at least over the last couple seasons.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, this season, the Nuggets have taken care of business against them.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really interesting that like if you look at those games, if you remember some of those games, one of the reasons why the Nuggets were able to take care of business is that the Minnesota Timberwolves defense in those games just wasn't as up to par as we normally see them be.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: Right?
36:34
SPEAKER_00: How does that shift come in playoff time?
36:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't really know.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: But those games, we're talking, you know, overtime games.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: It's 140 and the other game that was regulation is 125.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: And I think that if that's the matchup that the Timberwolves are going to allow to happen, they're not going to win this series.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
36:50
SPEAKER_00: The Timbows have to get back into that mode because they have been up and down all season long.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: One of the more confusing playoff teams all season long.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: You have to get back into that mode and try to prevent the Denver Nuggets from dropping that many points.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's the only way the series is going to be in their favor, honestly.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's very great that Jaden McDaniels is back from his injury.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: He played a couple games since you know coming back, which is great because I was under the assumption that he may not make the playoffs at all, at least in the first round.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's cool.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm just, I don't know.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: I've been watching Anthony Edwards recently, and I just feel like it ain't all really clicking the way we know Anthony Ericks can be.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping that that just means that he's gonna gear it up once we get to the playoffs, but obviously he missed some games with injury and everything.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, he didn't even start one of these games because he had the bubble guts.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I'm I'm curious to see what type of Anthony Eric we get because yeah, this is this, he's played three games since March 17th, you know, an absence.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: And then the first game he came back from March 7th since March 17th.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: It was a blowout win, so when he played 22 minutes, 17 points in that game.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: And then he had a 26-minute game where he only scored eight points in a loss to Philly.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: And then the last game that he played, he had 22 points and 27 minutes.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: So it's just like some of these games, it's not the same impact as like right before he got injured.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: He had a 42, 36, 34, 44.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: So it's like I'm curious to see how ready he will be come postseason.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: And the same thing with the different nuggets, right?
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Peyton Watson has not played.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: And though we have got Aaron Gordon back, um, a lot of times he looked really good.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: But there's sometimes like he he had a possession in that game versus Spurs.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: So I guess we're talking last week.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and he just took a mid-range jump shot and he just hobbled back on defense off of mid-range.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: He had looked good all game long.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: He just hobbled back on defense after a mid-range jump shot.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, whoa, AG, he's just getting older and older and older.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, so health is gonna play a huge part in this from both sides.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, I saw a video this morning of Peyton Watson um getting shots up and going through like pregame for their game against the Spurs.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he didn't obviously suit up, but if he's doing that, maybe in one more week's time, he'll be ready to go.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: Because Peyton Watson, I think, is one of the swing factors in a potential series between these two teams.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: Excited to see Ayudasumu play playoff basketball for the first time in a little bit, um, see what that looks like.
39:05
SPEAKER_00: Excited to see how much production we can get from Bones Highland as the lights get brighter and these games matter a little bit more.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because he, I can see both sides of the coin where he becomes really electric and really important for the team's success.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: But I can also see by the time we get to game four, he's just not playing as much because of stuff.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: So maybe my favorite series that we know of today, that is Nuggets versus Wolves.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: On the other side, Lakers versus Rockets get a lot of the wind sucked out of it, with us knowing that Luka Doncic probably, probably will not be playing in that first round.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: And Austin Reeves is also questionable for the entirety of the first round.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: And I gotta give a lot of love to LeBron James because my goodness, for him to be a gazillion years old and have the he just had a stretch where he was averaging 36-11.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sorry, 36-9 and 15 in a four-game stretch when they didn't have um Luca and Reeves.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: And then this morning, I saw a picture of LeBron at the Masters.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: And then he played.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: He played in this game later that night.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't even Augusta, right?
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Augusta, yeah.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: So he went from Augusta to I don't know, LA.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: My goodness, to have private jet money must be crazy.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, at the masters, like, oh, I got a game in six hours.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: I should probably leave.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: And he got to the game, they ended up getting the win.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh Braun picking up golf is pretty funny, but you know, it's even though he had that stretch, those three-game stretch where they were really important wins for the Lakers, and he got out there and helped them win.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: I just don't see, even though I'm not a huge fan of the Rockets either by any means, I don't see the Lakers having enough talent to defeat this Houston Rockets team in the seven.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, if they do, again, assuming no Austin Reeves and assuming no Luka Doncic, if the Lakers still walk out of there with the playoff series win, all I'll say is, this is a hypothetical.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: My goodness, Kevin Durant.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: Because these last couple stops, these last couple playoff series we got from you, big fella.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: If y'all somehow lose this one, my goodness, because I think you are heavily favored in this one, heavily favored in this one.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it won't be all on him, obviously, because even in the series that they've lost when he was a son or whatever, the the overall count status, like, damn, that's Kevin Durant.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: 50, 40, 90, 28 points per game.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: But how how are we not winning there?
41:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: But I think a conversation, I think the conversation is already happening based on Phoenix.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: But I think the conversation is elevated if somehow you lose to a depleted Lakers team, which again, I would I would take Rockets in this one.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: Um I think that the Rockets, especially if they don't have Luka Doncha on the other side, I think the Rockets athleticism probably becomes a little bit too much for the LA Lakers, uh, but only time will tell.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: I want to give all of my flowers in the world, in the world, to the Portland Trailblazers.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, they have not done it officially just yet.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: But a couple nights ago, they played in a game that basically was a playoff game for them against the Clippers.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why this game was so important is that them and the Clippers have been battling for their eighth seed forever.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't understand what I'm talking about, if you are an eighth seed, you get two chances to make the playoffs from the play-in.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: If you are a ninth seed, one loss and you're out, right?
42:06
SPEAKER_00: The Blazers took care of business against the Clippers.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: I was so excited for that game.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: By the end of the first quarter, I'm like, oh, the Blazers got this and they did have it.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: And there was Denny, there was so many people stepping up, so shout out to them.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: And then tonight, I it was a trap game.
42:18
SPEAKER_00: They had to go against the Kings.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: They had to go against the Kings, and they took care of business against the Kings.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: So as of right now, they're the eighth seed.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: They just got to win one game to get in.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why that is so important to me is the Bulls own their pick if they make the playoffs.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: And the idea of having a new GM and basketball ops guy in the locker room making the decisions and having two firsts in the 2026 draft.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: Come on, man.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Go Blazers.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: Now, after y'all make it to the playoffs, I'm sorry you got OKC, or I'm sorry you got San Antonio.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: That's not gonna go well, but damn it, you made it.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: And that's the first step of development.
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Because next year you have Dame back Danger Holiday backhour.
43:02
SPEAKER_00: Woo! Danny Tomari, whoo clean cohn on the back end.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: He just started shooting threes a season next year.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: He might be Jokic.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: But please win one of those games.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Please win.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't even think we talk about the Bulls and the what they did last week on this show.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: But it's cool.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: We ain't got to.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: I think I probably exhausted that too much between all the shows I've done.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm really happy for the Blazers and Blazers fans, right?
43:26
SPEAKER_00: It's been a few years since you've been able to even say you're a playoff team, but you gotta go through the Suns or the winner of Clippers versus Warriors.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: Hell, even Clippers versus Warriors should be fun.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: Steph Curry's back.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: I I don't care about the rest, right?
43:37
SPEAKER_00: If Steph Curry's playing, I'm I'm locked in.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: Um shout out to Pods, who finally had his first 30 point game of his career.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: I saw a picture from uh Real app that said Pods has scored every point in an NBA game from zero to thirty.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: And the guy that tweeted two years ago, I'm not tweeting until um pods.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Drops 30.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: That tweet that he he resurrected from the dead has like 250,000 likes.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: One of the biggest tweets in NBA Twitter history.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: So shout out to Pods, right?
44:12
SPEAKER_00: Um play-in should be fun.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Play-in should be really fun.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: Again, not a preview, but just like I did on the other side where I gave my flowers to the Blaze and talked about pods and you know their matchup.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: I will be so, I guess the word not sad, sad is not the right word.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: I just won't be happy.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a gap between sad and happy.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
44:41
SPEAKER_00: I just won't be happy.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: Like one of these teams, the 76ers or the Orlando Magic are going to make the playoffs.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: The 76ers don't have Jordan B for the foreseeable future.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: Get well soon.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: An appendix removal surgery is insane right before the playoffs.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh one of my homies, George, he had his appendix uh rupture.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: That's the word I'm looking for.
45:04
SPEAKER_00: And he had to go into emergency surgery.
45:06
SPEAKER_00: So even though it was not me, I understand how significant and how serious this can be.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping that again, he just has full recovery, yada yada yada.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: But if Joel cannot play, I don't want to see the Sixers in the playoffs.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Sixer fans.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: I just, you know what I'm saying?
45:23
SPEAKER_00: I just feel like there are better options if JoJo can't play.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Tyres Maxie, shout out to PG since he's come back, shout out to VJ, shout out to Adean Bo, all of those guys.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: I respect them.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: But I just don't want to, like that's them versus Pistons, them versus Celtics, that's that's the series they put on the other channel.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
45:43
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just I'm not rooting for their downfall by any means, but man, I just won't be really excited for whatever series.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: And their Orlando Magic ain't no better.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: I just I'm I'm over it.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just done.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm just out, I'm done.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm just over, over, over the Orlando Magic.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to see them in the series either.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: And Kenny, we just came off a five-game win streak.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we lost the last game of the season, but who cares?
46:07
SPEAKER_00: You should care.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: You should care.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: You just you just you should care that you lost to the 11th man of the Celtics and it wasn't close until the last two seconds.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: You should care.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: And damn it, it's probably better for y'all, if y'all do lose two games because that means Jamal Mosley definitely gonna get fired.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: Man, Franz had a point in his game where he limped off the court again.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, bro, this is the 12th time I've watched Franz lip off a court this season.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: This I just wanted to just put him out of the misery.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: I would, even though it's literally impossible, I would much rather watch the Heat in the playoffs, and I would much rather watch the Hornets in the playoffs.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: Again, 0% chance that's even possible.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: But I would that that would just be my preference personally as a fan.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm watching every game, every second of every single playoff matchup.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: But like, honestly speaking, the Hornets, I just wish they played better down the stretch.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, part of that, they played against some really, really tough teams to end their season.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: Just some really, really tough dogfought fight games.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they weren't able to pull out to get up to that eighth seed.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Because I really like having two chances at one win is super important.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, for the most part, I think only one 7-8 team has lost both games in the play-in.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: I think that was a Warriors team a few years back.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: But everybody else, you know, you just don't see people lose both both of the times.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: Um and they are America's team.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: They're the most fun team in the playoffs in the regular season, other than maybe the Spurs.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: And I'm taking the Hornets over the Spurs when it comes to the fun factor.
47:37
SPEAKER_00: Hell yeah.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: So we, as fans, need to try to find a way to get Charlotte in there.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be easy again.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: Eric Sposter's on the other side.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: Eric Sposter, he one thing Eric Sposter knows is the play-in.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: That brother has been in the play-in every year for a thousand years since its inception.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: It's just been him.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: Him versus Billy, him versus Quinn.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: But it's always him being victorious.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: And now he got to go through Charles.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if Charles is up to it.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I mentioned earlier, super excited for everything playoff related.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: Um had had to tell my girls this this morning to like, I promise you we'll go uh we'll go to we'll go to Disney after the playoffs.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: I promise you we'll go to Disney.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: Um because I know when the playoffs are locked in, baby girl, I'm in the office.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: And it's for the better of our family.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
48:31
SPEAKER_00: You don't understand this yet?
48:33
SPEAKER_00: As a four-year-old, and I mean the baby don't understand nothing.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: She's six months.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it will be for the betterment of the fam if I get to sit here and watch the Orlando Magic in the playoff series versus the D trip.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: Actually, that one, that one, we might go Disney.
48:47
SPEAKER_00: No, but um, I will I will take them to Disney to make up for the lost time, if you will.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, because we yeah, we got a lot of shows, and not only do we have the show, well, I have the shows, but I also have like reviews of the things I just watched, right?
49:00
SPEAKER_00: I will wake up the next morning and hit up synergy to see like, oh, what was really happening.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: Because in real time, honestly speaking, it is really tough for me to recognize patterns in real time.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and the playoffs can turn into a ton of patterns.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: Hey, this team is running this set four out of the last five times.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that slip my mind until I rewatch when I'm really locked in and I could go millisecond by millisecond, possession by possession, second by second.
49:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it won't just be watching the games and perform any shows, just doing the research on the back end.
49:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh I don't have any complaints because it's a blessing to even be in this position to do this.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: So tune into Smallball, which you've done.
49:41
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
49:41
SPEAKER_00: Tune into numbers on the board, which I don't know if you've done that, but you should, because it's not just my opinions, it's three other guys.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, it's best friends talking about hoops.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: And tune into the Kenny for Real YouTube channel because those are my initial reactions to all of the playoffs.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: And eventually we will announce that last project.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: But tune into that too, if you have the opportunity to.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: Um good spot to be in.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: Good spot to be in.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: I gotta start looking at the NBA draft.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: My team season is over.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even watch.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: This is a crazy, I didn't even watch the last game of the season for the Bulls.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: It's postseason time.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: And it's off season time for us.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: Get a new DM, draft the best player of all time in the draft.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed the episode, leave it a like.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: I'll see y'all next week.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: Peace.