Gil's Arena - LeBron James Doesn't Have KILLER INSTINCT

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

Lebron James Crowns Himself King of The NBA as Gilbert Arenas discusses the Chaotic first play in game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves and how far these Lakers can go in the NBA Playoffs. Other NBA Topics include The Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat, Dillon Brooks' beef with Lebron James and Kobe Bryant's spot as the toughest superstar in NBA history. Gil's Arena is NOW LIVE. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Brought to you by Underdog Fantasy: Sign up here for a deposit match up to $100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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sessions to dishwashing filled with laughs, podcasts can help you make the most out of your everyday. And when it comes to everyday spending, you can count on the PC Insider's World Elite MasterCard to help you earn the most PC optimum points everywhere you shop. The PC Insider's World Elite MasterCard, the card for living most PC Optimum points everywhere you shop. The PC Insider's World's Elite MasterCard. The card for living unlimited. Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit PCFinancial.ca for details. Can we get a little smoke for the Lakers playing championship? Oh man, here we go. Playing champions!

Man, we gotta celebrate. Of the Western Conference! We celebrating making it. They overcame the odds. Oh shit. They said we couldn't do it. Since when? Lakers overcame the odds, beat the Wolves, and secured that seventh seed in the West. It wasn't a pretty win, but a win is a win. I never seen a pretty loss.

I'll just say that. Lakers started season two and ten, and according to their analytics team, they had a.3% chance of making the playoffs. Everybody thought the Lakers were cooked like crack in the 80s, which if you were around for that time, it was moving in shape. Snowfall. But trade deadline triumph, Gator Squad new life. I think they're 17-7 since the All-Star break, even though this playing game doesn't really

count for anything, it just disappears. But tied with the Bucks for the best record since the All-Star break. So gotta ask you Gil first. That fucked him up. Come on, man. It sounded like the All-Star break. So got to ask you Gil first. That fucked him up. Come on, man. It sounds like the intro- Come back home! Rashad, come back home.

It sounds like the intro to a Netflix series. You're just going to push play after this. This might be interesting. You're going to watch it the first time, but after that, I just got into succession. I don't need to see the open every single time. But you see it get better and better every time, right? It does. This seems like a good series.

It's getting better. So, former Lakers fan trying to bring you back on the squad, but Gil, current Lakers fan, do you believe in this Lakers squad? Yes. Remember, I was the one who said we want to stay in seventh. You did. We want to stay in seventh because it's an easier road to the championship. We got that seven spot. We're about to play some young Memphis Grizzlies.

Going to spank on them. And then we'll see who round two is. So you think that performance last night warranted good momentum for a win against Memphis. That performance last night, that was a good enough indicator that you guys are ready for playoff basketball. LeBron played well, Andy Davis played well, D'Lo didn't play so well, and we won. What happens when all three of them is dynamite? Y'all gonna lose.

When all three of them? Yes. Against who? Whoever. Dylan Brooks? Yeah. What's that buff dude name? The buff one?

He look like you but light-skinned. Yeah. Built like a pit bull. He can't even close his arms, man. He can't even close his arms. That's who we scared of. That was a bad game last night. That's who we scared of.

That was a good game for y'all. That's what y'all celebrate. We just get a win. We just get a win. Come on, man. Win is a win. That looked like an eliminator. That wasn't no one celebrating.

That was an eliminator performance right there. Look, and what did I call? Minnesota by six. Y'all scared the whole game to the end. When it matters. Winning time. You said by 15. It was by 15.

Oh, shit. How much you won by? Six. By a good, a solid six, though. It was an Winning time. You said by 15. It was by 15. Oh shit. How much you won by? Six. By a good, a solid six though. It was an eloquent six. It was a nasty six. It was, honestly, it was a struggle watching that game.

I think they was down 11 at halftime. But Dennis Schroeder, Rui. But when we talk about Russell being a real game changer, D'Angelo Russell got to be there. He like, I don't like the inconsistency there. Like I want to roll with y'all. You know what I'm saying? But it's like Schroeder or him, right? Schroeder is so inconsistent to me,

but he still got game enough to show up when it matters. He at least got that grit. D'Angelo didn't show me nothing last night that showed like, I'm going to lead the team to where they need to be, right? Then you got LeBron thinking now like I gotta step into the point forward position, get guys. That's why he made the play at the end of Schroeder. Like that was uh D'Angelo Russell play supposed to make that play. No, but you know,

when you're when you're talking about when you're talking about playoffs and you're talking about a seven game series to be honest Anthony Davis and LeBron there are four and a half games they have to be great right D'Angelo Russell two out of the seven yes Schroeder one um AR one So, you know, you have the role guys. They just have to be great one game each. That's it. You know, it's not like you need D'Angelo Russell to have 20 every game. Right. It's just we need you one time if somebody's off.

And that's really it when it comes to the playoffs. But the stars have to really be there. You know, there's no way LeBron can have 10-15. Right. And Russell has 30. It won't work like that. Right. Right. You know, so. So, we know that the inconsistency then comes with LeBron and AD being on the floor at the same time for a long extended period more. I think that the longest they've been is like five games total consecutively throughout the season where they've been on the floor. So, it's like,

alright, can we keep them on the floor together? And can they play great for those five straight games, four straight games? Like you said, you're saying great, right? Which is good, meaning AD is at that 17 and 12, or LeBron is at 25 and 8 and 8. That's good. They need to play great. So if they're not playing great, you got that one, two performance from Russell, you're talking about where he might have 30, might have 28, an AR performance, he might have 20. But if they're not doing

that and we got to look at them as wild cards for doing that, like, oh, we don't know who is going to play tonight. I'm not trusting that shit, man. I wouldn't trust them against any veteran team But we are playing the Memphis Grizzlies, right? They have one superstar you're right, right and then you know that they have great role players like they're scary because they actually Play with each other. Yeah, right. So that's the scary part of Memphis, but at the end of the day, they only have one true star. And when it comes to close games, referees and stuff like that, they're going to always

give the advantage to star power. You're right. That's the only advantage that I see. We saw a little bit last night, but the officiating was some of the trashy shit I think I've seen. It's the playing, lock in, tricked off goal, Taney called. I mean, it was like, what are we doing, fellas? Listen, I rewound that last play on Michael Conley at least 12 times, because I need to see that ref after.

Hey, excuse me, sir. So you didn't think it was a foul? At that moment in time, the way he shot, like if I'm a referee, the way he just shot the ball, he did not shoot the ball. So at that point, you know, there's no follow through because he's not shooting. He's just tossing. And then, you know, we're closing out, turning around. If there's contact at that point, incidental, already out of bounds, the play's over with the shots up.

You know, so it's a questionable call. You're in fucking home. But you know why it's questionable, right? Think about the charge call, right? K-Love, Draymond, that momentum that takes you into the charge where you know you stop and you barely hit him and then like, that's a charge, right? It's the same thing on the shooting foul.

Trae Young get a lot of those, Steph get a lot of those. After I showed it, if you happen to just touch me a little bit, it's my job to sell it, right? And for Mike Conley being in that corner right there, ref right there, got to make that call just because. And I get what you're saying, time, score, situation, that's a trash call, right? Just because there ain't no way that he's going to make that shot because of the way he shot it, and the fact that it's desperation, they need this shot, right?

Because if you give them these three points, they shot it back. It changes the game, 100%, like I said. The problem, this would have been a real problem. If he made that three. That's what I was going to say. And he blew that whistle, that referee would be, whoo. You know what I mean? That referee would be gone.

Yes. Because you just, like, you know, that's one of those things where you have to really look at the play and make sure that you're making the right call. And the fact that he did not actually shoot the three, and it was just like, that was the only question. Other than that, I mean, because it's not like he followed through. It was basically one of those tosses. It could have went 50-50. Ref, know where you are. Know where you are. Because you could have got fucked up in the parking lot. That's all I'm saying. You could

have got fucked up in the parking lot. Like you said, that shit goes in. That was the concern, and now you essentially give him that win because Conley's not going to miss that free throw. We know he's a seasoned vet. That's where the issue became, and it wasn't like they were calling it consistently all game. Even in OT, catcher to fouled out. I think first or second play of OT,

AD got a buck, he fouled the shit out of him. They didn't call it, so it's like, what are we doing? We're not calling the bullshit. Let it go, but in that moment, that could have potentially stopped LeBron and the Lakers from fulfilling the prophecy. Like you said, you in LA, you got to get out of that arena. I told y'all too, in group tips, I said, it's one of those games where some shit just happens. Shit like that, that ball go in, the Lakers lose on that.

That's why I pick many, because I know that games like this are the shit games where shit can fucking happen. And we just look at the game afterwards like, can y'all believe they called that shit? The best thing about what he just said, he picked many. You lost. You lost. We're going to get more into that Lakers-Grizzlies series.

When it's all you lose on, you live to fight another day. Live to fight another day. Live to fight another day. Hey, it's all good. Especially when you're on these underdog pick-ems. Yeah, I said that. I can't lie too much. I got $4. Y'all got some of my bread.

I'm going to get it back. I got $4, man. I can't. Y'all got some of my bread. I'm going to get it back, underdog, if it's the last thing I do. Y'all already know. I got my mind right. I'm drinking a soda at 11.

And they're not paying for that. Okay. Hey, cover the logo. Cover the logo cover the logo but Rashad you mentioned AD and LeBron with the five game stretches together

so this was their first five plus game streak together since January 2021 as of a week ago it's now I think closer to seven

or eight games which is some wild shit to think about when you talk about you know this duo supposed to be in the core and the nucleus of this Lakers squad.

And even this year, LeBron missing the 13 games with a foot, them being able to come back and do something special, get that seventh seed against all odds. They didn't think we could do it. We did it. Let's talk about LeBron a little bit. So he hit the game-tying three late in the fourth quarter off the pick and roll beautiful. And on the final Lakers possession of the regulation, LeBron passed up a potential game winning shot, trusted his teammate Dennis Schroeder to knock down a three.

They both came through with the ice in the vein celebration. One of your more beautiful moments in Laker fandom. I think it was something around like LeBron's 12th assist on game tying or go ahead jumpers in the fourth quarter in OT. So when you look at LeBron's 12th assist on game-tying or go-ahead jumpers in the fourth quarter in OT. So when you look at LeBron historically, he's been criticized his entire career for not forcing shots and making the right basketball play. And when you talk about making the right basketball play, Jordan's done it. Kobe's done it. You know, you're talking about Jordan with Steve Kerr.

Kobe's thrown the lob to Shaq, amongst other amazing plays in his career. But for some reason, LeBron gets clowned for it. So can I start with you? Has LeBron changed the definition of clutch? I don't think he's changed the definition of clutch, but I don't think he's getting credit for his IQ and his greatness. Before Jordan came in, right? You know, Bird was considered clutch.

Magic was considered making the right clutch plays. There was no real one-man-does-it-all type of image, right? When Jordan came as a guard hitting game winners carrying teams on his back Finishing a play ending games ending careers It gave us the apex of what a superstar should be what a franchise Player should play like So then we have Kobe who mimics that, right? So when we have LeBron, and LeBron was considered Magic Johnson first. He's Magic with Jordan-like ability.

So if you ask the question, all right, what's his gift? Magic mentally, Jordan jumping ability. Okay, so when he comes down and he has this game winner and he sees a three-point shooter open, that's the magic in him. We, when he averaged 37 points, we want to give him the Jordan title. Oh, no, he has to be like Jordan.

Why he ain't making that? And I think that's the problem that came with LeBron. Instead of us saying, yo, he's making the right play in his world. We have to consider what he is. If Steve Nash did it, right? Steve Nash made the right play to players. Jason Kidd, Chris Paul.

These guys are going to make the right play. They're not going to sit there and force shots that they're not used to making, right? So what's the difference if that's his skill, right? And I think that's the genius of it. Like, he's not trying to lose games to try to be put into a box that he knows he can't be put in. I mean, we live, right? Yeah, we live. We live.

The chat is booming. Look, man, we're not going to give LeBron credit for not having killer instinct. Right? Which is a different- Killer instinct is one thing that magic does not have. Uh-huh. Right? not have, right? So we're giving LeBron the magic DNA, which is we want you to have killer instinct

to take over the game in those specific moments, right? This is not game seven, finals, Kerr, wide open, Jordan kicks to Kerr. This is play-in game, Schroeder's open. You could have dunked that on Cat, but you decided to pass it, right? Killer instinct. I need killer instinct for you to be considered a great all the time, right? Killer instinct. I'm LeBron. I'm 6'8". I'm juggernaut with a basketball. Anyone near the rim is in

trouble when I got it. Dunk on everybody. We've seen you do it. You don't need to defer to your teammates just so the fans feel good about you passing the ball. Fuck that. You're LeBron. Run everybody over and dunk that shit and let's walk out of this bitch with a win. You passing to Schroeder, don't give you a fucking bouquet of flowers saying, look, he passed the fucking ball to Schroeder in the corner. Like, yeah, I'm glad Schroeder finally hit that shit because he said he remembered the last time.

That Hornets game. Yeah. Like when I'm LeBron and I give you the fucking ball and you need to make that shot and we like, and you don't. It's like LeBron has to be thinking, I should have dunked that shit. What do I be thinking passing up the ball to these guys when I can just dunk that shit? Now I could be a bit critical of him in these moments because like you said he is making the right place right? He's being point guard like but we're comparing him to

the Kobe being Mamba Bryant. We're comparing him to the black cat Michael Jordan and that's the only thing the only thing that change him from them is killer instinct. LeBron ain't got that. I'm going to eat your heart out. Magic didn't have that. I'm going to eat your heart out. So if you don't got that, I can't say that pass to them was just because I didn't want to eat your heart out tonight. It was because that's the only play I had to make.

But someone want to ask you, do you think Magic didn't have that killer instinct? Because he showed, I think coming in as a rookie, Kareem goes down. Is that killer instinct? No, I'm just saying, when I need to get buckets, I can do it, but that's not necessarily my game. But it's not eating your heart out to get that bucket. It's like, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get this bucket, right?

But that's the DNA that they had. Here's the question, then. You're in the corner. As Schroeder. Yep. And LeBron comes down. Mm-hmm. And LeBron forces that shot up and y'all lose.

Mm-hmm. Would you be pissed? No. That you was wide open in the corner? Because it's LeBron. No, no, no. If you was wide open in the corner and he's looking dead at you. I'm an option.

And he's looking dead at you wide open and he tries to do some flip around. You're going to be mad as hell. No, I'm not. Because you're wide open. Because we living with it. Like you don't trust me to make the shot. No, because look, if it's you and I'm in the corner, right? And it's your team.

This is Gilbert's team. We living or dying with Gilbert at the helm. So whatever decision you make in that possession, we all got to live with. And if I'm rolling with you as a homie in the corner and I know that he looking at me, he know he want to pass that to me. But he like, shit, I trust my shit. And I'm trusting Gilbert because Gilbert been trusting his shit that's got him this team. So I'm like, yo, Gil got to take.

If he got it, he got it. If I'm open, he throw it to me. I got to deliver for you because you trusting me with the shit you don't want. If I don't pass it to you, what does that tell you? He don't trust me to make it. No, he trusts you. You trust you more than you trust me. But that's what LeBron is telling his teammates.

I trust you guys. That's why I make it easy. Because he ain't got Scottie Pippen in the corner. I would pass Scottie Pippen in the corner? I'm not passing the Schroeder in the corner. Tie game. Not passing the Schroeder in the corner. But that's what I'm saying.

Black German. That's already what I'm saying. What I'm saying is it's – He's been through a lot. Like you're talking about like – Like I took shots, right? Like, I took those. Those were my shots.

But I understood how to hit game winners. I knew the angles. Yes. There's never a great angle on the side of where he's at. That's never a great angle, right? You have the baseline. You have the sideline. You have the baseline. You have the sideline. You have the defense.

You have a guy trying to take a charge. So when he's coming, he don't really have this angle anyway. So the best move he could have possibly done was here and try to reverse it with his left hand, which the guard who was there could have just did this. So that open spot was it. I don't know, Gil, because think about it.

You're thinking about it from a scorer's position. about it. You're thinking about it from a scorers position LeBron is not thinking about it from a scorers position. Think about the play we run the play rewind it We run the play back you look great bronze his momentum going toward the rim. They look like a play This was a play because he was going to the to the cup in such a manner where if he wanted to lay that bitch up and go reverse. Left hand reverse is the only thing he could have done. If AD was right there, he was literally was giving him the lane so he could do that. Nah, AD was in the back.

So then you make that pass because it's wide open, but it's the play. What I'm saying, if you rewind it, rewind it. There's one thing that you're missing. When he's driving, he's driving, he looks up at the rim to see where he was. So when he jumps, he realizes he can't make that.

He's selling it. He can't make it. He's selling it because it's a play. Think about it. We needed three. No, it was a tight game. Was it tight game? 95-95. That put them up three. Yeah, so look, look, look. Look at that. Look at that.

He's done. He could make that shit. Go back. Keep going. Go from the other angle. Other angle. So you can see LeBron's face. Right, look.

He's going to look up. Right, look. See? He see that that man got all that. He got all that. Yeah. I mean, he could have. He all that. He got all that. Yeah.

I mean, he could have. He could have. That's a layup reverse, right? Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. It's like you can see he, uh-uh, I got that. But he's wide open. And LeBron is saying, like, man, he wide open. That's a Ben Simmons.

He wide. Ben Simmons. My favorite thing is Austin Rivers knew right away. But what I'm saying is. He knew right away. I watch the plays, right? We watch it. Now let's take it out on LeBron and let's put in a player like Westbrook, right?

When you have a player who's stubborn to try to make those plays, to try to prove to everybody that I'm going to make those, and we've seen the results. We've seen what people say about them. It's like, which side of the coin do I want to be on? LeBron wants to be on the side where I'm just giving ourselves the best chance of winning. Fuck the Jordan. I'm not him.

I'm not him. I want the W. That's where you... Because if he would admit... Now, let's try this. If he don't and he tries it, they get the ball back, they have a chance to win it. Right? He knows he's not Jordan. He's trying to make his own lane. So I want the win.

I want the win. The easiest, listen, the easiest, that shot was the easiest for him to try to take because no matter what, we can go to overtime. I feel like he takes the shot, if he misses the layup, AD taps it in because he's in rebound. He's in offensive rebound position. Everything's moving so fast. Kyle Anderson had it. No, ain't no way.

AD was right there. No, you're right. But I hear you. Everything's moving so fast. It makes sense. Everything is moving fast. But as a player, you have to give him the credit for really trusting these players over and over.

I lost to a trusted play. When I missed those two free throws and Damon Jones came in and Damon Jones ain't played none that game. None the game before that. And he baits us all and throws the ball to Damon Jones who's been cold for two games

that hit a shot to win the game. To win the game, not to win it. And I'm telling you, he didn't pick Damon Jones to be that recipient. She is. That just happened to happen. Just put him in the game? Just, hey, because you need a shooter. You need somebody to shoot.

Put him in the game. Him. He ain't played last game. Look, Schroeder don't make that shot, we talking different. Just like if Damon Jones don't hit that shot, we talking different. But if if was a fifth, we'd be drunk as fuck, so we ain't going to use the if, right? So we're going to say, all right, Schroeder hit that shot because LeBron knew that in this possession, man, we need to make something happen.

We need something, and we need to take the pressure off of me. Take the pressure off of me. But what is the pressure? Is that more pressure? The pressure is I'm not the reason why we're going is the pressure I'm not the reason why we're going to the I'm not scoring the ball for it to be the reason why we're going to the next

but I'm saying is why is the greatness if the greatness was greatness can't just be because of fucking Michael Jordan no I'm not saying that but that's the only reason we're judging people off of game winning is because of fucking Michael Jordan. Nobody else in history.

We're celebrating LeBron right now for making a pass to Schroeder and the quarterbacks. No, we're celebrating the Lakers for winning the game. For moving to the next thing. We're celebrating the victory. I don't give a fuck how the victory happened.

We make fun of people. We say, hey, don't. Coaches say it all the time. Hey, don't give a fuck how the victory happened. We make fun of people. We say, hey, don't. Coaches say it all the time. Hey, don't play hero ball. Don't play hero ball. There's a reason they say that. Because the motherfucker always think he out there trying to beat Kobe Bryant, just throwing up shit, losing games.

When a player does the right play, we can't say, oh, he should have took the shit himself and been Jordan. But we can say, oh, he should have took the shit himself and been Jordan. But we can say, hey, man, this is a game y'all shouldn't even have had close. This is supposed to be a game y'all supposed to be blown out by. Well, if it was the fifth, we'd all be drunk. See, that's what I'm saying. So it's like, for me, I'm looking at the situation like,

yeah, he made the right play. Yeah, y'all won. But y'all supposed to win. To your point, if Schroeder misses that shot, it's a completely different discussion. And that's just how it goes anyway. Even he makes a shot. Oh, LeBron don't got that dog. And y'all the Lakers. And y'all supposed to win. To your point, if Schroeder misses that shot, it's a completely different discussion. And that's just how it goes anyway. Even he makes a shot. Oh, LeBron don't got that dog.

Ain't y'all the Lakers. Ain't y'all the Lakers. It doesn't matter either way. So really getting the win is the most important thing. I just want to talk a little bit. Get what you're saying. Get what you're saying. Wait, wait.

How many shots, great Curry, how many clutch threes have Curry actually made? Less than four-five. You know what I mean? But no one's questioning it because one, they fucking blow everybody out. That's what I think. He's sitting down in the fourth quarter half the time. But even when those plays

are happening, it's a team thing. It's a team thing. Because their teams move so well, anyone can take that shot. So I guess we're talking about now is when you get to the point where you can trust your teammates with shots like this, it's beyond the point of you trying to prove to others that you can do it. Now it's just being done because it's the right play.

Like, yeah, let me make this play because I don't got to prove to y'all that I can do it. You play with KG. How many game winners did KG try to take? A lot. Or did he make the right play? He had to. Yeah, make the right play. He had to. Yeah, make the right play.

He had to make the right play. Yeah. But, you know, being on that side, what does it mean to have a teammate trust you like that? And this is something we've talked about before, Gil. A lot of guys aren't clutch, right? You know what I mean? You don't need to be a superstar to be clutch.

A lot of guys might do work first, second quarter, but as soon as it gets to winning time, you know, Chiefs start getting a little scrunched in, and they don't have that ability where, like you say, you could throw Damon Jones in the game, ain't played in two games, but I know I need him to make this shot, and he don't give a shit what point in the game it is. So how do you develop that trust?

And even not just looking at LeBron, but just on a broader scale, even with yourself, with your teammates. I know you joke a lot about, you know, guys wouldn't put enough work in, but did you have that teammate that you could trust? Like, I need this dude to get a bucket. Yeah, listen. Like, okay, one-on-one skill. Like, when you're talking about players that are gifted at one-on-one, it's feet, right? It's understanding how your first two steps are very important, right? So when you think about you know, Michael Jordan Kobe or someone like a Scottie Pippen their first two strides are great Right. If you look at you know, someone like LeBron his first two strides are duck walk and then he's momentum, right?

So it'd be hard for him to be a one-on-one player posting up and doing all of that to its its security of being okay with missing a shot. Every superstar is not, they don't want to be a bad guy. They don't want the boos and all of that. You have to be able to take a shot, miss it, go home, right? Practice, come back, and short-term memory loss. So, you know, that sometimes separates gamers,

guys who are clutch from everybody else. Are you willing to be a disappointment if you miss this shot? A lot of superstars are not happy with that. Like, I can't, you know,

like, I let my teammates down. Like, that's hard. That's hard. That's part of the killer instinct, too. That's a part of their DNA is That's part of the killer instinct too. That's a part of that DNA is that let down, that shame, that fuck, if I miss this, they might not want me to take the shot again. They might not start trusting that I can be that guy.

Think about it. You started in practice when they're doing the last second shots, going over the three, two, one. Who's going to be our guy we run the play for in the last seconds? Gilbert has shown to make it in practice more times than not. Let's give him a shot. See if he didn't see what he do in the game. Now you see it, if it get close to going in in the game, he's like, he might be our guy

because he got balls to just shoot it. He got the balls to shoot it. Like you looking for that mentality. So it's easier to find that when you know that you practice for it, you live for those moments. But some guys, like you said, it's nut cutting time. They don't smell the popcorn. They don't look forward for that moment like, yeah. Who we drawing the playoff for? Koo coach. Fucking Koo coach. Give me the goddamn... I'm young Michael Jordan. I'm Scotty. bro, get, roll with me.

So when you don't get that play, you feel some type of way when that dude don't deliver. Yeah, for sure. Like, damn man, I could've delivered that shit. Let me work, let me get that shit. I mean, everybody always talk, they talk about the two free throws and they'll make jokes or whatever, but I've seen enough, but I'm saying I've seen enough of you play to know that you, you know, it wasn't a fear. You just missed the shits. It's crazy to say that because people see, no, he punked out, bitched out, whatever.

But it's not... When I think of a Nick Anderson or somebody like that, that was in his head. It fucked up his game for the rest of his career. I really feel like, oh, you missed those too? Okay. You know what's the funniest? Because Nick always brings it. Oh, that ended your career, right? No one actually realized what that did, right?

I missed those two free throws, and I had to live with it, right? Which I was in the arena the next day, or the same night, 1,000 free throws. Had to go to the military, dude, to just make sure my mental was okay, to understand the process of, you know, never being in that moment again, right? Everyone laughs, but nobody actually looks at the next season and see what the fuck I did there.

How many game winners did I make that year? There was one point where I was 41 for 46 from in the quarter shots in the half shots game winning shots 41 for 46 I was the most lethal man with the ball with the last five seconds in NBA history boom nobody nobody gonna talk about that fun fact right so when you when all those game winner turnarounds and all those from the hash mark, I'm shooting from the hash mark, Philadelphia back-to-back, the Phoenix Suns, where it is the end of the quarter shit.

Yeah, that was that year. That was the following year. Free throws, beat Boston twice at the free throw line, beat Golden State at the free throw line in the game. I remember they was doing that. They was doing all this. I got fouled. Golden this. I got fouled. Golden State, I got fouled.

And I got two free throws. The coach gets angry. I think it was Don Nelson still. He gets a technical, so I got three shots. No time left. Right? Golden State over there, you're going to choke. Man, y'all go back to the locker room.

This game over with. This ain't last year. Fuck on to the... Hey, I'll do it after. Get the fuck on to the locker room. I make one. Get on to the locker... This game is over.

I don't know. This ain't last year. Y'all a whole nother man. Go on. What y'all waiting here for? But that's where the confidence turning around. It was a whole different person. Nobody understood that.

You proved my point. That was killer instinct. But I already had that. Yes, that's what I'm saying. You already had. It was built into you, but it was something that pissed you off that motherfuckers would even question whether you had killer instinct. What I'm saying is, but I had that growing up already. So if you don't have it, you don't learn that. Exactly.

Right? So if he don't have it and he understands I don't have this, but what I do have is the ability to make the right play. And that's why I said we have to judge him for how he plays it versus trying to say you have to be him. And if you can't do that, then you're not a great. No, because before Jordan created this space, who was considered a clutch and great?

Who was it then? But this is the thing, the criteria between Kobe and- It was Jerry West, believe it or not. It was Jerry. Which is wild when you look at just what, one in eight in finals and all that good stuff. But you look at the criteria of what we consider to be the greatest of all time, all of those different things is Mike and Kobe has the ability to find a teammate,

the ability to take over the game and have the clutch gene, which is that killer instinct, right? The only thing that I always talk about in this debate is that LeBron lacks that one thing that would consider him that over-top, overbearing, greatest of all time. If he had that bite down, I'm going to kill you. But why does he have to?

He doesn't have to. What I'm saying is, if you're going to die, if you're going to die, why does it matter? Like, yeah, they're going to chop your head off, right? Right? You're going to see it coming. LeBron's like, okay, you're looking at me. Let me throw it. Boom, he's killing you. Well, you're gonna they're gonna chop your head off right right you're gonna see it coming LeBron's like okay

You're looking at me. Let me throw it boom. He's killing you you're dead anyway, so what does it matter it matters? It matters because the job is done the leaders who are are in the in the in the in the trenches with you know how To delegate they're saying I'm gonna cut his head off. Don't even worry LeBron is saying you cut his head off You cut his head off. No Kobe even worry. LeBron is saying, you cut his head off. You cut his head off. No, Kobe and Mike saying, move. I got it. I got it. We still winning. Either way, what you're saying is we still winning. But where is that still coming from? Michael Jordan, everything, the game of basketball can't be designed by one man.

I know, but we're talking about criteria that makes you the ultimate king. By one from who? By the king himself. The one that was appointed first. The one that said, look, these are the things you need to have to wear the crown. That's why I hand it to you. But that's what I'm saying. You can't judge everybody off the one basketball god.

Why not? Because no one has that ability. You do it. They do it. If I make a one-of-one car, it's one-of-one. Right. Everything after that can't actually get to that. No, but it can only mimic and look like.

So it only can mimic and look like. And we're telling you, this other version of something was created. And you're going to say, well, it's not this. Why do you want the same fucking thing? It's not. Because this is better. What I'm saying is if I mimic exactly that, what are you going to call me? A mimic.

We're going to call you B. B. So no matter what, if I'm fucking B, let me do B my way. So when LeBron is C, we're going to let him see it his way. No, I'm B. Because we already seen. We already seen. We already seen. We already seen.

We already seen what Kobe did. Kobe tried to follow this road, and nobody ever let him get close. What you mean? Oh, you just copied him. You're copying the fadeaway. You're copying. No, no. You're a copy. No, no.

You're not him. You're a copy. That's not the way. Right? So you're not going to give it to him anyway. So if I'm going to be me, let me do me. I want to win games. I'm going to put my team in the best position. I'm not going to be selfish. I just

don't have that gene. I don't have that skill. That's all I wanted to hear. So why am I going to force it? That's all I wanted to hear. But he accepted that year one. Why nobody else has accepted it? I didn't know he accepted it, but now that I hear it. He been accepted it. Now that I hear it from you, I'm good. He been accepted it. I'm good with it. He been accepted it. That's what I've been fighting against. That's why he keeps

got you. That's all I've been fighting against. You jumped. You're right. I'm with it. I'm good. Because that's what I've been fighting against. That's why he keeps... Gotcha. That's all I've been fighting against. You jumped. You're right. I'm with it. If you accept it, I fucking accept it. Shit. But when we look at LeBron's narrative, what?

Most playoff game winners. More than Jordan. More than Kobe. More games. Let's keep it real. He's been doing this thing for a minute. But I even go back to like that 2016 game seven. And everybody talks about the Kyrie shot.

But you always got to point out, Brian hit the three and three free throws, which I thought was, you know, at that point in his game, them shits were shaky. That jumper was shaky. He could have went and tricked all three of those. And it wouldn't have been surprising.

But then the presence of mind, and talked to some of his teammates about it. All right, let's get Kyrie with the Steph matchup Yeah, Kyrie. I trust you to go give Steph a bucket and that's and that's that's that's right there what we're missing We'll Jordan have utilized Kyrie the way LeBron did If he had to. Would he have? Are you saying if Kyrie was pipping? No, if Kyrie was Kyrie, if Jordan was on the team with Kyrie,

will Kyrie be as great as he is and do what he does? No, because Jordan can finish those shots, so he's going to take those shots. Well, since LeBron doesn't do that, he gives it to the guy who can, which now we get to see his greatness. And that's what it is. You have to judge everybody for how they play the game. I can't tell you that this is the road you follow. You have to be able to follow your own road, and let me judge you off of how you plan it.

And I say that's the wrong thing. There's only a few mindsets that can walk inside Jordan's path of that part of the game. Yep. Right? But to be the next Jordan, you have to be exactly built the same mindset, same killer like his killer instinct on the court is the same off the court yep right we we walk out of the door I want to beat you to you know and so it's the whole package just there's only a few brains in the world that's moving as fast as Michael you're right right that's just

that's just the facts it's just not playing on the court. It's the whole thought process. You're talking about the Tiger Woods, the Phil Ivys, those type of minds, the Bradys. Those minds are moving at a different frequency. We accept LeBron for who he is. You didn't. I didn't, but now I do. I got clarity. Now you do.

I got clarity. He just ain't built like that. He just ain't built I'll do I got clarity. I got clarity. You know, you would have built like Like that it's all so we talked about let's talk a little bit about ad we talked about this a little earlier but 24 15 Four assists two steals three blocks had a great game But only thing we remember from that game is the boneheaded-ass foul. You didn't think it was a foul. Regardless of whatever we think, foul's a foul. Conley hits the three free throws.

So you know me. I'm on Twitter all the time. Almost immediately after that play, the top trends were damn AD, trade AD, and what the fuck AD. Damn. And it seems like AD, Lakers fans have a love-hate relationship with him. When he's playing at the highest level he can play, which we've seen, he looks like a defensive player of the year candidate. He looks like an MVP candidate.

We've also seen that other side deal with a lot of injuries and situations. I watch pretty much every game this season. I can't recall a game where it didn't look like, damn, he might have a season-ending injury. Shoulder, whatever. But it would just be like poking. I'm just like a game where it didn't look like, damn, he might have a season-ending injury. Shoulder, whatever. But it would just be like poking. I mean, it's like, God damn it. Like, man can't catch a break.

Like, he just might. Always something. Can't get right. Can't get right. So, question for y'all. Are Lakers fans too hard on AD or does he deserve some of the criticism? Look, we should be lenient because he brought a championship. But we got to be hard on him because we know what he's capable of, right?

And we know when AD's out there playing AD basketball, he's unstoppable. But he hasn't been doing that for the past two years due to injuries and these little knick-knack bullshits, you know, Bambi legs, Bambi feet. You know what I mean? I was one of the dudes. Bambi? Because y'all, when we hit the three, I was on a group chat talking shit! Right?

Jaya, Jaya, Jaya. And then another tweet came, wait, Ty Gantman, trade that motherfucker, man, right now! Trade that motherfucker. Just sub his ass out, god damn. And I was one of those too, so I can't even lie. But it's one of those things where it's, you know, we're friends. We're in the moment. Well, I think you look at tradition, Laker tradition, the comparables.

It's always unfair you go to the Lakers because you're going to be compared to the guys who got it done that were there before you, right? So AD, immediately, who do you compare going to be compared to the guys who got it done that were there before you, right? So AD, immediately, who do you compare him to? You don't go right away and say Pau Gasol or Bynum or any of those guys. You say Shaq. You compare him to Shaq. Say, how comparable is AD to Shaq when it comes to, like, how he can take us to win championships, right?

So now you got shoes to fill because you're the big man on campus. You here, you're supposed to take us to the promise. Now you got LeBron. LeBron is the same comparable. As soon as he came to LA, the comparable was Kobe, right? And Magic. Now you always going to have comparables you got to live up to. AD, you know the pressure of LA now.

You've been around long enough to know that you got a championship, there's pressure on you. How do you deliver? How do you deliver? You deliver by knowing that the expectation exists, that you gotta go in, and you gotta over exceed that expectation. And you can't come up short because now you know

the media is just like New York. They ain't sitting around and waiting on you to turn into Shaq when that's the expectation as soon as you sign. Like, we here to win championships. It's you and LeBron. How many people pair with LeBron and automatically think that there's a championship in the mix? Every single one.

Every single one. So why is it when you don't win, we don't really critique them about like, you're playing with LeBron, bro. How you fuck that up? When Westbrook went to the Lakers, I'm like, how you fuck that up? You Westbrook. He LeBron. He AD.

Y'all all on the same team. How y'all fuck that up? Right? So I'm looking now like AD, bro. It's just the pressure of knowing that you got to live up to a nigga like Shaq and he ain't going to respect you unless you bring Some championships back you got one Let's pop that little bubble shit don't fucking count

Hardest championship. Oh look you got point five. I give you point half of one, right? We got around jacking them looking like the same way They're like look look until you dominate and win the whole shit throughout a whole good season Everybody kind of healthy and we can say, look, you got that. The Laker respect is not going to be there. Like it's just not there for some reason. First of all, the Lakers don't respect nobody. They don't respect nobody.

The Lakers don't respect nobody, bro. They look down on everybody. Big James Gaines. Big Kareem was off. He had the LeBron Gaines. A.C. Green. A.C. Green think he top five. Okay?

Shit, he be like, I buy it. Robert Oren them don't be playing that shit after the game. They be like, I'm just kidding. When you hear him on that radio,

man, everybody suck to them. It's like, that's the worst, that's the worst legacy to follow. So now let's look ahead to this Lakers-Grizzlies series. A lot of Lakers,

but let's be honest, what the fuck else was I talking about? We're going to talk a little bit about the Hawks and the Heat for those who care. But I know a bunch of y'all in your chat don't, and if you do, you're lying. Before the game, Dylan Brooks said he wanted to smoke with LeBron and the Lakers. I wouldn't mind playing LeBron in a seven-game series. The legacy's there. First time back in the playoffs, knock them out right away in the first round.

They'll test us good, you know? They got good pieces, good players, and I'll be a good first-round matchup for us. So before we get into the nitty-gritty, we got to show what Dylan Brooks looked like recently at a Grizzlies game. We got the... Ha! Oh, man. If a dude who looks like that... That's Pastor X, man.

...is talking shit to you, like... Hey, man, he from Oakland, man. Pastor X from Oakland, man. Y'all gotta Google Pastor X, man. Yeah. He's Canadian, though. Next caller. Man, look like Drew down.

Hey, look like Drew down. I'm scrolling straight from the survival scrolls. Fitz, what's your name? Next caller. I want to be a pimp. I want to be, yeah. That Memphis. I don't like that shit.

I don't like that shit. I'm glad to see him not embracing the villain role. He looked like, you know, he was a pimp sub host there. But Lakers are 2-1 against the Grizzlies this year with the Shannon Sharp cardigan game really helping turn around the season. Should Dylan Brooks be trying to poke the bear like this? Is he?

I mean, he sounded a little humble. Yeah, I want LeBron so he can come and go to seven and bust their ass and get a tune-up for the next round. That's what he said? I mean, more or less. Okay. Sound Lance to seven and bust their ass and get a tune up for the next round. That's what he said? I mean, more or less. Okay. Sound Lance Steven-ish.

They'll give us a test. Sound like Lance Steven. We got a test we can't pass. I mean, it was... I expected more out of Brooks. He Canadian? Is he Canadian? Damn. He look like a light skinned Canadian.

I'm just saying it's just one of those things where I, you know, it's gonna be a good matchup. I, you know, this is not one of those, this might be like 49, 49.5, 50.5, you know, matchups. You know, anyone's gonna win this one. You know, I'm giving, you know anyone's going to win this one um you know i'm i'm giving you know lakers a favor just because of the experience and the star power through the refs um just i'm just being honest i don't really see how grizzlies can really

dominate i mean you you're talking about trying to dominate i don't they just don't have the pieces to dominate. But you know, just like any young team, I just really think they're going to have the confidence. They're going to go out there and just play well as a team. Like they said before, nobody's scared of those big ass footsteps. That's for Rashad. I like Dylan's Lance Stevenson approach.

Lance the dance. Used to piss LeBron off when he was with Indiana. You know what I'm saying? The ear blows and all that. Whispering his ear. The antics, the type of antics that you need to muffle up a series is this type of bulletin board material. Anything to get everybody's attention off of the fact that you should be on strategy,

you should be ready on your rotations and all that shit. Dylan is the... He like the Dennis Rodman. You know, let me take the pressure off the guys who need to perform and let me get all the attention on me. And the offsets when it's time to perform. So Ja really don't got no pressure. Bane don't really got no pressure. So it's like the more Dylan Brooks puts the pressure on him,

the less he has to really perform, right? His whole job now is to get under LeBron's skin. When Lance was able to do that, Lance was the only one to show balls at Indiana during that series. And I remember that PG and certain guys on that team was mad at Lance because he was waking up the bear. He's like, hey, man, why you waking them niggas up? They sleeping.

You woke up D-Wade. You woke up Lebron, now they done whooped our ass. And now PG want him out, because it's like, man, you the reason we lost, because you woke them niggas up. No, that's facts. That's what I said. Yeah, he blowing in the ear, this motherfucker dropping 40 something on him. You blowing this motherfucker all you want. That's what I said.

We look at all the antics, but there was a result. Yes. The result ended in you woke this motherfucker up and he's playing demon basketball now. But that's what you say. You want that so that LeBron does take over the series, and I think that's what it's going to propel to. It's Dylan Brooks waking up LeBron the bear, the cocaine bear. Ready to chew and eat anything that he sees.

I think that's what the killer instinct that can be brought out of LeBron, when people say he has that in moments. Let's see that when Dylan Brooks get under your skin. That's what showed me like, all right, he got some thug elements that he can wake up to where a motherfucker come, start poking at me like, hey man, I'm gonna fight that motherfucker hand off. You better stop fucking fucking poking me fucking poking me some people you just don't want to poke alright, there's some people you just don't you just don't poke is just easy and it just just

Like I understand like, you know, you poke in you know, Draymond green. That's good poke good. All right, you don't want to poke Steph Curry That isn't end well. You know, so there's really, you know, you gotta be careful on who you're poking out there because, you know, sometimes, you know, when a person do wake up, it's kind of hard to rewind them back. Put them back down. Sometimes you can't put the clown back in the box Hope you listening. Hope you listen. You're listening. You can't put that motherfucker back down that they pop I don't go back in the jack-in-the-box one this cranked open

He get to act in clownish You go they want to know They want to know that was that had nothing to do with the Grizzlies and the Lakers We already saw they wanted that was a personal show They want to know why you know, cause before see if you got some jello putty go day All right, but let we got coach Timberwolves legend in the building hey Coke they got There you go legend in the building. Hey, Coke. They got to come with a bag.

No, they got to come with a bag. There you go. Coke. Coke. Coke. Come with a bag. I love how no matter what we talk about, you can always bring it back to your personal situations. This ain't personal.

I'm just saying Coke. There's a body good for everyone out there. We had the cocaine beer reference earlier in the show. I don't know what y'all talking about. I do not throw a purse to the shop. I'm a professional. You need help. You need professional help. Signed Ben Gordon jersey.

You can only wear this outfit. Oh, that's because I'm going to be in Chicago. That's fine. I'm going to be in Chicago this summer, so I just wanted to rip the shot. Let them boys know that I'm going to be back there all summer. You I just wanted to rip the shot that them boys knows that I'ma be back there Oh, you can only wear this outfit certain parts of LA and I will not sir And be any of those parts with you. I will be in the car and you see them rooting you on from afar But let's talk about these timber wolves. So going into this game

I think they were 34 and 36 with Gobert eight and four without them 34 and 30 What city so this season 34 and 36 with Gobert in the lineup eight and4 without him. 34 and 30. What? Say it again? So this season, 34 and 36 with Gobert in the lineup. 8-4 without him. Now we talked, Jamie Daniels seemed like a bigger loss, but they also didn't have

Nas Reed. And you got to think, if Nas Reed's available and Gobert doesn't play, it's a little bit different game. But how much did the Wolves miss Gobert in this game? Didn't I call that trade

shit last year? I thought I called that shit trade last year. You traded all those pieces for Rudy Gobert. Didn't I call that trade shit last year? I thought I called that shit trade last year. You traded all those pieces for Rudy Dobert. Didn't I say some shit? I remember saying something about that horrible last trade. You traded all those pieces for someone who just, mm. Seems like a lot to, and it also fucked up the whole trade market moving forward,

because we talked about if Gobert's worth this, then what is KD worth? What is, you know, Tyree, what are these other guys worth? It was a bad trade because you had rim drivers. You kind of, you mess up the game for a player like Anthony, right, where you have someone down there trying to post up, just clogging up the lane. So when he decides to go, you take away that ability because it's not like he can dump

it off to you. You can't fucking hit a basket if it was right there under the basket with you, which it usually was. You can't buy height, though. You can't buy that. You can sell it. You can sell it. You can't buy it, though.

I don't need to buy it. You can't buy it. Well, you got it. You want to use it for asset. You want to offset it. So Rudy, you know, defensive presence, defensive player of the year. You know what I'm saying? You can't put them in the trash compactor that fast. Like he do have some value when it comes to size and ability to defend and be a shot blocker. But then again, like you say, offensively, when you sit in his ass on that block, you in the way, big fella. And if if you not know go get it off the pick and roll like a DeAndre Jordan really can't use you in there now so it's like you really offensively you don't got a good coach to utilize you properly you gonna be in there in the fucking way big fella and you don't speak English you know Kyle looking like

man fuck I told you to roll. You just, what the, what the? No, no, no, no, no. He understand what bitch mean. No, yeah, yeah. Repeatedly. No, the funny thing about Rudy is no different than, you know, any playoff series. As great as you think someone is, they can be offset in the playoffs, right? So Rudy Goldberg, defensive player of the year during regular season.

In the playoffs, he's a liability. Because when teams go small ball, he has no impact in this game. Right? So now, because he's a liability, you can't play the defensive player of the year. Right? Now you have to bench the defensive player. Now he's useless. He's useless when it counts.

That's why they traded him. Because they realized, yo, we have to play smaller to keep up with these teams and match up because the person Rudy's guarding is sitting at the three point line. If he's sitting at the three point line, who's protecting the basket? So now you have this offset. Defensively now your best defensive player, this great defensive guy, all his defensive stats doesn't mean shit when it comes to the playoffs. That makes more sense why the Rockets got rid of Capella so fast, because they changed

the game as far as their game plan to go small ball. You fucking clogging the game up. We need James to have the whole lane, right? So I get it. Makes sense, you know what I'm saying? And not, you know, make it a bad trade. That is a bad trade for them. Cause they needed, they had slashers. They had, you know, a situation where Cat is out in the perimeter, you know what I'm saying?

What's so funny is that I used to complain about, complain about him. Can't even remember his name now. Big man? Nope. Always gave him a nickname, now I Can't remember his name now. Big man? Nope. Always gave him a nickname. Now I can't remember his name. James Harden's best friend.

Comes on the Rockets? Yeah. He's followed Jim's up. Come on. PJ Tucker. PJ Tucker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Call him out. No.

So I never understood why a 6'4", power four was in the game. Right? Just like this is the dumbest shit ever. Until he was with the Bucs and realized defensively he can guard anyone. He might not stop everyone, but the heart he's going to bring, he's going to bring to him. He's going to make it difficult. The person who's guarding him has to sit at the three-point line with him, which offsets how you got to play defense now.

That little wrinkle is what actually helped him win the championship because he's going to guard the best player, whoever's at the two or the three, and then on defense, a big has to guard him. He's going to be sitting at the three-point line, so now you got to change your lineup a little bit just to match someone who's really not important on that floor, and that kind of offset them series.

Genius. Genius. Genius. Nah, it was smart by the Bucks. Nah, I'm not even going to lie. Genius. And I didn't understand it. I was like, I've never played this motherfucker. They got an AAU team with him at the... I said, you got... When he was with the Rockets,

you got 6'1", you got 6'2", you got James Harden, he was 6'5", and you're power forward 6'4". Then you got Capella. I was like, this is a horrible team. But when he was with the Bucks, I was like, oh, this is perfect. was it 6'5", and you're power forward 6'4", then you got Capella. I was like, this is a horrible team. But when he was with the Bucks, I was like, oh, this is perfect. Yeah. I mean, it outlined a whole new system to neutralize a big man that was in there giving

you trouble. Right? You know, we just stretch him out. And P.J. never shown to be a slashing threat. So it wouldn't even make sense to even take the big man out unless P.J.'s hitting that shot. Like, you're not even allowing him to hit that shot to make you make the adjustment. It's just the whole thought of the threat is like, okay, P.J.'s in and he's smaller

and he's quicker. How is he going to guard? He's like, bro, he ain't hit a shot yet. Make him hit four of those. We got to make him Bruce Bowen it. But that's the problem. A player hits four of those, that series over with. Oh, yeah.

During the course of the game. Yeah, during the course of a game in the playoffs. Yeah. As we talk, Gobert, let's talk a little bit about Anthony Edwards and Cat. We'll start with Ant. He had a dominant performance in the playing championship last year against the Clippers, dropped a 30-piece. They jumping on tables, hugging booze, getting it all in. This year

held the nine points. I think three from 17 from the field, 0 for 9 from 3. Karl-Anthony Towns, solid. 24-piece, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, but got into foul trouble, made some questionable decisions on some of those fouls that ultimately helped cost their team the game. Ant is only 21 years old, though. You got to remember. I said it. Shit, I'm going to take it back. I'm going to take it back.

You coming 15, motherfucker? Ant is only 21 years old. Cat is 27, missed 53 games this season, so we just got to add that for context. But I want to ask y'all, can Cat or Ant be the number one guy on a championship level team it has superstardom the way he plays a game his confidence his swag you know I don't think anyone should be questioning his trajectory right now he had a bad game this game what makes a real stud the show that

you're progressing is what he does next game right you know you you had nine points three four seventeen over nine what is your bounce back that's what that's what the superstar does right I shit the bed this game I bounced back next game right you know I don't have two bad games in a row. So that's how I judge performances. This happens, right? What are you going to do next game? So that's what I'm going to be looking for.

What is this next game like? But when it comes to superstardom, he is the number one option. Cat is the number two option. I'm a bit more critical. I'm a bit more critical because under the circumstance, I look at the performance and and what the performance holds. What did I see in his eyes during that time of not being able to hit three, four, five shots in a

row? How he made adjustments to get to the line? Did he get to the line? Did he play more aggressive? Did he play with a sense of urgency? I look at games like these as statement games for guys like Ant and teams like Minnesota. So, when they don't come in and make a statement like they did in the first half which was come in, we're not going to lay down, right? This didn't have nothing to do with Ant or his ability. I think it was just his filling

out the game trying to figure out where he was going to get his game from, right? Second half comes and it's like, alright, let's keep the momentum going with this team because you're up, but show me something. Show me that you have this playoff quality, this starlight quality where even if you're not shooting or playing perfect, you show a sense of urgency that you belong here. This is your moment. And I look at these moments where some guys just shy away from it. And I feel like D'Angelo Russell shied away

from it last night. I feel like Ant-Man couldn't get a feel of knowing that it was a moment for him. Like when you're that young, you don't really know. Like I'm in the playoffs. Motherfuckers looking at me to be the guy. And I don't, I'm just feeling like it's another game. So I look at it like under the critical lens, he has to show more urgency in this next game. Like you said, the next game is the follow-up. What you going to show me? You got to show me leadership.

You got to show me that you want to know what it feels like to be in these moments so that next year and the year after this, there ain't even no question that we're going to you for advice. What do we do in the next moment, X, Y, Z? If you don't show it, you're just going to be immature up until you get 25, 26. Like, Cat's 27. He still plays immature. He still plays like he don't know where the game is going to go when you've been here. So you don't want Ant to have that same quality moving down to 27 years old where you're still like, man, I don't know what it feels like to be in the second round. I don't know what to do with three minutes to go and we're up three.

We need you to really buckle down on that. That's the only thing I look at with Ant critically is he is the number one, but I can't trust him to lead the team to go to the next level because he done got the experience. And in my opinion, he not ready. No, I mean, he's not ready. I mean, he's 21, right? So he's not, of course, he's not ready.

When I look at something like that, it's three for 17 that... Three for 17 lets me know he was still aggressive, just didn't hit shit, right? Now, if I seen three for seven, three for eight, that tells another story. Like, you didn't even try. Okay. You didn't even try to do anything.

You took those first five shots and you missed it and you said, fuck it, I'm up for the night. That's what I look for in aggressive behavior. When you miss three, four, five shots, are you packing it in? Did you tell yourself, I don't want to be 0 for 6. I don't want to be 0 for 7. Right, right. Like, me saying keep shooting is because a guy is 3 for 20. Right. 3 for 21. That means he don't care.

Like, he's having it bad. Go at it. But he's still going at it. Right. He's still out there fucking fighting. Right. He's still swinging. No matter how bad he's getting his ass whooped, he's still getting up. He's going to swing, get his ass knocked back.

He's going to get up and swing. That's what that looks like. 3 for 17, 3 for 19, 3 for 25. Them 0 and 3s, you got a motherfucker who played 25 minutes. He 0 for 3. He gave up. I'm good. I'm good for the baseball. I'm good. I don't

look at that me no more. At what level is 3 for 17 shooting'm good for the game, boss. I'm good. I don't need no fucking looking at me no more. So at what level is 3 for 17 shooting us out of the game? It happens. Is that a thing though for us? Because you know, like I know, when you start missing and you're missing and you... and it's an important game. You know that these misses are converting into something, right? How many misses do I go chasing my momentum rather than understanding I need to do something else to impact the game? Well, I mean, it depends on what type of player you are, right?

If Katie or Curry or Katie, Curry, Kobe, LeBron, Kyrie, if they went 0 for 10 in the fourth quarter and they got the game on the line, are they going to pass it? Hell no. No. So every shot is short-term memory loss. Every shot, these next 10 about to go in. That's

the mindset. Is it situational though because it's the last two minutes in the fourth or do you chase that in the third quarter? Listen, my game winner, when I hit it in the bulls, I was 3 for 15. Horrible. Having a horrible go at it. But that seven seconds, ten seconds on the go, oh, I'm making this. Don't even worry about that.

Don't even worry about that. But that's the mindset. As a coach, I can build on the confidence part of it. I can't help you if you already quit mentally. Talk about it. Talk about it. If my star player is 3-4-0 for 25. I can work with that knowing he's still

aggressive. The one I can't deal with is the guys who go 0 for 5. You play 35, 40 minutes. That means you took those five shots and said, I'm not going to take any more unless it's a 100% shot. I can't fuck with a player like that.

I can't fuck with a player like that. I can't fuck with a player like that. That means you gave up mentally. That means you're mentally soft. You're mentally ruined. Shoot me out of the game because that means you can shoot me in games. Yes. Confidence is everything.

I can take that because I know 82 games, 10, 15, you're going to shoot us out. You're going to blow it. Yep. Right? But there's going to be 30 of them. Your work ethic, there's going to be 30 you're going to win. I can take the two for one at that point.

Talk about it. You know what I mean? And that's how I judge it. So that's why I said he's three for 17. I can take that. He took 17 shots. Good. You at least gave us a chance to win the game.

So the part which you just talked about is the coach's confidence. So if he knows going into making or taking those shots or missing those shots, that my coach hasn't given up on me confidently. He knows that I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do tonight. I'm not hitting. I'm not hitting the shots. How do we offset this? Hey man, just don't say nothing about him missing. Let him keep going. He's going to figure it out because

he's dug us out of holes before. I'm with it. Brendan Jennings had a great about his 55 pointer. First quarter, he's 0 for 7. Most mentally soft players. I'm out of there.

The other three quarters, they might go 0 for 1. They might take one more shot the other three quarters. 100%. 0 for 7 turned into 55 in a rookie record. So when all the basketball kids, anyone who's, it's not about how you start. It's about how you finish the game. There's going to be games where you start off bad, you finish great. You start off great, you finish bad. It's just

basketball. The point of your sport and the job is to be as consistent as possible. To keep you above the what's-her-name. I miss those free throws. I hit a game winner, tied a three to get us in

overtime. Had a great game, fell at the end. There was games I shit the bed at the beginning, finished off well. Started off 0-10, 10-10, 10 for 20. That's just how the game goes. The point of being a professional, being a superstar, being an all-star,

is trying to stay as level as possible. Like me, when I judge players, and I all-star, is trying to stay as level as possible. Like me, when I judge players and I'm watching games, I can spot a 50-50 player. And a 50-50 player is a guy who gets very hyped on every shot he makes, very down on every shot he misses. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now you just play mathematics with this player, right? Absolutely. How many games are you going to, out of 82 games? How many games are you gonna start off making your first shot? Yep, you got to say 41 of them. That means 41 of the games you're gonna be ready to play for the other ones You're done on the percent, right? That's my 5050 player. You missed two shots drops a percentage, right?

So I don't like I tell kids Fucking act like you made shots before. But act like you fucking make a basket. Like you sitting there shooting arrows. What are you doing? Swimming and doing the dance. Like I already know what's going to happen when you miss two in a row.

That shit is rampant. It is. Body language. In high school. It's the social media shit. It's the social media. I tell all the kids I train, listen,

when we train like we do this shit, right? We do this shit. You go in there and you make a shot and you start celebrating. Get the fuck on the bench, man. Bro. Because you acting like you've never done this before. You acting like one of the kids

that just got off the bench We shooting five six hundred shots every morning. Do not go in there embarrassing me Do not go in there playing like you just scored a basket for the first time over there looking at your mama way Fuck your mama right now act like you've been here before I can't introduce you to none of my hoes Why cuz them hoes all look good. You ain't never seen no good looking hoes before. You got to act like you done seen some fine things before, man. What do you mean? It's overhyped, man.

I love what you just said because it makes so much sense because it's like when we put so much work into certain moves, certain counters, and you see we go out there and hit that counter and they're like, ooh. It's like oh man we work on this you talking about this ain't no oh i do this i just shot that shot 5 000 times just this week alone what do you mean oh no that's supposed to go in every time yes ain't nothing supposed to miss and if we miss you better cheer because i'm over here like wait to the next one then.

The next one is going to be harder to stop. And it's supposed to go in too. Yes. Like, it's just weird. I just, like, it just comes with training. When I see kids dancing and I just be like, who's your trainer, man? I guarantee your trainer didn't play high-level basketball because he would not accept this shit because it's you guys doing what you're supposed to do because kids have his ass like he ain't never won before i said uh how many games

have you went perfect they're like none okay how many games where you missed all your shots it was like none i said exactly those are rare things If you take 20 shots in a game, making all 20 is rare. Missing all 20 is rare. Right? Going 7 for 20, 10 for 20, 15 for 20, 3 for 20, that's going to happen. So if you already know that's going to happen, why are you being affected by the outcome?

Just fucking play the game. You're going to miss wide open layups. You're going to make difficult layups. Shit you didn't supposed to make. You're going to make difficult threes. You're going to miss wide open layups. You're going to make difficult layups, right? Shit you didn't supposed to make. You're going to make difficult threes. You're going to miss easy threes. Why is your emotions being changed by the shit that's normal? Because they don't work in a game.

You're going to get fouls, right? You're going to get fouls you didn't supposed to. They're going to give you fouls. It's the game. Play the fucking game and just... I feel like this is bigger than basketball, this is really... It's real. ... metaphor for life. It really is. No, because what he's saying... Act like you do this shit. He's saying act like you've done it,

because if a coach is giving you confidence to shoot, he wants to give you confidence to miss. Like, hey, be cool. It's just a missed shot, bro. Cool. But you got to shoot it when you're open, right? But we want you to make your shot. So if you are practicing making shots, you're not just in the gym shooting shots. There's a difference between the outcome. Because now your confidence knows that I've been in the gym making shots.

So every time I shoot, it's supposed to go in. Because that's all I watch when I'm working out is the ball going in, the ball going in. Now my expectation on myself when I'm out here hooping, man that shit supposed to go in. What you mean off? Off in the net? What you mean off in the net? Catch it out the rim.

What you mean? We got expectations around here. And that's the difference between greatness and other guys who just participating. Y'all out here participating, playing the game. Y'all not taking it to the cerebral side of the game where I got an advantage because I study more. I got an advantage because I have a bigger expectation for myself. Shit, when I go out here and I'm hooping, even after this, I'm going to go pick up the ball up, I'm going to go pick up the ball up and I'm going to go shoot my shots.

The expectation for that motherfucker going in every time is at 99 percentile. And I don't even hoop like that. You know what I'm saying? But it's still an expectation because if I needed to impress someone with my shooting ability, I need to be able to hit that motherfucker. And that's confidence. That's real. Speaking of making shots, y'all made some shots for these underdog fantasy pick-ups for tonight,

for these playing games. You know the good folks at Underdog Fantasy, they keep these lights on. Gil, you only got $4 left. Turn that $4 to $40. Bruh, bruh, don't. Listen. Turn that $4 to $40, and let's look at these higher lowers. Is that mine?

We're going to start with your picks, Gil. Scottie Barnes, a higher 6.5 rebounds. Uh-huh. Lucevic, lower than 1.5 turnovers? It's possible. I don't know. Why the fuck are you going to turn the ball over? But that's the shit.

But when you do the pick, as soon as the game started, this motherfucker got two turnovers in the first 35 seconds. Don't dribble. Just shoot. He's trying to cross over and go through it. You got DeMar DeRozan, a higher to 4.5 free throws. Man, I can see that. He's going to be real aggressive going back, trying to back these Raptors. Zach LaVine, he need to make three three-pointers.

You think he can do it? He likes to do it. I was going to pick that. I was going to pick that, but I don't see... Because, Gil, we've been losing on some bullshit picks. I know we've been losing on some bullshit picks. I know we've been losing. That's a bullshit pick right there because Zach might go in and just hit two. I got $4 on this game.

That's $4, y'all. Like, I don't want y'all to look at those picks and be like, yo, he got $100. I got $4. Just trying to come up. That's all I got left. Rashad, let's look at your picks. Some similarities, some differences. You went with the five piece.

This man just made all higher. You got the same throws and free throws higher. Caruso, 1.5 blocks of steals. I'm thinking you're thinking on the steals side. Defense. He'd be out there. He's not beating shit though. He'd be out there.

Siakam with 31.5 points of rebounds. Points of rebounds? Siakam been kind of tricking off my... He got to bring it. Man, that man ain't been good since that playoff series when he had Kawhi. Exactly. But he got to bring it. He got to lock in.

It was like a second option, and he looked great as a second option, and they tried to make him a number one option. But they ain't had nothing since. It's like he the only thing they got up there. He'd be deferring too much, and that shit be pissing me off. Why y'all didn't do the rest of that shit? Hey, man. Yeah, bring that motherfucker back up.

Bring it back. Let's see what the rest of his bullshit ass plays is. Ray Van Fleet, 3.5 free throws higher, and then you got the same Zach Levine. You did believe in that, didn't you? I did, but I'm shaking on that. Did you take... Hold on. Did you get insurance? I didn't.

No, we don't do that insurance. Joe told me... No, I didn't take insurance on my $4 either. That's all I'm saying. Joe said you're soft if you get the insurance, man. You can't even roll with the insurance. You got to believe in yourself. Hold on.

How come we never see your fucking plays? Exactly. I'm at a higher plane. No, no, no. We don't know if he's winning or losing. He's losing. If this motherfucker is winning and not giving us the shit. Gil, if I was winning,

I'd be right here on this couch talking a lot of shit. I'd have got a few. We never see your plays. And I'd be like, wait, this motherfucker over here. I've been training, practicing, seeing who will betray me the most. Because he did sneak a couple wins. He's like, yeah, I won last week.

I only picked two, though. You got We're mentality. I'm analytics breaking shit down Who's gonna betray me because I'm starting to learn the hustle like backups. You just never know Now I'm rolling with Draymond and we need to look at My being a thousand he pockets a lot of it's a lot of red on that shit But we get into where we need to get to. The most important thing. He deflected. He pocketed many.

I'm telling you. We're going to have some A-hour performances, but we will bounce back. We don't win three for 17 a few times, but we also dropped some 30 pieces. Okay. Once the 30 pieces get a little bit more prevalent, we'll hit them. But now, we're about to wrap the show up. We got our last segment, mostly fans. I appreciate everybody on the chat, too.

Y'all been really hitting it hard, helping keep these lights on. Is he coming from the chat? You know, something like that. Y'all better leave me the fuck alone. I know that much. Let's see what them crazy motherfuckers are talking about. You know there's some nuts in that chat right now. Leave me the fuck alone.

So, quickly for both of y'all, Gil, we'll start with you. Which player has the most pressure on them this playoffs? Ooh, the most pressure. Embiid. I was going to say that. Oh, for real? Yeah, I was thinking that the whole time. Embiid.

Embiid. Embiid. The reason I say Embiid is because he's going to win. He's going to win MVP. And he got to play Boston second round. He might be crying in the car. And he's, you know, like he, that's one team he just can't get past. And it's going to be another disappointing year. So the pressure is can he get past Boston and really say he's an actual.

So if he gets past Boston, that's a success for you. Yeah. That's a success for him. He don't got to shit after that. Don't tell. Rashad. My bad. You said Embiid as well, but... No, no, I was thinking Embiid. I know where he's...

Still hasn't been to an Easter conference finals. I'm going with Steph. Ooh. I'm going with Steph. I think the most pressure's on Steph. Now we haven't talked about them being the defending champs. What? They are the defending champs. Right, and then Steph not having as much pressure as Embiid as far as the MVP stuff,

but as far as the chatter of, that was a bullshit chip last year. You guys got it under these circumstances. Can you get back? Can you prove that you guys aren't, you know, you guys aren't going to blow up the team? And I think that Steph is sitting back wanting to prove everybody that, look, we are who we are, who we've been, who we can be. We got to take our team back to the situation where they was last year. We got to win the West. That's a lot of pressure for Steph to win the West. I think he made that shit up. Nah, I'm saying like-

I think he made that shit up. Literally. No, he says, people been saying that that last year's championship was bullshit. It was. I never read that nowhere. I think you just did this shit. Because you don't... I think you just did this shit. I don't fuck with journalists.

It ain't about the blog. I think you just made that shit up. I'm talking about conversations around- Who questioned last year's chip as a book? There's only one person. A lot of people who are not Golden State Warrior fans. Some Bostonians. A lot of people who believe a lot of people were injured.

In light of them going to a certain, you know what I'm saying? It's a lot of chatter. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to say who it is. We're pushing this on the show. Listen. I'm just saying. That chatter at the 24-hour fitness do not count.

I mean, it counts somewhere. I'm just saying. So for me, I'm like, look, Steph, they talking about you. Six Seed. They talking about you. Boo Boo on the road this year. Because if you lose, we talking about breaking up the team. We talking about getting rid of all that shit.

The dynasty. If you win, hey, kumbaya, bring the fellas back. I don't think so. Even if they win- They going to shut it up? Last dance? If you win, everyone's worth more. Reason why they keep them together. New CBA is not favorable.

Reason why they keep them together. They close it out together. That new CBA, League said nay. Not today. Who can't afford it? I'm just telling you, that new CBA, they not fucking with the Warriors. They got cracking this year. Kumbaya.

Together. There's going to be together. Forever. Because they can't do it without each other. So I'm just giving Steph the nod. Steph fans, they put him on that LeBron, that Kobe, that Jordan type of level. They say he's the best point guard ever. I don't know how much of a point guard he is.

I'm a Magic guy personally. It's this for me when it came to point guards and I think a lot of people when I made this take probably what, three years ago, and I say, Steph is not a top five point guard, but he's a top five guard. I think people got confused with what I was saying. And if we go through old terminology, the point guard, the playmaker of the team, the guy who is this. Well, Steph was, in my category, a different breed of a guard, right? Now, if you take Steph and you compare him to the John Stocktons and all that,

John Stockton can't compete with the stats this man's going to have. Right. Right? So top five point guard, he's going to be clinically the best point guard he's gonna be clinically the best point guard because he's gonna have things that these guys are not even capable and weren't capable of doing yeah right so it's unfair for both parties so it's like all right we have pure point and then we have this hybrid you can like combo, then we have the shooting guard, right? Now you know where to put Allen Iverson. Yes.

There's a lane created. Yes. You couldn't put him at the point, then you couldn't put him at the two. So it's like, ooh, it's hybrid, right? Now you get to make, like, it's okay to make new lanes to put people in instead of these old traditional. Like, you've done changed the game so much, but you're trying to keep the same five categories. Like, the power forward.

Talk about it. Now, the power forward now is going to have the ability to overtake a Tim Duncan and a Karl Malone because now they get to shoot five to six threes a game and play this there So they have the ability to do way more damage There's mass in those its mashups of positions. Yeah, like you're saying like the four turns into a 3-4 hybrid Mm-hmm, right the one two becomes the one two hybrid and even The three four hybrid three four five is the PJ Tucker Yeah The 3-4 hybrid, 3-4-5 is the P.J. Tucker. Yeah. The 3-4-5 that can play those three, the Draymond Green type,

where you don't even know what to call the Grant Williams and the, what do we call you, little motherfucker? Point forwards. Is that even? Well, Hobbits, you're a Hobbit. When it came out with that category, point forward, that should have been a category. Yes.

The Lamar Odom types, you know, from Scottie Pippen. There should have been a category yes lamar the lamar odom types you know from scotty pippen there should have been a category for that get rid of that fucking five category there's more categories that have been created in this game and it's unfair to guys who play it differently than other people there's a point forward that means they're at the forward position but they're fucking playing point guard that's a cat. That's those stats have to be Judged by how it looks versus Santa. Well, you're a power forward. He's like, well, I average tennis is but ten points You're trying to compare me to Tim fucking Duncan, right? The mix of this guy in this guy and do you know who came up with the term point forward you?

Marcus Johnson. I'm not even going to wait. I'm thinking about it. Don Nelson was like, look, you're going to be initiating. He's like, so wait. I was there with the same episode. I've been there my whole life. You've been telling me that shit forever. My whole life.

Wasn't the first point forward, mind you, because I know people want to chat. But gave that position a net. You got KD, too. Like, you look at KD as a hybrid, right? Because he can play the two, right? And it was like a Jonathan Bender, Darius Miles. These are guys that were big, tall, lanky, skinny, fast, with the ball, can move. But nothing like KD, where KD can come down and play, bring

the ball down, play the point. But he's seven, he's fucking 7'11". So I used to do this with people, right? When they'd be like, hey, name me your top five. So I'd say, all right, do your top five. Let's see who's top five is better than each other's. So they do theirs first. And then I'll say, all right, at the point I got LeBron.

And they're like, you can't put LeBron at the point. How can I not put the guy who's point forward and he's led his team in assists every year? Who initiates the offense for his team. Right? As defined. Right. And if you look at, you know, Magic Johnson, he's point forward. Exactly. So if you can put Magic.

Yes. I can put. And it was like, well, Magic was a point. Then what was Norm Nixon? He was a point. Well, you can't have two fucking points, now can you? Then everyone gets mad. Then I'm like, all right.

At the two, I'll say, I'll go with, I said, I'll go with Jordan. And then at three, I'll go with Kobe. You can't do that. I said, well, technically, in a triangle offense. I can't. The shooting guard is technically the powerful. I mean, small four. Interchangeable.

I said, so what ends up happening is in the triangle, Kobe and Jordan played the small forward position. The small forward played the guard position. Yep. So technically, I can do that shit. Right? And I fuck with the game like that because it's interchangeable. Yes, sir. Well, look.

Something else that's interchangeable is Gills Arena is now live three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Yes, sir. Well, look, something else that's interchangeable is Gil's Arena is now live three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Yes, sir. We'll be back tomorrow. Same time. We appreciate all y'all in the chat. We got the smoke smoking. I probably won't even stop it. Yeah. They got to see it. They got to see it.

Talk about my kids today, god damn it. My shit fly. It's been another episode of Gil's Arena. We appreciate y'all pulling up. We'll see y'all Thursday.