Gil's Arena - Luka Doncic Needs To Stop Crying and PLAY DEFENSE

Episode Date: April 6, 2023

Luka Doncic Needs To Stop Crying and PLAY DEFENSE as Gilbert Arenas thinks he and Kyrie Irving are holding back the Dallas Mavericks from the NBA Playoffs. Other NBA Topics discussed include - Michael... Jordan vs Isaiah Thomas, The Los Angeles Lakers and The Phoenix Suns!!! 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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Starting point is 00:00:49 Change the game. Welcome back to Gills Arena presented by Underdog Fantasy. Woo! It's Thursday, last show of the week. It's a beautiful thing. Check's about to come. With the living legend Gilbert Arenas, we got Brandon Jennings. Okay, I see the shoe game.
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Starting point is 00:01:29 They will match your first deposit up to $100. And then you can go do these pick-ems. There you go. Get got. Like we do. What you doing? You won? What happened?
Starting point is 00:01:42 You can do it anywhere. There you go. We smoking? Okay. We smoking out here. Pop Smoke. We're going to have a smoking show today. For next week, got to remind y'all, we're going live. Yes. 1130 a.m. Pacific, 2.30 p.m. Eastern. We know y'all not doing shit. Make sure you plug in with us, pull up.
Starting point is 00:02:04 I think the shows have been dropping around like 3.30 Pacific, 6.30 Eastern. We're going a little bit earlier to give y'all more time to really enjoy this, dissect it, conversate with each other about it, and all that good stuff. Pull Up on us! Let's go! So, before we talk about what's going on in the league currently, we got to talk about a burgeoning beef between two former players. And no, Gil, not that beef.
Starting point is 00:02:25 Oh, I was about to say, God, damn. It's a new one. Yeah, damn. So Isaiah Thomas has been going at Charles Oakley over some comments that Zeke made about MJ
Starting point is 00:02:34 and some comments that Oakley made about Zeke. So in an old All the Smoke interview, Oakley had this to say about why Zeke don't mess with MJ. Oakley said,
Starting point is 00:02:42 he came in your city and took your city. That's why you're really mad he took over Chicago. Now, I'd imagine Zeke don't mess with MJ. Oakley said, he came in your city and took your city. That's why you're really mad he took over Chicago. Now, I'd imagine Zeke is a little madder that Jordan left him off the dream team than the city takeover thing. I'm pretty sure. But he responded with some Twitter fingers. I remember us kicking your ass a lot.
Starting point is 00:02:59 Someone please check my record versus any team he played on. Sit down. Be humble. The internet did what it did. They checked the record. Zeke is 19-18 versus Oakley all the time. I wouldn't really call it an ass-kicking. It was more 50-50.
Starting point is 00:03:14 But then he followed that up today, and he said, for the record, I'm not beefing or hating on anyone. I'm correcting and teaching factual, documented history, not mythology. So, Gil, I'll start with you first. I got to know, why are old NBA players so salty? I'm old. Okay. I'm old, too.
Starting point is 00:03:37 So, it's like, at the end of the day, listen, I think sometimes we forget history. I guess sometimes we do think we're better than what we were. Like Detroit, they have this standard of who they think they were. You guys wasn't a dynasty. Two championships, though. Okay, cool. Close. Not a dynasty. Close.
Starting point is 00:04:02 So it's like you didn't compete against Larry Bird and Magic. You didn't. Right? They ran the 80s. Right? You had a two-year window, which let me remind people, you had an advantage over everybody in those two years. See, no one knows Detroit Pistons were the first team to have their own private plane.
Starting point is 00:04:25 So the two years that they actually won, so the year they got a private plane, that summer, they won the championship. So what ends up happening is they have way more rest than everybody else because everybody else is on commercial. You got these big old guys sitting on commercial fighting for aisle seats. Even like the Lakers and all? No, Lakers, no one. No. Pistons was the first team to have their own plane. They had it for the two years, and then everybody else caught up,
Starting point is 00:04:53 and then that's when Michael Jordan came to town. You know what I mean? So it's like there's little things there that helped him, right? And, you know, when you say you kicked Michael Jordan's ass and all this, yeah, that was a young Michael. That was a Michael who was trying to get his feet wet. Once he came into his own in 1991, you was no longer existing. Your teams was not there.
Starting point is 00:05:19 You won two years with an advantage, right? So, you know, I don't know why we sit here and brag like, you know, you guys are like, if you guys are the Lakers or, you know, Boston, I understand it, but you guys had a two-blimp window at the end of the 80s
Starting point is 00:05:32 and then the 90s as Michael Jordan, so. I don't think it's more so about the Pistons than it is about Zeke and Mike. Like, Zeke, he not tripping on the legacy of the Pistons.
Starting point is 00:05:48 And Charles ain't talking about, you know, what they did between each other. It's more Mike versus Isaiah. And I'm rolling with Zeke. I got to roll with Zeke. What did he do against Michael? It ain't about what he did. It's just the history between the two.
Starting point is 00:06:02 And if you hear the history when Isaiah break it down about what he did for Mike when he got to Chicago, how it all transpired, how he introduced him to the community, made him feel safe, and all these other things, he felt like the league coddled Mike, changed rules for him, and he felt like he was better than Mike. If you listen to Isaiah talk, he's like, man, listen, fuck Mike. And Mike fucked him. So the energy between the two is warranted because it's competitive.
Starting point is 00:06:37 It's like, look, Zeke was the only guy that didn't stand down to Mike, and I beat his ass for two years. Yeah, but that's unrealistic. You beat a young guy. But it happened, Gil. But that's what I'm saying. When Kareem was beating a young Shaq, like you're beating someone who's not developing.
Starting point is 00:06:57 You want to brag about it. You are at the top of your class. This guy is at the bottom, and you want to brag about it. What happened when he got to the same class? You no longer existed. He got hurt. It was a season-ending injury. And he keeps talking about that.
Starting point is 00:07:12 He's like, if I don't break my wrist, Mike may not win another championship. How about the following year? We don't know. The following year, your wrist was fine. But wiped out. No, he was done. No, he wasn't It was a it was it was a career no career-ending injury. No, that's what he says
Starting point is 00:07:30 So that's what I'm saying. You listen to what he says not record 90 90 91 he got hurt Mike won. He was back the next year lost back the next year lost Yeah, you know the team's no, you know, they didn't change. No, they didn't the team's That was the expansion era They lost some players they lost some old-ass players. I was in your 13 14. Come on bad boy Who got better the Bulls got better? The Bulls got better the Pistons did not but look we still this was number two We still all this is the number three... Pistons was number two? Lost. Pistons was number three? Lost. Pistons was number
Starting point is 00:08:05 three? Lost. But we still talking about not the teams, but the players. So Zeke is only still salty about the situation between his ultimate arch nemesis, Michael Jordan. He feels like he was better than Mike. And he not
Starting point is 00:08:21 going to allow nobody else to say anything different based on how he feel about his ability. Like, I He was better than Mike and he not going to allow nobody else to say anything different based on how he feel about his ability. I took my team to this level and we beat him twice and we made them change the rules so we was beating his ass up. And now Mike can be Air Jordan because they changed the rules. We can't foul him no more. We can't do this.
Starting point is 00:08:40 He continually talks about this shit all the time. Brandon, I got a question for you. I want you to pretend like you're Isaiah Thomas. Okay. You won two championships, 92 Olympics. We got pro players here. Your head coach is the head coach of the Olympic team. Michael Jordan comes in and says, you can't be on the squad.
Starting point is 00:09:00 If he on the squad, I'm not playing. How long would that saltiness or bitterness at MJ last? Oh, that's forever for the rest of my life. That's beef. It's eternal beef. Talk about it, B. It's for the rest of my life just off the fact that that was the, I think that was the first team to go.
Starting point is 00:09:14 Right? So that was like, that's the who's of who's. Yeah, that's the who's of who's. So to not be in those practices and not get that experience, I mean, yeah, I would be salty too. Like imagine every time you're on NBA TV, the Dream Team dot comes on. But I think, but go back to your point when you said, why are NBA guys so salty? I just think anybody that's like, when you're at the top and you want it
Starting point is 00:09:35 and somebody's talking about you that you're better than or that you know, it's kind of like, you know, you're going to get a little defensive. It's like, who is this guy? Like, who is this guy talking to? Like, this guy's a puppet or something. It's just, like I this guy? Who is this guy talking to? This guy's a puppet. It's all delusion. It's all delusion. You really have to put
Starting point is 00:09:51 perspective on it. Were you guys stopping Michael Jordan? Stopping him? No. Were you hurting him? Yes. Right? You were hurting him. There was no problem in the 80s, right? From 80 to 88.
Starting point is 00:10:09 There was no problem. 37, 33. Like, he's whooping everyone's ass. Like, let's not forget where Nike came from. It came from one man, right? Yeah. He was the king. He was running through the league.
Starting point is 00:10:24 And you guys were physically hurting him not defense clothesline Pushing him out of the air. It wasn't actual basketball when David Stern says hey Hey, you can't clothesline a player We're gonna we're gonna call that a flagrant one and a flagrant two you guys forgot how to play fucking basketball now How the fuck do you forget how to basketball? It's not like we say you can't hand shake, you can't foul him. Hey, clotheslining is a flagrant.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Punching a man in the mouth is a flagrant too. Oh shit, he done changed the rules for him. I can't clothesline no more. I can't hurt the man. I can't guard no more. That is exactly what we're saying. We're not saying that they changed, like took hand checking off. We're saying, hey, clothes lining is a flagrant too.
Starting point is 00:11:12 Okay? Kicking the man in the face, we don't think that should be allowed in the game. And you sitting there like, yeah, you know, I don't know. These new rules. These new rules is bad for us. It's tough love, Gil. I consider it tough love. It's tough love, Gil. I consider it tough love. It's tough love.
Starting point is 00:11:26 To me, I look at it like back then they made Michael Jordan adjust his game to be a tougher player after the rules changed. Mike can say right now, if you look at Mike's interview, he said, man, these young guys have no idea what I had to go through to get to the level that I'm at, right? Contribute that to the Pistons beating his ass, like we talked about yesterday. I'm going to beat your ass.
Starting point is 00:11:50 So you come back in here, you know I beat your ass. Now, in order for you not to get your ass beat no more, you got to get your ass in the weight room. You got to get stronger, more durable. Now when I go in there and they try to clothesline me, it ain't taking me out. Now I'm going into my flip, that's going in. And one, Mike had become more durable and he'd become more hard when it came to just
Starting point is 00:12:13 like being a gritty player because now he'd been through the trenches. Nobody, no he couldn't, there was nothing else he could expect from any other team out there after he got past the Pistons. But that's what I'm saying, we're not talking about – he came in 84, right? Yeah, 84. So we're not talking about it started in 84. Right. This wasn't something that was – the Pistons was doing this in 84, 85, 86.
Starting point is 00:12:39 When he was becoming who he was, they feared that. Right? So this is like Shaq bragging about, like, y'all couldn't score on him, and then everything we see, he's just clothesline and the shit out of everybody, right? That, like, you're physically more empowering. So, yes, after the two losses, they lift weights, they got bigger and stronger, and the rules changed. But we're not saying the rules changed in a point where it affected them defensively.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Right. They're just saying, hey, you're going to be penalized. Remember back then, a punch was just a fucking fine. Right. Right. It's a fine. So he said, hey, you can't do that no more or you're going to be kicked out of the game. And they're making it seem like, oh, he just changed the rules.
Starting point is 00:13:22 It's not like they put a zone in and little shit like that. I understand what you're saying, too, because it's like before they won those two championships, like you said, there was no way to neutralize Jordan. Like they started playing like that to stop him specifically. And then when they found themselves being successful for two years, they're like, this is how we got to play his ass. They're like, no, you can't keep doing this. You can't keep doing this to him. So now, like you said, what was it? 90, 91, 80. Uh, so then it was 89, 89, 90. Yeah. 91, 92, 93 was there. Three
Starting point is 00:13:55 Pete, right? Jordan was in that mother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the funniest thing when, when, when they put, they talk about us now. So yeah, we can guard y'all. Jordan went into the weight room and he got big and was 210. Yeah, we spent all summer looking at him. 6'6, 210. That's 10. That's weird. That's a weird flex. You know, to go back to that point where we said, would I be mad?
Starting point is 00:14:19 I would be mad, but does Mike have the right to be mad too because they didn't shake his hands after they lost? But what does that have to do with it? It was the 90s. Because Mike felt like, well, when y'all whooped our ass, we always shook your hand. Like I always showed you the respect. We not the same. Nah, but see that's not the same.
Starting point is 00:14:42 But it all plays a part. We took our ass whooping like men. Y'all made us better, right? You made us better. We lifted weights. We shook your hands. We went into the summer. We worked out.
Starting point is 00:14:53 We did this. We beat you guys. Now, y'all want to act like little girls. Nah, but we still have a character to uphold. You shook everybody else's hand. Nah, but we have a character amongst you. Because remember, we changed our philosophy to stop you. So we can't change our character because you beat us.
Starting point is 00:15:10 We still want you to know we don't fuck with you like that. Okay, did you do that to everybody in the league? No. No, because everybody else in the league wasn't fucking us up like you was. You was fucking us up. They couldn't get past Boston and Lakers. Mike was Mike. We're not talking about the teams.
Starting point is 00:15:25 But that's one player. Yeah, one player. But that's what I'm saying. They shook everybody else's hand. Mike didn't get his hand. Mike was mad they didn't shake his hand. It wasn't about the rest of the Bulls. Everybody else got high five.
Starting point is 00:15:36 So that's what I'm saying. So you're taking it personal on me because I finally. I think they walked off with a couple. Yeah, they walked off. Yeah, they just walked off. That's what I'm saying. It's the arrogance of them.
Starting point is 00:15:47 You want credit for beating us and you want credit for us becoming better men and better players, but you can't say, good shit. See y'all next year. That's whole shit. Are we going through sportsmanship when we talk about running the score up, right?
Starting point is 00:16:04 And niggas get mad because you up 20 and you go get that extra layup and we talk about it like, hey, if you're trying to score on me down here, I'm going to try to score on you down here. It's the same. Yeah, the same goofy shit. It's goofy. It's goofy. I can try to score on you.
Starting point is 00:16:21 It's sportsmanship. I try to score on you and then you try to score, I'm mad at you. Right? I beat your ass for two years, and then you beat me. I'm mad at you. I'm not mad. No, I'm not mad. I'm just not going to shake your hand.
Starting point is 00:16:34 Yeah. I'm trying to beat your ass next year. I'm not trying to leave this gym being like, yeah, you better, you are a better guy than me. Nah, fuck them. We did it. Nah, fuck them. We did it.
Starting point is 00:16:44 You got it. But a handshake? We did it. A handshake, though? But we did it, too. But that's what I'm saying. You can't, all right, bro, you are a better guy than me. Nah, fuck them. We did it. Nah, fuck them. We did it. You got it. But a handshake? We did it. A handshake, though? But we did it. But that's what I'm saying. All right, bro, you got me. Not when I don't fuck, like, when you're my arch nemesis, I don't want to shake your hand.
Starting point is 00:16:55 But we did it to you. We shook your hand. You shook your hand when you won. But. Ha ha, yeah, we won. We beat you. Get the fuck on out of here. Now when we win, you're like, oh, nah, we don't.
Starting point is 00:17:04 No dream team over a handshake, and you gotian layner on the team yeah yeah but what i'm saying is this hands this this was in front of the world like everybody saw that like you just walked like no it made them it made listen it made them look bad but it wasn't that bad that you would fuck up my whole legacy of my career because my not hand shaking your hand didn't fuck up your legacy. Yeah, but maybe Mike looked up to Zeke at one point. It don't matter if looking up. It's called, do we not respect each other's and we do not respect each other's work ethic or craft? Nah.
Starting point is 00:17:37 And that's why. So basically, so yeah. So that's exactly what he gets. I don't respect your craft anymore. You don't belong on this USA team. So you're not classy enough to be here. Exactly what he gets. I don't respect your craft anymore. You don't belong on this USA team. You're not classy enough to be here. So Zeke is in his feelings because he has a reason to.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Yeah. And Jordan had a reason to do what he did. This is about the USA. This is about people who respect this game. And Zeke, I'm sorry, you didn't. But he did. It's just that I didn't respect you and your team. I respect USA. I respect the Olympics you and your team. I respect USA.
Starting point is 00:18:06 I respect the Olympics. You respect America. I respect... What does Michael Jordan... You don't control this damn team, honey. Well, obviously. Just because you don't... Obviously, he did. Obviously, he did.
Starting point is 00:18:14 Obviously, he did. But he's just thinking like, man, I don't got to bow down to Michael Jordan to get on the Olympic team. Why would I have to do that? Why would I have to shake his hand to get on a team that he ain't... You don't control this team, bro.
Starting point is 00:18:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's why pity comes this team, bro. You heard what Magic and Bird said. It's a new sheriff in town. The coach of the Olympic team was his coach. It had more to do with... I pick your coach, not you. It had to do with Mike's power more than anything else. I pick your coach, but not you.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Now that's a flex. That's nasty. That's a flex. That probably hurts more. The guy who's saying, hey, we're going to fuck Jordan up. He said, I respect this man. You? Watch it from the TV.
Starting point is 00:19:00 That hurts. I'm rolling with Zeke, man. I love that whole rivalry. I love all the grittiness behind it, even the both sides. I love Mike's perspective, the whole not shaking hands and some ho shit. Then Zeke, hey, Mike did some ho shit to you. Y'all both did some ho shit. It's 31 years later.
Starting point is 00:19:18 It was the ho shit, Mike. Right? Huh? Mike went on- Getting better? No, no, no. The ho shit was Mike saying, I'm not playing on this team if he on the team. That's whole shit.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Who started it? It don't matter. It still. I said both. I said both. I said, Zeke did the whole shit. I didn't shake your hand. Mike did some whole shit.
Starting point is 00:19:34 Hey, man, I'm not going to play. I'm going to take my ball and I'm going to go home. Yeah, why should I reward you? Why should I reward you? That's whole shit. And you know that's whole shit. It's after the fact. But it's whole shit.
Starting point is 00:19:43 But I never started it, though. I never started it. It don't matter about starting it. Yes, it does. You're talking about the principle of what whole shit. You know, that's bullshit. It's after the fact but it's but I never started it though I never never ever about starting. Yes. I never saw the principle of what whole shit is To the owner and be like, hey listen, man, I don't like him and if he on the team I ain't playing well Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what do we got to do? Get him off the fucking team? Yes I mean the same thing happens today. I mean, it's like being petty if you gonna be petty. All right What I'm saying is you can't be petty and then I return it and then you cry about it for fucking 40 years Because Zeke never knew why he wasn't on the team And it came out in the last dance that Mike said I had nothing to do with Zeke not being on the on the team. It's 40 years! And it came out in the last dance that Mike said, I ain't have nothing to do with
Starting point is 00:20:28 Zeke not being on the team. Then they found the audio. They found the audio of Jordan talking to Chuck saying, hey listen, Chuck, I ain't playing on that goddamn team with Zeke on there. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Wait, wait, wait. Wait, Mike. So you don't think Chuck told Zeke why he wasn't on that?
Starting point is 00:20:45 Zeke said I never knew why I was not on that team until I watched it. I doubt that. So you the coach, right? I doubt that. You the coach. You the coach.
Starting point is 00:20:53 He told your head coach. You don't think they had to talk about that? No. He couldn't. He couldn't. Chuck can't go tell Isaiah. Isaiah's from Chicago.
Starting point is 00:21:04 He's on some different shit, bro I'm sure Chuck was like MJ over there. I still got to get my bags The moral of the story is always DAP up but let's keep this thing Gotta get the DAP going but we got to talk about current times battle Battle of L.A. We had the final installment last night. Lakers won the end of a five-game road trip on a back-to-back after beating the Jazz in Salt Lake City. We know that era is musty. It was the Clippers' first game since Saturday, and they looked fresh and clean, smacking the Lakers. They only won by seven, but I was at the game.
Starting point is 00:21:41 It was really never in doubt. Kawhi played the entire second half, and this was the first time since game seven of the 2013 NBA Finals that he did that. Clippers have now beat the Lakers 11 straight times dating back to 2020.
Starting point is 00:21:57 LeBron has played in eight of those games, which is the most consecutive losses in his career to one team regular season or playoffs So we gonna move nor power did this thing to UCLA brewing you already know quiet with the the nice brace still The last braid Scout still holding it the last break So get started with you obviously you Lakers guy
Starting point is 00:22:24 Sorry, you there's been I'm a LeB. Obviously, you're a Lakers guy. So are you. I'm a LeBron guy, but Lakers by extension. Oh, wow. I'm a Laker guy. Wherever LeBron goes, I'll make that very clear. All right. Okay. But rocking now.
Starting point is 00:22:35 Humble servant while he's here. Do the Clippers run LA? That's with 11 in a row. You don't want to hear that. You don't want to hear that. Listen, listen. So it's 11 in a row, right? Which means, what, four this year, right? Since 2020. Four last year and then three.
Starting point is 00:22:53 Well, in those three years, don't Lakers got a championship? That's all that matters, right? That hard win. So in those, in that 11 year, I mean in that 11 game span, Lakers got a championship. So I don't know what they're running besides they mouth. Clippers got nice billboards though. They're spicy.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Give no quarter. They're cute. They're cute. It just will never be. And no, if the Lakers have 17 championships, Clippers have zero. 100 years from now, if the Clippers get 18 and the Lakers still have 17, still Lakers town hallways?
Starting point is 00:23:30 Yeah. I mean, Clippers got seven. I said 100 years from now, if they ended up winning 18 championships. We wouldn't even know. I'd be dead. Exactly. We wouldn't see it. It's a big discrepancy.
Starting point is 00:23:42 And, you know, Gil points it out all the time they the Clippers the Clippers and just to hear that 17 to 0 that's big but then again when has the Clippers really had players like the Lakers it's only been since recent times it's it's it's big they have the stench right they have the stench, right? They have the stench. It's like a porn star trying to be regular. You just can't get it out. That's a great analogy. You know what I mean? We know who you are.
Starting point is 00:24:16 We know who you are. We know you're trying to be better. We can still Google your past. We see you. And that's the thing with the Clippers, it's like, y'all franchise is really, what, four or five years old. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:38 It's only four or five years old. You're really an expansion team, to be honest. Real talk. Like this model of paying people and building, trying to build winning, that's only four or five years old. Other than that, you've been whoring. That's facts. Yeah. You've been-
Starting point is 00:24:55 They're good now, man. That's what I'm saying, but we get- That's like being a Yankee fan and then you go to the Mets game. Yeah. Yeah. That's real. It's like the juniors. It's like, you know, they still got about. It don't matter.
Starting point is 00:25:07 They just built a facility. When? Blake Griffin? They got their own practice facility when Blake Griffin got here. Like, come on, y'all. Now they're going to have their own arena. So it's hard to compare. Like, you know, for regular season awards.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Right, yeah. Against the Lakers? Okay, they can say, hey, you know, we beat our rival a few times, you know, but for the overall look of the NBA, no one. So how many championships would the Clippers need to win to get some respect? From who? From the city. Would one do it? One. Two?
Starting point is 00:25:45 It's one. One? At least three. How? You got at least one like- How many years has it been? To become a winning culture? They've been around. There's been several incarnations.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Buffalo Burners. Are you trying to turn it into a winning culture or we just saying respect? We just saying respect. Well well from the Lakers from the Laker fans you would never get never yeah okay but for the city Clipper fans are delusional though like if you are a true Clipper fan you are a nut job Marcellus Wiley Clipper Darryl they're nuts. Billy Crystal. Right, they're all nut jobs. When you hear them, Clippers can lose right now, tomorrow, tomorrow. All of them will be on there talking about 2024 Clippers chip.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Right? Right? Clippers chip 2024. They ride. It really don't matter. Like 11 in a row, that's a championship for them. Real talk. They don't care.
Starting point is 00:26:43 Yeah. Right? So if they win a championship, oh, you might as well just check the fuck out of LA, man. Yeah. Because to them, that's it. That's why Zed won. Okay. One for them, that's it for them. One for them, they feel like the city respects them.
Starting point is 00:26:58 It ain't that the city will respect them. They feel that. Like I said, the delusion of it. That shit going to stay right in Englewood, where the new arena's at. All right. It ain't coming back downtown. Yeah. You know what? At the delusion of it. It's going to stay right in Englewood, where the new arena's at. It ain't coming back downtown. You know what? At the end of the day, it's going to stay on that side of town. It's going to hit Torres Orange County. You don't want Clipper. Oh, you don't want Clipper to champion. Oh my God. You know how horrible that'd be?
Starting point is 00:27:17 That'd be horrible. Man. You got to talk about how horrible it'd be though, Gil. You can't just outline it like it's going to be... You live... You from here. Do you know the parade? Man, the American flag colors are... The American... Oh, unclassy. Unclassy. Unclassy. The oldest city of gang bangers to be united in the crimson blood.
Starting point is 00:27:39 Oh my God. Shit. So let's take a... It'll be the riots again. For real. They'll riot. That's the type of Shit. So let's take a look. They'll riot. That's the type of show.
Starting point is 00:27:49 It'll be the LA riots again. We all classy. Got wine, cigars smoking. Let's take a look at the Western Conference standings. Let's pull those up. We talked about this on the show yesterday. So the Clippers won the game. Yes, sir.
Starting point is 00:28:02 Great for them. But they jumped up to that fifth seed. And look who's looming at number four. They won but lost. Is that really a win? That's all I'm going to ask you. Is that really a win? No.
Starting point is 00:28:15 They should have threw that joint. Can't throw it if the other team is throwing it. I wasn't going to say that. You can't throw it when the other team is throwing it. Zero-zero. Oh, man. That is hilarious. Oh, man, that is hilarious. So, yeah, they won that, but now they're squarely in that fifth spot. There's two games left, I believe, so a bunch of shenanigans are going to take place.
Starting point is 00:28:34 I thought that the Clippers and Warriors were going to collude to get the Lakers in that spot as one last fuck you for the season. But LeBron said no. I'm going to drop this 33, but we're going to have this L. But let's talk about Russell Westbrook. I know you're one of your favorite players. So, let's be real. Westbrook's tenure with the Lakers was sad.
Starting point is 00:28:52 They was calling him Westbrook, booing what he shot. I mean, I was at the game last night. It was technically a Clippers home game. They were booing what he shot. I told you. I told you. But it was Lakers fans. It was probably 60% Lakers fans.
Starting point is 00:29:04 It was Lakers fans. But just for me, it was like, damn, literally a Clippers home game. Westbrook. But it was Lakers fans. It was like probably 60% Lakers fans. It was Lakers fans. But just for me, it was like, damn, literally a Clippers home game. Westbrook still can't escape those boos. And this is supposed to be the team that's rocking with you now. But, you know, Lakers locker room called him a vampire. We all saw that clip with him and LeBron. He's like, let's just have fun. Lakers fans have had a lot of fun using that clip.
Starting point is 00:29:21 But Westbrook now on the Clippers seems like it's completely different. Team is rallying behind them. After the game last night, Bones Highland said that they really ramped up in practice because they wanted to get this dub for Westbrook. So, Gail, I'll start with you first. What's the difference between Lakers-Westbrook and Clippers-Westbrook? Just team backing. I mean, his numbers on the Lakers is actually better. Overall, his numbers are better on the Lakers is actually better. Overall, his numbers are better with the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:29:48 He has a higher percentage. Actually, this is the highest percentage he's shot in his career, 48% from the field, which is he hasn't done that in his career yet. But when it comes to just his overall play, he's played better with the Lakers than the Clippers, but the Clippers are actually embracing him versus trying to throw him under the bus pretending that he's the reason. That's the only thing that's the difference. Also, I feel like it's easier. The pressure. You're playing for the Clippers. I'm just saying, but the pressure isn't like when you're putting on the Laker uniform where Lakers they expect you to be the player that you were and come in here and win rings.
Starting point is 00:30:33 When that doesn't happen, it's kind of just like, all right. But the Clippers, it's easier. The lights are more brighter in there. The Lakers is like... It's just tougher being from LA playing for the Lakers. So the Clippers kind of like, all right, well. Then you look at the pressure, like you said, the pressure's off him so he can have fun now. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:55 Right? So you see him play. When he was bricking and shit with the Lakers, you could tell that shit wasn't fun. Sometimes you miss a shot, miss two, miss three. You could still keep that fun feeling. You know what I'm saying? Because you know you got a couple more shots to shoot. But Russ now, it's like, he looks energetic.
Starting point is 00:31:15 He looks like he can look back at the bench and everybody like, nah, man, keep shooting that shit. Keep going. Because that's the motor he needs to keep his balance between thinking too much and then going out there and just hooping. Like, he's always been, let me hoop, man. Just let me hoop. Now that he hooping, he look light.
Starting point is 00:31:35 You know what I'm saying? He can take him somewhere. But imagine on the Lakers, when he's getting ready to shoot, and you got the crowd screaming, no! Yeah, but that's what fucks with you. That's what I'm saying. Right? The Clippers ain't tripping.
Starting point is 00:31:48 Like I said, he's doing the same exact thing, shooting 40 percentage. That changes because of starting and benching. Yep. People don't understand that. If I warm up before the game, and then after that warm up, I'm in the game, right? I'm hot.
Starting point is 00:32:04 I'm warm. Yeah, I'm ready. Vers, right? I'm hot. I'm warm. Yeah, I'm ready. Versus now I'm coming off the bench for the first time, sitting, you know, six, seven minutes. Now, those shots I would have took, now I'm reluctant because now I want to get up and down a few times. But now if I'm open, I got to take them because I'm used to taking them. Now those are more likely fucking bricks.
Starting point is 00:32:24 Oh, yeah. Right? That changes the dynamic of play. gotta take them because i'm used to taking them now those are more likely fucking bricks oh yeah right that changes that changes the dynamic of play right like a bench player who's came off the bench for years they have a mentality yes already yes right like all right i gotta get warm like you already know i'm about to come in at the six minute mark so at the four minute mark you already know, I'm about to come in at the six-minute mark. So, at the four-minute mark, you already, give me a heat pack. Yep. Put the heat pack on the heater. Right? You got a little, you start doing your routine.
Starting point is 00:32:51 Well, if you've never been on the bench before, and you get benched, and he's like, all right, Gil, get in. Oh, right now? Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Yeah, oh, shit. Oh, shit. All right?
Starting point is 00:33:01 And then now I get in, and now my shot is open. Like, God damn, I ain't, ah, my open like god damn I ain't hands cold as hell right you know what I mean so it's there's more to it than people think right it's really more to it like as as a player who's seen what putting a starter on a bench does, I always, I asked my coach, I said, if you start Reeves or bring him off the bench, mentally, if he doesn't get affected and he's going to give you the same output, why would you start him when you know him going on the bench fucks his game up? It fucks his game up. Mentally, him coming off the bench, you lose him going on the bench fucks his game up. It fucks his game up.
Starting point is 00:33:46 Mentally him coming off the bench, you lose him as a player. But if you don't gain or lose anything with Reeves, then it's the obvious choice. Because what ends up happening is your team becomes weaker if you start Reeves and then you bench Westbrook because mentally Westbrook is not ready for it. So him coming in, his production's fucked up anyway. So you actually lose the whole player Yeah, yeah, and that happened, you know with us with Brendan Haywood Right eton no matter if eton started or not started he was gonna play how he played right Brendan being a starter
Starting point is 00:34:19 Coming off the bench now to someone he thinks is less than him, he's mentally fucked up. So now we just lost our center. Man. Right? And people don't really understand that. It's confidence. Yeah. It's all confidence. So you look at that analysis you just gave with Austin.
Starting point is 00:34:37 You look at the same thing with Jordan Poole. And these are guys that you can say, look at their numbers when they start, look at their numbers when they're coming off the bench. Look at Russ the same way. You're like, all right, look at the numbers when he's coming off the bench, look at his numbers when he's starting. It's all confidence, especially when you build up a routine of knowing that you're going to start. Like B said earlier in a couple episodes, I like to hear my name from the PA system in the starting lineup. That's a whole confidence thing that we grew up on from North Carolina,.66. When you
Starting point is 00:35:13 hear that, then you get to one, two, three, team. Y'all can do your little whatever. You get to do your thing, right? That's all confidence. Think about confidence that Austin Reeves has in the starting lineup playing for the fucking Los Angeles Lakers. Opposed to being the guy coming off the bench. But his numbers don't change. Of course not. But the confidence does. I don't, but as I said, his confidence is the same.
Starting point is 00:35:36 Right. So you look at Russ, his confidence is going to change because he's not used to this routine coming off the bench. He's used to coming that motherfucker. Boom. Yeah. Boom. He's clashed. Yeah. Hey, he's used to his dancing. He done fucked all that up.
Starting point is 00:35:49 Fucked it all up. He didn't even dance with the Lakers. No. No. Uh-uh. That's what I'm saying. You took away his whole swag. Yes.
Starting point is 00:35:58 And B, you talked about that. In Milwaukee. In Milwaukee. When they take away your swag, you on eggshells now. Think about how Russ was like, man, I don't think these niggas really even fuck with me like this. Now he with the Clippers where he come in after a good game, everybody like, yeah. Russ, they dapping him up.
Starting point is 00:36:15 They like, Russ is our guy. His energy when he got confidence is contagious. That's the one thing I always loved about Russ is his fire. When he got on the court and he brung that energetic, contagious fire of just, let's beat their ass. If you one of them, you love to be around Russ. You like, oh, yeah, let's go kill him. Let's go kill him. But then if you muzzling that hostile territory. There's a tough crowd out there right?
Starting point is 00:36:48 The mother came by Long like take a muzzle off that man. Let him go out here today. Yes Uh, I came off the bench. I came out the bench a few times, right? I Was the asshole bench player, right? So the first time I was just coming back from injury, right? So I was just asshole bench player. Right? So the first time, I was just coming back from injury. Right? So I was just coming back, and me and Eddie decided that, you know, I'm going to bring you in at the nine-minute mark. Right?
Starting point is 00:37:15 Nobody knows you're coming in. So I was warming up in the practice court. Right? Getting warm on the practice court. Right? Waiting for the time to get there. And then what ends up happening is, on the timeout, I just came out. I just came out in the timeout and then got checked in.
Starting point is 00:37:33 Right. Right? So it made it seem like, oh, this is... To use on some selfish shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So on some selfish shit, yeah. But that was part of the whole thing. The crowd got involved and, you know, and then everybody, like, everybody, it was like, okay, yeah, he's playing with us.
Starting point is 00:37:48 But they knew. It was just a media thing and a crowd thing. And then the first time I actually came off the bench was coach thought I was going to be late because it's part of my routine on back-to-back, and me and him had a little thing. I questioned his coaching and the strategy of what we was doing. I'm like, yo, why are we still fucking with our lineup when we're trying to get ready for the playoffs? Right. Right.
Starting point is 00:38:09 And, you know, usually on back-to-back, I come in at five. So usually I'm at the gym at three. On back-to-back time, five. I come at five. We start walk around, shoot around. And Antonio Daniel goes in for me, and then he gives me the game plan. But this day I was like, you know what, let me go on the fuck to practice early. So I get there at 4.45.
Starting point is 00:38:33 So from the locker room, I'm sitting, but I ain't participating because this is not part of my routine. 100%. So I'm just sitting there watching. Raymond Felton, we're playing Charlotte. I'm like, let's just bust bust our ass yesterday doing this dumb shit. We not even going, all right, he going to fuck us up again. Getting ready for the game.
Starting point is 00:38:56 Nothing's up there, so there's no names. Someone's like, hey coach, so we doing a lineup that we said before shoot around? Lineup before shoot around? What the fuck is that? Right? So, boom, my name, my name, Deshaun, Steve, Antonio. Oh, man, I'm not playing that shit, man. I'm going home.
Starting point is 00:39:19 Y'all dumb. Right? So they had to convince me to come back, right? So I'm on hot. Right? Like, I didn't I need one warm up sit on the bench And what the fuck y'all do over here
Starting point is 00:39:33 This is what y'all do we just sit here This shit look goofy man This is this is why I don't pass y'all the ball This is this is what y'all do here. Just sit here, watch real players play. Like I'm on one. Like I'm hot. Like I'm real hot. I'm just talking shit about this whole environment of here. Just letting it. Drinking water and Gatorade. This is what we doing. And that's the man's flag and shit. You's an asshole. Yeah, I'm just being an asshole. Like I'm not feeling none of it. Right? Like I'm getting benched for what? I wasn't late.
Starting point is 00:40:05 Real talk. I wasn't late. You just thought I was going late. You just bitched me because we have a problem. So I'm just fucking up this whole vibe. Went out there and got hurt. Damn. Yep, that's why I got up.
Starting point is 00:40:14 That's why I, damn. And I got a minute and a half into it. That's a different type of mentality. Like, when you see and feel that energy of what we deal with, because, you know, I was a bench player. I was over there. I started a couple times. But that routine that we got to go through over there, it's a lonely little routine over
Starting point is 00:40:30 there. I can just fuck my whole life. I'm used to doing my little things. Clapping, clapping, clapping. All right. This is what we do. Heat pack. We need a heat pack.
Starting point is 00:40:38 This is what y'all doing over here. You sorry motherfuckers. Look, I'm just hot, man. I'm just hot. Just fucking with everybody that's on 10. Just look goofy, man. Y'all just look like some goofy ass people over here. It's goofy.
Starting point is 00:40:51 Standing up before we score our first two points is goofy shit. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah. So you as a teammate had never stood up when motherfuckers was scoring and she was like, what are you standing up for? When? When the other team, the team with your team scored Wrestling because I just got subbed out. I need to rest for the next minute and a half and I'm going back in what you talking
Starting point is 00:41:11 about brother 42 minutes Look at the place like what happened, you know, what did it and then I'm back in the game I ain't got time to be sitting in vacation Time I've been on as we blew a team out. I got a cinnamon last I don't know. I didn't really know what this routine was. That was definitely that was definitely This is this is some real when when a girl, you start looking to see who's looking at
Starting point is 00:42:06 her? Who girl is that? Absolutely. Who girl is that? Can nobody on this side. We don't care about that side. Yep. Yep.
Starting point is 00:42:14 Always looking. You looking like, yeah. Who looking? Who looking? Can she breathe? I used to try to just mask everything. I ain't looking. Don't look.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Don't look. Don't look. Don't let them know it's yours. Yeah, yeah. Don't let them know it's look. Don't let them know it's yours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't let them know it's yours. Don't let them know it's yours. Have you ever been in that situation and got rejected by somebody in the stands? I did. Does it hurt?
Starting point is 00:42:32 Because it was somebody else's work. That's fine. And you didn't know? I didn't. That's the most important thing. Yeah, it's like, why she ain't give me the number? And it's like, you find out. You see her at the club.
Starting point is 00:42:43 She's like, I know such and such. You're you like oh yeah you his work his work his work yeah he got a lot more money than me okay you stay over there what if he was lower than you on the total part I got to have you okay make sure just make it sure I just ran after the cheerleaders you got the cheerleaders. You got the cheerleaders. They're not allowed to talk to us They make $200 200 for the performance you really think they actually was caring about 200 200 I got pushed back Miami cheerleaders are different. No one the only ones I wanted. Come on, show it to the crib.
Starting point is 00:43:25 Got the pool, jacuzzi in the back. What you talking about? Heated. We go to Moines and everything. Look, $200 they give for the goddamn Wizards, boy. I even picked the cheerleaders one year. Man. I was upset.
Starting point is 00:43:42 There was one year I was upset. I was like, wait, hold on. Who are these? Why do they look like this? Are we getting real dancers? Like, nah, man. Fuck all that dancing and shit, man. Nobody get drunk. We don't care about the dancing.
Starting point is 00:43:51 I said, you think these men in here care if the routine is nice? Nope. No, we want to compete with Miami and Atlanta. 100%. Right? Miami and Atlanta, that's all. We don't want- Miami and all. We don't need classy. We need assy.
Starting point is 00:44:07 So I'm in there picking. Like, yeah. Soon as I see routine, out, out, out, out. I don't care. Did you just bust a move? Look, I got girls in there. Pretty case spin.
Starting point is 00:44:20 Finals. Finals. There you go. Just shake the pom-poms. That was the best looking group we had that year. Bitch, you better not bust a move. finals Just shake the pump off That was the best looking group we had Eddie bitch you better not bust a move you out of here Hey, they can't listen. They probably can't shake their ass, but they look good So let's on that note keep this thing moving Talk about these maths. So Brandon, obviously you said the mass weren't gonna make the playoffs
Starting point is 00:44:42 Yeah, they're right now tie for 10th with the Thunder, technically 11th seed because they don't own the tiebreaker. But they kept their playing hopes alive thanks to Kyrie putting the team on his back. Kyrie dropped 19 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and went over the Kings. Like I mentioned, they're 10th, but OKC owns the tiebreakers. They got two games left, at home versus the Bulls. Ooh, that's tough. And the season finale versus the Spurs.
Starting point is 00:45:07 So are the Mavs going to the play-in or to the playa, which is Spanish for beach? I mean, for the NBA's sake, I would say they are. Over OKC? Yeah, I think more excited. Like, you know, you got Luka Kyrie. I mean, it's better they're in it to me than OKC. Just because you just never know with those guys. Entertainment.
Starting point is 00:45:28 I'm Adam Silver. I'm like. So if they get that tendency, can they do anything? Can they actually make the playoffs? As the AFC, they'd have to win two games on the road. Who would they be playing? They would be playing. So if it started today, because you know this thing is always in flux.
Starting point is 00:45:44 So if it started today. Hold on know this thing is always in flux. So if it started today. Hold on, let me get my things right. Yeah, we can put the standings up. If it started today. And they got it over the thunder, they'd be playing the Timberwolves in Minnesota. And then the winner of the Lakers-Pelicans game. So if they won, if they get there and play Minnesota. I mean, they could beat Minnesota.
Starting point is 00:46:04 They could beat Minnesota. And then they play OKC. We would I mean, they can beat Minnesota. They can beat Minnesota. They can beat Minnesota and then- And then they play OKC. We would hope the Pelicans for our own- Then they would play the Pelicans? In New Orleans. They could be the Pelicans. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:14 I say they choke both of those games and they break that whole little Dallas thing up. It looks good and we optimistic about them, but I think they fuck it up. I think they fuck it up just with the energy that's looming with no defense and the Kyrie coming in, don't know if he's going to stay or resign. I think it's a lot of energy that's just muddled up that's going to fuck up that whole situation. I think they're going to lose out. They got two easy games. They got two easy games they can win.
Starting point is 00:46:44 They don't play no defense. They can score, but it's two guys on that team that can get 40. Yeah, but they are in the same game. And it's like all we got to go do is win two more. They can do that. We watching them lose games. They should win. So the Thunder got the Jazz and the Grizzlies.
Starting point is 00:46:57 I imagine that Grizzlies game, they're going to have that two locked up. They're not really tripping. Yeah, see, they're going. Jazz. Jazz, they still fighting. But they only fight when it're playing against the Lakers. Then everybody want to come back. Colin Sexton missed 20 games, but he was ready to go for
Starting point is 00:47:11 the Lakers. They're going to win the next two games. Who's a better team, Utah or Dallas? Dallas. Dallas is a better team? Utah, yeah. I'm going with Utah. I think they got a better cohesiveness even though Dallas got better team. Than Utah? Yeah. I'm going with Utah. I think they got a better cohesiveness, even though Dallas got better players. But I think the way they've been playing.
Starting point is 00:47:31 Shit, Utah actually played defense out there. And they're both at home? Bulls in Dallas, Spurs in Dallas to end the season. Yeah. Oof. So let's talk a little bit about Luka. In regards to him being food on the defensive end, Luca had this to say.
Starting point is 00:47:47 I've been playing basketball for three straight years. Four weeks in between it was free. Sometimes it's really hard for me to play really hard on both ends. But obviously, the defensive end, I got to be way better. I had to give a little look in there. You're getting canceled, bro. Get him. Get him.
Starting point is 00:48:02 Get him, you damn. If you're going to do it, you You gonna do it. You gotta do it. You can understand the inflection of what he was... He didn't say it like a real nigga in a hood, he said it like a Slovenian. So you gotta say it though. You gotta get into character though. You gotta go full Slovenian. I used to do Luka voiceovers back in the day. Some of them performed well, some of them didn't. But I had more of like a Mario, Mario type of character with it.
Starting point is 00:48:23 So it didn't make any sense. But Slovenia, Italy, they're close. Sweden is strong. I'm all over the place. But Luka's defensive rating is a career worse this season. So, but a question for you, because we've talked about this before. Is it really Luka's job? Does Luka really need to worry about defense?
Starting point is 00:48:43 Is that for the rest of the team to worry about? Look, look, look, look. I knew what he was going to say. Hey, listen. How much do you average? It don't even matter, right? Right? You got to be sweating, man. I'm not concerned with if he can play defense or not at this point in his career
Starting point is 00:49:06 because I don't have the team dynamic defensively, you know, to really match if he took it on by himself. Because, you know, there's only like one player in the guard position that actually played enough defense when his team wasn't that good defensively, and that was Tony Allen. Other than that, you've got to have other players that can really help you stop certain players. So, Steph won, and he was toe-full on defense.
Starting point is 00:49:44 Yeah. Right? He got better though. We got to get to that. Did he? Yeah. Oh, he did? Yeah, he got better. But he won a championship.
Starting point is 00:49:52 Yeah, the first time. But you go back to even in 2016, I remember the Cavs players specifically saying, even on that last play where Kyrie hit the three in his grills, like, yo, we were trying to key in on Steph, get him on the island. But the reason why Steph is hard to key in on us because they had great team Right. So Lucan you don't got that and that's the one thing Steph is his hand like his safety net is Draymond back there and clay back there guys loony or bogey Whoever it was got his back that rip used to tell me that shit too
Starting point is 00:50:22 Like and I think I would go in there and like rip I'm cooking you tonight. I'm a cookie He's like nope sending you straight to the big motherfucker back there boy. to tell me that shit too. I think I would go in there and be like, Rip, I'm going to cook you tonight. He's like, nope. I'm sending you straight to the big motherfucker back there. Boy, you ain't doing shit tonight. That's serious. People don't realize that. He's dead serious. You really want to get Rip on the island and take advantage of him
Starting point is 00:50:40 but you got four other defenders that's protecting. There's really no... that's when I understood the real key of basketball. And the real key was this. I'm going to take advantage of the best defensive player because no one's going to help him. Boom. Right? So I'm going to, like when we played Cavs, right?
Starting point is 00:51:06 Instead of me going against Delonte West or Boobie Gibson or Mo Williams, now I want to switch to Bron. All right, let's go. Because no one's going to help Bron. They think Bron, because Bron plays great defense, he don't need protection. I want to score on the guy who doesn't need protection. See, when you're trying to score on the weakest guy, everyone is prepared to help.
Starting point is 00:51:32 Becomes harder. Yes. No one's prepared to help Klay Thompson. No one's prepared to help Kawhi. No one's prepared to help, who else is out there? Who's a great defensive player by themselves? Patrick Beverly. No one's prepared to help them.
Starting point is 00:51:55 So if you straight line them, it takes everybody off. But if I'm sitting there getting ready, trying to take Steph, load up, load up, load up, load up, load up, right? So, you know, you have to be one of those type of players, too, to try to understand, like, who you go at. Because if they got great team defense,
Starting point is 00:52:13 you're not going to take advantage of the guy anyway. Well, I'll tell you one thing. This ain't the EuroLeague, so he better learn how to play defense fast. Because if not, then Dallas ain't going nowhere. Like, regardless if Steph didn't know how to play or it wasn't a good defensive player he still got better like he got every year I feel like he was getting better though with it and that's what helped the team also with it too so he has to have the will to want to be able to play defense though it's will though because if not conditioning
Starting point is 00:52:42 to conditioning with the will and also your team is just always going to be just right there. You're never going to get over the hump until you make the... So you got to talk about Steph. And just to mention, Steph has improved defensively in years past. This is the lowest defensive rate he had in his career. That's why they probably missed on Nassie on the road this year. That's neither here nor there. But you talk about Steph and the team being able to hide his kind of defensive flaws, but it seems like you got now Luka and you got
Starting point is 00:53:08 Kyrie on that side. So now you need three players instead of four to hide those defensive inefficiencies. I look at it this way. If you're going to not play defense, and the guy's not actually going at you, you've got to be the rover guy. The rover guy is the smartest guy on the floor because he has to take up all the other deficiencies of the players who can't play defense. So if you got two good defensive players on the court, everybody else's liabilities, the rover guy makes up for it.
Starting point is 00:53:37 It's like the mic back in football. And when you can roll, it's literally like I have more of a job as a defensive player, as a rover, because I got to be talking on the backside. I got to help. I got to help. You're leaving one guy open all the time. I had the ability to play defense, but I would rather be the rover because one, you could take breaks. You could take off because the guy that I'm playing against ain't a threat. I'm guarding Sheffalosa. I know he can't shoot, but sometimes you get caught up standing straight up, Sheffalosa go back door get a little cut, or he hit his three that you ain't really close out on
Starting point is 00:54:16 because you're like, he with us. These are the little things that make you look bad as a defender because you're roving. But as Luka, if somebody's going at you and you're not playing no defense, now that's a whole different dynamic of what you just said, that intensity, like taking the challenge, like I want to guard this guy. Like if you don't got that energy or that mentality, you look worse than a rover guy that's not playing. You just don't care.
Starting point is 00:54:42 And we was talking about it earlier about when Luka complains crying to the refs and it's four on five on the backside and you still down here talking like, man, that was a foul. That was a foul. We're giving up a point down here.
Starting point is 00:54:54 And now there's no accountability because you're like, but I got fouled. But I got fouled. You're doing it more than once, though. You're doing it more than once in a game. This is the best thing about basketball. When you complain.
Starting point is 00:55:05 I've never seen a referee make a call, you complain, and y'all walking down. He's like, you know what? You're right! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, stop playing. Motherfucker's right. He's right, let's turn this shit back around and get him in the ball. Never! Come on, what was it?
Starting point is 00:55:23 Look, I understand that it's just part of nature that we do it, but we do have to realize the motherfucker ain't going to change his... We already moving. They're not going to just... Free time out. Makes me look stupid as a rest. Just shut the fuck up and keep moving. Goddamn. We'd be on their ass for like three- I just told you I'd get your ass back in the...
Starting point is 00:55:42 Three plays straight, we'd be on their the yes like ref like we still complaining about the call three calls ago and he's not gonna change Acknowledge me yet So y'all talked about Luca being you know crybaby one person who I think would agree with y'all, Tim Hardaway Sr. Tim made an appearance on a show recently and he had this to say about Luca. Say who? Tim Hardaway Sr. Senior? Yes. Senior. Not Junior. It's the crossover.
Starting point is 00:56:15 He might be fumbling Junior's bag, but... Yeah, where's Junior play at? With these Dallas Mavericks. Oh, yeah. You might as well go in there and go and pack it up. This is what Senior said. It's our fault as a league that Luka has become a crybaby. There are a lot of people that are babies now. We made the league that way.
Starting point is 00:56:31 So that's what Senior said. Junior heard about it. Junior was quick to get him back protection mode. He came to Luka and Kyrie's defense. Basically said his pops was tripping. Say he loved pops, but he pops tripping. Oh, okay, smart. Smart, smart, smart.
Starting point is 00:56:44 Tell me that's my roster spot back.. Let me ask my roster spot back. Smart. But he said that Kyrie and Luka both been great leaders in this locker room. He doesn't have any issue with them whatsoever. But I want to ask y'all, and you already alluded to it. Is Luka a crybaby? And at some point, he's 23 now. He's still got a lot of maturing to do.
Starting point is 00:57:00 But does he need to shake that stigma around him and toughen up? We're all crybabies in our own way, right? We all think that we don't foul and we're being fouled every single time. That's just the nature. That's the way our brains work. Every time I drive to the hole, I think I'm being fouled every single time. That's just, you know, we just think, you know, that's the way our brains work. Like, you know, every time I drive to the hole, I think I'm being fouled. Every time somebody's driving, I don't give a fuck what I do. I didn't touch him, right?
Starting point is 00:57:35 Like, what I do, Revy? Nigga, you can see the scratches all down his arm and shit. What I do? Dirty your nails. Fucking blood's coming out. Like, you know, so it's just one of those things where, you know where you just mature with time. Like Conley, never complained ever. Never.
Starting point is 00:57:57 Never. Whatever the ref goes, he just keeps moving. He's disciplined to understand that it don't matter, I'm not going to change your minds, I'm just going to keep moving. I don't even think he's ever had a technical. I don't think Conley's ever had a tech. That's just one thing he prides himself on, like I'm going to just play this game, I'm not going to complain about the game, and just keep it moving.
Starting point is 00:58:19 I mean, Luka's still young. He had one in 2014, but it was overturned So you're absolutely right yet to have a tech maybe Lucas still young so, you know, what's look at 23 23 yeah, so he's still young. I mean, you know, he's still he has a lot of success early So, you know a lot of that comes with it. I feel like to like you know, you're getting spoiled early So it's like, you know, you want you want things? But he'll be alright. I think you know, you're getting spoiled early. So it's like, you know, you want things. But he'll be all right. I think, you know, give him a couple years, he'll be fine.
Starting point is 00:58:49 Let's talk about why, though. The why. The why. Why are you complaining? Do you need this as a competitive edge to get fouled, to get all the calls going your way so that you feel good about your game? See, I've heard Lucas is the type of guy, like, he wants to take those long, long half court shots,
Starting point is 00:59:06 those three quarter court shots, cause he likes to make them and all that. So if he don't get to push it off, he gets upset. Like he's internalizing things that he's used to doing. So if you're used to getting fouled, used to getting calls and you're not getting them, it's affecting how you look at your game. When you go home, like, man, I didn't get these calls.
Starting point is 00:59:23 I didn't get this, this, this. It affected the outcome because I ended up with 28 and I should have had 37. I should have went to the free throw line at least six more times. And I remember in this play, this play, and this play, I got fouled and he didn't call it. And it's like he's using these situations to reflect on his game like, damn, man, these motherfuckers not giving me the call.
Starting point is 00:59:47 They ain't giving me this. They ain't giving me that. But then again, like you said, we know we foul. Mm-hmm. And we know they missed calls.
Starting point is 00:59:56 So what is the point is it to harp on crying about every single call when you're already a high-profile superstar? You get all the fucking calls anyway but you want every fucking call right so now it's an expectation for every time you go
Starting point is 01:00:13 to the to the hoop and somebody barely touch you that's a foul and i'm a big believer like don't touch my body don't touch my flesh it's a foul you touch. It's a foul. You touch me, it's a foul. Right? So I get that. Like, hey, he hit me. But then again, there's the tough side. We just talked about Michael Jordan having to go back, recalibrate, because it's a tougher league. We went away from that shit.
Starting point is 01:00:37 So ain't no tough league, ain't no recalibrate. If you don't give me the foul, I feel like it's fucking up my game. It's a turnover, right? James Harden go in there, he don't get a foul. That's a turnover. That's a turnover. So now I'm looking at the ref like, man, fuck this ref. You putting turnovers on my game.
Starting point is 01:00:55 Yes. And that make you a crybaby. Like some people just have disadvantages. Yeah. Right? Like you have a disadvantage because of how you play the game, Like some people just have disadvantages. You have a disadvantage because of how you play the game, what's your advantage, and we expect you to play through it.
Starting point is 01:01:12 That's the shit I hate from the refs. When they use that like, yo, I just got fouled. You're much stronger than him. The fuck does that mean? The fuck does that mean? You're supposed to make that? Like, that's not... So, like, a player like Shaquille O'Neal, DeMarcus Cousins, you know, Greek Da Freak...
Starting point is 01:01:38 Dwight. LeBron, Dwight. those guys are just so physically gifted that that as a referee you have to tilt it against them or you're sitting there blowing every single foul because like every time Shaq got in the post you can call a foul because he's so big I have to foul him just to play regular defense yeah so that becomes the thing like DeMarcus Cousins. So when we sit back and say, yeah, he's playing like a baby, we have to really understand what's going on. Because they're fouling him to try to stop him,
Starting point is 01:02:15 and the ref is like, no, you're going to have to pay through. I can't just call 40 fouls. And he's like, why? Why can't you? If all 40 are fouls because you're bigger, you're more skilled, and I have to give some room here. Like, I've listened to refs who's like, listen, every time Shaq back down, it's a foul.
Starting point is 01:02:33 Yep. He said, but we can't just blow the whistle every single time. That's a disadvantage to them because they're smaller. He said, so, you know, when, you know, we have players and we say, listen, hold it right here and here, and then Shaq is just, ah, ah. Now he got a whole knee in him. And I'm like, it is not really affecting Shaq. So we're going to allow it to happen.
Starting point is 01:02:54 So, you know, those guys are going to bitch more because they're like, yo, I don't want to hear that I'm stronger. I should have made it. Right? I don't want to hear that. That's a cop out. And refs will say that shit. Go get in the weight room. Go get in the weight room. Work on your game some more then. But should have made it. Right? I don't want to hear that. That's a cop-out. And refs will say that shit. Go get in the weight room. Go get in the weight room.
Starting point is 01:03:07 Work on your game some more then. But that's the buzz. No, the more you work in the weight room, the less you're going to get. Because you expect. Like if you guys played one-on-one. Right? We already know how this looks. Right?
Starting point is 01:03:18 Mm-hmm. He's backing you down. Think about everything you got to do to keep him off. Hold, grab, just that. Just that. Right? I'm doing it. I'm doing it. You're doing all everything. He's backing you down think about everything you got to do to keep off hold grab Doing you doing all everything anything extra right? Yeah, you're holding on them and then what can you do? flop You drive any little tap your body's gone 100% every time right?
Starting point is 01:03:45 So that's not a game you want it You don't want to play against a player like oh no because you're at a disadvantage on both sides of the ego You hit him with a little boom. You're flying Offensive he tries it with you. Come on down. It's gonna be the same everything. Yeah, I was the hardest person to guard Cuz any when he's moving full full, any touch, his body was gone. So it was like one of those things like, just go, man. Kevin Martin too. Kevin Martin was one of those guys.
Starting point is 01:04:14 Can't touch him. Ginobili. You talk about Shaq though. Shaq used to run the floor and big man rules, run to the middle of the rim, turn and seal. How the hell can you stop Shaq from doing that without fouling him? And look, Shaq was never a complainer. Think about it. Shaq wasn't no crybaby.
Starting point is 01:04:35 He didn't cry to the refs like, hey, y'all supposed to be calling? Because he hated going to the free throw line. He didn't want to go to the goddamn free throw line. I'm not fucking playing that shit. After a while, he had to. I remember I was holding both arms. Like, I grabbed one whole arm. Because he did.
Starting point is 01:04:48 I tried to take the charge. Like, I'm trying to take the charge, but he ain't run. So now I got to play defense. Yes. Yes. I'm just holding one whole muscle. Right? And the rep ain't coming.
Starting point is 01:04:58 Like, rep, call it. Shit, call it. Like, call this. I'm calling. Call it. He's like, come on. Like, shacking that motherfucker. Like, I'm like Call it. He's like, come on. Like, shacking that motherfucker like, it's just overwhelming.
Starting point is 01:05:09 Goddamn. What Jordan Clarkson also said, though, about LeBron, he's like, look, foul him. Foul him. They can't call foul for him every single time. He's like, we usually just foul the fuck out of him all the time because we know they're not going to give him a call every time. We just foul them. Yeah, so that's what I said.
Starting point is 01:05:27 So the refs, you know, so like when you think about crying, you just got to really think about what is the player really going through? Like you know what I mean? Like if, you know, if I got fouled 10, 10 times and you call 8, I'm cool. Yeah. But you call 4 and 3, nah, I don't got problems. Well, let's keep this thing moving. Now it's time to go.
Starting point is 01:05:46 Zero to 100 real quick. Booty bing. Booty bing. Do you think this is it? Don't get me flagged on YouTube. We need some theme music for that one. So let's talk about these Suns real quick. KD's back in full effect.
Starting point is 01:06:03 Had multiple 30-point games over the weekend. Been looking solid. Suns are 7-0 with him in their lineup. So what are the chances, 0-100, that the Suns are unbeatable moving forward?
Starting point is 01:06:17 Unbeatable, like they won't lose a game? They won't lose a playoff series. Oh, the concept. They got the least losing. They play the Lakers Friday, so they got to lose one.
Starting point is 01:06:25 They got to lose one for us. Man, Lakers losing that game again, man. Lakers ain't trying to move up, man. What's wrong with you? Succeed. Oh, succeed. Okay. But it's going to be janky.
Starting point is 01:06:37 What are they proving? No, what are they proving? It seems like they're in tune. So, for me, let's just get in the playoffs and get ready for the playoffs. And I think they can be unbeatable in the playoffs when it comes to winning the series and getting to the chip. But it's still luck, staying healthy. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:00 I mean, I got them going to Western Conference Finals. I mean, yeah, like you said, they're locked in. So I got them at least getting to the Western Conference Finals for sure. For sure. I always look at it from a different perspective, man. Like, what stops them? Not necessarily what's going to keep them rolling. What's going to stop them from rolling?
Starting point is 01:07:19 Like, what's going to slow them down? What small discrepancy that someone someone's gonna have to come in and change if I'm a coach and I need to flip the switch on them and make them change their whole dynamic what's gonna slow them down is it gonna be taking the ball out of Katie's hands is it gonna be neutralizing book is it gonna be taking eight and out of the game like what is gonna slow the Suns down that's gonna be like this is how we figure them out And I think that's the hardest part with playoff basketball nowadays is KD being with the Suns now.
Starting point is 01:07:51 It's like, okay, what the hell do you do to stop these things? I mean, I think injury. I think that's the big – I think that's the only thing, injury. For them? Yeah, I think just for them. That's why, like, if everyone is fully healthy, everyone. No, there's no injury. We're not going to, you know, we're not going to just hurt somebody just to try to put.
Starting point is 01:08:13 The only, I mean, the only team that can is probably Lakers. Yeah. I'm still going to say the Warriors because I still got to see somebody beat them in four. Nuggets, they shouldn't be afraid of that fate. I'm just asking. Even though we always say forget the Nuggets, they've only been beaten by teams that went to the championship or teams that went to the finals.
Starting point is 01:08:41 So it's not like they lost to some mediocre shit. It's low like they lost to some mediocre shit. It's low key. If they did make it to the championship, no one can say we're surprised. Because if you look at their record with half the people being gone, great players being gone, they've still been elite. They lost to the Suns. They lost to the Suns who went to the championship. They lost to the Lakers who won the championship.
Starting point is 01:09:05 So, you know, they... But that would be nasty. Milwaukee and Denver would be nasty. That would be nasty. The NBA don't want that. Really? That ratings would be nasty. That's like that Suns-Milwaukee series.
Starting point is 01:09:17 Unless one of them win MVP. Yeah. I like that. I think even... Even with that. Even with that. Even with that. Even if they do co-MV, that's a hard- If it's already written, if it's already written-
Starting point is 01:09:32 If it's already in the script. ... then what you do is you make co-MVP and then you run the real MVP will win this. Then it becomes- Who's like- real MVP will win this. Didn't he? Because, oh, you know, he was like. I don't think there's any way that that's, like, nobody's going to get excited about a Nuggets, Bucks. At all. What you mean? You're going to be excited about that one?
Starting point is 01:09:55 That's nasty. It's good basketball. No, it's not. No, it's not. Great basketball to watch from people who actually enjoy basketball. Let's be honest. Both styles aren't really that good. Wait, wait, wait.
Starting point is 01:10:02 So let's talk about what makes good basketball. What makes good basketball. I'm not talking about good basketball. The style of play. Yeah. The style of play. So those two styles aren't really that good. Wait, wait, wait. So let's talk about what makes good basketball. What makes good basketball? I'm not talking about good basketball on the court. The style of play. Yeah. The style of play. So those two styles don't match? What are you talking about?
Starting point is 01:10:11 Real ball. It's the style of, like, the offense from both teams. It's not really. So would you rather watch a run and gun? Yes. Yes. We're American. Okay.
Starting point is 01:10:22 We're American, bro. Okay. So we're getting away from- So is a great football game 3-0? We watched the Ravens win the championship, the Super Bowl. Did we like it? No, we didn't. I'm a baby.
Starting point is 01:10:36 I enjoyed that Ravens defense, though. That was one of that Ravens, Seahawks, yeah, Rams pass was pretty janky, but from that standpoint, they at least had some personalities on there. You want to see. You guys have a fucking great – We want to see this quarterback that had seven touchdowns. This one had six. The running back.
Starting point is 01:10:53 We want to see. High power scoring and all that. Yeah, I get it. So here's the last thing we're going to talk about before we end the show for the week. So KD was on his pod, the ETC. Shout out to them in the boardroom. But he was talking about 80s and 90s game
Starting point is 01:11:06 versus the game today. I go back and watch a lot of that, those 90s film, that 90s film, 80s stuff, and they play physical, but I just think
Starting point is 01:11:17 they got away with a lot of flavoring fouls, and I think that's why they call their era more physical than ours because guys, we play physical here too. It's more space, but guys play physical.
Starting point is 01:11:27 We got strong athletic guys here too. But I watched some of those games. The paint was clear. Nobody was getting touched. It wasn't a lot of help defense, but you did get a lot of flagrant fouls that didn't result into fines or getting kicked out the game.
Starting point is 01:11:41 So it just seemed like it was a little tougher. So I want to ask y'all, how physical is the league now versus the 80s and 90s? See, he said the same exact shit I have been saying. 80s basketball is not exactly what they keep thinking. There's no way a man can average 37 points for his career. He's a three-year player averaging 37 points with no three. That means he's driving down your ass, and you're talking about this as a physical game.
Starting point is 01:12:17 As a rookie, 29. He's third in the NBA. A rookie comes in 29, 28 as a rookie. gets her the second year 37 then 35 and you're telling me you got the best defense going on But that's that's the cocaine he was on But that's what I'm saying, I think it. I think everyone's confusing Detroit Pistons two years at the end of the 80s. They're trying to use that as all of the 80s. Magic Johnson and Showtime was not... It was Showtime for a reason. They had Norm Nixon and Magic.
Starting point is 01:13:07 One was averaging nine assists. One was averaging 11. They was both up there. 13 and 11. Like, what the fuck? That's how fast-paced they were moving. So it wasn't this great defense. It was just when we did see fouls, it was hard.
Starting point is 01:13:24 Take fouls. It was take when we did see fouls, it was hard. Yeah. Take fouls. It was take fouls, like no layups, blood in the face type fouls that they highlighted here and there. But for the most part, there wasn't stopping anybody. The success of the guys that you said are great was not being stopped. Who were the great defensive players in that era? I think the misconception is about the take foul and the bruisers and the characters that were played then.
Starting point is 01:13:54 Like you said, the misconception is we thinking that the whole league, the whole 80s was playing defense like this. Really, it was take fouls. When you got Fortson, like you talk about Danny Fortson and Adonis Foyle, the real bruisers that took them fouls. When you came through the lane, you knew if you wasn't going to smash that shit on his ass, he was going to smash that shit on your ass. But we don't have that today.
Starting point is 01:14:18 No bruisers, no take fouls. We give layups now. So KD can say, it ain't as tough as it is then because we got some tough guys now. It's like, no, we don't. We don't got no guys that are bruising. We ain't got no guys that are taking fouls. Literally, if you took a foul, they're going to go replay that shit. Replay.
Starting point is 01:14:38 That's a flagrant. It's like, why even take the foul now? Why even do a take foul? Because you're going to be kicked out the game. But that's what I'm saying. It's not, why even take the foul now? Why even do a take foul? Because you're going to be kicked out the game. But that's what I'm saying. It's not like the league. So they didn't make the league soft. They took away intentional, hard fouling that had no,
Starting point is 01:14:57 it was a non-basketball play. There's nothing basketball related if you're coming in and I'm trying to just smack you all in your head and clothesline It's psychological though. That's the that's the difference It's a psychological game outside of the game of basketball when you know I used to check guys and they come through the lane Wow, this ain't got nothing to do with no damn basketball is everything to do with you ain't bringing your soft ass cross this Lane, bro. You ain't going to the offensive glass without getting checked. So when I took that foul boom so me
Starting point is 01:15:30 But that wasn't a flagrant definitely not a fragrant but it's a take file and that was respected in the league then take foul But also a close but if you're going to let you go into a layup and someone just literally clothesline now That's a goddamn flake. That's what they that's what they took out and that's what they're saying This league saw like listen to how the loons just literally clothesline. Now that's a goddamn flake. And that's what they, that's what they took out and that's what they're saying. This league's soft. Like, listen to how delusional. Like,
Starting point is 01:15:50 now I'm back on this shit again. Now I'm back on these fucking 80 players. That's why we brought it up. Now, now let's try this shit again. Listen to how stupid they sound. Right? They've never actually said,
Starting point is 01:16:00 if Curry played on our league, we will stop him. Right. We will contain him. What do they always say? We will put him on his ass beat him up. Well bitch that ain't defense real shit That is not considered defense if I have to do something outside of the rules It's not defense. It's a scare tactic. It's a I'm so scared of you that I got a legally hurt you
Starting point is 01:16:28 Yeah, so you don't come in here anymore. So hey why the refs not looking I'm gonna just bust out your teeth Maybe you want to serve yourself out You think about it though, right? Basketball not yeah, but you think that's what the league was. We didn't have no basketball play. There was no. That's why when they say it's the most talented, how is it the most talented league when you had this type of game in there? Real talk.
Starting point is 01:16:53 I have these type of players that can't compete with the rest of the folks. So it's just, hey, listen, I know you're sorry as a motherfucker, right? But just when they come in here, just hit them. Hit them. All right. All right. All just when they come in here, just hit them. Hit them. All right. All right. All right, coach. All right.
Starting point is 01:17:09 Lift all day. Ain't touch one ball. Just going to lift all day. When they come in, I'm just going to use all six of my fouls. And that's, this is what, I wonder why you paid the motherfucker $4. You paid him $4. He got on Chuck Taylors. Of course he's not going to hurt his ankle.
Starting point is 01:17:27 He ain't moving nowhere. But look, psychologically, you know when that nigga check in, he's in to foul whoever the fuck we got that's going to the line. So when we see him walk in, I'm like, God damn, I ain't going to the goddamn hoop tonight. Until he get out, he not going to clothesline me. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying It's not a you but you're you're trying to say it's a better you're better That's the problem. Like if you said
Starting point is 01:17:54 You guys are more skilled you guys are more talented But we would have neutralized that by just hacking on you and hopefully your softness Neutralize you yeah, but we're not better than you guys. We're tougher. We're tougher. Okay. You know, we're not even tougher. Not even tougher.
Starting point is 01:18:09 We're dirtier. We're dirtier. Yeah, we're dirtier. We're dirtier. We're dirtier. We're dirtier. And that's where the whole Bill and Beer came in. Exactly.
Starting point is 01:18:16 And I said, listen, if the argument was that we were better defensively, because you're using defense. Defensively, and then you name the players, and I was like, none of those players made defensive team. None of those guys made defensive team. So that wasn't defense, what you're trying to highlight.
Starting point is 01:18:36 Bird was a three-time all-defensive player, but no one says that. Woo. I don't think motherfuckers even know that. No, they don't. No. He was a defensive, he was a three-time all-defensive player, but you want to bring up a bunch of thugs! Bunch of thugs out there firing it.
Starting point is 01:18:56 But you know, defense for me was someone who's neutralizing me in the realm of like so you know like a Draymond right dirty plays here and there no mind right so Dennis Rodman his tactics but he played defense right great right that's great Gary Payton great Joe Dumars great
Starting point is 01:19:19 like so when you talk about Detroit Pistons Dumars and Isaiah Thomas can do that it was just the other people who didn't know how to play basketball Like, so when you talk about Detroit Pistons, Dumars and Isaiah Thomas can do that. It was just the other people who didn't know how to play basketball. Right? So, Vrejow. I used to hate Vrejow. Oh, goodness. Right?
Starting point is 01:19:30 He wasn't a dirty player. He was just great at defense. I had to change my game when he came in. Yep. He wasn't a dirty player. Defense. Yep. If I drive, he's not going to foul.
Starting point is 01:19:45 He's going to try to take a charge. He's going to beat it. So now I just can't lift off the ground knowing that he's going to try to take charges. Ben Wallace, defense. Rasheed, defense. Tayshaun Prince, defense. That was the real. They should be glorified as bad boys defense because they
Starting point is 01:20:07 played defense under the rules. Right? So how the 80s and 90s complained about, well, y'all get to carry now. Right? That's a great complaint because y'all didn't get to do that. Right? That's a great complaint because y'all didn't get to do that. That's a great complaint, right, that you guys' offenses enhance because they allow you to palm the ball a little bit more than we did. Then I can say, okay, y'all, y'all, great complaint on that one.
Starting point is 01:20:38 You know what I mean? Like there's, you know, me getting to do a little bit more with the ball gives me more creativity and more, you know what I mean? I got more bop now that I can do some little hesitation versus y'all. So they can say, well, the only reason that you guys are more skilled is because they allowed more, a little bit more room to manipulate the ball. Then it's like, I can't even fight that because that's that's a true assessment when you're talking about defense You have to be careful with these 80s man. They drugged up
Starting point is 01:21:15 I'm just saying wow. It was a wild time everyone was doing it But you got the David Stern, this is some hilarious shit David Stern went on a talk show one year when he was talking about all the 80's drugs and he basically said his league is drug free and then they put him in drug testing
Starting point is 01:21:39 right so no drugs here. You know, but it was just what the world was going through at the time. And I don't like when you penalize eras when it was part of it. Like, just like with Barry Bonds, right? And what was going on. If the whole league as a whole was on roids, the decades before that it was on a thing called greenies,
Starting point is 01:22:08 which was leaning out, right? And this era of steroids and the pitchers on it, the outfielders on it, the hitters on it, then it's all fucking fair. Yeah. I don't mind if everybody's on it, I'm going to be real. That was probably my favorite time watching baseball. That's the greatest time ever. Right? So if everyone is on it, if everyone's doing it, someone's trying it here,
Starting point is 01:22:29 it's not like this one person is doing something that the rest of the league doesn't have access to. Everyone has access to it. Just everyone's not getting caught. Don't penalize just this one person, but the NBA has a better ruling with that. So we understand what I mean when I say this, that the NBA understands greatness, and they're not going to jeopardize their greatness. When y'all hear these random drug testing, right?
Starting point is 01:23:01 We hear random drug testing, and, oh, he had 72 drug testing. He had random drug testing. Oh, he had 72 drug testing. He had 68 drug testing. They're not looking for what we think is drugs. What they're doing is they're taking blood... Drug testing is urine peeing. They're taking blood sample. What they want to know is when these guys are performing at this level, what's going in their body. Absolutely. That's all that is.
Starting point is 01:23:26 Right? They're doing research on the elite. The reason is 10, 15 years from now, when the research is done, they can probably try to mimic the behavior. Yes. Giving supplements to try to boost up whatever they're finding. Wow. Wow. Wow. Because I can tell you this.
Starting point is 01:23:47 There's years where when they're testing and they're testing all these players, right? They're testing all these players. That's why you don't hear drugs issues in the NBA. Because what they're doing is when they're doing these tests, this won't count against you, this and this. What they're doing is they're looking at everything that's in the system. Right? All right, right we have okay we have Tim Duncan we have dirt and we have Kobe here right those results those many this is what our stars is on yep this is what our stars is doing and we don't see nothing. Let it go. Let it go. You think you think you think that they got the allowing weed because a bunch of fucking
Starting point is 01:24:35 bench players smoke weed. You crazy as shit. You think it's because a bunch of bench players are smoking weed. No, they're saying okay okay, okay, most of our elite is playing. Let's see what their output is. Okay, their output is not hurting this game. Okay. Gil, that's a genius take because you look
Starting point is 01:24:53 at performance, right, and the analysis and research behind that 71 performance, right? He scored 71. Kobe, 81. We got to test him. Not necessarily see
Starting point is 01:25:04 what he's on, but where his blood levels, his endorphins, all of this adrenaline, how is it happening after the game? Like, where is his levels after the game? Ironically, you can't do it before the game because you can't predict that he's going to score that, right? So, like you said, over the years, if they got a collection of data of all these performances
Starting point is 01:25:24 and then those results come after that, it's like, damn. We know Kobe, when he had 81, his endorphin levels was at the highest. Then you got Book 70. Then you got the 71 from Donovan. Then you got the 60 from Dame. Everyone got tested. Like you said, everyone got tested after. So it's not about weed or even performance enhancing drugs.
Starting point is 01:25:51 It's like, where were these guys' blood levels when they were performing at that time? You look silly as shit if you're the NBA and motherfucker just scored 70 and then you test him and then it shows up positive or something. That fucks your image up. you know what I mean is because at the end of the day let's say he was he had weed on him anyway that looks stupid in the hairline yeah cuz no no weed smokers gonna believe this like 70 on weed so it's it's one of those things where when you hear it, it's really more of a future thing where they can probably try to figure out how they can, you know, we want more of this
Starting point is 01:26:36 shit because we're seeing shit happen and we're like, damn, five people scoring 30. What the fuck? Five people scoring 30. Six people fuck? Five people scoring 30? Six people? 30? That's the first time in history. Yeah, data from 10, 15 years ago. Were you in the league when they was putting things on you?
Starting point is 01:26:54 Like before the game? They were just trying to test your blood and your... Because I remember there was a group that came on. They put shit on my ankles, right? And they wanted to see, oh, your output. And it was like, yeah, you know, the way your body, your resting levels, you're not going to play well today. Your body has recovered.
Starting point is 01:27:12 You're only at a 20%. Wow. But I got offended. Because one, don't tell me where my body's at. Right? You're just trying, you're fucking with me. Did you come from, who sent you, bitch? Right?
Starting point is 01:27:23 I'm trying, who sent you? Right? Like, you know, you, like, you know, so it's one of those things where you're saying my body's not 100% that we can predict injuries. It was like some whole real shit. And it scared the fuck out of me where I had to really, like, I didn't want to go into the game, I'm like, oh, you're only at 20%, you're going,
Starting point is 01:27:42 and I said, hey, man, did you test the motherfucker that's in there in this defense? That motherfucker defense, sorry as shit. I'm about to score 40 like I've done every single time. Every single time. Had 40. You definitely got tested after that 60. No.
Starting point is 01:27:56 No? No. What about the 50 run you was going on? No? It wasn't that in. They probably started that probably, what, like four or five years ago, man. Oh, okay. They probably started that about four or five years ago when they were
Starting point is 01:28:13 Man, the NBA is different in then in the field in the field, you know, they're just like they're more about the NFL NFL itself right and anything that their league can withstand Key players right NBA don't have that luxury. So you're more protective. That's why I said last show, when was the last time you heard someone being suspended for weed? I'm not putting this in my product.
Starting point is 01:28:38 Hey, listen, you got caught with weed, fucker. You have an ankle injury. You have an ankle injury for the next five games. You have an ankle injury. You have an ankle injury for the next five games. You have an ankle injury the next five games. I'm not telling the world that my product is high as shit. No, he got an injury to his ankle for five fucking games. And that's how we're going to do it. It's a better time.
Starting point is 01:28:56 Right? It's a brand. Yeah. Let's say I own this brand. This is my team. And you tell me he did what? All right, I'll handle this. I'm not going to let you just say, oh, hey, yeah, Laker star, but wait, hold on, you work for me.
Starting point is 01:29:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You work for me, goddammit. You're not just going to put this news out there. It seems like that's... That's his... yeah. Well, you talk about looking ahead to the future, Gil, we got to talk about next week. Show's going live.
Starting point is 01:29:30 1130. That's a segue for that ass. 1130 a.m. Pacific, 2.30 p.m. Eastern. Tuesday live. So I got to be on fucking time. You have to be on time, Gil. You can't roll in by 1135 like you normally do. I'm going to get the makeup earlier too.
Starting point is 01:29:46 I'm the last one here and I live here. Right upstairs. I admire the fact that you are so comfortable with all these fucking people being in your house all the time. You don't even be here sometimes. I be gone. I don't think I'm ever here when the first person comes. Some shit don't come up missing ever because we got honest people on this staff.
Starting point is 01:30:03 But appreciate you Brandon, appreciate you Rash Brandon. Appreciate you, Rashad. Yes, sir. Obviously, Gil, Gil's Arena. Presented by Underdog Fantasy. Woo! We'll be back Tuesday live. 11.30 a.m. Pacific, 2.30 Eastern. We'll be right back.

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