Gil's Arena - Shai FLOPPING His Way To The Finals BLOWS UP Gil's Arena

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Shai Gilgeous Alexander FLOPPING His Way To The Finals BLOWS UP Gil's Arena as Gilbert Arenas & the Gil's Arena Crew react to Shai & The Thunder putting the hammer down to prove they're the team to beat in the NBA Playoffs and discuss how the rest of the series will play out. They break down how Shai's ability to get the free throw is swinging the series and debate what the Timberwolves need to do to give Anthony Edwards help on the offensive side of the ball, before reacting to Michael Malone trolling his former team by calling Shai the MVP on National television. Next, they preview the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks & Indiana Pacers and give their picks of who will push their team to the NBA Finals as both Jalen Brunson & Tyrese Haliburton look to take the next step towards superstardom. Finally, they break down the state of the NBA as the league will crown their 7th unique champion in 7 years, sparking a debate on if the era of dynasties ruling the association is over before reacting to the 2025 NBA All Rookie Team. Please give us a like and subscribe!!! Gil's Arena Crew - Gilbert Arenas, Josiah Johnson, Rashad McCants & Brandon Jennings Sign up for Underdog Fantasy HERE with promo code GIL and get up to $1000 in Bonus Credits and A FREE Pick: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-gil's-arena Slide into game changing comfort with MeUndies. Support the show by going to https://MeUndies.com/arena and using code ARENA to get 20% off your first order, plus free shipping Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code ARENA at https://shopmando.com! #mandopod Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/ARENA10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Join the Playback chat to interact with Gil and Josiah https://www.playback.tv/gilbertarenas SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAvjYgmwadC682OoC4Cc6TQ Join the Underdog discord for access to exclusive giveaways and promos! https://discord.gg/underdog 0:00:00 2 Min Countdown 0:02:03 Show Start 0:03:45 Money Making Sonny Enters The Arena 0:07:00 2025 All Rookie Teams 0:10:27 Zach Edey's Ceiling In The NBA 0:16:05 NIL Is Hurting The NBA Draft 0:36:15 Shai & The Thunder SMACKED The Wolves In Game 1 0:45:18 Rudy Gobert's Chance To Prove Himself 0:48:19 Shai Is FLOPPING His Way To A Title 1:18:25 Michael Malone Trolls Jokic On Live TV 1:19:08 Shai Gilgeous Alexander Wins MVP 1:25:01 Ant-Man Needs To Shoot More!! 1:43:39 Jalen Brunson Has The Mamba Mentality 1:52:43 X-Factor In The Series 1:57:11 Tyrese Haliburton Needs To Be HOSTILE!! 2:03:15 Pascal Siakam Is The Most Important Option For Indy 2:07:27 Series Predictions 2:08:28 Clark vs Reese Is A Historic Rivalry 2:22:54 MostlyFans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Tim's new Oreo Mocha Ice Caps with Oreo in every sip. Perfect for listening to the A-side, or B-side, or Bull-side. Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And, of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month.

With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile. Different is calling. Welcome back to Gills Arena presented by Underdog. Whoa, whoa! Whoa! Yeah! Nick's heavy here on the couch.

Yeah, baby. Got new looks, new styles. Tim's is out. Yeah, see, he been a Knicks fan, so he gets the Tims. I didn't graduate yet. I'm early entry. A couple weeks in, so I ain't get my Tim boots yet.

I guess next round, maybe. The proper lacing, I like. I got my dip set sweater, so I got that set. Underdog over the logo. I respect it. Say true to Adidas, but this is Gil's Arena. Presented by Underdog. As always, we got the legend Gilbert Arenas here with us.

Mix for clicks. I like it. Representing Tough Crowd, Tough Crowd University. We got Mr. B, Brandon Jennings back on the couch. Representing the curl. Activator. There it is. Need the activation.

Getting the shit twisted, okay? Follow the drip. Follow the drip. That's not my name. Hold on. We've buried Cemetery Larry. You're no longer C the drip. That's not my name. Hold on. We buried Cemetery Larry. You're no longer Cemetery Larry. What's your name now? Nobody like

them body bags. It's dark energy with that nigga. So it's Money Making Sunny. Money Making Sunny. The man they call Money Making Sunny. Rashad McKenzie in the building.

Cemetery Larry. I'm broke, baby. I'm broke, baby. I'm broke, baby. It's New York City, baby. You know what I'm saying, son? Accent sound better? My mama.

You better stop disrespecting New York. Shout out to the other coast. But we here on the west side, the best side. But for all the fans out there, we've still got two viewing options for you, our traditional version, mobile version, or pick whichever one you want to watch. Just make sure you support the show. Here's what's cracking in the arena today. The Thunder bounced back from a shaky first half to smack the Wolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. What does Minnesota need to do to get

Ant-Man and his supporting cast back on the right track offensively? Tough one for everyone besides Julius Randle in that game. The Knicks and Pacers meet in the Eastern Conference Finals in a playoff rematch from last season. Does Indiana have enough to get the upset again on this

new-look New York squad? And the Sky Fever game during opening weekend of the WNBA season was the most watched ever on ESPN platforms. But is the Kaitlyn Clark-Angel Reese rivalry becoming too toxic for the league? A lot of stuff has been going on in the aftermath of that game. Accusations being hurled, statements being released by the WNBA. We will get into it. But before we get into all that, as always, the show is brought to you by Underdog.

Go ahead and download the app. Use promo code GILL. Get up to $1,000 in bonus cash, plus a special pick-em. As for tonight, Money Making Sonny has some picks up in his partner pack on the Underdog app. Let us take a look, if we can, please. Jalen Brunson, higher, 28.5 points. Tyrese Halliburton, higher, 9.5 assists.

Pascal Siakam, lower, 29.5 points, rebounds and assists. Carl Anthony Towns, the big bodega, higher, 13.5 rebounds and assists. And Miles Turner, higher, 2.5 blocks. Like it. If you use this partner pack, you can win more than 25 times your bread. How's the rest of the couch feeling about money making Sonny's partner pack for this evening? You like it? You know she's about to win some money. If Siakam don't come out and play

I mean if he don't have more than 29.5 at all. Insurance. Gotta have insurance. This is not a raw dog situation. You're not raw dogging this, man. No way. Oh, so it would have been... No, but I'm saying, if he doesn't... If he don't get over that, then they have no chance of winning, so...

Facts. And I count them to not win. Right, I know, that's what I'm just saying, though. Like, if he don't get that, then... Yeah, Indiana can watch out. They can move around as they like to say. So we asked the chat if they're riding or fading with your picks tonight.

Money-making Sundays. Partner pack. Hold on. Let me give it a second. Right now, 50-50 split. Ain't enough people. That's why we let it build. Punctuated.

That's why I had to give it a second. People come in here. They ain't seen me in a while, man. They got to vote just because. Got the new curl. But if you like this partner pack, go ahead and add it on the Underdog app. If you do not have Underdog, download the app. Use promo code GIL.

Get up to $1,000 in bonus cash plus a special pick-em. And if you can't watch the show, live with us on YouTube. We have audio versions available on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. So Tuesday, the NBA released the all-rookie teams for this season. Let's take a look at those lists if we can. First team featured Spurs rookie of the year Stephon Castle, who was the only unanimous selection receiving all 100 first-place votes.

Castle was joined by Hawks number one pick Zachary Risache, who was one vote shy of being a unanimous selection. A pair of Grizzlies and second-rounder Jalen Wells. And ninth overall pick Zach Eaddy, along with Wizards number two pick Alex Saar. Second team featured Heat big man Khalil Ware, Bulls forward Matas Buzelis, Pelican center Yves Misi, Blazers big man Donovan Klingin, and Wizards guard Bub Carrington.

So when you look at this crew, top ten rookies in the NBA this season, as according to the media, how many future stars do you see on this list? Stephon Castle. I don't know anybody, I don't know nobody else on there. I'm gonna be honest with you. It was- This a crew.

I like Klingon, I'm like Bozellas. I like Edie, and I like Castle. Jalen Wells could be something, too. They could have put Bronny on the list. Maybe. They could have put Bronny. They could have put Bronny. Bronny did not make it. I'm just saying, shit.

I don't... No, he didn't have more points, total points than any of them. I don't think, no. Well, I'm dealing with him. He didn't play that much this year. How many future stars do you see on this list? Stars? Future stars.

Rookie class? The one who stands out the most is probably Castle. Has the most potential to be so. Reese O'Shea, obviously the number one overall pick. Montes, maybe. Depends on how he develops in his second year. Alex Hart, he has the height, can shoot, maybe. Shashir, he's a shooting guard that doesn't really,

is not very athletic at all. And not a very standout in his fundamentals. So Jalen Wells is, you know. Stephon Castle. So probably one and a half, maybe. One and a half out of ten. Star, right? You're talking about star.

Yeah, just looking at the potential. That's going to make an all-star one day. Yeah, one and a half. Just one and a half. This was considered a weaker draft, obviously, in comparison to the one that's coming up this year. But some young talent in there, a lot of young players. So Grizzlies have two first-team selections in Jalen Wells and Zach Eadie.

So nearly 22 minutes per game this season, Eadie averaged 9.2 points, 8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, started 55 of the 66 games he played. Eadie, two-time college player of the year, 23 years old, oldest rookie to make the team. What's Zach Eadie ceiling in this league? There was a lot of talk pre-draft, but he would probably fall to the late first round.

Obviously, the Grizzlies took him early, took a risk. He's solid with the team this season. What's his ceiling? He'll be solid. I mean, we don't know. I mean, it's too early, too. Is it too early?

He's 23. From what you saw. Oh, he's 23? Yeah, he's 23. He's Ant-Man's age. This is group. His group is Ant-Man, all the kids from Houston. Paulo Banchero's still younger than him.

You have... Damn. Paulo Banchero still younger than him you have damn that was his high school class his high school Kaminga's still younger than him the kids have been in the league four or five years already so his ceiling is whatever it is

I mean he's going to be solid solid big man but I mean not going to be a superstar I mean that's's going to be solid, solid big man. But, I mean, he's not going to be a superstar. I mean, that's... High ceiling. High ceiling.

You feel like Zach Eady has a high ceiling in the league? Yes, he has a high ceiling. He's a highly skilled big man that is now honing into his skill set, getting into the league, getting enough minutes. He's in a system that likes to give the ball to big men. I think now that they've got a taste of that medicine of playing too much guard play can affect longevity down the line in the playoffs. So I think Zach will get a lot more touches the next couple

years. He'll show what, 10 and 10? Is that what he's? He averaged 9 and 8 I believe. 9 and 8 as a rookie? 9 and 8, 1. I believe. 9-8 is a rookie? 9-8, 1.3 blocks. 9-8? Yeah. 9-8 as a rookie.

How many minutes? 22 minutes per game. 22 minutes because he's 24, right? 23. All because he's 23? Yeah. I'm going to give him more credit than that, and I think that you give him three more years,

he'll be an all-star just by default. He's big. He knows how to score. And once he gets in shape, when he can play long minutes, he'll be able to be defensively in the category. I think he's an exceptional, one of the more rare exceptional big men that we've seen. And I think it's important to always expound on these things because these guys like him get overlooked because of the criticism

he received before he even got in the league. You know, second round pick, all this kind of stuff, being a national player of the year. Two-time. That doesn't go overlooked. Mr. B, when you look at Zach Eaddy, obviously got a little bit of playoff experience this year. The grit.

I mean, he's 23, like they said. We'll see. Is that still a big deal? I mean, obviously we talked in the past about

Lee going younger with those guys trying to develop those guys. I mean, well. But in terms of guys you want to be able

to plug in and have play right away? A rookie is a rookie. Either you're going to be a rookie at 26 and you're going to learn the NBA, or you're going to learn it at 19. At the end of the day, it's your first day on the job.

So do you want to be 26 with your first day on the job or 19? Three years from now, y'all are all going to be experienced. One is going to be 22. One is going to be 29. There's a big difference that's the reason for the last 24 years is win a certain way okay i mean if we want to go through history and we want to take all the seniors and juniors that came into the nba you want to put a list together versus all the 18 and 19 year olds and put a list together it will be alarming history i mean you can't beat

you can't beat the facts that have been displayed for the last 24 years. I mean, you know. So I just go with Hister. But 9 and 8, I mean, 9 and 8 is solid. 9 and 8 is... 9 and 8 for a 23-year-old

isn't as... Impressive. I mean, for a rookie, yeah, great, but for a 23-year-old, that's what they're looking at. You're not on the same value. Like if you look, the 19-year-old, 18-year-old, that was a second-round pick. That's in front of him. Had more votes than him.

What was his numbers? So Jalen Wells this year, I believe Jalen Wells turned 20 during the season. But Jalen Wells this season... Hold on one second. Pull it up. He averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists. 79 games. He's playing closer to 26.

Now go back to the list. To the all-rookie team list. 96 votes, and he averaged what? He averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists. And what did the guy behind him, below him, with 73 first-team votes? 73 first-team votes for Zach Eady. He averaged, what, 9.8 rebounds.

So Zach Eady had better numbers, but they value Wells more. Or did they just get it wrong? This is the media, Rashad. Sometimes they get it wrong, sometimes they value it better. Or did they just get it wrong? This is the media. Oh, okay. Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they value better. I don't know. Sometimes we just try to figure out what we're going on.

Yeah, sometimes they get it wrong. Most of the time they get it wrong. I mean, but being solid is fine for what they drink. I'm not saying he's going to be solid. I mean, for what he drinks. No, I'm saying he asked me, he asked who's going to be a star. Yeah, I did say that. Not who's going to be solid.

Not eating in particular. Looking at this list. A star is an all-star, right? So, like, if we stop everybody and say, all right, Edie's 23. We know his number's at 23. Take everybody else. What would your numbers be like at 23? Now, can you imagine what Castle's numbers would be like at 23 years old?

What Zach? What Jalen? All they have to beat is 9 and be like at 23 years old? What Zach? What Jalen? All they have to beat is nine and eight. Castles, how old? I think 20. 20? Yeah. Shit.

I mean, there's data on this, man. It's not like I'm just pulling this shit out of my ass. There's data. Jesus Christ. Let's keep this thing moving. So, NBA draft lottery was held last week math securing the number one overall pick

by all accounts it's one of the most loaded draft classes in recent memory led by likely top pick Cooper Flagg along with other young talents and Dylan Harper

Ace Bailey VJ Edgecombe to name a few but according to NBA only 106 players were early entrants in the 2025 NBA draft lowest players were early entrants in the 2025 NBA draft, lowest number of early

entrants since 2015 when 91 underclassmen declared for the draft and down from a peak of 363 players in 2021, just before the NCAA's NIL era officially began. So, what does the low amount of early entrants in the 2025

NBA draft say about the state of college hoops in the NIL era? Nothing. Say it again. So what is the low amount of early entrance in the 2025 NBA draft say about the state of college hoops in the NIL era? Well, don't say nothing about the college hoops. It says everything about the young guys trying to come out early. They're seeing a bunch of examples of things not panning out the way you think it's going to pan out. You're not going to

come out. You're not going to play right away. You're going to have to go through the grind. You're going to have to prove yourself. And so the glitz and glamour of all the social media praise that's handing you something right away, it's a longer road for that. Everybody's seeing that. So I think the guys are saying,

I can go make money in college and stay longer and secure this bag more than I have to go and put up with not playing because I'm a project instead of an established product. So I think that's more important to these guys now, I think, is establishing themselves as something guys now. I think it's establishing themselves as something more than just a project in the NBA that can be thrown away at any moment,

have some type of security, you know, and have some type of fallback. So that was what I fought for. I fought for guys to be able to have that decision to be able to go to college to get paid, but have some type of security where there's an education with it to go along with it. So I think it helps college hoops, for sure. And just looking at it, is it concerning at all just to see that drop off, like I said, over 300 players 2021 before NIL started? That number down to 106.

But when you look at mock drafts, lottery full of, obviously, freshmen. You guys just ain't ready. Me neither. I mean, they are getting paid in college, though. But when you look at even the first round slots, seems like a lot more opportunity. Can you read that again?

You said it right there. Can you read it one more time, please? What would you like me to read again? Start it off again and read it. The whole thing? Yes. So, most loaded draft, 106 players were Yes. So, most loaded draft. 106 players were early entrants in the 2025 NBA draft. Lowest number of early entrants in 2015. So, 91 underclassmen entered the draft in 2015.

So, 91. In 2015. Uh-huh. How many under? 106. So, more underclassmen than 2015 but down from

363 players in 2021 okay so more freshmen and sophomores jumped into the portal so the NIL well it's not even NIL it's the collective

the collective has nothing to do with you being a freshman or sophomore them niggas are still leaving what has changed is seniors 90 of the draft is usually seniors because they are forced to come out right so when you're forced to come out the only thing you can do is put your name in the draft and try to make a living so majority of an nba draft is uh the senior class because that's the next road for them so they're forced into it the reason that the number is down now because those seniors get to go back one more year so if you look at the landscape of college basketball right now, the guys that their careers is over, they got to go overseas. They get their value now. So now those guys that are 23, 24 years

old are worth two, 3 million. So instead of going into the draft, they can get their year back. Oh, Hey, I'm part of the COVID year. Can can i get my year back so all the seniors that will be coming into the draft they're they're staying one more year those are the guys that are getting the two million to four million there's there there's a 27 year old that's on the usa uh the the usc team right those guys are valued so the older guys that were in their careers are valued. That that's that's what's coming in. All the overseas kids, all the overseas kids that didn't come over here because they never had a value. Now those guys are coming into college basketball. So now you've got a whole bunch of guys that are 24, 25. They've been playing pro their whole life, they get eligibility now. So now you've got a whole bunch of overseas guys coming into this draft

getting paid big money. The freshmen, they're gone. There's not enough money in college basketball that's going to tell a top 10 pick not to come out. The 30th pick, the last pick in the first round, gets a guaranteed $15 million. That's not in college. So the guys that got to go overseas, make a couple $200,000,

those guys are worth $4 million now. So you're going to stay. What's the numbers again? So 106 early entrants. How many last year? I don't have the number for last year, but 2021 was the peak. 27-year-old in college?

Of 363 in 2021. So he's down from a peak in 2021. Yep, the peak of 2021. That was right before NIL started. And I think the COVID years are done. The COVID years, so everyone got to add their extra year now. But this is the last year of the COVID year. He's down 200 and something.

Yep. 200. 257, around there. Do the math from that 2021 peak, which, again, was pre-NIL. You know how many of the 100 are underclassmen? 106. The early entrants are all underclassmen. That's just the underclassmen

entering the draft this year, putting their name in. How many seniors? How many total seniors? All of those numbers are all underclassmen numbers. 106, yeah. Down from 363. That's total. So, 363 early

entrants in 2021. For underclassmen. For underclassmen. Freshman, sophomores, juniors. Early entrants, so their college eligibility was not exhausted. 106. Wait, wait, wait, hold on. When we say underclassmen, we mean what? Freshman, sophomores? Freshman, sophomore, juniors, yeah.

Okay, so underclassmen is a senior who has freshman sophomore juniors yeah okay so underclassmen is a senior who has another year too remember everyone gets their year back okay that's what i said so the way you're wording it if i'm a senior this that's the way the league worded yeah if i'm a senior this year and i have another year of eligibility i don't have to go yeah but i think those cover years are done now so you got no this is the last year. There were 195 early entrants in the 2024 NBA draft. Down from there.

95 down from there. So 195 last year. 106 this year. It's a lot. A lot of people changed

their mind. Yeah money's money's high for but good like you're saying if you think you're going to be drafted in that

first round. You're coming out. You're coming out. You're coming out. It's the guys that are like Auburn, those guys. You know, that roster was worth $8 million. You got guys who are seniors that could have came out. They're asking for $4 million for transfers.

That averaged 12 points a game. Teams, these college coaches want older people now. They want to win now. So shifting to the college side, do you think the NIL era has been good or bad for college hoops? It's not NIL. People being able to earn money off their name.

No, no. The collective has been bad for college basketball because there's no loyalty to anyone. The collective has been bad for college basketball because there's no loyalty to anyone. The collective is the boosters paying for kids to leave schools. That's the collective. NIL is name, image, and likeness. There's only a few kids that are doing that. That's not what you're seeing.

That's Shador Sanders. That's Juju. That's Paige Bechler.. That's Shador Sanders. That's Juju. That's Paige Bechler. This is just a small group. About 10 kids are name, image, and likeness. Everybody else, they're getting paid from the school themselves. That's the problem. Why is it a problem?

No one asks if it's a problem or not. If there's a problem, it's the problem from the school paying. And name, image, and likeness, you're getting paid off for your name, image, and likeness. Like, you're going out there getting a shoe deal. You're going out there getting, you know, moms and pops, you know, sponsors. That's the name, image, and likeness.

The school paying you to leave that school to come to my school, I give you $2 million, I give you $3 million, that's a different beast. How is it a problem, though? You said it was a problem. A problem. That's why college is the way it is. It's flip-flopped.

So everyone's play one year. All-American, you did this, this. Your school can't afford you. They offer you $3 million. You take it off. I mean, if there's a problem, it's a problem because there's no stability right now because everyone's just getting up and leaving because

people are just offering them more money we don't have any shackles on us anymore it's actually free game we've become more than amateurs we get to dictate where we want to go now so there's no stranglehold based on our allegiance to our plantation

we can go where we want they won't give me more money so there's no stranglehold based on our allegiance to our plantation. We can go where we want. They want to give me more money, I'm going to go over there. Y'all going to raise the stakes? It's just like pro now. Why are we not practicing pro shit? I get it. I mean, because I fought for it, so I know what we're doing. And I know why they're doing it.

And it's good, because everyone got to scramble now. Parents got to get smarter. You want to get leverage? Learn how to negotiate. What you going to do for me? I'll tell my son to do it for you. Yeah, I mean, I like it. I mean,

you know, I'm rolling with everybody I'm broke baby I'm broke baby we've seen coaches do this coach has a good run in the tournament see y'all later I'm going to a bigger school the problem is there's more kids jumping into the portal than there are scholarships

so if you don't get in the portal and get the fuck out of there you're stuck you're done because you can't go back to the school that so so what's what here's the real problem there's a problem is these kids have agents these agents are saying all right jump into the portal without no guarantee without no guarantees from anyone right you thinking you're going to this school and you got this negotiation somebody else jumped in the portal took that that money, now you're scrambling. So there's a bunch of kids that are in the portal still with nowhere to go.

Can't go back to their school. No teams is looking for them. So they're just stuck because they jumped into the portal because it was a hot thing to do. June, what, June 8th, I think? The handicap is coming down. So basically everybody that's in the portal right now

or who's about to get paid, they got to get all their money before June 8th or it kicks into whatever they're going to get paid next year. So it goes on their salary cap for next year, which everybody knows the salary cap is about $22 million, but it goes off the football deal. So there's going to be a lot of schools that are popping today that's not going to be popping tomorrow.

Because there is a salary cap now. And if you go into a school that's heavy in football, your basketball ass ain't getting shit. So you can be worth $4 million a day, your ass is worth $4 tomorrow from the same school because they're not going to have the money. So you got to eat now. Yeah, I mean. I mean, listen, some of these girls is going in there getting a hundred thousand. Hey, get it because it ain't in the it ain't in the it ain't in the W for you right now.

Yeah. I mean, it's like I mean, it's the risk you take. I mean, but it still gives kids an opportunity, though, to make money, feed your families, you know, but you just got to be more smarter. We just need a union. That's all. Wanted to establish an allegiance and an alliance to protect the athletes in college when they're going through this type of shit. You bring in the agents, you bring in the manipulators. Money's going to go all over the place.

So that's what a union should be built for, for the college athletes. That should probably be the next step for everybody to try to do to protect these kids from the sharks. And then when you get that, shit, everybody's going to be fine. You implement education behind it, teach them how to spend their money and invest. There'll be more smarter kids than there would be a bunch of dumb motherfuckers spending money and acting like they didn't know what they was doing. And that's what we've been breeding. So let's change it up. And there have been some discussions, I think, with Dartmouth or a couple other spots

where they've talked about unionizing. But that presents a whole other different issue with labor unions and all that type of stuff now. I mean, I got two kids in college right now. So I had to learn fast, understand, talk, and realize what the difference is and understand what's. That's why we reclassed. No.

Because I know what happens, so I know what he's going to be worth next year. I know there's a handicap coming next year. So that's why we reclassed. So the money's unlimited today. Unlimited. So you're talking about BYU. It's BYU. Right? They got a dude that's making four million and another making three.

But that's the reason why they did it. Because once that rule comes in boosters from the outside you know they can't just spend the money they want to. Then it's going to have to be under the table again. Now you're going to be now. Some of these schools, I'm going to just be honest, some of these schools are going to go back to powerhouses.

Like so when you're talking about a Duke, a North Carolina where the football, the basketball team is bigger than the football team. That 22 million that everyone's getting, that school gets what, 18 out of the 22? Yeah, they get to pay for whoever they want to. million that everyone's getting, that school gets what? 18 out of the 22? Yeah. They get to pay for whoever they want to. Now you're talking about a team like Alabama where the football team is the shit and you got to play under 22 million. They getting 21 of it and the other 1 million goes to the rest of them.

The basketball teams of us, of course, ain't going to be worth nothing. So now it's going to be under the table shits again. Or these players can still get NIL deals, right, based on... NIL. Yeah, NIL,

but that's just a small fraction. They're trying to handicap that too, which I think is wrong. They're going to have to fight for that because you can't tell a kid what his value is. They're trying to put a value system on what they think

everybody's worth. Right? So you can only get half a million dollars on your NIL because that's what the market, you don't know what

the market dictates. So they don't want nobody to, so they don't want someone that can manipulate someone's name. But, you know, you don't know, you can't put a value system

on someone being liked by the public. And that's what I'm afraid of. That's going to happen. Just one of those kids that just got just averaging one point a game, but they just got it. What was the

kid from what was it? Ballboy. Who got famous. Yeah, he ended up going. Somebody like him. They're going to say What was his? Ball boy. Who got famous. In New State. Yeah, he ended up going in New State. Somebody like him, they're going to say, you're not playing. You don't get the NIL value. But he can make his own deals. But that's what I'm saying.

That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to put a handicap on everybody's value. And somebody like him just come out of Woolworth making money off of his name, image, and likeness. Let me ask you a question. Why would I handicap a value system if I can't afford to pay you? The colleges

are going to go bankrupt because they can't afford to pay the players. That's why the boosters come in. The alumni. Colleges can't afford to pay the coach, teachers, staff. They they not even consider teachers the coaches so some obviously the highest paid employees in the entire state so what's going to happen is

they're going to go looking for more government funding for the school so they could pay for the athletes to come because maybe your team or your school don't got the alumni that's willing to put the money up like james harden did in arizona state like many other players are going to go back and do and create funds to make sure our university for the future got a hundred million dollars and we are going to be able to do what we want to do but the power schools obviously are still going to be able to do what we want to do. That's something that's capped. But the power schools, obviously, are still going to be able to, because you say whatever the cap is, they have that bread at their disposal. Under the table.

But where the lower schools, you may have a $22 million cap or whatever it is, but a smaller school don't got that level of bread anyway to reach that point. It's going to be crooked because, obviously, now when you're talking about on paper, on books, seeing how much everyone makes, right? They better say 22 million, whatever we're giving you. So if USC can only have 5 million on cap, it better say that. There better not be a kid on here that's making 12 million.

So most of that shit is going to be under the table. But on the books, it's whatever the... I would call it multiple NIL deals from different sources. Yeah, for people that can go out and get those. A lot of kids obviously don't know how to do it. So if we can't have you on the books for seven, we'll have you on the books for three, three, and three. Wild time.

College is crazy. Look where I started. Even from a loyalty standpoint though i think you know you talk about free agency in the league but you sign a contract you're expected to you know it's multi-year length you're expected to adhere to that contract where college these dudes might get a bag i'm out two weeks later we've been adhering to the contract unknowingly for years. The invisible NLI. The National Letter of Intent. The National Letter of Intent. We sign over. We got to be here. It's a

contract for four years. Year to year. No pay. You get to play. Okay. Now we're changing the landscape. That's what it's supposed to be right now. Control it. You got to get good what it's supposed to be right now. Control it. But you got to look, you got to get good advice.

You got to get good mentorship. Can't just be throw this shit around. You got to come see Larry. Oh, no, nevermind. Sunny money making Sunday. Cause we going to make some money.

Y'all come fuck with me. It ain't even funny. I will. Speaking of making money, let's keep this thing moving. We'd like to give a shout out to MeUndies for sponsoring today's podcast. Fellas, it's time to upgrade your underwear with the Ultra Modal Ball Caddy Boxer Briefs from

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What's up? I mean... Shout out to the MeUndies. It do kind of make you do that. It kind of make you go like, hey, man. It's got to feel nice. Very comfy.

Very stylish. But shout out to me, honey, for supporting the show. There was a playoff basketball last night. Thunders and Wolves tipped off the Western Conference Finals Tuesday night. OKC bested the Nuggets with a Game 7 blowout win at their crib Sunday while the Wolves were well-rested, chilling for the past week after eliminating the stepless Warriors in five

games to reach their second straight conference finals. The team split their season series with two wins each, but had not played in nearly three months. Minnesota appeared poised to walk into the Thunder's trap and steal Game 1, but OKC got it done on the defensive end, and SGA caught fire in the second half to lead the Thunder to another blowout win.

Let's take a look at the highlights. So Wolves got off to a hot start, scoring the first eight points of the game, but SGA kept the Thunder in the game. At the free throw line, drawing multiple fouls and shooting seven free throws in the first four and a half minutes of game action, including one after a tech by Ant-Man for throwing the ball at Shea in frustration as Shea laid on the ground after a foul. So despite their shooting woes, the Thunder bounced back and were only down three after

the first frame. A scary moment for the Wolves near the end of the first quarter when Ant-Man landed awkwardly and rolled his right ankle. The same ankle he's tweaked in both of the Wolves' two previous series. Ant-Man finished the first quarter, went to the locker room at their break, but did return in the second quarter. Julius Randle held it down for Minnesota, scoring 20 of his team high, 28 points in the first half. Randle finished 9 of 13 from the field and 5 of 6 from 3 in the game with 8 rebounds, but he also had 5 turnovers. Meanwhile, SGA struggled

early, finishing the first half with 11 points on 2 of 13 shooting, but did knock down 7 of his 9 free throw attempts. SGA's 11-miss field goal is tied for the most in any half this season. The Wolves were up 4 at the break. SGA got back to getting buckets in the second half, scoring 20 points in the final two quarters while going 8 of 14 from the field in the second half. Finished with 31 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. Fourth 30-point game against the Wolves this season.

And eighth 30-point game in this postseason. So OKC was down 4 midway through the third quarter but went on a 17-2 run, including a stretch where they scored 10 straight points to take control of the game. SJS scored or assisted on 20 of the Thunders, 32 points in the third quarter. They outscored Minnesota 32-18 in the period. Jalen Williams came through with another solid game,

19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals. Chet Holmgren, 15-7 boards and two blocks. Isaiah Hardenstein, 12-5 boards. And Alex Caruso and Kendrick Williams come out for 17 points on the bench. The Wolves try to stay within the striking distance in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to nine points, but that's as close as they would get. Ant-Man went scoreless in the final frame, attempting just one shot, finished the game with 18 points and nine rebounds on five of 13 shooting.

It was Ant's second game this postseason, scoring fewer than 20 points. So Ant-Man and Randall got little help from the rest of the squad. Jaden McDaniels had 7 points and 6 boards before fouling out. Mike Conley had 7 points on 2 of 8 shooting, and Rudy Gobert had 2 points and 3 rebounds in 21 minutes of action. Wolves bench struggled as well. Nas Reed only had 4 points on 1 of 11 shooting. He was 0 for 7 from 3.

Dean Vincenzo, 3 of 12 from 3. And SGA's cousin to kill Alexander Walker, 3 of 11 from the field with 9 points. Thunder, 70 points in the second half shooting 62% from the field. Held the Wolves to just 40 points in the final two quarters. OKC scored 31 points off the Wolves, 19 turnovers

in the game. Minnesota, 15 of 51 from the three-point line. So OKC improved to 6-1 at home this season with consecutive 25-point wins for the first time in franchise history. After the game, SGA had this reaction to playing in his first conference finals game. It felt different from jump. More like pressure-oriented. It feels like a little more physical. But at the end of the night, it's basketball.

They throw you a problem. You have to solve it, whatever it looks like. That's what it is every night, and that's what it was tonight. They had different coverages, different personnel out there, and we had to attack it and work together as a unit to solve the problems out there. We did that tonight, especially in the second half. Mr. B, I will start with you. What are the biggest takeaways from Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals?

Thunder doing it on the defensive and offensive side, getting the big win at the crib. I hope Rudy show up. Soccer blue. Because if not, then he can go sit down. I know we were up here talking about Mike Conley, you know, not trying to, you know, if Mike Conley should play or not. But it looked like Mike Conley should definitely be out there.

They fell into the one-on-one a lot in the second half. That's when the game kind of got away from them. But, you know, SGA, man, he's just going to keep putting the pressure on. They're just going to keep, regardless if his shot is falling from 12 to 15 foot, he's going to keep attacking, keep getting to that rim. And them young boys, man, they just, you know, they just kept, they just kept going, kept going at him. Chet, Chet was playing big. Yeah, man, you know, they just look good. You know, I feel like it's more pressure on the 23 year old kid, you know, you know, in Minnesota just because, you know, Minnesota just because he said he's the best

and he's calling out people, so he's going to have to show up. Anthony Edwards leading the Wolves second straight Western Conference Finals. You said more pressure on Ant-Man than the likely MVP of the league this season, S.J., who's on the top team in the NBA. Yeah, that's fine, but he ain't talking. If you're talking, there's fine, but he ain't talking. He just, you know, if you're talking, you're going, it's more pressure on you. If you say you're the best, you got to prove that you're the best when it

matters. Okay. Let's move over to this side. Sonny, what were your biggest takeaways from game one of the Western Conference Finals? Keep it activated. Yeah. It's kind of dry. Oh, man. So much to unpack here. Let's see. First, let's talk about OKC's scheme to load up on Ant-Man every time he sets the ball switch on everybody load up take away his options

to penetrate the lane and force him into being a jump shooter and then you look at the intangibles and the other pieces on the wolves who really didn't show up to do anything jay mcdaniel's you know he's trying to figure out how to play defense on guy and you're looking at a scheme on the other side as your ant man and you're like okay what do i do i got two on me all the time and we got a good core defensive guys on the other side that really understand what i'm doing over here. It's just me. So he had to regulate trying to get the ball up and get the other guys involved, and it didn't work. But the other side is I see that Minnesota's reluctancy to try to guard Shea is weird because you don't know how to guard him.

They're going to call a foul. As a defender, you're trying to figure out what move is he going to make? Is he going to try to flail and get the call or is he going to go and play ball? That's the middle ground that the defenders like. They didn't have a scheme. They played them straight up. Play them straight up. We ain't going to load up. We ain't going to do none of that. We just play them straight up. Then when they had to go zone, it's because they got in foul trouble. It's now, it's like scrambling. You can't put Rudy out there. You can't do certain things

and it gets ugly at that point and I think I like OKC's willingness to push the lead up once they got a lead and kept it. That was good for them. I think Gobert picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game. It was pretty ineffective for the rest of the game, but good when you look at OKC Thunder getting the win at home, just beat the Nuggets game seven two days earlier,

came back back-to-back 25-point-plus wins, what are you seeing from this Thunder squad right now? I mean, they're very good. good um they have this weird weird high level of experience from a group that's not experienced they play very well with each other that's that's one thing that they do have over uh wolves you know wolves made the you know the trade and you know they're still trying to figure out how their offense really works when this group is. They have everything down there, and everyone knows exactly what they're supposed to do out there, when, where, how. So they are really the more mature team when it comes to how they play the game. They don't settle. The guys that are attackers attack, right?

They don't do anything outside of what they can do, and that's the advantage that they have against the Wolves. Wolves are still trying to figure out who they are, what they do best, what they like, where they like it. You have three guys in the starting lineup on the Wolves that really don't bring any offense, which makes it easier. You're talking about Conley, who has to be more of a spot-up guy when he's used to manipulating the defense. Rudy can't give you shit outside of two feet.

Nothing. And then McDaniels is a corner guy who don't dribble very much, so he, so he has to wait for the ball to be, you know, in tune with this offense. So then it's just one-on-one with Randall, one-on-one with, you know, Ant-Man. So, you know, they're easily guardable if you can contain Ant-Man and just we're going to load up on you, keep you out of the paint, pass into the guys who don't create for themselves. But, you know, when it comes to just the overall defense, Rudy is probably the most important player for the Wolves

because he's the only one who's supposed to be four-time defensive player of the year, this all-world defensive guy. You're the guy that is the person that's supposed to stop these two from coming in here so if you're not smart enough to stay on the floor then those trophies are meaningless to us right now because you're they're coming here they're coming in this lane this is where they want to come so you you now have to put all four years of trophies together and become excellent.

This is not a team that's chucking threes. They don't give a fuck about no threes like that unless they have to. Other than that, they want that paint. They're challenging you. They're coming in there. They're going to get you jumping, throwing it off. They're going to dip it off to their big man.

So you got to be able to play, fake it here. This is your series. They're throwing lobs and shit. They're coming to you. They're not going to do anything to you. So you got to know what shots to jump for because if you jump wrong and you don't get that block,

weak side rebound goes to the seven-footers back there. So it's a game where, Rudy, everything that you've been, your Hall of Fame career lies on this series. Next series, this series right here because these guys

want to go to that rim. So you talk about Thunder, only took 21 threes in the game, but 11 for 21 shot, 52% from deep, 54 points in the paint in the game. So nearly half their points came in the paint in this matchup.

That's where they're coming. So if he gets two foul troubles and he's out of the game, who's back there? Who's back there jumping? Both of your guys are non-athletic like that. It's not like Julia's got a fucking 40-inch vertical and Nas Reid is sitting there with 40-inch vertical. You know, you got guys that they don't feel as a threat when they come into the lane. And Williams is on the attack.

Huh? And Williams is on the attack. Yeah, the most athletic person is fucking Ant-Man on the team. They on the attack. I mean, Watson can do his own, the defensive player. Daniel, he has his matchup. He can reach and still challenge Shea at the rim. So he's more one-on-one contained defensively,

but he's still going to need some help. Double foul trouble in that game. So we got a great stat from second spectrum. So SGA drove 28 times in game one. Timberwolves collectively drove 27 times as a team in this game. How many in free throws total by both sides? So Thunder had 26 free throw attempts in this game. Wol many free throws total? Both sides? Thunder had 26 free throw attempts in this game. Wolves had 21.

And one man drove how many times? SGA drove 28 times. He drove more than the whole entire Wolves team. 27. I'll say this. If you have an understanding of getting to the free throw line 20 times a game

as a team, get to throw line 20 times a game as a team. Get to the line 20 times a game. And how many SGA a game? SGA got to the line 14 times in this game. No, it's per game period. Second in the league, right behind Giannis. I want to say nine. Nine.

Nine or ten times. Nine. Nine a game. The team averages 20. It's a lot for one player. It's a lot for one player. It's a lot for one player. And then he got nine free throws in the first quarter. Yes.

Seven in the first quarter, seven to nine in the first half, I believe. Imagine if he played through the foul. He did in the second half. He did. He only had five in the second half. Because you got everybody. Now everybody got to play defensive. Everybody got to play defensive now. he did in the second half he did he only had five because you got everybody now everybody got to play defensive

got to play defensive now you can flop you can flop and get the foul the non-foul and then now you can play through the foul

because you know they can't foul you now so Giannis is smart Giannis led the league free throw attempts 11 per game in the regular season

or is it a narrative it's weak with the SGA narrative because you think that's weak? Or is it a narrative? It's weak. With the SGA narrative? You think that's weak? Because it's, you know how many players in history averaged over 30 and shot under nine free throws? There's only a handful. Like Jordan shot 12 free throws a game.

Kobe shot 10, 10, 10, 11. Allen Iverson shot 10, 10, 11. He shot what, 8.8? Yeah, 8.8 this season. He shot 8.8 this year. And they're calling him a free throw merchant, but everybody in history who's averaged 30 are shooting over 10 free throws a game.

Yonah's averaged what? 10.6 free throws. 10.6 free throws. Allen Iverson played through fouls. You got to call the whistle, call the whistle. If he knows how to get fouled, he knows how to get fouled. Yeah, flopping. He was 12th.

Same shit Trey Young did. He went two for 12 in the first quarter, right? Same. Like, from the first half in the field. Yeah, he was – And he only shot five free throws in the second half, and that's – in the fourth quarter, he only shot, what, two free throws. He don't get those free throws.

Seven free throw attempts the first four and a half minutes of the game. They don't give him them free throws. What'd he shoot from the field? He shoot two for what? What'd he been – That was just the first half. First half minutes of the game. They don't give him them free throws. What did he shoot from the field? He shoot two for what? What'd he been playing? That was just the first half. First half he was what? I think two of 11.

Two of 11. If he don't shoot them free throws, man, it looks really bad. But he been playing like this all year, though. Two of 13. Two of 13 in the first half, eight of 14 in the second. That's why it looked the way it looked in the first half because it was just a bunch of, oh, that's not a foul. It's like you're just throwing it up. you just hey hey man smart he was struggling and he helped himself

get a rhythm by shooting free throws it's like i'm trying to figure out in nba history who's never done that what player name me a great that average you can go with mellow you can go with t-mac you can go with d wade i mean can go with D-Wade. I mean, just name anyone who was a great player that wasn't gifted at getting to the charity line. So let's take a look. Free throw attempts per game for MVP since

2000. I'll go with just the guards. So Westbrook, 10.4. LeBron, 10.2. AI, 10.1. Harden, 10.1. KD's up there, 9.9. LeBron in his 08-.1 Harden 10.1 KD was up there 9.9 LeBron in his 08-09 MVP season

9.4 Kobe in his 08 MVP season was at 9.5 and SGA likely MVP this year 8.8 so he's the lowest

yeah he's the lowest of those 12 that's just MVPs if you have I just named you the guards that's averaging 32 and up that's so that's what I said it's more it's more of a narrative I just named you the guards. That's averaging 32 and up. That's.

So that's what I said. It's more as more of a narrative because how he's getting fouled. But it's it's a it's a. It's somebody that's just smart. He's smart. I mean, but if I know you're if I know how you play defense, if I know if I'm going to go over this screen and you are taught to fight over, what are you going to do? Stop! There's things I'm going to do because I know you have to play it a certain way.

Especially if we're trying to get into penalty. Parkinson, every time you get that pop, if you get that pop right here, instead of shooting that floater, pump fake. Rudy jumps every time. Jump into him. File. Alright, well let's hear it. But that'sater, pump fake. Rudy jumps every time. Jump into him. Foul. All right, well, let's hear it. But that's what I'm saying.

But that's how, if you know what the defense does, it's easy to manipulate them. So if Hargisline gets it every time and just pump fakes, Rudy's going to jump 100% of the times. Let him jump off the ground, jump into him, foul. Yeah, go sit his ass down. Go sit down. Because he's not disciplined. All right, so let's get into it. SGA, 14 free throws in the game.

Like I said, seven in the first four and a half minutes of the game. But let's take a look at the tech that Ant-Man got early on in that game. So SGA drove the basket about eight minutes ago of the game. The Wolves were up 10-3 at that point. So Ant tossed the ball. SGA discussed. Here's minutes ago to the game. The Wolves were up 10-3 at that point. Toss the ball SGA discussed. Here's another look at the play. Doris Burke

during the game commented early in the game that there's a reason NBA Twitter calls SGA a free throw merchant. After the game, Wolves head coach Chris Finch had this to say about SGA's quote-unquote foul baiting. Yeah, there was a lot of frustration out there, but we talked about that before the series started. And we have to be able to kind of put that aside and get on with the next play mentality.

So before we get into the conversation, we asked the chat, is SGA a free throw merchant? 65% of the chat said that SGA is a free throw merchant. I don't particularly think that's a bad thing. I think people might see that as an insult. Listen, the objective of the game is to score. Exactly. Put the ball in the basket. If I'm going to be in the lane 28 times, 28, 29 times a night, I'm going to be at the free throw line for sure.

Somebody's following me. How many times did he drive? 28 times in the game. He drove 28 times in that game. He's driving 28 times. Somebody's fouling me. Your team drove 27. How many free throws did the team get?

So, Thunder shot 26 free throws for the game. Wolves shot 21. The fouls were 22-22 apiece. Ended up that way at the end of the game. So, he's getting all of his fouls driving. They're getting theirs here and there. Just aggression. Like, hey man, listen. Somebody like, hey man,

it's going to be hard for him to get a lot of fouls. Because he wants to jump over everybody. Right? There's no different than, you know, he doesn't he's one of those guys that jump fades like he's a fader, but when he gets ready to come in the lane,

everybody moving. They're not trying to challenge that shot. Only time you're going to challenge somebody's shot because you know they're not dunking on you. He's not a flopper. That's why. He ain't got nothing to do with none of that. Niggas play ball like you play ball at the park. We're not calling foul. We're not calling nothing.

Call it what you want. All that shit, man. Everybody look at it the way they look at it. Why do you think they laughed at the box score when they looked at it? Who laughed? Why do you think he threw the ball at them? Who laughed at the box score? Here you go.

Look at you, man. Stop with this shit, man. Let us hoop, bro. Come on. What's wrong? Damn. I don't know why they're looking at it. They should be laughing at the off the bench.

One for 11. Over 7 from the 3 3 for 14 3 from 12 from the 3 3 for 11 2 for 9 from it That's what they should be laughing We should be laughing at their own fucking team and we will talk about that for 51 from the 3 laugh at that That's what you need to be laughing at y'all worrying about somebody getting freaked those worry about making a fucking shot And we will talk about that in a moment, Miguel. We will talk about that in a moment. I'm just saying this is the playoff. They over here arguing about a nigga who's driving the whole time. The fuck he driving fucking 40 times?

How many free throws you think he gonna get? 28 I'm expecting Steph not to get a lot of free throws because he shoots jump shots. If he want to shoot 10 threes a game, I'm pretty sure. Let me see. I'm pretty sure Devin Chinzo didn't have a lot of threes. Just keep him out the shot.

I'm gonna try to keep him out I'm pretty sure Devin Chinzo didn't have a lot of just keep my shot Yeah, I'm never gonna go out the place 12 threes zero Zero free throws Alexander Walker nine threes zero free throws Okay, let's see here. Okay, we don't shoot free throws none of those guys shoot free throws And man eight threes Seven free throws. SGA took 27 shots. Only four was threes. You know where he's going. Slap him.

Keep him out the paint. Load up. Shit, make him shoot jumpers. Everybody listen. All your NBA players listen. It should be all 300 of y'all driving next year. Yeah. Drive. Same thing Allen Iverson did.

Don't be flopping. Michael Jordan did it. I did it. If everybody don't get the calls, it's different now. Just drive. James Harden, Russ Everett, KD. You heard the free throw list. Right?

The lowest on there. So he ain't doing nothing different than everybody else. No, and Edwards was driving. Not getting no calls. He took 13 shots. He tried to dunk on no boy. No, he was doing some five. 13 from the field in the game.

A 3.10. So half his shots was three more than half his shots. Well, let's take a deeper dive into it. So there have been criticism of the whistle SGA gets all season. Obviously, that didn't stop in game one. Here are the fouls SGA was able to draw in the Thunder's game on win. I want y'all to be the judge for yourself here. Take a look.

Foul. Foul on Gobert early in the game. Harkestown, you can get that every time. That's a foul. Okay. I can't see that one. Yep. Get your hand out the cookie jar.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Hey, that was a foul, but they didn't call it. I don't know what Ant-Man was doing here. That was just Ant-Man. They haven't called a foul yet, and then he does that. Yeah, that was stupid. Yeah.

That was a little. What happened? What was that? Foot caught? Oh, yeah. Foul? You think that was a foul? Yeah, he tripped him.

Okay. Foul. Foul. Hook. Man, these niggas just stupid, man. That was not a foul. But it looked like a foul because he got tripped. It looked like he got tripped.

They just lost his foot. They gave it back. That's the easiest one to call. That's the little wheel. When they put their hand on you. Right there. That push. Yeah.

That float shot. Yep.. That push. Yeah. That float shot. Uh-uh. Shout out to our producers. They're putting together this extension. Boom. Fail down. Yep. This is dumb.

He's not getting Kawhi with none of these like that. See, but the thing is, it's not even just, it's like, when we was watching the game, they was doing dumb fouls in the beginning. So it's like he's in the penalty. It's four. And it's like they got four fouls already, team fouls. It's already in the penalty. So, I mean, what you going to do after that?

You going to keep attacking. But, I mean, I think maybe about three or four. I mean, what you going to do after that? You going to keep attacking. But, I mean, I think maybe about three or four. I mean, maybe three calls was like. The only one three or four. The tripping, the tripping one is the late call. That's where his foot is hooked.

Okay. When he's shooting a jump shot, he caught it. Right? I mean, there's really nothing you can do about that. You know, but for the most part, you already know the scheme of what he does. He's going to bump you first. Boom. Soon as you get the bump back, that's when he's. And I got to give credit to SGA.

He does a great job selling these calls. We like to say that's my. I'm going to say that you may call that high. I know what you call it. You sell him the call. OK. I like the way you say it. I don about to say that. You may call that high IQ. What'd you call it? You're selling the call. Okay. High IQ. I like the way you say it.

I don't like the way I say it. They get offended when I say it that way. But you say flop. It sounds better. Sell it, but you can't. High IQ. That's what I think. You're selling, flopping, foul betting.

What's so funny is, you know if they call every foul in the NBA, the game would be over by, what, the beginning of the third quarter, they said? Everybody would foul out. Yeah, everybody would foul out. There would be over by what? Beginning of third quarter, they said? Everybody would file out. Yeah, everybody would file out. There would be no players left. So that means they're not calling. They said 75% of the actual fouls.

Which means if I know your job is not to call the fouls, then that means I got to sell when I think I'm getting fouled. Back in the day. Oh, you remember that shit? You go in there, you do this, you slap yourself, bullshit like that, you're selling your calls, man. The only people who get

penalized the opposite way of fouling is people who are trying to be too strong. So, Shaquille O'Neal got penalized for being too strong. LeBron James for most of his career. Giannis. Djokic. Giannis still leads the

league of free throws. Embiid. Boogie Cousins. Dwight. Guys that are so strong. You fouling them. You get to hang on them before they call a foul. But if you watch their games and they call it like this, they'll shoot 25 free throws.

Guys sell fouls because they don't want to pass the ball. It's a good excuse to fucking say that's why I didn't pass. He fouled me, bro. He fouled me. Yeah. No, I can do it because you're not disciplined.

You're not disciplined. You're not disciplined on defense. So I'm if you gotta sell the call ain't got nothing to do with discipline I'm as disciplined as it gets you selling it. Are you following acting? What Doris Burke says doesn't Doris say you're he's a great actor He's acting that means I'm not fouling him That's what that means for a defender if he's acting that means I'm not fouling him. That's what that means for a defender. If he's acting, that means I'm not fouling him. You said NBA Twitter says that he's a free throw merchant.

Put it like this. If he's a free throw, I shot 11 free throws. And he's a free throw merchant? I mean, you're somebody that you always talk about can't wait to get to the free throw. Get him in the bonus. But as you accomplished that early in the game, got him in the bonus early in the first quarter. That's the same thing.

Because he can't wait to get to the free throw. Obi and Durant and none of those guys were trying to get to sell the call. It was a blatant foul. We're going to the rim. Hold on. No, no. Wait. It was this right here. He was selling that every time. He was going to. Man, this right. No, no. Wait. It was this right here. He was selling that every time. He was going to... Man, this right...

They took this out the game because KD kept doing that. Every time KD got the ball, somebody did... That's selling. You're just doing that. Foul. If I'm shooting, your hand right here. Foul. I don't have to sell that. So you don't think that's what they... They got a hand. You don't think he's doing the

same thing? No. He's falling before he even hit him. We just seen he just fell to the ground. Nobody touched him. So when you fall, you get a foul. The same thing for Joel Embiid. He's a foul merchant too. He's one of the worst.

But what's wrong with that? You mean because you're just falling on the ground and you get a call and nobody touch you. There's something wrong with that. No. What do you mean falling on the ground and you get a call and nobody touch you. There's something wrong with that. No, no. What do you mean? You're not just getting a call. If you're guarding somebody and they fall

and the dude calls a foul, you're not mad? Yeah, of course. Of course. What are we talking about then? But that's not what's happening. It is what's happening. The one when he just fell,

they gave him the call back. Bro, if we're on the same team, we're playing against this guy and you guarding him first, you get your first two calls because he fell on the ground. You're on the bench. You're mad. You're looking at me like, bro, ain't too much we can do tonight.

He's falling tonight. That don't make you mad? No, it doesn't. It can make you mad, but that don't stop you. So let's do something else. Let's go double. Let's get the ball out of his hands. What if he falls again? He's falling and he can't get up. Here we go. If you're playing against Rashad, what do you think he's going to do?

He's going to try to what? Muscle me. Muscle you, right? That's what you thought. Easy to sell his calls. It's easy to sell the calls. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to bump him, and when he tries to go one of these, oh, shit.

I'm going to do that. Wow. But from the look, yes. If I'm going to get you. That ain't got nothing to do with me and my genius. Your looking ass thinking I'm going to do that. Wow. But from the look, but from the look, yes. If I'm going to get you. That ain't got nothing to do with me and my genius. Yo looking ass thinking I'm going to do that. I know, but that's your fault. I know, but I'm going to do it. Hand down, hand down.

Dark child. I don't got to back you down. No, you're going to. No, we're talking about on defense. Yeah, you're on defense. If you're on defense, I'm going to go right at you because you look because you look so strong. When you touch me, I'm flush. So what you got? So say it again. If you, I look like if you just run into me, I'm flustered. So say it again. I look like if you just run into me, you could just go what?

Yes. Sell it. Yes. Sell it. Instead of being tough. I am being tough. I'm being tough. I am being tough.

Run through the back. I'm running into a brick wall. Is that what we're teaching the kids? I'm going to run into you. Is that what we're teaching the kids? Jump shot. Bro, you. Bro, get to that free the kids. Jump shot. Bro, you. Bro, get to that free throw line.

Man, free throw line win games. Free throw. Jalen Brunson, he goes through the foul. He does the same thing. He does the same thing. Jalen Brunson plays through the foul, bro. He does the same thing. He plays through the foul.

I got to play through the foul to get my end one. No, SGA is brilliant, bro. Brunson not falling. Just a fall, bro. They're IQ geniuses, bro. They just committed. Not falling, just a fall, bro. If I'm coming down on a break on you on the right-hand side, I'm going right at you.

Right at you. I know you're going to foul. You're going to have to. I'm not going to foul. Yes, you are. Hopefully you're trying to say it. It's so dumbass. Think you can just run into me.

I'm just going to pull the chair. Look at you. Then look up there. Then look up. I'm a blockie. Then I'm a blockie. You're not a dumbass. How you just run into me. I'm just going to pull the chair. Look at you. Then look up there. Then look up. Then I'm going to block it. Then I'm going to block it. Then you're not. You're not.

You're not. How you pulling the chair? I'm pulling the chair. You're doing this. Then I'm going like this. You're not doing none of that. I'm right in front of you, bro. No.

What are you talking? You're just going to go at me like I'm just going to be like, okay. I'm going right at you. Okay. Lay. You're doing this. I'm backing up. Lay.

I pull up. I'm stripping the ball. Lay. You pull up. Lay. I'm stripping it ball. You pull up, I'm stripping it. Whatever. I don't have to be strong. I just have to be smart. Like when a big man is posting up a small guy.

And a small guy is sitting there trying to fight him. You stupid. I did see Alex Caruso do that. But what I'm saying is it's a dumb thing. Take the charge. I saw Caruso big body joking. Take the charge. If you know that guy is going to take a charge.

Like Dwight Howard. Did he have to? He didn't need it. He liked it. He did not like it. Like Dwight Howard or something. They're sitting there going to lower their shoulders. Why are you trying to muscle?

What you think this, you're trying to muscle with this guy. Soon as he lowers his shoulder, take the charge. You don't need to pretend you're strong. We know you're not stronger than him. Take the charge. So, Sonny, I'm going strong. We know you're not stronger than him. Take the charge. So, Sonny, I'm going to ask you directly. Take him, change it up. I'm going to ask you directly, Sonny.

Are the criticisms of SGA's whistle justified? The criticism of his whistle? Yes. A lot of people upset with the whistle that SGA gets. For sure. Western Conference Finals. After going through the game last night, we went through a whole analytical breakdown

of how he getting his points, why he was struggling, how he got his shit back. And it's an advantage. It's just like the James Harden step back when nobody knew how to stop that shit. So we watched a clip of all the fouls that SGA drew in the game,

even the one that was overturned. Did you feel like the bulk of those were not fouls? Yeah, the bulk of them wasn't. But the fact that there was some that wasn't, like it would be good if none of them was. If all of them was. None of them were fouls? No, I'm saying if none of them, if all of them were fouls, it would be good. If all of them were fouls, it would be great.

But the fact that you got like three or four, that's crazy. Damn, so those fouls decided the game? That's eight points. They lost by 3,400 points? How much did they lose by? They did not lose by 400 points. Because when he was getting all the fouls, they were losing. Yeah.

26 points. For the first quarter? Yeah, the first half. They were losing? They were down early in the first quarter. SGA got seven free throws. Down how much? How many?

Half the time, what was the score? About eight? Wolves were up by four. So they were losing when he was getting all his free throws. And the Wolves were up by three after the first quarter. He was two and 12 in the first quarter. Yeah, they were down, I think, Wolves scored first eight points. They were playing good defense.

He shot a total of five free throws for the second half. He missed some gimmies. They were playing great defense. No, he missed some gimmies. Some in and outs. That's what I'm saying. The same shot. To me, I mean, when I was watching the game, he's shooting the same shots.

He get to the same spaces, right in that paint, fall back, everything. Question for the couch. Whether you agree with SGA's ability to draw fouls or not, call it foul baiting, being a foul merchant, whatever. How hard is it to keep your cool when it feels like an opposing player is getting every whistle? No, play better defense. Make an adjustment.

Do something different. That's how you would feel with the question he just asked? Obviously, nobody's been able to guard this man one-on-one all year. So, you know what he's going to do and nobody's still stopping it. So, figure something else out. Trap him. Get the ball out of his hands. I don't know. But if he's going to come down and nobody's still stopping it. So, figure something else out. Trap him.

Get the ball out of his hands. I don't know. But if he's going to come down and be able to play one-on-one, good luck with whoever guarding him. That'll go for anybody in the league. You know what the real irony of this is? I think people are not thinking that the referees don't do their homework. The referees don't look at all these plays after the game.

So if everyone's saying, he's a free throw merchant, these ain't fouls, you don't think they have to watch this? They have to watch all these plays. And they're out there still making the same call. So they're behind the scenes agreeing that he's just good at this. Some people are just gifted at this shit, man. It's just one of the – like, I watch them sometimes. I'm like, fuck, that was – like Lou Will.

Some people are just fucking gifted at knowing how to get fouls. Look, Devin Harris. Look. We had SGX Pops here in the arena a couple months ago. We talked about the whole foul merchant, foul baiting criticism that his son gets, but pointed out that he has an innate ability to understand the rules and manipulate those rules to be able to draw fouls. So if people have a problem with that,

then you have a problem with the officials for calling that. Because if they stop calling that stuff, I would imagine he has to change his game up. But there are other guys in the league that get fouled. James had to change his game. There are other guys in the league that average just as much free throws as him. Correct? There's a second, a third, and a fourth.

They don't have the same criticism. Yeah. Only one guy has the criticism. Trae Young, third, 7.4 free throw attempts per game. Harden, fourth, 7.3 free throw attempts per game this season. Jalen Brunson, fifth. And his went down because they stopped all of that. 6.9 free throw attempts.

And then Joker with seven. This team will be at a level. For everybody who. So only one guy, probably Joker. The only one that's not. People don't consider. Trade, trade, reputation. All three point guards.

James Harden has that same reputation. Jalen Brunson, I don't think, gets it quite as much. Guys who got the ball in the hand the most. Guys who are probably the most skilled, too. I didn't realize we're penalizing people because they're just smarter than everybody. Like, literally, you have to dumb down basketball. Because I don't see, like, we do know who the elite defenders are, right? Is there an all-defensive team?

Pull it up. Who's the all-defensive team? I know any defender out there that's watching. They're like, man. It's not been released yet for this year. We can't guard you. We can't touch you. Who is the best guard defender?

I mean, we done, foe. It's a done night. We can't touch Brandon. We can't touch him, man. They're not letting us touch him. We can't guard him. But they only shot 26 and 21 free throws. All year long, he can't breathe on them.

That's what he said. We know coming in here, we knew we tried to scheme for him before the series. We knew what he was gonna get but you know, God We got to figure it out and you know his saying man. He's consistent. He's been consistent all year doing this. Somebody should know He might know what he's doing. Somebody should know Can't fought him for that. You know, he doing watch better film Coach or whatever his coach is go go do another scheme or something. Shit. I don't know.

Get out of here. I don't know. When I hear that, Lou George, Dyson Daniels, a man in Thompson, I think. Perimeter. Looks like it's the coaching. Play against Daniels. You said Daniels, right? Jackson Daniels loves the league still.

He shot four free throws against him. Took 23 shots. As long as they keep starting Mike Conley, he ain't got to play defense either. I'm going to look at some of those elite, like that's on that first team, that's considered elite defenders who, you know, they... I want to see how many free throws he takes against the Boston Celtics, Drew Holiday and them.

They're smart enough not to fall for it. They understand. They're watching tape, right? We pretended that these guys actually watch tape all year to see when he comes in here, what are you going to do? If you know what a guy likes to do left right when he comes in he likes to dip his shoulder and when he dip his shoulder and he fakes like he's going to go out and he stops sam the fucking sam casale push the ball over right let you catch up pump fake knowing you're going to jump run into you. That was his move.

So you have to understand what the offense does if you're going to be a great defender because the offense is looking at what you do as a defensive player. That's why I said, what's the name? If you catch that ball right there, fake Rudy every single time. He's jumping every single time. Get him out of the game. You don't have to go up and shoot that floater. It's open, pump fake. Just one time.

Let Rudy jump. Get the foul. Now he's grounded. Score it. Third time. Pump fake again. If he don't jump, pump fake it again. He gonna jump that time. Get the second foul. Zaz gotta sit down. It's a chess match. That's all

he's playing. He's playing a numbers game. I drive 26 times. How many fouls can I acculate? Even if I don't shoot free throws, how many fouls can I accumulate? How many people are going to sit on the bench? Don't settle. No one gets in a...

I can't get you in foul trouble if I'm just sitting and shooting a whole bunch of threes because that's what you want me to do. Mm-hmm. I mean, we've been preaching it the whole time. Go to the lane. Get to the basket. So we talked about what SGA did regular season,

obviously second and free throw attempt per game, but should it be a different metric in terms of what they call as fouls in the playoffs? We talked about playoff basketball. Should there be room for more aggression? Or are these fouls, playoffs, regular season? I mean, both teams only shot 26 and 21 free throws. So it wasn't a lot of, like, you know, it wasn't that much.

One guy shot 14 of the 26, bro. What are you talking about? And he went to the basket. One guy shot 14 of the 26. Okay, can I ask you this? If he drives 20, how many times? 28 times. If he drives 28

times, how many free throws and layups do you think he should? What do you think the balance is on that? He drove 26 times. How many free throws do you give him? How many just pure layups do you think he's going to get? We're playing good defense.

He don't get no free throws, no layups. Okay, so 28 times. This is so fucking simple. Go play defense. He's driving. Stay in front of him. Hand up. Make him pass it. Stay in front of him. End up. Make him pass it. Stay in front

of him. It's called driving kick drill. We used to do it all the fucking time. You think it's that easy? It is. No it ain't. He drove 28 times. No middle. So he's 0 for 20. No middle. 0 for 28. Then we get taught no middle. On the close out. Ice it. High left.

The ball's on the right wing. I'm closing out left side. side pushing to the baseline Where's your fundamentals? I don't want to hear this shit, man. I really want to talk So but you just say really want to talk but you just said if a dude drives 28 times I can stop him zero free throw free throw zero layup. He's over 28. You shouldn't be shooting He should be passing on every drive. don't have a lane he has nowhere to pass he has nowhere to shoot he has to pick up his dribble and he has to look like caruso does when he drives i'm not saying doesn't caruso i'm not saying what you should do he drives and then

he picks it up and he looks to pass it to somebody why are we not counting his drives because he doesn't count as a drive. We're saying he's already there. It doesn't count as a drive. What do you mean? He's driving. He's picking the ball up. Yes. That's a drive. He stopped. He stopped. We're saying in the lane. We're saying in the lane.

That means he already got there. That means your defense is not there. So how many layups do you give this MVP and how many free throws? Not getting no layups. Not getting no free throws. We're not fouling them. It's called play without fouling. It's called play without fouling.

It's called play without fouling. Wow. Okay. All right. Well, let's keep thisling. It's all play without fouling. Wow. Okay. 0 for 28. All right, well, let's keep this thing moving. I think we've had sufficient foul-merchant discussions. Anyone talk basketball? That's a realistic take.

Good defense. Driving. No foul. Good defense. Driving. No foul. Passing the ball. What are you talking about?

A dude who's averaging 30 will go to the lane 28 times and not get a one free throw or layup. If he's not looking for it, if he's not looking for the face, they're trying to sell a foul and you got a guy like Lou Dort Gardner or somebody like that Gardner, you can play good defense, especially if it's team defense. So they are playing good defense on the other end. They're stopping Ant Edwards from doing what Shea does. How? Because I'm not letting him drive to

the lane. I already stopped him from driving to the lane. So we're saying he got in the lane 28 times. He's a jump shooter more too. What kind of defense is OKC playing on Ant-Man? They're loading up. He's more of a jump shooter.

So that means he didn't get in the lane 28 times. Because they're loading up, right? Okay, but we already said he. So the other team is not loading up. So he got in there 28 times. Right. So what should Minnesota do? We're not saying what he should.

We're saying he got in 28 times. I'm saying what they should do. I'm saying Minnesota should do what OKC's doing. And we're going to talk about that in just a second. Let's wrap this up, though. We asked the chat, is the flopping obvious? 78% of the chat said yes. But let's shift over to one more thing.

65 and 70. We got tons of Wolf Talk. I ain't been here all week. Can I fucking celebrate, Joe? What's up, bro? Spray down. Spray down. Spray down the lay down.

Let's talk about one last thing before we switch over to the Wolf Talk. You look like a special guest, man. 28 times 0.0. Making money. Money make it sunny. So like I mentioned on the show yesterday, former Nuggets coach Michael Malone joined the ESPN crew to cover the Western Conference Finals.

So Malone coached Nicole Jokic during each of his three MVP seasons. And the bulk of this season, which saw Joker become the first big man in NBA history to average a triple-double. While he was still employed by the Nuggets, Malone was very outspoken in his support of Jokic winning MVP this season. But after game one, Malone had this to say about Shea. And then Shea Gilgis-Alexander, he showed why he's the MVP. He took over in the second half, did so in a very efficient manner,

and put the team on his back when they needed him to do so. I think Shea just won MVP. Yeah. Shea did, according to Shams. It was supposed to be announced later tonight. Shams could not wait. Ladies and gentlemen, Shea Gildress Alexander, your 2024-25 NBA

MVP. It is official. Sources tell ESPN, according to Shams, the NBA got to stop snitching. Man, they snitched two weeks ago. He been new? Yes. He been new. Shout out to Shea Gilders.

Shea Gilders is the first MVP in his career. Down to two finalists. Shea got the best of Joker and the Nuggets in their second round series. Now gets the best of Jokic again, winning MVP. What's your initial reaction to SGA winning his first career MVP? God damn, Tom, I'm just playing. Michael Malone was right, I guess. I mean, it's amazing, man.

I mean, you know, he's done, did something that a lot of people can't say they've done is, you know, take a very young team for the last two years, you know, to the number one seed. He felt he got, you know, robbed last year, and he came back to prove it this year that he was the rightful MVP, and, you know, and they rewarded him with it. So, you know, it's a great thing to watch, no matter what kind of criticism he gets. He knows how to play this game. You can see he's detailed in this game. And it's well-deserved. Mr. B, do you agree with Shea Gildas Alexander winning the MVP award

over Nicola Yolkish? Nicola, historic season. They finished top five in multiple categories, including steals. First big man ever in NBA history ever to triple-double.

Hey, man, stop. Come on. We know who won. We know who won, man. We don't need Jokic to talk right now, man. Excuse me. Come on, stop all that.

He heard the question already. Let's start at 16 wins, led the league in scoring, got the scoring title. Yeah. We talked about this on the show previously this week. If he did get this MVP, if he did lead

this Thunder squad to a championship finals MVP, where would I put him in Thunder history? What do you think about SGA winning his first career MVP award? Oh, man. I mean, I'm happy for him. He's consistent all year. Like Gil said, he took a young team. I remember when we interviewed his dad up here on the couch.

How much they love AI and how in tune they are with the game and the details of the game. And you can see his dad's swag, so you know where all the swag and everything come from. So it was just dope just to hear his background. You know, a kid from Canada that probably grew up, probably never knew that, you know, he'll be MVP. So to have his first MVP and have a winning season behind it, too, and also be in the Western Conference Finals is big. So I'm happy for him. And he's consistent. Sonny, what do you think about Shea Gildas Alexander winning his first MVP?

Congratulations, for sure. He worked hard for it. He took down Titan. And I think that was most important for him, to make sure he beat him, to show everybody if I could beat him. You know what I'm saying? He beat Joker's ass. Because if Joker didn't win that series, he still wins it. It's a whole bunch of different kind of conversations.

You know what I'm saying? But I like that you can't try to change the narrative now. You know, he got to kind of now come back next year and prove, just like every other MVP has, Giannis, MB, Joker, come back the next year and prove the numbers to be the same or similar, take your team to the same, and keep working hard. You know what I'm saying? Three straight seasons, averaging 30 points per game,

shooting over 50% from the field. Only Michael Jordan has done that. Damn. Three straight seasons, averaging 30. Three straight seasons, averaging 30 points per game. SGA. Was the Gills Arena MVP last season, but now officially the NBA MVP.

2024-2025 season, congrats to SGA. A black man. Canadian black SGA. A black man. Canadian black man. A Canadian black man. Does he put the do-rag on when he got the MVP trophy? Should he wear the do-rag to his MVP trophy? Can't wait for him to be a Laker. We will find out later this evening.

You want a lot of people, man. And let's go back to Mike Malone real quick. Like I said, he was very supportive of Joker when he had the job. I know the Clippers is kicking their ass. Oh, man. Oh, what's up, idiots?

It is smoking in the air. Oh, man. There's some dum in the arena. Oh, man. There's some dummies over there in Clipper land. It starts with Charlotte. There's some dummies. Y'all drafted him. Very smokey. That was the best draft pick they actually ever drafted. LaMelo's second.

And then they traded it. You know the Hornets drafted Kobe as well. Got it. You know they drafted Kobe too. The Hornets did draft Kobe. No, no, no, no, no. No, that was not the same. That was just like Sinus drafting Scottie Pippen.

It was already an arrangement. I'm just telling you. It was already arranged. It was already arranged. I'm just letting you know what happened. Woo! He could have been a real enemy over there in the Clipper land. Probably would not have been an MVP.

The Clipper curse would have stuck. I know, I know. Braves would not have been as flossy. That would have been weird, a Clipper with an MVP. That's nasty. That's one of them, like, you just act like it never happened. Yeah, that's it. So, official MVP announcement expected tonight.

We will have more on that on Gil's Arena presented by Underdog. Woo-woo. Woo-woo. Tomorrow. Well, let's talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves now as we wait for the smoke to clear after SGA's MVP announcement. So, Ant-Man was averaging nearly 27 points per game heading into the conference finals,

held to 18 points in game one while attempting just 13 shots. He had this to say about what he needs to do on the offensive end. I definitely got to shoot more. I only took 13 fucking shots. But I'll say probably just get off the ball a little more. Play without the ball. I think that'll be the answer. Because playing on the ball,

they're just going to double and sit in the gaps all day. So got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We'll figure it out. Okay. You heard Ant-Man say it himself, Sean. Do you agree? There it is. What Ant-Man saying?

The impact of the paint clogging? If you're watching the game, you see where his hesitancy lies. He's trying to read what they're doing and we watched the game we analyzed we've seen the first five minutes what they was doing and they were switching on everybody else loading up on him and it made it look like a match-up zone he was trying to read it figure out where to where to get his attacking angles from finch has the whole offense up at the top of the key so they don't got no no real down screens no no underneath actions everything's at the top so it's easy to switch and load up so he gonna have to figure out where if off the ball he plays where he gonna get the ball off the ball

if they're just gonna load up and switch everything anyway it's gonna be difficult um you're gonna need Julius Randle to say today at this point. I think he's going to be the one guy that like he did in the first half. He showed up early. He got their momentum early. They up four by half but he can't disappear in the second half. We gotta figure out what that was and make a correction. Because you heard what I said. Well, what do the wolves need to do to help Ant better take advantage

of the Thunder's defense go back to early 2000 man early 2000 basketball like the Thunder are doing 21 three-point attempts to the Wolves 51 who on your team is a threat for us to actually not double you on

right you sitting there trying to do pick and rolls with everyone we're going to double you off of. So go back to early 2000 where the two best players played pick and roll. I'm not going to double you off of Julius.

The fuck? You do a pick and roll with Randall and I try to double you. I throw it back to Randall. Randall's by himself. Right? And then you got to over rotate with somebody that you didn't plan on rotating from because that's not just

your game plan. So the fact that you think you can set a pick and roll with Conley and we're not going to double, we want Conley to shoot a whole bunch of shots. We want Rudy,

we want you to throw it to Rudy. Rudy going there and try to, he try to year-round step from a three-point line and turn around, throw it behind his, like I don't know what the

fuck kind of basketball he plays when he gets the ball, but what do you think is going to happen when they double that? So the only thing that you could do with their defense is a pick-and-roll with Randle. He's going to pop just like Denver does when they get to the fourth quarter. The same two people are pick-and-rolling. How are you going to play? You're going to hard show. You're going to over? You're going to hard show, you're going to switch it. Now you're switching,

now Randall has a smaller guy on him. You should be playing the two-man game. If not, what you going to do? Beat Devin Chinzo now? So you can get all those shots because he took 14 shots and you think like, god damn these side niggas took all these shots. I need to get those

shots because they're doubling me. I'm giving it up. He's shooting it. That needs to be me. I'm sorry, sir. That's not going to happen because nobody's doubling Devin Junzo coming off the pick and roll. Nobody's doubling Conley coming off the pick and roll. Right? I mean, you can do some drops to the mid post and work from there,

but y'all don't have those plays. That's not plays that y'all put into y'all's system. And they play too much one-on-one in the second half. They just go four down. You get the ball and you try to get it. No, just you two work together. If you're going to do one-on-one, let the one-on-one be after you two did something.

Play pick. I pass it to Randall. I come off, see if he's going to give it back. If not, he can pass it, come set the screen. If they're going to double, dive. I mean, it's pretty simple. It's called basketball at 24-Hour Fitness with older guys who can't move very well. Then it just comes pick, pop, slash, duck in.

It's simple. 24-Hour Fitness basketball. Yeah, yeah, with the older guys, not the young niggas. The older guys that don't really want to move no more. They pass. Come set a screen. Get it. You dive.

Keep coming. Hand off. The early morning. You see the early morning offense, man? So we talked about Ant-Man first quarter. Appeared to roll his right ankle. He's done that now in each of the Timberwolves three playoff series. How concerned should the Wolves be with Ant-Man's right ankle

for the remainder of the series? It appeared to be bothering him at points. No, one thing he's going to do is play. He's going to play through that. He ain't got to worry about that. If it ain't broke, he's going to play for sure. He'll be fine. He's going to be fine.

No excuses. No excuse? Yeah, nothing. So let's talk about the Timberwolves as a whole. Minnesota took 51 threes in the game. We're outscored in the paint 54-20. So besides Ann and Julius Randle, their other three starters combined for 16 points, going 6-16 from the field, 1-8 from three,

while their bench trio of Nas Reed, Dante DiVincenzo, and Nikhil Alexander-Walker combined to shoot 7-36 from the field, 5-28 from deep. Here are Ann's thoughts on the Thunder's defense in game one. They clog the paint. That's what they do. They don't got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Go to the rim, it's like four people in the paint. I guess they just be clogging the paint. They put like five, four bodies in the paint, make you kick it out so just keep making the right play it was different it was

kind of it was different every time i mean heavy in the gaps sometimes trap the ball screen sometimes don't sometimes just run and jump it's kind of similar to like aau they remind me of like an aau defensive team just run and jump. Fly around. It's pretty good. Good to get it out of our system in game one. We'll be ready for game two. We should be ready. Wolves scored just 88 points in this game.

Third time this postseason they've been held under 90 points. They're 0-3 in those games. Sonny, what can the Wolves... Third time? Third time this postseason they've scored under 90 points. Yeah, they did one against Golden State. One against the Lakers,

one against Golden State, and one in this. Yeah, they don't have enough scoring over there, dog. Two 88-point games, one 85-point game, if I'm not mistaken. But 0-3 in those games this postseason. So what can the Wolves do

to get more looks near the hoop and not settle for so many threes against the Thunder's AAU defense as Ant-Man described it? I would play Ant in the post. Get the traditional double to help figure out how they're going to scheme for that because there's only a few ways you can. And if they do play it like they played Joker, Ant-Man is a little bit more athletic to make plays at the rim.

Julius Randle is always going to be a ball stopper, but he needs to be put in a different position than that elbow. Maybe the dirt position at the free throw line where he can operate there but not hold the ball. They try to get him the ball there sometimes but he takes too long um even chinzo to me has kind of proven to be overrated in this trade he's not hitting the shots that was expected um he has spurts but he should be a knockdown guaranteed bucket when he's open. He's not delivering. Nikhil doesn't have much expectation outside of just competing with his cousin.

And I think he's been doing that. You know, he hits shots, he hits shots. He don't, he don't. There's not a big expectation outside of that. Nas Reed is probably the biggest one that needs to step up. Yeah, scoreless in the first three quarters. Yeah. Fins the game with four points.

He gets the ball on the post. I think he needs to slow down a little bit, wait for opportunities to score. But they try to exploit mismatches, but they take too long trying to, like, establish their position and just going, just catch and go. And I think they'll see different responses from the OKC. Because they're just, like you said, they're throwing AAU defenses at them. And I told the homies, I was like, look, first quarter, they're going to play like this. Watch, they're going to change their defense all through the game.

So let's switch over to the side of the couch. Mr. B, what do the Wolves need to do to get more looks near the hoop? Stop settling for threes. Or do they keep that same strategy, just hope that they knock down more threes, 51 threes in the game? I mean, you definitely got to hope you make more threes. 29% from three, I believe. I don't think he was ready for the different defenses

that they were going to throw at him. You can tell from what he was saying. But, I mean, making the right plays. I mean, if those guys can knock down those shots, I mean, it's a different game for sure. But, I mean, you know, OKC, I mean, they the right plays, I mean, if those guys can knock down those shots, I mean, it's a different game for sure. But, I mean, you know, OKC, I mean, they're at home, man. It was game one. They did what they were supposed to do.

They came out with way more energy, and, you know, they did what they were supposed to do. But I don't know if I would change too much. I mean, definitely put Ann in better situations than Randolph, but, I mean, those shots are there, man. You got to take them, to me. How about you? What are your thoughts on what the Wolves can do to activate their offense a little more?

To get in the lane? There's nothing they can do to get in the lane more. There's only one dude who actually can get there. I mean, Randolph can get there, but, you know. But for the most part, was it Daniels? Nas Reed? I mean, wasall can get there, but, you know, but for the most part, was it Daniels, Nas Reed? I mean, was Conley? Who are they going to, Devin Chinzo? Who are they going to use to sit there and drive and manipulate the defense?

So expecting these guys to change their game overnight is, come on, it just doesn't even make sense. They might need to switch their lineup a little bit because you literally have, like, we know what Ant-Man's doing. Now, if Ant-Man is the ball handler in the half court and he's doing the pick and roll and initiating the offense, then what is really Conley there for spot up shooting right I mean he's not a defensive stopper you know he's a little

you know so is he there to control the tempo when the like he's he's so you can you can replace him you might put Devin Chinzo there right see if that helps where when I do this pick and roll and you think about doubling me, I'm passing the ball back to Devin Chinzo and see if that helps his shooting and it releases me a little bit more. If not, you go with Daniels at the two since he's gone to point anyway

and then put Nas Reed in and just go a lot bigger. Yeah. But all that, I mean, at the end of the day, Nas Reed shot, how many, 11 threes? He shot 11 threes. One for 11. I think he was over from three. So you got Daniels, a three-point shooter, spot up.

You got Nas Reed, three-point spot up guy, and Randall. So you don't have any dead weight out there. But right now you have three guys on a team that doesn't even think about shooting the ball. That's not a good lineup because they only have one, Lou Dort. He's the only guy in the starting lineup that's not really there

for shooting. The other four, they're putting the ball up a little bit. But Dort has the potential, though, to get out of that. No, I mean, he's going to have the potential. Colley's going to give you seven shots, max, if he's going. Like, he plays damn near perfect basketball, and you can do that coming off the bench.

Changing the tempo up a little bit, you know, trying to make the game a little bit faster, you know. But right now, you know, you have a lineup where you literally scored 88 points against the Lakers? You scored 88 points against Golden State Warriors? Right? I mean, this is... We expected against this team

because they're the fucking number one defense. Yeah. But the other two, hmm... Neither one of those two teams you just mentioned have these high-rated defenses. Yeah, so, you know what I mean? So the fact that you've shown that it is, you struggle from, you struggle at scoring sometimes.

And, you know, I'm pretty sure there's going to be another game in this series if it goes to seven that they're going to score about 95 or lower. And the other team, it's, I mean, they had a horrible first half, and they stayed in the game. Horrible. And when they did in the game. Horrible. And when they did catch fire, game was over.

Plus 30 in the second half for the Thunder. I think that's the bigger issue. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's – Wolves can't win this series putting up – No, they can't win this series anyway. I don't give a fuck what – 48-40. They can't win this series.

Because if you speed the game up, if you speed the game up, it benefits OKC because they have more guys who can put the ball in the basket than you do um it's a game where you literally gonna have to it's a grind this is a straight detroit 2004 i'm trying to keep everybody under 90 points game that's gonna have to be the mindset where it's going to have to be the mindset. Where it's just going to have to be just straight lockdown defense because if you try to get into a running game with the team,

they have the advantage where they have guys who can run. You got Ant-Man. That's it. So you think if they don't change their lineup, you think it'd be over faster? Because you got them in sick.

They're going to catch, listen, those guys are not going to shoot this bad, but even if they shoot distance, they still get their ass whooped. Right? This is a game where you're going to have to switch it. This is... There's some there's just some

series that you have to change shit up there's some series where motherfucker have to be a decoy right you you i mean you know what i mean this might not be your series ant-man because their best defenders are in your position and they're loaded this might be julius this might be his his. He might have the advantage over Harkinstein and fucking Chet here. Do you think he's looking at it like that?

No. No, but that's where it comes in with veterans that's looking and you really have scouts that's looking. That's you being mindful, watching the game, going back. Between now and then, he should have watched this game four times.

Watch it four times. Listen, I had a reality check my first playoff game where I was averaging about 30-something against Chicago Bulls. Struggle game one, struggle game two. Scottie Pippen told our trainer that, hey,

if he wants to win his series he can't beat the score they loading up on him they they are taking him out so he's gonna have to be a passer so i'll watch those two games all day just like fuck you every time i drive here they come here they come here they come here they come here they come had to be a decoy showed him i'm willing to pass the ball. Because, I mean, his contradiction is very different. He said, you know, I need to get off the ball more. Then he also said I got to shoot more. I can't only take 13 shots, so I got to shoot more.

Then he said I got to pass more. You're not going to be able to do both, sir. I think he meant find a scoring more off the ball. Yeah. I know what he means but it's not reality because what he's looking at he's looking at his

off the ball guys getting all the shots but they're getting all the shots because everybody's doubling you right you can go over there

all you want motherfucker we ain't leaving the fuck we just gonna double your ass from here ain't leaving the fuck we just gonna double your ass from here ain't shit changing

so you gotta be smarter than the game plan they motherfucker we got a book right you got the book we we know everything your ass want to do we done we done seen every time you come off the left what you're gonna do when you go left we know you're gonna to do. When you go left, we know you're going to go this step first. Right? You go this way. We know you're going to come to this way. We know everything your ass wants to do. There's new technology. So you have to bring in a whole nother game.

That's different. There's no scouting report on you posting up in the mid post. You don't know how to do that? I'm pretty sure you do. Bring that into the game. Hit the ass with that a couple, three, four times down the lane and see what happens. Run off a double screen down there. Pass

the ball, cut through the lane, pop out on the baseline. Do some of that just naturally. You'll see they won't have no scheme for it. We will see how the Wolves adjust in game two to avoid going down 0-2 in the series. They're not going to adjust. They're just going to hit shots. But thanks to Mando for sponsoring today's podcast.

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Take your word for it. But let's move over to the Easter Conference final. Tips off tonight. I see you guys both rocking your Knicks jerseys. Yeah. Shai, you got the curl. Just in time. Throw it off.

Make sure. Get it right. There it is. Keep it moisturized. See y'all. See y'all. I'm trying to cue you up. So glow. Knicks and Pacers tip off the Eastern Conference Finals with game one tonight, Madison Square Garden.

New York won the season series 2-1, but the teams have not played since early February. The Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, and Jalen Brunson is a big reason why. Before Brunson arrived in New York, the Knicks had eight total playoff wins in the previous 20 years. But in Brunson's time with the team, they have 21 wins in the past three seasons. In 12 games this postseason, Brunson averaged 29 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds on 44-36-82 splits,

and has delivered time and time again when his team needed him the most. So Gil, during a recent playback watch party, you said Jalen Brunson is one of the only players in the league that actually has the Mamba mentality. So I need to ask you, why does Jalen Brunson have the Mamba mentality? The Mamba mentality, the real one, not the commercialized Mamba mentality, but just everybody throw it out, where, you know, they hyper-focus in the last few minutes of the game where precision kicks in, where all details matter, where no matter what happened,

what they were doing those first 43 minutes of the game, it's all irrelevant, right? This is killer time. And, you know, he's probably one of the only players that I've seen in a long time. Kyrie's shown a lot of it. Dame's shown a lot of it. But, you know, consistently, game after game, series after series, he seems like the only one that I've seen in a long time that is the Mamba mentality,

the real definition of what the snake is. I like it. And when you look at Jalen Brunson, would you say that he's a player in the league that has the Mamba mentality? Of course. I think everybody knows where I stand with it all. You know?

I said he was going to be who he is right now. Other people say he should go to Phoenix and be a fourth option. That he wasn't the number one option on the championship team. Here we are. Headed towards the championship. New York is now a culture, son. It is what it is. You know, B.

You're I have heard your you have heard. All right. Everybody is hearing now. Cat is in the building now. Told Jordan to give him some catnip before the game so he could go crazy. He got the New York accent down. You know what I'm saying? Rucker Park, bro.

So, Mr. B, obviously we talked a lot about Halliburton versus Jalen Brunson, but would you look at Jalen Brunson, what he's been able to do the past few seasons with the Knicks? No, he's been doing his thing. You know, last year he got kicked out. You know, he got kicked out by Indiana. This year I'm sure he has a lot of revenge on him, so I'm sure he's going to have that mama mentality that they've been saying.

But, you know, that's another guy on that other side of that floor too, man, you know, that has a chip on his shoulder also. And, you know, he has a lot to prove also, too. And when he wants to kick into that mode with five minutes to go and take it over games, he can do that also. And he also has four or five different guys in double figures in scoring.

So obviously hindsight 2020, but any chance Dallas ends up regretting letting Brunson walk more than trading Lucas? Nah, I think it was for the best. Yeah. Brunson ended up being the same player he is if he stays in Dallas. His game probably gets timed and he gets to come to New York. It was for the best for Brunson.

You know? I mean, Dallas, they still got the number one pick. They still got their pieces over there. But for Brunson, I mean, I'm looking at it like, shit, it was a blessing. I'm in New York, biggest market, Eastern Conference Finals. Like, I got a chance to do something that hasn't been done in New York for a long time. Different. Agreed.

Agreed. You got blessed into the right situation. It's the ideal, perfect thing. They've cultivated this team around and brought some of his Nova Knicks. That's what the underdog situation, you know, it allows you to present yourself an opportunity to mold something from the start. You know what I'm saying? I think New York needed somebody to come in and help Julius Randle make it look like something. You know, you had RJ and those guys up there trying to do something in New York.

They were all young. You bring Brunson in and you start getting some type of structure. And I think it all comes from his dad, to be honest. Who was on the Knicks coaching staff. Shout out Rick Brunson. He don't get enough credit. I think he should get more credit of how he's cultivated a leader. And Jalen, understand it ain't about me. It's about we it's about we it's we not me. And when it's we not me, everybody eats because it's New York, son. Everybody eats be everybody likes a life father like Rick Brunson on the last conference final team in 2000. Now He'll be the shortest guard to win it since...

If he wins... If they win a championship since Isaiah Thomas. Right, because he's... How old is he? In the last 50 years? 6'1", 6'2". Yeah, right?

Oh, as the main guard. Yes, as the number one option. The last one was Isaiah Thomas. Wow. Wow. I mean, you know, Steph is 6'4", but if you're going to use

Steph, it's them three in the last 50-something years. Okay. So, Knicks bested Boston six games, but had to overcome 20-point deficits game one and two. They bested who? Boston. The Celtics? Yeah.

The New York Knickerbockers in their previous series. Go ahead, continue my bad. Okay, overcame 20-point deficits game one and two, trailed by as much as 14 points in five of the six games in the series. Go ahead. Continue my bad. Okay. Overcame 20-point deficits in game one and two. Trailed by as much as 14 points in five of the six games in the series. Obviously, they spoke at length about how they would like to avoid doing that. Obviously, loved winning those games, but would not want to put themselves in position. Do have to come back from those deficits.

So what do the Knicks need to do to be more consistent and avoid having to overcome big deficits in this series. Oh, yeah. Lakers in five. What would the Knicks have to do? Lakers in five. That's what they need to just think about that. Lakers in five.

We don't want to be like them. We get it right. Lakers in five. No, no, no. It ain't going to be like them. We get it right. Lakers in five? No, no, no. It ain't going to be that easy now. They got Hallie over there that can run the show. And, you know, when they're making shots and they have, you know, four or five guys and double figures in scoring, Indiana's dangerous. Yeah.

You know, your take on Siakam, you know, not taking the next leap, but I think everything that he's done for that team, you know, Indiana has beenam, you know, not taking the next leap. But I think everything that he's done for that team, you know, Indiana has been good, you know, for them. I want to talk to Siakam about the pace of the month, but you're just looking at this Knicks squad. Been great at times, been terrible at times. Terrible on the defensive side, communication issues,

not having a sense of urgency, had to have a team meeting after the Celtics smacked them in game five to get their minds right. We talked about that earlier this week. I see you staring at me. No issue with this Pacers squad. They defeated them last season. Obviously, it was a different Knicks team. They didn't defeat the New York Knicks.

They defeated a bench squad last year. No OG Ananobi, Brunson Hurt. Yeah, they defeated a bench squad. So, all right, they can go into this series thinking that this is the New York team that they played last year when it's not. They played against a bunch of 6th and 7th, 8th men. There's a Mikael Bridges. There's a Cat.

Yeah. I mean, he's been playing like Kitty Cat, but, you know. Cat and Mousetrap. Hopefully he comes in as Tony the Tiger because this could be his series. It's not the same team. Right? because this could be his series, it's not the same team, right? So they could and should get their ass smacked out the building. So do you feel like, Gil,

Cat is the X factor in the series? You said this could be his series. Why do you feel that way? Because he's playing against a guy that's kind of like him, but not very physical, right? You know, so it plays to how he plays the game. I mean, listen, as long as he gives, he's going to give you the 20, 19 to 23 and 10.

He's not the X. The X factor is that OG dude. OG is the X factor here because he was horrible in the last series. I mean, it was a game where I think he had two, four. He had a two game. He had a four game.

He had a five game, I think, in the last series. And they beat the Boston Celtics. Yeah, but maybe not. Right? So if he just is consistent across the board, if he just averages, just average 15, this is a different series. So five in game two, two in game three.

Five points in game two, two points in game three, six points in game five. Yeah, yeah. See, he can't have those games. He can't have that now. We don't need – we need consistent. Right? The Nova Knicks, they consistent at what they do. So them three, we good.

If you bring what you bring, that's good. OG, if OG brings this just 15 to 17 guaranteed, this series is over. That's going to be tough against Siakam. Siakam can't stick everybody. Well, I mean, he'll be guarding him, right? And then Cat and Miles Turner, they exit each other out.

They might put Siakam on Cat. So, Mr. B, I know where... They wear it over there in Indiana. I know where your leanest is lying in this particular series, but who's the X Factor for the Knicks in this series? Oh, no, ask who the X Factor is particular series, but who's the X Factor for the Knicks in the series? Oh, no, ask who

the X Factor is. Who's going to help the X Factor over there with the Indianas? Oh, Siakam. For sure. Okay, well, that's not the question.

Wow. What was the question? Who's the X Factor for the New York Knickerbockers? Damn, they hate the Knicks that bad. They don't even want

to talk on the Knicks. He's Indiana. Yeah, yeah. So I said, tell him to talk about his team. So the Xicks. He's Indiana. Yeah. So I said, tell him to talk about his team. So the X Factor is the number one option. Or the second.

Number two option. So the number two option. So you don't even rely him just to be the number two option? Yeah, he's number two. And then Miles Turner and the Cat, they exit each other out. So that's whatever. I mean, yeah. And then. They just exit each other out. Yeah, they's number two. And then Miles Turner and Cat, they exit each other out. So that's whatever. I mean, yeah. And then...

They just exit each other out. Yeah, they the same. They just average 24 and just watch that shit, hun. He won't do it this series. He just watch that, hun. Just 12, just watch it out, just 24. Listen, they going to be the same in this series. Let's move over to Sonny.

Hey, how tall is Curry? He needs to make money. How tall is Curry? 6'3"? 6'3"? 6'3 1⁄2". Shoes? Shoes.

Yeah, why? They think he's 6'1", because he's skinny. Who, Steph? Yeah. I think Steph is like 6'3". What the fuck? Who said that? I don't know.

How did the chat think he's little? He's skinny. He's not tall. You stood next to him. I was standing next to him. You stood next to him, and you said that he was much taller than you. Yeah, I was like, oh, he's much taller than I thought he was. Sonny properly moisturized the curl.

Who is the X Factor in this series for the Knicks? Josh Hart. Josh Hart. Josh is the heart of the Knicks. So when Josh shows up to do more than the bare minimum, the Knicks, they go, they steamroll, they play at a certain level of urgency that, you know, Josh resonates throughout the whole. Like, if you're not doing what Josh is doing, it's almost like get off the court type shit.

He ain't got to say nothing. I like that energy. And I think Brunson feeds off of that because he knows that that's Josh telling him to pick it up. And I think when that happens, Bridges sees Bridges sees it as a. All right. I take the challenge, too. So they start hitting shots. They start hustling harder. And then you got Mitchell Robinson. You know, he goes out there. He can be another X factor that can get you a double double out of nowhere. Get you three blocks. He hustles between those two. I'm looking for those guys to show up.

It ain't too much now at this point. You're here, might as well win. It's in New York. We are New York. It's why not? Why not? You're... You're...

I got that boy coming in time. Tell y'all. Part two. Part two. All right, so let's shift over to the Pacers side of this preview. Pacers head to Eastern Conference Finals. Tell me, uh... Part two. Part two. All right, so let's shift over to the Pacers side of this preview. Pacers head to Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season. Last season, they got swept by the Celtics.

They posted gentleman sweeps against the Bucs and top-seeded Cavs this postseason. Both of those squads were dealing with injuries to key players. Tyrese Halliburton been trying to send a message after getting named the league's most overrated player. Ten games this postseason, Halliburton's averaging 18 points, nine assists, six rebounds, 48-34-79 shooting splits. Enters the conference finals coming off arguably his best game this postseason where he dropped 31 points, eight assists,

and six rebounds to eliminate the Cavs in game five. So Mr. B, which version of Tyrese Halliburton do the Pacers need to be successful in the Eastern Conference Finals? What's the sign say? Hostile territory. Hostile territory. That's the approach that he needs. Very hostile?

Yeah, the whole series. I mean, they doubted you. They said you was the worst, most overrated player. They kicked your dad out. They don't like you. You look like you're a stand-up guy. You get your teammates involved. You know what I'm saying? You play

the point guard position like a pure point guard that I haven't seen in a minute. And yeah, at the end of the day, it's an exciting time though, like I said before, for each of these teams, for each of these young superstars because somebody's about to hold up that crown for the first time.

I need you two gentlemen to remove your Knicks bias for just a moment. Yeah, come on, man. For just a moment. And Rick Collar, shout out to him. Shout out to Jim Carrey. Which version of Tyrese Halberd do the Pacers need to be successful in the Eastern Conference Final? We got the scoring highly.

We got the facilitating highly. Sometimes they come together. I'm just going to go with statistics. And statistics is playing against Hallie. And the statistics are because he averages a lot of assists and he's the point guard on the team, it would be hard for them to win a championship because that means there's not a go-to guard on the team, it would be hard for them to win a championship because that means there's not a go-to guy on the team.

Because if there's a go-to guy on the team, that guy has the ball majority of the time. So it would be hard for Hallie to be Hallie. So the fact that he is the best player and he's the point guard and he's averaging about nine assists you know in history history has shown that that is actually hard to do um Kyle Lowry averaged you know 8.7 assists I think he was a second or third option whatever you want to call second option to Dirk.

And after that, you're talking about going all the way back to Magic Johnson. You know, so the fact that if your point guard is averaging 9, 10 assists, that means your fucking team is not that good individually. So,

he's going to average half the average your fucking team is not that good individually. He's going to average, have to average, about 26, 27, and 7. Once he starts getting into that 10, 11, 12 assist games, that means the people around him are just sitting there like atmosphere waiting for their waiting to be fed so Pacers has seven players average double figures during the regular season but you're saying that needs to shift they can't distribute the ball around that history says it needs to shift not me history the average point guard the average assist for a point guard that won a championship average since if you take magic out and then go last 30 something years

shit last 40 years you're talking about average about four point four point one assist a game so that can't change it could no what i'm but what i'm saying is no lead point guard that averaged that many assists won a championship right so that's like kyle lowry is the the the the one who has the most assists in regular season that won the chip then from there it was like um the Amaral so um what's in it so what does average huh Avery Johnson so Avery Johnson so Avery Johnson um kid when he went to Dallas the second time. So what does Luka average?

Huh? I said, what does Luka average in assists? He's averaging nine. He didn't win the championship, so. They did not. Did Holly make it

to the conference finals last year? He did make it to the Eastern Conference Finals with his Pacers squad. He averaged like 26. Let me see. I do not think so.

Let me pull it up. I don't see why we would have to change anything that we've done to get here successfully two years in a row. Now we're the healthy group. I think we just need energy. You know what kind of energy we need? The 1894. 1894 in the Eastern Conference. We need just need energy. You know what kind of energy we need? The 18-9 and 4. 18-9 and 4 in the Eastern Conference. We need Bucs energy.

Uh-uh. We need Bucs energy. That's what Brandon didn't say. Brandon's supposed to tell Holly, you're supposed to play like you played against us. So we have the same thing? As we did last year? Two games in the Eastern Conference.

Woo! I don't know if Lane and Holly need to do nothing but just say, yeah, it's the Bucs. Dame and them. I'm going to give y'all that energy because we know where that energy takes us. That's all you need to do. Water boy. Against the hurt Bucs?

Water boy. Think about water boy. Water boy. Water sucks. Think about the Bucs. Water sucks. But New the Bucs. Water sucks. Now he got high quality H2O. But New York a different team though than the Bucs. Yeah, no, just motivation.

We just talking about motivation for Holly. He already took down a couple dudes. Just look at him like them. He had energy for them. Remember your pops he was on there like this? Remember how y'all was calling me over the radio? Y'all was talking all that shit to me. Yeah, we got that

same energy. Yeah. Well, let's talk a little about Pascal Siakam, first or second option depending on how you view it. Led the Patriots

in scoring a regular season, 20 points per game. Like I said, something like their number one option up for debate. So far in this playoffs, Siakam averaging

19.6 rebounds, three assists, shooting 55% from the field, 44% from three. But Gil, you said that's not enough. He needs to take over being a dominant. One of them has to be dominant because you got fucking third options averaging

20 points a game. Damn near close. So, I mean, you're... But we got seven different guys that's double figures in scoring so that means it's like the ball that's what's happened to Wolves Wolves thought that same shit

that means your 5th and 6th and 7th option has taken 15-16 shots that's your chance of winning no so I can let's try like this if Brunson took 13 shots and Josh Hart took 15, do you think they won that game?

I mean, depends on, I mean, I mean, but shit, but Brunson's going to get to the free throw line. And Josh is going to have a triple-double. I'm just saying. So Pacers got five players averaging more than 10 field goal attempts per game. Yacoum leaves them at 13.9. I mean, the ball is. 14.

Hallie at 13.3. Team game. Team is being out at 11. Please don 14. Holly at 13.3. Team game. Is Miles Hunter at 11? Please don't change. Please don't change. I mean, I just feel like Holly at the last five minutes, he's going to end up taking over the game. But I just like the fact that it's, I mean, dude,

they'd be seven dudes in a double-figure score. How are you going to beat, I mean. That sounds. I mean, that means. Let's see basketball. Sounds cool. I go with history, man. I don't go with my opinion.

I go with the history. History tells you what's... History's saying OKC's winning the championship. If OKC is winning the championship, history is saying it. I'm sorry. So, are you saying that, basically, back to these Pacers,

that Halle and Siakam need to basically just take over, and one of the two of them... One of them, or both of them, both need to dominate. If I'm relying on my third or fourth option to be be me i mean that's what we're talking about i said you know you go back to shaq and kobe we i'm expecting rick fox the average 14 for us to win no we have to be dominant for them to be open so you can you can listen if it's working for you up to this far

keep doing what you're doing. But I can tell you what history is saying. History is saying that this is an OKC championship. If Knicks make it to the championship and Wolves make it, Knicks is making it to the winning championship.

Holly has a damn near 0% chance of winning. He'll be the first person in history to be the best player and average that many assists and win a chip. History is not on his side the way he plays the game. Because it shows no one is dominating individually that's putting the team in danger.

That's what history is saying. What are his stats through the games of the last series? Okay. And there was nobody dominant on the Pistons when they won the championship. The Pistons? Rip. Nobody dominant. Rip was the number one.

Nobody dominant. So versus the Cavs and the Eastern Semis, he averaged 17.7 assists, five rebounds. You know what I'm saying? Give me the four games. What was his points? So game one, 22 and 13 assists. 21? No, I'm saying give me that the four games. What was his what was his points? So Game 1 22 13 is this series 21 a 22 and 13 assists game 2 19 4 assists game 3 4 points 5 assists game 4 11 5 and 5 and then in game 5 He had 31 points 6 rebounds 8 assists and they ended up winning 4-1. They won 4-1 and how many games did he have less than?

15 points two of those? Two of those games. Two of those games. He don't have to do all that shit to get a W. He know that. Because he got his guys playing well. And if I need to show out, step out, step on you, I will. And I'll

show you that. It's good. But he's going up against the Knicks. You heard? I have heard. Different beast. All right, let's go. Series predictions. Mr. B, we'll start with you.

Who wins the Eastern Conference Finals in how many games? Pacers in seven. Pacers in seven. Let's move over. I want to say Knicks in four. But I'm going. I want to say Knicks in four. But I'm going to be reasonable and say Knicks in... I'm going to say six, but it's going to be five. I'm saying six, but it's going to be five.

But it's going to be five. Okay. Let's move over to Sonny. I'm broke, baby. I'm broke, baby. Knicks in six. Knicks in six. Oh, Lakers in five.

We are no longer talking about the Lakers. They're still playing, right? They're volleyball in Cancun. Spirited Gang. Lakers is five. A lot of teams are with them. Talks on Tuesday. Talks on Tuesday.

Are the Lakers going to come to New York? Are the Lakers going to come to New York? For what? For the game. No, we smoked Celtics packs. No. You guys are on your own now. Oh, shit.

We smoked the Celtics pack. Our job is done. We've done all that we can. That's crazy. We've done all that own now. Oh, shit. We smoked the Celtics back. Our job is done. We've done all the weekend. That's crazy. We've done all the weekend. That's crazy. We got one last thing to talk about before we get to mostly fans. WNBA season tipped off last weekend,

featured a matchup between last season's rookie of the year, Kaitlyn Clark, and all-star Angel Reese. According to ESPN, the two games that ran on their network, the Sky Fever and Aces Liberty, were the most watched opening weekend ever on their platforms. With the Sky Fever taking the crown. On what platform? 2B?

Oh. I'm sorry. I'm thinking this is two years ago. I'm thinking it's two years ago. You said, you did say ESPN. I did say. I just, I heard tube. Okay.

Go. All right. Well, according to ESPN, the Sky Fever was the most watched WNB game ever on their platforms, including regular season and postseason games. The game drew 2.7 million average viewers, peaking at 3.1 million viewers, up 115% versus last year's ABC regular season coverage. But the game wasn't without controversy, obviously, after Clark's frequent foul on Reese led to a scuffle with Reese and Aaliyah Boston getting texts and reports of racial slurs being directed

at Reese from the fever crowd. But one thing we do know, whenever these two players match up, people are going to watch it. So are we witnessing what will become the biggest rivalry in WNBA history in real time? I know y'all say it's not a rivalry, but it has been crafted as such, even though they don't play the same position

when their teams meet up. Crafting to be one of the biggest? I mean... Are we seeing it in real time? Yeah. For WNBA? For the W. I know it was super

Taurasi was kind of one, but you know, I mean because they was winning and kind of one, but, you know, I mean, because they was, you know, winning and playing against each other. But, you know, this this I mean, this rivalry has been started from before we knew who these girls were. Middle middle junior high, ninth grade Olympic teams. You know, it started way back there and then fell into college and, you know, it then carried over to here. So I think for the game itself, what more can you ask for? I mean, you can you can complain and cry and do whatever you want to say. But right now we're all watching. We're all reacting to it.

And and no one's disappointed. A lot of tension, though. No, I like it. I like it because of the history of it, you know, since high school. They've been going at it. So the history of it, the stories behind it since college, both of them being successful, you know, coming to the WNBA, helping the game grow, you know, especially right now where the social media is and everything is

right now in the world. You know, it's definitely a good look for the WNBA. And I can't wait to see it for years, for years and years to go on. I mean, you got Juju coming, you got Hannah Adelgo, you got Olivia Miles, you got all these different women coming up in the WNBA. So, yeah, this is just the start of it. It's the start of something new and something dope.

Sharmoudi, over to you. Or Winston will become the biggest rivalry in WNBA history in real time. I just can't agree. I don't think it's one-sided. I don't think Kaitlyn thinks of it as a rivalry at all. I think she just comes to the hoop,

and she knows that she's got a competitor coming to the hoop against her, and she wants to beat her every time she plays against her. I think that it's nothing personal with Kaitlyn. I think that she loves to go out there and try to win. She got beat up all last year. She didn't complain. She got up. She kept going.

I think Angel feels like she has to prove something, but she don't. You know, she's already established. She's already dominant. She has her position. She has her role. She can dominate in that role. She's proven that. So I think that forcing a robbery would be a bit much,

but I think when they both hit the court, they both know that they're going to bring it. And I think it's been oversaturated with this thing about picking sides, race and all that. I think they're just two competitive hoopers that really are like, one of them might not like the other one, the other one might not think the other one is whatever. But they both got respect for each other in their games.

And I respect that part. And it's entertainment. And I think everybody can get sensitive. You know, people out there trying to fight each other over the damn foul. And it's funny, but I think it's all good for the WNBA as far as competitively. And everybody on the outside want to take it a step further and all that. That's on them. But I think between Kaitlyn and her, it's not really a rivalry.

It's just let's go out here and let's hoop. That was the beginning of my next question. Is the media fans pitting kaylin clark and angel reese against each other good or bad for the growth of the wmba i think the numbers show amazing people want to rock you want controversy i mean this is i mean this is since college right when she did the thing in her face like this has been this has been good views for them i mean i'm listen if you go if you just track the history back, I mean, you can see as a number two player in the country, which was Angel Reese, and she wasn't put onto some of those Olympic teams.

You know what I mean? It could have started there. We don't know. You know what I mean? But you can see the top five, the number two player was never put on the team. It was basically the other way around. It was basically, it was the other way around. It was Pages. She was the love child of that age group growing up until she got hurt.

So right now, they have a rivalry. They didn't have one. If they did two years ago, we didn't know about it. Right? The NBA had, we didn't know about it. Right? The NBA had, you know, Magic and Bird. Follow the blueprint. If white America want to push her up, let them.

Shit, if black America want to push her up, let them. You motherfuckers want to sit at the games and half and half fans. It's going to get everybody if I can go to one of the football arenas and sell half to the blacks, half to the whites. If you're

going to pay, I'm going to charge you. God damn it. If you want white only goddamn water and black only water, that's what, this is America God damn it. So this, we're not, we're pretending like this is not a real thing, but we're sitting there arguing. So me, I'm playing to both fucking sides.

White jerseys for one, black jerseys for the other. If that's what you motherfuckers want to do to make yourselves feel better, then go. But it is still basketball. And however you want to perceive the game, it's your way to perceive it. But it's two girls playing great, because the only thing y'all not talking about is actually the basketball part of it. Right?

If one hits one, the other one hits. I don't give a fuck. She got 30. She got 20 and 20. It's still the game of basketball. And that is what comes first for them two. What everybody does after, that's y'all on how y'all want to sell this

product but the girls are bringing the product on how they bring it Caitlin's doing what Caitlin's doing Angel Reese is

doing what Angel Reese is doing and we do not condone segregation in the arena merely talking about from a Reverend New

Jeter and standpoint hey listen if you want to piss off each other get it back we do we do you're doing it

online anyway. Shit, just put a package together, God damn it. So we talk about the toxic nature of discourse in the NBA, but are we starting to feel that now on the WNBA side?

Seems like fans are getting very toxic with each other. It's going to a whole other level. It's good for them. And it's not about basketball anymore. I don't agree. It's a narrative. It's good. And it's not about basketball anymore. I don't agree. It's a narrative. Where's the proof?

Of which one? Being toxic. Oh, I think. Very active on social media. Everybody loves this game, man. Fan base is still going at each other. And the people who do

disrespect the game, the people around them will point them out immediately. They're going to know, yeah, we support this guy saying some nasty shit to this person. Nobody does that. So we got proof of it. He can't come back to this game no more.

She can't come back. They can't do that. We've done it before. But we have seen that a ton on the men's side, though. We see it, yeah, and we get rid of them. Where arguments get very nasty, very toxic, disrespectful, go above and beyond this basketball this yeah it all happened you know it happens it happens you know there's there's there's diabolical people but yeah it's all right bring it in yeah man it's like don't let it affect

it's like it's not to the point where you ain't heard none of the shit that's going on before right not new so you shouldn't be sensitized to it. Shouldn't be so like, oh, he said this. Oh, we can't say that. Oh, you're black and I'm white. And, yo, relax, bro. This is not 1932. We all get money together, man. Let's get money together, bro. As long as the WNBA girls, which is, you know, majority black, as long as they're not feeding into it and it's still just a game to y'all. Like, as long as y'all treating it like a basketball game still, let the rest of us do what we do. All right? Don't tell me how to get my motherfucking views. Right?

Because two years ago. Huh? Because if you think this is too much, then go back to two years ago. Where they were simulating y'all games. 4 a.m. in the morning. BET uncut. Nobody watched.

Right? Let's just be honest so there was a time where we wasn't paying attention as we are now now we want to be involved we want to talk our shit we want to pick our sides

let us do what we do because the more we're doing what we're doing the more your revenue is going up all you do is just keep up produce the jerseys Because the more we're doing what we're doing, the more your revenue's going up. All you do is just keep up. Produce the jerseys. Produce the wear. We won't let us pick sides.

Have one side all Caitlyn Clark dolls. One side all Angel Reese dolls. And we're going to see who's going to sell out who. And there should be a counter on that motherfucker. Let the world know Angel Reese doll selling out too much what you think is going to happen

all white coming through shutting the building down come on man this is America this is what sells if you thought your game just sold the game then y'all would have been sold out two years before they even came in here.

It sold out college basketball and it's selling out now. Some of y'all having career years. We'll see it. When we look at the box score of the people we want to look at. Oh, she had 30 miles? They ain't mention her tomorrow, whatever her name is. Yeah, mention her tomorrow.

But other than that, I mean, the game is a game. Let the two people who's breaking down the walls break down the walls because everybody eats. The game has to be built. It was built off of

the Cheryl Swoops, the Lisa Lesleys, the Robos, the Don Stanton. It was built off of the Cheryl Swoops, the Lisa Lesleys, the Robos, the Don Stanton. It was built then. Rebecca Lobo. Rebecca Lobo. The big one. Big Bird. The Robo. You just call her Big Bird. Maya Moore. Rebecca. Rebecca Robo.

Oh my lord. Rebecca Lobo. See, I don't even know the motherfucking full name. Just Big Bird. Big Bird. Big Bird. Robo. See, I don't even know the motherfucking full name. You try. Just Big Bird. Big Bird. Big Bird. You know, man.

Big Bird. You do it. Big Bird. Regular Discord. And then, and then. Here it goes again. My mother. My mother.

So, Ross and them came in. Candice Parker, right? They did their job. Right? Sue Bird, they did their job. Right? Keeping it afloat. And that's what it is. They kept it afloat, and that's what it is.

They kept it afloat. Now you got two girls. Like I said, we're seeing a lot more toxic, I think, on this side, you can say as narrative, but that's a part of all sports. It's all sports. We see that fan is short for fanatic. What they're doing is nothing. People are wild. This ain't nothing. We just getting started.

Wait till we start talking about the game. You don't think we know shit. Y'all miss a lot of lips around that, but wait till we start actually depicting the game. Right now, this shit just fun us. Or they start hiring us to commentate for the WNBA game. I'm not ready yet. I'm ready.

You have done a playback watch party. You did a watch party for the Scott's. I did a ready yet. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm not ready. You have done a playback watch party. You did a watch party for the Sky Kids. I did a watch party. I am not really ready. I don't know. I'm not mature enough. For real? To go play by play yet.

Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. How far do you think you are from the NBA? The NBA is way more easier to follow. Like, they move the ball. Like, they backhand. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's so many times somebody can get hit and hit. Listen, they actually, listen, I'm learning the game more watching them Yeah There's only times how many wide open layups get hit with the hit get your head hit with the ball a couple times before you Just start giggling in the sky the diggings Come on now. They was hooping. Fast break layup, jump off the wrong leg with the wrong arm,

looking the wrong way. Just can't catch it at all. Just can't put your hands on it. Like, how about this? Like, majority, not everybody. You got some skilled, but just think Rudy Goldberg when he dives and they pass on the ball. What we see there, WNBA. You just never know.

Very skilled. You just never know. There's a big difference between talent and Rudy Goldberg. Underdog does not support the views expressed on this program. I'm just not maturely ready yet to just. Thank you for being honest. How far away do you think you are from being maturely ready? Ten years. Okay, ten years. We'll are from being maturely ready? Ten years.

Ten years. 2035, we will get the pick of Guild WP. But in the meantime, let's move on to Mostly Fans. Presented by the good folks at Underdog. Download the Underdog app. Use promo code Guild. Get up to $1,000 in bonus cash

plus a special pick'em. So, our first question from the chat. Underdog user MustBeTheMoney24, should a player's entire playoff run be considered and who wins the finals MVP? No, it's called finals. I just read the questions. Say it again.

Should a player's entire playoff run be considered and who wins the finals MVP? I believe the finals MVP is the finals of the NBA finals. No, because it's two different awards. They got the playoffs one. You get the playoffs before you get to the finals. Like right now, okay. Right now, if they had to vote on playoffs MVP,

who gets that award? Brunson. Brunson? Okay. But and also we talked about maybe having an all all playoff team

and things like that. Like what I'm saying is like right now Oh no. It shouldn't be round to round though because What did you say?

Holly? It's either because if you if what do you prefer? Because they're going to go by the points. Or what do you value Holly? It's either... Because if you... Because they're going to go by the points. Or what do you value as a... Oh, me? If you have a personal preference of which one you're going to pick,

it's do I prefer somebody who's scoring a lot or do I prefer somebody who's getting the team involved? But we're both at the same point. So you can't say winning is going to make a difference. So you've got to say, all right, this nigga got to double-double. And he's averaging this. He's bringing two things to the game. All right, so I'm going to say Holly then.

Holly is 17-9. That's fine. And what's the name? It's 28-7. In the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah. In the playoffs. In the playoffs. Brunson is their all-

Remember, like I said, we in the same place. And one got seven guys in double figures in scoring. But he's 28-7. That's a lot.

No, no. No, I get it. You're only two more assists. I mean, 11 more points. What's the other one, though? What's the rebounds?

But we win it. But we win it, though. Five. Both winning. You're in the same spot. I can't change. I can't. Because it's two different.

They play in two different styles. One style worked for one team. The other style worked for one team. Right, right. For sure. Brunson is the only one whose numbers in all playoffs right now, he's the only one whose numbers went up in the playoffs. Everybody else has went down.

Okay, so, yeah. I mean, I'm going to go highly, but it would go Brunson for sure. Plus rebounds, plus assists, plus points. Question is this. You take Brunson out, doesn't play. Does the Knicks still win? No. They got Cat, remember?

No. They got Bridges, remember? No, they don't. They don't win. They don't win. They don't win. All right, so if you take Holly off, does the Pacers win? Yeah. They have no chance.

I don't know. Cat, OG, Brunson. You got seven guys who can score. I mean, Cat, OG, Bridges, and Hart. But you have seven guys who can score because Tyrus Halliburton. He's getting them the ball. How many assists? He's not averaging them. Because everybody else is still hurt.

He's not averaging those nine assists go out the window. Everyone is scoring. Miles Turner not averaging nothing like that. Yacob got to get his shit off the glass. So you're talking about they got to play with the white. So nine assists per game is the playoff. Or nine heart.

Nine assists are in the regular. Are the Pacers winning with that? I mean, they playing against the Hurt Bucks. They don't got nothing else in the second line of defense. Like he said, he said, Pascal Siakam came in to be the number one guy, ended up being the number two guy. Like Neem

Hart. He wasn't even the number one guy up in Toronto. Andrew Evans just five assists. You take, you take, uh, what's the name of, he gonna go up four assists and average nine. Take the highly awesome team. New York is still the better team.

More experience, everything. New York is not still more experienced because, uh, Indiana just went last year. But they only got the experience they got as far as the years is fucking Miles Turner and Siakam. If you take Javier, you still got the number one option who averaged 27 rebounds.

Take Brunson out. 15, 16, 10, 12. You got Bridges, Hart, and Cat. Right, do they average that? And OG. Right, but they still got six guys in double figures in scoring. Yeah, but those double figures not going to be double figures. They're not getting the ball. But it doesn't matter about who, if we leave it right. So who says that they're going to be without Brunson?

Because he's not averaging 9, 10 assists a game. Brunson's not passing the ball. You're averaging 9. We can take that 7 because we got four other guys. Credible. Four other credible guys. Y'all got one other credible guy. Siakam.

That's it. Everybody else, move. We got these. They like, man, they ain't ready for this. We good. We got it. Brunson, chill. Brunson, chill.

We going to run it through Bridges. That's a toss-up. We going to run it through Bridges. That's a toss-up. Hey, Bridges, what you want to do? Now we're going to run it through Cat. What Cat say? Cat.

And then Cat and Miles Turner, they X. And then OG, what you want to do? OG versus who? Siakam? Run it back. All right. Good luck with that. I mean, Bridges, you better be hitting.

How much did Siakam get? 200-something? All right. I'm just saying he's the only one. I think it's a toss-up. I think it's a toss-up if they both. Shays' number's down. Brunson averaged 24 this year.

No, no, 26. You take that 26, right? For regular season, he's averaging 28. You say Bridges and Hart and Cat, y'all got to shoot more. Yeah, 26-7 and three rebounds. It's like everybody else. But you say you got to shoot more. You're telling them you got to shoot more.

Right. Those three guys. They got to hit. In comparison to who got to shoot more. 29, 8, and 4 rebounds. You're telling who got to shoot more. Huh? My house turned.

26-7, three rebounds, regular season, 28. Or 29, 8, and 4 rebounds. I mean, as I said, he's the only one that's positive. The other all the three of us there is after everybody else is down chance. Yeah, not a chance. Oh gee Bridges and cat versus who Miles Turner who see I come in and Neimhart. Yeah. No, all right. No chance that chance with Josh Hart running around doing Iron Man shit.

They should because they have finals MVP. See that, that, that. Eastern Conference, Western Conference finals MVP. That should be the playoff MVP. That should be changed. That, that, that. And then finals make it its own thing. Yeah, because it's been its own thing. They just added this award. This award should be changed. That, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,

that, that, to the championship. First round, second round, and third round. So if a motherfucking first round has seven games and a nigga average 70, he's considered playoff MVP. But what if he gets to the conference finals and only averages five points? I'm just saying, do you take the whole body?

It's still your whole playoff. Depends on your average. It's your whole playoff. Your whole body worked in the playoffs pre-NBA finals. Yes. So shouldn't that count?

Should be MVP. Shouldn't that count, though? What? In the easier games before getting to the important game, you played well and then you got to the important game, you played well, and then you got to the important game and you played bad.

No, it's still the playoffs. It's on your average, though. It's called playoffs. That's what I'm saying as far as even averages, right? The easier team, you play well. The easier team, you play well. The harder team, you shit the bed. But we win?

No, you lose. But still? you lose. You lose. That's what I'm saying. That's been a lot of guys that's played good, played good, played good, shit the bed. But if I average 29, 8, and 8, and you average, you know, 16, but you had a great this one, these great four games, like, it's the playoff.

Playoff MVP, right? Shouldn't it offset, though? Seeing that you did play good for these and you didn't when it counted. It's the body of work. I played good when it counted. Body of work. It's the body of work.

I know. I'm saying. I'm just saying. Is there no trade-off for that? But that's why they got the Eastern Conference Finals MVP now. Like, that's why I said it's this weird one.

Like, finals. Eastern Conference Finals MVP, then finals MVP. It's got to be for that series.'s what I said no it's just for that but that's one should be all three series combined for sure I like it but I don't know who knows we'll see

but appreciate you gentlemen shout out to everybody out there that supported the 10 toes music video King Sonny Black I appreciate y'all y'all already know it's music video, King Sonny Black. I appreciate y'all. Y'all already know. It's Sonny. Money making Sonny.

And shout out to everybody who supports Gil's Arena and pulls up every day. Appreciate you, gentlemen. You make it. OG crew right here. We got our Knicks fans in here. We got our Pro Fans. Eastern Conference Finals.

Tips off tonight. We'll be on Playback watching, so make sure you pull up to playback.tv slash Gilbert Arenas. This has been another episode of Gilbert Arenas presented by Underdog. Whoa, whoa! We'll see y'all tomorrow!

Yeah! Thank you. Thank you. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you