The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #56: Playoff Talk with ESPN’s Justin Tinsley

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Jack and Producer Jabari were honored to be joined by the Anscape writer, author and Around The Horn Panelist Justin Tinsley for today’s episode. The trio reacted to each series and provided insight on what to possibly expect moving forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark vs. Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball.

And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Diet Coke. Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. Well, well, well, as is the catchphrase that starts this podcast. It's playoff time, baby.

We're taking a look at each series, discussing the 2-1-1 theory with the incredibly talented and scape writer around the horn panelist author Justin Tinsley on today's episode. This is the most excited I've been about the NBA since we've been doing this podcast. It's money time. I'm pumped. Let's get it. I'm Jack O'Brien. And I'm Jabari Davis in for Miles.

And this is... Miles and or... And I'm Jabari Davis in for Miles. And this is... Miles and or... Jack and or Jabari. Sometimes Jabari. Jabari and Jack got mad boosties. That has a nice ring to it. Jabari and Jack got mad boosties. J-J-A-G-M-B.

Three on one. Davis. Love. LeBron. There you go. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron.

LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron.

LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron.

LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron.

LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. There you go. Embiid driving, spinning, fading, hitting. Curry, a three-pointer. Bang! Steph Curry from downtown again. Giannis with the take.

Uh-oh, look out. A little showtime. What you got, Giannis? Justin, wonderful to have you. Justin Tinsley, thank you for joining us. What's going on, fellas? How goes it? It's a pleasure to be back here, man. I always love

coming on this show. The pleasure is all ours. Is it just me? Or is everybody as in love with the NBA right now as they've... I'm so excited. Like, I'm just getting through the workday, looking forward to, alright, what's the first game?

Where are we in this series? Which is what we're about to talk about we're a couple days behind you guys so if we say something very stupid uh we apologize we're actually going to start doing a accelerated playoff schedule starting next week where we record and release uh in less time we'll still be behind you guys. But this week, we're in the distant past. It's Tuesday afternoon before the Tuesday night games. So Knicks Cavaliers is 1-0. Same with Clippers Suns. We don't know quite a bit about where these series are headed,

but there's so much to talk about. These matchups, the matchups out west are so incredible every like three of the four series are all-time class or like could be all-time classics to that point jack i think you mentioned this yesterday in in the planning meeting justin is this the most exciting at least first round matchup wise that we've you know that we've had at least recently yeah i would have to go back and look but there is like this fervent excitement about this playoffs because it's not wide open but it feels wider open than it has been in years past i i feel out west like barring key injuries unfortunately like to players like john morant uh you kind of feel like there's like four or five teams.

If they get hot, they can make a run to the finals. And when it's four or five teams and there's only eight teams in the playoffs per conference, like that's pretty wide open, man. So yeah, there is, there is a different type of excitement around the 2023 playoffs that feels different from years past. So the only series that we have two games in the books on as of this recording, Sixers Nets and Golden State Sacramento. Sixers Nets has not

been, I've been enjoying watching Philadelphia win because I am a Philadelphia 76ers fan. Like the Nets are tough. You know, they they game plan they have some different looks they're thrown at the sixers it really messes with them for for at least a while but then you know there's just too much from mb'd and harden and maxi and tobias harris um this is actually an interesting one to talk about the 2-1-1 theory because so far it feels like we've gotten i don't know it's been a real team effort like for from the sixers it hasn't been a like i i don't look at either of those first two games and say mb'd got that for them you know he every every possession went through him but he got doubled and he was making the right

pass but it feels like it was like uh i don't know that this might be an exception to the rule yeah i mean uh for the mad bootsies uh universe out there for anyone not familiar with the 211 theory that is a theory that myself and one of my best friends, Kenny Masinda, we really kind of created a couple of years ago. I would probably say during the 2012-2013 NBA playoffs, we just started looking at games differently. We were like, oh, man, last night, that was the Birdman game for the Miami Heat. It was like, oh, yeah, Birdman came up big in the fourth quarter. And we're like, wait a minute, there's a science to this and obviously it's not exact but it's like in the 2-1-1 theory you need four wins to advance obviously to the next round yeah of those four wins two come from your best player

one comes from your second best player and the fourth comes from let's just say a role player game the Birdman game yeah so now does it apply to every series no but when when you look at the series thinking of this theory in your head you'll see wait a minute it can't it kind of plays out more often than i thought it would you know i made the joke that it's like the sex panther cologne from anchorman 60 of the time it works every time 60 of the time it works and yeah with this series in particular it may it may not even work out that way because while and you you mentioned it jack uh you mentioned it to jabari like the nets are they're a good team man i don't i i nobody predicts them to win this series but given everything that brooklyn has had to endure this season on the

court and off of it and the fact that that they got the haul back that they did, especially with Kevin Durant. And the coaching job that Jacques Vaughn has done this year has been, in my eyes, masterful. Mike Brown is going to be the unanimous coach of the year, and as he should be. But Jacques Vaughn, man, what he's done with that team is great. And they're a really fun team to watch because they compete, man.

Mikael Bridges, he may not be a number one guy but if he is if he is on your team he is going to make your team better and so for game one with this series i just look at a joke not jokingly but i look at it like lightheartedly like okay well i believe mb had 26 and 6 in game one and i'm like obviously that's a great game and but it's like it didn't feel like the dominant joelle and b and yeah performance and i when i look back at that game i was like okay that may be the james harden game if i had to give it to anybody he yeah i believe he had 23 and 13 hits yeah and people were saying it was like a perfect game and you know so you give it to him game two comes around you know james harden does it to him. Game two comes around. You know, James Harden does not play well.

Very well. In terms of shooting percentage. And obviously Tyrese Maxey has the big night. So you figure from the 2-1-1 metric, you got your one that is your second best player. You got your other one that is the role player game. You're like, wait, I'm two Joel Embiid games away from advancing. So will it play out exactly like that? Well, Embiid games away from advancing.

So will it play out exactly like that? Maybe Tobias Harris has a big game three and, you know, Maxie has another big game four and they move on. But apply the theory to most NBA series and you'll see like, wait a minute, this actually happens more often than I thought it would. And also game two didn't feel like a dominant Embiid scoring performance. He still had 20, 19 19 7 assists and like i think three blocks he was all over the place on defense so i mean we might want to just give that one to mb because like i said every possession had to go through him or we might want to give it to doc uh because of the beautiful thing about this is too like people like at me on twitter about it like oh that wasn't the maxi game that was the mb game oh no it was the maxi game i'm like at the end of the day it's all subjective it's who you want to

give it to like yeah yeah i may have created it but i'm it's i'm not the only one's like no my rule is law like i guess we got to give it to maxi he had 38 but um i do just want to mention because i think my coach doc rivers is getting a raw deal on Twitter. People are like, so here's what happened. There's a ESPN story. That's like Doc's talk. This is the actual headline.

Doc's talk prompts, unbelievable Sixers response. And this is, there, there was, they came out real lackadaisical, lackadaisical in the first two quarters, came out of halftime and like there was a possession or two where they looked even more like they were sleepwalking.

And then there was a timeout and they came out and started executing after that. And people were like, did Doc say something? And so Doc was wired as the coaches usually are. And the people looked at the timeout speech and the thing that was used on the broadcast was just Doc saying, come on guys, come on. Like just that,

that seemed to be the only thing. And then, you know, like, so that became the story that he got them to play. The thing that you have to understand is that James Harden was asked what happened in that timeout. And he said, doc cursed us out. Doc was swearing us up and down justifiably. His job is to do that when they're playing as unfocused as they were. Um, they can't use that

on the broadcast. So the come on guys is the, is the three seconds that they were allowed to use on the broadcast. And that like the, if you want to know what actually was said you'll probably need the red band trailer to you know that's a fair that's a fair critique for sure that's a fair synopsis yeah but but also you know what it is jack this is confirmation bias for folks these are the for the folks out there that that are like Doc doesn't make adjustments. He's this, he's that, you know, he blows it. When they just see that, they're like, oh, see, see, look, if that's what he's saying, then that's why they've had failures in the past. But the reality is it's probably aligned with what you're saying. Like they couldn't play everything specifically because, you know, they shouldn't play everything, you know,

like in the commercial and, you know, get the the g-rated disney version yeah i'm not here to say doc makes great adjustments in the playoffs i am here to say that what you saw was not the full picture and that the level of coaching and preparation that goes into the games from an nba coaching staff is beyond what your expectations are and beyond what they're allowed to show in the uh sound from the game section i think when i was watching that like during the game i was like this looks like have you ever seen blue chips when nick nolte yeah when nick nolte's like coaching and his version of coaching is come on do the play put the ball in the hole do the basketball do the basketball get the basket in the basketball.

Like that. That's what it felt like. The parts that they were allowed to show of Doc, but that's not, that's not an accurate synopsis of what actually happened. You're always a victim to editing, man. Yeah.

Editor has the power. That's right. In a real way. Other Siri, you know, Nick's calves is going to have a game by the time you hear this. Uh, that seems like it's going to be a war if I had to predict.

Hawk Celtics, that seems like it's not going to be a war. I feel like the Celtics are going to sweep that one. And then Heat Bucks is just like a complete wild card. Like, I don't know what to expect there. I mean, it seems like Giannis is going to be back for game two. I think losing Hero for Miami is actually a really, really big loss for them. We all know Jimmy Butler is, you know, I said it yesterday that he's the alpha and the omega of that team. Everything starts and ends with him. He is one of the better playoff performers that we've ever

seen. But you don't just lose 20 points a game and a pure shooter and suddenly become the same team that you were with him on the court. There is going to be a considerable drop off. It makes the defensive assignments for Milwaukee that much more difficult to plan for because you got a legit score going. But yet and still, man, this Miami team, they're as scrappy as they come. They don't care about that eight beside their name, which is their seed. And they're obviously very familiar with this team. So while I do expect Milwaukee to win this series, it would not shock me if this thing went six. You know, just because they know how to muck it up.

And not in a disrespectful way, but they're a tough team and they will rally around each other and they expect greatness out of each other even with you know here or out of the lineup i will say and this was a thought i had before the playoffs but i didn't say it on the show because i was like this is crazy like the the bucks are gonna wipe them out but i remember coming into the playoffs that when mil Milwaukee won the title like being worried because I love Giannis I always end up rooting for like the best player in the league and just like I love that narrative of seeing like somebody do it and so I was like pulling for the bucks and I was worried for them going against Miami in the first round because Miami had had their

numbers so much and I feel like they had that great run, but otherwise there's been like a lot of questionable exits for Milwaukee. And I mean, last year, obviously they played incredibly well. So like they might be past this, but heading in, I was like, are we sure this is going to be a sweep? Like this feels like it could be trickier than we might expect. And now this prediction that I'm claiming I made before the series turns out to be right so I'm a genius as always to that point I'm wondering where Justin was heading into this postseason were you know were you resigned as we were as like no Boston's probably the cream of the crop out there you know I think Boston is the best team, but I don't think that that gap between one and two and even three is as big as as we make it out to be sometime. Yes, Boston may be the best team, but I think you got, you know, Drew Holiday there who is a lockdown defender and a great offensive player.

Brooke Lopez is is was in the conversation for a defensive player of the year. And, you know, that's that's a that's a tough team to beat in Milwaukee. Philadelphia has a lot to play for. We all understand the quote-unquote narratives going on around that team with their players. There feels like there's a lot on Philly's plate this year to get it done. So while I do think Boston is the best team, I think it's all about matchups, and I think it's about when you get a certain team.

Like, it would not shock me if Boston went on to the finals again this year out of the Eastern Conference, but it would not shock me if Milwaukee went, and it would not shock me if Philly somehow found a way to get it together and go, because I think they're the three best teams in that conference. You heard the man say it. You had me up until the third one. I would be legitimately shocked if the Sixers beat Boston, barring injury, obviously. Here's what I'll say. Let's say Philly and Boston go on to win their series, we all expect them to. They're going to beat the Hawks and Philly's going to beat the Nets at some

point. My homeboy said it to me the other day when I was talking to him on the phone. He lives in Philadelphia. He was like, the most important game in Philadelphia Sixers recent history hasn't even been played yet and it potentially could be played in the second round it would be game seven in game seven oh in Boston game seven we're giving them game seven yeah you know he was like it would go seven he was like as much as I loathe Boston and he didn't he didn't say the word loathe he described Boston in more colorful language uh he was like, that's a good team over there. And if we could beat Boston in game seven the next round, obviously, if it ever happens, he was like,

that would be a definitive moment in Philadelphia Sixers history. And I believe him. So, Justin, for perspective, the reason why I even brought that up and the reason why I pointed it out to Jack is, you know, Jack is a true diehard fan, but he's cautiously optimistic. You know, is that a fair assessment, Jack? Oh no, I'm cautiously pessimistic. Excuse me. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't, I'm with you.

I feel like they've had the motivation to prove themselves for the past three, four seasons and it just hasn't happened. So like motivation is not the thing that I think they're lacking. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see. I just don't think enough has changed from last year that they're going to suddenly put it together. They have looked good this season.

It's just Boston has been a terrible matchup. And I feel like it's really all about matchups. Yeah. It's tough. a terrible matchup and i feel like it's really all about matchups yeah it's not i was i was hoping that they would like tank down to the four seed to face uh milwaukee in the second round that's how much i am i'm not it's not like i'm just scared of the celtics it's that i'm i just think that matchup is so bad for the Sixers and it's just so reliant on matchup like the Hawks matchup that one season that the Hawks beat them even though they were you know not expected to like they have a really hard time with really quick good shooting teams that you know can just run them ragged and I don't I'd be surprised. Grazier things have

happened man. yeah no for sure i've been looking at 538 just because they sometimes like 538 is on to things a little early i've been interested to see how much movement there has been in the in the west like now the lakers are the fifth most likely to win the title according to their analytics and they've always had philly having a pretty decent chance assuming they make it there i think it's like 55 45 between celtics and the sixers which seems too optimistic for sixers but well we shall see one of my favorite movies of all time once it so you're telling me there's a chance. That's right. There it is. All right,

let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll talk about the Western Conference. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry,

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the whole rest of the episode about the Western Conference. I feel like we could just stop doing the daily zeitgeist for this week and just do the daily zeitgeist about the Western conference. The Western conference playoffs is just bonkers and super exciting. Yeah. Again, we're coming to you from the distant past. So the only series that has two games played as of yet is the Warriors

versus the Kings. Kings up 2-0. Unfortunately, there's not much to talk about in that series. Oh, wait, wait a second. What a boring series that's been. I mean, game one was one of the best playoff games in my recent memory. Really cool to see De'ram fox finally you know make his playoff debut and just do what he does to the tune of 38 points game two had some moments of

controversy is what i'm hearing what really what were those moments i don't remember anything all right don't make me don't make me stomp out of here, man. Come on now. Stomp the yard. Again, this is one where I'm taking the anti-internet take here, but I don't think Draymond did that on purpose. It's hard. So I guess it's not. That's a weird way of saying it. I think what happened is he got his leg caught up and then did the thing he does where he makes his body

do something crazy to try and emphasize that he's getting fouled and it ended up being a stomp i have not been like team draymond in most controversies in the past like there have been times when he has lined up the kick you know you saw where his eyes were you're like all right man like what is going on this one just felt like he what he was doing with his body is what he does whenever he feels like he's being fouled and which is just to like kind of fling his limbs everywhere and one of those limbs that happened to stomp you know here's what i here look i remember watching the game and it was it was pretty testy from the opening tip and i remember thinking to myself i was watching sabonis and draymond specifically and i was like oh it's getting a little chippy down there you know they're talking to each other you know

you know non-spoken verbal communication is being said I can read body language like okay this feels like if this game stays close something is going to happen I did not know like all that was going to happen but I'm like man it just feels like Sabonis

is trying to go Draymond into one of those moments. And which is, it's a brilliant ploy. It's a brilliant, the playoffs are just about the mental mind state of the game than it is the physical, if not even more. So when it happened, obviously I saw it happen in real time and I didn't know exactly what, you know, the totality of what it was. And then I saw the replay.

I'm like, ah, well, he did grab his foot. And I'm like, but he did emphasize the stomp. So it's like, I get it. I understand why he got kicked out of the game, but I also understand why Sabonis got the tech. But I also hope that, you know, when this podcast comes out, I hope Draymond is not suspended for Game 3. Yeah, me too.

Because I need the theater. I need the drama. We already saw what happened with Draymond when he got suspended during the 2016 finals. He missed that game five and it quite literally changed the course of basketball history when he got suspended. I don't want that to happen here. I think the punishment was already doled out in game two in terms of ejecting him from the game. But do I think the stomp was intentional? I don't think Draymond wanted to stomp on him, but I think Draymond went full Draymond and was like, screw it.

And so once he got in that mind state, like you just said, I got to let people know that somebody is wronging me over here. The only difference is when he lets people know that he's being wrong he's also super wrong when he's letting people know he's being wronged yeah gentlemen that man a-town stomped kurt franklin stomped stomped the yard that man absolutely tried to drew hill stomped he did a full jump and everything all four of them all three of y'all no he absolutely did that on purpose but here's the reason and here's the deal like you don't suspend him for the postseason you kicked him out of the game that's punishment enough that that

right there is punishment in itself and let's be honest they'll be watching him so if he does anything wild you know moving forward that'll take care of itself moving forward but I gotta be honest with you, Wild, I completely understand where you're coming from, Jack, in giving him the benefit of the doubt. Kind of like the comment that I made earlier about folks not giving Doc the benefit of the doubt because of confirmation bias. Look, man, I've heard your records before, Draymond. I heard how you sing. I know your voice. You did it. And that's cool. But I'll also just compare it to this. It's kind of like, remember the vaunted play where Shaq

drop steps on Chris Dudley and then he winds up pushing him down. If you look at that play, Chris Dudley, when Shaq dunks and raises his legs, he grabs him and pulls his body into him a little bit. And then Shaq decides, well, no, I'm just going to have to ragdoll you and decides to push him. He got what he deserved because he was playing a dangerous game. That's kind of what happened in that situation. The only reason

why it matters more now is because it's a postseason and because it's Draymond. Yeah, no, for sure. I've always thought that the Shaq dunk on Chris Dudley was purely accidental. You didn't see him there. No, all right. It's one of the funniest moments in NBA history. Yeah, one of the greatest.

Truly. I remember that Sunday. Here's Shaq. Against Dudley. Nice. Shaquille O'Neal was so powerful on that move that Dudley does not even even foul and he just got overpowered by Shaquille O'Neal but Dudley is now joined with Shaq and threw the ball in his direction man if you want to pick somebody to go with you go right to the head of the class when you go after Shaq

so Warriors Kings the the Kings up 2-0 I think a lot of people, when we recorded last week, we were heading into the playoffs and a lot of people were picking, suddenly picking the Warriors to come out of the West. Um, which I was a little bit confused by because they hadn't been able to win much on the road. Um, this at watching the first couple games the thing that keeps jumping out to me is that for a king's team that is great offensively struggles to say the least defensively but have done a good job so far in the playoffs um this is actually not a bad draw because you've got a team that relies on shooting threes and shooting threes is like such a streaky thing that can just change. And like after game one of that series, I was like, okay, like that was awesome to see the Kings win that one. But I feel like the Warriors are going to come back because they just missed a lot of open threes in that first game and they won't miss that many open threes in game two. But that's the thing

about being a three point shooting reliant team. And like, so that's why it might be a pretty good draw for them, even though everybody was kind of saying that it was the worst possible draw. Also, too, you know what I've noticed through two games of this series? Man, Mike Brown is coaching circles around Steve Kerr right now. It's ugly. Yeah, he's obviously, you know, he coached Cleveland back in the day during the early LeBron days. And, you know, he's always been a defensive minded coach.

So when you have a defensive minded coach with such a great offensive team, they really compliment each other because, you know, you don't really have to do too much work on the offensive end. It's showing up things on the defensive end and we see that like I see Sacramento making more defensive adjustments than I do uh Golden State at this you know at this very moment of course you know that things can change on a dime and who knows how this series may actually end but in game two I expected Sacramento to come out with the urgency as if they were the ones down 0-1 because they understand and they know, look, if we go up 2-0, which, you know, of course they

eventually did. If we go up 2-0, that means Golden State has to win four out of the next five. And that is, that's a hard ask for anybody. I don't care if you're the defending champion or not. And I read a stat earlier today where it was like, Golden State is the fifth defending champion in history to go down 2-0 in the next postseason. In the first round? I think in the first, maybe in the first round, I guess in the first round. Yeah. All four of the previous teams lost. Three of the four got swept. So game three. Yeah. And I was about to say in Oracle but you know I mean game three in San Francisco and Chase it's not hyperbole to say that like it's one of the most important games in this current iteration of the Golden State Warriors as we know them

because if you go down oh three I mean even with Steph even Clay, even with Jordan Poole, that's I mean, you're not beating that Sacramento team four straight times. So game three, it would I expect I expect it to be one of the most intense. I expect it to be one of the most passionate. And I expect to see a level of desperation in Golden State that they were not expecting to tap into in the first round. Maybe in the second round, definitely in the Western Conference finals or the finals if they were not expecting to tap into in the first round maybe in the second round definitely in the western conference finals or the finals if they were to make it there but you know i think sacramento they smell blood in the water they know how important this game three is so it's gonna be very very interesting again i was about to say oracle again but chase just like going back to the 538, like, cause that's the analytics app

that is easiest for me to look at right now. The teams that I've been surprised how much and how little the wins and losses so far have affected things. They still have the Warriors with a 50% chance of winning this series. And they're down 2-0. That's crazy.

Whereas the Bucks going down to, Oh, that's crazy. Whereas the bucks going down one Oh, they only have a 52% chance according to them of winning that series. So like they're, they're seeing something in the Miami series, whereas like with the warriors, they just expect them to come back and pull it off. Let me ask this. Do we believe in that? Like, I understand that, you know, like that, that the odds are there, but do we believe that? And the reason why I asked that question is it's difficult enough to beat a team four times in a calendar year,

but now you got to beat them four out of five. And I recognize like, this is, this is the dubs. This is the Warriors. We've seen, we've seen their exploits. There's a desire to believe, but do you act like, say Justin, do you actually believe that the Warriors are going to come back and win this series? Would it surprise me? No, if they won this series. Do I expect them to? No, for that exact reason, bro.

Four out of five times, you got to win four times in basically a week and a half against the same team, who hopefully will be making adjustments, and look, they're the Warriors, man. They've been there, done that, bought several championship t-shirts along this run. So I'm not counting them out at all. But if they lose game three, this series is over. Yeah, we're done. The series is over, man. And

it's just a matter of how many games would it be? Would it be four or would it be five? Because let's just say they win game three, Sacramento wins game four sacramento goes back to you know golden one up three one i don't see how golden state who has been an awful historically awful road team this year suddenly cuts it on in that arena at that time with with that much momentum going against them so so golden state's record on the road, 11 and 30 this season. Their home record also, when compared to that, 33 and 8. Like, incredible. One of the best home records in the league.

But we talked about this a lot during the regular season, that like the West, when you looked at like the win-loss on the road, was like really bad for almost every team, except the Sacramento Kings, 25-16 on the road. So they got it done on the road unlike basically every other. Even the Nuggets were 19-22. They were sub-500 on the road. The Kings had a really solid record on the road. So they traveled well this season.

We're going to see if it holds up. But like that, that game three is going to be, I don't know, very intriguing. You know how sometimes the stage you can tell when it's going to be too much for like a young team. Yeah.

Especially a young team that has never been in the playoffs. Yeah. Like the Sacramento Kings. I don't really see their heart pump Kool-Aid like that. I think De'Aaron Fox would get up for a moment like that. I think Malik Monk would get up for a moment like that. And again, we talk about this 2-1-1 theory. It would not shock me to see a random Trey Lyles game in Chase.

Harrison Barnes. Harrison Barnes. Harrison Barnes going back to Golden State. Golden State has talked about, oh, we don't panic. We've been through all of these situations. Now is the time to panic, my friends, because game three is a must win, is a must win. Your season is on the line in game three. That's not being hyperbole.

That's not me trying to hype the moment up more than what it is. This is it for the Golden State warriors especially the golden state warriors with draymond green because i don't think many people expect him to be back on the team next season so like history feels like it's happening in real time right now so i just hope the golden state warriors treat it as such and don't just go into it like oh we're four-time champions we can cut it on whenever we want no you can't yeah it turns out you can't because i think you would have him game two yeah if you wanted to and you lost by even more how do we feel about the other series i mean suns clippers is gonna there's gonna be a another game by the time people listen to this same with lakers and

grizzlies lakers and grizzlies that was the game one that showed me the most, I think. We've been watching and talking about the Lakers a lot on this podcast, but like seeing the Lakers put it together at the moment that mattered the most on the defensive end was pretty impressive. And on the offensive end,

that was another one where it's like, alright, we got our Rui game out of the way. Got the Rui game out of the way got the ruey game out of the way in game one man that's critical i mean but you could easily call that the ad game because of how dominant he was on the defensive end and that's what it comes down to man with the lakers the defense since they made those trades they've been one of the better defensive teams in the league like top two or top three, you know, in terms of defense. It all comes down to health and in particular, the health of LeBron James, but really in particular, the health of Anthony Davis.

When Anthony Davis had that stinger in his arm and we all saw him mouth, I can't feel my arm. I think every Lakers fan in the world was like, damn, that's it. lakers fan in the world was like damn that's it like and that's not a fun place to live in if you're a lakers fan because this team has the talent to win the championship but you just always feel like god man is the shoe gonna drop off the other foot like you that's a really traumatic and problematic way to be a fan but being a fan is traumatic so uh it's really all about the defense with this team the defense and health um i think anthony davis if he remains healthy and prayerfully he remains healthy because i you know i've been reading up on what the last couple of years have done for his like his mental health and you know people can crack jokes on like social media but this is a dude

who still feels all these things like He don't want to get hurt. Anthony Davis doesn't want to miss 30 games here and there. So I hope this is a prove-it postseason for him in terms of just health. But yeah, that's the thing with the Grizzlies. I love the Grizzlies, but you got to watch what you ask for, man. I'm talking about Dylan Brooks here. Oh, yeah. You're already shorthanded when it comes to your big men.

Brandon Clark is gone for the season, as Steven Adams isn't coming back this season. So now you basically just have Jaron Jackson Jr. out there. You got to pray he doesn't get in foul trouble. So we'll see what happens with this series. But if you're the Lakers, you're not necessarily concerned about a game plan. You're concerned about the injury report. Yeah. I'm trying to keep that as bare as possible. Justin,

you hit it on the head. I can tell you straight up as a Lakers fan, you find you, you, what you have to do is you have to just come to terms with, he's going to get banged up at times and you just hope it's not bad. Yeah. It really is that simple.

But when, you know, to your point, when he's in there and I'll just make this point before you go to the next series, Jack, when he's in there, he's the most destructive force on the defensive end. And I honestly think I recognize he's been injured at different times in his career.

But if we look back at the end of his career and he doesn't have a defensive player of the year, much like Tim Duncan never won one, I think it's a travesty and just an absurdity. Because when he's right, they're in the mix in any conversation. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Russell's played well since being acquired by the Lakers as Bain drives, but he struggled. Oh, what a block by Davis.

Swats it off the backboard. Tillman fakes. Now he goes right at Davis. Another block for Davis. The average two per game during the regular season. Aldama's also in now for Memphis. Jackson goes. Blocked by Davis.

That's block number three already when having played nine minutes. All right, and the other series, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and talk. I mean, broad strokes, Suns, Clippers. We'll be right back. I'm Kerry Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports,

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And we're back. And game two of Suns Clips tips off in a matter of hours. So that's where we are. We are chronologically disadvantaged. We don't know exactly what's happened. But game one was very interesting. I think surprised a lot of people who had the Suns coming out of the West. Surprised a lot of people who gave up on Westbrook.

Never me. Never me. I've always, from day one, I said, you can shoot three of 19 and still be the best player in the game. Coming down the stretch, there were a lot of times when he was doing these sorts of things at the end of the game he would just also take a terrible shot that would ultimately like lose the game for the lakers and this was best of both worlds he did the things that affect the game and then took only like one or two really terrible shots

and got to the free throw line and made them either side Paul gets it in here's Booker Suns down three on the break here in game one Booker taking on Westbrook and a block by Westbrook and he throws it off of Booker it is Clipper ball what a play russell westbrook did this show you enough that you're off the suns uh on the clippers or how are you guys feeling this is one of those series uh i won't rush the judgment off game one too much because i feel like all all the key components are still there sans paul george we knew he wasn't going to be there going into this series. Whereas, you know, Lakers and Grizzlies, we don't know the extent of Jha's injury. And we know how much that changes the complexion of that and so on and so forth with others.

But with the Suns, I would hope going into the game, too, that here's a novel concept. Get Kevin Durant the ball and get him the ball a lot because good things happen when Kevin Durant has the ball. He's on that team. That's right. I forgot that. There should be no reason why he has a disappearing act in the first quarter because he's not really getting the ball.

And then in clutch time in the fourth quarter, he's not really getting the ball. But everything in between, he gives you 27, 9, and 11. He can do that with his eyes closed. Phoenix, if you have Kevin Durant on your team, what you do, get him the ball. In any type of scenario, good things will happen. And I hope that's the adjustment

that Monte Williams and his crew makes in game two because, you know, we got Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant. This is a generational-type matchup, and it doesn't really happen too much. I think there's a really good piece on ESPN.com about that right now. Just about the legacy of having these two go at it. And like, these are two of the best players of all time.

Kawhi, definitely a two-way player. And Kevin Durant, you can make the argument, he may be the greatest offensive player of all time. But I hope there's a commitment to this. Phoenix has so many weapons on offense and I get that. Yes I hope there's a commitment to this. Phoenix has so many weapons on offense and I get that. Yes, you should divvy the ball around, but when it's winning time, get the ball to your guy. And that guy is KD Trey Favre. I'm wondering, do you guys, I mean, this may be just an obvious yes, but how much do you think it plays in their seemingly having to

figure it out on the fly just because he wasn't in that lineup, you know, down the stretch of the season. Because I saw a rotation out there where it was Devin Booker and none of the other guys. And that's no disrespect to NBA players. Y'all know what I'm saying. I didn't quite understand how you have, you know, KD and, you know, Chris Paul and you're not staggering that somewhat. But to that point, I came into this absolutely thinking Phoenix would win it. I did not factor in the battle on the benches enough in my estimation because quite frankly, and it's not taking anything away

or it's not a shot at Monte Williams, but what Ty Lue has shown me is that he's a master, an absolute master at game planning as well as adjusting. And, you know, I think that's going to play out in this series. I was going to say my two big takeaways from game one is like Kawhi still has it. I slept on how good he still is, even though he's, you know, a little bit older

and didn't play that much for the previous couple seasons. Don't beat yourself up over it. Yeah, exactly. But the other big takeaway, Ty Lue is just such a great coach I'm underrated Ty Lue is incredible man and Jabari you mentioned in terms of like in-game adjustments I don't know if there's any better coach than Ty Lue so I give him any chance I get to give Ty Lue all the credit in the world I will give Ty Lue all the credit in the world. And Jabbar, you mentioned something too, just in terms of, yes, Phoenix has the stars and the offensive firepower. They also gave up a lot of stuff

in that trade to get Kevin Durant, but they still have the firepower there. But there's a familiarity with the Clippers that's not there with the Suns. Yes, they've only played eight or nine games with Kevin Durant. Whereas this is the most basketball we've seen Kawhi Leonard play in, what, two, three seasons. And I believe he played going into the playoffs. He played, I believe, 32 of the last 37 games going into the playoffs. So there's a consistency there within that offense, even without Paul George, because it's like, OK, well, until Paul George gets back, here's how we're going to funnel and facilitate the offense. And, of course, it goes through Kawhi.

And you saw that in game one. Kawhi, like, he doesn't have the prettiest jump shot in the world, but I swear every time he shoots, it just goes in. Like that little line drive shot that Kobe used to have in the early parts of his career. I'm like, it's not going in, but it goes in every time. And Kawhi is one of the best big game players that we'll ever see in basketball. So where a lot of people were saying like, oh, I want to avoid the Suns in the first

round. Kawhi don't really talk, but if you try to really go inside of his head, Kawhi didn't really care who he's playing. Like, this is basketball, bro. And it shows. So who knows what's going to happen in is basketball, bro. And it shows. So who knows what's going to happen in game two,

except y'all that are listening. His shot has so much backspin on it. Sometimes I'm afraid it's going to like create a wormhole and go back in time. It's because his hands

wrap around the ball. Yeah. He can like fling it. Yeah. He couldn't, the fact that he couldn't shoot at all when he came into the league

and is now this good a shooter is you know it gives ben simmons fans like myself hope uh that we'll never i don't know if that's gonna happen just needs to get traded to the spurs that's what he needs wolves nuggets the nuggets looked amazing game one i i still thinkuggets are slept on a little bit just because everybody's too excited about all these other series with the bigger stars, and the Nuggets are terrifying. Jokic wasn't even at his best, and I think he fouls out in that game, and they still blow him out by 30.

No disrespect, but all disrespect. I'm hoping that series is not one of those series that's like, why are you at game six right now? Why don't you just close this out at game four? Like, let's not prolong this. We already know how this is going to end. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I could see them taking at least one because Ant has still not really done anything. And I'm sure that's happening at some point. All right. Rapid Fire. not really done anything and i'm sure that's happening at some point um all right rapid fire this is just the fastest segment in podcasting first thought best thought um jabari you want to kick us off all right you ready oh wow you're just gonna take it like that you're not even gonna oh well you i mean hey look i i know we're usually like miles like a time crunch. I know, I know. Usually, like Miles is like, no, you go. No. Justin, do you have a preference

as to who asks you the question first? Oh my God. Nope. No? Jabari is so insecure. Okay, fine. Wow. Okay, fine, Jack. All right, you got it. Are you sure? I'm certain.

Positive. Okay. See, it just seemed like you really needed this one. I was, you know, a little bit on the edge of the seat. All right, Justin, is there a single NBA player you would take right now over the chance of taking Victor Wembyyama with the first pick this summer? That's currently in the NBA right now?

Yes. I would say probably the only one that I would take is probably Giannis. That's everybody's answer. That's been the answer, but the fact that it takes people as much time as it does is so crazy. I had to think about it.

Because Wimby, that's as wild, man. I think that's the right answer, too. It is. We can be real about that, but outside of him, no, give me Wimby. I'm trying to think. Jokic has been pretty good

i guess uh he's won two mvps in a row and he's pretty young still um but justin what jack is doing is this is supposed to be rapid fire he is he is prolonging it waiting for you to stop him oh no that's not true what i was saying was really interesting. But you go ahead, Jabari. Well, for the record, officially, it was very interesting, Jack. I just want you to know that. All right, but keep me going. All right. What is your favorite NBA city to visit?

And what is your must-have meal in that town? Oh, my favorite NBA city to visit would probably be, it's my favorite city, period, New Orleans. Yeah, there we go. First place I go to whenever I go to New Orleans, I got to go to Drago's and get the Charger Road Oysters. Yes, please. I have to. I have to. Okay. New Orleans, for sure.

What is your boldest postseason prediction for this year? The Knicks mess around and make the conference finals. Wow! If Giannis is beat up, I couldis beat up i could see that i could see that path man look jaylen brunson is a beautiful and when i say this i don't mean this as any disrespect you know in in football when you call somebody a game manager it's called it's like a step down for a quarterback i think j Jalen Brunson is one of the greatest game managers in the game today.

I love his game. And I don't think he's scared of it. We see how important of a player he is. Look where Dallas is right now. And look where the Knicks are right now. So yeah, my boldest prediction, the Knicks make the Eastern conference finals.

Absolutely. We've talked before about teams having like gravitational equilibrium, like where, like, you know, LeBron for a certain run of his career, just any team he was on was going to be in the finals. That was just like where he goes. Maybe Jalen Brunson, it turns out, he just wants to be in the conference finals one way or another. That's where he's going to end up.

I kind of like that. One way, he's going to get you there. He's not going to talk a lot, but he'll get you there. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And he has been awesome to watch this season. All right, this is for the money. This is the one that matters the most. Okay.

Jack or Jabari? The one who starts their name with the letter J. Including myself. So we're all winners. It's the Triple J. We are the defensive player of the year. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, basically.

Yeah, that's right. I can't pick between y'all because I want to come back on the show, man. And I'm not trying to create any bad blood and burn some bridges out the door. No bad blood whatsoever. I understand. Big Jack, I'm still going to ask you to...

You came very close to having a lifetime ban, sir. I don't need that, man. I love it too much here. Well, it was great having you, as always. Thank you, fellas. Where can people find you, read you, all that good stuff? You can find me on social media. It's very easy to find me.

It's actually my name, at Justin Tinsley, at Twitter, on Instagram. You can read my work on Anscape.com. You can see me on Around the Horn at least once a week. I'm a regular panelist on Instagram. You can read my work on Anscape.com. You can see me on Around the Horn at least once a week. I'm a regular panelist on there. Catch me on ESPN Daily for a few episodes. I'm one of the rotating hosts that they have on there now that Pablo Torre has since moved on to bigger and better things. Yeah, that's where you can find me.

I'm always around, though. I try to stay as active as I can. Nice. Well, thank you so much. Make sure you check out LeBron's power plays. It's fantastic series. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Appreciate that. That is the series that definitely got going on at and scape.com that examines LeBron's impact off the court, just in terms of variety of fashion. So it's been really fun working on that series throughout the entire season. I'm glad the Lakers turned it around.

Cause for a while I was like, man, I didn't really go and miss the playoffs. And I got this whole likeakers turned it around because for a while I was like, man, are they really going to miss the playoffs? And I got this whole dope thing going on about them, but hey, look. Hey, look. God watch over babies and fools, and I ain't been a baby in a long time. Love it.

Alright, well make sure you give us a follow on Twitter, at MadBoosties. That is going to do it for us this week. Go watch the NBA playoffs. We'll be coming to you with a quicker turnaround going forward. So you can look forward to that. And we're back next week. Bye.

Bye. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network,

iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil.

I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by

Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast Hungry for History is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger

bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the margaritaita followed by the mojito from Cuba and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.