The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Lakers vs Nuggets, NBA MVP Race, First Round Playoff Picks, Suns A Disappointment

Episode Date: April 20, 2024

Colin’s top takes of the week! He reacts to the Lakers play-in win over the Pelicans and previews their series against the defending champion Denver Nuggets (3:00) He’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to debate whether Luka Doncic or Nikola Jokic should win the MVP award (7:30). Colin explains why the Phoenix Suns were his most disappointing team this season (17:00), they make their projects for the Knicks’ postseason (23:00) and make their picks for the first round of the NBA playoffs (27:45)! (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.

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bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit wagering and eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. LeBron James has won nine straight do-or-die games, either a playing game or a game seven. If you count the in-season tournament, it's like he's won 12 straight or 13 straight. I said very early in the season, because of the Lakers age and their primary playmakers, LeBron, who's very old, that if it was the NCAA tournament, I think the Lakers would get to the championship game and then lose to Denver or a Boston. But in a one game setting, this is why the NBA seven game first round series is ridiculous. It punishes aging legends, which are always the ratings drivers for the NBA.

I mean, the reason Caitlin Clark, one of the reasons she got numbers, this was a rematch. She went into the tournament. We knew the story. they lost last year. Here they come back. They face South Carolina. You mean, 90% of Hollywood money is remakes, right? So it's these aging stars, these Stephs and these LeBron's, Kevin Durantz, they drive the ratings in the NBA. So why punish them with seven-game first round series with no urgency? So the Lakers in the in season tournament won in their playing games with LeBron. They're three and o in playing games with LeBron, and they've won again nine straight do-or-die games with LeBron,

and the Lakers did what they do. They got to the free-throw line a lot, and they hit their free throws. By the way, Sacramento hit their free throws, Lakers hit their free throws. And you're watching in these games, these playoff games, as the NBA pretty clearly tweaked, and I don't mind them doing this at all. During the regular season, the NBA said, hey, let's let them play, let's speed the pace of playup, fewer whistles. that is a huge benefit to veteran teams.

That does not benefit OKC. That will not benefit young teams. That will benefit the older teams. Miami in the east will probably benefit from that. Boston's been around will benefit. The Lakers will benefit. OKC won't. So the Lakers, I think the Lakers match up pretty well with the Nuggets in terms of size.

The difference is the fourth best player on any given night for the Denver Nuggets is Michael Porter, who is a high school prodigy, who can absolutely knock down 28 points on any given night. Now he has championship experience. And I think that's a real thing. I think once you win the championship, every time I watch Denver in a big TV game, and it was close, they just found ways to win. And that's, I saw about a week ago, they played the T-Wolves, close game, just found a way to win. So it's that confidence of a championship team. I think they have the best starting five along with Boston and the NBA.

And there are players on the Lakers that can disappear at times. I think Rui's talented. He can disappear. Anthony Davis can be hot and cold offensively. LeBron, depending on if his three-point shot is effective. D. Lowe, as a playoff performer, has been at times awful last year, at times semi-effective. I kind of know what I'm getting with Denver. With the Lakers, it's a lot of finger crossing with DeAngelo Russell.

And Anthony Davis, two out of three playoff games will give you a really nice offensive effort, but he can manage at times too. So I just, I don't see the Lakers beating Denver four times. I think they'll beat him in a game. Maybe they beat him twice. They can physically match up. But, you know, Yokic does not have a lot of off nights. And Jamal Murray doesn't have a lot of off nights.

And Gordon brings that defense virtually every game. Michael Porter can be a bit hot and cold, but, you know, Denver's a champion for a reason. And my guess is they'll probably beat the Lakers in five, perhaps six, but you'll feel late in these games. That's where you'll see the difference, where Yokic is younger than LeBron. And Jamal Murray offensively is more consistent than Anthony Davis. And A.D. gives Yokich about as much trouble as you can possibly give him, and he still gets 30 points. So I just feel the consistency, the championship experience. Denver is going to be an even tougher out this year.

And I imagine they extinguish the Lakers in about five or six. The games will be close. The Lakers do match up with them. All right, switching it up for the next couple of weeks from John Middilkoff to Hoops tonight, lead guy, Jason Timph, who has, we're so proud of Jason because no he does kick ass and work his butt off. but when we landed him, we thought he was really good, and we couldn't believe he didn't have a larger audience. Soon enough, he's got a larger audience, and he does a great job, has grown a wicked mustache since he's been at the volume as well, a confidence mustache.

One of the, I pushed back a lot on this, and I've come around, if I had an MVP vote, Jalen Brunson gets consideration, Yokic could be the favorite. But I was thinking about this watching him this past week, because I really started zoning in to all the time. teams on Luca. So statistically, insane, could be your MVP. Arguably, of all the 50-plus win teams, he has the weakest roster. He solved, at least for the time being, the Kyrie issue, and the Mavericks are the hottest team in the league at the most significant time of the league, right? We know the playoffs mean more, but the last 15 games of the regular season, you really,

you can feel who's playing uphill and who's playing downhill. If I had an MVP vote, I think I would think long and hard about Luca. Let's start with that. To you, who's the regular season MVP? Well, to your point about getting hot at the right time of the year, almost everybody I talk to that I trust about basketball, when you talk to them about their top contenders, everyone's got Boston, or Denver, Boston, won two. And then the consensus is Dallas at three.

That's the type of foothold they've gained around the league now. They're respected as a team that is considered a legitimate. legitimate chance to win the title. And you're right. I think they do have the most limited supporting cast of the group of teams that we kind of consider seriously at the top of the league. Now, the thing, MVP's tricky because typically there's a large gap in the standings between Dallas and Denver. It's like six games, if I remember correctly. Typically, when you see a team that's not in that like super high end record area of the league, like 55 plus wins, typically it's because there's not a traditional MVP candidate there for

some reason. Like it's a Jason Tatum that's leading one team or it's a, you know, like there's usually a limitation there. And so then you look below that and you find your guy who's leading a limited squad, whether it's a Russell Westbroker, it's a or it's a Luca Donchich in a case like this. The thing is, is like, as much as Lucas had to deal with, Jamal Murray's missed more than a fourth of the season. And Nicole Yokoj has kept them right in the mix there. Yokic in just about every major national TV game this year has clearly demonstrated. He's still the best player in the league. So for me, like, even though I view, I put him second, I put Lucas second, I just can't justify the gap in the standings and the fact that I think Yokic is playing

at a similar level, if not a touch higher anyway. But I think Luca has a legitimate case. And I think you got to throw Shay in there, too. I think Shay is a legitimate case as well. But I think Luke is going to win it, and I think he deserves it. Yeah. And actually, Luca this year. Or Yokich, I mean, excuse me. Yeah. I think Lucas played better defense this year. If you look at the efficiency numbers on defense, his steals. He, you know, he's never going to be a really great twitchy defender. And I would argue this, I don't need him to be. Listen, bro, give me 33 a night with your offensive efficiency. You know, like Steph Curry, we'll cover you somewhere. We'll have a rim protector. I don't need Luca to be a great defender. You know, when you have Janus's athletic ability in size,

then you're kind of demanding, I need the effort. I will say this about Luca that I don't know in my life. It took Kobe a few years that he was a more efficient score. He was a wild. He was like Josh Allen is a rookie quarterback. You knew it was there, but he was wild. I don't know in my lifetime. If anybody has ever walked into this league and 30 games into it, you said to yourself,

and maybe it was Kareem. This is before my time, right? I don't really remember when he broke in with Milwaukee. I didn't watch sports to like 70. 72, 73, 71, the Bucks won the title. I don't know if I've ever seen a player walk in. And by the all-star break of the first year, I remember saying, like, is he going to be a top five score ever? Like, he reminds me, like, obviously he's not highly vertical.

I don't know if he, I'm talking Jordan, LeBron, everybody. Is he maybe the greatest score, the most unstoppable score? He gets any shot he wants. Every time down the floor, it's almost his girth, his lack. You know, he's not de-weighed when you look at him. He's at times puffy. I don't know how to describe him. He is just an automatic bucket, always gets it shots.

I don't even know what his comp is. What is his comp? So, honestly, like, when it comes to his size, the guy he reminds me the most of is LeBron. And I know that they don't have a ton of similarities in their actual play style. The main thing is, and this is actually something we're going to talk about when we get to the Lakers, but like, when you try to ball pressure big players, that plays right into their advantage. Like, if you get physical with me and I have a size advantage on you, I can pivot, use angles to go right around you because I'm just bigger and I'm stronger. And so a lot of times, like, if you ball pressure, Luca, he's just going right around you and getting to the basket.

And so really what's kind of taken his game to the next level this year is he used to be kind of like a mediocre pull-up three-point shooter. Yeah, he had some hot streaks against the clippers in the postseason, but for the majority of his career, he was a low 30% guy on that little step back three that he likes to take, right? This season, he's shooting just shy of 40% on that shot. He's hitting that an extremely high rate. And so you can't press him because he's too big and he'll just go right around you. But if you play off of him, he almost like tricks you by just leaning back a little bit and he can get just enough separation to get that three-point shot over the top of you

and he's hitting it at damn near 40%. And so that just put everybody in a bind. And so we were getting career high points per game, career high, pull up three point shooting percentage, career high, pull up jump shooting percentage. Like he's just hitting these marks that he wasn't hitting early in his career in terms of scoring efficiency to match his volume. And that's just put him in a different stratosphere as a player. Now, if you go look in recent years, players that have his ball usage like a James Harden, it just doesn't work. You do get to a point where you've played 95 games.

This is a taxing league. And now, playoff basketball is much more physical. You play more minutes. They're all hard minutes. You know, Hardin could never break through. And my takeaway is if you're going to break through if you're Luca, it's going to be in the next six years. It's going to be in your prime. It's like 23 to 29 when you can put these insane numbers.

But do you worry about that? Because we do have a history that, like, players that came into the league like Kobe had to be, like they had to figure it out. Like, you just can't play like this all the time when the ball usage numbers are through the roof. What's up, everybody? John Middlecalf here. The NFL draft is right around the corner.

And if you want all the news leading up to it about your favorite team, be sure to subscribe the three and out. With me, John Middilkaw, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from

a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Phoenix has been my disappointment in the league. I thought they were a team that would, in kind of a passive regular season league,

I thought they'd just shoot their way to a lot of wins. And you'd have two of the three stars. Beale was hurt early in the season much more than I knew he would be. But they have played together. There is some duplication in the offense. But it's years ago, I've said this before, years ago, when people were saying Katie's better than LeBron, this is when he was with the Warriors winning MVP's. And I said, you got to add context to this. Like he's playing.

It's just go hit buckets. They don't ask him to lead, talk. he defended pretty well. He's always been a willing defender, but I'm like, they're not asking him to do anything. He didn't have to talk after the game, before the game. He didn't have to be the soul of the team.

He doesn't have to be the bouncer. And he doesn't have to do anything. And that's what Katie does, by way. He's a shot maker. He's great all time. But, and I felt this with Kauai, if you ask him to be a foundational piece, a leader, the barker in the clubhouse,

I go to the Warriors Laker game, and Draymond, and they're up by 12 late, is barking at play. LeBron's a coach. And you watch KD, and this is the difference. And I've said this with Kauai. When the culture is set and you add somebody like Kauai and Katie, and they just get buckets and stops, they're all-time players. But when you have to build something around that, because Booker clearly is not overly verbal, he's a scorer. That's okay. He's a scorer. And I look at this Phoenix situation, and I'm like, they would be better with LeBron. This is just a guy to get a basket, and this team needs more than that.

They've got guys, Beale and Booker, that can get a basket. They need, they need this reservoir of LeBron's sort of vision, leadership, this foundational personality. And so I look at Phoenix and I think, yeah, I just saw points. But all the good teams in this league, there's a soul. Curry's a soul piece. Yokic is. You don't even have to be overly verbal. but I look at Phoenix and I say, it'd be easy for me to just say, hey, Katie's been great.

But this is sort of, if you're a top eight player in the world, this is your team. And I don't care if Booker was here before. Booker wasn't winning for years and years before they brought Chris Paul in. He wasn't winning or a bad team. So I do look at Phoenix and say, some of this is just on KD. At times in your career, you have to be more than get a bucket guy, don't you? Yes. and that has been the primary issue for the Sons this year.

I wouldn't necessarily put it just on KD, but like KD, Devin Booker and Bradley Biel, all three of them, they are guys that like when they're engaged defensively can be deeply impactful defenders. Even Devin Booker, like Devin Booker is not the most physically gifted guard in the league, but like when I watch Sun's film and they're good on defense,

it's usually because Booker is engaged and he's talking and he's like the communicator. of the defense, like calling coverage is out and that sort of thing. Kevin Durant, like, for the record, I'm much higher on the Sons than most people. I had them, I had them fifth, I think, in my contender rankings coming into this postseason run. And I specifically love them for the Denver matchup. I think that NERCITCH is a big body that can make things tougher on Yokic than some other people. Another key part of the Sons is they have the best, in my opinion, the best spread, drive-and-kick type of team in the league.

Grace and Allen on that weak side has been the best three-point shooter in the league. He's great at driving closeouts. Because of the three-star build, you constantly have Bradley Beal off the ball or KD off the ball or Devin Booker off the ball attacking with an advantage. And so they can really spread teams out. And so teams like Denver that are like load up defensive teams that always defend pick and roll three on two and kind of load up on the strong side, that skip pass is open and Phoenix can pick you apart there, which is a big part of how Phoenix has had success against Denver

this year. But to your point, they've been inconsistent there where it's like I watch them today and they kick Minnesota's ass physically from the opening tip. I watch them against Denver and they kicked Denver's ass physically from the opening tip. And then I watched them against the clippers

the other night and they get punched in the mouth and they wilt. And it's like, so that's been very much their identities. They've been, they're like probably the widest range between floor and ceiling of all the teams that I've seen this year. Because like, you watch them on the right night, they look like a bona fide top-tier championship contender.

And then you watch them on another night and you're like, these guys aren't made of the right stuff. And so like, honestly, like the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But I thought I thought they demonstrated a lot of grit coming back and winning in Sacramento the other night and then going into Minnesota with a chance to get out of the plan and killing them the way that they did. And in the process, sparing them from a Denver matchup as well. Like I thought that was a big time win for them. I'm generally higher on Phoenix than most people, But if there is a limitation, it's just they don't quite have a ton of physical alpha dog in there, if that makes sense. Over in the east, I think the Knicks facing either the 76ers or the heat, now, who are you going to take in that play in game April 17th?

Would you take Philly or Miami? Man, that game's going to be so fun because both teams are going to be playing as hard as they possibly can to avoid Boston. That's the avoid Boston Bowl. So I think here's the thing. Like, Philly's more talented, but Embed hasn't really played a good team since he come back from injury. And then Eric Spolstra is definitely going to have some janky stuff to throw at him to try to make him feel uncomfortable. Complete and total toss-up. Give me Eric Spolstra in a toss-up game like that.

So Jalen Brunson's interesting because he was a really good player with Luca. He was highly effective player. And then he goes to New York and he's obviously more than that. But again, when you play with a high ball usage player, that's understanding. stood. You know, it's like a receiver playing with a better quarterback. You can be good. Everybody can see your hands, your routes, and then you play with them a Holmes or a, you know, a top quarterback. And it's like, oh, your numbers all go up. So we all knew Jaylen Brunswick to play. In the last month and a half, and I think this is a lot of pro athletics is, you know, Carl Anthony Towns got

hurt for the T-Woles. And actually, their pacing got better. Their three-point shooting got better, which is not surprised because they had two bigs. Now you're down to one, and Gobert's not a gifted offensive player, Carl Anthony Town some times, can take the air out of the ball, like a lot of bigs, like you dump it down to, so the pacing got better. So Julius Randall gets hurt for the Knicks. And to me, it's like, when I watch them, it's like, oh, they always feel like there is something in this league about, you know, you got to get Julius's touches. You got to get certain guys their touches. You're paying them $24 million, $28 million. Well, they don't give Julius Randall's touches. And that's more touches for Jalen Brunson. And I'm sitting there watching them and I'm like,

I don't know. Like when I went and watched him in person, he is so much quicker than the TV gives him credit for. Like he, you cannot stay in front of him. You know, I don't care about Villanova, second rounder, a grinder. He's not a grinder. It's way more than that. He gets great looks. And I kind of look at the Knicks and I think to myself in an, I don't trust Milwaukee.

I kind of like Philadelphia. But again, what is MBE? He had 12 games. Is that what he played off the injury? I wouldn't be shocked. I look at the Knicks. I think in the East, a red-hot star, a good coach, and a lot of B guys that defend and play hard, I don't know. I don't think they'd get to the conference finals in the West.

I mean, hell, Milwaukee's a 500 team against the West. What do you make of the Knicks over the next three weeks? So I want to preface this by saying, I love the Knicks. I think they have the best basketball character of any team in the league right now. What do you mean by that? Super fond of watch. What that means to me is like doing the right thing on a day in, day out basis. All the players are engaged.

Everyone's bought in. Everyone plays their role. Their leader is a great leader, never too high, never too low. They bring consistent effort. They just do all the right things. And I love that about them as a team. And there is something to be sad about Julius Randall coming out of the lineup and that leading towards less of some of the ugly things we've,

seen from the North Corps of the years because Julius Randall, he has a tendency, like, things don't go his way, misses a couple shots, he'll take defensive possessions off, he'll pout, like that's something Julius Randall's been known to do at times, right? So like, there's been a lot of upside in a regular season. He's not been a great playoff guy. He's exactly, really struggle. In Julius Randall's defense, he's had some injuries when he's gotten to the postseason and he's usually playing a little banged up, but yes, yes, he's had a really rough

playoff career to this point. Here's the problem. Like, I think we both agree. that like the future of the Knicks probably doesn't involve Julius Raynall to probably do something different there. But strictly within the context of this season, it's

this simple. In a playoff setting, you can really throw the kitchen sink at a team that all operates through one star and there's only so much that effort and energy and focus and basketball character can make up for. And the main stat to kind of like drive that point home is that as good as the Knicks have been this year

against teams in the top 10 in point differential. They are 7 and 17 and they have the 14th worst point differential themselves in those matchups. They play really hard, they win all the games

they're supposed to win and then they run into the teams that have more firepower and they lose. That's pretty much the issue with the Knicks. I respect them. I have a ton of optimism about the future. They're super well positioned for a trade if they want to make a trade this summer.

They're in a great spot, but like do I think they're going to go on some sort of magical playoff run not necessarily Okay, I'll take Minnesota to beat Phoenix. I think it's a six-game series. I don't really know exactly. I've watched actually a lot of Phoenix and a little of Minnesota.

But I do think Minnesota, they've done, they've been too consistently good to flame out in the first round. And when I watch Minnesota, and maybe the analytics tell me something different, but I feel like I kind of get the same team when I watch them play. There are highs, lows. I kind of feel like I get effort. I get rim protection. I get Ants production. I get Conley's brain power.

I always feel they're prepared and well-coached. With Phoenix, there's good nights, and then they trail 35 to four at home to the clippers. And so I think Minnesota is a consistent team with a little bit of a ceiling. I think I take Minnesota in six, picking a paragraph. I'm taking Phoenix and 6. I'm really excited to watch today's game because very rarely do you get like a must-win game to sample

when you're prepping for a series where it's like we get to actually watch 48 minutes of the wolves and suns going at it actually trying to win. So that's going to be a really good film session tomorrow. Main thing that stands out to me though, the sun's shot super well. They got 1.76 points per catch-and-shoot jump shot

in that win over the wolves today. So they definitely shot really, really well. Here's why I'm low on Minnesota, though. It's really simple. They are one of the worst offenses in the league when you get into late game situations because Anthony Edwards is 22 years old and nobody else on the team can really consistently generate great shots. And so it's a lot of iffy decisions.

It's aunt settling for pull-up jump shots. And then weirdly enough, their defense falls apart for as good of a defense as they've been. Their defense falls apart in clutch situations because of the fact that Mike Conley's on the floor, Carl Townsend is on the floor. You can find entry points to get their defense and rotation. And then it doesn't matter if Rudy Gober is at the rim if he's chasing some guy off the three-point line in a driving kick situation. I think the sons are going to spread him out and get better shots. I think they'll be able to slow down Minnesota's office in the half courts.

So I'm picking Phoenix and six. Let's go east. Cleveland and Orlando. Orlando is maybe a little bit like the OKC of the West. Young really rising quickly. My guy, Jalen, Suggs. is an improved player. Like a lot of people had him as a bust early last year.

So Cleveland's been weird. Cleveland's going through something. I think I'd still take the calves. I don't know. That could be a seven-game series. My pick-in-paragraph, Cleveland and seven, something's wrong with them. What's your pick-in-paragraph?

These series are always tough to pick when everyone involved is so young and unexperienced that it's like so up in the air. Personnel favors Orlando. Orlando's an awesome offensive rebounding team. That is how New York beat Cleveland last year. They killed him on the offensive glass. Also, Cleveland is one of the most high volume pick and roll teams in the league.

And your guy, Jalen Suggs, might be the best guard defender in the league. And so Donovan Mitchell is going to be in for a tough series with just an incredible individual defender on him. So all the personnel stuff points me towards Orlando. But Orlando is super young and Cleveland got embarrassed last year. and they know what the playoffs are like now. So I expect a lot of fight from them. I'm going to go long series and gut check. I'm just going to say magic,

but we'll see after I watch some film. Milwaukee over Indiana, I think it's contrasting styles. Again, two of the three best players are Milwaukee. They'll probably get, because it's a veteran team, they'll get the veteran team whistle. A little more manipulation from a Lopez and a Janus and a dame with the officials.

It's one of these, like this will be a series. My prediction is when it's over, Indiana will be like, you don't like us. We're a small market team. We got a job by the refs. But these older teams are pretty good. Like the clippers will be good in these situations. I'm going to take Milwaukee in six. What's your thought?

I would take Milwaukee in seven if I knew Janus was healthy. With Janus being out, I just don't think the Bucks are a very good team. And if he misses three games in the season, series, it's possible that Indiana could be up to one with a game at home, you know, before Yannis even comes back. So like with Yonis being out, I think the safe bet is Indiana. But if like Yonis plays and he's healthy, like I think I would probably lean slightly towards Milwaukee. I'd pick Milwaukee in seven. So I'm really interested in a lot of the, I mean, like Milwaukee losing early's fascinating. Steve Malmer, I thought when he brought Hardin over,

I was talking to Lawrence Frank about this. I bumped into him at dinner about a month ago. And I said, I thought the hardened thing was just for the arena. I'm like, you know, he's an L.A. guy. Westbrook's an L.A. guy. Paul George Quine. It's like L.A. guy. He's opening the new arena.

And I'm like, he's actually, you guys have been looking for a point guard forever. He actually lubricates things. When Kauai's like trying to generate offense, it's like, no, it's not what he does. He can do it, but it's not what he does. And the hardened thing sort of worked, but you get James's weird, personality again. He's, he's an odd player. He's an odd quirky guy. I think much like the Bucks, if the clippers flamed out, I think Balmer was an inpatient investor and impatient at Microsoft. Am I supposed to believe as a sports fan now? He's suddenly going to be one of these long tarmac guys.

Like, I think, no, I think the clippers lose and it's, they don't get a lot of consistent effort. you think they blow the team up? I think that's completely on the table. I mean, to put it simply, Colin, we could have four veteran teams blow up this. Just imagine some of these scenarios. Golden State loses in the plane, which by the way, Golden State, even if they beat Sacramento, if the Lakers beat New Orleans, New Orleans has Golden State's number. There's a solid chance Golden State does not get out of this playing tournament.

They could be facing a total rebuild. Let's say the Lakers beat the Pelicans, but then they go to Denver and just get killed. you don't think the Lakers are going to be sitting there looking in the mirror, like we just got swept or the gentleman swept two years in a row. We got to rethink this. What if Phoenix loses to Minnesota? They just went all in on Kevin Durant, Bradley Beale and Devin Booker, and they had an iffy regular season.

And what if they get smacked by Minnesota, right? The clippers, if they go out in flames, that could be a problem. The bucks, if they go down in flames, that could be a problem. What about Miami? What if Miami loses to Philly? And don't forget Atlanta beat Miami in a playing game. last year because they couldn't rebound with them. What if like Chicago or Atlanta gets in there and knocks out Miami?

Miami could be looking at this like, are we really going to run it back with Bam and Jimmy again when like we struggle every regular season and then we just barely squeak by and upset people in the postseason? Like this could be because of how deep the field is because there are so many good teams, we're going to have a bunch of pissed off general managers and owners this summer. That's like a guarantee. It's just a question of who. There's going to be a lot of really unhappy fans.

band bases and ownership groups this summer, and then all hell could break loose, and we could have a bunch of trades and stuff. Should be fun. The volume. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment, rate, and review. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

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