The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Best Of - Nick Wright vs. The Ball Family, NBA Playoff Predictions, Spurs CATASTROPHIC mistake

Episode Date: April 18, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright addresses his back-and-forth with LaVar and Lonzo Ball after calling LaMelo a "clown" on Fox Sports' 'First Things First' following the Charlotte Hornets' NBA Play-In win over the Miami Heat, and LaMelo injuring Bam Adebayo. Later, Nick discusses why Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs' game 82 loss to the Denver Nuggets' backups may have catastrophic results for San Antonio's NBA title hopes. Next, Nick and Damonza share their full predictions for the NBA Playoffs... will Jayson Tatum's return spark an NBA Finals run for the Boston Celtics? #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Best Takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy. So the Hornets took to win in OT. It was a very exciting game. but that's not what this is about. Lamello had a dirty play where he kind of tripped up, bam. You weren't on the air to talk about it, kind of called him a clown a little bit, and then his family and Lonzo and his dad responded.

Yeah. Have you reconsider what you said at all? All right, so we can throw up a few of Lonzo's tweets. Nope. Nick Wright a bum with a clown face. Totally fair. Folks saying clown with a perm, F-O-H. I replied to that one.

I was like, these are my natural curls. Thank you very much. LeVar then sent a long video. We can play a brief snippet of it for you here. Go ahead. I think we can play it. We'll play it. Daniel, tell me when we can play it.

But I see it. There you go. Go ahead. Good take. Good take. He then went on to also go after Whitlock. I don't know. I don't know what Whitlock said.

By the way, you know, your enemy's enemy is your ally or whatever. Like, hey, LeVar, if there's anything we can come together on, I will cite unseen cosign whatever criticism you have of that person. So I'm with you on that, buddy. And then he went on to defend Lamello, obviously blatantly tripping BAM, saying he didn't mean to do it. So a lot here. Let me start with this.

it appears I have underestimated how offensive for some folks being called a clown is. And maybe that is my own numbing of my sensibilities by the fact that I get called a clown all the time. And it doesn't really bother me. Yeah, and it all was every day. You're like, who is this clown, that clown? I have never looked at clown as some like third rail almost slur adjacent term. I, so for the folks out there, if they're asking, do I retract anything I said? The only thing that I would have retracted, Brew, God bless him.

And this is why he's just such a great guy to work with. Brew instantly stepping in and being like when I said he'll always be a clown. And Brew was like, no. Like I don't even though this, well, brew was essentially saying there is even though that's your opinion, Nick, I object to it so much. I'm stepping in and saying I disagree. And it made me pause reconsider.

And I was like, you know what? I disagree with myself as well. That's like, you know, I don't want to. Nobody is one thing forever. And so I would have had Brew not done that in real time. then i would have today felt like i probably do need to apologize for that piece of it the rest of it however if you feel more comfortable and would be less bothered if you replace every time i said clown with wildly immature man child fine okay that's that's fine like honestly

like if you would if if if if and here's the other thing i didn't think this was going to be a controversial opinion i thought there were there was a level of universal kind of understanding that lamello is this wildly talented bruised two days ago called him a Hall of Fame level talent. His ball handling and passing and size, all that stuff. His game is very fluid.

The, right, right. All these things, but that that is consistently undercut with what can only be what can most easily be called shocking

and historic on court immaturity. And that shows up in the fact that he has no business being one of the worst defenders in the league, but he has been for six years. The fact that he in that play-in game missed more threes than anyone has ever missed in any play-in game ever. Got cooked on defense like two or three different times celebrating after taking a shot. And in oh, listen, in overtime,

up five just forgot, like, stop paying attention for a minute. They scored. You the, and then the turnover at the end. Like, that is, for a guy who's been in the league this entire decade, who is on a max contract, who is supposed to be the best player on his team, that is, again, just such. such a lack of basketball immaturity. And then where people are like, yeah, but you didn't keep it to the basketball court.

Lamello has not done a good job of keeping his own immaturity to the basketball court. And I said this on the show. And again, I didn't, I don't and didn't look at clown as that means you're a bad person. That means you are, you know, that there is something wrong with your character. Like, I didn't, I, and again, maybe I've just been called a clown so many times. I'm numb to how much it stings people. But I, we've all seen the, the compilation of Lamello in 10 different either monster trucks or transformer cars ripping out of the Hornet Stadium, blowing through that red light. A car accident, like six months, six months ago.

Right. And driving, we all saw that video, that compilation before we saw the video of one of the most cartoonish car accidents we've ever seen, where it's just two people driving heading towards each other on what looks like a pretty normal street. And one guy just like drives over the other guy. like the and so the these are the these are the the the the trademarks of a very very immature person i think he plays basketball on an immature style i think he and then after the game again i'm not a i'm not a prude and i'm not a And I curse all the time in this context. I'm not, you know, anti-fowl language.

But there is a time and place for everything. And the MBA finds you and doesn't like it when on their broadcast, live broadcast, whether it's on a streamer, regular, you know, linear cable or the over the air for you to curse. And without even, like, without it even recognizing or registering to him, he says Cass the other. He's like, yeah, I fucked the game up. And it didn't even do the thing Aunt usually does, which is like, oh, my bad.

I bet. Yeah. Especially in an instance where you just heard a guy, you might be getting repercussions about it afterwards. You're going to curse after. Yeah, it's, it's bad. So that's the other, that is the other piece of it. People are like, well, you didn't have to go that hard.

I've now done 10 minutes on this and not even mentioned, oh, yeah. he so clearly intentionally took bam out of bio's legs out from underneath him and do i find that extra egregious because of the injury it caused yeah of course is that totally fair and not really but that's kind of how life works like the again to use the driving example if you're texting and driving and you drive into a tree and no one gets hurt. And if you're texting and driving and you drive into a person and someone gets hurt,

your crime is the same. But the impact of it, yeah, the repercussions are changed by what the impact of it was. And so I, and then I got, I got extra, I don't want to say angry, but I just was, I just thought the whole thing was so outrageous. The combo platter of heat Twitter finding the play from two years prior where he had done almost the exact same thing in the exact same circumstance, the exact same spot of the court to BAM. And then his post game press conference where he was like, I got hit in the head.

I didn't even know where I was. I didn't know what was going on. I don't know what a concussion is. Completely contradicts that in the video that he put out. I mean, by saying that, oh, we balls, we might do something crazy, basically saying he did it on purpose. Oh, his dad. Well, listen, LeVar, so I've, I, long time viewers of FS1, if they remember the LeVar ball on Colin Cowherd, Christine Leahy, stay in your lane thing. Yeah. I was there that day

And I Like this is what so I want to give a little more context here And then I'll tell that story real quick Because folks found a tweet of mine From nine years ago Where someone asked me what I thought about Leangelo and at the time

15 year old Lamello's NBA prospects And I said Leangelo's got no shot and I'd be very surprised if Lamello was in the league. Folks are like, man, this guy's been hating for a decade. Listen, I think I am prior to yesterday. Here is my entire history on the Ball family, if you will. I don't know that anybody was higher on Lanzo than me.

One of the tweets that still gets thrown in my face was the Jason Tatum draft tweet when I was underestim how good Tatum was. be and someone asked me who's going to be better than him in this draft and the first person i named was lonso who i thought was the best player in that draft one of the reasons i was so high on lonso and have always respected lonso is because he's a professional he brings a lot of the great passing lamello brings to the table doesn't have the athleticism is obviously dealt with injuries isn't as natural of the score but is an adult and was an adult back at ucela

LA. Lanzo, in my opinion, of the, him, his two brothers and his dad has been the most mature person throughout his whole career. And I got no problem, none whatsoever with Lanzo coming after me. None. Like, that's your, you're defending your little brother. Yeah, that's your little brother. It's totally fair. And him coming after me doesn't change my opinion of how much I respect him not only as a player, but he dealt with real athletic tragedy as far as the injuries he had and has fought through him. So I was, but the reason I even bring that up is, it would appear my, you know, pre-draft analysis of the Ball Brothers is, Lanzo I was too high, Leangelo, I was exactly right, and Lamello, I was far too low. In fairness, my, it, right,

Exactly. In fairness, when I was asked this question, I was about two months removed. I mean, Lamello was on the AAU circuit competing with, you know, playing in the same tournaments as Demosa's team, which was full of the opposite. Like, DeMazze's teammates were L.J. Cryer, who plays for the Warriors now, one of the most, like, professional, like, got it together, young people I've ever met. and grimes who at 15 carried himself like a total grown man and felt like real professional adult and then i watch one of the guy on the other court not crossing a half court and shooting 50 footers i'm like okay i don't think this guy's going to make it i was wrong about that by the way he ended up being a you know a top five pick so there's that now let me give you one other piece of context and dig up the tweets folks they're there

I was one of LeVar's biggest defenders. I made the point repeatedly that LeVar Ball, decades ago, basically said, if I put my entire life into turning my sons into NBA players, I'm going to do it. And he did it. Like, I mean, and so the, But people, people can, could, back when he was like, I beat Michael Jordan one-on-one and the bombastic, like, kind of clown stuff, oh gosh, see, I've seen it again.

I didn't even mean to. So my God. But that type of, you know, Carnival Barker stuff, I, I was on the record on TV and on Twitter saying, listen, I understand if the guy rubs you the wrong way. But as a father, it's pretty hard to say. anything other than super high marks he had a plan for his boys he went out to execute it and one kid was the second pick of the draft one kid was the third pick of the draft the other kid played you know the middle son played internationally or whatever but at least played in college like pretty

sick like the pretty sick result so i had said all that prior to this was the whole background to the stay in your lane thing and this is the last moment i have ever spoke to LeVar in person. So LeVar at the time, 10 years ago, thought correctly, I was kind of one of his allies. And I was in the green room when he did the stay in your lane thing and came in. And then he came in the green room and was like with whomever he was with, like laughing about it and joking about it. And I was like, hey, man, that was way out of line.

Like just for the record. Like, you know I've been one of your bigger defenders in the media. That was way out of line. And you owe all the people involved in an apology. And he doesn't have like that gear. At least he didn't at the time. He was like, oh, that's crazy, blah, blah. And that was it.

So that is, I'm a pretty open book on this stuff. I don't. I had no reason going into anything to like or dislike or have a preconceived notion on any of these guys. I I think that here is the glass the most absolute glass half full reading of this whole

foolishness okay maybe that clip and that and this moment gets thrown in my face for the next 10 years

because Lamello grows up. And you know what? I'm not going to lie and be like, and that's why I did it. I was trying to inspire. That's not, that's not, that's not the case. But if that happens, awesome. That would be sick. He is a great talent and he, by all accounts, is not in any ways a bad, listen, the BAM thing, the dirty play really bothers me and it's really reckless. And that's a dirty. dirty play is not enough for me to say you're a bad guy, but it's, that is the dirty play injuring other people, potentially injuring other people really rubs me the wrong way. But set that, let's just put that in a box, set that aside. Aside from that, there's no indication whatsoever.

He's a bad dude. To me, there are a lot of indications, a lot. He is going to be one of the bigger man. What if he ever just put it all together, how good could he have been? Because even in a game where he's taken 16 threes, one-footed, in the biggest game of his entire basketball life by a mile.

He wasn't playing bigger games at Chino Hills. He wasn't playing bigger games in New Zealand. The Hornets have never played big games since he's been there. he's just being a cartoon character for large stretches and then still hits the game winning layup like there are parts of his game his size and vision and passing that can't be taught but they get so overshadowed by the fact that there is almost no distinction between the style with which he played when I first saw him in person 10 years ago as a 15 year old on de Monzae's AAU circuit and as he plays in an elimination NBA game and so like I don't I'm not

I'm not trying to like fan the flames on this I one of the things that you guys know and like if you're watching this and you you consume this show or you consume first things first long enough is i am at a point in my career in my life where i do think my work speaks for itself i don't think people can say i nicks always going personal nicks always out of line or you know that I just and if you feel that way so be it maybe I haven't done as good of a job as I think I've done um and there are there are certain times that I you know put it into high gear on a very pointed commentary that I know blurs the line between just on the court and more than just on the court I don't do it often and and it's never done flippantly or unintentionally. The only flippant thing I did was the specific word clown,

which again, I, you know, I've become numb to it. It's like the opposite of like a beautiful woman thinks people always tell people how beautiful they are. It's like, no, that's just you. For most people, it's pretty rare. Like, maybe I had no idea that for a lot of people, it's like he called him a clown I was like yeah I didn't I didn't think that was that bad um well well listen there's also like seems to be a maybe even a deeper level of why this flag to a lot of people but I don't listen I can't speak to all of it all I can speak to is what my record is

whether I stand by what I said or not. And this is the last thing I will say on this part. And then we can get to some of these follow-up questions before you get to the Warriors. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide. range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name,

Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 headwriter, Streeter Seidel, helped 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every ups. and what it really takes to win on Clay.

Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. I do think, deep down, almost everyone that has watched this young man's career agrees with this statement. He at oftentimes is his own worst enemy. And the one sentence description of what at this point is a six-year veteran's NBA career is wildly talented yet maddeningly immature. and because he's so young and because all of a sudden the Hornets are building a little something, maybe he turns the corner on that.

Me personally, I don't, I don't. And if the word Brue would always use was silly, here is one thing, 100% of NBA champions, and I would argue, NBA finalists, teams have in common. Their best players' number one descriptor is not silly. I think the silliest great player ever is probably Shaq. And he was pretty damn serious when it came to playoff basketball and dominating people. And so there is a level of basketball.

being a professional and being an adult that if you want to win games at the highest level, you can listen, everybody on your team doesn't have to be dialed and locked, but your best player does. And right now, the Hornets don't have that. Say it again? So that's Kobe White.

He's pretty budding up. Oh, it's Kobe White. Listen, and well, he's pretty buttoned up. And Kobe White is an adult. Yeah. You know what I mean? Concanipple, who played terribly. He seems to be pretty buttoned up.

Oh. The, I. But no, Kobe White, by the way, what a great addition for them. And you know who's also really buttoned up and really serious? Charles Lee. Oh. Well, okay. But their head coach.

Oh, you were doing Diabate. I don't know. Charles Lee, who, um, Charles Lee made, I think an incredibly bold decision to Monzae in benching con canipple. And a decision that had they lost would have put a bit of a damper on their season. It's like, man, whole season was about kind in part it was a right move i mean looking at the game it was it was

the smart move yeah i mean we're saying that yes but if cobi white misses that three and they lose and down the stretch you had grant williams dude yeah clutch oh my goodness you know what i mean i think then people are like oh my god you can't have con out there now you get to chance to reset for con but that was a gutsy gambit that a lot of, I think, coaches wouldn't have been comfortable doing. All right, the other, I know

you have one Lamello follow up quickly, and then we'll move. So he avoided a suspension. He got, I think of $35,000 total in fines? Do you think that was enough? Yeah, you got $35,000 for the play. He got $25,000 for cursing. They also called it retroactively a flagrant, too, which

means the league saying that would have gotten you kicked out of the game. I would have been okay with a suspension because he wasn't dejected and bam got hurt. I didn't think the precedent was there for a suspension, but I thought it was on the board. Instead, they gave him the harshest thing they can give him without a suspension. And it's fine. You just can't do that. That is just the, the, and we've talked about this before.

Lou Dort just did. Oh, I mean, Lou Dord did. like two months ago to Yokic. I guess they were standing. So, yeah, and by the way, and I went semi-scorched earth on Dork. Like, I have, like, I find there is to me such a difference between, like,

straight up, you know, doing something to somebody or it's like, like, low-key, not expecting it. Like, the little. Yes. So, like, I think when you're boxing, I think the guys who, when they're boxing someone out, hit them with a crazy elbow to the race. Yeah.

I don't really have a problem with that. Yeah. Like, I think that's part of, you know, I mean, like, part of the positioning and all that. I mean, you're not fighting for positioning when you're tripping somebody. It's like you expect that when going for a rebound. And I think the, if a guy's going for a layup and you're your team's enforcer, you're like, I'd like to block it.

but I might club him in the head. I, again, like, that doesn't make me mad. I'm not saying it should be legal, not be penalized. That doesn't make me mad. But the, a guy goes for a layup, you're out of the play and you try to undercut him. Or a guy like in BAM situation is not looking at you, you swipe his legs. Those are the things that I, there's just like a hard line on that I think are just so out of line and dangerous. And it is crazy.

that in the first quarter of a do-or-dye game, the heat's best player got hurt by a dirty play and got knocked out for the game. I really feel like they glossed over it, like during the... Like, it was a huge thing, and I just feel like it wasn't that big during the game. You mean during the broadcast? Yeah, during the broadcast.

Yeah, it was just like... Listen, and I'm not going to kill the refs for not noticing it the moment it happened, and they're in a tough spot because you can't then retroactive review it, but I thought he could have been suspended, but he wasn't. All right, you have one more follow-up before we move on to, you know, Steph and the Warriors. So Tuesday, you upset the internet by forgetting Steph out of your top 10 list yesterday

by calling Lamello a clown. What's on the menu for today? Nice, easy, chill day, I think. All right. I didn't expect either of these things to happen. I didn't think I would make one of the worst list of graphical errors I've ever made. Can I explain myself on the step thing just for a moment?

Just how? What? Go ahead. I mean, no. I'm saying. No, I'm saying how do you explain the mechanics of what I screwed up. Okay. Because it was, it wasn't, it was all my fault. And our,

our stats guy, Josh, like, is like, he, like, feels bad about it. It was 100% my fault. And the, you know, ABC of it is, I was, so you guys know, I have my 50 greatest players of the last 50 years list. I was trying to do the 10 greatest. So whenever I have to do any historical rankings, I have them done already. I have them done already. However, for the greatest guards ever, West Oscar.

and coozy didn't play in the last 50 like they were pre-list so i was trying to figure out where make sure i felt comfortable about where i was slotting them amongst these other guys and where she would slot into that and so one of the things i was doing was checking it was either MVP finishes or all NBA. It was something. And I sorted Shea versus retired guards. So I got Michael, I got Magic, I got Kobe, I got Wade, I got, you know, all these guys, right? Yep.

Isaiah. Oscar West Cousy. You know, the, um, do you, I said Wade. And I felt comfortable about where Shea was. And then I just forgot to put Steph back in because he's not retired. And then I gave it to Josh right before, right, right before the show. And I was like, hey, can you make these? Can you turn instead of just a names list?

Can you put their pictures on it? And I just did it. And during the segment, I didn't even notice. I'm just talking during the. segment, whatever it is. And like an hour later, I get a text. I'm like, oh my God. What a disaster.

It calls for a text. Yeah, just mortify. But like I said, it was such an egregious error that I think people have to know it was an oversight and not like, no, you know, when you put pin to paper, I just think D. Wade's better than Steph. Like, and I love D-Waid, but like nobody. So that's that. So hopefully today we've got nothing.

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Tennessee Virginia all right yeah so the regular season ended on Sunday a lot happened we're going to start with spurs nuggets the spurs play the nuggets lost they were locked into the two seed but could have gotten a better playoff path had they won that game you think the loss was something or nothing I think this was an utter catastrophe for the spurs and I'm just shocked they let it happen. Shocked. All they had to do was win one game

against the Nuggets backups. Joker started, but Joker was not going to play a long time. He just needed to get to his 20 minutes or 15 minutes, whatever it was, for award eligibility. And the Spurs, opted into sitting Wimby and his backup, Luke Cornett. And they thought they could win anyway. Vegas thought, Hard Rock Beth thought they could win anyway.

They were 10 and a half point favorites, and they lost. And now if you're the Spurs, instead of in round two, facing either a Rockets team, who's, you call, Durant might be their best player. Shingoon's probably the most important player, but the most important player, but the most complimentary thing anyone can say about Alpern Shingoon, and this is complimentary, is that he is a homeless man's Nikola Yokic. That's who you would have had to play in round two, as opposed to the actual Nikoliyokic. Or, you know, maybe the Lakers win that series and Luca comes back at less than full strength, and Austin Reeves is not probably back by then. Either way, your round two was

going to be a flawed Rockets team who, yes, played better down the stretch, but a lot of that was against tankers, or a Lakers team that two of it, its top two leading scores right now, are both out with soft tissue injuries. Instead, you play the Nuggets, who I believe this to be the best Nuggets team they've had. I think this is better than the team that won the championship. I think Jamal Murray's having the best season of his career. Aaron Gordon has become this devastating knockdown shooter with those no-dip threes. He's the only guy in the league that does.

And Joker's playing as well as he's ever played. And Joker seems to take real pleasure and is really excited about the Wimby matchups. And he draws Wimby away from the basket. That is the one place where Wimby has struggled this year defensively. if he's asked to guard one-on-one on the perimeter, which, I mean, the guy's 7-5. I'm not knocking him for it, but Joker can pull him away from there and bang into him,

which a guy who has bruised ribs probably don't want Joker banging into you, and you didn't have to have this match-up. I, so the biggest winner of Game 82 was the Thunder. The Thunder go from staring at a 7-10. game series with Denver. Two, they now get the winner of Lakers Rockets, and they get to watch the Spurs and the Nuggets throw two weeks of absolute haymakers at each other. I don't get it.

And for a team that is as smart as the Spurs, as well run as the Spurs, man, oh man, it feels like they took their eye off the ball at the final moment. they played Wimby Friday when he was, you know, less far removed from injuring his ribs so he could check the box of award eligibility. And then they don't play him Sunday in a game that was wildly important to win. I would have, and I think the Spurs do match up, and I think, the Spurs do match up, and I think, there's proof of this really well with OKC, but they don't match up well with Denver.

Had the Spurs de Manzay simply won game 82, I might have been planning to pick them to make the finals with the thought process of they will basically be able to coast to the conference finals and then maybe get Denver or maybe get an OKC team that just had a seven-game war with Denver that they've had a lot of success against.

Now, I expect the Spurs to lose in round two. I'm telling you right now, my Western Conference Finals pick is Thunder and Nuggets, and Thursday or Friday, I'll probably do my official picks, but I'll tell you where I'm leaning. I'm leaning towards a fight. finals that it feels like we have been circling around for a few years, but never quite got it. These teams have been to three of the last four NBA finals collectively, but never against each other. And that is the Boston Celtics playing the Denver Nuggets.

That is what I think. That's where I'm leaning. If that's not my finals pick, it will be the Boston Celtics playing the Oklahoma City Thunder. What will not be my, and by the way, I reserve the right to change all of that if Luca comes back and looks healthy and I'll probably just pick the Lakers. But this is a real catastrophe for the Spurs and I don't know why they didn't take that final game more seriously. Do you think that Denver was even trying to win the game? No, because I think Denver didn't care.

I mean, Denver obviously wasn't. They were prioritizing health. and Denver knew that their round two is hell no matter what. You know what I mean? Their round two is either on the road in San Antonio or on the road in OKC. So either way, Denver was going to have a brutal round two. Now, you could say Denver maybe wanted to lose because round one for them now is a little harder because you get San-An-I'm sorry, you get Minnesota who's beaten them in a series.

But I just, I think this Denver team is better than the Denver team that lost to Minnesota. And I think this Minnesota team's not quite as good. And Anthony Edwards hasn't looked like real Anthony Edwards in a few weeks. So I think Denver was, you know, they obviously didn't prioritize winning the game. They rested everybody. Right. But the guys who were out there, were out there trying to win. and I just can't believe the Spurs did it.

I really, really can't believe that. And I also can't believe that if you were only going to play Wimby one game at the end of the season to get his awards eligibility, why did you burn it against the Mavs who don't want to win? and now Wimby scored 40 in like 26 minutes against them. I mean, he looked fine. And not save him for the Nuggets game where you can knock the nuggets to the other side of the bracket.

I just, I think it was really, really foolish what they ended up doing. And I'm really surprised by it. All right, let's go to some of the other play-in stuff. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name,

Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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, S&L'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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests. in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenschen went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any

surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. So Orlando lost home court in their playing game losing to my Celtics bench. What happened to Orlando? We were very high on them at the beginning of the season.

Seems like they've kind of fallen off cliff. I mean, it's a, if people cared more about the magic, we would talk more about what a catastrophe this year was. The magic last year, right, are ahead of schedule. They make the postseason. You feel good about where they're at. They end up getting clocked in round one by, Boston. And then this

off season, they trade five first round picks for Desmond Bain. Their projected win total is 50 wins. They get a basically healthy year out of Paolo. He doesn't seem to be,

I don't want to say he's not going in the right direction. But Paulo he's not trending upward isn't seem like. Yeah, I mean, he seems to have stagnated. Right. Year two, Palo was 22, 7 and 5 on 45%, and year 4, Palo is 22, 8 and 5 on 45%. His three-point shooting never got there.

He is stagnated. Obviously, they were missing Franz a lot of the year. Bain played all 82 and gave you 20 points a game. I don't know how much, you know, drastically more you could have asked for him, but the coach, Jamal Mosley, seems to have lost. that team. Palo doesn't, I think it's fair to say, doesn't seem to like the coach. And now Orlando lost to a Boston team that was playing three guys on Boston set their career high in that game. Baylor Shireman with 30.7 and 7. Ron Harper Jr. The other kid of Ron

Harper in the NBA, Dylan Harper is the number two picture. for the Spurs. His brother goes for 27. Luke Garza goes for 27. Someone I've truly never heard of. The only, like, no, no, no, no. John Tangi, they went for 13. No, I've heard of Luke Garza.

Luke Garza has been playing for him intermittently this year. John Tanji goes for 13. And you had your full lineup and you lost. and now listen they were not going to be the out of the play in regardless like it's not like that cost them the six seed

but they were going to be hosting the sixers instead of going to the sixers and that matters and that's because this game's in Philly de Monzae the Sixers without

Embed are on hard rock bet point and a half favorites So listen the magic season Is gonna come to a whimpering end And that's fine I believe they'll lose to Philly And then You know

I'm going to go on the record and say that I think they're going to be Philly I think they're going to be Philly yeah I know they're bad But I just have no faith in Philly is uh it's all me I kind of want to go to that game Wednesday night

a Sixers play in game also like let me hold on this is I want to check and see just real quick what like actual what would court side or close to court side

cost for that because I don't think Philly fans right now are, you know, over the moon about the team. Yeah. All right. Well, it's a court side, even with that, still, well, hold on. All right.

You can get the single best seat in the house. Center court court side is five grand. That's a little rich for a magic sixers game. Yeah. Baseline court side is three grand. and then okay well now

now we're talking my what is this row AA hold on I don't I mean now we're talking Daniel seems to know the hold on

let me just see where this row AA is oh it's is he right it's right behind the scores right behind the scores table the two seats like right behind where the broadcasters are

800 bucks Hold on. Who's broadcasting this game? That would, it might almost be worth it. If it's an ESPN broadcast, just for me. You'd be sitting right behind. Who's, who's got that game? Prime. Damn it. Still, it still be cool.

It would be a little more fun to be just sitting there. We have them first things like a, you know, vote for first things first for the Emmy T-shirt in the ESPN broadcast. I might go to the game. I got to see your, it would be me, Indiana, because your mom's in L.A. seeing your daughter. That might happen. I don't know.

Now, the flip side is, you know what, I'm talking about this through in real time. If I think the Sixers are going to win, which I do, probably better off saving that trip and that money for a game against them in Boston. Yeah, well, again, because they'd be playing Boston around one, which would be fun. I'm also just scarred by living in New York City and what these MSG tickets cost.

It's just unbelievable. I was going to go to Nick Celtics. Nick Celtics, ninth row, forget court side, ninth row in the corner, like corner, not baseline but not sideline. Ninth row corner for Nick Celtics regular season was $1,500 a ticket. I was like, you got to be kidding me. So I didn't go. I was planning on going. I told your mom we were going.

And I was like, sorry, babe. You can't justify it. Just can't justify it. All right, let's talk a little more playoff stuff before we get to the other things. So Hawks and Raptors flip-flopped in the standings. Who do you think is happier Knicks or the Cavs? Caves. Well, listen, it's the Cavs.

The Knicks, I think, have beaten Toronto 13 games in a row. So the, and they sw, I think they were 5-0 on them this year. So the Knicks would have really liked Toronto in round one. Hawks, meanwhile, have been excellent since the All-Star break. Have the best record in the East since the All-Star break. Have the best net rating in the East since the All-Star break. So I think Nick. Hawks is going to be a tough series.

There we go. I think at the end of the game, the fact that when the Knicks have to get a bucket, it's Jalen Brunson. And when the Hawks have to get a bucket, it's C.J. McCollum. And I like CJ, and he's had an awesome career. That obviously leans heavily to the Knicks favor.

But I think this goes seven. I think we get a Knicks, Hawks, game seven at MSG. and even as much as I don't trust James Harden in the playoffs, I don't expect the Raptors to beat them in round one. So I think that now, let me be fair here, because Raptor fans were mad. I left Scotty Barnes off King of the Hill a few weeks back and said I haven't given the Raptors enough respect.

You know what? I'm not Zach Lowe and I don't pretend to be. Hand up. I've not watched a ton of the Raptors. this year. There's games on and I'm like, it's very rare when I'm perusing league pass, does the Raptor game get first choice? So I will admit, I'm not as dialed maybe. I'm just telling just being honest. 30 team league. Um, first or second. Yeah, I mean, there's just not a ton of nights where I'm like, man, can't wait to watch the Raptors game. So maybe they'll surprise me. Um,

But I would imagine that the only, I want to know, here's one other thing about Philly in the play-in. And this obviously is a risky business. But I actually think, if we expect him be back for round one, which I don't know anything about recovery from appendectomies and the internet doctors have very differing timelines on this.

I think Philly would have a better chance of upsetting Detroit as the eight seed than Boston as the seven seed. Now, in order to get the eight seed, you got to lose your first game and then win your second. So, like, you don't, you know, that's not a position you want to be in. But if you, if you, I just, and there's no disrespect to Detroit, I just think Boston is one of the two best teams in the NBA. And Boston, obviously, he's had success against Philly in the playoffs in the past. Boost Mobile is proving that you don't have to overpay for great

wireless. Unlock the savings with the $25 a month forever unlimited plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts and no price hikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to $600 a year compared to the major carriers. Stop overpaying and switch to a fair price. at boostmobile.com today. Based on average annual single line payment of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers, compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan. As of January 2026, for full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. All right, I'm just going to jump right into it.

I'm going to pick every series and the number of games in every series, and we'll see how I do. Western Conference, round one. O KC smokes. Whomever wins the 8-9 playoff game. I think it'll be Phoenix beating Golden State. It doesn't matter who it is. OKC and 4 over Phoenix or Golden State is my pick.

Spurs Portland, you know what? I'm going to give Drew Holiday and Denny Avdia one game. Yes, exactly. I give them one game. Feels like the old Spurs go up. 2-0, Portland gets game 3, game 4 we're like, are we going to get a series?

Spurs win by 40, and then they take care of it at home in game 5. Denver, Minnesota, there are some, we haven't discussed this at all, but there's some very real, wait, what if Ant

wins this series? Implications for Joker, for Ant, for the rivalry between the teams, of that. Assuming ant is healthy. I think this can be a good series. Not a great series, though. I think

Denver wins in six. I will take Denver over Minnesota in six. And sadly, tragically, I have to go with the Rockets over the Lakers in six

games. Six. All right. I think LeBron can get a game by himself. Yep. And I think the Rockets can blow a game. But, and again, I reserve the right to change this pick if Luca comes back. And the fact that they have two days between games one and two, games two and three and games four and five means game five of this series is 27 days. days after Lucas suffered his injury. So maybe he could come back for a game six.

But as we're sitting here right now, Houston over the Lakers in six. Producers, tell me in my ear, do you want me to do the rest of the Western Conference bracket or the East First Round now, or do you not care? Okay, so I'll go to, so Western Conference, OKC and four, Spurs, and Five, Denver, and Houston, and six.

Eastern Conference round one, De Manzay. I have, I do think Orlando's going to beat Charlotte. Either way, it doesn't much change my pick here. Detroit over the winner of Orlando Charlotte in a gentleman sweep in five. I think Philly can give Boston just a little bit of trouble. But I will say Boston over Philly in six. Does that sound right to you? Yeah, I was going to say between those two, definitely.

but yeah, I mean, I wouldn't even give them six. I would give them a game. I wouldn't give Philly two games against Boston. If Embed's not back, then I, you know, then I wouldn't give them a game either. But if Embed's back by game three, I think they could win one of the two in Philly and then win a game five potentially. Like, I think Philly could win in six. I also think that they're still like ramping up Tatum. like so he's you know ready to peak at the end um i think we have won seven game first round series

and it's nix hawks i think that's going to be an awesome series i trust jalen brunson in a game seven in his building but i think atlanta is ready for a fight and i think jelan johnson got to have a little national pop moment people at nikhiel alexander walker who might be the league's most improved player go ahead no i was just about saying to kill Alexander Walker. They got Dyson Daniels over there. I know he's not a huge there, but that's a dude. He's serious. And so, yeah, I'll take the Knicks over the Hawks in seven and then begrudgingly, I will take the calves over the Raptors in six. I would like to see the Raptors and Scotty Barnes win this series. I don't think they have quite enough juice,

so I will take the calves. So I am going to Monzae with all of the favorites in round one, but it's the NBA playoffs. That's how it goes. So that does set us up for, I think, potentially three awesome round two series. The one non-awesome round two series is the Thunder playing the Rockets. This, I think, could be a very quick series for OKC, OKC over Houston in a gentleman sweep. And then an awesome series. that Denver in their own building closes out in six. Denver over the Spurs in six games in a series the Spurs could have easily avoided

had they simply won game 82 over Denver's backups. So that sets us up with an OKC Denver conference finals. And then in the east, I will again go a little chalky. Detroit over Cleveland in six, and I cannot wait for that at home game six James Hardin performance, and Boston over the Knicks in six, where I think Boston avenges last year's round two lost, loss and Jason Tatum eliminates the Knicks on the court where last year his season ended. So that is, it's a one versus three in the west, a one. 1 versus 2 in the east.

And now, I think probably from Vegas odds-wise, my biggest upset on the bracket. The Denver Nuggets in seven games go to Oklahoma City and end their title defense, a game shy of the NBA finals. Nuggets over Thunder in a seven-game epic with Joker, reminding the world. She can win the last two MVP's.

I'm still the best player in the world. Eastern Conference Finals, not as quite as much of an epic. Boston beats Detroit in six. To set up a Boston-Denver, NBA finals to find out who is going to be the first team of this era with multiple rings. OKC will have just fallen short. Boston has a ring, Denver as a ring, and in a game seven in TD Garden in Boston,

Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, and the Boston Celtics win the NBA championship. for whatever it's worth the odds on these Denver is on hard rock bet Denver is plus 550 to win the west Boston is just plus 150 to win the east and Boston is plus 550 to win the title um I do feel a little bad so we can throw up my bracket I do feel a little bad to Monzae because Boston is your team and I'm not trying to like push you off that corner uh no But it'll be fun for us to be rooting for the same team together these playoffs because I'll be rooting for the pick. But this is how I see the bracket falling. Can we just reveal De Manzay's full bracket so I can see where our disagreements are?

So, San Antonio and Denver, I think it's the big one. So, oh, well, no. So in round one, in the West, we have the same four teams. O KC, Houston, Denver, and the Spurs. In the East, you do have one upset. You have Atlanta beating the Knicks. That would be a catastrophe for the Knicks.

Losing in round one to Atlanta. And you think the series is going to 7, too. And if that series goes to 7, I'm giving it to the Oaks. I'm giving it to the Oaks. Jalen Brunson in his building in a game 7, you know, against Atlanta, I'll trust him. But yeah, I clearly think it could happen. And he's taking a little bit of a step back. We'll see. Maybe you have the Spurs beating the Nuggets.

You think it's a great series? The Spurs just overpower them. Like, what do you think? I think it's a great series. I mean, I could see that one going to six and seven as well. But I just think that the Spurs and a longer sample size being able to play them in a seven-game series, I think they'll be able to get it done. We have the same Eastern Conference Finals, Detroit, Boston. You also have Boston winning.

You have OKC that lost four or five to San Antonio in the regular season, beating them in a series. Is this the San Antonio young guys finding a lack of experience catches up to him? What is it? I think it's just, I believe a lot in OKC. I don't like the team. I just think they're really good. They're super deep of SGA. He's that guy.

I get that. You don't like it, but you think it's what's going to happen. Yeah. And then in a finals that if we get this finals, you are going to be an emotional wreck. Yeah. Because your favorite team against your least favorite team, but we both have the Celtics winning it. All right, pretty sick. So we don't have a ton of differences.

Think about NBA playoff predictions. It's hard to have a ton of differences. Yeah. But we both have, listen, it's not like the Celtics are the favorite. They're, you know, almost six to one. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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 podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're

you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. Jen, she's an outsider to win the French win. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. I actually can win on any surface.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.