The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - NBA Reaction: Celtics SNAP Thunder win streak, Murray DROPS 53 + Sweet 16 PREDICTIONS | Nick Wright

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright reacts to First Things First being nominated for an Emmy and how his show went from nearly being canceled to one of the top performers in sports television. Next, Nick shares his March Madness predictions for the Sweet 16 before diving into NBA talk. First, Nick reacts to Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics defeating Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder and what it means for a potential NBA Finals matchup. And have we become numb to the excellence of Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic after the two had massive nights in the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers' big wins? Later, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. Tired and sick.

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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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 get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 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. Jench won. She's an outsider to win the French name. and she likes Clay.

Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and 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. Welcome in, What Driving NickRite episode 437. This episode of What Driving NickRite is presented to you by our friends at Boost Mobile. Good morning, DeMonze. Great to see you, as always.

Amazing night in the NBA last night, including something that has never happened before. And I didn't even really think was possible a 13-point overtime comeback. I didn't like the, I said on Wednesday's TV show for the Rockets, the Rockets were in their own tier of teams and the tier was named they hate each other and i vindicated with that game i don't yeah i mean i don't know if it's helped by blowing a third that first of all they came back themselves yeah from 11 down very late to the anthony edwards list timber wolves then in overtime naz gets ejected and so the timbreals don't have naz or anthony edwards they're down 13 and they put a 15-0-0-1-run on Ime Udoka's squad.

And if a team ever was going to abandon all plans to trade everything imaginable for Janus in the off-season, the Rockets have a flashing red light that they could be that team. But that wasn't even the biggest game of the night. Celtics Thunder, which inexplicably DeMonsei, was not a national TV game. And if you didn't have League Pass, I know you, right. Well, it was the Thunder, I guess, already maxed out. That's what I was going to say.

You can watch everything. And I have a League Pass, but that was, it was shocking to me that wasn't on national TV. And then you also obviously have MLB opening day on Netflix. So all of that, we will get to over the course of the show, a reminder. tomorrow we will give you our way too early premature NFNFC over under show like we did the aFC over under show last Friday next week a slight schedule tweak we're going to be live Wednesday and Thursday and then with a mailbag show Friday so we won't have a show Tuesday next week but that's another reason to like rate and subscribe review to the

pod. That way you know when we do, in fact, go live and win that latest episodes post. But first, quickly, straight to voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile. We're not going to, listen, the Yankees won 7-0 over the Giants, despite Aaron Judge going 0 for 5 with 4Ks. We will do, I think, a little more baseball this summer than we've done historically because the Royals, I think, are going to be good. and the World Baseball Classic got me jazzed for it. So we will do some baseball, but not today. Embede and Paul George returned to the Sixers,

and they score 157 points, and squirrels are hooked on the vape juice. The pictures I'm saying, listen, I don't really know the science behind it. I do know that... I think that the vapes have a... They're emitting a smell. I got this from our producer this morning.

It smells like... They go in there. They try to eat it. And then they just happen to be smoking it because they're trying to get what's inside. Throw your vapes in the trash, folks. Throw your vapes. You know what? That's the lesson to learn here. Throw your vapes in the trash.

Protect the squirrels. It's like when I was a kid, they told us back when you got six packs of soda, you had to cut up the little plastic things. Because the dolphins or something, we're getting them around their snouts. Yeah, the turtle, something. We now have to, you know, protect the squirrels. from Chinese vape juice. All right, a reminder everybody, like, rate, subscribe, review to the pod.

Let's some personal news to start the show, DeMonsei. Go ahead. Huge news. Congratulations to you and your show. First Things First was nominated for the most outstanding sports the most outstanding sports

studio show. Has Wimby inspired you to campaign for the award? I'm not going to campaign for the award, but I am going to be a touch self-indulgent here, but also I'm going to spend a bit of time on this because I think this is instructive for people in there, at any, I think there are lessons, lessons sounds patronizing.

I think there might be some wisdom shared here and that sounded pretty patronizing too. As far as, yeah, the story of the TV show. And listen, I don't know if we're going to win the Emmy, but I and I know the maybe the proper thing, certainly the cool thing is to say, I don't care, but I care deeply about being nominated. for this every year when these nominations came out i got upset uh that we were not

included and i thought for some time maybe not even considered now to be fair there was a period of time where we didn't deserve to be considered um but for people that are you know new ish to this show or first things first i will try as briefly as i can to kind of give the history of the show um because again there are some fork in the road moments that i think are instructive um so september labor day 2017 the show launches 2017. It is me, Chris Carter and Jenna Woolt. And in

pretty short order, the show was solid. And I think you know, it had some documented growing ratings success at a time slot where FS1 had never had a show before that show the show used to start at 6.30 a.m. Eastern so 3.30 a.m.

Pacific and go three hours six 30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and before the end of our first football season, we had an episode where we had more than 100,000 viewers, which I think was way way beyond what realistic goals were for not only a new show, not only a new show involving someone that, me, that nobody knew, but a show that nobody ever woke up to FS1, historically, because we didn't have life programming on that. But that show was very dangerous.

different. And people that watched it, you know, know it. I didn't know what I was doing. I thought my job was every day to prove to the audience how smart I was. I thought my job was every day to just be armed with all of the data, all of the facts, all of the information to win any potential debate that popped up, while also weighing that with the fact that my partner and the person fronting the show, Chris Carter, who was so good to me personally and so good to my family and my wife and my kids and who I had a real deep personal relationship and friendship with, he was not really trying to argue. And so I, and as much.

as much as I believe Chris respected my intellect and my work ethic, he certainly did not think if he and I disagreed on football or basketball for that matter, that I had a leg to stand on. He obviously was one of the greatest football players of all time and also had 100 Division 1 college basketball scholarships. His brother coached in the end. NBA. And so I was that first year plus always kind of doing a dance figuring out how to as strongly as I could make my case for something, give my opinion, while never actually entering into a debate which could turn into an argument with C.C. because that's just not what he was trying to do. and it was his show and so there were a lot of moments where and I'm not really a

fold your hand guy where I had really no other choice but to kind of fold my hand but but it's still great it was on TV every day the show was growing and we were headed in a really positive direction along with the network when undisputed was really starting to hum they were on after us Colin's been great throughout the show on after Colin he at that point in time he was still a part of he would do the herd and then also do

speak for yourself and the network was really rolling and then late October of 2018 so the show's now been on for 14 months I get a phone call that Chris and Fox have parted ways. And the, you know, I, I, it's been eight years. It's something I've never really talked about, but call it a reconcilable differences.

And I show up to work the next day. I think the first day was Halloween 2018. And they're like, well, listen, you know, Chris Canty has been a great. guest of ours he's going to do a lot of stuff Greg Jennings will still come in coach mangeny Greg and coach were there from day one those guys um will you know still be a part of the rotation and we will just kind of do you know a rotating co-host while we figure out you know who's going to be full time what's what and that win from the rotating co-host thing from October of 2018 to we are now in February of 2020 and there is

still not a full-time co-host and while that was to be obviously not the best thing for the stability of the show and chris canty did an awesome job uh because he was he was there more than anybody we also during the NBA chris broussard started being a part of it it's how i really got to know broussard um and while it wasn't that that lack of stability wasn't what was you know really best i think for the show's growth it certainly allowed me to put my stamp on it and for you know almost by default a show that was never supposed to be my show became my show and then in January February of 2020 Kevin Wilds who was in the running and he himself bowed out of being on the show when it launched had decided he did want to

to do it and they brought kw in and then of course when i say february of 2020 we are approaching covid but right before covid was the 2019 super bowl which was in january of 2020 or february of 2020 k w is now you know getting ready to be or is already a part of the show. And the Sunday night of Super Bowl week, when we are about to do a three-hour live show in basically the middle of the night from wherever that Super Bowl was, it was Miami, I think. So it wasn't really the middle of the night. But at 6.30 in the morning, we find out that Kobe Bryant, helicopters crashed.

And we are going to be doing a three-hour show the first day of Super Bowl week with a live studio audience reacting to this unspeakable tragedy. And I remember specifically requesting that Chris Roussard, who was there in case any basketball stories popped up during Super Bowl week. Could he host the entire show with me? With the crew. Could he be there for the whole thing? And Brew, to his credit, said yes.

And we did those three hours together, which were just... I... The impossible, in retrospect, to think about... Kobe had lost you know obviously Kobe died but it was also other adults and a bunch of young girls including Kobe's daughter and I remember when that show ended hugging brew and telling him man I literally could not have done this show without you out here like thank you and it felt like that really bonded us and then um you know know, six weeks later, the world shuts down. And we still don't have a full-time co-host. We still don't really know, you know, exactly what's what. And COVID hits, and all of a sudden, we're doing the show from our house with no live sports on.

And I might get some of this timeline a little wrong. And I apologize for the length of this. but there's a reason. I'm glad I'm finally kind of putting this full thing out there. And at one point during the first call it 12 months of COVID, I'm told by folks who would know, not sure if we're going to continue with the show. We never landed on the co-ho. the, you know, there's no sports on that, if you guys remember, the sports economy and

advertiser economy at that time, like the show was on, what, not thin ice, but it was, I was given a heads up that it was probably going to be canceled. Three years and four years into the show. Again, I don't remember if this is late 2020, early 2021. 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 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 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. Oh, 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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicleaf 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. And I don't know what changed over the next two months other than, you know, maybe I had, you know, the people, I don't know what changed. But I know all of a sudden it went from me telling my wife and daughters that I think we're going to probably moved L.A. that I think that, you know, I've established myself well enough with Fox that even if they cancel the show,

I think they will have, they'll want to keep me around. I'm under contract. And, you know, but I think we're going to have to move to L.A. I was setting up interviews for my older daughter for L.A. high schools. I had, my pal Maverick had, you know, made some calls for me

where, you know, his friend's kids went to school. And like, this is what was happening. Like, I had kind of just come to terms with it. And then something changed and the show didn't get canceled. And they were adding a full-time co-host. And it was going to be Brandon Marshall. And we were still doing

the show from our house. And that was the 2021, I think, football season. And we did, Brandon, me, Wilds, and Jenna did that show for a year with Brew being our basketball guests, coaching Greg, still being on the show as guests. and it was fine. Brandon and I had a good relationship, but it was also weird. Brandon and Wilds did a show together for a year,

never once met in person. Brandon was in Florida. He was still COVID. We were still doing it from our houses. Everything was remote. And then Brandon decided he didn't want to do, you know, renew. And we're approaching

going back in studio. And this is, I gave that whole background, but this is the moral of the story and the reason I'm telling this and spending a half hour on this. In that moment, we knew that Jinnah was moving on. KW's role was going to change a little bit.

And they, were discussing with me thoughts on who the person opposite me should be and out of respect all these people i'm not going to say who they were all talented all people i like or had good relationships with and all former um athletes and i knew in my i knew in my absolute core that the best person for the show, the guy who worked the hardest, had the best relationship, we had the best chemistry with, and who had the best disposition, and was the most reliable, was Brew. And I also knew that I had, you know, probably

one time I could play the card of, let's not do what you're suggesting, trust me. And it was, I really debated whether or not that was even smart to do because if you do what your bosses or whatever are suggesting and you register, I don't know if it's the best idea, but yeah, I'll go with it. And then it doesn't work or something. something happens, that's not as much on you. It's like, well, I, you know, I said, but if you say, hey, I know this is right, and I'll take the hit, if I'm wrong, if it doesn't work, that is on you. And in that moment, uh, I knew Wilde's thought it should be brew. I knew my core that because I listen to Bruce radio shows like these guys think he's just a basketball

guy does a daily radio show every night talking about football every day plus I also knew from my own history I was like it I am so such an annoying person to argue with that there is something in my experience for former athletes particularly former football players that if every single day they got to argue with me, something in their brain activates a few months in, and they're like, man, I used to put guys like him in the damn locker. He's telling me who the better court is shut up. And one of the reasons I think Greg and coach have been so great for eight years on the show

is by around Thursday, certainly by Friday of a week of dealing with my nonsense. They know, all right, I'm about to get a week away from this idiot. and they can reset. And so I just really didn't think going with another former athlete was going to work. And I advocated in the strongest possible terms along with Wilds, we all agree, me Wilds brew, let it run. Just see. And even after that happened, once that was like agreed upon in the 12, 23rd hour, they, I was presented with, hey, we got it done with Brew, he's going to be on the show,

but we think we are going to add a fourth person full-time, not coach or Greg, they will still be on the show in their current role, but in every segment full-time person and we think we know who it is. And I, I laid down in traffic on it and said, let, let, let, let, let me. Let us have this shot. And that was August of 2020. What? Hold on. Am I, do I have this?

No, that was August of 2022, right? Two, three, four, five. Yeah, we've done four football seasons together. That was August of 2022. And I believe by, August of 2023 me Wilds and Brew

along with coach and Greg and the amazing folks who work on the show behind the scenes have the best show on sports TV and

that's why being nominated for that award was so gratifying. I understand there's been a half hour of self-indulgence but the lesson, there is a real lesson there

which is if if you feel ownership over something and I listen I try to be very consistent and I'm being very honest when I talk about this is a collaborative effort but I feel real ownership over this show um we are all equal partners in it but I the I it's why when we were were moving to the afternoons, the other thing that I was adamant about is don't change the name. They were like, yeah, but we named it first things first because it's a morning show. I'm like, don't change the name. Let us keep it. Um, because I felt a real connection to it. But if you feel real ownership over something and in your core, you know what the right call is, be willing to put some stakes to it. Going along to. To get it.

get along can be smart in certain instances. Ac Cumulating good co-worker, good colleague, not being a pain in the ass chips along the way is super valuable because I had never once played a let me have this one card. And I've only played it once really since then. I mean, that's the only time that I've played it. I should say since then. And it's the greatest thing ever happened to the show. Brew is perfect. He is works as hard as anyone in the business. He is funny.

He is never in a bad mood. And he is just the greatest guy to be around. The greatest guy. We've never had a real fight ever. KW is one of the smartest television sports television creators ever. He created really good shows, was behind the scenes, has all these amazing instincts, and then like we've had this awesome group of people behind the scenes. Matt Katanek was our original executive producer.

He then moved on to Breakfast Ball. he then moved on to other stuff a couple years ago. Sam Pepper was the brains behind the show for years. He then left and now is the brains behind the Manning cast.

And two guys who have been with the show the only people who have been with the show from day one as far as producers not like Christine in Wardrobe and Danielle, my wife in Wardrobe, been there from day one. But the people who put the TV show together have been there from day one are me, guy named Stephen Hubbard and Dustin Waite.

Dusty started as my researcher and now is the producer of the show. And Hub started as, I don't know, an AP, like a low-level producer. and now is an executive at the company and the executive producer of the whole afternoon block. We've been working together for eight and a half years, the three of us. And so I, again, maybe this is a bad use of time, and maybe people have skipped ahead or they've tuned out. however i don't know if we're going to win i do know that nominated for that best sports studio show emmy is espns flagship NBA show ESPN's flagship NFL show ESPN's flagship NFL show ESPN's flagship this is where all the biggest guests in the world go

radio slash YouTube TV show and McAfee and Sports Center the defining sports highlight show of, you know, in television history. Those four shows and us. And I am I'm really, really, really proud of it.

And it is a gratifying thing every day to work on something where so many people work so hard and I didn't mention all the behind the scenes folks because I'm terrified that I will mention nine of ten and leave someone out and

but people work really hard and people care and it's just really gratifying to work on something that you feel like is good and I feel like it's good. And I don't think we, not I don't think. I know the only way first things first is ever nominated for anything is if it's me Wilds and Brew out there doing it.

And I'm really, really, really grateful. Those guys are my partners. Deeply grateful. Today's show is brought to you by presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's Sportsbook. If your rockets already busted, you're not alone. But don't worry. You can still call the next big upset and turn your picks into payday on Hard Rock Bet. All tournament long, Hard Rock Bet is rolling out daily dance and boost,

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Call 1-800 gambler, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. 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...

We're the first people to do podcasts. 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. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

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 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Demonsei, I might, well, you can explain it. But Sweet 16 tonight, we got some, we got some stuff still live from before.

So go ahead. Yes, sir. It is a time for a special edition of Nick's Picks, brought to you by our friends at Harrowick Pet. Yep. So both your pre-Turney Picks are still alive. Houston to win it all at plus 900 and Arizona to win its region at minus 155. So ahead of round 16th, or sweet 16 started today.

What's something that you like? So I'm going to pile on more on Houston. Houston to win the South at plus 110. One of the reasons I liked them before the tournament was I thought they had the weakest one seed to deal within Florida. I think that was confirmed by the fact that Florida got clipped by, pardon me, by Iowa. The added bonus of Houston, I don't know if you know this, DeMonsie, Houston's round of 16 and elite eight game, if they get there, Rice is the host. So it's in Houston. And so it's, you know, it's at Rice's gym.

And so, you know, they will have a massive home court advantage. They also dominated their first two tournament games start to finish. So I like Houston plus 110. And I also like tomorrow St. John's getting six and a half against Duke. So Duke has really played, I don't know, maybe 15 combined good minutes in this tournament. the last five against CNN in round one and the last 10 minutes in their round of 32 game, I think St. John's defense is so good and they're so well coached that I think, listen, I picked them to go to the final four.

So I obviously think they can win this game, but I would be, I would be shocked if this is a blowout. Now, what is definitionally true about the tournament is you have never seen more instances of a team down seven with six seconds left still fouling. And they will, there are a lot of they were down one or two the entire second half lost by nine. due to 11 free throws in the final minute because teams will never give up. So that's, you know, maybe the smarter bet would be St. John's plus like four and a half for the first half. But if I think they're going to, you know, win the region, if I picked them to be in the final four, I'll take them plus the six and a half against Duke knowing that I could get a little screwed there. I kind of have that baked in.

All right. So let's talk about the huge game last night. My Celtics handed OkC their first loss in February. Since February. Since February. I'm sorry. They've got Jada. We still got Jason Tatum wrapping up.

Is there a big gap between the Celtics and Thunder, if any? I don't think so. Yeah. And so Tim Bond Tims had an insane stat that that starting lineup, OKC had yesterday, their preferred starting lineup. of Shea, J-dub, Chet, Dort, Hartenstein in the last two regular seasons, last two years. That was only their 21st games starting together. Because Chet and Hartinstein missed so much time last year,

J-Dub's missed so much time this year. That was only their seventh game this season starting together. So we haven't really seen them fully whole. Yeah, a bunch. But we did in the, here's the thing about OKC. And I'm not going to, you know, kill him for last night because it was Jdub's first game back. He plays 24 minutes at seven points. He's two of nine from the field.

You know what I mean? Like he's going to have to work himself back. However, they were not dominant in the playoffs last year. They won and they're deserving champions, but two of their series went seven games. games, one of them, you know, that was very nip and tuck early on in the game seven of the finals before Halliburton goes down. They, even when they were at full strength, they didn't seem unbeatable. And DeMonte, Tatum's just going to get better. And listen, he still has not shot 50% from the field in the game. I understand that. But he's rebounding like crazy.

last night you know you wish he didn't have all the turnovers but he also had seven assists he also had three steals in a block and jalen brown is playing with a chip on his shoulder and i think it's a multi-layered chip i think it's that he knows he's you know his best case scenario is finishing fourth or fifth an MVP i think there is still a you know friendly but rivalry he and tatum as far as, you know. I'm the reason we're here. I held it down all regular season. Correct.

You're back. And yeah. Right. But I think that could be good for Boston. Yeah. Like, I think Boston's great. But wouldn't you say that there is a little bit of a gap with, okay, like, I think

that Jason Tatum has a lot more ramping up to do than J-Dub, in my opinion. And with the fact that we barely lost them a couple weeks ago. And then, you know, we just beat them with Tatum barely. I think the Tatum's got a lot more ramping up to do when J-Dub. up has a little bit less. Well, listen, so Tatum's, a full strength Tatum is definitively

better than a full strength J-dub. Yeah. However, the Tatum we saw yesterday was like 60% Jason Tatum. Yeah. And the J-dub we saw yesterday was like 10% J-Dub. You know what I mean?

So even, so the, I know that that was kind of weird. I get what you're saying. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? That was, J-Dubb's first game back in months. Chet also didn't play well. But here's what I'll say.

I don't think Boston is, quote, a better team, definitively, unquote, than OKC over the course of, you know, Boston versus San Antonio, O KC versus San Antonio, Boston versus Detroit, OKC versus Detroit, over the course of a season or. over the course of a season or however i do think boston's a very tough matchup for okay c if this were to be the finals i would pick boston even though okayc would have home court now there is the other home court piece of this which is i don't know what the i don't even know if hard rock has these but I don't you know I probably should have made this announcement earlier I think San Antonio is going to be the one seed and I think because of that Wimby is going to pick off Shea in the MVP race whether or not I agree with that is a separate discussion for another day however okayc has nine games left two against tankers chicago and utah the other seven games okayc has is

detroit the nicks the nuggets the sons the clippers and two against the lakers okay so they have they have the second hardest schedule remaining. Only Utah is harder. San Antonio, on the other hand, they also have nine games remaining. Four against tankers. Dallas, Chicago, the Bucks, the Warriors aren't a tanker,

but the Warriors are without Steph, they might as well be. And their other five are, Portland the Sixers and then three hard ones Clippers 2 against Denver San Antonio is

the way to look at it is they are one and a half games back of OKC OKC has two fewer losses if they finish with the same record San Antonio gets the one seat so the if we think

what do we think San Antonio is going to go in their final nine? Give them four wins already. Golden State, Milwaukee, Chicago, Dallas. Give them the, well, let me, before I can just quite give them Golden State, I just want to check and see when that game is.

April 1st. Okay, then give them Golden State because Steph won't be back by then. If it was like April 10th, then it might be a little bit of, different. So four games, there's four wins.

Two against Denver, one against the Sixers, one against the Blazers, one against the Clippers. What do we think? The worst they go there is? Seven and two? Or a three and two in those five, which would put them at seven and two?

Let's put them at seven and two. If they go seven and two, OKC has to go 6 and 3 or better with again they have two against tankers the Jazz and the Bulls and then Detroit the Knicks

two against the Lakers the Nuggets the Sons and the Clippers I think I think because of this loss OKC might get run down and if the spurs get the one seed Wimby's going to win MVP I don't have to like it

I don't have to agree with it but and by the way if the spurs get the one seed I don't even know that I won't like it the that was like a triple negative

but right now I think Wimby is third in the MVP race the one seed historically matters so much for this and they won't would be considering, you know, them overachieving their preseason expectations so much, I think it would be something.

And I wouldn't, you know, so I don't know that I have a big issue with it. But I do think that the spurs right now got to be even money to catch them. And so let me ask you this real quick. who do you think the Lakers want to be the two-seat? The Spurs or the Thunder? I'd say it's the Spurs. I think that's right. I also do feel like last year, the Lakers, once they got Luca,

seemed to match up well with OKC. They beat the shit out of them, one game, and then the other game they were playing. Remember, Luca got kicked out with like six minutes left and it flipped it. The last team to beat the Thunder in a playoff series was a team led by Lukat Anjic when the Mabs beat the Thunder two years ago. I don't know. I don't know what they would rather.

I do know that they oddly actually will have a say in it. because they do play okay C twice. And the Lakers are also in a very interesting spot as far as their stranglehold now on the three seed because they are two losses clear of Denver and the Timberwolves, three losses clear of the falling apart Houston Rockets, and they have the tiebreaker with all those teams. So, you know, the Lakers don't have the three seed locked up, but they have Brooklyn and Washington next.

And that then leaves them Cleveland, OKC, Dallas, OKC, Golden State, Phoenix, Utah. So again, for the Lakers, Brooklyn, Washington, Dallas, Utah, those are wins. So how many games do they have left against teams trying? Cleveland, OKC, OKC, Golden State Phoenix. So that's five. If they go just two and three in those five, Minnesota or Denver would have to go undefeated the rest of the way to catch them. So the Lakers are in great shape for the three seed,

which you think will give them Houston in round one. but I don't know what that means for round two, which is kind of what we're going to talk about here. I got into a little bit, go ahead and ask me this, and then we'll get into kind of four, five, six more. Yeah, so the rockets are free falling. They were on the other side of a comeback in OT.

Yeah. Kevin Durant missed a high leverage free throw. Let's talk about the state of the rockets right now. What's going on over there? So I just don't think they like each other. and I think that... Who doesn't like who? Just everybody?

I don't... It seems like maybe there is, at least for the time being, an Udoka problem. I don't think he's done a great job. Okay. I think he's a good coach. I don't think he's done a great job

holding this team together. The fact that they... after you know they lost to the bulls which is unconscionable and then to blow that lead to the timber wolves is going to have real ramifications it doesn't seem like they are getting what they need out of reed shepherd and some of this does have to fall if it feels like this team doesn't like each other we can't ignore the k d burner stuff from all star weekend just can't the it is it is hard to they were 33 and 20 going into the break since then they're 10 and 9 they have lost four out of six their wins post-all-star break de Monzae. Okay?

They beat Charlotte first game out of the break. They then beat Utah a tanker. Sacramento, a tanker. Orlando, which has been so hot and cold. Washington, a tanker. Portland and Toronto, good wins. New Orleans, kind of a tanker. I mean, they're trying to win, but they're not good.

And then after the two losses to L.A., they beat Atlanta and Miami. Those are solid wins. That's fine. Miami was by one. They just haven't looked connected. And once they stopped being this dominant offensive rebounding team, their offense, you know, regressed massively to the mean.

And again, last night. I, if people understandably didn't watch the game or didn't see the end of it, I just do want to set the scene for what happened in overtime, okay? They are up 108, 95 in overtime. With under three minutes remaining, they are up 108, 95. The possessions then go like this. Mike Conley, shout out Mike Conley, hits a three. Now it's a 10-point game.

Rockets next possession, Jabari Smith's, you know, ice cold shooting continues. He misses a three. The Timberwolves then tip in a miss Julius Randall layup. Now it's an eight-point game. Okay. On the tip-in, Shingoon, fouls, Kyle Anderson, So it's an and one. Now all of a sudden, it's a seven point game.

Next possession. Houston, eight second violation. Devencenzo layup. Now all of a sudden it's a five point game at the two-minute mark. At the three-minute mark, it was 13. At the two-minute mark, it's five. Rockets timeout. Out of the timeout, Alpe misses a layup.

Next possession. Julius Randall driving layup. Now it's a three-point game. Out of that possession, Amin Thompson misses a floater. Rockets get the offensive rebound. KD. turns it over. Out of that possession,

Dante D. Vincenzo hits a three. Now it's a tie. Alpi misses another one. Julius Randall hits the game winner with nine seconds left. However, and this is what DeMonsie was alluding to, fouls KD, two free throws to tie the game, misses the first, so then misses the second on purpose, game over. So KD didn't get a single shot until he got fouled with three seconds left.

They blow a 13 point lead in overtime, and you just don't recover from that. Like, I don't know what Houston has left. I'll look at it real quick. Obviously, Phoenix is not going to catch them, and they get a nice little respite tonight at Memphis. But, and they still have Memphis, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Utah, and Memphis again in the sea. season. So they'll stabilize as the sixth seed, but that team cannot wait to go home. Can't wait to go home. And so what we're going to get in the West pretty clearly is a round one Rockets Lakers series, which is just the best case scenario for the Lakers. And a round two

Nuggets Timberwolf series where those two teams are, are fighting for home court in that series. And that should be awesome. If we're assuming that Ant is going to be back, and what the heck is this? If we're assuming that Ant is going to be back, which I assume he is, then Nuggets Timberwolves,

which is, you know, was when Denver was the defending champ, and gave us that classic seven game series that shocked everyone when the Timberwolves won it two years ago. That should be great. So that's going to be our round one. We know we're getting Lakers Rockets. We know we're getting Nuggets Timberwolves. The rest of round one, we have no idea on.

The sun should be involved. We don't know if OKC or the Spurs are going to be the one or the two seed. The West, though, is a in a bit of a, jumble at the moment in that regard, and I'm super excited to watch it down the stretch. All right, remind you guys, you ever notice how everything keeps going up, rents going up, streaming services going up, even your favorite burrito spots think Salza should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the Will This Go Up Soon game. Why?

Because Boost Mobile has unlimited talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up. In fact, it's the same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigs, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the boost unlimited plan. Hey, it's us to 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 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. Oh, 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 Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funny. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by the people. people who live them listen to sports slice on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice of life 12 and the tictock podcast network on tic all right demons a ask me about the uh i want to talk a little bit about the nuggets here

for a second before we get to the NBA player association stuff because i jumped around a bit but go ahead on the nuggets so yokech had a near 2020 and 20 20 game murray went over 50 where would you rank these guys in the list of duos over the NBA? So here's the thing. I mean, if we're talking about like contemporary right now, they're obviously as good as anybody. Right.

Historically, here's what I'll say about Yokic and Murray. It's hard to rank them anywhere historically because Murray is simply not, consistently that caliber of player to where he all of the great the truly great duos that we talk about you have a legend and an all-time great and whether that's magic and worthy berna mccale jordan and pippin shack and coby that's two legends there um Duncan and Tony or Duncan and Manu, Bron and Wade, Bron and Kyrie,

Stefan Clay, Katie and Steff. When Jamal Murray is rolling like he was last night, they are, they look as good as anybody ever. He's just not consistently that guy. And it's a testament to Joker's greatness. And I'm not, listen,

Jamal Murray scored 50 last night against the tanking Mavs. I'm not taking anything away from the guy. But I don't look at them as anything close to an all-time great duo. Now, maybe they peeled the title this year from the four of the five line. Maybe we look at them differently. But right now I don't look at them like that.

I know you have another Joker question. Yeah, so he's gone 60, 50, and 50 over his last three games. Are we forgetting about him in the MVP race, you think? listen i don't i think i have him fourth i know a lot of people have him third over luca i would like to just if i may for a moment make the luca well let me talk joker and then i'm going to pull up this um luca note okay uh are we a little numb to joker's consistent offensive excellence sure. I think that's fair. Has, because he has

been so, it's not like he's short on accolades. The guy's got three MVPs, okay? He's got the same number of MVP's as Larry Bird. He's one short of LeBron. So he's not a guy that's like, well, you know, he's disrespected, far from it. he is to a point in his career where there is not much to do other than win more. And that's why we are somewhat numb to these crazy numbers. And speaking of being numb to the numbers,

Luca just averaged 40 a game on a a six plus game road trip. That has not been done since Michael Jordan 40 years ago. 40 a game over a six game road trip, last guy to do it, Jordan in 1986. Luca also is going to average 33 plus on a 50 win team and this is where I will get a little upset so to speak.

DeManzi in the last 60 years here are the guys who averaged 33 or more on a 50-win team and their MVP finish. Wilt, in 1966, he won it. I want to make sure I'm right about that. Yeah, of course I am. Wilt in 66, 33 and a half a game on a 50-win, Sixers team, he won it.

Kareem in year two, 35 a game on a Bucks team that went on to win the title. He won the MVP. Jordan in 88, 35 a game on a 50 win Bulls team. He won the MVP. Jordan in 90, 33 a game on a 50-plus win Bulls team. He came in second, okay? James Harden 36 a game

on a 50 plus win Rockets team in 2019. He came in second as the Defending League MVP. So Jordan and Hardin When you first said, I was like James Hardin didn't do it recently. No, he did it in 2019. He came in second in voting,

but he had won it the previous year. Jordan did it in 90 after doing it in 88. and winning MVP there. Joel Embed in 2023, average 33 a game for a 50 plus win-sixers team. He won it. So we have in the last 60 years, Will Kareem, Michael, and Embed

won the MVP for 33-plus on a 50-win team. Jordan came in second another time when he had already won an MVP. Hardin came in second when he had already won an MVP. and then Luca Danchich two years ago, 34 a game on a 50 win team, came in a distant third. Four first place votes out of 100.

Four. And Lukadanshich this year, who people think is going to finish third or maybe even fourth. Every other person to do this, this high volume of scoring on this, good of a team either has won the MVP or come in second and the guys who came in second had already won MVP's except for Luca who did it once already before and that year came in third in MVP voting, but it was 79 votes,

Yokic, 15, Shea, 4 for Luca. And Luca this year, who people think is going to finish either a distant third or fourth, probably with only two or three first place votes for. I think that's, I think we are approaching a bit of lunacy when it comes to to recognizing his utter and complete dominance

as an offensive player. And I think we've overstated. Here's the thing. Is Luca a good defender? No. Do the Lakers, does the Lakers defense go from an average defense with Luca on the court to a hard?

horrific defense with Luke off the court, 115 versus 121. They do. So I just, I, Luca's going to average 33 a game on a 50 plus win team and nobody cares but me. It's weird. All right. Let's skip everything to Monzae until we get to public defender.

Let's just do public defender real quick. All right. On TV, you came out to the defense of golf course alligators and saying that LeBron was in no danger. That was pro bono work. You were officially on the clock. Counselor, defend your client, course alligators. Golf. Let me ask the ladies and gentlemen of the jury a question.

Think about dangerous animals. Dangerous wild animals. I mean, there's, you know, there's the go-to, lions, tigers, and bears, obviously. there are some ones that you probably think of, hippopotamus, the Nile Crocodile, which has a lot of blood on his little tiny hands for the defaming of alligators. Maybe even some other big cats, a Puma, a jaguar, a lynx even, possibly a mountain bobcat. Hell, Rotwilers for some. Cain Corsod wild dogs.

I ask you this. What do people do if they're walking around? Maybe playing some Frisbee. Maybe hitting a few golf balls and see one of those animals. Do they take a picture? They point it out to their friends? Do they decide whether or not they should hit their share? shot or do they turn and run and call the authorities?

We all know the answer. You know why? Because those are legitimately dangerous animals. And one could never be like, hey, I'm going to put $100 million into this land in South Florida, build a golf course, put a country club on it. one small thing there's between 12 to 15 silverback gorillas roaming around that folks are going to have to you know be aware of you know why because those things to misquote Dave Chappelle might rip your own arm off and beat you with it and then there's

alligators who there's hundreds of golf courses around a America. You know what a feature of it is? Alligators. Now, part of this is Adam Sandler and Happy Gilmore's fault because of Chubs got his hand bitten off by an alligator, but that's cinema. That's make believe. Part of that is the fault of alligator, you know, genealogical relative crocodile who are vicious, vicious creatures. features and they are pardon me here we'll fuck you up alligators on the other hand you if you're driving through South Florida want to stop and get a corn dog might be able to get dinner in a show watch some guy for

18 bucks an hour stick his head in an alligator's mouth nobody's doing that with tigers. Last folks to try were Sigfried and Roy didn't go great. Alligators just got bad PR. They're not bothering nobody. That's why Braun, think about this, a million dollars a year on his body. Nobody cares more about physical health, maybe in the entire world than LeBron James. He saw the alligator 15 feet away and was like, ah. Turned his back on. I'll be fine. Alligators. I can't say they've never heard anybody. But I can't say if they had, it likely wasn't their fault.

Huge thanks to Hard Rock Bet and to boost. A reminder, we have our NFC over under show tomorrow. And next week, we're doing shows Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We will see you there. Thank you so much to Blue Duck and to the volume. A reminder, everyone, like, rate, and subscribe review. Talk to you guys tomorrow for the NFC over. Under Show.

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. 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 podcasts. 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 get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 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. Jenchian win. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lennarabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and 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 IHart Women's Sports. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.