The Mismatch - 10 Questions Heading into All-Star Weekend

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Verno and Jacoby are back as they discuss the fight that broke out in the Hornets-Pistons game and their hope for a potential playoff series between the two teams. Next, the guys ask 10 questions heading into All-Star weekend. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:37) Hornets-Pistons fight club (09:06) Which team would have the best chance vs. Pistons in a Royal Rumble-style match? (13:48) Will the NBA be forced to go after teams who are tanking? (22:36) Which bottom-five team in each conference is in the best position going forward? (26:24) Are the Wolves a good team? (29:33) Would the Celtics be favorites if Jayson Tatum returns? (31:54) What teams in the East can defeat the Cavs in a seven-game series? (35:31) Which team you could see yourself liking more come playoffs? (39:05) What minor trade-deadline move will be discussed more come playoffs? (44:04) Who is the celebrity to crash a player interview? (50:08) Was the Super Bowl boring? Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Miss Madge. I'm Chris Vernon. You join me as he does every week from Theringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. You know, they say that there's no sort of like collective experiences anymore.

And some might think that the Super Bowl is one of the few sort of like monoculture experiences. But really, I felt more close to my peers last night in the aftermath of the Hornets Pist fight than I did during anything in the last 10 years.

It seemed like everyone was watching that game. It was crazy because we live in this social media world where that was such a huge game with the Hornets going for 10 wins in a row and they're playing the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. So we were like locked into that and we were texted about it before this ever happened. And then the mini melee happens. And because we live in this social media world, like the fight goes online immediately. So fast.

And it becomes this like cultural touchstone where then it becomes like the Zapruder film. And everybody's like, watch Isaiah Stewart from this angle. Yeah. And watch this angle. Yeah. Oh, I was watching one this morning as we record on Tuesday morning. I was watching one this morning where when he runs up, Miles Bridges or I'm sorry, Stewart swings at him and Miles Bridges like ducks.

And then goes for a takedown. Then goes for the takedown. I'm like MMA style. I'm like, this is awesome. I mean, we didn't have, like, that is not the hold me back, hold me back NBA. We had real guys swinging at each other last night. And like, there was one going on in the corner with Diabate, but then there's another part that breaks out at mid court.

And it was just, it was mayhem. It was great. It's, uh, oftentimes people will allow them. themselves to be held back. Like they will not go 100% effort trying to break free from the grasp of a teammate or a coach or security pitchler or whatever. They just sort of like, it's sort of an unspoken understanding that I will, I will, I hold my pride. I'm trying to fight this guy, but I'm being held back, which is why I can't do it. But then there are times like Diabate and beef stew where they're just like, I'm going to try 100% with all of my effort to make this fight happen.

And it kept flaring up in different parts of the arena. It was over here in one corner. Then it's over here in this corner. And then it moves over here to that corner. It was wild. And of course, we had the great Eric Collins there to take us through the whole thing. It was awesome. Oh!

Wow! And they were just absolutely perplexed. They're like, we've never seen Moose like that. Like, Musa Diabate is like man on fire. It reminded me every once in a while there will be one of these like guys that you don't expect for their temper to went like they're they're pretty docile guys. But then whenever the switch flips and their temper blows, if you remember years ago, you'll remember this as a Knicks. Do you remember the Jared Jeffries one? Yeah.

And Jared Jeffries never struck anybody. as a violent man. But like, he got this look in his eyes and you're like, bro, there is a moment where he's like, I think it was Carmelo or somebody and he's like sprinting. And you're like, hold on. I never suspected Jared Jeffries was capable of this. But now I'm wondering, what is this guy capable of? Because he snacked.

And it was Jalen Duren. Jalen Duren obviously has been in these type of situations before. for because he mused him in the face, Diabate. And Diabate acted like it was the most unbelievable personal affront ever and just snapped and his temper just went crazy. Dern was kind of like, like this is what happened, right? Like you mush people in the face and he's just kind of standing there. Like, you know, his temper is not going in the same way that Diabate's was.

But man, yes, you're right. With Eric Collins, like then commentative. the whole thing. It was just, you know, we don't get to see those. That'll happen maybe like once a season. You suspect it happened more with, and it's usually the Pistons, right? Yep. Yeah. It happens with. But what a night. What a night. The game wise, great game. Great game. Great game. Duren was killing them before this whole kerfuffle. It was, I think that there's going to be so much discussion of the fight, but it was a great game. And I think you're right to mention just how dominant, Durrant was during the game.

Because previously, a couple of possessions before, he hit like a turnaround fadeaway 17 footer. And it was just like, where did that come from, Jalen Duren? And Diabate did not have an answer for him. And what led to the fight was like a really hard foul, but sort of like an I give up, I can't stop this guy kind of a foul, which then escalates into like the getting each other's phases and then the much, then the fight and the push and the blah, blah, blah.

But like, this was a great game. And there was a lot of opportunities for the Hornets down. the stretch there. Con missed a couple open ones. Miller missed an open one that could have sort of like brought it to one possession game at the end. But shot to advise Harris. Two things before we get into the major point of this game. First one is the get ready so you don't have to stay or stay ready so you don't have to

get ready award goes to. Be ball. I mean, Reed won them that game. How many winning plays did Paul Reed make when he was called into action because, of the absence of Isaiah Stewart and the absence of Jalen Duren. I mean, he was, he was unbelievable. He was like getting steals. He was getting lost.

He stripped him and half-core. Unbelievable. He stripped him in half-court. Oh, my goodness. He was, what a moment for him called into action. The second thing is, look, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention. The standings are such that this is a very plausible first, round matchup. And I think all of us were in agreement as we're watching this like,

yo, give me that playoff series. Yeah. Oh, it would be so fun to watch. It would be so fun to watch a playoff series. Like if you're, especially after that took place in one of the games. So there's already heat there and you don't know who could snap at any given moment. And then, I mean, for a regular season game, when there's so much conversation that's not about basketball and people are worried about, you know, tanking and people worried about all manner of other subjects, this is one of those where not only was the actual game super entertaining,

you think about, like, the future of this and the possibility of seeing those two teams get to play each other. And I think I speak for both of us. I'd sign up for that now, like right now. If I can sign up for that one eight. I don't see the pistons losing the number one seed in the east barring some sort of injury situation. But I also don't see the Hornets losing a playing game,

which where they would have to to get the eighth seat. That's fair. That's fair. It does feel like they feel like a seventh seed to me right now, but you know, things change quick. It's fair. It's fair. And the other thing is, look,

Pissons are going to be out without one of their, one of their better players for some time. As we're recording this, we don't have any news on Stewart, but that's going to be a very, very strong suspension. Because if there's one thing they are very serious about, it's the fact that he wasn't even in the game. Like he sprinted off of the bench. And that's what causes massive, massive problems. And on that front, like, I bet. they bring the hammer down on him. I'll be surprised if it's not a severe suspension.

I didn't see it last night, but this morning I saw video of him in the tunnel walking to the locker room, like take, you know, the classic sort of like untucking your jersey from your shorts walking to the tunnel. He goes, what do you expect me to do? You drafted me to Detroit. I was just like, it was like a script.

He was just kind of like, yeah, I'm a piston. I'm getting fights. All right. So we're doing 10 questions about the league. on this episode. And so we are starting with the most important question. So we saw the Pistons last night versus the Hornets. And then we had this mini melee.

It's fair to say the pistons are the team you would not want to fight in the NBA. If we're doing this Royal Rumble style, so we'll make it like that. We're not doing like a real fist fight, right? We're doing this Royal Rumble style. So you've got to find the best equipped team. to beat the Pistons, Royal Rumble style. It's embarrassing how much time and effort

I spent to answer this question. I don't have answers for any other question that you prepared for me today outside of this one. Perfect. Now, I spent a lot of time on this, and I have landed the Pistons at the number one spot because of Dern and Stewart, right?

Because you look at the front. court first. Now, I have, well, hold on, hold on time out. Paul Reed, Paul Reed's a strong sure. And, and Ron Holland is a certified crash out as well. Absolutely. Duncan, Duncan Robinson standing in the corner. Duncan Robinson just being like, you guys go ahead. I'll be over here. It was one of my favorite things too, because he's like, this is an NBA fight. Like, what's really going to happen? You know what I mean? Like, what's really going to happen? the uh so i started here right i was like i want stephen adams involved so when you start going through the rockets roster it's just the the the rotation the bench isn't that deep when it comes

to a royal rumble action but stephen adams was someone who i wanted involved but i cannot put the rockets over the pistons and then i have a question for you if i get the nuggets do i get the yokech brothers. Do I get Stranya involved? No, no, no, no. I don't get the Yokic brothers. No, no. You're not doing, we're not doing friends and family. I just wanted to bring Strangia back in our lives. Because we went on a month run there. We was just like, our main thing that we covered in the NBA was Stranya Yokic. And I did a little, you know, a little bit of research on him. And there's nothing new in the world of Straunya Yokish to report on, unfortunately. We don't have an update there. But I, after an exorkechard,

positive research. I've tried so many things and you just end up with the pistons. You just do. I toyed with the timber wolves. But like Gobert is just, I can't have him involved. It's the Pistons is the answer. They're the number one seed in the Royal Rumpel.

I know. Who's the best competition? I tried everything. I've tried every. You have to have an answer. You have to have an answer. I don't get the Yokish brothers. No. You don't get the yogurt for others. And James Johnson's not in the league anymore, right?

He's like a ninja, so that was obviously always, he was like a real wild card. Yeah. If you throw him in there. Interestingly enough, I think that there's some crashouts on that King's team, because you got, you, you would get to bring Westbrook and DeRosen, Sabonis, like, you know, and they're all pissed off. You see DeRoson throw that water bottle down like 100 miles,

an hour less. Yeah, they're done. So you, they, they, they have the anger thing going for them. I guess. I mean, if I had, but you, but you, but you need like ultimate size. Yeah. And that's where the Adams thing. You want an Eastern Euro. Like, I was toying a little bit with, the Nuggets because you've got those, those big sort of Eastern Euros to sort of to anchor your team. And Yokits and Yokic is hard to like turn over the. And Gordon, too, is pretty tough guy. I'm going nuggets. If we're talking about flipping over the rope, Yokic is like, he's like the, you know,

like when like five guys used to like try to flip like Yokozuna or somebody, you know, over the road. It takes, it takes a couple of guys to pull it off just because of sheer size. And yeah, he grew up. Look, you don't get the brothers, but he did grow up around the brothers. Yes. And we also have seen his temper player when he went and tried to. body check the Morris brother in her.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every once in a while, the algorithm just feeds me that. They're like, the cheapest shot in the history of the NBA. And it'll show me that. I'm like, oh, sure there's been cheaper shots in the history of the NBA. You know? Next question. Next question we got here.

All right. So last night, the jazz did it again. They're beating the heat in the fourth quarter. They sit your guy, Jaron Jackson, Jr. They sit marking in. They sit everybody, try to lose the game, and they don't lose the game to the heat, right? They do not lose. But the tanking has started earlier.

It has been more obvious, and it is a real problem. This season in particular, it is worse than I have seen. The sort of intentional losing of games. And it feels like there's nine or ten teams that have no interest in winning basketball games. What can the league do to address this? in my opinion, something needs to be done because every night, just like everybody listening this podcast, I look at league

pass and I look at the matchups, and every night there's three games I have no interest in because it feels like the results are already in before the jump ball at center. All right, to your point. I was watching this weekend, the Jazz Magic game, because

featured two of my favorites, Jared Jackson Jr. and Desmond Payne in that game. And it was going to be Jared's first game. with the Utah Jazz. And so I was locked into that. And what they did in that game was truly disgusting. Like truly.

They had that one like locked up. They did the same thing last night. Yeah. And, you know, you're watching Isaiah Callier and Cody Williams and the rest of them trying to close that game out. And it's like, come on, guys. Like this is, this is gross. Anyway, to your point, this morning, this morning,

this is now not just on the front of, of mind of Jacobi. This is on the front of mind of everybody that cares about the NBA. There is a article USA Today. The NBA's tanking crisis and why Adam Silver

can't ignore it. There is a headline on Yahoo. The NBA has a serious tanking problem. Adam Silver needs to step in. So that's just two. And those are two very big outlets. This is going to be

This is going to be everywhere, right? Because now the focus is about how these teams are purposely being non-competitive, and we've got a lot of the season left. Okay? And so product-wise, obviously when they're tuning in, you're like, this is not on the up and up. On December 23rd, there was an ESPN article that said the sources, is NBA looking into new ways to prevent teams from tanking? Now, this was in the aftermath of the gambling scandals.

They were saying, hey, we need to fix this. Not because teams were being necessarily purposely non-competitive down the stretch, but because you've had the Terry Rozier thing, you've had the Trotson Phillips thing, you've had these, right? The fact that you showed up in federal documents and that this was, that people were able to manipulate, lineups that news got out, were losing on purpose,

you know, giving the heads up. And so this was like on the gambling front. Like in order to have integrity on the gambling front, this needs to stuff. So now you, it's twofold. When you say, will the NBA do something about it? The answer is a million percent yes.

Because number one, you have this non-competitive thing, which is a big, big problem. And number two, you have that whole gambling angle to this as well. well. And so you already had a list of options that have been brought up. You have the prohibiting teams from drafting in the top four two years in a row. That's an easy one, right? That's an easy one. You have locking in draft positions March 1st has been floated within the NBA, which would then prevent the last part of the season. You have no reason. Your

draft position is locked in. Why not win games? You also have flat. the odds even more, right? They tried this back in 2019. Obviously, it has not been a big enough deterrent. It hasn't quelled it enough for teams to not lose on purpose. And so I'm sorry to interrupt, but one thing that needs to be brought up is the trade deadline had influence over this as well.

Because you're looking at stars, like name stars, Anthony Davis, Trey Young, Jaron Jackson, Jr., Zubach. Zubach is a huge star. But like, they're all going to teams. aren't trying to win. So it's like bad teams collecting good players and then sitting them for the season and being like that, maybe we'll try again next fall. Well, I'll give you a real fascinating one too because one of the things that has been brought up

when the NBA has talked about this is the problem with pick protection and that maybe they should make it. You can only protect a pick top four or you can only protect a pick top 14. but what we can't do is have all of these. So Utah, that's a perfect instance, right? Utah had a top 10 protected pick two years in a row. They kept it both of those years. They didn't want to lose their pick.

The same thing goes this year, right, where they don't want to lose their pick. Their pick is going to go elsewhere. If they don't ensure that they are going to be able to keep said pick, and interestingly enough, It was just a year ago. I went back and found this article. So last year, we had the Philadelphia 76ers who had, you know, their team went to hell.

And then they had that top six protected pick. Oh, right. And then they went on to lose 29 of their last 37 games. And then it worked out for them where they ended up getting Vijay Edgecombe with the third pick and the draft. The Jazz actually last year were fine. $100,000 in March for holding out Lori Markinen out of multiple games because they went on to lose 21 of their last 23 games to end the season. And at an introductory news conference, Utah's president of basketball operations,

Austin Ains said, you won't see that this year when asked about tanking via manipulating minutes and player performance. And that is literally the team that you brought. We see it this year. I do see it, Mr. Age. I'm seeing it right now last night. But I'm saying they already got fined last year. But the thing is, is the thing about fines and about any sort of punishment in any walk of life is it has to be substantial enough to deter the behavior.

And if it costs me $100,000 to get a high pick, it's like, oh, okay. Well, and this is the tricky one. This is the tricky one, right? If you're the league office and you call Utah and you. and you say, give me a good reason why your best players didn't play in the fourth quarter. We want a higher draft bit. What I'm saying, that's the sticky situation. It's like they are, they're trying to massage it.

They are playing their guys. They just happen to be sitting them when it matters most. What if you're the heat? What if you're the heat? Like the other team, did you know, Bam had a quote after the game. He's like, we need to beat teams that are trying to lose. Like, it's just like they're. We have to be the teams

trying to lose. Bryce Sensible had different ideas. Yeah, he sure did. He has got a couple of eaters this year. Price Sensible had different ideas. So, look, your original question is, are they going to step? Look, we're now getting to critical mass

where there's headlines everywhere. There was already headlines because of the gambling stuff. Now there's headlines because of the losing on purpose for draft stuff. I promise you, there will be reformed after we get done with this because it's going to be so bad. Yeah. And I like the idea of, even before March 1st, February 1st, lock it in.

And then there's the idea that you can, that sort of wins after February 1st count as losses in draft orders. Does that make sense? So you get rewarded for winning games instead of losing games. Imagine that. Imagine being rewarded for winning games. Well, look, there's a third of the league that's involved in this, right? Because there's five in each of the conferences.

Okay, so go look at the bottom five in the east and the bottom five in the west. without knowing the draft order. So just as of today, which team would you want to be going forward with in each conference? Of those teams. I found this to be really easy. Oh, okay.

I found this to be easy. It's in my mind, it's the Mavericks and the Pacers. And it's pretty clear why. Let's start with the Mavericks. You have the guy, right? You've got the franchise guy. So you, you've got that immediately gives you direction. Because you, you say, all right, what does Cooper Flag do?

What are his strengths? What are his weaknesses? What are the best players to put around Cooper Flag? So you have, you've got a North Star. You've got, you've got the architect has drawn up the plans for your next five, 10 years of, you know, creating a basketball team. That level of direction and like clarity, I think, is really helped. for an organization.

And then I have the pace. Because because, because, well, and obviously, you have incredible amount of faith in them building around one of the greatest players ever if Cooper Flag is to become that because they did it so well. Yeah, and then they'll trade them. And then they'll trade them. I mean, that is. They'll find the perfect complimentary pieces for Cooper Flag.

And they're going to end up trading. Did that not come into your mind, though? Should I trust this ownership and management to be able to. Boy, first of all, we have to mention that the news story came out yesterday, like Mark Cuban is trying to get some, like, rich homies together to buy the team back. I was like, this is, I don't know. I don't know what's going on there. I don't know how billionaires work, but I don't think you can just like hostily take over a basketball team. The owner doesn't want to sell, but whatever you say, Mark Cuban.

Yeah. But I think, like, if you look at some of the other teams with, like, interesting young players, if you're looking at like the wizards or the net, or whatever. Like, they all have interesting young players that can turn into something, but the Mavericks have Cooper Flag. So it's just very clear what they want to do. And the Pacers is, I'm not as high on the Pacers. It's sort of like everyone is, but, you know,

they were in game seven of the finals last year. And they've added some pieces, and they're going to have a high draft pick this year. So who's to say that they can't make another run? Yeah. Fair enough. All right. Those are the two.

Those are the two that I had. What do you have? Do you have any different ones? No, no, no, no. I think, I think that's fair. I think that's fair, right? Like the Indiana, this is a gap year. Yeah, this is a gap.

I mean, we're obviously going to have to see how Halliburton looks post-A-Killies, but like this is a gap year that we think they would be involved, and they still have good players on their team, and they added Zubots. And as you said, they get lucky. They're going to get a really high pick in this draft. And so you could be right back competing for Easter conference finals next year. That is not true of any of the others.

No. And this happened with the Warriors. Like remember that the Steph year when he was out and they ended up with the Wiseman pick. And again, like, it's so easy now to be like, oh, they shouldn't have picked Wiseman. But at the time, I would have picked Wiseman if I was the Warriors. They had the need, you know, you're in Memphis. And Wiseman was this touted basketball player, future of the league. It was a whatever.

I give him, it was a COVID year. We didn't even see him. It may only played a couple games at Memphis. Oh, yeah. He didn't play at all. And it was a weird year. Yeah. It was, but I would have picked him.

but this is, I, but I see a lot of sort of parallels between that year with the Warriors and this year with the Pacers. And I think they're handling it well. So those are the two teams that came to mind when you pose that question. Here's a question. I can't honestly figure this out myself. So I look to you, Berno, one of the greatest basketball minds in the world. Don't be flipping. Are the Timberwolves a good basketball team?

I can't, why are you even asking this? because they lose. They lost to the bellicans. They lose to the kings. Like sometimes they beat the thunder. And you're just like, oh, this is a championship contenders. They're in the West finals all the time. And then they put out absolute stinkers.

They're just sort of like this Jekyll and Hyde weird team. You are an advanced level NBA watcher. Come on. You know, I can't even believe this is a question. Like, this is a team that's been that has got their playoff bona fides. It's the regular season. We're heading into the All-Star break. They let go of the rope for a span of three or four games.

They got it back on track. And when they look awesome, they look on it. I mean, they walloped. Who was it? The Hawks last night. The Bulls. Oh, the Bulls. They got a top 10 offense.

They've got a top 10 defense. And how many teams have seven players you like really, really like? Right? Like, I mean, they got, they're built for playoff. basketball. They've got the wings. If the Soon Moot thing takes like we think it's going to take, it gives them another ball handler. It kind of

there was a gap there with Conley getting too old to participate on most occasions and losing Alexander Walker. They did play the Hawks because they gave him this huge ovation. Yeah, it was Alexander Walker. They had a little, that

couple of skirmishes in that game too, but they were just overshadowed by the distance game. Right. But they gave him that huge ovation, which he deserved. But they kind of missed that other ball handler at the guard position, which is another thing to assume we could fill in. Yes, the answer is unequivocally yes.

I understand, like, you go through spans throughout the season, but you know when playoff time comes around, they are going to be an absolute bitch to play against. They got big defensive wings. They've got a guy that can be the best player on the floor, any given

night. And I did love the Dissu acquisition. I did. So yes, they're good. It's just they have these head scratching losses. I got it. Every once in a while, you're just like, what? You know, like you won't be paying attention. You look over, like, they're losing by 20 to the Pelkins.

Like, what's going on? I still think there's, I still think there's only two that you would pick against them. In the West? Yeah. I think Oklahoma City and Denver, and I know they beat Denver, but I mean, I think those are the two that the majority of people would pick to beat them. And I think that's where the list ends.

I'm trying to think the spurs. I think that's where the list ends. I said what I said. Just for the sake of conversation. I said what I said. I tried to add some more teams. I said what I said. You can add them.

I'm said what I said. It's like talking to my wife. This is ridiculous. She actually sent me cliff notes on how to deal with you. So shouts to her. Yeah. Yeah, those are the only two. I think those are only two.

Speaking of. teams and who you would pick, there's a report of Jason Tatum going through practice with the G-League team, which is now called the Maine Celtics, which, by the way, I'm totally against. They wish to be the Red Clause.

It's a way better name. I know. Red Clause is way better. Maine Celtics, come on. And they're in Maine. What is, known for one thing, and one thing only, it's lobster. What else is Maine known for? Hockey.

I guess. That's where Paul Korea played. When I was a little kid, I used to get all these hockey magazines. And I remember it being a huge deal that Paul Korea played for Maine. And like they were like, they're unbelievable at hockey. It's the only things. L.L. Bean, L.L. Bean. The L.L. Bean store and Lobsters.

They're Maine? Yeah, they're Maine. There's a big L.L. Bean store. Yeah, that's like the main attraction in Maine. Shout out to Maine. It's an L.L. Bean store. Anyway, Jason Tatum's practicing with them. Maybe a comeback is on the horizon.

If Jason Tatum comes back are the Celtics the favorite. No. No. They're in third right now. The favorites to win the East. Yeah. They're in third. I like Bucci-Main.

I like Bucci-Mane on the team. I think that was important. I would not pick them in a seven-game series. I mean, it obviously depends how Tatum looks. But we have to assume a Tame is going to be on a minis restriction. We have to assume that Tatum's not going to be 100% Jason Tatum, right? Is it fair to- Is it fair to say, yo, they're durned without him?

What would they be with him? You think they're going to be worse? It's hard for me because there is a little bit of reasoncy bias here because on Super Bowl Sunday I watched the Knicks and the Celtics, and the Knicks look great against them, you know, and Brunson had a great game. But I don't know. I just don't see it.

As a Knicks guy, you do not fear the Celtics. Celtics, even with the Tatum return? In a seven-game series currently, and, you know, I've reserved the right to what to change my mind later, I would put not just the pistons and the Knicks over them in a seven-game series, I'd put the calves over them in the seven-game series, too. Wow. All right. Well, that leads into our next question.

Does it not? This does. This is a recency bias. This is, this is, I happen to love the way James Hart looks on these cabs. I just happen to love it. They beat the Nuggets last night. I was watching the game. What teams in the East would you pick over the calves in a seven game series?

Detroit and New York. You wouldn't pick the Celtics. What about your Celtics? Those are 100%. You just asked me if they were like the favorites to come out of the East. You would not put them over the Cavs in the seven games series. And the Celtics. No chance.

Those three. Maybe and Philly. Am I? And Philly. Oh, wow. And Philly. So I'm already to four. And Philly.

Over the Caps. No, no, no. Hold on now. A quick 20 second time out. We're assuming health. Everybody's healthy. So I get Joel and B. Yes.

Okay. Yes. Really? He would destroy Jared Allen. Oh, my God. If he's healthy. And then you got the two little guards that can match up with their guards. And like, yeah, I feel like, yeah.

And I do not trust James Hart. Again, we're talking about playoffs, right? I don't trust James Hardin in the playoffs, bro. Oh, no, he'll have some good games in the seven game series. Yeah, game two, game five. None of them that matters. And then it'll be two for nine when it matters. Concert, uh, concert date lines.

Oh, man. I just kind of like, no, I, I can't like it with, they look good without Mowgli. No. And Jared Allen is just sort of like he's been like tear the last couple of weeks. they look good. Mitchell and Hardin seemed to be working together really well. Hardin hit that three last night. I don't know.

I like it. I like the Hardin fit. It's a weird trade where I feel like it's going to work out for both teams in it. The Garland and Hardin trade. Okay. Look, I know that, look, the second guy is Hardin. Right? Like, that's the other guy you're counting on.

I know what that looks like when it comes. playoff time, bro. I know what it can't. I know what it looks like to count on James Hardin when it comes to the playoffs. Okay. All right. Counterpoint. Most of your experience is watching James Harden in the playoffs. It has been a James Harden operation. Remember he said that he is the system? No. But can you not, can you not say that in this scenario with Donovan Mitchell being on the ball with two great bigs playing defense, that this is not a, we, we're not. We don't know, we, go as James goes type of a situation. I just saw it with the clippers.

He wasn't the best player on the clippers. And he didn't even look at the rim. That's fair. He didn't even look at the rim. He wasn't the guy that they were depending on. Kauai's the guy. He didn't even look at the rim. You can have him.

You can have him. I like it. No. I like it. I like it. There's four of them. That's four teams I would pick against the Cavs. sorry Cavs fans I love you but like I can't the the hardened playoff thing is you can have that

we've only been doing it for 15 years I need to see more I need a bigger sample size yeah we have discussed oh hold on let's get to the next one um Travis Scott oh no no let's go back to this one the team that you could see yourself like more than you do now come playoff time? This is an interesting question. I thought about this a lot. It really is it's sort of a, the question is twofold.

It's like, what team do you not like that much right now? Right. That you do see improving later, right? So it is sort of like double-sided. I had a little, I struggled with that a bit. We just discussed the cabs.

That was sort of like one of my Eastern Conference teams. But again, this is just me watching them beat the nuggets and loving James Harden and really thinking this is going to work. But like, you know, we've been down this road before. It's sort of like the health of the Sixers and Joel and Bean. You know what I mean?

It's like we know how this is going to play out. But I am going to answer this one with the team that you probably don't expect. All right. Denver Nuggets. They're one of the two best teams of the NBA. They have one of the best records. It's ridiculous. They have one of the best records.

in the NBA. But with a terrible, terrible answer. But they're starting like Spencer Jones. No. This is the worst answer in the history of the mismatch. That's terrible. That's saying a lot. That's terrible.

That hurt my feelings. Now you hurt my feelings. Now I'm pouting. Well, I mean, I'm doing the rest of the pod pounding. Well, I probably had number one, but I'm just saying you defeated whatever my are. All right. All right. New answer.

That is worse. That is worse than the thunder need to take scars by me. So you have defeated that. You know who I think I'm going to like when it comes playoff time? The best player in the world's team. Shut up, dude. It's ridiculous. They've been hurt the entire year.

They're never healthy. They're playing all these guys like two ways and second year guys, you've never heard of. And then they're going to get it together for the playoffs. I believe in the nuggets. You're welcome, Denver. The answer is somebody like Orlando or somebody like that, right? I'm saying they get all their guys.

Suggs is playing all the time. They get on track. They kind of find something. They look like last year's Orlando, like somebody like that, right? You got to find somebody like that. Not, hey, you know who I kind of fancy the best player in the last day. Maybe ever. Maybe the best player ever.

I like his team. You know, I think they got a chance. I try to convince myself that the rockets are the answer to this, but without Stephen Adams, man, like, it's so hard. Oh, that's actually a fair one, though, like that if they, you know, if Van Blee comes back, it's so hard without Stephen Adams, though. Like, I get that he only plays like 17 minutes, but he's just so impactful. And you're as high on Phoenix as you're going to be Golden State is like, you know. I've never been high in Golden State all season. All right, so then your only other option is the Lakers, I guess.

Nope. I watched them last night. Do you like what you saw? No. No. Didn't like it. I did not. You did not enjoy watching that.

I did not. All right. What's your next question? Here we go. My next question is we've talked about Hardin. I'm high on Hardin in the trade. Now it's sort of like one of the bigger. outside of Anthony Davis is a big name, but he's not going to be impactful on this season and the results.

But what is a smaller trade that doesn't get discussed a lot that is going to be very impactful this postseason? Okay. So because you and I talked about it at the trade deadline episode and because I've already mentioned it today, I'm going to set Dissoumoo aside. That's fair. We have set our piece and we think that this is a. very good a playoff acquisition that could really reap benefits when it comes playoff time. The two most logical choices when I think about this are who could I see have 28 in a game five that like swings the series?

Is there anybody like that? And the answer is Vucevich. Vusevich is the one that, like, you could see, like knocking down six, three, like having the big playoff game. He's the one that stretched out. He's knocking down three. He's trying to pull the big away. He just gets on a heater. He's getting these open top of the key threes.

He's getting less attention because the Js are doing what and White are doing what they're doing on the wings. And so Vucevich, to me, is the most. likely guy to have a big playoff game that swings things. I tried to go through all the trade deadline acquisitions. And if you're looking for like, who could you see having a big playoff game? Because we didn't have as many. We didn't really have the the PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford level guys, right? Like then that, and that did end up reaping massive benefits when it came playoff time for them.

But you didn't really have those kind of acquisitions in mass. year at the trade deadline. So I would say the Boozovich won and then the long shot is Porzingis. It is the long shot. If he does come back and he is healthy, you know what I'm saying? And he's playing with Curry. But you freely admit he is the kind of guy that could be the leading scorer in a playoff game. He has that talent level. Is what I'm saying. Yes. You could see a scenario where he has a huge.

playoff game. You could. Yes, I can see a scenario. I have, I have trouble wrapping my head around him outscoring Stephen Curry in a playoff game. But like, but yes, he could, he could have a very impactful scoring thing that can swing a series, especially sort of like win one on the road or win the game two when you're headed back home. I can see something like that. But like, I think Vucci Man is a really good answer because I'm looking at it through like a Knicks prism. And I can totally see a scenario in which Joe Mazzula is like, we're going to give the ball a and he's going to get three fouls on Carlin Thiantowns in the first five minutes of the game.

I could totally see that happening. I could also see another scenario where they're switching Mitch onto somebody and like, and then you've got like Josh Hart covering Bruceovich and they just dump it to him in the post. He does some stupid turnaround hook shot and makes it look easy. I could see him swing in a series. I could. I could see. And I don't think that that is, I don't think there's many like that.

Obviously, we talked about the Dissoumoo thing. We like that. Obviously. I like your KP answer, though, because I didn't really consider that. That's another one. He's just been such a sunk cost for so long. Right. You know, he's just been sort of like a sunk cost since the Mavericks.

And you're just thinking of like, okay, now he's the guy that's getting way less attention. He's playing with Curry. So he's getting way less attention. And like, you know, look, during their playoff slash championship run, he had some really impactful games. Really impactful games. Was the Celtics one? Yeah. He's also unavailable a lot, too.

I'm aware. I'm just saying, like, look, the list is not deep in terms of guys that I think could, like, actually swing playoff games, you know. No, that's fair. This just was not that kind of a trade. Yeah, like Keon and Ellis is not going to score 30, you know, you know. If he did, it would be unbelievable. It would probably be for the main red clause if you did.

This actually happened. This next question. This happened in the Cleveland game. when Hardin, who is big buddies with Travis Scott. Travis Scott crashed James Hardin and Donovan Mitchell's post-game interview and started screaming in the background. So obviously, a big fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers now, certainly a Hardin guy until he dies, Travis Scott.

But he crashed that interview and started screaming into the microphone. The best celebrity that could crash an interview for a team. would be? Well, this is a subjective answer, right? I'm not saying this is like the objective truth that this celebrity. This would be personally for me. I've got a few answers. Okay.

One that we learned who it's not. It's not Kevin Hart. We learned that at the All-Star game last. Too much Kevin Hart. Okay. I've got number one, hilarious. Hold on, hold on. Let me just set this up.

You are, two players are doing the interview. This person runs in. starts yelling into the microphone. Maybe not yelling. Not everyone's a yelling. Some people are more subtle with their sort of their presence, including my first, my first answer to this.

This gentleman, this performer is something that I consider like hot sauce. It just makes everything a little bit better. He's weird. He's known to be quirky. He's funny. Bill Murray is my answer for number one spot. Bill Murray.

I just love Bill Murray. He's hilarious. He's like, what the hell is Bill Murray doing here? He'd be wearing something crazy. security wouldn't even like know who he is. The players probably wouldn't even know who he was. They wouldn't.

Like just Jonathan Mitchell know who Bill Murray is. I don't know. They've been crowd dog day people. Like, what about Bob? God, I love what about Bob. Bill Murray's number one. Number two, I'm going with Cat Williams. He's just another wild card.

Like Cat Williams, Cat Williams is liable to do anything and say anything at any time. I bet I could get him to do it. He's at. You got you got Cat Williams plug? bro, he's at our games and no one, like, recognizes him. Really? He lives in Mississippi.

He lives like on him. So he goes to Grizzly's games? Yes. And he's at him and just sits in the stands. And you'll be walking by and you're like, is that Cat Williams? What? And it is. I swear to you, Cat Williams was at a game.

And I was like, bro, like how many people on earth look like Cat Williams? That's what I'm saying. It's a very distinct looking guy. But he wears like a hat and stuff and like doesn't like cat it up, right? This happened one other time. I'm going to tell you. So you see some random people because people from Nashville come in as well. So Cat Williams was at a game and I was like, damn, man, that dude looks like Cat Williams.

And he's small. They're like, they're like, that is Cat Williams. He comes every once a while because he lives in like, Mississippi. He lives like 20 minutes away from Memphis. Like he has a farm. And he like shows up. And he's actually performing at FedEx Forum next month because I'm trying to get him in my studio to come in. Yeah, the day of the show, he'll come in.

And he'll also probably if I mean, I honestly, you can only crash interviews if they win. And so that's probably out of the question. Maybe I could get him to crash the opposing teams or something. I don't know. The coach interview in the third quarter. He is around, and that's so crazy because somebody was like, they were like, yeah, he lives in Mississippi. And I was like, what are you talking? They're like, people see him at the grocery store and stuff.

And I'm like, what is happening? What, what do you mean? That is only, wait, wait, wait, Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris. Here's how it works. Shannon's Sharp does an interview with Kat Williams on his show. Next thing you know, $100 million offer, Chris Vernon's show. Yeah, good idea. Cat Williams comes out.

I know, I know. He could save me. And then he's going to start doing what he did on Shannon's show. He's going to uncover all of the conspiracy theory lies about how Hollywood works. He does it on the Chris Vernon show. Next thing you know, $100 million acquisition, Chris Vernon show. Yeah, I got to become best friend. You're right.

I got to become best friends of Cat Williams. I got to figure this out somewhere somehow. I will give him one other one. So the Catway, I was like, bro, that guy looks like Cat Williams. And somebody was like, that is Cat Williams. because he wasn't like sitting on the front row like Boosy does when he comes to a game or Glorilla does when she goes to a game, right? He wasn't sitting on the front row for everybody to see. You know, if Moneybag yo is on the front row, he's got like diamonds that you can see in Section 310.

Like this guy was just sitting in the crowd. Another guy that just sat in the crowd like that and I saw him and I was like, no way. I was like, bro, that dude looks like a lead singer of Creed. And they're like, it is him. And I was like, warrior. of Creed? Scott Stepp. They were like he was there with his teenage son.

And I was like, what is, what's a Creed song? Can you take me higher? Come on. Everybody knows Creed. Come on. I know that song. They got bangers. Yeah.

He has bangers. He was just sitting in the crowd. I was like, I'll be damned. Yeah. Crazy. We get the big ones. You see, you're too busy in New York. with Ben Stiller and Chalame and Tracy Morgan and Spike Lee, we get Cat Williams and Scott Stap

to watch Todd Jerome. Todd Jerome's back. Yeah. He's back. I know. He's awesome. I had one more answer. It was Detroit specific.

It would be like after a big playoff when Eminem would just be in the background. Detroit what? Detroit what? Yeah. Like after a big win in a Pistons game, a home floor. Yes. That would be a big one. That would be a big one.

Eminem busting up. And then, oh, no, Eminem grabs it. And he starts freestyling over the Pistons win again. And the Pistons win again. And he's like, starts freestyling over the Pistons Win Again song. I'm for it. Yeah, that's good. Those are my answers.

Okay. We have one more question. Last one. Was it just me or was the Super Bowl super boring? Okay, so I had an interesting thought on this because there were some people that were like, relenting. They were like, if you don't like defense,

like, okay, enough already. I think that this year's Super Bowl was 100% contingent. Your enjoyment level of the Super Bowl is also falls right in line with whatever your blood alcohol level was. So I was sober, completely sober for this Super Bowl, and it sucked. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had a bottle. There's another factor that factors into your enjoyment of the Super Bowl is, did your bets pan out?

Oh, those lost too. All of my bets panned out, but I was still like, this sucks. Oh, no, my bets did not pan out. And in fact, they were critical losses. I had one where I got in on the Trevion Henderson rushing yards. I got on it late. And then I have to listen to everybody saying that that was a hit. But I got on it late.

So I got 19 and a half. And the opening line was 17 and a half. How many carries did he get? I don't know, like four or five. Two. Go look at how many yards he had. Of course he had. 19. Oh, yeah. So I did the whole, it's 17 and a half what? I'm like, okay, it's

a four yard and a half. Right. So everybody else hit that bet except for you. Yes, except for me. I was like, it's all around this thing. No, the game was born. Drake may play terrible. He was missing open to guys. They couldn't do anything. I mean, I, I guess there are people that love three and outs and punts and field goals. No, no. It was not an. entertaining, bro. I've watched a million NFL games this year. That is so far down at the bottom in terms of entertainment level. No touchdowns.

I mean, until the end, but like, there's just nothing. There's just nothing going. No. The commercials weren't even interesting. My kids were calling me. They're like, dad, come home. It was like 6 o'clock and starts at 6.30. Dad, come home.

Dad, we're going to watch Super Bowl. Two pool Sunday. Come home, come home, come home. By midway through the first quarter, they were all gone. Yeah. They were all gone. It was just so boring. And then like, now this bad bunny thing is all of a sudden, like everything else,

this country is the most politicized Super Bowl halftime in the world. Oh, my God. I don't know. You want to know my hot take on bad bunny, Chris? It was fine. It was cool. I didn't understand it. But it was cool.

I don't know. What does that mean? Does that mean I'm a radical lefty? I don't know. People care so deeply about other people's opinion. I was like, it's like you're allowed to not like it. Are you allowed to like it? Yeah, but all of a sudden now, but there's also this like,

mean something. And now you, like, there's a, I'm not going to accuse people of something that I can't prove, but I just feel like a lot of people are pretending they like the bad bunny. Of course they are. They actually did. It was fine. I thought it looked cool. It was cool.

Yeah, the falling through the house. I mean, look, it's sure. It's the same thing. I can tell if you want to turn on, you know, a Spanish speaking soap opera, I can tell you like, wow, that girl could really act. But I don't, there's a level to my enjoyment if I can't understand it. I'm sorry.

Well, I don't, but does everyone go to a classical music concert and be like, I don't understand the lyrics. This sucks. Like, no lyrics. Well, and like, look, and I lived that life because I have a son, every time I grab my son's headphones,

I can't understand anything. I'm like, what is this? Well, it's also like a... And also, like, do you, I have like, a serious in the car? Go flip on Octane and they're like, or even, I get out. Like, what does pour some sugar on me about from deaf leopard?

Like, I don't know. They're like, under the bridge from the chili pepper. It's like, oh, it's actually about heroin addiction. Like, is it? Is it? Everything means more than what it is. And you and I are both too goofy to get involved. It's like, I'm, I just want to laugh.

I just want to get mad about bad money. I'm supposed to get, guess how I feel? I'm neutral. I don't know. It was all right. Cool. There'll be another one. The world didn't end.

It's going to keep spinning. Bad Bunny sang in Spanish. You didn't. They danced around. That's what it was. The outrage Super Bowl was infinitely more entertaining than the actual Super Bowl. Yeah. The outrage.

The Outrage Super Bowl, which is still carrying on days later. It was like, I guess, I guess I have to really love Bad Bunny or really hate Bad Bunny. You have to. You have to. Well, you know, that's what I heard. I heard. that Duren said, told Nusa Diabate, he's like, Bad Bunny sucks.

Yeah, he's like, oh, yeah. Then they just, and that's what caused the melee. That is. That's what it cost the entire thing. It was about Bad Bunny. It was. They were fighting about Bad Bunny. That's exactly what happened.

And that's why Duren mushed him in the face. Yeah. I got to be honest. I, the face mush is, it's almost more emasculating than the, than a punch. I think I would wrap. get punched than like face mush. Face mush is like the power ranking. Mush, open hand slap, backhand slap, punch.

What's the, what's the power ranking of most disrespectful? Open hand slap is, I mean. But not backhand slap? Backhand slap, I feel like more thought has been put into it. It's just like logistically hard to do. You have to wind up. I don't know. And I've also never seen that.

I've never in my life. Outside of a movie, I don't think anyone's ever backhand slapped anybody in the history of mankind. Like a cartoon. Yeah. Yeah. That's just not. Don't you need like a pair of gloves or something? It's not.

Like Catherine Hepburn did it. Yeah. Yeah. Cam Williams did it. Bitch. Um, but, yeah, I would. I would rather get, I think, punch than face mush. I'm serious.

So I'm got to rank. that I would say open-hand slap, face-mush punch, back-hand slap. Because I'm just not even considering back-hand slap because it's so preposterous. But I don't know. I think I would rather like a punch. Like, all right, this guy punched me. The face-mush is so, I don't know, man. That just, it's a, it puts you in a tough spot because you can't really do anything while you're getting face-mushed.

Because your head's going backwards. You're reaching. Like, you know what I mean? You just thought of it in a really bad spot. Right. Like if a guy like swung on you, I don't, I don't know. Yeah, I just. Some people really don't like their faces being touched.

And I feel like Musa Diabate might be one of those people. Oh, there's no question. Whatever, you set that, you figured out what set that guy off. Because he was man on fire. He was mad, mad, mad. Well, I also think it didn't. They're like, whoa, we never seen Moose like this. He's so fun-loving.

He's so smiley. He's got this antler selling him out that he's doing and the kids love him. He's just so goofy and smiley. I was just shocked by that. But I'm really glad we got to the bottom of it all. It was about the bad bunny halftime show. That's what it was.

That's exactly what it was. It's exactly what it was. Also, we got, it was very unfortunate that Calk Brenner wasn't out on the, because we could have seen him use his inflatable car salesman arms. Those are, those are devastating in a role. When Moose went out and Bridges went out, I was like, well, We're going to get a lot of cock rudder. It's going to be the cockfighter game now.

Tell me you saw when he threw it three times off the backboard. It just kept putting it at the end of the third quarter. And he just kept missing it, but catching it, putting it back. I loved it. I loved it. Unbelievable. Loved everything about it. All right.

That does it for another episode of the mismatch. Thank you to Stefan. Thanks to Jesse. Thanks to Jeff. Thanks to everybody that makes it happen. Jacoby. I'll talk to you later this week.