The Mismatch - Game 3 Clichés in Full Effect as Hawks, Raptors, and Wolves Win at Home!

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

Clichés are clichés for a reason. Jacoby and Verno fire up the mics after all three home teams won on Thursday night. (:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (0:24) Three Game 3s before Wolves-Nuggets Finish (1:55) McDaniels 9-of-13 Shooting, Jokic Hasn't Looked Like The Best Player (10:54) Knicks-Hawks: Is the Sky Falling for NY Knicks Fans? (16:32) Clutch Collapse: Brunson Turnover, Bridges’s Vanishing Act, and Supporting Cast Drought (27:11) Raptors-Cavs: Barnes and Barrett 33 Points Each in Blowout (32:04) Lakers-Rockets: Must-Win For Rockets Against Short-Handed Lakers (39:00) Celtics-76ers: Tatum-Brown Vs. Maxey-Edgecombe in Philly ( 45:22) Spurs-Blazers: Wemby Likely Out With Concussion, Blazers Looking to Upset (56:41) Predictions and Weekend Slate of Games: Pistons-Magic, Thunder-Suns (1:04:03) Devin Booker Fined $35k For Criticizing Refs The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Brian Waters and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You join a meet he does every week from the ringer.com. Kovychobvi. Three game threes tonight. Three very interesting results and one that is still going. I did not expect to start this pod before Wolves Nuggets ended. This has been shocking. Might have changed our opinion a little bit because before the game this evening, there was the report that Aaron Gordon was going to be out.

And upon that news coming down, You knew that the nuggets were already going to be up against it because you're playing the first home game in the series. Yeah. If you're Minnesota. And so you're probably going to get a home run effort. And in fact, we did get home run efforts out of all of the home teams for game threes tonight.

And so it felt like, man, if they don't have Eric Gordon for this, obviously when you've got Gobert doing the job he has been able to do on. Yokic and then you've got all of these long lanky wing defenders to be able to show to all the time to Jamal Murray. You're sitting there looking through it and you're going, okay, this pecking order gets pretty gross, pretty fast because if it's, if you're going to be selling out on Yokit, and you're going to be selling out on Murray, who's going to be able to step up for the nuggets? and the answer is nobody. Nobody.

Nobody. The answer is nobody. I mean, I said it in the last pod, but Yokic has not looked like the best player in the world in this series. He hasn't. I mean, as it stands right now, he's two for 10 for three, seven for 26, seven for 26 from the field right now.

This is hard for me to say. This is, this is Rudy Gobert legacy stuff. It just is. A guy, I can't. I, I, I, I, I, I, I've never been able to stand him. Of course not.

The drop coverage stuff in the playoffs shows up eventually. It drives me crazy. But like, they don't even have to double Yokic. He's just standing up. And all you nerds that vote for all of this stuff have finally made him mad. You've finally done it. You didn't give him an award. No, you didn't put him in the top three.

I'm still with you. I'm still with you, Bruno. He had, I don't know if you saw this play. It was a while ago. It was the first second quarter. He had it on the short roll after picket roll. He caught it 12 feet from the basket. And he tried to shoot like a push, like a push shot.

And it was like, it wasn't just an airball. It was like two feet short of the front rim. And it was just like, that's why you don't rock with him. He has no offensive skills. Like, none. None. He has been a defensive monster against this. team. And it does make you think Tim Conley, who once built the crux of that Denver team,

went and he built that Minnesota team. We talked about this so many times. You say it every episode. Don't even say it this time. But no, you sat there and went. This is who we're going to have to deal with it. So what did he do? He went out and acquired the best defensive center he could, right? You are going to see this going forward with people thinking about Wembeen Yama in mind. And it is going to be the benefit of the good, the good defensive pigs that can stand up because she's like, all right, this isn't what we're going to have to deal with. So what's going to be our best chance? And so it's, it's odd that these teams have matched up with each other over and over. It's one thing to build your team to say, this is who we're going to have to get past. But then they like just meet up

even when they're, in this case, three and six. I mean, like you were thinking if we're going to be able to get to the, if we're going to get through this conference, that's the guy we're going to have to be able to beat. And sure enough, you watch games like tonight, and I know they're without Aaron Gordon, but you watch games like tonight. And this thing has been nip tuck over the course of the last 31 meetings

between these teams. They just go back and forth. They're so evenly. matched against each other. And so this one is mega impressive because they're going to win this game more than likely running away. They've been dominant the entire game and they have, you know, now this is going to have to be backs against the wall. What is the Yokic response? Because so far the story of this is what you started with, which is he's a guy that we talked about being the best player in the world, being the MVP. And he has.

not been able to do that against Minnesota. And that is in large part to Rudy Gobert and the rest of these swarming defenders. Well, a couple things. Number one, like he had the 23 point triple double in game one, but it really wasn't that efficient or not. No, it wasn't. It really wasn't. And game two was not was substandard for Yokic.

And this game is way below standard for Yokic. And I kind of expected Adelman and the team to make more adjustments to put him in positions to succeed than I saw. saw tonight in this game. I'm pretty surprised. Well, here's the deal, Jacoby. Everybody has to double him. They're not bringing doubles all the time. This guy is being

guarded. You know what I mean? Like, what they say is what we're not going to do is let you have freaking 16 assists, right? Like these other guys, we're not just going to let Tim Artaway, Jr. and whoever else just shoot a bunch of White for three. Christian Browns is shooting the corner. Yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. No, we're going to, we want we want you to lead the team in field goals. That's what we want. We want you to lead the team in field goals because what we don't want is some kind of efficient 32, 17 and 16. One thing I found just like a from a macro perspective tonight is the game three of it all, you said it at the top. Every home team.

Yep. Seem to play their best because you play two games in the other team's building. You go home. The cliches are cliches for a reason. Role players play better. and home, just the shooting percentages of all the role players in these three games, they went through the roof. And I think that's something to keep in mind, not just looking at tonight's games, but through the entire weekend. Well, look at D'Sunmoot tonight,

off the bench for Minnesota. I mean, he was cracking tonight. It's like, it's always, it's the other guys that step up, that end up, and we're obviously going to be talking a lot about the other guys as soon as we get to this next game, because the Hawks had other guys. It's had other guys stepping up and the Knicks other guys were beyond deplorable. Here's what we know. I do think that the Denver Nuggets, like, as we say, and you know, you get tired to me, say like, groin's, hamstrings, calves, like, don't, soon as I hear it, I'm like, oh, boy, here we go.

And we have just gotten news over the course of the last 24 hours about Jalen Williams. and now when they said Aaron Gordon's out with a calf, I was like, oh, boy. Oh, God. Because Caj has to be extra careful with. We all know the Caffa Gilly's connection and la, la, la, la. It's a, Denver's in a bad way. I still pick him to win the series. You know, like I think they can't over.

You do not. Yeah, I do. You can't overreact to one game. I think they're a better team. We watched 82 games of this shit, Bruno. They were just better than the wolves. They were. Again, again, it's about the matchup, and you do not feel that way.

If I tell you, Eric Gordon, isn't going to be back for the next two games, you don't feel that way. Oh, give me a break. I'll say this. I'll say this. I'll say this. If you're the Nuggets and Jaden McDaniels with his hood on in the locker room literally says all of your names and says you can go at all of them that can't play defense, you cannot allow him to go nine for 13 from the field and light you up. I agree with that. You can't.

Also, I also think interestingly enough, it got done. There's like a minute left in the first quarter. And the score was 20 to 9. They had 11 points in the first quarter. Hey, I was like, you know, Denver, like, they took the defensive challenge. 20 is a great number to give up. Great number to hold them to 20. Unbelievable.

Dude, I can't, I don't know off top of my head. Jaylen Brunson, Jaylen Brunson has had 11 points in the first quarter of like 25 games the season. I'm serious. They couldn't score. Anything. They could not a bucket. No. They had, they were sitting.

I'm not kidding. With a minute and change left in the first quarter, the score was 20 to nine. And I was like, is this real life? Like, this is happening. Wild. They can't score. And so I don't feel as confident as you do about Denver because, It, the, because the little, the little dash next to Aaron Gordon says,

Caff. And it's tough. It's tough. If you tell me they're not getting Aaron Gordon back, I don't like their chances. Yes. Yolkech has, look, right now he has 27, 15, and 3. You think that's a good game, right? But it's just not.

It's not. He didn't play well at all. Well, the three is the problem. Because do you remember the three, the three, the three, is what we were just talking about. It's like, that's where he destroys you. Because they have a guy that can guard one-on-one. But do you remember when they played the thunder

and it was like they're putting Caruso on him and he had a bunch of turnovers and the middle of that series after game three or four was like, oh, did they figure out Nicola Yochich and blah, blah, blah. It didn't stay that way. I just, I have faith in the nuggets to make the proper adjustments. I just don't have that much faith in Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, Christian Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr.,

being by other guy. It's tough when you have Spencer Jones playing 28 minutes, and you're a hardaway playing in 28 minutes. Strother's getting, oh, God, it's tough. Yeah. They need Aaron going. Speaking of tough, how are you feeling tonight? Fine.

You're fine. I can't believe how unwavered you are when the Knicks lose. Like the majority of the fan base. No, the majority of the fan base is sky is falling, and you're like, I'm not there. I'm not there. I'm not there. This is twice now, though, bro. At the beginning of this, I got to stand up my ground on this. The beginning of this, I told you, if those games can stay under the one teams, those are Knicks games. And that's two now. That's two where that has been in their range and they can't win the game.

And my God, I mean, I don't know. Now, when you walk. around the city, do you still see the newspaper? Do they still have like newspaper stands? It's not the same. It's not the same. They have newspaper sands on every quarter, but like the newspaper itself used to be such a part of New York City. Just walking by and reading the headlines, but it's

not like that anymore. Everyone's got a phone. It's not like that. It's not like you when you walk down the street tomorrow, you won't see like a sulking a sulking Macau bridges and it says like, you know, broken bridges or something. The bridge is over. The bridge is over.

Arizona would say. The bridge is over. That's the, that's the back page. It's called the back page of the post. The bridge is over. Bridges over. Troubled waters. Yeah. Oh, God. I mean, I'll say this, though, like, I, I, everyone always focuses on, like, the last couple plays. CJ hit a good shot. The, the Knicks just, I don't know what they were doing on that last question. Didn't get a shot off? But like, but, but let me say something, like, they should not have been in that position. The Hawks outplayed them the entire time. OG hit two end of shot clock three. that just those are like, I don't know, 17% proposals when they leave his hand. Oh, right.

They really didn't deserve to be there. I think I outplayed from the jump. Okay, here's my 20 second timeout. That's this. That's the, okay, fine, 20 second. Look, in like, when you take a step back, big pitcher, I believe what you're saying. Small pitcher is when they get the Brunson and. one and go up 108, 105 with a minute three left, they're not losing that game.

Not losing the game. I do not think that. So you can say it all comes down to a couple of plays at the end. But like then Jalen Johnson goes to the rim, block shot by towns, but Johnson puts it back in. Great block. They come back. They come back down. Hart smokes a three, but O.G.

Anobie, who's been a star all night. a great game from Innova. Then a Brunton friggin' airball. Like, it wasn't just the last play that they didn't get a shot off. The possession before the CJ game winner was Brunson shooting a friggin' airball. Yeah, I've got it right now. 16 seconds left, yeah. Unbelievable.

And that's off an offensive rebound. Like, why don't they, I don't understand why I text you in the middle of this game. And I'm like, do they know they're allowed to pass? They go through these segments where it's like, people are always like, why don't they get towns about it? I'm like, bro, the ball does not pop around. Like, it's just a one pass maximum half the time. I don't understand why they work so hard to get switches onto towns, right? So the hill set a screen and they'll work it until Nikila Alexander Walker is covering towns, right?

They don't give him the ball. So you spent 10 seconds of the shot clock trying to get this match up. And then you get the matchup and you don't give him the ball. I don't remember this. And then one time they give him the ball and he tries to, he doesn't shoot or back him down or do anything. He just tries to kick it back out to Clarkson, who's already moving, and he throws it out of bounds.

But there's another shot. It was a shot clock violation. It was in the first quarter. They work so hard to get the switch. And then they just like, don't give him the ball. And then they don't have a second action. I don't think they have plays. I really don't think they have plays.

I don't, at all. it's like the bench guys sometimes when they come in, the ball will pop around a little bit and they'll share it a little bit. But meanwhile, like to me, especially after he has struggled and misses that game winner in game two, to me, I would have tried to get bridges going in this thing to just get him some confidence back. Instead, this went tragically the wrong way.

like, to the point where he's benched. It's like, you can't, he, what did I have here? It says the last six quarters, okay, the last six quarters, Tommy Beard posted this. Since halftime of game two, 0 for seven, one rebound, two assists, four turnovers, and a minus 37 in 41 minutes. He only played, he played less, he played less. He played less than five minutes in the second half.

He played 20 minutes in the game. 20 minutes in the game. The turnovers were so bad, too. It's just like he's lost all of his confidence. He's lost everything. All of it. Everything. And all of it.

I mean, I would have just, I can't explain it. I mean. And they don't get that, they don't get towns going. Towns, the story of Towns in the series has been what? Oh, he had a huge third quarter. Oh, he had a good fourth quarter, a good second half. Towns Brownback. He has zero points.

I think he has zero points in the last two first quarters. Get him on the post. Before the series started, Verno, what did I say? I was like, they got a bunch of guys for Brunson. They could throw Nicky Alexander Walker at Brunson. They could throw Dyson Daniels at Brunson. Like, it's going to be a tough Brunson series. But they have no answer for Carl Anthony Towns.

It's a Kongwu. I mean, in Jacoby. He had 20. Rudy Gay? 21. 21. Sorry, Mogey. I'm sorry. They need for the game.

21, 17, 4 assists, two blocks and was a plus 22. I mean, they got slaughtered in the non-towns minutes. And they don't use the size as an advantage. He doesn't want to play Towns and Mitchell together. I don't understand. You know what I mean? Why is Mitch playing 11 minutes in 23 seconds?

Here's the thing I don't like to do. Like, let me just like zoom out for a second. I don't really like to second-guess coaches too much because, like, they literally spend all of their time thinking about this stuff. They also have a staff of, like, eight other people that spend all of their time thinking about this stuff. And, like, you know, here I am a podcaster being like, why doesn't he do X, Y, and Z? But sometimes it's right in front of your face. Oh, come on. It's right there in front of your face.

Quinn Snyder is putting a clown suit on him. He is. This is, like, because one of the things you do, especially when you're only preparing for one opponent is what, all right, anybody can see this. What are your advantages? Carl Anthony Towns size. Do you, do you exploit said advantages, right? I feel like they play, like this is, they play to, like the Hawks are out there. They've got, and like, even that last possession, like, okay, here's the things that they're going to fly around. We're going to fly around because they've got Nau and they've got Daniels

and they've got a Congu and they've got Kaminga, they got Jail Johnson. P.S. Kaminga has been maybe the best two-way guy on this team. He has been a revelation. It's a real. He has been so

good. Do you remember the first couple of games he was on the Hawks? You're like, oh, this is the Kaminga that they're going to have. But he kind of sucked after that. Like he's, he's very much a sort of like a flip of the coined me, he's got it or he doesn't, but he's had it the last two nights. Had it. Oh, has he had it? And it is a

real weapon for them. A real way. And like, he's getting minutes on towns as well. He's holding his own against towns. I was about to say the same thing. He holds his own against towns because he's strong enough to sort of push him off his spot. He's not going to get bullied by towns. Yeah. I really thought this would be

like a town 30 point per game series. Now it's like he's got zero points in every single first quarter. I don't get it. Well, now, well, right? And, and I mean, obviously Brunce is just going to keep on shooting. But, and, and then you get OG going crazy, but you've lost, like, you can't lose bridges completely. David, I don't understand it. If it takes, if, if, if they are going to be a title team, they have to have him and they have to have him be good. Also, if they beat the Hawks, if they beat the Hawks and the

Celtics beat the Sixers, you're going to meet the Celtics in the second round. And you literally traded a zillion first round picks to acquire bridges to play the Celtics. That that was the plan at the time. Right. Right. Right. So you have to like, you have to get him back. And Josh Hart had two points and pretty said zero. I got it. I feel for Mike Brown. Like the guy has been unplayable. But again, that has to be rectified. Like, I mean, it can't be like this. It can't just be that he's unplayable and like, all right, well, I guess we're just going to have to play Deuce McBride and pray he makes a bunch of threes. Like, that's the, he might actually, if he started Deuce in the next game, it would not shock. You can't, but you just can't.

Because if the plan is to win a championship, you can't just like lose bridges completely. The mismatch is brought to you by Fanduel. NBA fans, this is your reminder to check in daily because every day during the playoffs, Fanduil is serving up a happy hour. That's right, we're talking special drops. You will not want to miss from profit boost to bonus bets and much more. And the best part, it's every single day, including today right now as you listen to this podcast. There are some great games coming up this weekend.

One thing we noticed this evening, and we record this on Thursday evening, game three's got dominated by the home teams. And I'm looking at some of these matchups, and maybe that, That will continue to happen because a lot of the home teams are not favored to win the games. So if you're thinking maybe one of these home dogs will be live, and I'm talking about the magic against the pistons, the suns against the thunder, I would stay away from that one. The Hawks against the Knicks, I would stay away from that one. The Timberwolves against the Nuggets.

Imagine the Timberwolves take a three-one lead. Now, I said game threes. A lot of those are game fours. But you know what I mean. So I've got the magic with the odds and the timbrewolds with the odds this upcoming Saturday. But you can do whatever you want. You can also check for a new reward every single day of the NBA playoffs and don't miss a shot to get a little extra out of the action. Head to bandwool.com slash mismatch to get started.

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or visit ccg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Shout out to McHall Bridges for making everybody forget that Josh Hart was a nothing too. That's what's about to say. Josh Hart wasn't doing much. No, no. No, it's all going to be because they didn't give up a million picks for Josh Hart. So he's not going to be the focus.

Bro, they got two points between them. They had zero in the first half. How is that a thing? How is that a thing? It's like it's either Brunton and OG or it's Brunton and towns, but it's like, good grief. I know you're not worried. I still think they were in the series. I still think they were.

They're just better. They're just better. But look, C.J. McCallum is making the game-winning plays. And I honestly thought that was great defense from Deuce. I thought it was great defense from Deuce. What's your problem? Why are you mad? Because you've got a 35-year-old.

I mean, like, we thought C.J. McCallum is like the end of the line. Like, it does make you think, like, how many of these guys, if you put them in winning situations in good environments still got to juice with them? You know what I mean? Oh, my God. You do wonder. You do wonder, like, are there, are there these guys out there that we've just decided?

Like, I mean, hell, I'm watching. Luke Carnard and CJ, Luke Carnar was like not on my radar. Marcus Smart. Marcus Martin, Luke and Nard and C.J. McCullin. I mean, like, we're still here. I know we're playing on bad teams, but now we're on good teams.

It's really crazy, right? Wait, they still got juice. I know. Yeah. Meanwhile, LeBron smart for two years in Memphis. I think he played 16 games and scored 12 points. Or nobody was talking about CJ McCallum, but he was playing for New Orleans of Washington.

And the Wizards? Not at all. But I do remember he had a couple of game winnings. He had a couple of good games for the Wizards. I was like, huh, he's still there. You know what it would be? Dead Kisper in town, dude, they didn't give him the ball. Dick Kisper on it on.

Didn't give him the ball. It would be like if we're watching the playoffs next year and we're like, bro, Chris Middleton. had 27? What? I thought he was done. It's like Jeff Green had 40 points. What?

He may might be able to put him in. He's still there. My hat to. God. Can somebody get a bucket? That's a mess. When you look at that last possession for the Knicks, the heart,

the idea was to get Brunson the ball, right? Hart went away from him to her. He was wide open on his second cut. and Hart just looked away from him he gave it to town. It was a mess. Well, town's just running into space trying to find somebody to screen. And it's just,

and then a Kongwu and give credit to Kaminga, he sprints down to double. Yeah. And that's what put Brunton in that horrible position. I've said this for like four years, three years. It's just too obvious what they're going to do at the end of the game.

Like, why not use Brunson as a decoy and get OG a three or get get cat going to the basket like use brunswick as a decoy you have to switch it up at some point you've got other scores look we talked about this a couple of about uh there's a clip from me probably like six weeks ago we spent all year going is there uh is there a pacers a team that we did not care about a team that we did not think about when the calendar turned don't say it don't say it i mean it's happening again Knicks and six. It's happening again.

You will admit that next game is a must win. No. Oh, come on. They're not, they're not, come on. I mean, you're really just going to keep saying this until they lose the series,

right? Like, the Knicks are fine. The Knicks are fine. The Knicks are going to beat the Hawks. The next are going to beat the Hawks in the series. Okay. All right.

They are. And if they don't, we get Yonis, so it's fine. That's how it works. I think he's already going, they hired, Taylor Jenkins. He's staying now.

Oh, they got TJ. It's this guy. It's his guy. He's an assistant coach there. So he's going to stay around. Huge, huge, huge grand slam effort, as you're talking about, back against the wall, show some pride. Even if we lose this series, we're not just getting mauled. We're not getting swept.

Huge response by the Raptors. And shout out the Scotty Bards, who, was unbelievable. I told you. You know what I loved in this game? Colmarie Boyles was the takeaway for me. Oh, I thought he was great.

I thought he played great. He did play great. And I mean, they got to get away. Yeah, obviously, like the, the Yaka portal thing is, it's just so. All right. So,

but when we were, when we came on here, we were recording after game two. And that was a fusive in praise, uh, about the back court. of the Cleveland Cavaliers and how impressed I was with Cleveland. I also told you at that time, I said, look, I watched this game.

And I will say, they never let go of the rope did the rapters, even though they were down the whole time. And Barnes and RJ were there for the fight. I don't know about the rest of them. God, RJ was good. Ingram wasn't there for it. But like, you could even tell in game two, those guys to me, even in game two, I was sitting here talking about how, look, even if they lose, I respect these guys because

they're going down swinging. Like they were going hard. They were trying to pump each other up. They were like pumping their chest out. They were going to the basket. Barnes is trying to bully ball people. RJ's trying to get his guys going and getting fired up and screaming at everybody. It's what they have, 33 each tonight in the game.

Yeah, I mean, that was great. Efficient 33s. Like, like, let's see, your Barnes shot 64% from the field. Barrett shot 63% from the field. And Murray Boyles, dude, 11 for 15 from the field. I thought Murray Boyles was like a revelation this evening. Well, and like five minutes left, Barnes goes hobbling off. Like, he can't even run.

He's good, it's hobbling off. And I think it's like a, maybe like a 10-point game, something like that at that time. And I thought, it was that close. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have to go back and look at the play-by-play. Yeah, but I just remember thinking, oh, man, is he out? This is in range, right? Like, they could, they could, they could gag this away.

And instead it went to complete other way. He did go hobbling off, but they just ran him out the rest of the game. They just trucked him. Yeah, they ended up winning by 22. They trucked them. Barrett was just dominant. I hope he's not. I hope he's, I couldn't find anything.

I kept typing. I tried to find him, yeah. Yeah. Which makes me think that he's okay. I hope he's fine. He was awesome, though. And like, look, that's the game three at home. You know, they say, like, it might be a gentleman sweep or whatever in these situations.

But I don't know, man. They switched some things up tonight. Darko did a good job with him. They didn't start shed tonight in this game. They started, uh, Walter, right? To Kobe Walter. started. And so he's trying to switch. Yeah, Walter, they started. Yes, they did. They're trying to to switch some things around in this game. Walter was over six from the field and over three from

three. I know, I know. But they're trying to switch some things up. But the, again, it's more about the other guys. It's defensive. It's also defensive. It's just trying to do something. And also the fact that these guys, you've got both the two of your best players, both simultaneously being fantastic in the game. I mean, they had the game in their lives. I think they have to start C&B. I mean, what are we doing? Like, why not?

Why not? Why not? But here's one thing, like, from a big picture standpoint, is I was so confident about the Cavs in this series and moving forward after game one and game two. They look great. Weren't you? Like, I was just very confident about the Cavs. I mean, we talk about this all the time, though.

It's just like the psychology of this, like, when one team's bad. is completely against the wall. And they've got 20,000, you know, screaming fans that are just out for blood. And they've been waiting for a week for a playoff game. Like the game three is, you know, when I open up my Fandul app,

I'm going to take this into account when I start making some wages over the weekend. It happens a lot. That happens a lot, especially if your team's down 02. Like that's, if it's a 4-1 series, that's the game you get.

Well, I think there's only one more team. him heading into a game three at home down 02. And I don't feel great about them. I don't feel great about them. Well, especially. It felt like today, Jabari Smith said that, you know, yeah, he might be getting doubled, but we need Kevin Durant to be Kevin Durant.

And then Kevin Durant said, you know what? How about you guys do this without me? My ankle hurts. Go to hell. I, uh, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that series quick. Let's talk about that series quick. Here's my thing about this series watching the game is everyone talks about Kevin Durant, like nine turnovers and didn't play well and this and that.

Watch the game. He's getting doubled like when he steps over half court. And what my question is, don't you guys have a plan for that? Can't you have someone else bring the ball up? Can't you have him come off a pin down? And also can't you have someone help him when he gets doubled? And then he cuts? Like it just felt like he got put in jail because he got doubled when he went over half court. And they did it over and over again.

It was like I was watching the television pretty shocked. A, after being in the league for 20 years, he should be able to make a play out of the doubles. So we're not going to let him off. He's seven feet tall. He's seven feet tall. If you're doubled 45 feet from the basket, someone's open, jump in the air and make a pass. You are allowed to pass. You're allowed to pass to make a good pass.

the other thing is their offense is an abomination before the eyes of God and man. Like it is impossible to watch and not hate. It's funny. I mean, I got it. You hate Reed Shepherd. Reed Shepherd stinks if you're even doca. But like, bro, you have to have somebody that can dribble and deliver the basketball. What did V.

Shepherd ever do to you, dude? What did he ever do to you? What happened? I think we're going to get a documentary like 20 years, like Reed Shepherd. No, he just. On email and Tokus desk the day he got there. No, there's a lot of these old school type of guys.

I know. I know you're going to say defensive assignments and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's all they care about. It's all they care about. Well, guess what? When you've got Thompson, who you can leave alone, Eason, who started the season shooting 60% from three, mind you, can't hit a three.

And then you got Sangoon out there who can't hit a three. You got no three-point shooting so you can double, you can double to rant and not worry about it. Because what's he going to do? I don't want to, I don't want to bury them too much because I do think they will respond. I'll be, I'll be absolutely stunned. I think Reeves is working out. I'll be stunned if they don't win game three. Come on.

I mean, it's a vet-laden team that's already got two, two wins put away. I'm saying the Lakers are. it's a veteran-laden team that's already got two wins in the kitty. So, and the other team, it's like, you know, you're playing for your lodge. You can't go down 03. And it'll be your first home game. And so again, we saw what happened tonight. We saw what happened tonight.

Our decision on that series will be able to be made after game four. Because I will be probably Monday night, right? I will be shocked if Houston, as bad as they've looked, as disgusting as this, been, I still would be surprised if they don't, if they don't win game three. It's like, come on. Like, and why are you allowing like, I, I will tell you, I love Luke Cunard. I do. I love the guy. I love Luke Cunard. I love the guy. I think he's a great. I, I love him. Personally, I love Luke Cunard. All right. And he has been, but allowing, allowing, allowing, allowing, Luke to turn into Austin Reeves on offense and then allow him to live on defense is the most

insane. The part. I'm not trying to. Look, I'm telling you, I'm saying this is someone who loves the guy, but it's like every other team in the world, and I lived this when he was a grizzly, here, here's the spotlight. Yes. You come here. You're part of every play.

You're part of every play. If you're going to be out on the court, every play, every play, every play, you're a defender in it. End of story. And we will find you no matter where you are, but we're going to make it so your coach has to make a decision here. Your coach is going to make a decision. Either he's playing you.

and he's going to live with this, us punishing you for playing him, or he's not going to play you at all. And most coaches then make the decision, i.e. Reed Shepherd. That's what to say. If you're M.A. Udoca, you don't play Reed Shepherd for that exact reason, but you don't take advantage of it. Right. It's crazy. This is a, again, there are certainly strategic things that can be done for Houston to be able to get back into this thing. But there is no doubt the first two games have been beyond disgusting. And I will say, I cannot remember maybe Macau Bridges will take this pedestal for at least a couple of days on social media.

I can't remember ever laughing more at memes and video compilations than how Schengun is just getting just demolished. I mean, it fell into my algorithm and it's just like him running, him making play. Like, I mean, the Shengoon low light videos are just unbelievable. They're tough. And they make him, they make him look like such. But they do him no favors because he gets the ball at the nail with like eight seconds left in the clock.

And they're like, go ahead. No one's cutting. No one can shoot. So they can just collapse into the pain on him. And he ends up like dribbling back and down, spinning around, and like airballing some fucking hook shot. He is very frustrating. Remember the offseason, the World Basketball Cup or whatever,

the European Cup, whatever he was playing in? Oh, yeah. No, he looks great. And this is going to be an MVP season for Sangoon. And, you know, we get Durant, getting all that attention. Sangoon's going to be able to feast off it. Durant did not play in game one. And I'm thinking, 35 points from Shangun easily.

Run everything through him. And who's covering him? Name the people that are covering him. No, and look, and then more importantly, getting made fun of after these games just relentlessly. He has got, as the kids would say, no aura. On the other hand, when you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system.

And it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow. AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Or a level on a billion for Vijay Hedgecombe. I can't get enough of EJ Hedgecombe videos. And that's the other one. Did he get the camera? Yes.

No way. Yes, he did. He was a coincidence. He was winging to somebody else. How does he even know that that camera is the camera that's covering him? he knows he knows it was too it look vj edgecombe and tyrese maxi and that back court i mean they nutted up for that boston game two i don't know what this is with the boston game twos i heard bill saying they're like five and five in their last ten game twos and they've had like these

that's some ugly ones and obviously when you shoot 53s and you shoot you know 26 percent or whatever the hell they shot from three like like these like that's some ugly ones and obviously when you shoot 56 percent or whatever the only shot from three. Like, you know, there's a lot of boom or bust that comes along with Celtics games because of the amount of threes that they shoot. But I will say, mega impressed with Philadelphia. And I am so glad that they made that series so much more fun. I know that we were watching that the other night game too.

You kept waiting for Boston to make their run and flip the game. Just couldn't hit the threes. This couldn't hit. And meanwhile, meanwhile, they hit every big shot. On the other end, Philly did. Philly was just making big shot after big shot. And a lot of that was Edgecombe. Well, it kind of felt like they were like, hey,

hey, Maxi, if you want, you can shoot threes. And he's like, okay. Right. And then they didn't adjust. It was like, he was like, oh, you're going to let me shoot threes off the dribble. I'm going to hit one. I'm hit two. I'm hit three.

You guys are still going to do the same thing. Like, what are we doing? Well, and it was a best stuff because we talked about, right, when that, especially at the very beginning of the series, when Maxie was killing and Edgecombe looked like, oh my God, did they get the steal of the draft, even at three? Like, maybe they got the rookie of the year. Like Edgecombe, look, he was shot out of a cannon to start the season. To start the season, yeah.

Yeah. And you were sitting there going, bro, this back court is going to be some, not only fun, they are going to be lethal. The one thing I'll say to you, you remember, Vijay Edgecombe was a story on this podcast because the one game I went to, as a fan this year is the one that he ripped out my daughter's heart. That's who did it, VJ Hedgeco. So I already have, look, I mean, I already have a respect for VJ. Edgecombe, but the one thing I'll say is he had the, you know, he had all those stats of the, the 10 rebounds, right?

And they were like rookies with 30 and 10 in whatever. And it's like all big guys and VJ. Edgecombe, you would be shocked if you walked up on VJ Edgecombe. He was way smaller than I thought. You think? Like, yeah, oh yeah.

Skinnier. Like, Mads he's like Loki kind of strong. He's also not tall that, like you think he'll be. No. Because he's all, he's always around the basket,

Duncan and getting rebounds and finish him with knuckles at the rim all the time. Mega bouncy. But he's not like, he's not physically imposing. Like, I was like, whoa. Like when I saw him, that was the one thing. And so those 10 rebounds, that's because you're a friggin' rotweiler.

That's why you get 10 rebounds, right? I love him. I love Edgerman Max. When you're his size. I love him so much. And I thought, you know, I think that they're getting all the attention. I thought Paul George played really well in game two. Of course he did.

In watching what I watched tonight, I do have my eye on game three in Philly. Like, tonight was the, it was the home teams just dominant. dominant. Think about the three games we saw tonight. And everyone's going to focus on the closest at the end for the Knicks. OG hit two crazy shots. And Brunson had the end one. They kind of like clawed back, but they were losing. They started out the gate down 10. You blinked and you looked at the Knicks score. They were down 10 before the Cavs game even started. Well, and the reason you have to, you have to keep in mind. Like when we recorded our last show is before that one, and you said you were going to put the 20 United States

dollars on Philadelphia because I told you that plus 14 yeah 14 it's 7 and a half tomorrow night so like Vegas is still believing that the that Boston's going to take care of business

well now 40 American let me open up my fan to all this is a tradition now we're going double or not that uh 40 American dollars yep yep that's exactly what we're doing stand by all right okay so you think sixers might be on to something you think they can do it again I do

and a lot of that is because oh my God it minus seven and a half so I told you 235 money line done all right I'll be rich

I'll bend my $4 if I win that here's the I mean here's the three games don't you owe me don't you still owe me $5? I think I do um six or Celtics is game three

Rockets Lakers is game three and then the Nightcap is going to be Blazer Spurs. Do you feel as confident in that game three? Are we overtaken by what we saw with teams in game threes on this Thursday night enough? So I feel I would be shocked if the Rockets lost.

Spurs win game three in Portland. I do not feel as good about it. Spurs win game three in Portland. Okay. I don't feel as good as you do. about the 76ers because they just stole one in Boston. And so they're coming off. They're coming off a win, though, is what I'm saying.

No, the Huck stole game two in New York. The Sixers do not steal that game. Okay. I just don't, I don't feel as good about that one. I just could see so many different outcomes for that one. I mean, if the Rockets lose to the Lakers tomorrow night, they should fire a doco before game four. Honestly, just let somebody else coach him.

Like, that would be insane to me. My guy, Royal Ivy, Royal Ivy. And then the Blazers, you like, you like the Spurs. We don't have word on Wemby yet, right? We don't know. He traveled with the team. There's no chance he plays. It's just optically, it's kind of like in the NFL when someone has a concussion on Sunday,

they don't play the next week just because like the optics are weird. He's not going to play. Okay, then that's as simple as it gets to me. Then that's as simple as it gets to me. If they don't have Wemby, I like Portland in the game. I like the Spurs to win. Even without Wemby? They beat the Spur.

They beat the Blazers twice without Wemby already this year. I did little research. You know I don't like to do real research. I was like, let me look at the Spurs without Wemby games. There's 18 games. They went 12 and 6. And there were some, there were no bad losses. No, the regular season doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Consequential to me. But they had some good wins. They had some good wins. They beat their, they beat Denver. They lost him twice, too, in those 18. Because Wembe hasn't played Yolk it yet.

And they beat the Blazers twice. This is playoff basketball in a hostile environment for the first time for a lot of guys that you're counting on. Because you need Castle and you need Champany and you need Dylan Arbor and you need all these guys to be able to step up. And it's going to be their first time on the road, mega hostile environment, place that hasn't had playoff basketball in a lot. long, long time. They're all going to be out for blood. And like, unless Deerrin Fox stands on his head, you're sitting there going, okay, like, then I don't know. Oh, I see. Again, I do not think they could beat a Wemby Spurs, but I do absolutely think they could beat a Nile. Well, of course they can. I just think that, I mean, Scoot had the game of his life, the game of his life.

Denny quietly did not play that well in game two. he didn't. And also, and also it's going to give a chance for Kling Kong to do something if Wembe's not around. Maybe Donovan Kling can get going. Obviously, time Lord was, I mean, turn back the clock. He's the time Lord. He's the time Lord. Yeah. He did it. He has to do that. It says San Antonio's two and a half. Favorites?

That's what it says, yeah. Yeah, I would, I mean, listen, I'm not going to sit here and actually I know who's going to win basketball games. and watch too many to, you know, I will act like then. But like, I think the Spurs will win this one. I just think they're better. They're better.

I'm a question mark on. All right. So let me just go through all these so far. All right. Wolves Nuggets, you feel good about the Nuggets. I don't if they don't have Aaron Gordon. But you still feel okay with a few.

I feel better if they had Aaron Gordon. They got dominated tonight. I think they'll make a judgment. I just can't imagine a world of which Yogich looks like this. entire series. Like, he has not looked good. Even in game one, he has not looked himself. I will make you feel good. I do think the Knicks will respond in, in game four. So, because we're not, we're not going to speak until after that one. Raptors. That's Saturday? What time is that on Saturday? I got to play in my weekend.

I got to be honest with you, the Raptors are the one that, like, I could see them shockingly tied the series at two. And everybody's like, hold on. Or the cat's not what we thought. I don't really trust the Cavs. I don't trust the Raptors. Do you trust the Raptors? Not really, but it's still James Hardin, and I just don't, I don't know. I just, like, they do, they got flakes on that Cavs team that I don't trust. Flinks.

Yeah. Flicks. Guys that can be flaky. You know what I mean? Flings. Like they can be awesome. They can be awesome. They can be awesome, but they can also be like this.

disenfranchised, you know, I mean, they are disenchanted with what's going on. Like, like, I will say that Toronto does have enough guys that look like they just play hard as hell all the time. And I do think the calves have the massive talent about, advantage. But when you're at home and everybody's juicing you up and like you're, and you're playing so hard and whatever, like, I don't know. I, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't hate the Raptors in that spot. I really don't. I do. I do. I absolutely hate the Raptors. in that spot. I absolutely no trappers in that spot. All right. 76 or Celtics, I am certainly a bigger question mark than you on that. Um, Rockets Lakers, do you agree with me? This would be

shocking if the rockets don't win a game three. Come on. Like, they're sure. They got swept. Holy shit. There's something going on, man. Yeah, you might be right. There's something going on. No, you might be right. I felt about the magic after they lost in the Sixers. I feel about the Rockets right now. And the magic god has he turned it around. But like the body language, the communication. Oh, you're right. Like it's just there's something going on there where it just feels like they're all like you know what? You know what, dude? It's like if a team had their best players text messages, trashing his teammates, like revealed. Yeah, yeah. Like if those in the middle of his season, yeah. If those became public. Yes. If you saw all

the evil things I've said about you via text, and then we had to do a pod, the chemistry might be a little off. Might be. Might be a little lot. Off. Also, can I just say this? Of course you can, buddy.

I love the vibes from the Lakers. Like their chemistry, their chemistry looks great. It's such a stark contrast between the two. Like, why do you all, these guys are like all thrown together and it's frigging DeAndre Aiton, Jackson Hayes and Luke Knard and Jake LaRavia and Marcus Mark.

And a 41 year old LeBron and it's like, but they're all like high fiving and pumping each other up and like you walk to the huddle. And then like this dour mess that is the Rockets are all like frumpy and nobody like they all they all like social distance on the bench from each other. But also here's what it feels like it feels like JJ Redick is like our team has no defenders. So you know what I'm going to do? Gimmick defenses. We're going to double Durant on the touch. We're going to play a ton of zone. We're just going to like, we're going to, I'll be, I think JJ Reg is like, I'll be the best defender on the team.

I will. Oh, yeah. Is that Labrat? Yeah, he's like, I'll be the best defender on the team. Don't worry, guys. I know none of you can cover anybody, but I'll be the defender. I will throw a bunch of different stuff. It was actually LeBron who said that.

Like, we have to throw a bunch of different pitches. Is that LeBron after game two? like screwball, curber ball. Like they are Greg Maddox. When you have Luca, you're Randy Johnson. But when no Luca and no Austin Reeves, you are Greg Maddox, junkballers. And I think JJ's going to scheme him up. And man, I say there's the most at stake in Houston in game three.

Like, oh, yeah. The most. Yes. Guess what? If the son's losing game three, who cares? All right. And then it sounds like you like spurs, but I like blazers. if it's if it's when I like you like you like you like them regardless of whether

wendy plays or not yes whenby's not playing in game three i think like adam silver would fly there and stop him from putting a uniform on the optics are too bad i want to say this about wemby and i put this in the group text are we sure he doesn't have like an orbital bone broken or a jaw broken or something because man yeah they they would have reported that he hit his head so hard on the floor. Honestly, I text you this the night it happened. Like,

if you told me Victor Wenbenyama got hurt. Oh, yeah. Not me over with a feather. Like, I mean, okay. I mean, that, you know, he's a gigantic guy and like, and the playoff basketball is super intense. And so it's not, wouldn't be that's fine.

But if you told me, a concussion had to be a billion to one because the only way. And a blood clot. Last year was a blood clot. I mean, the only way. And then my guess would have been he hit his head on the, like the only way he could happen is hitting his head on the backboard or the floor.

Because no one is connecting with his head. He's too tall. Right? Like a concussion is something like you're going up for a layup and the guy comes from behind you and clubs you and like, I mean, you get a concussion or something. or you like like the only way it can happen but the other thing is i've never seen a guy get a concussion landing on his face it's always the back of the head right like your head snaps back and it

hits the floor have you ever seen a like i've seen guys get him like going a ton of concussions i got a concussion story i've had a ton of concussions i was playing rec league back when i used to be good i'm terrible now but this is uh i don't know like probably 2009 or something you have had a ton A ton of concussions. A ton. The first one was bad. And the first one was, let me tell you the story. The first one is passing the point to the wing and I steal it and I get a layup.

Right? The next possession, same exact thing. Passing the point to the wing, I steal it. But there's two defenders closer to me. I'm like, I'm going to go up and get another layup. I have no idea what happened. But my legs got taken out from under me. I landed on my head.

I started convulsing on the ground. And remember, my team is a bunch of ER doctors. Everyone's like Dr. Robbie from the pit. So this is in Men's League? Yeah, I'm convulsing on the ground. Like literally they said I was like shaking. Like you know when they give you like a, you're waiting in line for your table at a restaurant. They give you like that disc that shakes.

They're like, you were one of those discs just vibrating on the ground. And then I come to and they're like, what year is it? I'm like 1995 and it was like 2010. And I had to get a CT scan and everything. And then here's the thing about concussions is once you, you get concussions, it's essentially like a bruise on your brain. But if you get that same spot hit again, you get another concussion. So one time I got hit in the head with the ball, bro. Not an elbow, not the floor. I got hit in the head with the ball. And I wasn't the same

for three weeks. Are you serious? Yeah. Concussions are bad, man. And he seems like he's got a bad one. Like, it can be an ongoing thing that can sort of like mess up your life. I've also got punched in the head a bunch of times, which is also a factor. Wait, who threw the ball at your head? I was just playing pickup in Los Angeles. And it was someone throwing a baseball pass. I got a full court pass and I jumped up to block it and it hit me in the head. And you got a concussion?

I wasn't the same for three weeks. Had to go to the doctor and everything. I'll be damned. Yeah. So the concussions are serious business, man. Serious business. Also, don't recommend getting punched in the head when you have concussion issues. But those, I'm not going to tell those stories.

Yeah, that's a good idea. All right. last two we need to mention. Pistons Magic. We haven't talked about the Thunder yet. Oh, Pistons Magic is a good one. No, Pistons magic because the Pistons, look, I talked about this regarding game one. That was a horrible representation of a team that I watched throughout this year. In Game 1. That won 56 games and was the one seed. Like, when they gave up 35 points in that first quarter and they like did not have,

that was not their team. Like I was like, what is this? And I know that like Orlando was coming off, winning that game against Charlotte and then turned around and like looked like they still had that confidence boost going. They were sharp. The other team looked dull. And they came out and like they weren't defending.

And then obviously Duren was lame. And it was like Cade and nothing else was going on. And I do think that there was a rush to judgment on them. And it was like, oh, this is what we knew. Just got to be cade and who else can do anything. But my whole problem was not the offense nearly as much because if they can, if they play the requisite defense that they have played throughout the season, they're going to get themselves a lot.

Yeah, they're going to get themselves a lot more of easy bucket if they can. I was worried about their defense. They gave up 35 points in the first quarter and did not have the, and then, The defense was there for game two, but it's like tied at half. You can't say the defense was there. They held the magic to 32.5% from the field. That's not from three. It's from the field.

I got it, but at halftime the game was tied. And then they went on a 30 to three run. That was ridiculous. Choked them out. Like boa constrictor. You can't score. You can't score. And that's what it takes to like fracture the magic.

When the magic start looking disjointed, they look really disjointed, right? And then they start trying to do it themselves and whatever. But it was that, that, that defense that I know that the Pistons are capable of playing did not show up in game one and it did show up in game two. I got it. Their backs against the wall, whatever. But I still, I still feel very good about the Pistons.

And I don't think that I thought there was a grand overreaction to, to game one in a game that I thought the Pistons played like dog crap and the magic played awesome. And I think it's probably back to a little more normal, which is here's a team that was fighting to play in the playoffs versus a team. Like, all

year long I have been fighting for the Pistons to get respect from people that they've won 56 games and their record against other good teams over and over and over and over was good. And to me, that was an indication. And to me, that was an indication that they're going to be just fine. But then as soon as they lost game one, it was like, ooh, the magic had big guys and the magic

aren't scared of them and the magic have better players. And they scored 83 points. Yeah, they could, they got choked. 83 points. And Wagner, that there's a level of defense that the Pistons can play that if they, if they bring their hard hats and their lunch pails and they play that defense, the magic cannot beat them. I'm sorry. You expected it from Thompson, Thompson, Thompson had a couple like highlight defensive plays, but Stewart to me was like that when he blocked Suggs dunk. Yes.

That was a dunk. I mean, no, no, Sugs looked like a piston in game one. Like all of them did. They were the ones fighting, scrap and claw. and whatever it is. And I'm like, what is this? It's a freaking roll reversal? What is this?

What happened to the Pistons I got used to watch it? So will it, in game three, we just watched a bunch of games threes. Maybe we're all reacting to the home team winning game threes, but like, could you see it happening here? I can't. I can't. I just, I mean, could I see the magic winning game three, but then losing game four, much like I think what's going to happen in the Hawks series?

Sure. Yeah, I could, I can see it. I mean, I could see it, but like I think in long term, by ability of the Pistons going deep into the playoffs into the finals, I feel like they need more from Jalen Dern. They need to figure out ways to get into better positions to score and defense. Like, I agree with you. What I've seen in these two games,

I've been like, where is that All Star? Where's the like most improved player? Where's the breakout star? Guess what? K doesn't need a second score. He's got Jalen Dern because, man, it hasn't looked good.

Okay. And then the last series that we need to talk about. Do we? And that, well, this would be the one that if you think there's not going to be the home run, Grand Slam effort in game three that ends up with a win. Now, I, hey, let me just say this very quickly. I will remind you, because you bring this up. Grizzlies game three.

A lot more than me. In Memphis. I mean, they, after game one and game two, they got absolutely scurbing. stopped in game one and game two. And they're up 30. Game three. If Morant never gets hurt, they run out. Oh, sweet.

They win in six. No, they don't win in six. They don't win the series. They don't win the series, but they certainly don't lose game three. That's fair to say. You know, I'm glad you brought that up. I do bring that up all the time, but it's fair to say because like it is very similar. Like the suns look like they have absolutely no chance.

And, you know, I think that, again, much like Dern getting going, like, let's look at these teams that we think are going to win and sort of like what they're they need to do to go deep is you're going to need jubb you're going to need them i know you guys are deep i know you got a lot of players but like to win the championship you're going to need jubb you well and it's a hamstring i know again falls into the verno hamstrings calves but then they're like they're like well it's not the hamstring he hurt and i'm thinking to myself i'm like is that a good thing or a bad thing i don't know is that good or bad it's like well it's not the one that was already Heard. It's like, well, so now he's got two compromise hamstrings? Is that better?

Also, I was in a, I was in a situation like this years ago to in a, in a series that didn't feel like that Memphis didn't have a chance. And you may remember people could go back and find this press conference, but David Fisdale after game two against San Antonio said they're rook in us. We're not going to get rooked. And then he said, take that for data. Yeah.

Take that for data. Right. Didn't he fired that off the season? No, it was into the next year. Yeah, yeah. He was a, did he ever coached the Knicks? I forget.

Yes, he did. But they came into that game three, I will tell you, was an absolute hornet's nest. And they ended up winning that game. And Mark, and Mark, Marcosol had a game winner, whatever else.

In a series, ended up losing, of course. But I would imagine that Phoenix is going to be absolutely rabbit. It does remind me of that in that sense, where it's like Booker took to the podium for the first time at 11 years. So they hate the refs and they hate the other team, right? And they hate Gilgis Alexander and they hate Chet now. And like, there's like, there's smoke now. Right. There's just not enough talent to back it up. No, no, no, no. Again, for one game, I'm saying.

For one game, it would not shock me. I'll tell you, it wouldn't shock me. Sweet. It wouldn't shock me. It wouldn't shock me. It wouldn't, again. Oh, and their owner is out there tweeting about it. God. Oh, my God.

I'm just saying it will be, Phoenix should be a hornet's nest. And it's not a must win to Oklahoma City. They're like, fine. Then we'll win game four. that will beat you on our home floor in game five. This happens all the time, even in non-competitive series. All the time.

All the time. You know what I mean? If there's one, they piss away, if there is a game that Phoenix is going to win, it's three. Yeah. I don't see it happening.

It's going to be fun this weekend. I will say this. We tape again, what, Monday night? Yeah, Monday night. But I watched all those clips of everything Booker mentioned, and he is right.

He's got a point, but again, but my thing is like, yeah, you're losing. regardless. Take away all those calls. You lose the game by instead of what, 18, then you're 14. Like, I understand. That isn't the problem, bro. The problem isn't the refs. The tech, the tech was the one that was weird to me. That one was weird to me.

Caruso literally told him to call the tech. If I'm that ref, I don't, you know, someone's going to call his phone and be like, like, what happened there? He has to explain it. Well, no, it's James Williams. You saw where he's wearing the SGAs in that picture, whatever. I'm excited for this weekend. I don't know how to tell my wife, like, I know there's a lot of, like, birthday parties, and you've got plans,

and you guys want to go to the movies and all of these things, but I have to work all weekend. Yeah, these bills don't pay themselves. Yeah, I have to, the lights, those, they turn off if I don't watch basketball for 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday. That's it. Yeah.

So unless you want us to start buying candles. I will say last weekend, I told you what was it the it was the thunder and the suns so I was so mad yeah pick your spots I just I finally gave up I was like dude I can't do this I can't waste my whole sunday on this it's because I'd make two door dash orders I like get like wing stop and then I get like something else gross they got hungry again I'm like I'm going to get my third gross meal like seriously yeah six or the game ones were so bad but game two is it game two is it Threes have been great pay on.

Great. Let me end it by saying this. I felt so strong about one through four in the Eastern Conference going into the playoffs. I was like, these won't even be competitive series. And I could poke holes in the Pistons. I could poke holes in the Celtics.

I could poke holes in the Knicks for sure. I could poke holes in every cabs, everybody. Somebody on this show said every Eastern series would go six. Me, right? Just got. All right, I'm out of here.

I am, you know what? No, I'm out of here first. I'm out of here first. You don't get to go out here first. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm going out. I'm going out.

Thank you to Jeff. Thank you to Brian. I'll talk to you. Remember, you must be 21 or over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over in present in D.C. Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling. problem, call 1,800 gambler or 1-800-Gampure or you can call 1-88-7-9-777 or visit ccpg.org

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