The Mismatch - Knicks on the Brink of the ECF, Tatum's Injury, Mavericks Win the Lottery, and Ant's Superstar Performance

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Verno and Jacoby react to the Knicks taking a 3-1 series lead over the Celtics, Jayson Tatum's injury, the Mavericks winning the right to draft Cooper Flagg, Anthony Edwards's superstar performance, and more! Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! [phone] (0:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (1:20) Timberwolves Defeat Warriors: 117-110 (MIN 3-1) (11:55) Knicks Defeat Celtics: 121-113 (NYK 3-1) (33:30) Reaction to the Mavericks Winning the Draft Lottery (43:35) What's Next for Giannis? (52:25) Game 5 Preview: Pacers vs. Cavs (IND 3-1) (57:35) Game 5 Preview: Nuggets vs. Thunder [-10.5] (TIED 2-2) (1:08:20) MJ IS BACK! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducers: Jessie Lopez and Tucker TashjianSocial: Keith FujimotoMusic: ""New Frontier"": JG1MFMNUC8ZGQBSA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You must be 21 and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 100 gambler or visit RG-dashelps.com. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me see us every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Inferno, everything changed tonight. everything changed.

This has been a seismic shift in the National Basketball Association, the events of the last six hours. We are recording at the very tail end of Minnesota Golden State. It's still going on right now. The score may end up looking better at the end than what the competition level that we watch. Did not look good. Well, look, here's what we know. It was 68 to 68.

in the third quarter. And then it was 85 to 68. 17 point run. Anthony Edwards is screaming at everyone in attendance. The Warriors, their bench, and all fans included. He was at absolute peak of powers, pulling up for threes in transition. And the last one before they took a time out,

it felt like, okay, that just ripped their heart out. Like, they cannot score, and now this guy's just pulling up from three. I think they started out, I think they made like 11 threes in the third quarter. They were shooting absolute fireballs. Him and Randall as a tandem were unbelievable. And then the rest was, the rest was history. I mean, like once, it was 68 to 68, a 17-0 run in that third quarter by Minnesota, to put that game away.

Well, game three was close. And I thought a lot of that had to do with Kaminga and Butler, sort of like showing up and making up for the lack of Steph Curry. And Kaminga started well today. But Butler just kind of didn't have it. And he is, he's sort of the elder statesman. He's the emotional leader.

He's the guy who everyone's looking at like, we don't have Steph, but we got you. And he just didn't have it tonight for whatever reason. Well, and what was super odd about that is Tim Legler saying on the broadcast, this is the tail end of the first half. He's like, Jimmy Butler's been on the bench for the last like four and a half minutes because Steve Kerr wants to have him, you know, for the fourth quarter. Well, it doesn't matter. We're down 25. No, no, no.

But you're watching the game. And the Warriors completely flipped the game with Jimmy Butler on the bench. Yeah, it was, he's, he's, he's got a hand hit that crazy three going into half time. The Warriors had totally flipped the game in the last five minutes of the first half. As we're speaking right now, I think Jimmy Butler has 10 shot attempts. It's crazy. Ten times he attempted a shot. Like that's if, I mean, I think he should probably have 10 in the first quarter.

Right. You know, it's a weird, weird game, weird series with, with the wolves are going to walk away with. and what happened to your whole like veterans and veteran teams. Oh, yeah, real young team, that Minnesota team. They are loaded with young guys. What are you talking about? Rudy Gobert, Mike Connolly, and Julius, he's got the whole team of 10-year vets. What are you talking about?

Julius Randall looks like he never got a haircut ever. He literally got one guy under the age of 25 on their team. Julius Randall looks so good. He looks unstoppable. He's hitting threes tonight. If you get him in the mid post on the left block, it's over. It is over.

He's turning over his right shoulder. He's scoring on you. Don't conflate me saying you shouldn't overlook the warriors with because the Timberwolves, they don't apply as the young team. I'm just having fun. We'll talk about the thunder and the nuggets later. All right. That's what we can really get into that.

They are, so they're going to end up winning. this game, Minnesota is, and take a very commanding lead. And in that third quarter, it certainly seemed as if Anthony Edwards is going to take matters into his own hands and was applying this pressure because by virtue of them having everybody miced up in the last game, for those that did not see, he walks up to Gary Payton the second and he says, you guys just trying to get one game

so you could get Wardell back. And Gary Baten is like, yeah, that's the plan. Pretty much. Yeah, that's the plan. He's like, I'm on to you. Like, so, look, Anthony Edwards try to finish this thing before they have a chance to get Steph Curry back in the mix.

There are these, I guess, positive report yesterday about Steph Curry going through this 90 minute workout, though he didn't go, you know, he didn't put full pressure on it. And, you know, leaving his game five status in doubt. It's like, all right. Like, I don't know.

Anthony Edwards looks like a star. It looked like a star tonight. There's a star performance in a big game that, that just kind of just put him to bed. It was night night. It was him doing the night night to the Warriors and the Warriors fans tonight. Well, and here was the big problem. You know, we talked about Jimmy Butler earlier.

Jimmy Butler, you could argue, was the best player on the floor for the majority of game three. Game three. Okay. The best player and the second best player were both wearing Timberwolves uniforms, as was probably the third best player in this game, right? Like, I mean, they just, they, it was an onslaught. And certainly between that tandem of Edwards and Randall, they were spectacular. But I will say, before we move on,

on. Let's not like over celebrate the wolves because they were vulnerable in game three. We haven't spoken with this game three. They were very vulnerable in game three. That was, that's a win for them and no one's going to remember it. But that they were, that, that game was way too close for comfort if you're a wolf fan. And tonight was two. There's no Jimmy Butler. There's no Steph Curry. And it takes an Anthony Edwards three at the half to like make it a game. Like, like this is not a dominant wolves performance, even though they're up three one in the series. And I got to tell you, I don't know if you felt the same way watching three,

but I absolutely thought it was a one possession game when Draymond Green went out. And if they would have had Draymond for the last five minutes of that game, I think it might have been a different story. But again, he found out. You have a personal history with Draymond Green and you do not like him. And you're happy to point that out. No, no, no. He got those two.

I thought those fouls were bad calls. I thought so too. Yeah, I thought they were bad. cost like he gets a lot of rope and we have talked about the rope he got everything talked about whatever i i actually thought like the last three of his fouls were actually rather debatable right whenever it's the non contest hand yeah yeah the non contest hand like on the body is just that to me is not a foul you can look at it again and like call it a foul but if the hand one hand is in the air and the other hand is just sort of like on the body of the offender

no problem well minnesota obviously has to take care of business which they will be expected to do especially as they go back home. If so, we are going to have to have this discussion. It's an amazing deal that, especially this year with their seating, it's an amazing deal that this would be two consecutive Western Conference finals that they have been to. And this one with, this is not the town's version. This is the version after they've made that trade in the offseason with the Knicks.

And I think it speaks to where Edwards is in the NBA landscape. but also where this franchise and team is. I mean, if you, look, two straight conference finals is nothing to sneeze at. And what's crazy is if you would have told me that we'd be talking about the wolves and the Pacers being two teams that had consecutive conference finals appearances, and both of them are on the fast track to that being the case. It's crazy. And I also think that when you look at the other side of the bracket in the Western Conference, and we're going to talk about this at length.

Shea Gildes-Oxander and Yokic aren't exactly putting up superstar performances. No. Anthony Edwards is. You know, like he is. Both Shea and Yowich, and there's a lot of reasons for that, and we will get to that.

But it's been pretty impressive what Anthony Edwards has been able to do against, especially against the zone. They're like, oh, we got to, we're going to run this wrinkle. We're going to have a zone. And the wolves are just getting dunk after dunk after layup after layups. Gross.

It's game. just ended on seven. Unbelievable. I mean, there's going to be people that wake up tomorrow morning and see like, wow, that was a close one. Oh, the Warriors, the Warriors got just seven?

Oh, please. Yeah, they just lost 117 to 110. Oh, yeah. And so what's crazy is. There's seven point games that are literally one possession with 30 seconds left and it takes a couple of fouls and a couple of missed shots. But this was not, this was not a seven point game. Well, and everybody on the East Coast,

and certainly in your neck of the woods, He's going to wake up, hung over and be like, oh, wow. That was a, that was a close game, too. These playoffs have just been great. This game was terrible. No, the game was good for the first half. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very competitive.

No, but it was done. This game was done 45 minutes ago. I'm listening to Billis, right? I'm listening to Billis. And he was like, the Warriors haven't made a three since like 449 left in the second quarter. It was the fourth quarter. The final tally. was, and I always harking back to this,

Greg Popovich, El Hefe, as they call him now, you know, when he was lamenting what the NBA has become right now, he's like, just hand me the box score. And we're going to get to the next game. We're going to get to the next game. We did not go like that. He said, just hand me the box scored. And I'll tell you what happened at the game.

Well, three-pointers, the Timberwolves doubled them up tonight. And 16 for 34. four the T-Wolf shot 47% from three yeah there was that good miced-up moment where Steve Kerr was trying to settle his team down they can't hit them all they're hitting them all now but they're not going to keep hitting them all he was like they're making everything they're making everything surely there's got to be some regression to the mean unfortunately if there was any regression to the mean it was way too late right I mean at that point yes this is not a seven-point game can we please

talk about the Knickerbockers now, please. 121, 113. The New York Knicks are now up 3 to 1. Oh, on the Boston Celtics. When we last spoke about this series, I told you, I said, I think the Knicks just need a split. I don't think they'll lose three in a row.

That's how I view this stuff. And so they just can't drop both of them at home. Was there ever a moment? moment in this game where you were legitimately scared that they were going to lose a second straight game at home. A moment? A moment? That's the question. A moment? Yes. Most of the game. Oh, I thought you would be confident that if you got this in a range that, you know, they'd be able to step up, take care of business, MSG crowd, you know, like, I figured this one was not going to be, you knew this was not going to be a runout. I think it's appropriate to start this conversation by talking about Jason Tatum.

Because obviously, if you're listening to this podcast, you know that there's a very concerning injury. We can't report what it is, but like we all know what we think it is and it looks really bad. And I will say that this game one was fluky, weird, neither team played well. Game two, same. Game three, the Celtics played well. Nix did not. This game was what you want. It was two teams firing on all cylinders, playing well on both ends, and it was two superstars.

Jason Tatum and Jalen Brunson absolutely exchanging haymakers in the third quarter, like just haymakers. Tatum played so well. He played so well. And this is what you want out of NBA playoff basketball. This was a great contest. And the contest was pretty much over because OG is getting that ball and dunking it and putting them up nine regardless. This is not like, oh, Jason Tatum got hurt. That's why the Knicks won.

But this Tatum injury echoes through next season, the Celtics future, what their, what their apron situation. Like this injury isn't just impactful on this game. It wasn't that impactful on this game, to be honest with you. But it's on the future. of the Celtics is it's there's a there's a lot of questions to be asked and I'm not going to say this series is over but it's very likely the next will win it but this injury have like one of the things you didn't mention when you were outlining you know all of the all the dominoes that could fall because of this is they also have the the ownership and I know that they're saying

gross fix still going to keep you know see I'll have a hand in the team and whatever but I mean like this was a franchise that, depending upon how this all went in the playoffs, was going to be making big decisions one way or another. Even if they win a championship. Even if they win. They ran it back for good reason, right? This is a good investment.

If you get a championship out of this thing and why not? Why break this thing up when we could run it back and have a chance at another title? And now that it will end more than likely in the. second round. Now all of a sudden, spending a bazillion dollars doesn't seem as is fun. Yeah. It's not last dance, but it's like the DJ is letting you know that we're going to end the party soon.

I got, I text you during the game. Like, so, all right. When they were up 11 at halftime, I honestly thought. So I can come from it from a different perspective. I'm just watching the game. And I thought, bro, Derek White has made. like everything he's taking. It was like five for five or something.

They have shot fireballs in the first half, Boston shot 50% from three. Okay. So I'm looking at it going there will be regression, like there will. And they are making everything right now. And they're not out of range. Like they're shooting fireballs,

but they're not out of range. This is still like, you know, the game's still at 11. And then it kind of. looned up to 14 in that third quarter, and then the run started. And man, oh, man. Like, by the end of the third quarter, I absolutely did not think the Knicks were

losing that game. I mean, they had flipped the game completely. But that Brunton third quarter was unbelievable. Well, Thames's third quarter was unbelievable, too. It was. That was a haymakers. It was, but God, I hate watching them play basketball. I hate it.

It is a different haymaker. there's just a bunch of pull-up threes. Just is. Well, I would say that Derek, it just is. It's just pull up three, pull-up three. Here's one pass. Here's another pull-up three. Disagree. Disagree.

In the first half, in the first half, the Celtics had a bunch of swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing. Like Derek White, those ones he hit were just butt-naked, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing, swing. And I feel like they, no, no, you're adding a swing. You're adding a swing. You're adding a swing to make it feel better. Swing, swing, swing, swing, threes. Two is the limit of passes.

They didn't pass the ball, game one in game two. Game three, they moved the ball more. Game four, they moved the ball enough. And they had that lead. But it was a game of runs. Even in the first half, it was sell this up by 10. Knicks cut it to two, timeout, Missoula. You know, and then the Celtics make another run.

And then the Knicks make a run. And they never let the crowd get out of it the way they were in game three. I thought the crowd was a factor in this game tonight. I can name you 10 Nick shots. I can't name you one Celtic shot that wasn't a three that I could remember. Not one. You got bridges flying across the lane. You got like mid-range stepbacks that Brunson's hitting.

You've got cat flying down the lane. Like cat was good too. Like I don't know. I, it's a different brand of basketball. And the Celtics are one of those teams. it's a lot like those old Rockets teams where it's like, man, when those threes are dropping, it is devastating. And when they're not, it is a tough watch.

Yeah, but I thought Tatum takes so well. They were for the first half. They were for the first half. The conversation tomorrow was going to be Tatum injury, Tatum injury. Oh, he was awesome. Impact on Celtics future. But like his performance tonight was just unbelievable. Well, and they have been completely let down by Jalen, completely.

Completely. I'm Jalen Brown, I'm saying. Not Jalen Brunton. Of course. They've been completely let down. When is that, when is the, when is the, when the every once in a while Jailen Brown will like drive to the basket, they'll be like, that's the Jailen Brown that you needed. And it's like.

That's a possession. It didn't like, yeah, and then you might not notice him for five minutes. Well, bizarre. There is something I want to discuss about the Knicks because I think we're going to be talking about the Knicks for a couple weeks now. Hey. This series is not over. This series is not over.

Like, it's very likely the next. Wait, you said it was, what, minus 900, the Celtics were going to win before game one, right? Have you checked the odds? Have you checked the odds? I haven't. I will. I mean, but does it, does it have just a picture of, I, look, it, look, Tatum's like, he got carried off. He got carried off the floor.

It was, we're not allowed because we're responsible to say. what happened into microphones right now because it's the middle of the night. But like the way the Knicks were cheering him as he went off the floor, this isn't like when Brunson couldn't get up on a turned ankle. This is an impactful injury that will likely impact his next season. Updated series price on Fanduil as we're talking about it. Nix minus 620. All right.

So it was Nix minus, I mean, Celtics minus 900. Interesting. Yeah, at the beginning. So one thing I want to keep an eye on. because we'll be talking about the Knicks for a while. Carl Anthony Towns. I didn't think that he impacted the game as much as he should have this evening.

I don't think they go to him in the post enough. Who on the Celtics is a bad matchup? Who on the Celtics can guard him on the post? Who? I mean, Porzengis at least has the requisite length. But he can't. Right. Horford can't.

Brown can't. They don't go to him enough. And he's had, he had two 10-point games. in the Piston series. He had a 14 point game in this series. And he had five assist in game one against the Pistons. Like when he averages like four or five assists a game. And he's had zero assist, one assist, one assist, two assists, zero assist, zero assist, one assist. Like he has not been unlocked in these playoffs. And I think that's going to be important if they're going to move on. If they're going to get to the Eastern Commerce finals, which is very likely, if they're going to be successful

in the Eastern Conference finals, not say win, but even just be successful against likely the Pacers, they're going to need more from towns. I mean, you had 23 and 11 tonight. I'm telling you. You expect him more than 23 and 11? Because then your expectations are a little high, Jacoby. They don't post him up enough, dude. They don't.

Every time they do it works. I mean, they have really good balance. Obviously, you had the Brunson at 39. And then when you get 23 out of towns, 23 out of bridges and 20 out of OG. and then you've just got heart just flying around everywhere doing everything. Bridges. I mean.

For steals, too, for Bridges. Bridge is weird. I'm going to put the ball above my head with my 7,000 foot wingspan. He doesn't shoot like everyone else shoots. The ball is above his head before he shoots. And he's kind of like Larry Birdish kind of. Larry put it behind his head. And those, that eight, four.

to 14 foot range, whether he's coming off the dribble or not, he just hits those. He hits those. And tonight he was fabulous. I will say one of the things that I thought about as I was watching this tonight, because you and I had the discussion many times lamenting the fact that our teams showed an inability to beat the best teams over and over again, right, throughout the regular season. But as we know, and we get to playoff basketball, as a playoff team, that is a different evaluation than a regular season team, right? The playoff team, right now, there's no question Oklahoma City was infinitely better than Denver

throughout the year. The regular season. The question will become, are they a better playoff team? There's no question that the Celtics were better than the Knicks throughout the year. But are they better equipped for playoff basketball? Same thing goes with what's happened with the Cavaliers, right? Cavaliers had 60-something wins this season. But are they better equipped to be a playoff basketball team because the game is different.

And interestingly enough, those Knicks, like they wouldn't show us throughout the year that against the highest, level of competition. They didn't show us this. And yet now we have seen their absolute best. And they're able to keep, they have been able to keep guys healthy, knock on wood.

And they've been able to play as a collective. And I mean, they have been down 14 points or more. Three of these games and they're up three to one in the season. In the second half. So one thing I don't want to do is, it's hard for me to sit here. even as a Knicks fan and make sweeping statements about the makeup of these two teams

in regular season versus postseason because game one and game two were just so fluky. Like game one and game two were so fluky. They really were. Like it wasn't like it just felt like ball bounces this way. This shot goes in. This shot doesn't. I mean, I mean, like they made the plays though. They came through in the clutch.

It's about the makeup of these teams because. this could easily be a two two you could say that about everything though usually right like you either come up in the clutch or you don't that's i think that's that's the jalen brunson conversation to me like he's earned the mr clutch award or clutch sports award or whatever we're calling the award because dude like like it's not it's not a coincidence he's mariano brunson is what he is he's the closer and it's not a coincidence we've seen it enough now. And even if you don't watch Nick's basketball all year long, you just watch the playoffs. If it's close, he's going to get the ball and good things are going to happen.

It's just that easy. Like he makes the tough shots in the tough moments. He's made different than the rest of the league. Look at Yokic. Look at Shea. Look at them. And I will say, none of us nobody wants to see it happen like this where Jason Tatum is laying on the ground at the end I mean it does it just sucks all the air out of it

even if this is now Nick's going up 3-1 but it's going back to Boston where you expect them to be able to win game 5 so it's like now it's going to be tense times game 6 in the garden with their season on the line. You know, here's a team

that won't, had a championship run last year. And so now you've got to beat them in a game six. And it's like, in the last couple minutes of that game, it's like that all got stripped away from us as fans and stripped away from Jason as a player. And God forbid

it is an Achilles and that's a friggin' year long injury. Oh, what's worse than that is he played so fucking well. He was great. It was like, he's Right. He was the best player. I was sitting there watching the game.

How are we supposed to beat this guy? How do you beat this man in a basketball game? Look at what he's doing. He was awesome. He was so good tonight. And we're all going to talk about the threes and the points and that what do you have, 42 or whatever? He was getting steals.

You couldn't score on him. He was not just the best player in the game. He was, it was like one of those. Superstar. Superstar. Superstar. And I thought he ended.

He ended. did 42, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals, two blocks. He did everything. I mean, it was at one point, Breen said like, Jalen Brunson is unstoppable and Jason Tatum is unguardable. And it was, it was such a great call. Because that third quarter when they were just trading baskets and the garden was going crazy, like that is, that's, that's the playoff basketball.

Like, that's why I love the sport. That's why I love the sport. That's why I love the sport. That's why I love the National Basketball Association those moments. And to have it go this way, because again, the game is over. The game is decided. And if the next going to win the series, this isn't, oh, they won because Jason Tatum got hurt. But to have it go this way is one of the worst possible results.

It really is. Because I told you at the very beginning of all of this when we were, you know, in the game three, the OKC Memphis game three, when Morant got clipped out of the air and went down. I remember we did that show and I said, I've never been in an arena like that. It wasn't about what just happened as much as it was, you know what this means. Was that,

was that third quarter? They were about like 30, right? Yeah, no, yeah. Second quarter. It was like, oh, second quarter. It was like, you know what this means. This is, oh, like, we're done, we're done watching competitive basketball.

Like, they have no chance without him. And that, and that's what, at the end of that, and I mean, could you have worse timing? I swear we're recording this right now. And it's on this damn Tatum Superman commercial is on every. I know. So could somebody call it in and just take it off for tonight? Like this is not good.

Well, it's tough because it was like it started after game two when he wasn't Superman for the first two games. And then he was Superman tonight. I know. And then he gets hurt. And then he was back on. Oh, well. So good. And you know what?

I've heard since you did your rant, I've heard so many people bring up the Jalen Green commercial and the other commercial. Because they've burned him to death. You know what hasn't gotten enough attention. And I'm surprised that you haven't brought it up because there I am. I'm watching the Knicks game earlier. They run the damn thing five times. The Paul Walker song,

It's been a long game. Except it's Dante DiVincenzo seeing all his old. But that was pretty good. That was pretty good, though. Of course, it's not. Come on. Paul Walker died. Well, you know, well, you know what happened.

Dante DiBenzzo just got traded to the wolves. We haven't discussed this on the pod, so it's worth saying. The Pope went to Villanova. Oh, he did? The Pope went to Villanova. The Chicago Pope. Yes. The woke Pope.

Didn't know what they're calling him. Is that what he's called? The woke. The woke went to Villanova. I don't know anything about this man. But all I know is it because I follow the Knicks account. It's like, no, I saw the videos that they found him in the, uh, the, uh, the white side, the white sucks world series. He's like in the stands. Good for him. Well, listen, the wove, the wope is going to

bring it. We got, we got bridges hitting every mid range shot in the world. You know what, you know what? Let's talk about basketball for a second. Yeah. I don't like the way the Celtics play basketball either. And do you like to see. It's been a long day without you. Come on. Come on. I don't like the way the Celtics play either, but I'll say this is to watch Backel Bridges and Jalen Brunson hit mid midi after midi after midi and then to watch the Celtics miss three after three after three. It's like, okay, guys, like maybe, maybe, maybe this is, maybe there's a different way to play

basketball. Maybe there's a different way to play basketball. Maybe I'm not fake. Not to Joe Maz there's not. Not the Joe Mads. Boy, they're going to be on Joe Maz's ass, brother. Whoa. That, that honeymoon.

That championship honeymoon is over. When you have a personality like his, it can be celebrated when you win, and when you lose, it gets picked apart. And that's, I'm not criticizing him as a person. I don't know him as a person,

but like when you are an outlier, we'll call it. When you're an outlier, when you're winning, it's great. When you're losing it, it's questionable. The mismatch is brought to you by Fanduel. The NBA playoffs are here,

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Nuggets and Nikola Yokic. Some of the things that I have my eye on when I open up the Fandual app, I see a bounce back game from Jdub of the Thunder, and I see Nikola Yokic, there's no way that he has three assists again. I think he's going to get more assists. You can go with me or you can pick your own bets that you like that night. And don't forget, with Fandul, you get the NBA profit boost. So don't just be a spectator this point.

postseason, head to a fanduil.com slash mismatch to download America's number one sportsbook and make every moment more. Remember, you must be 21 and over and present in select states or 18 and over in present DC. Optus required. Bonus issued as non-mithdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem? Call 100 gambler or visit RG dash help.com. So you were talking about earlier, I mean, so many different directions here, you have Wolves fans that have got to be euphoric right now. You have Warriors fans that have to be so down right now.

You have Knicks fans that are shutting down 7th Avenue, so we know they're euphoric right now. Celtics fans, I mean, you can't be any more down. And then all manner of fan bases were included in the emotional swings prior to these games coming on tonight as the draft lottery was announced. And look, I have through compassion for fan bases that go through horrendous seasons and then have their hearts ripped out when it comes to the lottery. I've covered many 20-win teams. One year, you could go back many, many years.

And this is, I'm going to date myself here. I hosted at a big bar in downtown Memphis. I hosted the draft lottery party. ESPN's in town. The whole thing. It's at the flying saucer in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. I mean, hundreds of fans all there, right? The Grizzlies had the worst record in the entire NBA.

And this is before the odds shifted, right? So you're like, still like a 25% or whatever. Hey, look. And I'm hosting the thing. I'm not kidding you. And behind the stage where I'm hosting the deal, we have a giant inflatable Greg Oden in a Grizzlies uniform and a giant inflatable Kevin Durant in a grizzly's uniform.

One and two, okay? And bro, when it popped up four, which was the worst possible pick you could yet. They go to break before four, right? Dude, it was the most depressing place. I couldn't even speak. And Eric Hasseltine, who's the radio voice of the Grizzlies, gets up there and he's like, you know, look, still great building blocks for this franchise.

Chris Bosch got taken forth and people are like, oh, he wants Chris Bosch, you get. But if you're. It's the most heart-wrenching thing ever. The Hornets, the Wizards fans. Oh, the worst. This is your Super Bowl. That's it.

And the team that traded Luca Donchich is the one that wins. All right. So let me just on. I'm split on this. Obviously, that's ridiculous. They had a 1.8% chance. Okay. And you can be a hate and ass and be super jealous.

So let me just say out of the way here, I'm a hate and ass is super jealous. P.S. Okay. I didn't see that coming. That's true. And look, if you go back in mismatch history, my thoughts on Cooper Flag are well documented. When he's 16 years old, I took my son to EYBL, the Nike thing.

Everybody had said, you got to see this Cooper Flag. And I came on the mismatch. I said, I just saw the best 16-year-old basketball player I've ever seen of my life. The kid had like 14 blocks. He blocks in the game. I'm like, I don't know who this. I mean, this guy, whatever hype around him is, is all 100% legitimate. He is amazing.

And so I think he's like franchise altering. But bro, this is where I say I'm hating ass because you got to hate on Nico Harrison. Like he shouldn't get this lucky. He shouldn't. for that fan base, I know they've got all those Luca jerseys. They've got all that Luca gear. They just got their heart ripped out so badly. So for the MAVs fans that have like stuck with the MAVs for those poor season

ticket, you know, people that have to sell these things who ever, people are canceling right and left and chanting fire Nico and now your phone's going to ring for the first time in three months tomorrow. Like I understand. in the impact this has on an organization, but I always think about it through the prism of the fans. And I'm happy for Dallas fans. They just got their guy ripped away.

But on the other hand, it was their own fucking doing, right? It's not like, like, they didn't like get their guy ripped away from him because he like died in a car wreck. They got their guy ripped away from him because their GM traded it. Right? This is what, do you know what? This thought just came to my head. Um, me and, uh, the podfather Bill have spent some long nights playing blackjack.

And I know that you, you played some blackjack yourself too, right? Indeed. And I feel like when they traded Nico, it's like splitting eights. It's like this is what the book says. You gotta do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, training Luca. Splitting eights. And then we split eight to get another eight.

And I feel like they got another eight. It's like, it's like, it's like, if you said there's a three or four year window, you said defense wins championships. this is not like cooper flag is not part of that philosophy so do you have to like split eights again do you now have to trade cooper flag to like be to like execute your strategy well right because you said they're not i'm not going to be around three four years anyway you're right you're a three year window at cooper flag cooper flag and derrick lively are not going to win a championship in the next three years and kairie's not coming back next year so it does feel like there is another decision to make if you're the mavericks do i have to trade one of the best prospects ever

because i'm committed to this strategy you know what i mean about splitting eights right like you got eight you split them you get another eight you're like well i'm committed to this strategy i i'm almost offended that you're like you're familiar with this right like how many do you think I have walked to the ATM because I didn't have enough to split the last thing. Yeah, there's some guy at the table like, I'll give it to. It's like, no, dude, no, we're not doing that.

We're not doing that. We're not doing IOU. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no. But like, that's what I feel like. I feel like this is kind of like, it's put Nico in a really weird spot because he's like, we're trading Luca Donchich, bringing in AD because we have this, this large side. I like, I actually kind of like

the MAV's roster if everyone's healthy obviously they're not but like now you add Cooper to that mix what timeline army now like the Warriors two timeline thing it is it is funny I saw our buddy Kurt Goldsbury tweet out right after it happened he's like Nico Harrison has the chance to do the funniest thing ever and not Cooper flag and he might and he might right you got to split eights again just hates conventional wisdom I mean I would say that Victor Wimonyama, whatever you think about him, one of the best prospects we've ever seen. The guys, it's seven, six and like hits threes, right? But he has not impacted the Spurs health aside in a way that, like, puts them in contention for a championship.

They will be by next year. They'll be. No. No. Yes. They're going, I'm saying they're going to be dangerous starting next year. Yes. With him and Fox and Castle.

And then whoever they add it to. They'll take Harper. They're going to take Harper, right? Consensus is Harper. Maybe. But I mean, good grief. They may be able to load that up. And look, we got to bring up the honest element here.

I mean, it just so happened. That story, the soft launch of the Janus trade request, you know, was kind of flitted out there, you know, before the lottery tonight. And it's like, now with the way the lottery played out, you've got people opining. It's like, geez, man. like they might use the the first pick you could see them possibly trying you know they've wanted the honest second pick third time second pick there I mean I know it's wild oh but I want to talk about I want to talk about it is just I mean that's ridiculous and because I was I was literally I was on

on my phone because I had to pick up my daughters from gymnastics and I was texting with you guys so I was just listening on my phone and watching along so like on my couch locked in because I was getting ready for the next game up my daughter's from gymnastics. And they were like, well, Philly lost their pick. And then they're like, everything's Nagandi is like, oh, correction. They didn't lose their pick. I'm like, what?

Correction. That's like, be like the nicks are up by 10. Oh, correction. They're down by six. Like that's a big deal. That is the thing from all. And everybody's like, it's rigged. It's rigged.

It's rigged. I always love it. most NBA fans. Like that was like bro, just give him to Charlotte. He just played at Duke. We'll get to hear that Charlotte Wild announcer. Eric Collins games. You'll be playing with Lamello and Brandon Miller.

That's a fun young team. Oh, healthy Llemello, healthy Miller, healthy flag. Well, because what you are thinking is you're going, all right, they suck, but they're like on that trajectory. Those other three, none of y'all deserve this. You traded Luca. You already got Win Banyama and Darren Fox and Stefan Castle. And you literally punted the last 30 games of the season just so you can get them in the top six and not

lose your stupid pick to the thunder. Like, none of y'all deserve this. None of y'all. Well, you and I have been in this business a long time. And this is like, it's not an accident or a coincidence that this Shams quote unquote report comes out the day of the lottery. Also, and when you read the thing on the entertainment sports network.com, it names the reps of Janus by name. Those names don't get into that article unless the information comes from them. And I can't report that as a fact. It's just we've all been around.

You got to be mega excited if you're John Horst and you're thinking like, bro, I might get like the next franchise altering play. You know what I mean? It's going to suck to have to lose the honest, but damn, I might really have a chance of getting like a guy for eight years. Some of these packages and I'm like,

that looks good, dude. Yeah, I know. Like I can build out a team and maybe have like a franchise player for eight years. And I also think this isn't. I'm going to try to, I'm not a draft expert, but I listen to other people that are. This isn't like the Cooper flag or a role player draft. No, no, no, no, no.

You know what I mean? Like, there's Edgecombe, there's Harper, there's Bailey, there's guys. You know what I mean? There's Biggs. I love Queen. You know what I mean? Like there's Biggs, there's 3&D guys. There's ball handlers.

There's scores. There's mid-range guys. Like, there's players in this draft that can impact your team. And I think they're going to spend a lot of time focusing on. the fact that the Mavericks have the number one pick but the spurs have number one in what two like number one in 12 or something yeah look and we need to mention how bad we feel for jazz and wizards fans i mean there is nothing worse than going through a season like that where you just the this is the only thing you care about but like by only thing you care about tonight

And now it's like, well, that was so not worth it. The Sixers like shut it down like after New Year's like around the all star break. And they end up with number three. The jazz like, I don't know, it wasn't even like Thanksgiving yet. And they're like, yeah, we're punting on the season. Right. Oh, and if, and here's the other thing. You couldn't even get invested like I'll tell you this.

Memphis played them late in the year. They only won because Will Hardy like benched calling Sexton. and everybody else in the second half. Like they were going to lose. And then he was like, nope, not letting this. Like, Kyle Sexton didn't even play in the second half. And I was like, oh, God, if he would have played Colin Sexton, it had have been a loss.

And it's like, you have to go through a whole season of watching that. And then it's all for the greater good, right? It's for this one chance to be able to get the franchise altering thing. And when you don't get it, I'm telling you that was the point. to be telling that we ended up getting Mike Conley who ended up becoming a guy who's going to have his name in the rafters and he had a great career it wasn't Kevin Durant we didn't change your franchise because of who you and you knew and honestly what's crazy is sometimes

you know as they say God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers we want we were heartbroken because we didn't get Greg Oden yeah by any measure. or Mike Conley had an infinitely better career and met more than the franchise thing. I loved Greg Godin at that time. Of course. Just like I love James Wiseman for the Warriors. I loved James Wiseman for the Warriors. And maybe if he wasn't in Portland, maybe it's a different story and maybe he would have

altered a franchise and maybe he would have. Who knows? Who knows? But it is crazy the way this stuff plays out. And so I would just say maybe for those franchises, maybe not all hope is lost because you never know. You never know the way this stuff's got to play. play up. If you are Janice Tentacompo, no, no, you're his best friend, known for a long time.

He loves the Chris. The Nasis. No, he loves the Chris Vernon show. He's a big fan of yours. He loves listening to The Mismatch. He's upset the KOC left. He thinks Jacobi's kind of corny. And he's just like, he watches the Chris Vernon show every day at noon, Memphis time.

He's just obsessed with you. You guys have a text relationship for a long time. And he's like, Verno, where should I go? What do you tell him? come see me honest Memphis is great no no seriously you love the lemon pepper no no no that's not even on that's not even on table no it's not a table oh it's not where do you think the best place for him to go is um probably to win yeah i'd say probably Houston for the package it Houston or Oklahoma City if I'm taking

my fandom completely out of it like I'm saying you can put together but I think I can get assets I have more hope in like if I if you throw me Reed Shepherd and Alper and Shengoon and you throw I mean you could pull a lot of stuff from Houston right again if it all it we're imagining this all becomes a bidding war between people but I think I would say yeah I mean I think I would say probably those two I Oklahoma City. It's Oklahoma City for me. Okay, but again, are you coming off players two and three? Yes.

You would trade Jalen Williams and Ched Holmgren for the opportunity. One of those two and a bunch of picks. Okay, I just don't know if that's good enough, right? I think you're going to have to get some very high-level players in return and some picks, you know. I mean, Shea and Janus I like my duos to be complimentary. They're going to load up.

Well, look, I just watched. I thought I thought Lillardianas were going to be complimentary. Me too. Never took. Me too. It never took.

I'm still waiting for the first. It was like that off. It was like, yeah, we texted a couple times and tried to hang out, but it didn't work out. I was like, ooh,

that's a bad sign. Remember that report? Yeah. Remember that report? It was like, yeah, yeah, we texted. I was like,

oh, you texted? Okay. With the way the lottery, with the way the lottery shook out, I mean, this now just adds a total other crazy element to the future of the NBA. I mean, truly, it was a huge night in the NBA. Oh, my God. With Nico getting the number one pick and then the team to trade with Luca Dantitch being able to like get Cooper flag.

And then the number two pick going to the Spurs who already traded for Deer Fox, who already just had the the last two rookies of the year. The last two rookies of the year. Shit, I didn't think about that. Yeah, dude. And they're about to add another guy to that mix. And they've got, what is it?

24, 6, 8, 10, 12. They have 14 too. Yeah. And then third pick, whoever, you know, Philly is adding it to the mix. Because then you have this like Maxie McCain,

whoever the edge cone, or Bailey like then there's like that if you're fill you're like yeah maybe Embed and Paul George are kind of like the vets on the team but the real core is the younger guys the you have a two-timeline team again odd just all it's all crazy what do the Celtics do next year what do they look like next year if we have no idea if no idea not part of the team what do they look like yeah I mean are you you sticking with Drew Holiday and Porzing and Derek White and Al Horner.

I mean, no, I think it all looks different. I don't know. Is Jaylen Brown the centerpiece? Because now it's like, you know, he'll be the centerpiece of that team. Yes. I think the answer to that question is yes. But the holiday Horford. The infrastructure around.

It's interesting to think about. Because vets have like, you know, they've got floors on their salaries. You know, like you can't. They're not going to get. They're not going to take the vet minimum. It's been a huge night. And we're, I mean, we're headed for, for all intents of purposes, of Pacers-Nicks Eastern Conference Finals.

Okay, so let's just comment on the Pacers real quickly, and then we'll wrap up with Nuggets Thunder. So the Pacers are obviously in total command right now against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is very hard to imagine any kind of scenario where Cleveland is able to win three games in a row. Donovan Mitchell, yeah, the Donovan Mitchell injury is. And the first half of that game four was as devastating a half, I think, as I've ever seen offensively. Like, obviously Cleveland was not there for the fight.

But there's one thing to not be there for the fight and quite another for the team to just pummel you relentlessly all the way to where they had already scored 75 points in the half. and then Miles Turner pulls up from like a 35-footer, buries that. The place is a riot. The field house is a riot. And then they get another stop. Neesmith flies down the court and shoots like some fade away. Mid-range shot to make it 80.

And the crap, it was like, you thought people were going to start running on the court like his frigging Rucker Park or something. It was like, all right, let's just shut this down. Why are you? You can play a second half. Why?

Why? We've seen blowouts like that and then bounce back games afterwards. But with Mitchell down, and I don't know what the MRI results are. Like, it just doesn't feel like, it just doesn't, I think that this is, this is one of those series where you look back at and you're like, the cavaliers just weren't healthy. That's what it feels like. That's really what it is. I think that these teams were much more evenly matched than,

was given credit at the beginning. And let's just say, they had their guys yesterday, Jacoby. Those guys were there. Who? Who wasn't? No, I said they had all of them. Yeah.

And they got pummeled. Pummeled. They had their guys. I'm trying to think of a, I can't think of a half in the playoffs that was more dominant. I can't think of one. It's never happened. I mean, they absolutely maimed them.

It was great. Crazy. Crazy. Oh, he's top is out here like. I joke, I joked by buddies today. And this is going to be interesting. Obviously, we'll do a lot of analysis when we find out their opponent. But whether it's, we assume it's going to be the Knicks or whatever, I will say, you watch them and especially compared to me watching these Western Conference ones.

There's so many of these Western Conference games where even with the Warriors and the Wolves tonight or certainly, with the nuggets and the thunder. There's a lot of like walking possessions, as I would say. Light jog, now we're going to the other end. Your defense is set up. Now I'm running my play. Now you got the rebound.

And now we're going and we're all, we're going through the motions. We're going to go down to the other hand. Look at the coach. Coach gives a hand signal. Let's tell the guys where to go. Let's have an execution party. Right.

And so that's what they're doing. There is none of that with the Pacers. That shit comes off. the rim and it's sprint. It's like you can see it on the calves. Like you could see it on their face. Like the ball comes off the rim and Evan Moby's like, oh my God, I have to sprint again. Like it's all

just flying all the time. Like there's relentless pressure getting the ball up the court, up the court, up the court, up the court. And they come in waves and they're obviously in no telling. Like we're Carl, I was probably like the last guy that makes people run at practice. But they are trained for that. Oh, yeah. And it's like, man, you can't get into that kind of frigging foot race with them.

And there's not a lot of just like standing at the top of the key, putting the ball between your legs five times. And they are getting, or come here. Let me get the switch that I want. And then I'll put my ball between my legs three times. And then I'll take a pull up with four seconds left on the clock. That's not with the base. No. Never.

Never. Never. It's just they are just cruising all the time. And wild. One thing that's not that I want to say is I said it before the playoffs because I watched it last year against the Knicks. Halliburton is very up and down. And it's kind of because they're playing so well. Right.

And he had those big moments at the end of the games. You would think that he's like doing what Anthony Edwards is doing. He is not. Like he had 11 points in five assists. Now he only played 27 minutes or whatever. But like he's very up and down. And some days he has it and some days he doesn't. Was it game, was that game three?

He had four points, right? Right. Like that's one thing is I'm looking at the Pacers as a potential opponent for the Knicks. Just keep an eye on Halliburton. He has like on days and off days. Gotcha. He does. So I told you everything was flying up and down,

especially on the Pacers behalf. Game four of OKC and the Nuggets might have been the ugliest basketball game I've ever seen. 17 to 8 at the end of the first quarter for 28, 25 first quarter points. There were more turnovers than field goals. Think about that. There were more turnovers than field goals in the first quarter of the game. The teams were 18% combined, one for 25 from three. the nuggets a clean 0-14 from 3 in the first quarter and combined at the end of the game

the worst combined field goal percentage for two teams in the last 21 years 33.5% it was a disaster and I guess it was an overtime game. That's everybody says like oh they played overtime on Friday and the game was early on Sunday. Yeah, one-thirty game, yeah. All right, I watch a lot of basketball. I watch a lot of back-to-back games. It's not that bad.

That was great eight points in a quarter. It was disgusting. My God. It was a faster, but it was just like, it was honestly like, it seemed like everyone, like everyone's, someone put Xanax and everyone's, and everyone's gatorade before the game. Big credit to Oklahoma City. That's the exact kind of games where it's like,

hey, this is a nip-tuck game last five minutes. They came through. Nuggets made none of the plays that they had to. They made the plays they needed to. how much focus there's been on the other guys, right? And it feels like so many times, especially if these are going to be hard fought like this, you set aside the one game where Oklahoma City beat them by 1,000,

like these other games that have been hard fought. But it's like, bro, the ball is getting swung and either, like, Lou Dork missed all of them and Russell Westbrook missed all of them. And Michael Porter couldn't get anything to fall. And it's like, but Aaron Wiggins did and Kaysaw Wallace did and it's like are which of the other guys are going to be able to knock down the shot because these teams have now they've faced each other they know what they want the other one to do. This has not been some kind of this has been a struggle for Yokic. It has not been like the Shay show for Oklahoma City.

And so it's like these these teams are they're well scouted against each other. And it's like, there's going to be these ancillary guys are going to get open shots. And when they make them, then Russell Westbrook helps you win that game. And when he goes two for 10, he's shooting frigging air balls. It's like, if you think that that's what this stuff's going to come down to is like, do the Russell Westbrook's and the Lou Dorts of the world. But it's not always that way, Verno. Think about the game we saw tonight in New York.

That was Tatum and Brunson. trading shots. That's right. That was Tatum and Brunson being stars. We are, I'm the star of my team, you're the star of your team, we're in a close game, we're going to trade blows. But it's Shea and Yokic, they've both been very much marginalized.

I think Yokic, you look at 27 and 13, you're like, that's a great game. It was not a great game for Yokish. And I think to your point, it's because those guys are so responsible for their team's success. Right? Even more.

Yolkich is as well. No, no, no. Not so much shade, but Yokic is, Yokic is everything. No, no, I'm saying it's more balanced with the Knicks. I'm saying it's fair. It's more balanced. It's more balanced with the Knicks where it's like,

bro, if, like, if Brunson was out, the Knicks would be, it would be a very tough go. He was out, he was out for six weeks and it was OG and bridges.

Well, they still got a bunch of good players, right? They could, like, step up and do the stuff where it's like, you feel, like that those guys make those other guys on their team so much better, right, in a way that is, uh, that once you game plan to make their life hell. I mean, because these,

these, look, these turnover numbers and the assist numbers being low and the turnover numbers being high for Yokic. Yokic had three assists in the last game. It's not what you're expected. It's, seven or eight turnovers. One thing I found so fascinating watching him in the way they're defending him is they kind of figured out that you can't double Yokic because he'll read that and he knows what to do he's seen it before so they've got this like soft double they're like quadruple him but they're like fainting it it's like there's always someone within arms distance but it's not like it's not like they're not like blitzing him and getting the ball out of his hands they're just kind of like around him it seems like someone is just sort of like got in within arm's length of him

that's just kind of fainting a double but not really doubling. and not committing to it. It's a really interesting tactic that they've done because I've seen them, and I talked about this a few times in the pod when they like double Luca. They're like, go ahead. Someone else beat us. But with Yokic, it's more just like, I'm going to faint a double. I'm going to put my arm around you, but I still can get back to the guy if you pass out of it.

They're doing this halfway thing. And Hartinstein, to his credit, is holding up enough of it. It's like a one, it's not a double. It's like a 1.5. You know who does a great job on him, too, is the other Jalen Williams. Great job. I think I saw a stat today where it's like 17. Yokic has shot like 17% being guarded by him.

Game two, that blowout game. The other J.J. J. Will were calling him. The one who didn't make the stupid commercials where they wear the same clothes is he was really good on him in game two. Yeah. And look, now there's a game five that is going on before R. next show.

I think that's a must win for Oklahoma City. Disagree. Must win. They have to win that game. Have to. They have to. With six being in Denver, they have to win that.

So this is like the one series that you and I really don't see eye on. Yep. Because I'm looking at the two Nuggets wins are a Russell Westbrook kicking it to Aaron Gordon three. and we're just better than you in overtime. Game one, game three. Then the two Thunder wins, well, the game two win was a blowout. And I felt like, what was it, yesterday's win.

You didn't walk away from yesterday being impressed with literally anybody. Come on. That game was sucked. But down the stretch, the Thunder made the plays they needed to make. But they really didn't. Just they made the play, couldn't make a shot. they vomited on themselves again, but Denver couldn't make a shot. You saw it.

She was dribbling the ball like in circles. Like he's a Globetrotter. He was like, what are they? They're doing this again? Really? They're doing this again? Well, that overtime game Friday night. And then it's Russell Westbrook for three.

Oh my God. He killed a photographer. I kept waiting for Shea to make a play in that overtime game. That Friday night overtime game, I was like, here he is, MVP. Yeah. just didn't make the place at all. I think Denver, look, Denver could win. You don't want to play.

You want six at home. You need to have a lead going into that. I'm saying if you're Oklahoma City, you've got to take, you've got, look, to me, your chance is taking care of home court advantage. You've now, even this thing back up, two of the next three are at home. that's your advantage, right? Play that to your advantage. So that's why I say, you've got to win five.

This happened to them last year. Nothing about this series has shown me that one team can't win two. They lost five at home and then they went on the road and lost. Nothing about this series has shown me that one team can't win two in a row. I think game five, obviously the team that wins game five is going to be in a better spot. But like, I think that either one of these teams could win six and seven. I think Yokic is going to respond as well. like he didn't look good at all and i've said it for i've said it into this microphone multiple times

keep an eye on yokic's frustration with the refs with himself with his teammates it's something i've not seen from him before in this season he's expressing himself in a different way it's gonna be amazing though game five i am super looking forward to game five especially after we got such a colossal dud and four four was crap it was ridiculous it was mother's day. I was in Central Park watching it on my phone with my headphones, ignoring my family. I was like, this isn't even worth it. This is a nice day out. Like usually the team like, you know, this will be one that is treated with a very, very high level of urgency by both of those teams. They've both kind of been in weird spots, right, where Denver won the first one, so now two's not must win.

Denver won the third one, so now four is not must win. Now you get to five. Yes. I think it'll be. be like the the next game tonight where it was like both teams played well you can't say that about a game one two or three in this series the next game tonight was like this is playoff basketball we're hitting shots the teams we're executing we're trying our hardest we're so we're hustling we're arguing with the refs like we're we're giving our all yeah to this basketball contest and i haven't really seen that yet from either team this series both at once they should both be totally focused so that's tomorrow right Yeah, Wednesday.

Or no, Tuesday. Tuesday night, Tuesday night. Yes, then Thursday, game six will be right. We're going to record right after game six. Right after game six. And we might have, that might be a standalone game, depending on what happens in Pacer's Cavs. It would be Pacers Cavs game six as well.

If, listen. If there is a game six. But can't you see? the Celtics winning game five and just just I can see it happen are you telling me Tatum's not going to be there yeah he won't be there Celtics win game five without Tatum and then you just then it just kind of puts a little pressure on then it gets a little nervy a little nerve it puts a little pressure on all right last thing before we get out of here do you think Michael Jordan's really going to be in studio with NBC I'm skeptical or do you think that

that was an announcement to like say hey and he's going to be a special contributor, but we very unclear what that means. I would love the idea of Michael Jordan analyzing or telling me his thoughts about current basketball. I would love that. I think that there are people. And I got excited when I saw it. I'm excited to.

And this can go a couple ways. But there are people that are really good at playing basketball and there are people that are really good at talking about basketball and they're not always the same people. I mean, I watched the last dance. I'm for sure want to hear his opinion. on things if he's willing to say that. He is, because there is this sort of like reputation of like

curmudgeon old head that doesn't love the way things are handled with the new generation. And he is, he is the Michael Jordan of that. And if he unleashes that venom into a live microphone, I'm excited about it.

I think it's very, you know, and the other thing is, it's very interesting because, you know, the last dance got done. and then they kind of you know we all watch that during COVID of course now it's cafe away and then LeBron became the all time leading NBA score and all this kind of stuff like Michael Jordan doesn't need money that's the thing I was thinking like why doing it for the money I think it's irrelevant honestly I think Michael Jordan sits around and watches I think he watches a lot of NBA basketball and he watches you know the Charles Barclays and the shacks of the world and he

sits there and he's like fuck those guys fuck those guys guys honestly and he wants to be the best at that too and so somebody asked him like hey would you be interested in doing it he's like you know what yeah yeah i would i would be interested in doing it i've had and then they were like really he's like yeah i'll do it like nobody's ever asked to be like what what if hey what if what if we find out like michael george like being interviewed he's like, I would have done this a long time ago. No one's ever asked me to do it. You know, he obviously, he's done all the car racing stuff and he had the ownership of the

bobcats for some time. I'm curious. I'm excited about it. If they put him in a position to succeed, I don't think Tom Brady was put in a position to succeed. You know what I mean? They're like, you're going to do games. You're going to be the color guy of games.

You know what I mean? It's like, that's a different skill set. No, they're going to, they're going to put him. he's going to put it with a mod rashad like they did my whole childhood right he's going to be him and amad just cutting it up that's what i grew up on him and amad just cutting it up so i think about magic sometimes too where it's like he's i've been around him i've been lucky enough to like been around him in my person he is for sure for sure hurt his legacy because of media but one of the things i want to say about magic is like when you're around him he's got this like for like for

lack of a less trendy term. He's aura. Like he makes you feel so special. He makes you feel important. When he shakes your hand, he gives you eye contact, and he asks you about yourself. And he's just got this thing that he's like, he's honestly like a special, special person. When you're around him in the room with him, he is that guy. He lights up the room.

He is like, it's like a demi god. Honestly, he's magic. He's like a demigod. He's magic. But when you put him on like a TV studio. set and you ask him about the first half of the game, all of that just goes away. You know what I mean? And like sometimes it just doesn't translate for whatever reason.

And that's my concern about Michael Jordan. I just want to see him talking about basketball. Oh, you will. I hope it's not like taped pieces. No. I hope it's not like, like, like, I hope he sits there at the desk just like everybody else and chops up. He will never just sit there at the desk like every desk. Like everybody.

I think the one thing that people don't understand is those are long days. Like, never do that. If you're doing one of those inside the NBA days, like that's like a 10 hour work day. That's real work. Yeah. You know,

that's real work. It's not like, it's not just like showing up at six and going home at 10. It's like, you really, you really got to watch a game. You got to do stuff. Well,

we just had one of the most unbelievable nights. Maybe at NBA history. We made them back on, you know, Monday, May 12. as like a night that truly altered the course of NBA history. Dude,

but the Mavs will never be the same. The Bucks will never be the same. The Celtics will never be the same. I woke up this morning terrified about losing to the Celtics in the second round. And this evening, I was like, I wonder who the Knicks would be better off against in the finals. The wolves or the thunder.

You didn't expect that. either the 76ers got the third pick you could have got some serious odds on well again who knows what's going to happen with thunder nuggets but regardless you know wolves versus thunder or nuggets and pacers versus nicks no one would ever bet that a bazillion to one that it was this because you remember those years and we have to go soon but you remember those years where it was like it's going to be the calves and the warriors in the finals you know what i mean like it's like we knew before Halloween it was going to be cabs and warriors in the finals. Like we all just knew it,

and it all played itself out that way, and that's the way it was. It felt like the Eastern Conference finals were going to be the Celtics and the caps. And now it's whose ankles are sprained, whose Achilles are torn, whose shoulders are hurt. I mean,

when OG went out today, because he did that last year too. Remember when he tried to play Game 7 against the Pacers? He went out, I was like, well, there goes that. And then he's, and then after the game, he was like, oh, it felt weird.

I'm back. don't do that. Don't scare us like that. It felt weird. What? Oh, it's been a fun night for sure. And no congrats to the Mavs fans. I mean, look, I'm sorry you got your heart ripped out, but I mean, come on.

This is a miscarriage of, they have to trade the pick. Split eights. If you're going to split eights, you've got split eight again. Against a face, too. Against the face. Thank you to our producer. Tucker for filling in and Jacoby. I will talk to you later this week.

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