The Mismatch - Recapping the Awesome NBA Knockout Round: Pacers Upset Celtics, Pelicans Stop the Beam

Episode Date: December 5, 2023

Verno and KOC discuss Tyrese Haliburton's amazing performance as the Pacers defeat the Celtics to advance to the semifinals of the In-Season Tournament (01:31). KOC also explains why Kristaps Porzingis is an X-factor for any Celtics' title hopes. The guys discuss Ime Udoka’s ejection over the weekend against the Lakers, and Sam Amick’s interview with James Harden (24:40). After the Kings got outmatched by the Pelicans, the guys debate the Kings' need for size to truly compete for a title, and why Verno believes the Pels can cause trouble for either the Lakers or Suns in the next round (36:44). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out http://theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me she does every Monday night from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Blessarian, Kevin O'Blerner. But are the players going to care? Are they going to care? I'll tell you this.

This first game of the in-season tournament, knockout round between Indiana and Boston is what we just watched. So we were recording this portion of the podcast right when it's fresh, right after we watched it, we record the second part of the podcast after we watch Pelicans

and Kings. My God, that was better than we could have ever anticipated it being. A level of intensity that was there the entire game, a crowd,

that was obviously super amped up for this game and an extremely high level of play, officials letting them play through contact. I thought the announcers were good. Everything about Pacer Celtics was wildly enjoyable. And what a coming out party for Halliburton, who's hardly ever on national television. They said during the broadcast his first. First ever TNT game? That's crazy.

Why? It's this fourth season in the league. That's outrageous. How is that possible? But man. Yeah. Because you would think like even some of those teams, they try to get them on TNT,

like you're usually on there at least like once. Because, you know, they'll schedule your Lakers game, right? You'll get on because of the other team at least in some cases when you're not one of the premier teams. But this is a. team that we have talked about quite a bit as a very good story. Last year, when Halliburton went out, they had a great record, and then his injury just kind of wrecked their season. And now from day one, they have been the highest scoring team in the NBA. They've been a fun watch. And

now they are 11 and 8, and they are on their way to the semifinals is one of the final four teams that's going to play in this in-season tournament in Vegas. What were you left about thinking, or what were you left thinking about the most after that game? Just that finish. The final two minutes when the Pacers had the four-point play by Hallibur and this crazy shot, one of the multiple wild three-pointers that Hallibur hit. That was the four-point play. Then they had the buddy-heeled three.

And then the knee-smith play where he dunks the ball. The whole arena's going wild. The teammates all mob them on the court. Like, just that sequence is going to stick with me just because it really did. It was the big, it was multiple exclamation points at the end of, like you said, a very intense game. It was high-level competition throughout. And I thought that was a proper finish with, like, each play building up and making the crowd more and more hyped. But I thought for Halliburton, the zero assist, granted he almost had one at the end there.

It was deflected out of bounds by Drew Holliday instead of stolen. But 13 assists, zero turnovers, 10 rebounds. 10 rebounds, 26 points with the far majority of those coming in the second half. He said in his post-s game interview, like he said, my first half was terrible. I was huffing and puffing,

had a hit an inhaler at halftime. It wasn't a good first half for him. But, man, like that, that second half, I mean, he said his coming out party, like it really was. It was a game for- Yeah, a lot of people watching him probably for the first time,

national TV, and seeing this funky style of play with the way he shoots the ball, the funky form, and his ability to get to the basket and make his teammates better, man, I mean, on the pacer side of things, it's cool to see them do it. And also, even though they give up 112 in the game, like the Celtics did score,

I did feel like they did elevate their intensity on defense as well. They just don't have any help defense. They don't have any interior defense, but their perimeter defensive intensity to pick up to help them build that lead in the second half. defense and rebounding. Yes. Because they got absolutely smoked on the board in the first half of that game.

It was a 55 to 48 game at halftime, and they were getting out rebound at 33 to 19. How many like three chance possessions that the Celtics have it felt like, right? Well, in the first half, it was, I jotted this down, it was 52 shots to 45 shots. So, I mean, that just can't be the case if you are the team, if you're the underdog team. The underdog team has got to hustle. They got to rebound and they got to keep their turnovers low. And those are all the things they did in the second half of that game. They rebounded like hell.

They're almost even on the rebounds. They got more shots in the second half than did the Celtics. and they came out after halftime, and their turnovers, anemically low. They had six turnovers, Kevin, for the entire game. So when you're able to treasure the ball like that, and you're able to do all the hustle stuff, you give yourself a chance,

and they came out in that third quarter, and look, this is one of the things I talked about that was a concern. Now, you can write it off, and you can say, well, this isn't that big of a deal. it's the end season tournament. They don't have Porzingis. If they have Porzengis, they would have beat him, whatever.

But these are the guys, like, you are going to be facing an awesome coach in many cases in the Eastern Conference, right? You are going to have to go up against Eric Spolstray. You're going to go up against Rick Carly. You're going to go up to a lot of guys that have coached a lot of games and have made a lot of adjustments. And they came out in the third quarter and they ran the Celtics out. They won that quarter, 37 to 23 and got that pace completely up. It was like they went halftime and they fixed things, right?

And they came out and they won that by 14. But what's most impressive to me is they were up, about eight minutes left to go, they got up seven points. And the Celtics just erased that. You know, Tatum hits a couple of shots, White hits a shot. And now, like, okay, here's that defense, and now there's six minutes to go, and it's kind of like a tie game. And for Halliburton to step up and that Pacers team to step up and win that game against guys that have been there 100,000 times with the stakes being, you know, higher than they've ever been for what would be a game play during the regular season, I thought was mega impressive. I really did.

It absolutely was. And you mentioned it in passing there, but you could say the Celtics center have Porzingis. That is a pretty big factor. What have I been saying to you ever since they got him? The Celtics, he is their X factor. They are a championship team with Porzingis. They aren't without him. And I do think we saw that tonight with Indiana constantly exploiting that Boston's lack of room protection without Porzingis,

getting to the rim, driving kick, creating fairly open or wide open three-point shooting. opportunities. Having Porzingis also would help Boston's half-court offense, too. There are so many plays, especially with the bench units, where Boston, like, generated no ability to create an open shot. Like, it was one play in the second half where Peyton Pritcher dribbled the ball up the floor, picked his dribble up, handed off to Drew Holiday, who took a really dumb three-pointer with 15 seconds on the shot clock, heavily contested, instead of moving the ball. There was no movement off ball. With Porzingis, he's a a guy you could throw the ball to on the post and let him make a play. You can have him pick and pop.

You can have him roll to the rim. He just adds another weapon to Boston's offense. And, you know, as I said defensively, he's critical for them. I felt with Indiana, they came with a game plan and attacking that. And Boston, without him, they're just not a championship team. They're just straight up not. Well, and they really, Hauser was great for them off the bench. That's it. I mean, they got nothing out of anybody else. Cornyn had the offensive boards. He created some second chances.

But other than that, Pritchard had a really, really bad game. Banton, solid player, but I mean... A lot of cardio. A lot of cardio. 11 minutes of cardio for Delano Blanton. I just, I don't understand Missoula not tightening the rotation. He did. I mean, kind of.

He only played, he only played, look, you got to play somebody, somebody. Yeah, but that, but that, but. But only Cornett played over 20. Yeah, but even Carlisle. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Hauser played over 20. He didn't. He didn't play Nemhard more than five minutes. T.J. McConnell didn't get over 10.

I mean, there was a really, really tight rotation where he had six guys over or five guys over 30 minutes, seven guys over 25 minutes. Like, that was an even tighter rotation than Boston, where Hallibur and cracked 40 minutes. Nobody cracked 40 minutes for Boston. I'm not saying that would have made the difference in the game for the Celtics, but I'm a little surprised to see like Banton in the game. Well, that's probably a veteran coach, right? He'd see today, he plays McConnell for nine minutes.

He's like, all right, you ain't doing shit. You don't play no more. Namard, you ain't doing nothing. Get on out of here. Well, look, and they wanted to win this thing. Like, that's what I'll say. Like, you saw we wondered how these coaches would treat this. This is like what you would do for a playoff rotation.

This is not a, you know, a month. Monday night regular season game rotation. This is, we're trying to win this game. And so if that means it, we got to play Halliburton 40 minutes. We're playing a 40 minutes tonight. And I was, I was pretty impressed, man. I was pretty impressed with Indiana. And most importantly, just that crowd, the crowd is great.

Like you wanted that to feel bigger. It felt bigger. Way bigger. It did. It did. even if it's all manufactured it felt they manufactured what they needed to

which was this this actually felt bigger and it also had the moments the Halliburton four point play announcer going crazy crowd going insane that felt like a playoff environment and when he made that shot and as you said the sequence where

they get the run out and Nemhard gets the dunk that was like Neesmith oh yeah knees and then he he he had the three before that too. That reminded me, like, for some reason, it took me back to,

I went to a Red Sox game with my dad, like an 08, something like that. Red Sox had four home runs in a row. And, like, each home run, the Fenway Park crowd got more and more intense, louder and louder. That's what it was like with those three plays in the final two minutes for the Pacers where it's like one crazy play after another. And it's just this explosion with the Neesmith dunk. I don't know.

Like, it would have been one of those. those games that, like I mentioned, that Red Sox game, that is just with you forever. If you're a Pacers fan in the crowd for that moment, that's something that you're always going to have with you as a fan of the Indiana Pacers as a fan of the NBA for as long as you live. It was a special special. I was laughing. I just couldn't help but laugh. It was just so cool to watch.

The other thing, and I think we understand why Indiana, you know, has been such a good scoring team is, is there any level of concern? I've heard so much about how, you know, these. are the two best defensive guards, you know, you, you couldn't, you couldn't have Gary, Gary Payton and Dennis Johnson back there. And it's like, man, they got cooked a lot. Man, offense always wins, right, Chris? It really does. It does. Those guys, like, did you feel like everybody's, you know, stopping point of attack? Nobody's able to get a shot off or anything? It's like, come on, man. I know. Like, those guys, Drew Hollis.

was not impressive in the least. No, he looked like books Eric Bledso, you know, as he often does in the postseason on offense. And defensively, he just didn't make up for it. No, didn't make up for it. And so, and it's crazy because he saw those reports come out earlier today. It's like, poor Zingis might be ready for Thursday. It doesn't matter.

It doesn't, no. Be ready for Friday versus the Knicks or whoever you're going to be playing. This is the concern. for Boston though. I mean, I feel like I've been consistent in saying this. They are not a championship team without Christophe's sports. He is their X factor. He's the guy that can put them over the top. You also like their bench, though, and their bench stinks. I think their bench has some solid players. Like Sam Houser is a solid player. Not when you have to have it. I think someone like Brissette is a solid player. He just didn't get in there tonight. I think Lamar Stevens is a solid deep bench

player as a solid hustling defender and an improving shooter. I'd like to see him get a chance this year for the Celtics. I think they have some options, but I've consistently said, if they do need to improve the bench, they have the picks to do it. So that's why I'm less concerned about the Celtics bench, because I think their roster is an incomplete that they will make moves if necessary. But at the same time, I'd like Missoula to do some experimentation with some of those guys off the bench. You know, I think tonight would have been a good opportunity for that. Like we've barely seen Kada this year for them. My Hiluk has barely played for Boston.

I'm not saying these are the answers, but they have options to play around with and see what mix works the best. But ultimately, though, it comes down to Porzingus. It comes down to Porzingis, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. And like those three guys, Porzinger needs to be healthy.

Tatum needs to take a step up in the postseason. Jalen Brown needs to limit turnovers. and that's going to be the key for them moving forward. Tatum was solid tonight. He's been up and down recently, but tonight he was solid. He ended up 13 of 26. It's not like he had a super inefficient night.

But if you're not going to have it from Porzingis, you need to have even more from Tatum and Brown than you were able to get tonight as much as you got from them. Well, it's going to be super interesting to see because now the Pacers move on from this. And neither of the two teams that they would be playing against, in the next round are particularly ideal for half court basketball. So they are going to have to try to get out and run a bunch again because the last thing

they want to do is be facing the size is what can get them. And Boston, while they played big in the first half, they didn't have big guys. Like Tatum had like 10 rebounds in the first half. But I mean, both that Knicks team can be big and that Bucks team can be big. And those are going to be the trouble spot for Indiana. And that will be one of those, you know, can they run and gun and get that thing moving up and down and grab enough rebounds, OB Top and Revenge game if it's the Bucks or, you know, and what do they do against somebody like Janus, if that's who they got a face?

I mean, I know nobody has some kind of great answer for it. But I'm fascinated because it's certainly going to be a contrast, no matter what. which one they draw because those two teams will try to expose the fact that they're not a big team and try to get them into half-core basketball and make them uncomfortable. But they were certainly, they were able to get Boston out and moving in that second half. For sure. I mean, it's going to have to be the same formula for Indiana, regardless of the opponent. If it's the Bucks, they have a bottom five isolation defense.

They have not been great defending pick and rolls against guys like Tyree Saliborne who can shoot off the dribble. and penetrate and create open shots for teammates. But Nix are going to, I mean, maybe the Nix are going to be the team to exploit that. Nix have lost six games in a row against the Bucks, but it's a little bit different this time because that Bucks perimeter defense is not quite the same anymore with Drew Holiday gone and their defensive scheme completely different. So can Jalen Brunson, can Emanuel quickly exploit that Bucs perimeter defense

and lead the Nix to the win? Because that feels like a much more winnable matchup for Indiana than against Milwaukee on paper. But then again, like Indiana's offense when they're going, like there's really nothing you can do about that Indiana Pacer's offense. Like it doesn't matter if you're in half court or not. I will say this. There's part of me that would love to see Pacers Knicks. Invite Reggie Miller, invite Spike Lee.

Hell, invite Charles Oakley. He can't go to Madison Square Garden. Invite everybody. And then like maybe have, then have something go on in the game. like maybe you're right like get a little tussle in that game and we could all relive that night you know that old Pacer's nick stuff there is part of me that would like to see Pacer's Knicks just because those are such great memories from yesteryear i'd love that that would be cool it would be cool right yeah because we're not getting Celtic bucks anyway no right so i mean like that would be cool to rekindle that that makes that was my that was my prediction pacer's nix so well we're not that was my prediction pacer's nix so We'll see.

You know, it would be fascinating, too, is if on the other side, if the Lakers were able to beat the Sons, and then we get to relive the Kings getting robbed against the Lakers and not getting any calls and having their championship year stripped away. So, like, we could rekindle some old rivalries, possibly if the Kings were to move on and the Lakers were to move on and then you had the Nicks and the Pacers moving on. Who do you think wins that Suns Lakers game on Tuesday? I'm going to be going to that. Oh, you're going to it. Yeah, I'm going to that, yeah. Yeah, I decided to leave Wednesday morning for Vegas, so I'm going to go to Sonslakers on Tuesday night.

I mean, I know they got Vanderbilt back, but I just, I just watched the Sons play Memphis the other night on Saturday night, and I just think the Booker Durant thing is probably too much. Now, and again, they might be able to bully ball them, though, because they're not big either. They don't have, that is the weakness. Like, AD could, he, he needs to be the best guy on the court. And that includes against Booker and against Drain.

Like, he needs to be the best guy and be that dominant rim protection on one end. And then just abuse them on the other end. Because you can. I watch Jared Jackson have 37. in the game, Kevin. There's nobody on the team to guard a guy like that. There's no, they don't have, they don't have, they didn't, if they ain't, and if you ain't got a match up for Jared Jackson Jr., you ain't got a match up for Anthony Davis.

So it's just a matter of taking advantage of it. Because they'll throw, you know, Kada Bates job, they'll throw NERC, they'll throw, you know, they'll throw different guys at you. But they don't have anybody for one of those freco, long, big guys. and so that can be their weakness. And so that's what I would say. If Davis is amazing, I'll tell you the Lakers could win the game.

I think that's a safe bet. I think he has to be amazed. That's a safe bet if 80's amazing, for sure. But ultimately, that son's lineup, Booker, Durant, Gordon, Allen, Nurkage, ever since Booker's come back has been one of the best lineups in all the basketball. Oh, yeah.

They've been absolutely unstoppable. of the top 50 most utilized lineups this season. They're number two in net rating with a 135.5 offensive rating, a 109.4 defensive rating right behind that Celtics starting five with Porzinger's being active.

They've been absolutely unbelievable. So I think with Booker being back, they've been amazing with him. Nerkich has been better lately after a slow start to the season, protecting the rim, finishing at the basket. He's been better. He's been

more consistent. I assume he's going to get up and intensity-wise for this game and really try to compete against Anthony Davis, as he did during their matchups during the season. They lost both to the Lakers,

but they didn't have Devin Booker for either of them. I think the Lakers, you know, Sons will have a really competitive game. I think it'll be a close game, but I'd lean towards Sons and this one going to Vegas. And plus, it's the thing you've talked about

ever since their offseason, their entire roster besides the stars. They're on lead 500,000. Yeah. their panning on the sideline. That's the most money they're going to make this year in many cases. Right? Maybe I can play craps with Bull Bull.

That's what I want to do if they make it. He's not getting minutes right now. No, I know. That's why I said maybe I can play craps with him. He's got the time. He's got the time. Yeah. And so I do, I do,

think look as we are recording this part uh i've got the game out of the background we've got the kings are already up 14 their crowd is lit right now and malik monk is catching alley-oops on the break and i mean they got 29 points with four and a half minutes left in the first quarter that's tough so looking uh a very good start for the kings obviously we'll be talking about that game uh a little bit later cash in on bawling out descent NBA season with a fan duel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 money line bet. That's $150 if your team wins. So on Tuesday night in the NBA in season tournament, I'm picking the Suns and the Knicks on the road.

I like the Money Line bets there currently listed at plus 106 for the Suns, plus 168 for the Knicks. You're picking against the favorite. You're picking against the home team. The odds are not in your favor, but I like the way those teams match up. So if you've been thinking about joining Fandul, there's no better time to join. The app is easy to use and there's a wide range of ways to bet aside from the games happening on Tuesday night with quick bets. Live same game parlays, the parlay hub, futures with awards like MVP or the finals. There's a ton of different ways to go about it. So visit Fandul.com slash mismatch and turn dimes into dollars this season.

Fandul, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame money line wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is non-addrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com. A couple things that we do want to mention, though, things that happened this week.

Shame that Houston isn't in this thing because I would have loved to have seen high stakes between Emay Udoka and LeBron James. How awesome was that? I feel like we're getting some heat going on with different teams matchups. Like we have to have some crap happen now. Even at the beginning of the year,

you know, we had that the huge Gobert-Dremont thing at the beginning of the year. We've had guys arguing with each other. We've had guys talking wild to each other. and then now we have coach and player thrown out of a game. Yeah. That was crazy.

And, of course, I saw right before we came on, I saw scrolling through Instagram, and somebody's like, now we know why Udoka got mad at LeBron. He cooked his ass in 07. It was like all these highlights from LeBron playing against Emeu Doca. I'm like, come on. They were, but I love that. I would love to see those teams matching up. I mean, in between Dylan Brooks and Ime Udoka, LeBron is, he's got his hands full with being irritated with them, huh?

Mm-hmm. It's kind of a good thing, though, that we aren't seeing Houston, though, because they've fallen off after their last star. They've lost six out of eight. They're only wins against Memphis and Denver, two juggernauts in the Western Conference. How dare you? I don't think they've won a game on the road yet, have they? No, they're winless on the road. okay so maybe we would

this would be neutral in fairness yeah for sure you know but yeah that thing was hilarious I can't believe like you saw the I'm sure you saw on social media the audio

of the back and forth conversation he's calling him bitches yeah and LeBron's like don't use that word come on what are you doing

LeBron don't use that word come on he always gets upset too that be you know chill out he's at that

stage man he's at that stage don't disrespect me he's it he's it don't disrespect me stage yeah you know i mean clay thompson hit that a couple years ago with the four we ever flashed i got four i got four rings and all that stuff you know rubbing his balls on uh dillow brook's head on christmas day all that crap silly yeah they're kind of in that they're kind of in that mode right now um did you read sam amics interview with uh james hardin Yeah, I did. And Hardin talked more about money than he did about winning or anything else with all of his answers, unprovoked. It felt like, didn't it?

Yeah, I want to give credit to Sam because that was great to get that many quotes out of James Hardin. Like, at one point in the interview, he says, you know, nobody knows you, right? And he's like, yeah, nobody knows me. Yeah. Right? and they can believe whatever they want to believe. It's clear why Hardin doesn't do many interviews, though. Oh, because he speaks, because he just says whatever he wants to,

and rarely does it come off, humble, gracious, whatever you want to call it, you know, to mean, it's usually about himself, right, which we would imagine. But here's, look, it's either he neither here. He says, Darryl told him he gave him a max contract, and I believe. him. That's the end of that. I believe him. I believe that he thought he was getting a max contract. And that's why

you opt out of the 40. You don't opt out of 47 million and bury your other team in Brooklyn unless you think that that's on the other end. And he made it pretty clear in the interview. There was like a huge falling out and that

he I, I, you know, I'm never been a hardened defender. Not exactly my favorite player. I believe him when he says that. I do. I believe him when he says that he was told he's getting a max contract. Now, that opens up a whole other can of worms because they already did an investigation on this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, that's what I mean. They already investigated and there was nothing found there. Like all the text messages, computers, unless it was like offline said face to face. Well, that's how anybody that's as smart as them would do it. Of course. of course. And also, he says they talk to my representation as well. But my understanding was the way those conversations went down.

And again, like there's tons of mixed stuff out there. There's, you hear the stuff about how he was promised and you also hear what I'm about to say, which is I was told that it was more like, you know, hey, if we win, if we go to the championship, if we win in all, if we make a deep run, everybody's going to get taken care of. that it wasn't as much as like a yes we are going to give you a max contract James Harden if you take a discount so we can sign Daniel House and PJ Tucker your two friends and overpay for them it was less that and more yeah obviously you're going to get your money if we to make a deep run no shit like that that's the way I think it

was framed and maybe maybe things were were misunderstood maybe it was outright said I have no idea but all I know is that with Harden he didn't hold him hold up his side of things with his production. Well, this is what he said. He said, I, I, I, I, I wanted to retire in Philly. And basically I, the reason I did what I did in Brooklyn is because of the assurance I thought I had in Houston, or in, in Philadelphia. Yeah.

Right. And he talked about the relationship that those two had and, you know, the level of trust that he had and whatever else. I just, I just don't, I just don't see, like, you've always been. been like the hardened skeptic, are you really going to trust the guy who's burned bridges with every team he's left? Is he really the most trustworthy person

when it comes to, oh, here's what I was told? I don't know. I'm the hard and guy saying that, but is he really the most trustworthy witness? I don't think so. At all. I mean, if you got to take a step back and you go,

all right, why did he make the decisions that he made financially? I mean, he wanted to get PJ Tucker and Daniel House as teammates on on the Philadelphia 76ers. So he took a discount like tons of other players have done in the past from Tim Duncan to Tom Brady

like different sports. They've like stars of different styles and personalities of taking discounts to get there. Okay. Then how do you square this way? All right. Then how do you square this way? Let's say you believe that.

I don't believe that you believe that. I don't believe that. What? What? They wanted to be teammates with his friend, PJ Tucker? No, that was the,

that this noble, I'm taking a pay cut, therefore we can have this good team and I can be with my friends and whatever else. I believe that he thought he'd be rewarded on the other end of it. So we, of course, they did. But what I don't know is whether he was promised or told that he will be getting a max contract. So which is? Is he selfish or selfless? Which is it? I don't think it's either. It's just that he did that strictly so he could get those guys as teammates.

I don't think it's anything but that. I don't think it's selfish or selfless. I think it's just an act to improve your chances of winning. How about when he says, look, they didn't want to give me the max. Well, okay. Well, at that point, why would they give you the max? Okay, no, no, no. He says, you don't want to give me the max?

Okay, then at that point, all right, well, what can you give me? He said, instead there were zero conversations. Yeah, that's true. That is true. out, I was iced out completely. So what is true? I just didn't get the max. They didn't offer me anything.

That's been reported. I've heard that as well that during the postseason Hardin's team approached the Sixers front office about wanting to negotiate, but the Sixers were like playing strict by the rules and like, nope, we're not going to discuss until the off season. We're not going to jump ahead on anything. Whether that's true or not, I do not know. It's hard to know when there's so much stuff out there. but I'm just saying there's two sides to every story

for the reasons why those things were being done. There's probably four or five different sides to this here. But the bottom line is, though, he didn't have leverage. Sometimes you might think you're going to get something and then you lose your leverage. He underwhelmed in the postseason. The market was not there for him in the offseason.

Not even the rockets wanted him. So, like, if you're in that position after the year you had with your diminishing skills, you're not going to get a max contract. Well, he acknowledged that. He acknowledged, like, you know, where he is in the landscape and what teams, who had the money and who went. I will say, reading that interview, I was dead right about why he opted into that contract. And I believe that wholeheartedly.

He says, I was told it would happen within 10 days. That's why I opted in. Then they drug it out four and a half months and made me look like a jerk face. But I totally believe that he opted in because he knew he was going. getting traded. I actually believe this guy. Tough business, huh? When he's saying this stuff, though.

Because that doesn't, otherwise it doesn't make any sense to opt in. All due respect, like his agent, this during the off season was also saying he's going to win MVP this year. Maybe, maybe like there's bad choices. Maybe there's bad choices happening within his circle as well. So I think that. A fair counterpoint. That could be part of it. fair counterpoint.

That is, they all might be goofy. I agree. But I also think, you know, Mori made a deal with the devil 100 years ago with this guy. Like his whole career has been attached to him. Now they've kind of moved on or whatever. I saw, I forget who said it, but I saw someone did an article or something the other day about how Darrell Morrie's won every James Harden trade.

He won the trade with OKC. He won the trade. sending him to Brooklyn. He won all the trades. Who's all? Getting him from Brooklyn, he wanted trading him to the Cliffers. He's won them all.

Oh, my God. Look, and my favorite quote from the whole story had nothing to do. It was nothing from James Harden. It was an off-hand quote. Did you see this? The PJ Tucker quote, that there aren't enough basketballs on the planet.

for this team. That's so good. There's not enough basketballs on the planet for this team. Unbelievable. All right. So we are obviously going to be talking a lot about this second game. We've had it on in the background. Trey Murphy,

the third is about to go to the free throw line. And, oh, my God, Herb Jones just tapped it in at the buzzer. It's now 36, 35. So they came storming back. Did the New Orleans Pelicans. Herb Jones with the tap-in. Off the missed free throw.

Holy mackerel. So they went on the run of all runs here in the second part of the first quarter. All right, we will break down what we saw from the rest of this Pelicans and Kings game. Boy, they've got some guys back now. Alvarado's back in the mix. Murphy's back in the mix. McCollum. Yep.

They've gotten their guys back just in time for this thing, have the New Orleans Pelicans. So we'll watch the rest of this Pelicans game and we'll record. the second half of the podcast after we watch that. All right, now we're back for the second part of the podcast. And Kevin, we just witnessed the New Orleans Pelicans heading to Las Vegas to play against the winner of what will be played on Tuesday night, the Lakers and the Suns. 127 to 117. The Pelicans went into Sacramento and won the game by double-top.

digits. I'll let's you give your thoughts first. Well, the Pelicans are looking like a team that is continuing on the same exact positive trajectory that we saw prior to the return of some of their injured guys. Trey Murphy, C.J. McCollum. They didn't even have Jordan Hawkins in the rotation tonight after we raved about him on last week's show, barely played Dyson Daniels, who replaced C.J. McCollum in the starting lineup and has been sensational as part of that two-man tandem with Herm Jones. But instead, tonight, we see a bunch of different guys step up. Trey Murphy, banging threes, C.J. McCallin, McCollum distributing the ball, hitting timely shots.

But most of all, how easy it is to forget that once upon a time, Brennan Ingram averaged 27 points per game in a first round series for the Pelicans. But then you see him at big games like tonight, where there's nothing a defense can do against him with him hitting tough, contested shots. I felt like it was just one of those games. Did you see the three he hit, like, in the third quarter where it, like, bounced off the rim and, like, went, like, 30 feet in the air and fell in. It was just one of those threes where it's like, this is one of those games where Ingram just has the touch. 30 points for him on 10 of 20.

It didn't seem to matter who the Kings threw at him. He was able to score. But most of all, though, I felt like the Pelicans defense, again, like, they gave up 117. but you hold De Aaron Fox to 10 of 25, one of his least efficient scoring performances of what has been a stellar season for him, throwing like Jose Alvarado, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones,

McCollum had competitive possessions against De Aaron Fox. I thought the Pelicans collectively did a good job of slowing down Fox, and that was one of the reasons why they were able to get the win tonight. I thought this game was the living embodiment of the, too little taunt. The whole game, and this is now three times, and this is before the Pelicans had their guys back.

Sometimes there are teams that are uniquely horrendous matchups for the other team. While they might be two good teams, and I'm sure the Pelicans have their horrendous matchups, but this particular Kings Pelicans matchup, we've now seen it three times this year. And each time the pelicans were victorious. And you watch this game and across the board, they're small. You might remember at the end of this game.

There was some, I can't even remember who it was. Maybe it was Ingram went in and shot a layup and rattled off the rim, whatever. But then Ingram and Valentinus are standing there getting the rebound. And like, there's a bonus. that's right there. But, like, Sabonis is the only big guy they have. They have no size, right? They haven't had Alex Lenn this year,

who I know they used some in the playoffs last year. But, I mean, they have no size that they play or that they can play. Like, Javelle McGee is just a bench, you know, filler. He's not a guy for a playoff basketball or in-season basketball. Even their guys that they bring off the bench that, you know, like Trey Liles. Trey Liles isn't big. He's a small ball five. They have nobody big on their team.

And honestly, this would have been way worse if Valentinus hadn't gotten the fourth foul when he did. I really believe that. And the other thing is it might have been, so it would have been, I think it would have been worse for the Kings if Valentinus didn't get hurt. I also think it could have been better for the Kings if Willi's. Green didn't make some hard decisions. He rolled with Alvarado. He rolled with Mer, like they were better with Alvarado and Murphy on the team.

Like, it just balances things out. Zion wasn't good. Yeah, it wasn't good. He had like two spurts in the third quarter. Strange game for Zion. Only 28 minutes tonight.

I wonder if Willie Green will be asked after the game. I'm sure he will. Is there anything up with Zion? Is he healthy? I'm sure he'll get asked that by some Pelicans, you members after the game, and they'll probably give a vague answer about it, but Zion didn't seem right at all in the game. No, one bit.

But doesn't that speak to the depth of this roster for the Pelicans, the fact that they could get 10 points on eight shots, six assists, four turnovers, six rebounds from Zion in 28 minutes, and yet it didn't feel like they were missing him at all? I mean, they had so many other strong performances across the board. Especially when theoretically, his matchup was all. unbelievable. I mean, he's going up against like Harrison Barnes on possessions. Like they don't, they're so little that King's team. And even and you know what? It really does hurt them. When you see them and again, we're not trying to make too much of these games,

but we see that they're trying to do playoff rotations. You could tell that these games mattered to these four teams that we watched tonight. And so it was a playoff preview of sort, how you would run it out if you had to play a playoff game today. Seven guys played over 15 minutes for the Kings and then like minutes were scattered for the other three. And I and look, I know he's sick, overcoming illness, whatever. Davion Mitchell, but he's been horrendous this year for them and, and he obviously did not play tonight,

but he's been bad anyway. The guy's shooting like less than 30 something percent from the field. He can't make a three to save his life. And like, guess what? He's little anyway. Like, that's the other guy that I'm like, like, where are the, he played the, he was in their top seven last year, you know, in terms of minutes on their team. And they are a team that like, look, if you want to run up and down the court, if you're small, then no problems. But when you have size like the pelicans had, I mean, they just look small across the board.

and I was I was mega impressed with the pelicans in terms of not only their incredible depth. Herb was amazing. Both offense and defense was great all night. Hit his threes, the playmaking from the middle of the floor, the block he had on Monk after stopping Sabonis on the drive of the rim and one play. Dude's amazing. And how about Murphy jumping right back into the mix, playing a couple of games and being awesome.

Oh my God. Trey Murphy is so good, dude. Immediately fantastic as a kickout guy. And so they've got guys that can ISO you. They've got guys that they could kick it out to and can knock down a shot. And they look big. When you watch them and especially when you see them against a team like this, the Kings, just across the board, the size.

And I was impressed by Willie Green. He was willing to balance that thing out. That is not easy in the stretch run to have McCollum sitting over on your bench and Zion sitting over on your bench. And yet, and I know that sometimes it can be blown out of proportion, you know, the plus minus numbers. But you just look tonight and that number tells you what your eyes did. Murphy was a plus 24. Alvarado was a plus 19. Like, anytime that game even started to, it looked like the Kings got some momentum,

those guys flipped it. And they flipped it twice because they flipped it in the first half and then they flipped it again in the second half when they were running off. And it's kind of like you got those dirty work guys. You got guys that are rotating and playing hard defense. I was, I was super impressed. And they are going to be a bitch for either one of those teams because they're too big for that Phoenix team. I talked to you about this when I said that, you know, when we were talking about earlier, where it's like Davis has to just destroy Phoenix.

And honestly, like the Lakers, they ain't got enough to me. Like, I don't think they got LeBron and AD and then everything else is kind of a crapshoot nightly. And I think that their size would really be a problem for Phoenix. And so I think this Pelican's team going into Las Vegas is, I think they're going to be a real problem for either one of those two teams that they might face. I think so as well, especially if Zion can get going. I mean, you don't win the whole tournament unless you get a big game from Zion. Like, you got to get him going at some point. But would that say?

I don't know if you do, though. You know, it's almost like having Ingramman. as the focal point and him being the guy that's the 20 shots. Like, I don't know if it needs to be distributed. There's Zion and there's Ingram and then there's everybody else. I kind of liked the balance. Like, yeah, Ingram's the guy. He's the scorer.

And then everybody else eats. I don't know if they have. The one thing I'll say there is like Zion did facilitate tonight. They used him in post-ups where sometimes he'd draw to or draw, or draw at least the attention of a second defender shading towards him, it'd kick it out, and it would lead to an open player, whether it was Trey Murphy or whoever else.

There was, I believe it was a, I didn't believe it was a Trey Murphy's 3, where Zion was like in the baseline. I might be misremembering. He's baseline post up, and he drew two and hit Herb Jones in the middle of the floor, who kicked it out to Ingram.

So Zion get a hockey assist out of it. So I think he made a difference in some ways, but, you know, at some point I think they're going to be scoring from him. I like the Murphy's spacing, too. Dude, Tray Murphy is so freaking good, man. I mean, Herb obviously made some threes tonight. Herb was great. It's not usually his game. But when you've got Valchunis and you've got Ingram and you've got Zion, that's a lot of two-point shots out there. You know what I mean?

And I like the spacing when you've got the others. But it is variety, though, in the ways you get those shots. Like Valen Chunus is such an interior guy, except for when he's shooting threes. But like, for this team is primarily an interior guy. Zion attacks from the perimeter. Ingram is like Mr. pull up too. So it's like, it's like different styles of two point creators. Like that's the thing with this Pelicans team. Like you look up and down their roster, like there's not a lot of overlap. There's a lot of different types of players, right? Like across the roster, like there's nobody like Jose Alvarado. There's nobody like Trey Murphy except for Jordan Hawkins, who's like a far smaller version and they're different types of guys with the way they're utilized. Naji Marshall is unlike

Trey Murphy as one of their wings and he's very much like on Herb Jones, who's a Swiss Army knife. They just are all completely different types of players and they can, I think with Willie Green, the lineup that they use without CJ, that Valanchunis, Ingram, Zion, Herb, Dyson, Daniels, five-man lineup. We saw like multiple versions of that tonight. We're like, ooh, I like this combination of players, they fit together really nicely. And one of them was like with Alvarado out there because of the pesky defense that he

provides. And then the three-point shooting, he's improved as a shooter, it seems. So I think with Willie Green, as a head coach, he must be having a lot of fun figuring out, hey, which pieces am I going to put together for what my team's needs are in this particular game? And that's where their advantage could be, regardless

of their opponent coming up. Because for egos, I understand that you're probably not moving anybody. But I'm telling you the lineups that are not their starting lineup are the ones I like more. I just like the balance of it. I know what you, man. It's, again, it's stars and role players. And a lot of those guys in that, you know what I mean?

Like, there's one role player in that starting lineup. But when they get the other guys and especially the spacing that like Murphy can provide. And again, as you mentioned, Hawkins didn't even play in the game. Yeah. It's another guy that can get you. He's been good. It's another guy that could give you spacing. And again, they're just, they're way too big for Sacramento.

They are. Just across the board that, you know, the fact that their defenders are so big that you could have her chasing around Deering Fox. Oh, yeah. And the other thing is you can get away. There's some of the things that you could possibly expose with that Pelicans thing, especially like with the McCollum matchup. But, I mean, none of those other guys like,

Harrison Barnes wasn't making anything. He wasn't even doing anything. And Kevin Herder was missing every wide open three that they kicked out to. Keegan Murray hit some shots. And I give him credit because he played through the bad back or whatever. But man, he got, you know, once it gets past Fox and Sabonis, you know, it's really just monk. Like if you're thinking about, like, what are you worried about unless they're, you know, flying up and down the court and getting a transition.

and they couldn't get enough stops or rebounds to do that. If you're a Kings fan watching this game, like Kevin Herder goes two of seven from three. Like you must be having flashbacks to earlier this year against the Warriors when he shot 8 of 39 in the first round against Golden State where a guy who is lights out as a three-point shooter over the course of the season in a big game with playoff level, you know, playoff level intensity, playoff level closeouts.

I remember it made me think about Bob Myers years ago with a Sloan Sports, Linux conference was talking about how with like three-point shooters in the postseason versus the regular season, that closeout is three inches or four inches closer. It's there half a second quicker. And that can turn a 37% three-point shooter into a 28% three-point shooter. And with Kevin Herder, I mean, we need like a larger sample size. He's been a knockdown guy during the regular season, but in postseason and now in this one in-season tournament game, postseason not just with the Kings, but also with the Hawks and two postseason runs with Atlanta, he has not shot the ball well at all.

So that has to be mildly concerning for the Kings, considering how pivotal he is to their half-court offense with his cutting and his motion and his movement as a shooter. And interestingly enough, Sabonis had a triple double in the game. He had 20s, I'm looking at the score now, 26, 13, and 10. So how about that? On tonight, both Halliburton and Sabonis had triple-double. The two guys that were traded for each other in the game. And look, he was 8 of 12. You look at this and you're going, geez, man,

might want to gotten him the ball a little bit more. He's 8 of 12 from the field. He's 10 of 10 from the line. Like, Sabonis is a bright spots. Maybe a couple of those possessions could have been thrown into him instead. Yeah, he was one of the bright spots for them offensively. With this creation, I mean, as he always is, offensively.

but I but I do think I do think part of the lack of size that you're talking about not that like not when you talk about size you're talking about perimeter size too not just interior size all across the board but interior is part of it and I do think tonight's game last year's playoffs does speak to how the kings need to think about how do we upgrade the front court and like when I say that Kings fans get pissed like who's going to be better than Sabone is it's not about figuring out necessarily who's better than Sabonis? It's about who's a better compliment for Sabonis. How about playing somebody besides Harrison Barnes that could like feasibly get a rebound when the ball's coming off the rim and it's, you know, this real life. Yonis Valentuna's and Brandon Ingram or Yonis Valentudis and Herb Jones or Yonis Valenton and who fill in the blanks, Zion Williamson are crashing the offensive glass. Sabonis is like fighting for his life.

anything he gets, it's because of sheer will. He needs help in that front court. Somebody else. Somebody that just gets a ball. He needs somebody who can help him with the rim protection responsibility, so it's not all on him when he's a below average guy at protecting the rim. He needs help in the front court as a rebounder. He's a great rebounder himself individually, but he needs it collectively.

You can't be a one-man rebounding show. It just doesn't work like that. And Sabonis, I mean, like, he's a very good player, a very good player. Don't get me wrong, but he can't be the starting center and the only big in your starting five. That's where I think Harrison Barnes is a very tradable contract, $17 million this year, then $18 million and $19 million. Short-term deal that could be appealing to a lot of teams in need of a wing. That's the guy you should be looking to move. And then Herder, I mean, I know he's pivotal during the regular season, but at $16 million, that's another salary that I think you need to at least be willing to move if the deal.

I mean, like, I know he's pivotal during the regular season, but at 16 million, that's another salary that I think you need to at least be willing to move if the deal is right. Because it's a long track record now, Chris. It is. And it's a long track record. And here's the thing. There are some of the teams that have size. There are some of the teams that don't, but you've got to know at the end of this. The two best teams so far.

If I'm looking and I'm one of these teams and I'm going, all right, you, you happen to run up. against Golden State. So your size was not exposed in the way that it would be by against some of the other teams. Even though it still was. Even though. Right. And Golden State's size was then exposed against the Lakers. But if you're having to face L.A., you know, when the time comes.

Minnesota? Well, Minnesota and Denver are the two best teams, right? And you're going to get pummeled by Yokich and Gordon or pummeled by Gober and cat if you're playing against those teams. Phoenix, again, they need some size probably when it comes playoff time. That will be there possible Achilles heel, especially if they're just, you know, throwing Nurk at you and 100,000 picking rolls. And again, and you're asking Durant or whoever to try to deal with what we just saw tonight. Like the Pelicans are the kind of team that can match up with your size if you're Denver,

your size if you're Minnesota, your size if you're the Lakers. But Sack Camp and Phoenix, we're about to see. Dallas, same way, you know, nothing in terms of rim protection, really. They're going to look small against those teams.

Like, these teams, and I know you talk to Calvin Booth about this, not only overlap, but also, you know, there's one of those things I think about with the philosophy of wingspan and just sheer, like that he had done that study on how big the teams were, like what they had across the board.

And I think about a lot of these teams through that prism. And I sit there and go, damn, man, that team's got a lot of tall, long players on their team. Right? A lot of the teams coming up, do too,

right? Yeah. Oklahoma City. They're long as hell, man. They're long, but they're also, you're able to go at the rim against them as well. Sure, they're lean, but they're long, and they can play with size. Like, SGA, there will be lineups where he's the smallest guy on the floor. Like, Minnesota, long as hell, but versatile.

And, like, they have the type of size you're talking about what they have, you know, with as well. They're a big wide team as well. Orlando Magic, big. Franz Wagner, Apollo, Bancaro, is your shock. creators with certain lineups out there. Crazy. Jaylon Suggs at 6-4, 6-5, he's big. He's got like a football player's body.

So I think for the Kings that if they can find a way to flip Barnes, that, like I think tonight's game is a big indicator of what they need. Well, think about the front lines that have won. You know, you're talking about Yonis and Brooke. You're talking about Yo Gitch and Gordon.

Like these are the last couple of teams that we've watched win the thing, right? Yep. And, and some of the teams that have fallen short are a bit smaller. And the thing is, I know the Kings are still a great story, but I don't want to treat the Kings as just a nice story, a cute story that should be in the postseason. The goal is to win a championship.

That's the goal. To light the beam and to have the Larry O'Brien trophy being held at center court and having this immense celebration. That's the goal. They're a nice story as is. They're going to make the playoffs. continue to be a nice story, the fact that they broke the playoff streak, but they deserve to be held at the same standard as every other team.

Like I think Kings fans sometimes I see messages like, oh, you're so biased against the Kings. It's like, no, I'm just treating the Kings like I can do any other team. They deserve to have title expectations still. We even talked about it earlier with the team that won in the East, which is the Pacers. They're going to have problems with the size of either of those opponents. Without a doubt, it's going to have problems.

They're going to have problems against Mitchell, like, they're going to look when they look up. And all of a sudden, like, they didn't look real small against Boston because Porzingis wasn't out there. Yes. But they're going to look up. And when it looks like it's Mitchell Robinson and it's, and it's RJ. And it's, yeah, they're going to. Now it's like, okay, unless we can get you in a real track meet and we're hitting a high percentage. of our threes, we're going to have a problem because, you know,

and that was the impressive thing about the half-court basketball that the Pacers were able to play in their game. But, I mean, you're just, you're not getting enough track meets when it comes to the playoffs, you know, and the Pacers are going to need to, you know, they're going to have to deal with it too. Because, again, they'll be a fun, they'll be a fun story. They're kind of like the, honestly, they kind of mirror the kings in many ways. unbelievable point guard play, you know, got a bunch of good players.

But you could take advantage of their lack of size, I think, because they play small. And man, that's Sacramento team. Too little. Too little. It's one of those games where you could say, oh, this could have gone either way. I think the Pelicans could play the Kings 10 times and they beat them nine. We already have three times. I know.

And I think if they played them seven more times, there'd be the one where the Kings you know, hit a bunch of threes. It's just a uniquely terrible matchup. The game Kevin Herder actually plays like regular season Kevin Herder. Right. It'd be a, I mean, it's just a bad matchup for them. It really is.

It's tough. So much length and so many different versatile defenders that can throw it, Darren Fox. It's tough. It is a tough matchup for the Kings. And I mean, we'll see with New Orleans. It's going to be very interesting on Tuesday night. I'm stoked to go to the game. Lakers' sons after watching Bucks Nix,

Might have to catch the end of that game at the arena at crypto. But yeah, it's going to be another. This is a great night. Well, and let me correct just one thing. I just don't, I don't, I'm well aware, because I don't want the, you look, I'm saving you and me from the Kings fans. I'm aware that they just beat Denver. They all, but to my point, they shot 47% from three. Yeah, though, that is, that is your point.

That's the, that's what I'm talking about. And Denver's had a horrible shooting night. It puts a lot of pressure on you. Like, that's what I say. You're going to have to do that. And they still gave up. Like, what a high ball you?

Right. 120 they still gave up in that game. I mean, it's like still a close game despite the shooting disparity where Denver shot like 20% from three and the Kings are like 45% or whatever it ended up being still a really close game. Right. But I know that's going to come up because on Saturday they won that game, which is a great win for sure. But like, bro, having to shoot 47% from.

three is I ask. I just think, but the main thing is I just think the king still deserve to be held at the championship standard. How do you take that next leap? That is what it's about. How do you take that next step so you're not just nice story that makes the playoffs? Because eventually that gets old and then you're just the team that can't get over the leap. So what are the things that you can do now in order to take that next step?

Because you have a special talent in the Aaron Fox. He is special, even though he wasn't tonight. He's a special talent. do you take advantage of that player? There's moves that they need to make with their remaining assets that they have and some of the tradable salaries that they have. And I thought, as we've talked about, I think we covered every angle with them. I mean, I'm sure there's plenty else.

We'll talk about over the course of the season. But the Kings have some work to do in order to take the next step this season. All right. We're obviously going to be watching these on Thursday night. We'll be out in Las Vegas doing the live show on Wednesday night. I'm so excited to see you, Chris. Let's go. And then watching these on Thursday night, you're going to love this.

I like the Pelicans in either matchup. I do. Oh, look at these jerseys behind me. I know. Kevin L. Pelican. I like them in either of the matchups. I do. Yeah.

I think the size will be a real problem for Phoenix. And I think that the, I don't think the Lakers have enough. as currently constituted because you're just going to have to have a massive home run effort out of Davis to get past Phoenix. Well, I picked the suns to win on Tuesday, so I'm with you. But, well, I guess, hey,

hey, guess one of us is a real Pelicans fan. I'll be there in my, I'll be there in my Alvarado jersey on Thursday. You see, Elvarado had the steel from behind in the first half, the Grand Theft Alvarado on the day. the trailer for Grand The Auto 6 came out.

Pretty cool. They say it's amazing. I haven't watched the trailer yet. Yeah. Is the trailer amazing? The trailer looks fun. Yeah, it's really fun. 2025 it comes out.

So I got to wait a while for it. Yeah, 20205. It's not coming out until. Oh, gosh. I know. Isn't it crazy they're announcing a game? It's not even 24 yet. It's never mind.

25. But yeah, announcing the game already. That's crazy. I know. The game does look great, though. Hopefully it's going to be worth the wait. Well, we got those, we got the games going into Mar-night. I think I'll say, I guess, Sons. I get Pelican Sons. I think it's going to be Pelican Sons. I think it'll be Bucs, Pacers. Okay. I picked the Knicks to upset the Bucks and the Sons or the Lakers.

Those were my picks before. I'll stick with them. Okay. All right. So you think it's going to be Sons Bucks in the end? Or no, no, no, Sons. Nick's son's pacers I had in the finals yeah that was my prediction I'll stick with it we'll see how it goes you still got a chance did you have the Kings beating the Pelicans yes I had the Kings beating the Pelicans tonight I guess one of us is a real Pelicans man you know you know the reason why I picked that because like all the guys that just came back I was like yeah lack of chemistry tonight for the Pelicans kings get one at home home intense crowd but No, no. Pelicans look like they haven't stopped rolling. I'll tell you this, we come around into a playoff time. The Kings will try to lose every game to avoid them in the playoffs if they have to. You don't want any of that.

This is a bad deal for them. Bad deal. All right, Kevin, I can't wait to see you. We will reconvene out in Las Vegas, Nevada. I think a highly successful, highly entertaining first night of the in-season tournament knockout rounds. baby. It was a lot of fun to that. I had a great time. Those are two really fun games. Oh, can I just say one thing real quick before we get out of you? I understand and I know they're probably doing it. This was so good. It was such a good night for the NBA, such a good night for

NBA fans and even casual fans attuned it in. I know they must be trying to avoid the NFL. But having those games on, the first game on it, 4.15 Central, 515 East is just a massive disservice to NBA fans. And I say this as a father of two. I'm going to be there, so it's not going to affect me. I would not be able to watch. I'm the biggest,

a biggest Emmy fan you can meet. I wouldn't be able to watch because I'd have to be doing carpool and then, you know, one of the kids is going to have practice afterwards. And then I can't watch games at 4.15. A lot of people can't. I know.

A lot of people can't. And to have this whole big thing and then like we're down to the last two games and there's going to be just go up against the stupid Patriots. Nobody wants to watch that. I know the ratings will be through the roof, but the over under on that NFL game is 30. It's going to be disgusting to watch. It's going to be. And hopefully the Patriots lose. versus Bailey

Zappy probably What are we doing? Just go up against it with Zion and LeBron or Zion and Booker or whatever the hell we're doing. It's going to be a gross game. Yeah, I just, they should have made them prime time. They should have.

I really wish the NBA would have done right by that and made those games prime time. Yeah. Because being them, you know, starting that one in the middle of the day. That's no good. It's no good. All right.

Just wanted to say that. I'm sure you'll have somebody from the NBA texting me, apologizing and saying we'll fix it next year, Chris. Speaking into existence, Chris, I spoke the, I helped speak the tournament into existence. You can speak better, you can speak better scheduling into existence. What I'm going to do.

I wouldn't be able to watch it, NBA. I love you, but I wouldn't be able to watch it. Thankfully, you'll be there. So that's ridiculous. Thankfully, you'll be there. I'm going to be there. I am going to be there. All right.

Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I'll see you in Las Vegas. See you in Vegas. Chris and Jesse. Must be 21 plus in President Select States. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800 next step or text next step 533442 in Arizona.

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