The Mismatch - The Legend of Playoff Kawhi, History at the Garden, and Game 2 Adjustments

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Verno and Jacoby break down the exciting pair of games from Monday night starting off with the unbelievable performance by Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers as they even up their series against the Nuggets (01:25). Next, Jacoby shares his experience watching the Pistons get their first playoff win since 2008 to even up their series against the Knicks from inside Madison Square Garden (18:37). Verno then begrudgingly discusses what it’ll take for the Grizzlies to take a win a game in their series against the Thunder after losing by 51 over the weekend (38:30). Also, they discuss the need for Dame to return to spice up the Bucks-Pacers series (48:05), what kind of response the Lakers will have after getting embarrassed by the Wolves (51:18), and why Ime Udoka should lean into the Rockets size against the Warriors (01:00:09). Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] 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 Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez and Tucker Tashjian Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please visit RG-Helpsychelles. Help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Remember, you must be 21 and over and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 100 gambler or visit RG-dashash help.com. Welcome to The mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and joining me see us every week from the wringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What a night of NBA playoff basketball. This is what you asked for. You want two good games back to back to fill your whole evening because we saw some stinkers this weekend. Let's be honest. Those two games tonight were perfect. As we recorded this on Monday night,

we just got done watching the Clippers win game two of their series against the Denver Nuggets, 105 to 102. Jacoby, you were at the Knicks game, so we'll do that one second. This game that we just watched, because this is fresh in our mind. It was our things we were looking forward to in the playoff show, a week ago, and the first one I did was the reintroduction of playoff Kauai. And I rattled off these crazy stats that I had read that he had only played. Now, if you go back in time, he played two games in the playoffs in the last two seasons.

Okay. In 2021, he hurt his knee in game four of the Western semis against Utah. then he sat out 21, 22. 22, 23, he tore his meniscus in the first round. And last season, he probably shouldn't have even played in the two games that he did, and they lost to Dallas. But between 2017 and 2020, Kauai Leonard averaged 29 points on 63% from the field in 60 games. in 60 games.

So it's not a small sample size. And then it's all I can think about tonight as he is going 15 of 19 from the field, four of seven from three, five of five from the free throw line, and drops in 39 on the road in Denver to now knock that series up. Unbelievable.

It wasn't just the reintroduction of robot. It was like the reintroduction of robot co-ie. Like he was robotic. When he gets his shoulders square and his feet set and he just shoots over everybody. He's got those long arms and the ball barely touches the back rim and goes right in the net over and over and over. He was nine for nine to start the game. And I think that right now the game just ended. And the thing that's going to stick in my mind right now because we're reacting to it is after the game, you know, Brown missed a three, Yokis missed a heave.

Like those weren't going in. But Yokish just stood there on the court with his hands on his knees, slumped over, just exhausted, absolutely exhausted. And I was like, oh, I haven't really seen that before. You don't really see that a lot. Usually the guys kind of walk over their team or whatever. And then they cut to Kauai Leonard, hands on his knees. Don't celebrate with me. Exhausted.

It was that type of a game. It was just leave it all on the floor, which is such a cliched thing to say. But I've not seen like the two stars going head to head at the end of the game, just like Jimmy Butler and Game 5 in the bubble, just done. Just exhausted. That game was so high level, too. Both those teams are so fantastic. Everything is under duress, it feels like.

It's one of those, it's everything you love about playoff basketball, where you truly feel like every possession matters. And the other thing, and I'm going to give credit because I tweeted about this during the third quarter, after you had the Powell-Jemal Murray's like mini-scuffle. Can't wait to talk about that. Okay. After we had the mini-scuffle, it becomes. became an absolute free-for-all with Mark Davis and Ed Beloy in the group. And I'm like, dude,

do not mangle this game. This game has been good. And I get it. It's getting a little testy. But then all these guys start every bump, they start exaggerating it. And every time they're going down the court, it's whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle, whistle. And nobody wants to watch that. Got to the fourth quarter and there was the flow of the game. This is all we want. We want to see the player, we want to see the players decide the game. Of course, there were going to be calls that could have gone either way, I'm sure, if you want to look into him. But for you really felt like the players got to decide that game. It was who's going to make the plays, who's going to make the shots. Obviously a monster three by Norm Powell, another huge shot by Kauai Leonard. In fact, two,

shots by Kauai Leonard. And then on the other end, you know, look, these teams, they've got the championship medal in Denver. And they're certainly, and they've got the one guy that can get you good shots. And obviously on that last possession, they didn't. But I was, as someone who didn't have some kind of, you know, serious rooting interest in this game, that was one of those that you just got to kickback and like totally enjoy. And that feels like watching that, that felt like that could have been like a West Finals game. Seriously.

And this is a first round game. Watching all the Eastern Conference first round games this weekend and then watching this, it's like it's different sport. It honestly feels like a different sport. But there's like, you know what I always say is we always focus on the last possession, but there's so many leading up to that. And I can't not think about that Aaron Gordon dunk. Oh my God. He's all alone. And he's Aaron Gordon.

Like those two points are huge. And he just back rims it and it goes out of bounds. Like that was a huge play that like we're never going to talk about. It's not going to be a big deal. I think there's about two, two and a half minutes left or whatever it is. And he has a wide open dunk and just misses it. And another thing that I want to discuss with you that I think is very important is there's a lot of discussion coming out of game one was Michael Porter Jr. getting benched and Russell Westbrook's impact on the game. And it's so much fun to hear that discourse for a couple days and then to see it play out right there.

Because Michael Porter Jr. had 15 rebounds. And my question is this is, does it take like a public? humiliation for you to try at your job? Like, does it take 48 hours of people dragging your name through the mud for you to try? Does it take your teammate to call you out into a microphone for you to try? But he had a great game. And then when he went down in that weird loose ball where he turned it over and they went back to Westbrook, it just felt significant.

It felt significant in the moment. Well, and you got to give it to him because he rebounded in that fashion tonight. I mean, that was one of the major advantages for the Denver Nuggets. They out rebounded the Clippers 50 to 32 in this game. 50 to 30. This is not a small margin. They had 32 rebounds the whole game. That's not really their game either.

No. Not not. But again, if you're going to get 15 from Michael Porter Jr., they also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds. bounds in the game. Because now look, they are, the clippers in most cases are small, right? They've got, it may be big zoo out there, but other than that, he's the size, right, that they play with.

They are just loaded with wings. I mean, it is wild. They came out, you know, you go through those segments of time where you mentioned Yokic just barreled over at the end of the game. that's because they can't survive at all without him. They can't survive like any. He can get no rest and then be okay with it. Like the amount of time he is off the court is just,

they lose by like over a point a minute for every minute that he sits down. In the first half, the first half he sits down on the bench. He's barely dried the sweat off his body and they already have gone on a 60 run in the first half. It was wild. Dude, Van Gundy said during the game, he's talking about how they can't survive without him. And he said in the 10 minutes, I think he said in the 10 minutes he has sat so far in the series,

they're minus 14 or something like that. And I was like, what? Like, you can't even survive. They can't survive at all without him on the court. But the rest of those, like the Clippers, I mean, at one point they got, they bring Bogdanovich in. then they bring Derek Jones Jr. in. Then they bring Ben Simmons in. That they bring Batum in.

It's like, bro, do you just have like a billion wings? Like, this is crazy. When they bring in Derek Jones Jr., she's like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. But Toom is like contributing. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know.

Knocked out the big corner three. Oh, then he caught it above his head. Like, I can't imagine how you catch a basketball above your head that far from the basket and just launch it and it doesn't even hit rim. Like it was huge. That was such a good game. Again, like before this series started, both of us were just kind of like, everybody had this one circled, you know, is you've got the MVP, the former championship team that

just fired their coach. And then you've got the clippers, this sort of like unsung, slept on juggernaut that finished the season so hot. And these two games that they've given us have been, you couldn't ask for more. Well, and the depth is obviously on the clipper side, but they're still just like, we talk about this all year long. And then when it gets to this high level, you got like seven or eight guys that you're counting on. And they really only had. Look, Westbrook's the only guy, not in their starting lineup that played over 20 minutes.

Peyton Watson was next and he got 13 minutes. He didn't do much in those 13 either. But that just tells you what kind of game. this was, right? When you're to the point, when you're already playing at a game two, and you're running, you know, Yokic out there for 43 minutes and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, just exhausted. There's a tank on empty at the end of the game. I think that it's something to do with Yokic's missing all those free throws. Because kind of like the Aaron Gordon missed dunk, they don't seem that significant in the

moment, but I don't know how the numbers in front of you, I think he's like four for eight from the line or something or maybe like five for nine. It was a weird, weird game from him from the line. I think he was exhausted and he needs more help. We said that in like the second week of the season. Needs more help. No, you're right. He ended six of ten. He ended six of ten for the line. It's seven turnovers also in the game. A couple bad ones. Which is a big number for him to go along with, of course, he's 26 point triple double.

Which was the second best. This was the thing. When I started, when I said that about the reintroduction of playoff Kauai, like he's one of the very few people in the world that might be in a game that features Nicola Yokic and he could be the best player on the floor. Like that's how good that guy. has been playoff-wise.

And it's, again, we know that in order to be at the highest level, you've got to have one of the five or six best players in the NBA. And the crazy thing is, this guy, you know, over the course of seasons, he does not prove to be that. But there ain't nobody in the world that could have watched that game tonight and say they'd take five other players over that. I mean, when was the last time? There ain't five people in the world you would have rather had than that version of Kauai

Leonard tonight. When was the last time that you considered Kauai Leonard like a top 10 player in the NBA? Not win healthy. I mean, just like a top 10 asset, like a top 10 guy. Three seasons ago? Probably. Four seasons ago. Yeah.

I mean, and you've got to go back to obviously. And, you know, we just got so used to those glory days of, you know, when I was talking about that run that he. had where he's finals MVP two different times and like we know this guy like there are certain guys jimmy butler is another who we'll get to later that they're they're not the same guy they're not the same guy there's some of these guys they're not the same guy in the wrong direction when the lights get brighter but some of these guys become a totally different animal and that's exactly what he's done i mean look you just saw it That guy, that was otherworldly.

I mean, he couldn't miss. At one point, he had one miss. I think it was like 12 and 13. And I couldn't remember the miss. I was saying to myself, I was like, when was the miss? I don't remember the miss. It went in and out. Oh, yeah.

I was thinking about myself, I was like, I don't remember this miss. Are you sure he missed one? And here's something I want you to keep an eye on. Because I like to read into things, maybe take things a little bit too far. A couple times during the game, something I noticed that I haven't seen before from him was Yokic sort of like being frustrated with his teammates. There was a couple times. There's a couple times. There's a layup that the Clippers got in the first half.

He tried to throw a pass to the corner, but the guy was kind of cutting to the rim. There's just sort of some like body language frustration from Yokic. That's just something to keep an eye on through the series because he doesn't. does have to do a lot by himself. And I think there's, I haven't heard him sort of like publicly criticized a teammate the way that he did with Porter Jr. And I think, I think he's frustrated. I think this is very, very hard for him.

Rightfully so. It is. Rightfully so. I mean, he has got it all on his plate. Like we said, all season. He can't even like go and just sit and breathe for two minutes. He has 61 point triple double. and they lost.

Come on, come on. Like, I just, I can see the frustration brewing. It's something to keep an eye on. And it is hard to overstate how huge that win is for the Clippers to knock that thing up at one

because I understand that everybody always uses the common trope. Well, series doesn't decide until so many wins on the road. This, I do this prism. Oh, if you lose that game, you've got to beat

that guy four out of five times. That's how I view it. You've got to beat that guy four out of five times if you drop that game. And good luck with that. Like, that's how I think about it. You got to beat him four out of six times? Actually, now three, right? Three out of the next, well, you already got one down.

But you got to win three out of five. You go three and two and you can win the series the rest of the way. Four and one, that's a big ask against somebody of that talent level. And so I think it was immense for the clippers to be able to get that one tonight. The mismatch is brought to you by Fanduel. The NBA playoffs are finally here. And if you think you know how it's all going to go down, then make those predictions pay off with Fandul and their same game parley profit boosts.

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boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token aspiration and max-wager amount. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem. Call 100 gambler or visit R.G. Help.com. Look, I always tell you that you never know, you might go to an arena and you might just see history. And you, in fact, did.

You saw the first Pistons playoff win since 2008. I had to go and look this up because everybody kept saying that. They were like, they don't want a playoff. Yeah, 2008. They beat the Celtics in games. 4. All right. In May of 2008, this was their starting lineup.

This is insane. Chaunty Billups. Wow. Current coach of the Portland Trailblazers. Rashid Wallace. Wow. Rip Hamilton. Tayshan Prince, who is in the Grizzlies front office, and Antonio McDyce. and Antonio McDyce was the leading scorer and rebounder for the Pistons that night.

That is the last time the Detroit Pistons won a playoff game. 2008. 2008. So this was a big one for them tonight. And you saw, I mean, this was Cade Cunningham's, like this is a big coming out party to not only have a big game, but have it be in a win. walk me through what it was like going to Madison Square Garden tonight. Well, what was so interesting about the experience at the Garden was there was a confidence even after being down at half, being down after the third quarter, because of what happened

in game one. If game one didn't play out the way it did, I don't think Nick's fans would be as confident as they were in the outcome. and there was a big storming comeback at the end. It just sort of felt like the gardens rocking, and it felt like it was going to happen. And then Dennis Schrooter hits that shot, and it just deflated the whole thing.

But starting from the top, it was... And then in fairness, then it's all viewed differently. I flipped on one of those live Nix podcasts that I saw come across the timeline. I clicked on it. And the first thing I heard was, bro, if we didn't go on a miraculous 21-0-1-1-1, we're down 0-2.

So that's the same thing. Both series that we saw play out game to tonight, you could feel the same way. Because Denver had Russell Westbrook making these miraculous plays just to get them a win in overtime. And now you're as a Knicks fan. It goes from, this is our blueprint.

We've dominated this team. We're better than them. their children were the big brother to, listen, if campaign doesn't score 11 points in the fourth quarter, again, I'm going to say it again. If campaign doesn't score 11 points in the fourth quarter, this is now O2 going to Detroit. And that's just how flimsy sort of the confidence is in these games won in game two.

Like the margin of victory is so small in these series that are good, that as a Knicks fan, you're saying to yourself as you're walking up the stairs to leave the garden, you're like, man, I don't love this anymore. Well, and I'll tell you this, and that's the trick of what's going on with Detroit because you said like the kids thing, right? And they even said, you know, even on the broadcast, they're like, and the young pistons, blah, blah, blah.

And I'm thinking to myself, bro, Cade and Duren are young. Everybody else on the floor is not. Dude, Dennis Schrooter's been in a ton of playoff games. He's played for every team in the league. Ten teams. Tobias Harris has been in a bunch of playoff games. Malik Beasley's been in a bunch of playoff games. Tim Hardaway Jr. who sucked tonight.

He's a vet. They're not as young as you would think. Cade is young. They said the same thing to my buddy who I was sitting next to. I was like, this whole narrative of like they have no experience is a bit outdated because I'm looking at the floor and I do see Dern and Cade, but I see a bunch of three vets with them. Right. And especially after Tom's.

foul out of the game, which we will get to. But look, I will tell you what was going on on social media as I was watching this game because I felt the same way was this was the first time, maybe not the first, but it was certainly the most, the loudest amount of disgusted by Brunson's foul hunting that I have seen in a long time. That has become a thing much more so this year than in any years past. But this one took it to a whole other level where it felt like anytime the bonus came, now we're doing the old school James Harden, Trey Young.

I'm really not playing to make a shot. I'm playing this possession with the intention of getting fouled. And then obviously got Assar Thompson. you know, fouled out of the game. And there was just, there was a lot of, there's a lot of flopping going on. This is, this is not new. Like if you watch next game, this is not new.

And I sat there the whole season when SGA is getting all this flag for being a foul merchant. And I'm telling my friends, I'm like, they must not be watching next games because it's not just SGA and James Harden. It is, and Jalen Brunson has been doing this forever. But I would say, as someone who's in the building, this was actually a reaction to a really weird whistle in like the second quarter because Cade was getting these weird calls where he would drive to his left and he would bump into OG and then rise up to shoot.

And it was just such like insignificant NBA contact, but he was getting the whistle on like two of three possessions. And it pissed off the crowd. He was. He was getting a great whistle. A weird whistle. It was just weird. And it was like, again, like there's also.

some phantom calls for the pissing, so I'm not going to sit here and, like, blame the reps because it was going both ways. But it pissed everybody off, and you could feel Brunson and be like, oh, that's what we're doing? Oh, you want to play this game? Guess what? I was born. I was born in the dark.

Yeah, he was, like, it's like, I was born in the dark. Oh, we're going to start getting cheap calls and we're going to call it tight. Guess what I can do that. And the way he jerks his head around and every time you touch him, you rears back, like, like you stabs him in the neck. Well, the other, and it is worse because, you know what, his head is twice as big as everybody else's head. Not just that. I swear to God, Berno, he grew braids just so he can do this.

I swear to God, he grew braids to make it look more violent when he shakes his big head around. I swear to God. It's so crazy you say that because you know who the first time when I saw him in person last year that I said that about was Kobe White. I was like, this guy drives me crazy. Like, he looks like he's got whiplash every time he drives. But it's just the hair. It's the hair. It's just the hair.

That's what's going on. And to your point, Tibbs said in his press conference afterward, like basically, no, you know, you're dead on about this. Tim said, Cade gets that call. Jayland should get that call. It's basically like, don't talk to me about calls. Kate Cunningham got the whistle every time he got bumped. it was, but it was a couple, times I think it was early in the second quarter

because I don't see the replays or hear the broadcast. I'm just watching on the Jumbotron. But it was, it was like the typical drive-in, two players bump into each other, the offensive player fades away and takes a shot. It happens on every possession. But he got that call a couple times,

and I swear to God, Jaylon Brunson saw that, and he was pissed. He was talking to the reps the whole time, and he just decided to make a game of it. And it's not pretty, but it worked. And it becomes so much more. heightened because they just go straight heliocentric.

Like there was a moment, like you guys took a time out when you, before you got the corner three that Brunson hit in the fourth. Yeah, yeah. That was the first possession where there was three passes on it. Like they never passed the ball around to get a better shot. And to that point, are we blaming Kat? Or are we blaming them for not getting. the, like, he didn't take a shot in the last 18 minutes of the game?

Why do you trade Julius Randall and Dante DiVincenzo for a guy who's seven feet tall and is just going to run and stand in the corner? What happened to the Brunson Towns pick and roll? What happened to that? They just went completely away from it. I'm sitting there being like, can cat touch the ball? I don't even care. You don't even need to if he gets a shot.

Just touch the ball. Include him in the offense in any. way, shape, or form. And he's not being guarded by Eben Mobley. He's being guarded by Tobias Harris. It was shocking. I was like shock by, so I looked it up.

First quarter, he was three for three. Second quarter, he's two for five. Ten points at the half, right? So that makes him what? Five for ten from the field. And then he goes O for three in the third. Doesn't take a single shot in the fourth quarter. No, no. The last shot he took, I marked it.

Five-20 left. I'd like to look it up because we're doing right at the game. How many touches did he get after that? There weren't rebounds. How many touches? 520 left in the third was his last shot. He played all 12 minutes of the fourth two. So you say he didn't take a shot?

He also, he did not, he was on the court the entire time. I don't think he said a ball screen. I think he said one ball screen on like their second or third to last possession. And I was just like, thank God. But to answer your question, I don't blame Kat. that that was the strategy and it does the ball it feels like

do you know what it feels like it feels like a youth team when the coach's kid is the best player oh wait the coach's kid is the best player that's what it feels like it's like I he's taken us home to so many wins

but it's very frustrating when the it's just Brunson or nothing it's Brunson or nothing in the last five minutes of a close game over and over and over, and he's won those games so many times, but sometimes I wouldn't mind if someone else touched the ball. Get him off the ball and then run some screens for him. Like, it's awkward. And I remember one session, I'm just keyed in on towns, and he's got his shoulder slumped, and he doesn't run to the corner and set up and put his hands out, getting ready.

He's shoulder slump, jogs over to the corner because he knows the play call, and he just kind of stands there straight up and down and watches Brunson do his thing. and then jogs back on defense. And what's so crazy is you juxtapose it with watching the second game, right? You left the garden, you come back and you watch the clippers in the, you watch the clippers in the nuggets,

and it's like, right, go watch. Like, dude, there were, and it wasn't just the fourth. The Knicks scored 18 points in two different quarters. In the first quarter and the third quarter, they didn't break 20. as a team. Like I don't say this.

It's unfathomable. Like I, to me, that has got to be a tips thing because that, like, look, I got it. You're, you're trying to highlight a team's weaknesses and whatever else. It can't get bogged down to where it's like Brunson or nothing this much. Like these guys, you got offensive talent on this team. It isn't just like it's Brunton and four bums. Not to mention, you have, say whatever you want about talents. This guy is a offensive, like, machine.

Oh, yeah. That is what he can do, right? You want to talk about his defense. If you want to talk about his lack of tenacity at points, but, like, in terms of just being an offensive talent, come on, bro. And it's like to not even use him at all. As someone pays close attention to this team, I did try to silver lining the Brunson injury because OG and Inobie was like all NBA.

You know what I mean? Like he's scoring 30 points, scoring 27 points. And even McAll Bridges popped a couple times, but it was really OG was like kind of their guy in that stretch of games when Brunson wasn't playing. And I thought that can carry over. Maybe it won't be so Brunson or nothing because these guys have had this confidence building run with Brunson being out.

But tonight, and I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to project the future of the series. But tonight it very much felt like the same old, same old, give it to Brunson and hope for the best. But it was so much worse tonight because they didn't even have Isaiah Stewart. I know. I got to say, Bebole Paul was pretty good. He was pretty good.

He was, but it was crazy. Carmelo Anthony did like a sideline interview or whatever. And he was even saying, like, man, we got to get towns down on the block. Like they don't have Isaiah Stewart tonight. Like, I mean, towns is the one with the advantage. We've got to use this to our advantage. And I swear to God, you can find the, it's going around like there's a video of it going around on social media. Cade gets a, gets a steel, goes down, gets an outlet and dunks it and points to Carmelo Anthony in the middle of this interview, in the middle of the interview that he's doing.

But in the time, he's like, he's like, we got to throw the ball down to towns. Like, they don't have anybody for towns. Well, a couple things I do want to say because it's New York. everyone's going to be Knicks focused. The Pistons play great defense. They played great defense. Like they were ready for Brunson's BS. They were ready for Bridges.

They knew what the Knicks were going to do. I thought they were really well coached up. And I thought they played a great defensive game. And we can sit here and say, how does, you know, Macau Bridges missed all these shots. And OG and Anobie only had 10 points. And they didn't use Kat this way. And you can say all those things.

But I think people are always so New York. focus, but I was watching that game thinking, these guys are playing deep. They're trying harder and they're more physical and they just seem more structured on the defensive end than the Knicks did. They also felt like they had so much confidence. And honestly, to your point, look, you got to win games when you give up 94. Give up 94 points at the game. You got to be able to score 95.

They actually scored 100 in this game. And it is hard to overstate how just immense Schroeder was. I mean, the guys hit big shots in the pros, the guys hit big shots in international play. And like he's one of those guys. You want to, like, you feel like you could bring him to the fight. He showed up when it mattered most. I mean, they had a couple of these because Beasley had another open one too in the corner that he missed.

Tobias missed one as well. But like, they. Oh, because they started, look, it felt another one of those. like, oh my God, how many times have we seen this with our beloved Pistons playing with their food, right? They've got, they've won the game, the whole damn game. And at one point, I think they said they were going on five straight minutes without a field goal to close that game. I mean, they got bogged down too. And then it just become nobody could score.

Like the Knicks couldn't score. Shruder, everyone's going to talk about the shooter shot is a great shot. You know what I mean? It was not that one. They didn't draw that up for that shot. No, it was wide open. Yeah, yeah. He just hit it.

But it was his defense. They, they, basically the Knicks said, let Schroeder on Brunson and let Brunson work. And Schroeder was ready for the challenge. He was ready for the challenge. And he was in every action on defense. He was working so hard. And he was chirping with Brunson. There's some stuff going on, like in timeouts and everything.

Like the two of them clearly don't like each other. And I like that. I like that. How, how many shots does cat get next game? this feels like it's going to be big course correction. It's going to be the same thing, though, because they set up Kat against Tobias Harris in the post in this one in the first quarter. They gave it to him two straight possessions.

One time he tried to back him down, back him down, back him down, back him down. And then he missed. And then the next time he back him down, back him down, made it. He had a great shot over Duren where Dern, Durn's, it was like a stone wall. Like, Cat was kind of trying to barrel into him. And Cat ended up bouncing backwards. He hit the shot. but like I just feel like they went away from it.

It's not that they never did it is they just went away from it. And I didn't really make sense. And what a tandem they've got with the young guys with him and Caden Duren. They said they led the league in Alley Oobes. Like that connection. Yeah. I thought that was interesting because they ran. Well, no, in crunch time, they got that one pick and roll off.

And he dove to the basket and Kay just lofted it up. and Dern almost ripped the rim off the hinge. It was great. Cade was fantastic. Awesome. Like this was the regular season Cade. I think, you know, game one might have been a little skittish and freaked out.

And, you know, they schemed up against him. But like, Cade was, he was, he was getting to the rack when he wanted to. And he was hitting that mid-range thing. And if he couldn't get past his guy, he would shoot over him. Like, it was a real, it was a real Cade, classic Cade game. Hey, this is going to be super interesting because they're about to walk into a Hornets nest. Can you imagine first playoff game? I mean, I just told you they hadn't gotten a playoff win since 2008.

Imagine what that arena is going to be like in Detroit. Oh, my God. I mean, you want to talk about that that fan base has been starved for this. Starved. And now it's the Knicks coming in. Off a win like that too. Like not just coming in, but you know, come in 02. It's a little different.

You're about to feel that. But like the, the, that, the newer. arena being in downtown i've been there been to a couple games there it's it's a it's a great place to see a game it's a it's a great sports town you know i've got detroit ties and you know i'm excited for them i thought they played really well they the the nicks got beat they didn't lose they got beat they got beat without beef stew they got beat do you think they can lose the series the nicks i'd be surprised i'd be surprised i think i think a game seven in the garden is a tough one for the pistons to wear you know but this is you know that it is one of those things like

the other series we talked about where you kind of start looking when you lose game two like that you start looking at game one well then be like was that the fluke was game one the fluke it looks like game one was the fluke not game two and i feel like that about both series and we weren't counting on it being a great series but that one is going to be great like because it's going to get more and more heated yeah it feels it's going to get more and more heated like the longer this thing goes the more tension there's going to be the more foul stuff that people are going to get upset about and and then if you get stewer back in the mix he's always between him and holl and they're good for a scrap in the series for sure and brunson's playing pissed he's mad

he's angry yeah he's not playing with joy you know what i mean like right he's angry at the refs he's angry at the other team he's he's just he's just he's playing with fire and i think that the pistons like that and i think that there there will be some something all right let's try to run through these other series so as we record this on much night. Those are the games that took place tonight. As of Tuesday night, there's going to be three more games on series. First is the early game. Grizzies in the Thunder. You know, when you go to the arena, you might see history. Like you always say. You might. I started off my local show today. And I said, well, the good news is we're We can lose by 50 and it won't be the worst loss. Because we've already gotten 51 out of the way.

Look, after the game, Jobbara said, we'll never play that bad again. And I sent you the quote. And I said, I'd hope not. It's on the table. It's on the table. Bro, you could have literally put the wizards out there. They wouldn't have lost by 51. Don't talk to me about the schedule, dude.

I don't care. Don't talk to me about this guy. Bro, you only lose by 51 when you totally let go of the road. That was a disgrace. It was a disgrace. It was an absolute disgrace. It looked like they wanted to go back to the hotel in the middle of the third quarter. And you're going to find out everything you need to know about their medal.

Look, they're not good enough to beat that team. They're going to have to play perfect. Honestly, I'm not kidding. You watch that game. There's 10 guys that would start for the Grizzlies that play for the Thunder. Like, the Grizzlies have three high-level starters that can be, that you can just game plan against. You mean the big three? That's it.

The big three. And they were, and Bain and Jackson were both terrible. They were five of 25 combined. Terrible is not the word. Again, look, but no, like the other two, you started Scotty Pippin and Zach Eadie. Those players are not starting for any other playoff team. That's not happening. Oh.

And then the guys that come off. the bench. They're not like, again, like, they're way overmatched, way overmatched. So they have to play absolutely perfect basketball. And then when they played the way they played, which is not making any shots. And then after you start getting your ass beat, just let go of the rope like they did, that's what you get. You end up losing in this, like, incredibly horrific fashion. And we will see. I honestly, I have no idea what to expect. Certainly I would suspect you would be able to be more competitive than that. But I mean, they are way over.

That Oklahoma City team, like, they bring guys off the bench that would, like a lot of them that would absolutely start for Memphis, right? I really felt like, and I understand you're going to view it through the Memphis prism because you live there and you cover the Grizzlies and you work with the Grizzlies and you watch every game. that to me was more about the thunder than the grisks. It was just an onslaught. And it was just one of those things where it was just like,

they kept bringing guys off the bench. Like, oh, yeah, here he is. And they're going so fast. And the defense was insane. I remember one play. I'm sure you remember too. Zach Eadie gets the ball, pass to him.

And he's under the basket. And he's eight foot seven tall. And he cocks it back to dunk it. And Chet Holmgren, I've seen so much basketball. it did not feel like a contestable dunk. I mean, the guys, he's standing at the rim. He cocks it back two hands, mind you, behind his head.

And Chet Holmgren comes over from like the other side of the lane, flies over, jumps up and blocks the dunk. I was shot. I was floored by that play. Well, and it just felt like they were trying harder and they were faster and they were younger and they were better. It was an absolute onslaught. And I will give credit where credit is due.

That Oklahoma City crowd. For that to be a noon Easter Sunday game, that was unbelievable. That, I mean, you want to talk about walking into a hornets nest. I mean, you, man, everybody in that crowd's wearing the same damn t-shirt. They're all going. I mean, they were lit too. You heard the roars? Yeah, I've been, so I went.

It's like that. I went during the, I went during the Durant Westbrook years. Like those back when Memphis had Zach Randolph and Marcus saw, like there were several different playoff series that were there. But I went to one of them that was there. And the thing I'll always remember about going to Oklahoma City is I walked in and I've got on like the Memphis stuff. And like everybody was like, hey, welcome to town.

The nicest people on earth. That was not the garden tonight. That was not the garden tonight. No, everybody was so nice. There's like family of four and the one kid's got Durant on. The other kids got Westbrook on. Then the dad's got like a taposephalosia. And I'm like, this is the most.

Good luck. This is literally the most wholesome place on earth. I wish we both could win. Everybody is, yeah, everybody's so nice. Do you want to ride home? What else are you staying at? Welcome to town. And I was like,

Wow, this does not feel hostile towards me. Before we move on and we should, because this series is trash. Like, what are your goals here? Like, what are you feeling? And how impactful can this sort of an ass-woping be to the franchise? Oh, look, look, my goal is for this to end. I mean, I don't know. I don't know how long I need this thing to go.

Get a win? Get a game three win? Absolutely. getting a win would be like basically heroic at this point. But the other thing is I need Oklahoma City to move on and have to play against a real team that can compete with them so that I can stop seeing my old tweet from the in-season tournament coming up. They sent it to me too. They just hammer me with it.

And I can't take the time to respond to these ninkoops and tell them, like, this isn't what I was talking about. I wasn't talking about them being able to beat a team like Memphis. I never said, I never said my team was the one that could put the scars on you. I know you're never going to really answer the question, but are Jaron Jackson, Jr. Bain and Jock coming back next year? Well, I mean, what are the options?

Look, I tell you this, if you get absolutely crushed and strong, wept. They've already done it with the coach. They fired the two coaches. Bro. You're two, everything is evaluated point. Like, I mean, that's the way this goes. You know the way this goes.

We're watching these teams. Atlanta, we just got the, you know, notification today. Atlanta's done with their GM. And so it's like, then it becomes right. Like, so that was, that's the, that's the dicey thing here is because you blame the coach, right? you fire your coach because you need things to, you know, be like you're hoping it changes things dramatically and things haven't changed dramatically. So you use that bullet, you know what I'm saying?

It's almost like I feel like maybe in retrospect, if you're running the team, you'd say, well, I should have just let this thing play out. And then I can blame the coach in the offseason, right? But at that moment, you don't know you're going up against the thunder in the first round. To be fair, you could end up with the rockets or whatever. It's a different game. You know what I mean? I got you.

you did use the bullet of saying, hey, it's the coach, not the players. But not, bro, you can't, when you watch them play against the thunder and maybe you're right, maybe it's a totally different outcome if they're able to beat the Warriors and they play the Rockets who can't score at a high level. And so maybe it would have played out differently. They certainly would have been able to compete with the Rockets in a way that they cannot compete with the Thunder. But we'll see.

I mean, maybe, you know what? Maybe they could shock the world and bounce back and be competitive. But they gave you no reason to believe that they could from watching that first game. That looked like, I mean, that looked like one of the greatest NBA teams ever statistically as they were. And a team that had absolutely no business playing playoff basketball. I mean, they let go with a rope completely. But we've been around a long time, both of us. Like, just because you get blown out in game one doesn't mean you're going to get swept.

You know what I mean? And there's also, it's not what you do, it's how you do it. If you get swept and go to overtime a couple times or, you know, Shea hits a couple game winners or whatever it is, like that not all sweeps are created equal. And look, those three guys, look, if Bain and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, you have a chance. Yeah, great chance. You have a chance of winning games if they can be great.

But I did walk away from that game, and we will move on, thinking that it's more about the Thunder than the Grizzlies. Like that, they looked like they looked like that they are who we thought they were. That it looked like. The old Dennis Green quote was like, oh, best team in the league. Looks like the best team in the league. The other two that we have on Tapp tomorrow night are Bucks and the Pacers. Lillard has been upgraded to questionable.

Okay. He figured that that could be the case after he was talking real reckless to Tyrese Halliburton. Wall down. It feels like he wants to beat his ass. Like he doesn't, I don't know, I don't think he necessarily wants to even play him in basketball. I think he wants to fight him.

Halliburton's got that Rudy Gober thing where it just seems like people don't like him. Yeah. Me included, by the way. Punchable, punchable? Yeah. I mean, the bucks were nine of 37 from three in game one. And don't get the best three-point shooting team in the league. Yeah.

So that's not only is that probably not going to be sustained, that ridiculous shooting. But look, they got to have Lillard back to making a series. That Pacer's team is still humming. And a CIS number was huge in that game, too, big numbers all across the board. And they just ran them out. So let's just hope. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that we can get. Lillard back in the fold.

Obviously, he hasn't played it a while. So, but if they could get him back in the fold, maybe we, maybe that one could turn into a really good series. But as currently constructed, it was hard to see that being a really good series from what we just from game one. I can see it happening.

That was, I mean, that was a run out. But if you're the Bucks that you're saying, like, we're not going to, we're not doing that again. You know what I mean?

If I'm a Bucks fan, I'm like, we're not like that's bad as we can play. But it looked like they had. one awesome player and that's what they have. Yeah. And Kyle Kuzma literally might as well have had his AirPods in. Straight cardio.

I. 21 minutes of nothing. That's impossible. It's truly impossible to not do anything. That's hard. You can just be jogging. I'm just jogging up and down the court. put the AirPods in, Kyle, and just jog.

They traded for him. Bro, no. They traded for him. You would think even if you do nothing offensively, that you might like get a hand out of a ball, get a steal or get a block or some random thing happens. Rebound just bounces to you. No.

You're not even trying for it. 21 minutes. Some rebounds just bounced to you. You can't help but get them. There was a basketball coach I used to cover years ago. And he was talking about. his seven foot center. And he said, he said, 20 minutes, no rebounds.

He said, now I suppose you could lay a dead man at the free throw line and the ball's going to hit him once. That's the Kyle Kuzma. I could lay a dead guy at the free throw line and the ball's going to hit you once at some point. How can you have no stats? That's, that's abominable. And then we get to the goodness.

So after we get through those two early ones, which maybe we'll be surprised. Maybe Pacers Bucks ends up being good. Maybe Grizzly's Thunder ends up being good. I think Bucs Pacers will be a competitive series. But what we're counting on is Lakers Wolves. Because that one, with what happened with that runout of the Lakers in game one by the wolves, beating them 117 to 95, you are expecting the response from the Lakers. That is the way these go.

The way these series go, it's like, okay, they just punked you out on your home floor. You had all kinds of stuff go wrong for you. They're shooting the cover off the ball. But I will say, and I think you felt the same way watching that, one of the things we talked about going in is like, Austin Reeves is getting to live in this world where most teams don't have a third defender that can hold up. And that is not the wolf. And the other thing is the wolves brought off that bench and it was like, oh, buddy, this is a big problem for you because we get to those minutes.

And to wit, the Lakers bench was outscored 43 to 13. I don't remember the 13. 43 to 13. The other thing is, like, you look at the stars and you can say, hey, well, at least it took 22 shots for Ant to get. his numbers, whatever. But Anthony Edwards had nine assists in the game. Loved it. Like he's playing, making quick decisions, setting up teammates, and then you have,

and he almost had triple double because he had eight rebows to go with it. On the other end, Luca Donchich had one assist. One. In the whole game, he had one assist. And so there's some big adjustments that are going to have to be made by JJ Redick and his staff, obviously. when you've got LeBron James and Luca Donchich, you can then make said adjustments, I'm sure.

And you're also probably sitting there going, bro, they just shot the absolute cover off the ball, number one. And number two, like, look, guys, if Jaden McDaniels, who averages 12 points, it shoots 33% from three, is going to shoot 100% from three and score 25 points.

Then it's also what you're right. Defenders? But this is, but we talk about this. every year. It's like, there's something, when you get good teams playing each other, there's something you've got to be willing to live with. And they were obviously going to be willing to live with McDaniels getting less attention than many of his peers on that team. But he made them pay badly for that. He also had nine rebounds. I mean, McDaniels was amazing in this

game. Amazing. And Nasree, if I watch that game, I'd be like, I think he's, he's an all-star, right? This guy's all NBA, like a future face of the league. Like he looked so good. And I think that so many of these games in the playoffs, and it's kind of like annoying come down to who are you going to leave open for three. You know what I mean? It's like it kind of bothers me because it's like very reductive sometimes. Like it was like Westbrook in the Denver series. That's right.

Even tonight, Westbrook knocked down some big threes. And it's just kind of like it does kind of come down to that because it's such a high level of basketball. And JJ Redick picked the wrong guys to leave over for three there in game one. I mean. Because those are some adjustments that need to be made. But my biggest takeaway from that game was, like, LeBron, uh, handing the keys over worked out in the first quarter. But it might be time to take the keys back.

You know what I mean? Like, like, it used to be like my turn, your turn. Well, it's your turn, LeBron. Like, I didn't get enough LeBron impact on that game. at all. Way too often, it felt like the Luca and four guys standing around. Yes, but I want to see LeBron.

One of the things I love about LeBron as a basketball player is his IQ and his feel for the game and the ebbs and flows of individual games and what his team needs. And I didn't, I didn't feel that in that game because he clearly needed to say, hey, Luca, just let me do this for a little bit, Peter, please. Well, and they have a big problem on the. the whole big guy front, right? Like, they're not having to, the fact that Jackson Hayes can't even, like,

that they don't want to stick. How bad are you, bro? All you have to do is dunk it. Like, that's it. He missed a lob. Dude, I watched, I watched Derek lively in the play-in game, uh,

last Friday, the game to get into it, right? The one that was in Memphis game, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had zero, bro. Zero. PJ Washington had zero. And I turned to Rosars who were watching the game.

And I'm like, did Luca just like totally trick us into thinking these guys are like, like, what? He's got zero. Like, I got it. Like, you are guys that aren't just going to go get your own shot. But if you can finish, you're in hog heaven. And it's like, bro, if you're taxing,

And all you have to do is freaking, you know, touch, touch on the screen and then go finish the dunk. The lob's going to be there. It's going to be there. It's the best gig in the world if you can do it. If you can't do that, then just get out of the league. Seriously, what's a point? You're tall for nothing. Well, that Mark Williams, that Mark Williams veto trade is looming large.

It's looming large. I expect a big Lakers response. I don't think the Luca LeBron Lakers are going to go. down like that twice. And you also know, especially when this is the home team that loses game one, psychologically, it is just very difficult to have that level of desperation as the road team. We've seen this happen over and over again because I've, look, I've covered the press conference 20 times, Jacoby, where the guy gets to come in and say, we got, we, we wanted to.

We accomplished what we came here to accomplish. And that's after they lose game two. They say we accomplished because that is the feeling. Like, hey, we came here. We needed to get a split here. Like we knew in order to put the ball in our court, we were going to need to get a split here. And so you'd imagine you're going to get mega desperate Laker team.

And also, like, good luck getting a call tomorrow night. No chance. One thing I found significant was the, it was kind of weird and corny, but like the Anthony Edwards like Spider-Man celebration in Luca's face. That was a little odd. It was just kind of like, I don't understand the significance of it, but I don't know. It doesn't seem like a bear I want to poke to use some Dylan Brooks expressions.

It's just kind of like right in his, you're up by a bunch. Luca had a hot first quarter. You can see what he can do. Wanted the switch on him. Oh, over and. Over and over. Yeah, so you think you might get a little Luca, this is what you ask for. Yeah, I can see it happening.

I can see it. Certainly, look, those guys that, like, we've seen Luca Donchitz do it to teams over the years. The other three series, we'll just touch on these real quickly because we're not going to get to see these for another two nights. And we'll obviously talk about them a lot on Thursday. We've got Magic Celtics. I mean, Magic are just so offensive. I've got the magic winning a game in the series. Okay.

I do. I do. They get the obligatory game three. It was a great Palo game and they hung with them in the first half. You know what I mean? It was, it was something. I saw something there. I was like,

I could see a game three win. I think they get one. And maybe you could catch the night where the Celtics don't make a bunch of shots. And it's like, all right, you've won the game 98 to 92 or something. The Celtics are terrifying. Derek White scoring 30 points. It's like, we have to worry about him now. Payton Pritchard's like, I have to worry about him now.

But it's just hard to know what is the maximum amount of points we think the magic can score. It's just a matter of like, well, they scored 86. Like you can't, giving up 85 is a big ass. You know what I mean? If you're only going to, if you're going to hold the other, if you've got to hold the team to 85 to get a win, that's a big ass. It feels more likely the Celtics will have 85 and a half than a game. That being said, one of our other series, the Warriors did hold the Rockets. I mean, they could get a wind doing that.

So that one did happen. I felt like that one, I cannot wait for a game two because if I'm Udoka, bro, I just, I mean, I've got to lean into this big thing more than ever. Like, these guys are fine playing half-core basketball, right? So, all right, we're going to play Aftcore basketball. I'm saying the Warriors are fine with it. Oh, the Warriors are fine. I think you're talking about the rockets. I was like, oh.

That's what I'm saying. No, no, you've just got to do the we get every friggin rebound. And you saw that segment when they were able to come back. And it was like, all right, we're going to do the Adams thing. And we're going to get Sangu. And they had 22 offensive rebounds in the game. I mean, no, honestly, I just lean into the size thing even more. I try to grab defensive rebounds and then I'm running as soon as I can because I just don't want to play against their set defense.

That Rockets team against their set defense has no chance. None. I mean, dude, the starting back court was seven for 34 and one or two for 17 from three. I just, I can't believe it's the year 2025 and it feels like Steve Adams is the key to the Rocket Warrior series. I know. He's the key. You are either going to grab every rebound and then have your share of runout so you could score in transition or you're going to be able to get putbacks.

But like what you're not going to survive doing is the we run a play, you run a play thing. You can't win that. But the Rockins defense is good enough to first turn, force turnover, steals, missed shots, and lead to transition. And I think that I believe, I believe that this game, I wish it was a little more competitive, especially down the stretch. I just can't imagine that Moody and pods, especially pods,

will play that well, and Green and Van Vleet will play that poorly. I agree with you. I just can't believe that's going to happen again. I also think if they lean more into the size, like, you know, the Warriors are just trying to, they're fine doing the half court thing,

like, especially since they've attained Butler, and because they're going to just, they'll execute you to death. Like, I mean, that's what they do. But, like, if you can grab every, rebound and then just like throw it out to those athletes and just let them run and take the first

friggin' open shot they can get. But the problem was they would have to grab the rebound again. I know. And then you'd have to grab the rebound again. I know. There's one possession for Steve and I was like, what do you want me to do, guys? I know. It's three times in a row.

Like, make a shot. You're probably. Because they're not going to grow somebody big on that team. They play how they play. And Quinn Post is not that guy. Quinn Post might be seven feet, but he's not that guy. No, they are at their best. So if you're a doca, I think you've just got to lean into the supersized thing as much as you can

and just punish them for being small. I did my family finances recently, so I'm not, I deleted my, I'm not gambling as much on my favorite app, fan duel. But if I did, I would put money on the Rockets to win the series now. I think that, I thought that was more of a fluky result than anything else. Oh, wow. I would not. I would not imagine.

That's because I watch Steph Curry. Steph Curry obviously had heard enough about Allman Thompson shutting him down. Yeah, yeah. I just like Van Fleet can't miss 10 open threes again. Bro, he shoots less. 10 open threes. Everyone is always shocked when I tell him this. He shoots less than 40% from the fields, Chacoby.

I mean, how many twos does he shoot? He shoots less than 40% from the field. Then who was my co-host in the middle of the year? It was like, the problem with the Rockets is Van Vleets out. That's why they're slumping right now. Because he's the only organizer. And when he's not out there, they play like a frigate AAU team. They need an organizer.

Whoever's got the, whoever gets the ball gets to shoot it. And Jalen Green can't be that bad again. I just can't imagine this, this continues. He was atrocious. Atrocious. And then we got heat calves. Tide Jerome's show in game one. Yeah, I mean, I think that was like the big headline takeaway, but really, I had been on this high of watching Tyler Hero in those playing games.

And just like his sort of like year. And I was like, this is, you know, he's playmaking for teammates and he can get to the rim and finish and he hits his threes. And I was like so high on Hero. And they just, they just turned off the faucet. Like, they wouldn't let him do anything. Not only that. one of these Heat fans did like a breakdown

of Tyler Hero as like the individual defender and like they shot like 85% against him like if he was like and when you play against those teams if you play like against one of these coaches

has been around they really like you watch this during the playoffs especially it happens with the big guys a lot they're just going to spam it Until, and that's why the whole, the Nazaree thing was so fantastic for Minnesota because they were going to try to do this in that Laker game. Like Luca, it was like every time, come on, go bear, come on, come on. Come on out here.

Well, they're doing to Luca too. Yeah, oh yeah. We're finding you. Where are you, you son of a bitch. You out in the corner. We're finding you. Like, if you have a weak spot, they just spam it to death. That's what they were doing, obviously, in that last game.

But anyway, yeah, we got heat and calves. So Thursday night, it's going to be, you're going to be at the Memphis game. Game three, yes. So it'll be like tonight's, you know, I was at the game. Thursday night, you're going to be at the game coming fresh off it. I'm going to guess that I can recount game three of Grizzly's Thunder for you, and you're going to be locked in on Clippers Nuckets. They're going on at the same time.

Oh, I won't. Yeah. Yeah. So there are commercial breaks. There are commercial breaks. No, we can, look, trust me. I'll handle the Grizzlies Thunder one. Let's just split this up and you focus on the other one.

So we can rightfully update the fans on our opinions on these. If you're a Thunder fan at the Chris Vernon show on all that. No, it's not. No, it's not. I've deleted all of my accounts. All right. It's going to do it for our Monday night show. NBA playoffs have delivered so far. That's for sure.

It delivered it a big way tonight. Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez as always and Jacoby. I'll talk to you later this week. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. Got a gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG dash help.com. Call 1-88-88-789-7777 or visit CCPpG.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org. in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinem.m.m.m.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in

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