The Mismatch - The Suns and Nuggets Take Care of Business in Round 1 of the Playoffs. Plus: Looking Forward to Round 2 Matchups.

Episode Date: June 4, 2021

Late Thursday night, Verno and KOC talk about the Suns beating the hobbled Lakers in the first round of the playoffs (0:30) and the Nuggets powering through Damian Lillard’s incredible performances to win their first-round series (22:47). Then they look forward to the second-round matchups of Nuggets-Suns (34:45), Jazz versus either the Mavericks or Clippers (41:25), Hawks-76ers (49:17), and Bucks-Nets (57:14). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen up all you New York fans. Veteran New York Sports Talk host, John Dostrompsky, gives his unique take on all the big stories in the Big Apple and beyond, including guest conversations, gambling picks, and reactions from you, the listener. Check out New York, New York with John Dostromsky on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Misfatch. I'm Chris Varnan, and joining me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'O. Kavanaugh, Kevin O. and Kevin O'Killian. Kevin. Give me like a, oh, blank sons thing, Chris. It's deserving tonight with the bright now sons, formerly known as the bright future sons beating the Lakers and going to the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Unbelievable. We are recording this on late Thursday night. We have just watched The Beatdown. Wow. As LeBron James and the Lakers are going fishing, as they say, and the Phoenix sons are moving on. Now, there's a ton to get to regarding this, but it was a

knockout punch that was delivered in the first quarter that could never be recovered from. Devin Booker was absolutely positively out of his mind. He comes out in the first quarter of that game. For those that didn't see

it, he has six threes. In that first quarter, he has 22 points in that first quarter. He ends up eight for nine, six of six from three. And the sons have a massive lead right off the bat. Lakers are playing catch up. The rest of the game got it to maybe like 11 or 12 at one point, you know, in the late third, fourth quarter.

But it was just too much. And then Booker at the end of the game ends up with 47 points, 11 rebounds. he is the first son's player to have 40 and 10 in a playoff game since Amari Stadamire in 2010. Long time ago. Long time ago. And he was just otherworldly. And the Lakers had, you know, it's kind of shocking, honestly, Kev. I don't know how you felt about this game.

But you have one team that came out and was shooting the cover off the ball. Crowder's knocking down threes. Obviously, Booker's not missing at all. on the other side, like LeBron was very passive in that first half, and especially that first quarter. He wasn't going to the basket. Like you saw when it was like time to win.

It was like, all right, now let me get you out on an island and I'm going to drive to the basket. I'm going to be in control of this game. I'm going to be setting guys up. And, I mean, it was too late then. It was too late, right? Too late because Devin, too late because Devin Booker stomped on their throat.

After years of six. slander after years of claims he's a good stats bad team player devon booker on the sons he sucks 47 points don't put that on me don't put that on me ricky bobby never said you chris could never said you 47 points on 22 shots 15 of 22 from the field devon booker i mean i thought like we talked about this earlier in the series what could devon booker be if he's hitting threes off the dribble well, we just saw in game six what Devin Booker could be if he's hitting threes off the dribble and it was pretty sensational.

So for this Sun's team, a big congratulations to them and their fans who have suffered a lot this past decade. This is a special group. It's a special group, man. I think this Sun Squad against Denver, we'll talk more about next round shortly,

but I'm pumped for them. And I can't wait to see what happens. And with this Lakers team tonight, yeah, you're right, Chris. It was kind of odd. LeBron did end up with 26 shots. It's, you know, and not like he didn't possess the ball a lot throughout the course of the game. I think it was nine in the first half, though, Kev.

I think it was nine. Of course. Yeah. And maybe I wonder if part of that was him pacing himself for the end anyway, like regardless of score. I wonder if that was part of the strategy. You hear about, you know, I'm not know, there's some story or a quote, Michael Jordan talking about pacing himself for three quarters and then stomping on the throat in the fourth quarter, you know, feeling it out.

I wonder if LeBron was doing that knowing. there would come a moment where he'd have to do it every single possession, every single play. It just so happened they were down by 100 points. But on this Lakers squad, man, you know, Anthony Davis comes out for five minutes. Clearly right off the bat was not moving well, did not look like himself, pulled out of the game quickly after five minutes. Unfortunate that the Lakers dealt with injuries, you hope for them, you hope for LeBron, you hope for AD that it's a blessing in disguise to get an extended offseason. because this coming year for the NBA might start in mid-October like usual. So it could be another shortened off-season for the teams that get to the finals

and to the conference finals. So hopefully for the Lakers, the blessing in disguise. But I feel like throughout this postseason, like all year long, all year long, we talked about how, well, the Lakers are going to still get to the playoffs and blow everybody away. The Sons and the Jazz are legit. And they have a real shot here to win the whole thing, or at least get to the NBA finals. And I look forward to seeing what happens from here moving forward, get some new blood, making postseason runs.

It's going to be a good time. Well, a lot of new blood, Kev, because if you just look back and it's going to take time for us to, this is about Anthony Davis going out. I mean, let's make no mistake about that, right? I want to take no credit away from the Sons. But, I mean, if you just look at the numbers when he, played in this series versus when he didn't play in this series, it's a radical difference. They outscored the Sons with before the AD injury, they outscored the sons 38 to 350.

And then after the injury, they got outscored by 50 points. They got outscored the rest of the way, 274 to 227. It was close before. What did you say? 358 to 350. Yeah, yeah, 350. 358 to 350. No, no, no.

It wasn't like they matched them. For sure. But they lost by 50. But they lost by 50 without him. That's the problem. I mean, no doubt. The wheels came off without him. And it seemed like we talked about this, I think, earlier in the week.

It seemed to me like the sons exploited the Lakers defense without AD in ways that teams in the regular season didn't because you have time to game plan. You have time to watch film and players have time to learn tendencies. and how to attack. So I feel like we saw that in this series with the Suns, getting what they wanted against a Lakers defense that was dominant all season long. Yeah, I think one of the major problems, Kev,

beyond the fact that they were easier to prepare for when AD went out, clearly, was they didn't really know what they were. That's what that kind of exposed. There wasn't like, okay, next man up, here's this problem. Now, here's how we play. Without him, which was a little strange,

considering he had been out during the season. But there was nothing they obviously trusted. Because by the time we got to game six with their life on the line, they're starting Markasol. They're playing drum in no minutes. They're mixing and matching guys. Like there wasn't something that they felt solid about. You know, it felt like Vogel was trying to search for something in,

you know, an elimination game. It's like not something, like after all this time, it's like, that's how important he was, was when he went out, it was like, all right, now we're going to, this is how we play when we don't have Anthony Davis. And yet, there we are in game six with their season on the line, and they've got Morris guarding D'Andre Aiton. they have three centers. They have Andre Drummond.

They have Marcassau and they have Montres Herald, none of which were on the floor, none of which. Like this is, the season's on the line. And now it's like Marcus Morris that we're playing, or Marquis Morris that we're playing at center at that point. And so I feel like they were,

they were just really reaching, even in game six. And it kind of exposed the fact that there was nothing comfortable to move to without Anthony Davis in the game. It was overall a depleted team. A.D., not himself, KCP missed time. Other guys were banged up. And, you know, I think all those guys you're mentioning,

Harold and Drummond, the benefit for the Lakers, having this rotation of Biggs by Kameney is like a bullpen in baseball. You have different arms you can put out there for different situations. And for the Lakers, that only worked if you had Anthony Davis, the one who is the one who mattered most, your workhorse. Because you could pair him with him. You could run 80 at the 5 alone and not having that card to go to. I mean, we saw this last year in the bubble.

The Lakers versus the Rockets. People at one point were saying, can Houston beat the Lakers? I think I at one point said maybe they could. This could be a matchup issue. And then they go to 80 at the 5 and it's over. They couldn't do that. That was always the card in the playoffs that they could go to in case of emergency. Whenever it was time to do it, time to win.

they didn't have that. And I think we saw the dramatic difference there. And I wonder, you know, for the Lakers, what is the lesson to learn here? If you're Frank Gold, Frank Bogle on this coaching staff, we talked about they went to Gasol at the five too late, in our opinion. I wonder how they feel about that internally, the conversations that they have and how does the front office feel about the way they'll build this team out moving forward? Because you do need to have 80, give AD support with another five over the course of the season when you're facing the yokeches of the world and the bees. of the world and so on and so forth, you got to have that five. But I wonder if for the Lakers, depending on the series next time around, you go to 80 at the five earlier. Like what's the point in waiting? You fall down on a series after battle back. It just seems like to me that if assuming he's healthy at that point, it's time to go small earlier.

It's always been a thing that he doesn't want to. He would prefer not to. I know. I know. I know it's what makes them best. Whole regular season. I get it. Playoffs time to do it quick.

Time to do it right away. To me, that's the lesson. And the other thing is this, it's like to hear some of the Lakers reporters talk about it, I got the impression that this is one of those deals where when pushed to the brink, they made the decision that they made, which was not playing Andre Drummond even one minute in this elimination game. But when we kept on wondering why, why, why are they doing this? why what is he playing for

I got the impression that there was some kind of assurance given to him that's what the reporter seemed to believe that there was an assurance given to him that like if you come here you will I know I know I don't care if there's assurances

or promises or whatever this is business it's playoff time anything that's promised if you're the coaching staff like who cares it doesn't matter you're going to do it's best for your team but the those assurances that were about not only playing, but also that he's part of what they want in the future. That's the big thing. Oh, and I think that's stupid too. I think that's goofy too. And I say

who cares, but like Andre Drummond is represented by Excel and Jeff Schwartz, a ton of clients, big time clients. And so it is important to maintain that relationship. If you're the Lakers and Polenka as a former agent, I'm sure values those promises quite highly. However, that was ultimately maybe a mistake here. I do know I have had multiple executives tell me this was before Drummond signed. Before Drummond signed, I was told that his camp had fears about him being benched in a postseason setting, which is one of the reasons why you heard noise about teams like the Knicks and the Celtics that didn't necessarily have supreme finals hopes like some of these other squads, the Nets or Lakers that weren't on him.

but they could have offered more consistent and more, you know, promised minutes. And suddenly the Lakers come out of nowhere. And then they got them. So logically, I haven't heard anything like some Lakers reporters might, but logically it would make sense that there was a promise there for minutes and a starting job. But with that said, though, I'm tired of talking about the Lakers. I want to talk about the Sons. The Lakers just didn't lose the series.

The Sons won the series, Chris. They won. And, you know, Chris Paul has gotten a tremendous amount of credit. as he should, but, you know, we always go around praising all these GMs about everything. James Jones did this. James Jones pulled this off and he put, he drafted the right guys, he put together the right roster, he got the right veterans and he got the right coach too. Yes, sir.

Right? Like, I mean, the players win the games. But the job that he did in not a long amount of time, right? And there were not a million assets there. You know, they lost all those years in a row and really didn't have anything to show for it in terms of assets to move on. Like they didn't get anything for Josh Jackson. They didn't get anything for T.J. Warren. They didn't get anything for Dragon Bender or Alex Lenn or, like, you know, typically if you draft high over and over and over again, you can flip it into something, right?

Like you can do what Danny Aange did 100 years ago with Al Jefferson and somehow you can end up with the KG because, You nailed some draft picks. Like, they didn't get assets for those, but they had this great player of Booker. They had, and then he went out, and after they had already been good at the end of the year in the bubble last year. Like, last year, kind of augmented it. And he had Ricky Rubio and Aaron Baines and a couple of those guys. And then this year, you improved it even more. And you went and got Chris Paul and you got Jay Crowder.

And you got some, like, real warriors that are built for it. to flank these young guys in Aiton and Booker and Bridges. And that's the other one. The Bridges thing is a robbery. That's a robbery. Oh, you don't want Zeyer Smith? He's not in the league. I mean...

What was Iir-Smith? I wonder how he's doing. No, after the peanut thing that he had, the peanut allergy. He was weirdly, he was on the Memphis Hustle roster for the G-League bubble. he never played. I don't know if he ever ended up. I never, he wasn't even on the bench or anything. Great athlete. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was a great athlete. But I mean, that was, I mean, that is, that's a big move to enable what's taking place right now. For sure. God, hey, how good would Bridges look on the Sixers? Oh, perfect, huh? Yeah. I mean, imagine Bridges and Thibble together.

That'd be crazy. But this is just some fantasy for Sixers fans. But James Jones has done a really, really good job he had James Jones outstanding i mean like this is you know kind of the the the center piece of the sun's feature that i wrote a couple months ago james jones and monny williams building this thing out when you know helping support you know this talent around the around devon booker and around dionre aton and i think about the son's team and i think about at aton specifically the sacrifice that a number one pick taking the career low and shots and points and changing who he is and the perception of who he is, somebody who was criticized as a player who did not try, who did not focus, who had lacked awareness.

And he's become a player who sets a tone with his hustle and running the floor and his screening and his rim running and his defense and his rebound, like all of it. Like he sets a tone. He's become that player for the sons. And, you know, when I talk to Aiton for the story a couple months back, he, he credit to his teammates like a lot of people do, you know, but I, I, but I, I, but I, leaving from him, just the way he talks about it, saying they always push me, they're always on me. Monty Williams said to me that we're always on him, guys are always on him, I'm always on

them, everybody pushes him. And I think he's kind of, Aiton to me is representative of what this team is, because it is a group that sacrifices, that plays for each other, that plays together. And, you know, I saw some tweets tonight, you know, of people saying the NBA can't be happy about, you know, Lakers being out, LeBron being out, and all that. And I get it. Like, I get having some of these star players and Steph losing in the plane. I get it. But the story of the Phoenix Suns, the story of the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks and some of these teams that are in there for the first time, some of these teams that have been through it before. To me, like, this is awesome. Like, I'm so excited to see these teams moving forward.

Kev, we got a lot of new blood. You know, one of the stories that's going to come out of this and it's going to be a big conversation piece is the fact that both of our finals participants are out in the first round. The Miami Heat aren't around anymore. The Los Angeles Lakers aren't around anymore. The other team, interestingly enough, in the east was the Boston Celtics,

they're not around anymore. There's only one that remained, and they're hobbled, and it's Denver. Yeah, the team that lost their second best player to a torn ACL is still in. They're the ones that are still around. And even if you go deeper, if you just go to the final eight teams

that were there, Toronto missed the playoffs. Milwaukee, they're moving on to the second round. Miami swept in the first round. Boston lost in the first round. Denver, they're moving on. The Clippers are down three, two in the first round. Houston, missed the playoffs completely.

Lakers lost in the first round. I mean, you only have... You've got Milwaukee and you've got Denver that are remaining and the clippers are on the ropes. they've got to win too straight if they're going to move on. That's up the final eight teams that were there in the bubble last year. I'd love to know. I don't know how to look something like this up. There's no way.

Really good with stats. Like probably Elias has it already. How many times an NBA history has this happened? No way. Two of eight of the final eight or one of four of the final four have been, got to the final eight the following year in the playoffs. I'd love to know like how many times that's happened. It's probably on how many would you say like how many would you guess Chris?

Four it could happen. Four it could happen where one of them, you know, is the only one that gets there. Because those teams can those teams could turn over. But eight to two. Yeah, eight to two. Yeah. I don't think that that's happened many times. I've set the over under like six and a half.

Well, because how many, you know, if you've got the great, great players in the league, you make the playoffs every year. Yeah. Right. And then you usually win at least in the first round. So therefore you're in the final 18s that are there, right? Like if you had Shaq, you were in the second round every year. If you had most, there's a lot of guys that were like that.

There were some guarantees. Yeah. Ball, not always guaranteed, but close to it. Yeah, for sure. I mean, Dirt Novitsky, when was the last time, you know, you were in the playoffs at least and then you're probably moving on to the second round. But I mean, I don't know. It may have, it may be more common than we think.

think, but, I mean, the premier teams, I mean, to not have either. Dirk lost in the first round a lot, though. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he wouldn't have been in the final. I'm saying, but if you've got the great players, you're in the playoffs, therefore, with a crack at it. And it's not like they filter in new playoff teams every single year, right? This year, well, I don't know how many of them would be new.

I mean, you did have Toronto fall out. You did have some other teams that fell out of it. But, you know, the Lakers and the clippers and the trailblazers and the Nuggets and those teams were there last year. So it's interesting. And, you know, it's going to take a long time to figure out what the bubble meant. Do you wonder, you know, is it that the bubble wasn't as realistic? or is it the impact that the bubble season had on this season that made these teams in many cases debilitated?

Could be none of it. Right? You know, it could be that the suns and jazz just got better. It could just be that, you know, Yokic got better because he did. He did. But those were healthy teams. Those were healthy teams. Yeah.

And there were a lot of those teams that did not have the seasons that they wanted to have because they were not healthy. Those teams, I mean, look, usually the best teams are the healthiest teams, right? They stay. I know. I'm just saying, like, there's a chance the Sons could have won this series, even if the Lakers had A.D. and LeBron the whole time. Like, there's a chance.

I agree with that. I picked the Lakers and set them before the series. I said it was going to be close. Then AD gets set back. Sons were in six. And I think there's a real shot the Sons would have win it because this team's legit. The Jazz are legit, you know? You're always one injury away.

So you can't make excuse. We were here talking about this. Like, man, if they don't have Chris, they're not going to, they wouldn't. They're not going to win this without Chris Paul, right? And likewise, they weren't going to win this without Anthony Davis. Sure. You're one injury way. And that's what's going to make this next series with the Sons and Nugget so fascinating

because Chris Paul still not 100%. Looks like he's getting better over the course of this series. But he's definitely not full on 100% Chris Paul like we saw prior to that. that's for sure. Speaking of the series that they are going to lead into, I went back and looked to find out about those two teams playing this year. They played back-to-back games in December or January. One of them went to overtime, the other one went to double overtime.

And I was like, oh, wow, like if this is any kind of indication of what we could be getting. But then I went and pulled up the box score, and I was like, oh, my God. Yokic is literally the only starter left from the Denver team that took the floor in the Denver Phoenix games that took place this year. The starting five was Yokic with Murray, Barton, Gary Harris, and Paul Millsap. Just looking at that box score from January in these double overtime games against. the Phoenix Suns, and I'm like, holy mackerel. Like if anybody wanted to think twice about whether or not Nicolioch is worthy of most valuable player, I went and pulled that box score and I'm like, that is insane.

They just won a playoff series with four different guys than a box score I looked up to see, hey, how do these teams match up? Like, that is, it's useless to me, right? That box score was beyond useless to me. 100% is. It's like, okay, it's not even the same team that is, would be playing against the Suns. Meanwhile, the Sun's roster was basically the same.

They were starting Cam Johnson instead of Crowder, but that's about it. You know, they had their guys. It's going to be interesting here, man. I think for Yokic, Nurkich was a, as a top. matchup, you know, we will talk about that game. But, um, eight and eight and has just really step up to the challenge here. This is going to be a unique challenge for him, um, in that series against Nicole Yokic, uh, Yokic, uh, Yokish is such a monster.

What he did to Nurkich in that series, what he did to Ennis Cantor, especially, like, canter got eaten alive, dude. Uh, like, there's just no answers at all. Nurkich at least held his own, battled hard, made it hard on him. This is going to be the greatest challenge of Aiton's life to slow down Nicole Yokic. And I look forward to seeing what the sun's doing that series. What's crazy is at the end of that series, the Blazers were plus 45 with Nurkich on the floor. And to your point about the whole canter and, and like they tried Covington.

They tried everything. They were minus 53 with him off the floor. Like the fact that Yusuf Nurkich was the most valuable player to your team, you know, know, in this series. Damn, I mean, this is a valuable player. In terms of on off court is all I'm saying, right? Like that they couldn't survive at all without Nurkaj on the cord. And he's still getting cooked, right?

It's just he's cooked less because Yokic ends that series averaging 35 and 10, four and a half assist. And he splits her 53% from the field, 43% from 3, 92% from the line. Unbelievable. I mean, it's tough if you're, if you're Terry Stott, you look at the bench, Ennis Cantor's a nice guy, but he's a horrible defender. And like with the Blazers, that's that you just mentioned. I can't attest to whether he's a nice guy either.

I can't attest to that. He's a smiley guy. We can say that at least, you know, social media. He smiles and smiles, yeah. But I think I've heard, I've heard Canter is a really sweet guy. I already said, I already's a scumbus. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

I don't know either. But following up on the stat that you just mentioned, Chris, in the series versus the Nuggets, with Dame and Nerkich on the court, the Blazers outscored the Nuggets by 13 points for one and no possession. So they had a plus 13 with Dame without Nirkich, a minus seven. So like even with Dame on the court without Nirk, their defense was just getting crushed. And that's the difference there. They were still putting out buckets regardless of who was on the court with Dane.

you'd expect. But defensively, they had a 113 defensive reading with Dame and Nurkich that plummeted to 128 with Dame and without Nurkich. Like they had to have Nurkich out there to have any shot. And if you're a Blazers fan, I tweeted this out earlier tonight. Oh, we saw. Oh, yeah. Oh, we say. I mean, I mean, how long had that been in the drafts? Don't tell a lot. About five minutes. I'm serious. Like I typed it up that night. I found the photo minutes before the tweet. What did you Google to find this photo of Terry Stott's? Just Terry Stott's. No, you didn't.

You didn't? You really? I went to an image database, not Google. I went to an image database, yeah. But you didn't say like Terry Stott's sad or Terry Stats. I think it was from tonight. No, I'm pretty sure that photo is from tonight's game. It's a current photo.

Yeah, current. Yeah, it's a very up-to-date. Because when I Google, there was only photos of him in a suit. I'm like, that's the last season. Coach just don't wear suits anymore. as I tweeted though it is fitting the way the Blazers lost because they blew a 14 point lead

that they had in the middle of a third quarter a 14 point lead at home at home and the reason why they blew it was the reason why I had no trust in this team all season long their defense stinks 29th ranked during the regular season it's a horrible defense I'm sorry and on offense I feel like they lack imagination around Dame.

Like if Dane isn't going, they have nothing. If Dime isn't going, he was not going in that fourth quarter at that second half. He was, I mean, the second half, you wonder if it was. And look,

the Nuggets played in that game too. But it was a double overtime game that he had 55 points in, right? And he played the whole third quarter, didn't get his rest of the start of the fourth. I bet he was tired. And because he had his team on his back. The whole season, And they had so many, like, credit to Damian Lillard.

Like, sometimes there's people who say, why doesn't Dame get any blame? Dame does deserve some blame for being a lackluster defensive player. But he is so magnificent offensively. Who cares? It's on the others to make up for who he just had naturally is as a smaller point guard on defense. He carried this team to the playoffs. He carried them, Nirk, which was out, McCollum got off to a great start, then suddenly he was out. other guys were in and out of the lineup and Damien lowered was the guy the whole way

that steered them on the offensive and on the floor and gave them a shot in games and kept them in the playing race and eventually pushed them to get the six seed after the tiebreaker with the Lakers and it's on the front office to build out this roster assuming the LL She even even stays there could be a change there I would not be surprised I'll tell you what Chris I wouldn't be surprised if this entire Blazers's organization looks different for next season. Front office, coaching staff, and the supporting cast around Damien Lowe. It would not shock me one bit.

What they say at the very end of the game, I think it was, did they say four out of five or three out of four? I don't want to misquote it, but it was, I think it was four out of five, they said first round to exit. Obviously,

they went to the West Finals in that one year, a couple of years ago, but that the other years that they've gotten balanced in the first round. So, I mean... I got it for you. Yeah. Starting back in 2013-14,

Second round loss, first round loss, second round lost. First round, first round, conference finals, first round, and then now first round. Four or five. Yeah, four or five. Besides that worst in conference run, when they made it all the way there, got smoked in four games by the Warriors. Yep. So it's four out of five years.

Four out of five with a legendary player on your team and Damien Lord. That is underwhelming. There's no question. I don't know if you saw the Nerkich thing in the locker room after the game. I didn't see that. Oh, God. They asked him if he wanted to come back. And he was like, depends on, depends.

And he's like, you know, I'm going to talk to my agent, Rich Paul. He shouted out his agent. I was like, oh, boy. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And obviously, you know, there's going to be the CJ stuff coming up again.

He said it would have to be the right situation. If it was the right situation, you know. And then they said, what is the right situation? And he said, this is not the right situation. And he said, this is not the right situation. Oh, my. I've got a non-guaranteed contract. I don't even know if I'm going to be back.

I mean, the Blazers are going to guarantee that deal unless he pushes his way out. Right. I mean, you never know. Crazier things have happened. I mean, he shouted at his agent by name. He wanted everybody to know, I am represented by Rich Paul. I'm going to leave that to Rich Paul, my agent. We'll see what happens.

Rich Paul and that story published recently referred to the Lakers as we. he did look all right we do need to talk about the Blazers they're going to have a hell of an off season to say the least

what was that story did you read that what the New Yorker one yeah the New Yorker one yeah yeah because he it's kind of funny when he referred to the Lakers

as we the author said like what do you mean we he's like well I have six clients on the team it was such a funny response the other team that they were playing is the Nuggets,

and they were led by Yokic, but they also got 26 points out of Michael Porter Jr. They got 22 points out of Monta Morris. Dude, and... That first quarter was crazy by Porter. Oh, my. Well, you know what? I think I think I've got this right,

because there were two others that they said did it, the six-threes in a quarter, but I believe that in terms of doing it in the first quarter that Porter Jr. did it in the first quarter and he was the first guy to ever hit six three-pointers in the first quarter of a playoff game, right? Interesting. Booker did it in the next game. They're the only two in NBA history.

That's great. I didn't know Porter was the first to do it. I'm not surprised. There's other guys that have hit six, but doing it in the first quarter. The first quarter. But then we went to the late game. I mean, if I'm Michael Porter, I call up Devin Booker, I go, what's your problem? Like, I can't have one NBA record.

You know what I mean? Like, without you, without you pissing on it in the next game? Come on, bro. Like, some of these records, though, like that, like, I walked in the room there and I watched a little bit of America's got talent with my mom. Yeah. And there's this guy that on there who, like, does stuff breaking world records. He does different world records that he breaks. And what he did on stage was like, he sat on.

Walnuts. It was like breaking as many walnuts in 30 seconds as you could. That's his talent? Yeah, that's what he did on stage. The record all time was like 68 or something. And he got, I think, 78 or 79 in 30 seconds.

Like he just sit on them, one after the other. And that's sort of feels like most threes in the first quarter feels like it's just like, no, I guess. No, how dare you?

No. Well, he's just selecting the first quarter. What about most three's in a quarter? No, no, no. But this is what you want. I'm kidding. I'm kidding around. I know, but the reason you want that is because when Steph Curry inevitably

hit seven in the first quarter of a playoff game, then they're going to say, the last guy to do this was Michael Porter Jr. That's at least you get your name thrown out there, right? By the way, I don't know what kind of answer the sons are going to have for Supernova Austin Rivers, who is now shooting 54% from three on five attempts a game in the last five games and hits huge ones. The Austin Rivers thing,

every time they throw it out to him and he buries another one, I'm like, this is unbelievable. Like he wasn't even on a team for two months, Kevin. He was just sitting out there. The Knicks got rid of him and he was just available.

And he's like helping them win playoff games. I feel like he just shows up and hits these big ass shots every once in a while. He's got the confidence of I mean, a warrior, man. He's unbelievable. And you watch that team.

I love seeing him play. I love seeing him play. You just watch that team and you're like, how? How? And you've got to be humiliated if you're Portland. Come on. That's, I just told you what the starting lineup for Denver looked like in January. And now what they're starting lineup, they don't even have that anymore, right? I mean, the guys that are running out there.

You know, in the fourth quarter, I mean, no offense to these guys because they played great. I think you want to rate Denver, Chris, I do. I think you under rate them. No, they're good players. Yeah. They're good players. Yeah, but they're not starters.

You know what I'm saying? Like, they wouldn't be starting. Next to Yokic, the way he lifts, I think it's really a testament to the greatness of Nicola Yokic, to be honest with you. I do. I really do. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

But we agree like this. But I mean, like it's. Michael Porter Jr. is awesome. I know. Michael Green is fine. Monty Morris is fine. Austin Rivers is fine. What I'm saying is like in a vacuum is irrelevant.

Like it doesn't matter. What matters is what the situation is. And like in the situation, the players and their skills are amplified next to Yokic and their weaknesses are minimized. Like that's, that's what he does. And like I don't, I think the name Austin Rivers,

you know, Campozo and, you know, Marcus Howard and Harrison. and old Paul Millsap, like the names on paper aren't great in a vacuum, they aren't great. In many situations, they may not be great. But when you're paired with Yokic, that's ultimately all that matters. And when you're paired with him, their skills work.

It works. And that's because of him and why he's the MVP and why he could become, if he does this for long enough, one of the greatest players we've ever seen in the history of basketball. He's certainly the most talented passer I have ever seen. I mean, it is remarkable what he can do out on the basketball court. and to see him score the way he does as well. It's like he's one of those players. There's sometimes like Damien Lured is one of these guys on the other side.

It's a privilege to watch Yokic play basketball. He is unfreaking believable. I do think it will show up in the next round though. Against Phoenix. Yeah, the lack of help does have those better names. Yes. Yeah.

Maybe, maybe. I don't know. It's hard to bring Monti Morris against Chris Paul. and Austin Rivers against Devin Booker. This is a good player, man. He's a good player. He is a good backup point card, Kevin, who is playing exceptionally well right now, right?

I think you're underrating. What, do you think he should be a starter in the league? I don't know. Like I said, in a vacuum doesn't matter. I don't know if he should be a starting league. I'm saying, like in Denver, in this situation, the way they play, the way who Yokach is, like I don't care if he's a starter on another team.

It's like it doesn't matter. It just doesn't make a difference. I'm saying it will matter in the next round. That's when it's going to matter. You know what I'm saying? When like now you're at a talent. Murray. Now you're at a talent deficit.

Right. Yeah, but to me like that against the team that can defend. Yeah. But to me it's like, it's about what do you do to Yokic still? Aiton is going to face the greatest challenge of his life here. And with, with this guy,

with Aiton playing at the level that he has. If you're Phoenix, do you double Yokic? Do you play single coverage? Do you mix it up? Try to throw different looks at him. I look forward to seeing what Monty Williams and the suns draw up. I really am. I think from a tactical point of view,

this could be a repeat of the first round series of Nuggets, blazers, or some terms of little tactical tweaks, just being a straight-up fun series. I'm expecting a lot more of that. And not unlike. In this way, he could be a massive advantage. Let's just say he makes it very, very difficult on Aiton,

Aitin picks up fouls, Aitin can't stay on the court for whatever reason. They ain't got anything else. The same way we just talked about having to play Enis Canter, if you want to play anybody with some size. Like, you're just going to have to play like Tori Craig or you're going to play Jay Crowder. You're going to try something like that

because otherwise you're going to put Frank Kaminsky out on him. You're going to put, You're going to put Frank Kaminsky out on Nicoliochic? Like, what do you expect? What do you expect is going to happen if that's the case? Right? So that's why that becomes mega important too. And that could be on the other side.

That could be one of those things where it is as good a job as he's done. James Jones has real regrets over not just getting one of the Kem Birch, Gorgie, Jing, whoever, another big body that could give me 10 minutes. know what I'm saying? Because you need a big body that can not get slaughtered when he's out there. And obviously, that was not the case with Canter. They don't really have another one either. Kaminsky, I mean, unless somehow Janele Smith comes out of nowhere and he's a secret

weapon that we're not talking about, not thinking about. Like, they don't really have that answer. And with Phoenix, that's why Aiton is so important. Like, he, Aiton, the great thing about him, he never gets into foul trouble. But against Yokic, it's hard not to fall into foul trouble. It's hard. It is hard. Hard not to, especially when he's getting the ball at the top of the key now so much, right?

And just playing from there. So many chances for him to rip through to draw a file. Just to bury himself any of you going to the basket. So many opportunities to draw files for Yokic. All right. So we've got that series that is going to be said. That it's actually going to be highly, highly entertaining. The other one we do not have set yet.

Utah has moved on as they disposed of Memphis last night. I will tell you that when they started that game, there have been a couple of these now. Obviously, Phoenix tonight. We saw Milwaukee in that game two against the heat. But last night, the Jazz started out against the Grizzies 15 for 19. They were 8 of 10 from 3 and dropped 47 points. I mean, every three they took. I think Royce O'Neill missed two, and he's the only one that missed any shots.

I mean, they were just unbelievable, and that's what they do. They shoot a ton of threes, and they shoot them in an extremely high rate. And they are sitting back and getting to rest and waiting on their opponent, whoever it's going to be, and that is going to be the winner of Clippers Mavs. And we have, Lord knows we've talked about it from both sides, but I will hang on to what I said on Tuesday, which was, you know, Luca was the best player in the first two games. Kauai was the best player in the second two games.

So who's going to be the best player the rest of the way, right? And we got our answer last night because, holy crap. I mean, I guess he's fine now because he looked pretty banged up prior to. But Jesus, 42 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds. And he plays a part in 31 of 37 baskets, which I think. I read this morning was the highest percentage. Anybody has ever played a role in that many baskets ever. I mean, he was, he's otherworldly.

And now I don't want to make any kind of like huge proclamations because we saw the way the Clippers responded the last time that they played in Dallas. This has been a very strange series where the home team can't win. But we do get a game six in that. And which of those teams do? do you think poses a bigger threat to Utah? I really. I'm not sure.

Don't know. I don't know. It's very interesting in both situations. I would say the clippers with their ability to play small, the spacing that trying to force Goberra out of the paint is interesting. And they shoot threes at a very high rate or did during the regular season. And on the other side of it, though, Chris Stapp's Porzingis for Dallas, the spacing on offense could be helpful,

pull Gobert out as much as you can. But defensively, I mean, that pick and roll with Mike Conley or Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Chris Stapes, has not been good on defense. And that could be an issue for them. I mean, I feel like it's kind of a coin flip. I hate not to choose one here, but I haven't thought about it until you asked it that much. But both of those present some challenges in their own ways. I'd pick Utah in either series, but both of them present different types of challenges.

I would say for Utah and the way their defense is structured, it might be a little bit easier to game plan for the way the Mavericks play all through Luca rather than through multiple guys, like with Kauai and with Paul George. But it's really close between those. And one thing I wanted to say about you bringing up Lucas his 42 point game, after that game, I was texting with somebody and I said, dumb question to them. I'm reading the text right now.

Did Luca have an off game? I know he was 17 of 37 for 42 points and 14 assists, but he was 11 of 25 from two point range. He could be better. And I texted that saying, I'm a fool, you know, even suggesting that.

And then Luca says after the game, I was terrible. I think we're on the same page here. He was 11 of 25 from two point range. He missed so many layoffs. and floaters around the basket. That's what Luca pointed out. And it's just kind of funny because that was my, that's the way I felt watching that

game. As amazing as he was, he could have been even better. Like that could have been a 60 bomb. He only scored 42 on 37 points. We just saw Devin Booker score 4017 on what, 18 shots? I forget the exact number. Big difference. Luca could be better, just like Kauai should be better.

Amy had the editor ball at the end of the game. You should get a better Kauai. You could get a better Luca. I'm fired up. Like this series has been wild. It's going to be a fun one, man. And who knows? And there's always these, you know, I follow that account,

stats muse. And they're always putting out like, you know, this is what happened in this game. This is what happened in this game. And I'll and I jot all these down as to have them for our notes for different things. if we're going to be talking about something, but I audibly laughed when I was scrolling through after that one. And one of the things they put up was it was this,

they got those odd graphics. It's like these cartoon graphics almost, of these guys, but the graphic was of Zubat, and the stat was the clippers are 0 in three in games that Zubats has played 18 or more minutes. Oh, God. And it was just this cartoon of

Ivakazu bots. And I was like, what a stat. They are 0 and 3 when he plays 18 or more minutes. Did you see the stat they had last week about how Chris Staps for Zingis average this four rebounds per game? Campazo, who's like five foot two, averages more than him. Dude, like stat muse,

stat muse to me. I love their stuff because basketball and sports are supposed to be fun. And stats are supposed to be fun. And the stats that they put out are informative but fun. And with the art, it makes it fun. And there's some stats that are out there. Like, I don't know what I'm looking at. Like, it's like, you know, put on some glasses and look really closely.

It's like some stats are confusing. StatMuse does a great job putting out stuff that delivers the information that should be conveyed in a digestible way. I mean, I just had to say that to compliment them because I love their account. I always learned something

seeing their stuff. Here's a thing. And per them, you can now keep this in mind as you are watching Game 6 monitor. As soon as that thing gets to 18 minutes for Zubots, you can just go ahead and say

the clippers are losing. If he plays 18 or more minutes, they are done. Yeah. Don't do that necessarily. But it is interesting. Yeah. It is interesting.

I can't wait for that game six. And again, I'm done having an opinions on that, right? I do think either of those guys are totally possible, capable of being the best player in a said game, much less the best player in a series. And it really has come down to you can look at the five games. It doesn't always line up this way. but in three of the games, Luca Donch has been the best player on the floor and in two of the games,

Kauai Leonard's been the best player on the floor. Sometimes it's that simple, really. Sometimes it's as simple as a team that shoots three is better. You know, like that's what Ty Lou argued after the first two games. That's right. Sometimes it really is simple. I mean, hell,

they have shot a lot better in L.A. It's crazy. Why can't they shoot American Airlines like that? You know what I mean? It won't shock me one. if we get a game seven on Sunday. Oh, I hope so. I hope we do get some game sevens

because we've had some series and even since we last spoke. Trey Young taking a bow like he's in a fucking Broadway show. I told you, if he was going to embrace being the villain, I might have to turn with him. Right?

You know what I mean? Because the same way I liked the bad guy wrestlers. I thought that was so funny. He, that was on a big stage and they wipe, they wipe them out, man.

I was surprised by that outcome. I really was. I was surprised that that series did not go to six games. You know, I figured the Knicks would at least get two of the games. But Atlanta, I think they put everybody on notice, don't you? He was amazing. And they say whatever you want. That Knicks team was a good defensive team this year.

And Bogdanovich was awesome. and Trey got done with that series, his first playoff series ever, and he averaged 29 points and 9.8 assists. I mean, what are you to do? Do you think the Hawks can beat the Sixers if Embed is either limited or does he need to be out? Like what needs to happen with Embed for the Hawks to win the series? If he, if Joe L. Embedd does not play in that series, they will not beat that Hawks team. I'm with you.

I'd pick the Hawks. With Dwight Howard? Yeah. I'm with you. If the Hawks, if the Hawks face a Sixers team without Embed, I will pick the Hawks to win the series. Absolutely.

But we don't know with Indeed. We don't know. This is dicey because, look, here's what I'll say. Torne menace. If they get him back. Torne meniscus,

right? I talked about this during, you know, the Tuesday pod. And hopefully people understand that while I am not, carrying a medical degree in 20 years of sitting courtside in the NBA,

I might as well. The hamstring thing with AD or the groin thing. The second we talked about, I said it's not going to improve, right? The meniscus thing, a lot of guys that I've covered have gone through this.

And we talked about this because it's going, it's happening with Wiseman. It just happened with Jaron Jackson. This year, younger players sometimes it will decide that you can either get it repaired or you can get it removed. You know, I've talked about this in the past. It's almost like imagine if there's a frayed string that's in your knee and you can either tie it back together and take the time for that to strengthen back.

And that's what you do if you've got like you haven't gotten your $100 million and you've got it 10 years or more ahead of you. older guys when they have the meniscus thing, they go into the offseason and then they just get it cut out, right? And you just remove it. And then it ends up later down the road, bone on bone, but you've already got your $100 million,

so it's not that big of a deal, right? Here's what I'm telling you. It's going to swell up, and it's going to be a thing for the rest of the playoffs. He's got to make it six more weeks if they're going to make a run to the title. No chance. It's definitely going to be a thing, for sure.

There's no chance. that, I mean, no doubt it'll be a thing. Well, because you don't have a choice right now. You can't do either. You can't repair it or remove it. It's just going to bother you. And it's going to swell up. And so then what?

Like, I mean, he's not going to be right. He's not going to be right until he gets to the off season and then makes a decision on that. Yeah. And like that, it sucks, man. It really sucks. It sucks. It's awful. I mean, I think with Joe on Labede, he's been relatively healthy after a horrible start

of his career. missing time and the surgeries he's had. He's been relatively healthy, but it just, it just seems like there's always something that pops up. And it just, it sucks so much because this Sixers team, being the one seed, the roster that they've built around him and Ben Simmons, the level that those two are playing at together and the chemistry that they've developed after years of, you know, talks that they can't play together, it felt like they were at the point where, yeah, they can and they could win. They could win it all with them with a team that's been built around them by Daryl and Elton Brand and now, you know, new coaching staff with Doc Rivers and everything. It just felt

like it was their time. I don't know. It just takes the air out of what I was really hoping would be a fun three-team race in the east and now. I mean, we'll find out in a new series here. If M. B. can't get back or even just misses the start, we saw Ben Simmons in the starting five with Matisse Thibel joining him. They didn't go with Dwight Howard. They didn't go with a big. They played Simmons essentially as a five who handled the ball. Will we see a lot more of that against the Atlanta Hawks?

Because facing a Clint Capella is a lot different than facing Gafford. It's a lot different than facing Lopez, like Washington was thrown out there. Capella is a really good player. John Collins is a really good player. Different challenges if you play Ben Simmons at the five. So I look forward to seeing what the Sixers do. I would not shock me one bit and I'd be willing to bet that we'll probably see a big with Ben Simmons at least to start the series because of Capella. But we'll see.

We'll see what happens. And let me make this clear. You can play with it. You can. You know what I mean? It's not going to keep him out. What I'm saying is it's going to be a problem. It's going to bother you.

You're not going to be the full version of yourself. He may play this out and he may tough it out. right and risk you know so things in the future because you got a chance at the title but you're not going to get the full version of joel mb like you would have if he if he hadn't torn this thing um and so it's brutal if they don't have him it's going to be very very difficult uh for them to even beat the hawks and i actually think it would probably be pretty long series but dependent on how many games he plays, even at is whatever percent he would be at,

whatever amount he plays, would determine who I think. If they are without him, I think the Hawks would advance. If he can play for the seven, I mean, I could see him winning a game without him and then winning three with him.

So, I mean, he just, they need him, but they ain't beaten Milwaukee without him. I promise he. that. This is a team that I had going to the finals. And I would change that now. One thing I look forward to seeing is let's say they have Simmons out there at the five and you're going to see a lot of Trey Young, Clint Capella pick and rolls.

Trey Young this season, when he ran a pick and roll and defenses switched the screen, he scored 1.1 points per chance, which is incredible, considering the level of volume that he was switched against. That's an incredible number according to the second spectrum. So for the Sixers, if you do go small, there's some concern there. If you go with another big, how that affects you on offense without Embed, potentially without Embedd, like it's no winning either way. You add something, you take something away, regardless of what you choose to do.

And it's going to be a dilemma if they don't get Embedit. If it beats back and even if he's, you know, 75%, you can win the series. But without Embed, I'd pick Atlanta to win this. They're a tough team. They're a good team and they're playing at a really high level for months now. This isn't just one series. It's been months of high level play. Then because of the situation, and we're assuming that MBE is going to be,

it's going to be very difficult for him. Because of that situation, Kev, that other series becomes the de facto who will represent the East. Very well good. That's very well could be the East Finals that we're watching between Milwaukee and Brooklyn. which is going to get cracking this weekend. And I can't tell you the last time I looked forward to it. I mean, I cannot wait for that series.

I really can't. Saturday, right? Yes. I mean, and I think part of it was a few weeks ago we had that game. Janice went crazy and Durant went crazy simultaneously. And it was like, oh my God, imagine if we could watch seven games of this. Right. Just two absolute bonafide stars at peak of powers.

And that's how it felt like they were in that game. And these teams are, you know, we chronicled it on Tuesday. They're polar opposites in terms of kind of like how they got to where they are right now. And I do think that they are extremely well matched against each other. I do. Like they, who drew Holiday Guard is like the first subplot of this. It is. Do they put him on Kyrie Irving?

Do they say, you know what? We want you on James Hardin. Do they, what do they do with? Do they switch? Yeah. Are they going to switch on these guys? Do they switch everything or just some things? And how do they execute?

Because like the, the nets, the way in which like Hardin especially just dictates the matchup that he gets and not just the matchup that he gets on him, but where players are matched up away from the ball to dictate how a team might have helped defense if he attacks the basket, like multiple switches within a possession. How much are the bucks switching off the ball and on the ball? There's so much to watch for on Saturday.

And the other thing, Kevin, is do you stay big? You know what I mean? And use the size to your advantage. On offense, post-ups. And they've done a little of that. We've seen them sprinkling in. I bet we will. I bet you we will.

Well, and then it's like, okay, the way this becomes an advantage for us is now we're going to destroy you on the offensive boards too. Even if we miss shots, we're going to be able to get it back because we're so much bigger than you. On the other hand, right? So it is this battle of wills. Are we going to play the scoring contest game and run out small with you and we'll just play PJ Tucker? And that's what we're going to do, right? we'll let PJ Tucker guard Blake or Brown or Clax.

Whoever you run out there is your fifth guy, right? But we're going to match up the rest of the way. We'll put Janus on Therrant. Drew's going to guard one of them. Middleton's going to guard one of them. And we'll put Connton on one of them, you know, Harris or whoever. And then we're going to try to mix a match.

But then that five thing ends up becoming. It's the least important, right? I think on both teams, and yet it might become the most important in terms of dictating how the series goes. I wouldn't call it the least important for Milwaukee. Brooklyn Lopez is critical. No, no, no, no. I'm saying of the four guys that are on the court, right?

It's the one on Brooklyn you're least worried about that position. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt about it. Yeah. It's the position you're least worried about. And yet it might dictate how you have to play the rest of it. Well, one thing I will say is I was listening, I was like, Chris is talking about will Milwaukee go big or will Milwaukee go small. They have a choice. Brooklyn doesn't when it comes to that. I mean, like, if you get DeAndre Jordan out onto the court for Brooklyn, that's a win for Milwaukee. If they're like, oh, geez, we get to go with DJ. We get, like Steve Nash goes on the sidelines and says, DJ, you're in. That's a win for the Nets. I'm aside. That's a win for the bucks if that happens. So that's the benefit of the way your buddy, John horse,

and the Bucks have built this roster out where they have lineup flexibility. Boodenholzer has options with the way he can dictate the way in which they're going to play. And that, to me, gives them an edge in that sense. That's why for the Nets, it was important. That's why they chased Drummond, didn't get them. That's why they signed Aldridge.

Unfortunately, he had to retire. That's why, you know, that was so important for them. And then lacking that could be an issue. But could they go with Nick Claxton for more minutes. He is not a big bruising guy, but he's big and he's long. He's lean, but he's long.

I wonder if we'll see Nick Claxton get unleashed for more than like 18 minutes. And he needs to stay out of fall trouble, and he needs to stay on the floor and all that. But he, on paper, could be the X factor for the net side of things, where if they do have to go with size, Claxton could play a very, very, very important role

for Brooklyn in the series. Like, dude, Saturday is going to be good time. If they don't, it's going to be good. If they don't, they might just relent and be like, you know what the hell with the switching thing? We're going back to the drop coverage thing. And look, protect the rim, Brooke. Blake, if you want to hit 53s, go. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Yeah. Because any shot to Blake, I don't think it's going to be, it's not going to be Blake shooting those threes, though. It's going to be hard end or Hiree or Kevin Duran. No, no, no. I'm saying whoever is the five, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, he's not going to be shooting. in the threes though. It's Hardin or

Kyrie or Kevin Durant. And they'll just use them as a screener constantly to make you enable you to not do that at all. I can't wait to see how Milwaukee defense to open this game up. I'm so looking forward to seeing what they do. Yeah. That was, that

is, look, we're going to have some really good series and I hope that we get at least I hope, I kind of hope the Clippers Dallas thing goes to a game seven just so we get that. We're not getting it. We're not going to get it in the Denver, Portland series anymore.

And I guess that's our only chance, right? We only got one chance at a game seven now in anything. Because everything else is all wrapped up. This has been very, very good so far. And the Phoenix Suns have eliminated the L.A. Lakers. Who would have ever guessed it? Honestly, this is crazy. It's crazy.

Last year's champion. Last year's champion, they're gone. Before we go, I just want to plug a couple of different things. We have a sons DeAndre Aiton analysis that went out for the void this week. You can check that on the ringer's YouTube page. We didn't talk about the Celtics, you know, Danny Aange retiring today. I figured the ringer had a lot of content on it. We did have a lot of content, did a pod on Ryan Rusillo's podcast feed with Jackie Mac

and Bill Simmons and Ryan talking all about that. And yeah, check out the ringer for a whole bunch of other playoff content. We have a lot of good stuff up there from this past week, and I'm sure we'll have a heck of a lot on Friday and over the coming days as these games get going. It's been a fun first round. I can't wait for what we get going forward. And also, in addition to that the Celtics pod, I listened to the one that you guys all did, the Boston crew did.

And then to juxtapose that, there was a group chat that I listened to with Mahoney and Woz. And it was so great to hear Charks. Oh, yeah. So good to hear him, man. Jonathan Charks was on there too. But, hey, you want to talk about the polar opposite of the, you know, Rissillo, Danny Aange, and all that stuff. Go check out Was on that group chat that they posted today. Oh, my God.

He's not as big a fan. He's not as big a... And he's legit hilarious. He is super entertaining. Sometime on the second round or maybe the... Yeah, we got to get him on. And I want to talk, Gobert, because I take issue with the both of you. Your stances on Rudy Gobert.

So... I'm willing to go two on one here. If I'm with Walsh, I'm feeling good. Maybe I need someone on my team. We got a tag team. Some rest of... wrestling style here. Cole Hollinger or find some other nerd.

Yeah, it's not a bad idea, actually. Just find some nerd. There's a million nerds that love Gobert. Me and John can team up, though, if John brings up Gobert for MVP, I might have to say I'm not going that far. For MVP. But I'd be happy to have John on my team, though, to debate Rudy Gobert and his greatness. His greatness.

I can't wait until the next round. I'll tell you what. When I did do my MVP vote, I did off put O'Barre in my top five. He was on my long list. There was like 12, 15 guys this year. When did you have to, well, you turned that in a long time ago, though, right? A long time ago, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. You had Yolk it's like everybody else, right? Yep. Yeah. He should be unanimous. I don't think he will be. I don't think he will be. There'll be some guys out there that just want to not vote him, right?

Yeah. But a drum and vote maybe. I'll say this. I know that you have expressed that you are higher on some of his. supporting cast that I am. But he did nothing to hurt his case in the first round of the playoffs. Right. Like if anybody was out there being like, man, the dude's the MVP.

Like, did you just watch that? Like, he just, he's lost, he's lost his starting lineup like twice this season. He's playing, I went and looked up when they played the Suns and there's literally not one player from his starting lineup in January. and he's still murdering everybody. And he just, he probably just blew up the frigging blazers. Seriously.

And that was the one thing I, he probably blew it up. That was the one thing I argued with Nick Wright about when he was arguing for Chris Paul talking about changing the culture. The thing with Yokic is he is the culture. He's been the culture for years. He might not have brought the culture to Phoenix like Chris Paul did with Phoenix, but he's been the culture in Denver and has defined who they are.

And, I mean, you see that right now in the postseason with just his dominance. I hope Nick Wright voted Tom Brady NFL MVP for changing the culture of the bucks. Did he? Did he vote Tom Brady? Oh, wait, no. He didn't. It's the same thing. They sucked for 100 years.

Tom Brady went there and they're good. Chris, thank you for saying good things about Thomas Brady. So let's give Tom Brady the MVP last year. literally the same thing. Did I see a stat? If we're going to do that if we're going to now do culture changers for MVP, that's what we have to do. Did I see a stat today that the bucks are like the first team ever to bring back all 22 starters?

Yes, that's true. That's one of Super Bowl. That's wild. That's a crazy stat. It's Tom Brady culture. He called them all personally. That's incredible. You know what?

He did. He called them all personally. He said, your ass ain't going. nowhere. You take what they offer. I'm kidding. It's not even, not just to win the Super Bowl, the first team to play in the Super Bowl

to bring all 22 starters back. That's incredible. It's impossible. Can't wait to see. It's also impossible. There's some guy on a team that wants to go get paid somewhere, right? That's going to go to free agency

and is going to get a bag because he's got a Super Bowl championship ring. And so this is the cash in time. The fact that none of them It's wild. Are doing that is pretty wild, yeah. Situation there is. I mean, why would you not want to win Super Bowls with Tom Brady?

Like, it's legendary. It's legendary. That's why, I mean, like, Lakers just got eliminated, but that's why Kuzma resigned with LeBron. One of the reasons was like he can win here and do something beyond what an individual does. That's right. When championships, it takes a whole team. Well, the other thing is if you play there,

then nobody's going to give a shit that you scored two points when your whole season was on the line. Yeah. You know, you can do that if you're Kyle Kuzma. It's harder if you're elsewhere. This series was a struggle for him offensively. Still did a lot else. Good on the floor.

I don't know what happened to him. I thought he was a pretty good score. He just doesn't score anymore. Inconsistent and I think inconsistent touches, you know, what's out of his control has hurt what was already an issue and that's lack of consistency. It's going to be a fun weekend. It's been a fun playoff so far. We got a lot of new blood, Kev-oh.

A lot of new blood. Yeah, we do, Chris. Thank you to our executive producer, Sastra Ashau, as always, and we will talk to you next week. Everybody have a really fun weekend.