The Ringer NBA Show - Clippers Win Despite Steph’s 50, Sixers Defeat Cavs, and Ja Morant Suspended | Group Chat

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Justin, Rob, and Wos recap the Clippers’ victory over the Warriors (03:00). They discuss how Stephen Curry’s 50-point performance wasn’t enough to overcome the team’s struggles and whether the Clippers are starting to jell. Then they break down the Sixers’ victory over the Cavaliers (21:29). They debate whether Philadelphia will be able to jump over Boston for the second seed in the East. Finally, they discuss Ja Morant being handed an eight-game suspension by the NBA and his one-on-one interview with Jalen Rose (41:31). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Production Supervision: Benjamin Cruz  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's no secret the NFL has a problem with race. Think Colin Kaepernick. Think Brian Flores. But this isn't a new problem. It's one that started as far back as the 1930s, with a ban on black players in the NFL, with a past that informs the present. Blackballed is a new miniseries podcast from The Ringer,

about the four men who broke the color barrier in football. I'm your host, Chelsea Stark Jones. BlackBald is dropping soon on the Ringer NFL feed. Hello and welcome to this special episode of group chat after dark recording live Wednesday after a rousing lineup of games. I am Justin Barrier joining me a couple of undatable podcast bros. We got Rob Mahoney, we got Big Was. What's up, gentlemen?

You know, I thought the article made some good points. I can't lie to you. Generally an undatable genre, the podcast bro, us included, who were we to argue? Yeah, I had to, you know, shout to the New York Times for even acknowledging the people in our profession, you know, in the newspaper of record. But yeah, I think most of us, by and large, quite undidatable for sure. I'm actually curious, Waz, because you're out there. You're, like, able to test this firsthand. Are you getting a lot of rebukes based on your profession, or are people more warm, of the fact that you were on a hit NBA show podcast.

Multiple hit NBA show podcasts. So I'll give you, I'll give you an example, right? When people ask me what I do for a living, I be like, I work in media specifically sports media. It'll be like, okay, but like, what do you do? And I'll be like, I write, I YouTube, and I podcast. It's always the third. It's always the third dimension.

Even if it's my main job, it's always the third. that is mentioned. It's not your job title, though. Senior writer, Wazni Lambrose. You know? That's first and foremost, always. And that's all they need to know, honestly. You're a long-form artist,

is what I like to say. Storyteller, long-form storyteller. Absolutely. Get it right. Well, that's pretty good. I find having to explain my profession to anyone usually takes like multiple attempts. No one really understands this.

I don't blame them. It really shouldn't be a job. job. But here we are talking. Carpenters. Here we are talking on a Wednesday night about a pretty good slate here. We're going to get into the suspension handed down by the NBA to John Morant. We're going to get to the earlier game. The Sixers and the Cavaliers. Well, let's start with the event of the evening. Clippers 134, Warriors 126. Steph Curry had 50 and then the Warriors lost. Their ninth straight loss on the road. I thought JJ Reddick on the broadcast

kind of summed it up nicely. The Warriors played reasonably well. I didn't think it was like one of these just farts of a game that the Warriors tend to throw up on the road. I just think that the Clippers win their fully operation when Kauai is playing as well

as he has of late are just really damn hard to be. Rob, what do you think about this one? I mean, it was a great game, first of all. Neither of these teams could really guard each other, which means we get to have a ball on our couch on a Wednesday night. Great way to spend the evening. But, yeah, it's a little concerning that this is the second time this season,

Steph has dropped 50 and the Warriors have lost. That's kind of where they are. And honestly, I would love to put it all at the feet of their defense, which has been lagging for the majority of the season. But stuff aside, they weren't really great offensively either. Like, the stuff that he was able to generate was transcendent. But this wasn't Clay's best game. Draymond's inability to convert

like little flip shots around the rim really hurt them. That push shot that he almost airballed was nasty. That was tough, you know? They really needed something. And Jordan Poole at times thought he was that something, and that's its own kind of issue. They just don't have enough right now to keep up with the team like the Clippers. And the Clippers are a team that as we have seen in this game and others

will give up explosive scoring nights to their opponents. And yet, if you have Paul George, if you have Kwai Leonard, if you dominate the offensive glass, you're just going to beat a team. my Golden State. Yeah, man, I texted some

Warriors buddies. I said Jordan Poole colon, primary ball handler. Not my favorite movie. It was just nasty at times to see him as the initiator

of offense for them. It was just turnover after turnover. And he's so loose with his handle these days. And he's like, it's almost like

he's throwing the ball behind his back. And I'm just like, this is not a guy who's playing with the ball on the string. And he's not, he's frankly miscast in that role. And some of the things that struck me, you know, they put a graphic up that Andrew Wiggins led the team in rebounds in the NBA finals against a team that was way more physically

bigger than they are. And they needed him to do so. And that stuck in my mind tonight as they were just getting worked on the offensive glass. I think the clippers had something like 25 offensive. rebounds. And it's not as if last year this team was way bigger. They weren't.

They just found it when they absolutely needed it as far as defensive stops and, you know, squeezing it after those stops. So that really stuck with me. Just the lack of athleticism and size against the clippers tonight with Zubb would just park. He just planted himself in the pain and said, I'm going to get every single rebound. Even if I don't, I'm going to tip it to guys. It was tough. Yeah, the Wiggins absence is slowly becoming just the biggest story here. I think for a while, everyone was waiting for him to return to really make this team whole. That was what we were expecting to click for this team and all of a sudden they'd flip the switch and be right back where they were. Now he's missed 13 games, I believe, straight for personal reasons. And more concerning is that we don't know why. And there are now stories coming out about like, why don't we know why. Clearly something is going on. But,

the organization is being pretty protective of him. I don't know if we're going to get him before the end of the season. I don't know if we're going to get them in the playoffs. And if they don't, I don't know where this team is going to get that extra defender they need, that third offensive player, that safety valve that they desperately need. Well, and maybe it wouldn't be as big an issue if Gary Payton the second were ready to play. And maybe it wouldn't be as big an issue if Andre Aguadalo didn't basically just have season or isn't about to have what is effectively season ending risk.

surgery. That might help actually. You know, like, we're within a week of him throwing down reverse dunks. Like, he's started to look pretty good when he was out there. It's just, you know, he's not, he's not his younger self. And that's who they need. Like, they need a young, spry, big wing defender who they can throw at guys like Kauai and Paul George. Because we saw on both sides of the ball in this game, just the disparity in that size you're talking about was. It's not just zoo. It's six eight and six nine wings, pulling Stefan to pick and roll and making him to face. Yes. And that's the thing, especially that third quarter where Eric Gordon goes crazy.

And it's like, dude, he's taking practice level three-pointers, right? And that's because the Clippers' wings, whether it be Kauai or Paul George or shit, even sometimes Terrence, man, they're getting into the teeth of the defense, drawing all kinds of help. And just simple drive and kick for, like, we're not talking about wide open. Eric Gordon is a great shooter. He's not just a good shooter. He is a great spot-up shooter from range, right? And that's the guy they're leaving completely open because they got to plug holes from drives from the perimeter.

So it's like, man, the old Clay Thompson was kind of quick enough and strong enough to do a credible job against the Kauai Leonard's and the Paul Georges of the world. And hell, in 2016, he did a number on. Russell Westbrook, as a matter of fact, in the Western Conference finals, I don't think he has it anymore to give. Right now, it feels like it's comminga. And I think Draymond can credibly do it on a switch,

but it's like if Draymond is guarding your perimeter guy, who's down there boxing out the bigs? Who's trying to help, you know, corral rebounds? Their defense is a dilemma right now. And we saw it with some of the lineup disparity, between these two teams too, right? Like there were times where because of the lineup that the two teams had out,

Draymond was on ball against Paul George. That's not what the warriors need or want by any means, as you're saying, not just because of the rebounding, but it's putting your best defender in a bad position from the jump. Like he's good switching into guard Paul George, but as the primary on Paul George, that's a nightmare. That's a bad premise for a defensive possession. Yeah, Draymond, he can do that at the end of a game.

if it comes down to like these huge possessions and Draymond is the one who ends up on Kauai or Paul George, that's fine. But throughout the course of the game, when the guy who is both your starting power forward and backup center, like he can't be tasked with doing that. Dramon not going to be doing that in the next game

because he got his 16th tech in this game. So he will not be traveling to Atlanta for the next game. I wouldn't even send Steph to that game. just chalk that up as a loss. Maybe just like let Jordan Poole take 30 shots. Maybe gets it out of the system and play another day. But man, it's getting increasingly dicey. I mean, I guess it is pretty much like two thirds,

even three quarters of the Western Conference teams at this point. But the Warriors are in sixth place at 36 and 34, but they are only two games above the Lakers who are in 10th. Like, I don't think the Warriors are going to fall completely out of the play-in. But like darkest timeline, realistic timeline, it could happen. That's really fucking scary and disappointing for a team that has Steph Curry playing at this level at 35 years old.

Let's wait and see. If Steph plays, he is capable of these games. And if anything, we have glossed over the fact that he had one of the best scoring performances in the season. He made multiple layups in this game with his body parallel to the ground, just fully horizontal. his ability to drive off of the clippers guarding him was sensational and they were top-blocking him

from the beginning of this game. He was seeing playoff caliber defense, 18 defense, Kauai and Paul George right off the top. The clippers were not messing around and he was just cutting back door. And if they guarded him for the pull-up, he was driving and he was finishing and he was getting around anyone he needed to get around.

So as long as that stuff is on the floor and he pretty much has been that guy every game he's played this season or at least the vast majority of them, you just can't count them. out. They're going to lose some of these games, but you just can't. Listen, Steph is getting verticality blocks to send a game into overtime, and they're just barely beating the Janus List bucks. He's doing everything humanly possible in order to make this work. The problem is he's doing

all of that, and they're just getting by or losing these games. Like, again, I don't think they're going to fall out of the play, and they probably won't even fall out of the top six, honestly, considering the way some of these teams are playing on this night, like the Lakers didn't play AD, and they lost the Rockets, which was an interesting decision. But it's just, I can't get behind the Warriors as a flip-switch team. I've been saying this for a while.

I'm just not buying that, like, there's going to be a second wind here that's going to just thrust them into the finals yet again. Yeah, they need Wiggins to come back from his extended absence.

Whatever. That's all I'll say about that. And they absolutely need, Gary Payton, too, to also come back as soon as possible. Well, why don't we look at the other side of this? Because despite my better judgment, despite the fact that we've had this conversation 90 times already this season, I cannot help myself from thinking that the clippers might have something here, man. Like, Kauai is in T-1000 mode.

He's been like that for what? Two, three months at this point. And when he's in that flow, God damn, this team looks so good. And I can't help myself, especially the way that the West is shaking out at the top where it feels like every semblance of a contender keeps dropping for one losing streak,

for one off-the-court issue or whatnot. It's like, it's there for the taking. The Clippers might be, dare I say, best position to take advantage of it. Wow. I don't know if I'm willing to go that far, but at least, you know, they are deep enough that Marcus Morris can suplex his way out of this game

and they just keep it moving. Like they really don't need a lot of their role players tonight tonight. They can plug and play. You know, Zoo had a great game, but if he didn't, Mason Plumley has had really good games to them.

Eric Goren, this has been maybe his best game as a Clipper so far. Yeah, definitely. And honestly, as far as the Russell Westbrook experience goes, this was a pretty nice proof of concept of him as basically like a special teams player. Transition weapon, offensive rebounder,

dribble, handoff, screener, roller. Like, that's what he is. And he's kind of, irrelevant to the main action in that sense? That's what I was about to say. Most importantly, stay out of the game with five minutes left. If it's close, don't come near my court. Thank you. But when he was

in there, he was doing rust things. He was getting to the basket. He was a monster on the offensive boards, which I thought was huge for them. He was good in this game. He was effective in how Ty Loo deployed him, which was nice.

I loved what Terrence Mann was doing off of the bench, attacking the Warriors' guards. He was like, these guys are too small to guard me. And straight up, just attack them relentlessly and in transition, he's always been, that's always been one of his strong suits, his transition game. Even as a rookie, he was good at that kind of stuff. So Terrence, man, definitely got me excited. And yeah, Kauai looks great.

Look, I don't want to nitpick, but there's certain things that happens on the gather when he drives to the basket that's not quite the the Kauai evolved where he's like literally taking the two steps and jumping off a two feet and I'm like, okay, I can see where he's been affected but the guy is so

ruthlessly efficient in all of his movement and you give him even a little bit of fragment of space and he's canning stuff. So yeah, the Kauai stuff is encouraging. I'm still very skeptical of this team overall, but

against the Warriors tonight, they made them look small. Yep. And that's how you beat Golden State. You just out physical them to death and pound them into oblivion. And that's what happened. Kauai really does get a lot of benefit of the doubt on that separation. In the same way that once you... Oh, that off arm?

I mean... It's ruthless. But it's in the way that once a guy establishes himself as having great footwork, they can get away of traveling all the time. And Kauai has established his reputation that he can create separation and he's so strong and he will maneuver you

where he needs you to be that now when he is a half step slow or a little bit impacted as you said was we're just gonna kind of look the other way that he's shoving guys off with one arm sometimes and that's what it's gonna be

it's not really a criticism he's just this is just how he is allowed and this is how he has to do it you know I can hear the optimism just peeking through the clouds there Rob when you're saying that I mean, you want to believe.

I have tried to sell you guys on the clippers periodically through this season, and then they'll go like one of five afterwards. So I just don't know what to do with them anymore. Listen, so as we're recording this, the Nuggets have lost four in a row. They're still way above all these other teams in the Western Conference standings, four and a half above. The Kings were in second.

The Kings, great story. Don't believe in them as a playoff team. I don't think you guys necessarily disagree. The Grizzlies, kind of in disarray, post-Barrant. I don't know how they get back together. Oh, they're back, apparently. Everything's hunky-dory. We'll talk about that later,

but they got absolutely blown to smithereens against the heat tonight. And then who else? The Suns, Durant? What are we getting from them in the playoffs? Is he going to come back before the regular season? I don't know. It's just like it's there for the taking in a way that I don't remember ever seeing anything like this. And so why not the Clippers, I ask?

We might have to start asking that question. earnest, like repeatedly every night if the rest of it keeps going this way. And in particular, if Denver loses to Detroit tomorrow on Thursday, we might have to slam the alarm. Like, we might have to have some real conversations about what's happening to the Nuggets because they look injured. They look bored, disinterested, disengaged. Very hard to parse exactly what is happening there, but they are in an extremely bad way right now. And if they're trying to tank the MVP for Yokish, apparently so. Trying to get out of the discourse.

But if that's, I mean, look, I would be very thankful if we can get out of that discourse. But if they are a more complicated pick as the top team in the West, certainly the door is open for teams like the Clippers. Like it's, it feels wide open. The West is, it's messy, man. It's all kinds of messy. Was, who do you believe in the most in the West right now? Um, I mean, I don't.

Now who's playing the best, not, who like will be like who do you who do in your heart of heart yeah who do you believe in the most it's it's it's Denver for me because most of their guys are generally healthy they don't have wiggins who's out with a mystery situation that nobody is apparently allowed to talk about um you know look the k d ankle i get it he's kd allegedly he's going to come back and be incredible, but I watched how Golden State punked those dudes the other day. I get it. KD is important.

He's their best player. But I don't see how you can see Phoenix has some great shakes. Memphis is Memphis. None of y'all believe in the Kings. Come on now. Let's be serious. So, like, I don't see why Denver is this horrible, you know, alternative because in the dog days, while they're still comfortably the number one seed home court advantage in their conference,

they've lost a few games. I don't, you know, I don't have a problem with that. Just look at the, just look at the other candidates. What do, come on, man. That's why I wonder if the Clippers, a team that is built to peak right now and carry that into the playoffs. They have all this fucking depth

to the point where they don't even play Robert Covington and Bones Highland and all these other teams. Why not the Clippers? I don't know. I'm increasingly becoming convinced by, if only because there just, there isn't much else out there to really believe it. I mean, like a week ago, they lost five straight games.

That's what they do. They gave up 176 points to the Kings. The team that you think is no great shakes and we're just like writing up. They lost to the Kings twice. Two weeks ago, the Pelicans were like leading the West and now they might get Victor Webben Yama straight up, not from the Lake. I have no idea what to do with this anymore. The West is a mess. Who do you believe in the most?

You're going to say Denver. Ask me after the Pistons game tomorrow. I really don't have the heart to say it. Wow. By the way, the confidence is shaken. I got to say this too concerning Memphis. Like, I was definitely up here like, yeah, Dallas is clearly better than them and better positioned and all of this and all of that.

And Dallas has been a complete and utter bits of a freaking train wreck since we last did that pod. And at least Memphis has shown some signs of life without Jai. It's just every time you think you have this conference pegged, you straight up don't. It's full-hearty. Yeah, let's just go ahead and get the beta test going on the Thunder or the third best team in the Western Conference take. Because it's, look, it's in the ether. We're all thinking it. I love that Thunder team, man.

I can't stop watching them play. They're so good. Yeah, man, I get so giddy. All right, why don't we giddy? there you go. That was, eh, eh?

You should have let it breathe. Calling it out, just make the word. Christ. All right, let's slip to the east now. Sixers 118 Cabs 109. A game went down to the stretch

and very well might have gotten away from the Sixers if a call, a follow call on NB wasn't reversed. That would have sent him to the bench for the rest of the game here. But despite that,

I have to say, I've been increasingly just I've become increasingly encouraged by the way that the Sixers always respond to adversity. You saw that in a couple times in this game

where the Cavs would amount to come back and then all of a sudden the Sixers would push back A-O-run sort of thing. Things could have gotten away from them after the whole Embed follow call and then reversal thing. It didn't and they won the game. And I'm kind of just like,

I don't know what to do with my hands. sort of situation where it's like the Sixers are actually good at overcoming adversity now. Rob is this weird to you as well? Yeah, they're almost more resilient than they are disciplined, if that makes sense. This was a very sloppy game

by the Sixers. Very poorly executed for long stretches in a way that does make it more encouraging. Because they won anyway. They were just bigger and stronger and faster and had better touch than the Cavs in some matchups. and a lot of that was Joel, especially in the first half.

Like Maxy blowing by guys. Hardin had like a nice balanced game as well. They were not good for extended stretches of this game, and they just kind of made it work. And that is encouraging because they're going to have ugly games. They're going to have games where they're pushed out of their element in the playoffs, certainly, and they're going to have to find a way to convert some of them. And that has been Joel's superpower this season.

In addition to just being out and out one of the best players in the league, he's been great in some of those crunch time situations. he's been great in those critical third quarter runs. We really need to put something together here. He can rattle off a couple buckets in a row. It's amazing what having a guy like that can do to fall back on. Even when he starts getting a little sloppy or a little loose with the ball. Like at the end of the day, you have Joelle Embed.

And if he's not getting called for a sixth foul, you're going to win a game like this. Yeah, I liked this game for them was the timely stops, right? That they could put together. It's not just that you get a. a stop because sometimes you get a stop, you gave up an open shot and the guy just missed. I thought they were making it tough on Cleveland to generate offense down the stretch. And so if they can be, you know, extremely stingy on that end in big spots and just be like, you know what, Joelle is one of the two or three best scores in the league right now.

And we have him on the other end and can figure out other ways between Hardin and Maxie to generate great shots. you gotta like that for them because to me it starts with that that's where they're gonna make their hey is by actually living up to the defensive talent and reputation of the guys on their team like Joelle, like PJ

you know those guys that was going to be what holds this whole defense together and so tonight I saw them do that you know they were switching it up getting into zones you know changing up looks and just making it tough on

on the calves, and that was highly encouraging for me. Yeah, some shenanigans too with Embedgarden, like Lamar Stevens and Isaac Acoro, really mixing up the matchups to the point like Tobias Harris is guarding like Donovan Mitchell on ball in some of these situations. It is a weird matchup for PJ Tucker for that reason. There isn't like a natural place to put him,

so we ended up guarding Evan Mowgli a lot. So that'll be interesting, especially if these two teams meet in the playoffs, but they did find enough stops at the end of the day. Like they did find enough ways to gum it up to the point that, you know, Karras Levert had a really nice game. But other than that, every other cavalier was kind of come and go, scoring wise. Yeah, and we should mention that Jared Allen didn't play in this game because of an eye contusion.

Donovan Mitchell also had, I guess, like a middle finger issue that he's been battling. They called it on the broadcast. Seems like that one might be something to tuck away in your back pocket for the foreseeable. I don't know how he's going to overcome that while playing. playing through it. So they did play small on the Sixers, and it did seem to befuddle the Sixers a little bit at times. And, you know, they made, they had to big Carouselvert game. So some like oddball things happen there. But so these teams are on a collision course for the playoffs. We'll see if the mighty Knickerbockers can can disrupt that or maybe the heat now with

Jimmy Butler scoring 30 a game and playing nickelback in the, uh, the locker room can join the party here. But, um, did you see anything in this one, Rob, that, um, that, you see anything in this one, Rob, that maybe, like, led you to believe that the Cavs can get the edge on the Sixers in a series with the Healthy Allen, or is this more proof of concept of the Sixers as a bona fide, like, playoff team? No, I think there are a couple things that the Cavs could take as kind of like if this is the first punch in the matchup and now you're looking at what the responses are going to be. We even saw some of them in this game. And you mentioned it, like they're swarming defense around Embeded first half to second half, and especially first half to third quarter. dramatically different. And some of that is like early in this game,

the Cavs guards just like could not stop fouling Joel and Bede. Every time they dug down, they were swiping. It was a disaster. Having Allen back will be a big deal because like having Allen as your primary and Mowbily is the help guy against Embed is dramatically different than Darius Garland

being the help guy against Embed. Especially considering Joel has never been known for a deft, double team handler. You mean that hook pass out of bounds Over the backboard wasn't clean? That's been his sort of kryptonite For a while now

And so yeah, those kind of doubles With those two bigs make a world of difference Than you know The 5 foot 11 point guard for sure Yeah I mean because there were times where When the calves were double and triple teaming And beat in the first half He had no space, he had no angle

And he was just making his space and making his angle and scoring anyway. He did phenomenal work against double and triple, just scoring against them in the first half. I think that works pretty differently when it's Allen and Mobley together. So that part would give me some promise if I were the Cavs,

but also Darius Garland's approach to this game. Did not have a great game on balance. Ended up with 15 points, made like a third of his shots, four turnovers. Not a great Darius Garland game. But you could see early in it, he was pretty tentative

and then pretty rushed when he would try to attack Embeded off the dribble. Like, he just did not know what to do. Yeah, he didn't. He didn't, yeah, very intimidated. Very intimidated. And in the third quarter, I think he had a bit of a breakthrough in terms of, like,

actually playing a little bit of cat and mouse with Embed, figuring out where his spots and what his angles are and what he needs to do to create space on those little floaters and runners in the lane. I thought he had some really good bursts of this game in a way that, like, once you put that on film and put it in front of him and say, we need more of this, like that's a young guy putting him through the paces, you know? like that. That is what his development through this run is going to have to be.

Well, I don't know if you guys caught a glimpse of the Celtics game as this game was ongoing. I caught the end of it. The Celtics are also going through a bit of a crisis here. I don't know if we're in necessarily Nuggets territory, but

on the other hand, they still don't have Robert Williams. Joe Missoula talked about it before the game. It might be another week or two out. And we've seen this whole happen before, when he comes back, maybe he plays in one or two games in a row and then he's gone for three more. I'm increasingly becoming concerned in part because of that. Yes, they won this game, but they're four and eight over their, or excuse me, four and five over their past nine.

Jason Tatum has been floating in and out. It hasn't been great. And so I'm wondering was like, can Philly almost leap into that second spot? If not in the standings, they're one game back now. But just in terms of like for doing the confidence meter yet again, like do you, I think we all believe in the bucks. Do you, are you starting to believe in the Sixers more than the Celtics or or is your heart still bleeding green?

Hell no, I don't believe in the Sixers more than the Celtics. That's, that's an absurdity. Look, the team went to the finals last year. And for what, 85% of this season, they've been like, They've been a formidable team. I'm going to allow them the grace to, you know, look bad for a 10-game stretch. Like, it's okay. It's not like they're falling into the playing game or something crazy like that or out-of-home court in the first half.

I mean, the first round of the playoffs. I think they're going to be fine. It's a long-ass season. And, you know, these guys can't trick themselves into thinking these games are as big as the playoffs, especially this group that's been together and has made deep runs, the lot of them and together, right? And so I don't begrudge them the idea that they might lose focus, you know, and be like, oh, they should be gunning for 60 wins?

And it's like, should they? Like, they got to the freaking summit of the sport and came this close to taking home a championship. So I'm, no, I haven't lost any confidence. And I'm damn sure not chucking it out the window so I could grab the confidence in James Hardin in the playoffs. That's an absurdity. I will say it's a little more than 10 games at this point. Like the 10 games are bad. Everything since January has been, eh.

Like, I'm raising an eyebrow, a lot of games at the offense specifically. There's just enough warning signs between the way they're shooting has kind of, leveled out the way that like you look at the rotation in some nights, especially Tatum, like if he isn't performing at the MVP level he was early in the season, I think that was hiding and masking some of their limitations, rotation-wide. Yeah, I think that's where I net out, not only the Robert Williams issue, which we should mention big part of their success. Significant, yeah.

Yeah, last postseason on that big second half run they had last season that propelled them into the finals. It's just like some of those ancillary guys that you could count on to be there all the time you can't really count on. Like Marcus Smart of like in addition to whatever Marcus Smart does on any given night and maybe get thrown out and fight with Trey Young or whatever the hell he's doing at that time. Like he's not really making the connective tissue plays that he used to like Derek White, you know, after his toured run, he'll have a game like tonight where he wasn't particularly

good. Like Grant Williams just isn't a good rotation player anymore, I guess. It's just like a lot of those like third and fourth and fifth guys that you can count on and that like real depth of the wing depth that they've counted on to really like build their identity starting to look a little shakier than before in particular in a game like this where Anthony Edwards who will put a lot of teams on their heels, but you'd expect a veteran NBA finals participant like the Celtics to stand up to that and and really kind of overwhelm him. And it was kind of the opposite way where Edwards kind of had his way this game.

I'm not surprised that Anthony Edwards could look like a great player. in a given night against even somebody with a team with the talent, especially on the defensive end, on the wings, particularly. Even these guys who have it can be, you know, can look average against the guy with the talent of Anthony Edwards. Again, and I think another thing that happens, we mentioned the offense where they come out and they're making threes at just insane pace.

They're number one in the NBA on offense. And obviously that's tapered off as the shooting has come back down to earth. I mean, to me, like when this team took off last year, it's because they were setting records on defense. And oftentimes, we can see this. Like, when teams become, yo, my identity is office. We're this scoring group now. The defense will suffer because they feel like that's not,

they don't have to hang their hats on that. to achieve success anymore. So I'm not surprised by any of this, but I know it's within this, this specific group and core. It's not a golden state where it's older guys, right, who are lacking in athleticism

and energy as they get older. These guys are still young and in the prime of their athletic peaks. So I have a confidence that they can find it within them to play quality defense. The market is smart defense. I talked about it on,

Bill's podcast today. That's been very, very concerning for sure. But overall, man, these guys are going to guard people, I think. And the offense will be good enough. They're absolutely capable of it. I think relative to the Sixers, kind of where these teams are right now, the Celtics look good more often than the Sixers do. The Sixers look great more often than the Celtics do.

Like they have the big, they have some huge, that game against the Bucks, case in point, that was a huge game, huge. huge performance, huge win that the Sixers had. They've had games like that against lesser opponents, times where they just look unstoppable, where Embed looks unstoppable offensively in particular. I haven't seen that from Boston in a long time. And if they need that gear to even get out of the second round potentially,

that could be a problem for Boston. More concerning right now, Nuggets or Celtics. Nuggets. Wow. Yeah, it's got to be the nuggets. Again, they were two games from the championship, guys. These players, and we all agree that they've improved upon the talent of that team. So, yeah, I got to be, say, the Nuggets defense, which, you know,

this has been times where it's just, you know, highly concerning. That's definitely a bigger question mark than Boston, man. You know, these guys have done, they put some performance. is up when it's counted the most very recently. There have been times in the last week where the only advantage the Nuggets had defensively was the art of confusion because there were so many guys you could target in a given game. It's like, do we want to attack Yolkits? Do we want to attack Murray who's looking really slow right now?

Do we want to just like run things at Michael Porter or Bruce Brown who are like not tracking well in this game? They got problems. And their bench has not come together as some people might. might have expected me in particular. I thought those additions would coalesce a little more quickly. They have not yet. They still have a ton to figure out for their second unit

in addition to some of their first unit defense stuff kind of falling apart in some of these games. Shocking that DeAndre Jordan wasn't the answer. Well, we're hoping Thomas Bryant would be the answer. Yeah, I know, but I don't think any of them have really done much. Well, I mean, to the earlier point, the Celtics are going to have the tougher road to get out of the conference just because the Bucks are there,

the Sixers there. So for that reason, maybe you give a slight edge to the Nuggets. But like, if you were to do title tiers right now, is it the Bucks and then everyone else? I think in just in Varyer fashion, it's the Bucks in one tier, like three blank tiers. And then we're getting into Nuggets and Celtics and everybody else. I kind of think I agree. Maybe I might add a one or two more blank tier in between, but was? I'm, I, I'm, I, I can agree with that right now if we're, you know, it's one of those things. It's like, if the playoffs started right now, even though they don't. But if the playoffs started right now, sure, I would be amendable to that idea that the bucks are, you know, sort of in a tear by themselves.

Because right now, if we're in the power rank these guys, clearly the bucks have been the better team of the over the last 2022 games, right? Like, that's obvious that that's the case. I think when April rolls around, I think things would be a little bit more even. And I would put all of these teams. And, you know, I guess my anxiety would be around putting the Sixers with the Bucks, with the Celtics, with even Denver. That would be where I would get a little bit anxious where it's like, man, am I really counting on these guys to be to execute?

in the postseason. It's tough. So is the tier, the bucks, 25 blank tiers, than the Celtics on their own tier? Like, I guess I'm wondering, what's the next tier look like? Like, is it the Celtics and the Nuggets?

Is it the Celtics Nuggets and Sixers? Yeah, I think the difference, like, there is a bit of separation between the Bucks and the Celtics and the Nuggets. Probably less, we are overstating for effect. Yes. I think the bigger difference might be the rest of the field catching up to the nuggets and the Celtics, right? Like, we can make an argument for the Sixers.

Obviously, the Sons by Acquiring Katie have vaulted themselves into this conversation if he's even remotely healthy and out there. You know, we can talk ourselves into the clippers on the right night, right? Like, the fact that we're even grouping those teams in there. I can't. You can't, yes. Like, in Terrence, man, we trust, okay? I'm, I love Terrence, man. I'm susceptible to a little bit of Clippers optimism.

I have to admit. Yeah, it's more of a mess at this time in the year than I can ever remember is all. And maybe like the answer is like the boxer clear cut title like favorites and then they're going to win. But I don't know. There is anything close to some clear cut anything. I like I've, we've done this so many times. The box are going to have some ugly ass games in April and May. It's just what they do.

Hell yeah, they are, wise. I can't wait. I'm going to live in the slop. I can't wait. It's funny because I was talking to Bill and House and Brooke Lopez came up. I was basically like, look, I think Rudy can figure out how to change his defense in the same way that Brooke Lopez did. But like 2019 was four years ago when Brooke Lopez would literally just refuse to lose. leave the paint. It took four

years for him the real life. And by the way, there were moments against Boston in that Kyrie series. Remember, like, Boston ended up beating them the one time. And it was all these wide-ass open shots from three because the Bucks refused to change their defense. Like, they

did that for four years. Okay. In Brooks' defense, I think he was told to stay there. No, no, for sure. For sure. I'm just saying that's my point with the Bucks. Like, this idea to It's just going to run away from anybody with anything. That's not the nature of that team.

I don't think Brooke has ever run away from anybody his entire life. Hey. He's shuffling. He's doing his best. He's moving around out there. He will fight your third string power forward on any given night. But I don't think he's beating anybody in a foot race. Why don't we take a break quickly?

And then we can talk about this Morant situation. All right. So the NBA made their decision. today, Wednesday afternoon on the John Morant suspension. So he had been away for now six games from the team after brandishing

a gun on an Instagram live video and we got a report from ESPN and he went to counseling and so on. Today we get the report that the NBA itself suspended him for eight games, but that includes the six that he already missed,

which means that he is eligible to return in now five. days. And it doesn't seem like he will play in that game next Monday or Tuesday. I forgot what it was. But it's, this is what we have. The investigation didn't like show up any new evidence, uh, that there was a gun brought on a plane or in a team facility. That seems to be a big sticking point. But I don't know, was what do you think about just, just a fallout here? Do you think like the suspension was justified? Do you think it was enough time? where are you on this whole thing? I think justified or not,

I'm happy that the league office actually rendered a judgment here for once. They actually had a clear judgment. Eight games where this is conduct detrimental to the league, its image, the partnerships that the league has.

This guy put that in jeopardy for the league, punished them for eight games, Thank you. Good. A guy can serve his suspension. He can come back, having paid his debt to NBA society, and we can move on with our lives.

Very happy about that. Thank you, Adam Silver, for doing something for once. Now, the other side of this, I'm supposed to, what am I supposed to do with this? Reiki, anxiety, like, you felt anxious,

so you went on IG, live and brandished a weapon. You felt anxious, so you and your boys are knocking 17-year-olds over the head in your crib or you're threatening people at the mall. And like, that's exactly. Like, we're not going to, we don't need to delve into all of that. Because, look, I don't know this guy's medicals. I'm not his doctor.

I'm not going to pretend that nothing's wrong with him or whatever. The stuff that's going on, the stuff that they're lining up with what he's got in trouble with, They don't seem to make sense to me. However, obviously they felt like it was a need, the way this stuff gets covered now that they got to throw with this mental health stuff, you know, retreat, therapy, all of that. What I would submit to people is this. I know we're in an era of just hyper judgment,

hyper-analyzing the most minute, mundane things about public people. I would just submit to people this idea. He's 23 and he was fucking up. Young guy doing boneheaded shit and he'll probably mature and do much better. And for me, all of this corporate climbing a corporate ladder, oh, I'm now the face of the league. Oh, I got a Nike shoe.

Oh, and I'm supposed to care about that type of shit as opposed to. This dude's beating people up. He's packing. Maybe the next people that he tries to beat up might feel like they got to shoot him to defend him. Maybe if people are encountering you and they think you're somebody who's constantly going

to commit violence against them, that they might do that to you and he might seriously endanger himself, I hope that he's learned from this and doesn't do that. That's what I'm thinking about. But like all this other shit, man, eight games. Yeah, come back in hoop. Like, thank you. I'm done. I'm done with this.

Yeah, just to clarify the timeline here too. So on March 4th, the early hours of the morning is when he's, you know, is when he's, you know, He goes on IG Live with the gun. It's reported on March 13th that at some point he's entered into this counseling program in Florida. Right. Today, on the 15th, he is in New York, out of the program, meeting with Adam Silver, pre-arranged sit-down interview with Jalen Rose and ESPN.

If you want to give him the maximum benefit of the doubt here, he spent like 10 days in this counseling program. I'm not here I think this is where it may sound like we are mocking the idea of a guy like trying to address his mental health we're not because if anything the idea that he is using that

as his excuse and like I want to read an exact quote to you from Jha in this Jalen Rose interview on ESPN we've only had excerpts to this point so maybe there's some context that changes the meaning of this this is what we have right now quote John Morant I'm a totally different person than what's been shown in the media that's my job now.

That's why I took that time away to become a better jaw so everybody can really see who jaw really is and you know what he's about. This guy was away for 10 days. Like, I don't know how much of a better jaw

you're supposed to become in 10 days. I don't know what kind of work you could possibly do to re-contextualize your life or whatever would lead you to this point and to make some of these mistakes and do some of these things.

But if anything, the idea of using the counseling program or using mental health as a shield, to me makes a mockery of the guys who are trying to deal with that stuff, who are trying to do those things. And on some level, that's a positive, right? Like, dealing with mental health issues

has reached a level of credibility societally that we do take it seriously. And that sometimes there are no further explanations or answers needed. I don't want Jada to sit out a bunch of games. I just don't want him to pretend like the reason he can play now is because he took a long weekend in Florida

and acquired all the tools he needs. By the way, I can believe that John Morant suffers from issues of anxiety and all of the stuff. However, I don't have to believe that that's why him and his boys are beating people up in public. I don't see why those things

two things have to go hand in hand as far as I'm concerned. And, you know, again, the league gave, met it out of punishment and he's meeting it, and I'm happy for that. And, you know, and to Rob's point, I kind of do think in 10 days after the world comes down on you for some of the stupid shit you've been doing over the years that you realize that the stuff that you were doing is maybe 50 times dumber than you initially thought in the moment. I really do think you can learn that in 10 days. That's fair.

Especially as a young person. It's like, man. You worked for Don Draper in that retreat. came up with the Coke ad John Moran got a power rate ad that all works out it did seem notable that in the broadcast bits we've seen of this interview

with Jalen Rose so far that Nike is front center on the shirt the Nike is front center on the John Maria jacket it's all very orchestrated and I think that is what we're budding up again the nice little clean outfit no chains the hair coloring out the threads.

I mean, this is just classic PR spin, but whatever. The thing about it, though, the reason why I have to be less sort of annoyed by this is that it actually fucking works. People eat this stuff up. They love a contrite.

Oh, the public figure has been brought low. And he's come to finally show us that he's got his hat in hand. And he's been humbled. And these people eat that crap up. And so as much as I want to mock it, it fucking works. You can't argue with the results, man. Yeah, that's kind of where I net out as well.

I wonder for people like Gus who are heavily involved in this. And even just like fans who are just deeply involved in the NBA, I think you could look at this with a bit of skew and be like, this all seems very put on. This is all theatrical. And there's a lot to really poke at. here to make you wonder how much of this was just

for show, right? On the other hand, like, if it works, more power to him. And, like, I think everyone ended up in a good place here. I don't think he should have been suspended for some crazy amount of games. No. I mean, either. Hell no. Absolutely not. If just saying

you're sorry and going to Florida for a couple days makes everyone happy, I think this ended up in the best possible place. I mean, the thing is, the reason why John Morant is meeting with Adam Silver is because he is a tremendously important player for the league, right? This is not something that, you know, your work-a-day role player who is in a parallel

incident, this is not as big a story because they're not as important to their team. They're not as big of a celebrity. It may not even register in the same way. But the reason why this merit special attention is that John Morant, like the league is betting on the fact that he is going to be an incredibly long-lasting, very effective basketball player, an incredibly charismatic star, currently in a small market and elevating the stature of that market and that team. There's a lot invested by the league, just from a strict, cold, cynical, corporate standpoint.

There's a lot banking on John Morant from the NBA's perspective. Again, we don't want to see him not play basketball games. I don't really think he's done something incredibly egregious here that demands like super strict and harsh address. He just made some bad decisions. And now he's going to come back and play basketball at some point. And I think it's fair to wonder if the league and the Grizzlies and Nike's approach was just like, yeah, yeah, we support Jha. And he's, you know, he's been so brave for getting counseling instead of just a kick in the ass of just like, bro, you're fucking up.

And you need to do way better than this. I wonder if that approach is better. Maybe I'm old school. You know, my parents come from a third world country. They would have never handled me like this for acting this ridiculous. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe this new agey kid gloves sort of stuff kind of works and job will be better for it. And I sincerely hope so.

But what I want to impress upon the people who listen to this show to understand that a young, very famous rich black dude who in his public persona is trying to express that he's tough and that he will shoot people. and he's in such a job where people know where he's at every single day of the season, like literally what season he's in, and he's broadcasting it, and he's somebody who likes to be out in the public, meaning being accessible, aka touchable, that's what I think about. All this shit about, yo, you don't get to be the face of the league. Who cares, bro? Like, I can't impress this upon people enough.

John Moran has already put pen to paper. on contracts totaling excess of $250 million. He's done. His job here is done as far as blowing it. Oh, he's going to blow it. What's he going to blow? He's a 250 millionaire already, right? I just want to see this guy comporting himself in a manner that is fitting for the stature that people place on him.

And that's what I want this guy to do, you know, whether he gets to be on the next NBA 2K, I could really give a fuck about that, honestly. Well, I do think the generational divide that you kind of alluded to earlier is interesting in part because I think leading into this, we have been hearing more and more consternation about how Adam Silver is handling things in the league. And in particular, in contrast to how David Stern would handle things, most notably about some of the rest management stuff

and like, oh, things would pop up and people would say, well, Stern would have rule with an iron fist, but Silver's taking a softer approach. I kind of feel like the softer approach won here, whereas in years past, like, it's hard for many, many, many reasons to compare this to the Gilbert Arena's situation. But Stern came down very hard on them. Gilbert does interviews recently basically saying he threat, Stern's threatened to take away his contract or take a suspension. That sort of like rings on the table Godfather style, which I think some people have been calling for lately

did not win out here Silver kind of managed the situation as much as we want to complain about the PR of it and how phony baloney some of the methods were I kind of think it ended up in the right place you know it was kind of a theatrical problem

as we're saying like it's a problem projected over IG live and not a gun in the locker room you know this if if John Miranda got a 50 game suspension it'd be fucking bogus That would be so disproportionate to what has actually happened here. That is what's hard about this jaw thing is sometimes the conversation gets so highfalutin and so precious about what has actually occurred that it's like, yes, some of these things are bad,

some of these things are contested. We're going to find out the truth of some of these previous incidents. Don't really know all the details on some of them yet. But as far as like this thing in particular, I agree with you while. It's like it's dangerous. It's putting yourself in a dangerous place. As far as what he actually did. that in itself is not that big a deal.

It just doesn't rate. And the stuff. And here's my thing about Silver. I thought the shit they did with Ben Simmons, where they just were just fucking, it was cowardice what they were doing with Ben's, where they just literally wouldn't say, what he's doing is crap.

This guy's not, yes, with the Sixers. He's getting paid $40 million a year. He's not showing up because he's angry at these guys. Like, that's crap. He should be fined to oblivion, docked his game checks. Like, you don't get to comport yourself like that. Instead, what we got out of the league office is nothing.

Let the Sixers handle it. That's not leadership to me. So finally, this guy's taking some freaking leadership initiative. And yeah, and I know, like, a lot of us, especially towards the end and, you know, the racially problematic nature of stuff like the dress code and all of the stuff that David Stern was involved. And a lot of us, especially at that.

time when he was towards the end of his tenure and I was at my peak like, yo, you know, the man shouldn't be talking to these brothers like that. You know, I was definitely on that side of the fence. Now I'm kind of like, I sort of miss the guy. I miss the leadership and the vision and just the idea of just like, yo, can we just run this like something that's serious and is meaningful? And when you mess and when you do things that threaten this, we're going to come down on you.

care about it. You know, that's, you know, I guess I'm getting older and more reactionary. I don't know what to say. Yeah. I mean, I do think like Silver is going to be in the spotlight more and more as you go along here. The new CPA negotiations are coming up. The new TV contracts are coming up. I did note that it seems like the the company that owns Balli Sports, which runs a lot of the regional networks. That's nasty, by the way. For bankruptcy. So, on the watch very closely. Which could lead to streaming more quickly or could lead

to a lot of disarray. I mean, Silver was front and center with this stuff about his vision for how the NBA goes into the future, but then we see poor TV ratings for the All-Star game, but then there's a ton of impression. So there's a lot to figure out here,

but I do feel like this is like one of an inflection point for that. Like, I think ultimately I think his player-centric sort of view that's being dinged pretty often these days. I think it kind of won out here. So I don't know, just something to file away for the future. Why don't we wrap it up there? Thank you to Eduardo Ocampo on production. Thank you to Benjamin Cruz for sitting in here. We'll be back next week, I believe in the daytime. So check out for that. We'll see it.