The Ringer NBA Show - Give Us More Lakers-Clippers, Free Zion, and the Seeding Race | The Mismatch

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

Verno and KOC discuss the thrilling kickoff of seeding games in Orlando: Clippers-Lakers (0:42) and Jazz-Pelicans (32:51). Then, they preview the weekend’s upcoming games (59:18). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody, it's Kevin O'Connor. Before we get into today's show, I just want to thank all of our listeners who follow us on Spotify because the Ringer NBA show made it on the top podcast chart on Spotify. Podcast charts is a recently added feature in the Spotify app, and we were super, super excited to see our show on both the overall top podcast chart and the top sports chart. If you want to see what other podcasts made it on the charts, go to the podcast hub on Spotify. And now, time for the mismatch. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Fernie. And joining as he does every Friday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.k, Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O.C., Kevin O. Caterland, Kevin O'Glazarian, Kevin O' Quarantine.

Kevin, we just watched basketball games. Verneau, yeah. Live basketball. It's great. So we are recording this on Thursday night at the conclusion of the Lakers Clippers game. So we get to instantly react to what we just saw. The first reaction was, you know, you and I both agreed that we think this is very probably going to be the Western Conference finals. If that is the case, I will sign up for that because, I mean, I don't know what we thought about the quality of basketball and what it would be like, the intensity of basketball, and what it would be like.

I think there was just so many unknowns after taking so long of a time off. But look, we're going to get to the first game in a little bit. But both of the games that I just got done watching that went all the way down to the wire had every bit of intensity and everything I missed, you know, like the NBA could not have scripted this any better for the two games that they put on for the world to see as they returned to basketball. Both of these are great. and especially that second game between the two top seeds and the Western Conference going down to the last minutes and then the last shots. I mean, that was everything I could have expected and more. It was a special night of basketball, you know, just to give the scores for people waking up early.

Lakers won 103 101 over the Clippers and Jazz won 106 104 over the Pelicans, which like you said, we'll get two later. But that second game, man, like if this is a preview of what a, conference final series would look like between those teams like sign me up man like that could be a series for the ages between those two teams and you know what i mean there were times i felt tonight watching both these teams that like they're not even playing the best the level they can these teams can both be better clippers obviously missing lou will and harrel and then on the other i mean also like beverly coming in cold here not a lot of practice time getting back and then the

Lakers couldn't shoot the ball all game long. Nobody could shoot from three. At one point, Paul George had more made three-pointers than the entire Lakers roster. And then after that point, Lakers really did heat up from three. But both of these teams, and by the way, LeBron at one point had under 10 points with like six, seven minutes left in the game. There's a really weird game. And yet, like you said, it captured that intensity with both of them, but particularly like Lakers Clippers, The high level play down the stretch was just, I mean, it's hard to believe it's been over four months that since either of these teams have played a competitive game.

They had the scrimmages, but man, like, that was high level down the stretch there. Well, and this was not a good LeBron game at all. No, no, no, not at all. We have seen them so much better than this. But if anybody. 16 points, 6 of 19 from the field, 2 of 7 from 3. Yeah. They did have 7 assists, but 5 turnovers as well.

Was not a great LeBron game, no. But if anybody had forgotten how awesome Anthony Davis is and how awesome Paul George is. Paul George. Paul George and Anthony Davis were both just unbelievable in this game. And it was Stars being Stars, right? There wasn't a ton of Davis down the stretch of that game, which I was perplexed by. But especially in that third quarter, he was just, I mean, he was out of control. He had that stretch for those threes

Then the pull up towards the end I mean dude He was doing everything And he was insane And he was switching everything on defense Defending a myriad of different players As great as 80 years In some ways

It feels like some of his talents Are a bit underrated Or maybe not valued as much He's a rare one of one player Truly Oh there's no question And George on the other side Was so good

And if Paul George is healthy Paul George and he's able to play throughout this thing, you know, I mean, he's certainly, there are large segments of games where he can be the best player on the floor that includes almost anybody in the league on the floor at the same time. He is that good at his best. That being said, I know I would imagine you are going to be married to your opinion as I am mine. and Isaac Lee will love to hear this. I feel more emboldened about my Clippers pick after this game tonight. Interesting.

Why is that? I look at this and I say, okay, they have no Lou Williams. They have no Montres Herald. These are two guys that are going to be in the top three or four for six men of the year. They are also their third and fourth leading scorers on that team. also as that game played out there were there were clearly mistakes i mean look it's it's a one point game this is not one of those where i think you can look at it it's like okay does everybody's opinions of everything change if the paul george shot goes in so i refuse to if whether that paul george shot

drops at the buzzer or not my opinion doesn't change there were segments of time and certainly there was about 11 minutes in a row where the Lakers didn't even score in that game. And as I'm watching it, I'm thinking to myself, it was a good Kuzma game. But man, once you get past those two guys, if I just say, Kevin, who do you count on? And your guy, Caruso, was very good tonight, right? But Caruso is not the guy that you're counting on every single night. I'm talking like, who am I counting on? Who's my third guy?

And if you say Kuzma, then maybe I'll have to accept that. But, you know, if they got some out of Kuzma tonight, they got some out of Dion Waiters tonight, I mean, we know. Look, when you've got LeBron and you've got Davis, you've got a chance to do anything. But as it gets deeper, you are going to be able, you're going to have to have other guys be able to step up. and I think I'm more confident that more guys can step up for the clippers than I am. More guys can step up for the Lakers. I don't really like their roster after those two, honestly. I think your point about there's more guys on the clippers who can.

I think that's totally fair. I don't think anybody would disagree with that when you consider how potent Lou Will is off that bench, when you consider even like a Marcus Morris who can have a hot game. But I do think you may be underrating a little bit of what Dion Waiters can have. He can have an explosive game. Kyle Kuzman can go off for a 30-point game out of nowhere. J.R. Smith can have a hot shooting game. I mean, they have a number of guys on that bet.

Danny Green tonight was only two of six from three. I mean, Danny Green can have a game where he heats up and hits four or five threes for you off the bench. It's all right. And maybe the answer is it's going to be somebody different every single night. Sure. That's what you. I'm talking about somebody that I can count on. That's what I'm talking about.

Because you know tomorrow night if Dion Waiters went 0 for 8, it wouldn't shock you. I mean, you're counting on LeBron and AD. That's what you're counting on. And that's my point. You know what I'm saying? That's my point. I feel like I've got more guys I can count on. I mean, look, is there anybody besides LeBron and Anthony Davis that if they weren't, I know Lakers always get overrated because they're wearing Lakers jerseys.

I thought about that when I was watching Jordan Clarkson tonight. let's just take any fan base in the NBA. Is any fan base super excited they acquired any other player on that team besides those two? I mean, probably not, but they're not other teams. They're the Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. It's about how pieces fit together in certain situations. Dionne Waiters in Miami was a disaster this season who got kicked off the team. Last year was on any good.

Dionne Waiters right now in the Lakers in his situation is, activating some of his really good spot-up shooting, getting a lot of open shots, a guy who's hit near 40% of his catch-and-shoot threes throughout his career, is somebody that looks to be in good shape, looks rejuvenated. J.R. Smith, I mean, do I want J.R. Smith on my team? No, unless I have LeBron, it worked for them together in Cleveland, besides game one a couple of years ago and gets the Warriors. But, you know, it's the type of thing where situation and fit matters,

And one of the things I really like about this Lakers roster is the fact that, yes, I concede your point about the fact that they don't, maybe don't have as many guys is that they can rely on. But what they do have is some lower usage guys who fit around those stars in LeBron and AD. It's not like Waiters needs to have the ball on his hands to make an impact or Kuzma has to have the ball on his hands to make an impact. These guys can step up on nights that they need to. And on other nights, they can do what they do. J.R. Smith, he can grind on defense if he needs to. Alex Caruso is a terrific defensive player, and he can hit spot-up threes for you. He doesn't need to have the ball.

The pieces fit around your stars. And it does two of the Clippers. I'm not knocking their depth at all by any means. I just feel like the Lakers' depth before the season, I got some of the knocks, like with Dwight Howard coming in, bringing back McGee, you know, bringing in the guys that they had KCP. but some of these guys have turned out to be good fits around those two. We don't know yet.

We don't know yet. We don't know. Hell, two of these guys, they just grabbed off the scrap heap. Come on. Yeah, Waiters and Smith, of course. We could say in the past, but I mean,

those guys are going to be getting minutes now. We don't know. But, I mean, like, it's not four games now. Dion Waiters looking like he's in great shape, looking rejuvenated. I mean, looking willing to pass the ball as well, too. Right. Trying hard on defense.

I mean, it's only four. games, including three scrimmages. But I mean, the sample is getting bigger of Dion Waiters actually looking like an impact player. And this is coming from somebody who was not on Waiters Island. I was never a Deon Waiters fan for all the reasons why people not came and make fun of him as a player. I've never been a big Deon Waiters fan. But he looks pretty good. And that surprises me. When they sign him in March, I'm like, really? I mean, what's the point? But I kind of see the point right now. I do, especially. when you consider the fact that Bradley is gone away from the team and he's not coming back for the rest of the season

and Rondo's out until at least the first or second round of the playoffs and Rondo wasn't good during the season. That's right. He wasn't good. And that's the thing. Like Rondo is a higher usage on ball creator. He's a guy who needs the ball on his hands to matter. Dionne Waiters is not. J.R. Smith is not.

Caruso is not. So I like those pieces in the back court. Then they can be flexible in the front court if they need to with Morris, Howard, McGee. And Kuzma, too, with his size. I feel like the Lakers' depth, it's a lot of focus on the names, KCP, Howard, McGee, when the production has actually been pretty good. And I care more with the production than anything else in context of LeBron and AD and who they are as players.

I watch that game tonight, and I think if they have Lou Williams and they have Montres Herald, they will expose that depth. That's what I think. You know what I'm saying? You could be 100% right. Because I look out there and I say, boy, they ain't got nobody like they do. because when these second units come in, those guys are going to terrorize these guys,

as well as some of them are shooting the ball tonight. And Reggie Jackson was horrible tonight, too, who was getting the Louisville minutes. Right, and Shamett was atrocious. I mean, Shamet did nothing for them, and he's better than he showed. Yeah, he's way better than he showed. And to Michael Green, I mean, look,

he has a chance to have a massive bucket, and he's got it wide open. And for whatever reason, tries to go underneath the basket. I mean, this is crunch time stuff where he misses that. And so they made some mistakes, but I mean, those guys, and maybe I have too high an opinion of those two, but I think they can be devastating.

And the numbers bear out that the team, when they've got Kauai on the court, and then they've got Kauai and George on the court, I mean, they've been a devastating team. The problem becomes, and this is why they've been a very good team when they've been healthy, which is like never, is because, you know, most teams, they can't just torch you with the second unit.

And there's a lot of nights where they win those games or they certainly create a massive advantage because what they bring off the bench just isn't as good as what you bring off the bench. And so they hung with them tonight with what they had. I mean, that thing went down to the last shot with what they had. There's no cavalry riding in for that Lakers team. and there is for that Clippers team. The other thing that struck me was, I mean, God, they don't play again in this eight games, right?

That's it. That's all the only time we see them. Okay. Okay, so you remember, like, at the very beginning, guys were hurt, and then we got to, like, Christmas, the guys were, like, and now they've made roster changes. Like, the first time we see these teams as they are completely constructed,

and obviously we're not going to see the Lakers' whole team with Rondo and Bradley being out. But the first time we see a Clippers, Lakers game with their rosters is presumably the Western Conference Finals. Like, I feel like I've watched them play three or four times, and I have, every time there's some kind of caveat as to why it might be different the next time that they play, because somebody is always frigging out. So it might be the West Finals before we ever see them fully loaded playing each other.

And even then, I mean, if we're counting Bradley is, yeah, I mean. Yeah. Who knows? Like with health, you know, the injuries can happen by that point, too. That's right. I mean, September's a long ways away. For sure. Wake me up when September comes.

That's a bad joke. That was cheesy. Change of topics. I want to bring something up. LeBron James tonight, we mentioned in passing earlier, how this was not a good LeBron game on the offensive end, one of the defense event tonight. Oh my goodness. How about the last possession?

He was outstanding. Like, Kauai, you know, I mean, look, so much of their offense is get into the lane, get to that free throw line, now we got a kick out. And, you know, Kauai went in there, took the hard dribble, did the pump fake. And, I mean, he just, he snuffed that whole thing out and then switched on and is guarding George. I mean, he's guarding the two guys. Bolly, somehow, LeBron James was the defender on both Kauai Letter and Paul George when the game was on the line and they needed to get a shot off to win. I mean, you mentioned the big possession at the end, but like in second quarter, third quarter, he had possessions where he was the off ball defender in a help situation.

And he came over and just snuffed out what could have and should have been a basket. I remember there's one play, I think, in the third quarter, Zubots have. had what seemed like was going to be an easy layup or dunk and lebron came out of nowhere arms straight up perfect fundamental defense and caused him to fumble the ball away or missed a shot and it's little things like that the lebron's done all season long and have easily one of his best offensive years in a long time last year he was good it was underrated last year after he had that play where he pushed kuzma to rotate but he had a good year last year this has been a great year for for LeBron on the defensive end of the floor.

And tonight, I mean, the offense was not there. But what did the display by him on the defensive end? And it's part of the reason why the Lakers are so good. It's because they're stars. They're two best players. LeBron and AD happened to also be their two best defensive players, too. No. And look, we may come back after all of this is said and done.

And I'm going to have to say, you know what? It was enough. you've got LeBron James and Anthony Davis it really doesn't friggin' matter who's the rest of your roster and there is part of me that like it doesn't matter I'm just talking about at the highest level

when they get to the West finals and they get to the NBA finals there are some of these teams that I really like their depth so much more that I think that they are going to be at a disadvantage and is those two enough when you're just putting so much on them every night.

They've got to be very good. And obviously you've got the superstar performance from Davis tonight. It wasn't a huge scoring night from LeBron, but to your point, he did everything else. You know what I mean? You're used to. He's still running the offense. He's still, you know, make a big defensive. I mean, still LeBron and he has this.

There's not a game that he plays that he doesn't have some kind of massive impact on. And that's what makes great players special, is that even when they're not scoring, they're still making a positive impact. I mean, Kauai and Paul George, if the buckets weren't there for them, Kauai had 28, Paul George had 30 and hit just some outrageous shots. But even if those guys aren't scoring, they still make a positive impact. Yes. They're just these four guys, A.D. LeBron, George, and Kauai, are that level of player.

And so, you know, when you take the Clippers and I take the Lakers between those two, I mean, ultimately, man, like you can, you can argue about it. We do argue about it. but these teams are so close. They are so close together, and that's what would make a series between those two, assuming good health for both of them, potentially so special. And the reason we talk about them so much,

I mean, I know you've tried to throw Houston in there. I think there is just an enormous gulf between these two and who... When I throw Houston in there, it's just to say, like, they're a team that has the upset potential. But on paper, I mean,

I'm not picking them over the Lakers or Clevers. I'm not picking nuggets or thunder or any of them. Yeah, I mean, and I think I've said the team, I think I believe in the most outside, like behind them is probably Oak City. It's the Grizzlies. No, just kidding. It's Oklahoma, it's Oklahoma City who since Thanksgiving has been,

has had an unbelievable record. Most people haven't noticed, like most things that happen with small market teams, but they have. They've had this amazing record. And they've also got, you know, they got warrior players that, point guard and center that have a lot of playoff minutes. They got weird lineup crap they do that really messes with people.

But again, I'm not saying they're, you know, I'm not saying they're knocking off either of these two teams. I'm just talking about who I believe in once you get past the Lakers and the Clippers. I do think we'll be, you know, barring injury will be on a collision course to see these two play against each other. And if tonight is any indication of what we would get over the course of a seven-game series, And that's the other thing Without the fans Did you feel like there was any

Wack of intensity That took place And I didn't either No one bit By the way Like I'm glad you brought that up Because dude The presentation

Is awesome It really is It's awesome I mean from us being at home I mean we can only speak from our perspective here I felt the intensity in both games I thought the fake crowd noise was really good.

It felt authentic. There's nothing phony about it, even though it's fake crowd noise. Anytime you heard cheers or whatever, it made sense that they were there. With the virtual fans on the big screens, I loved the moments when

after a big Lakers player would happen because it was a Lakers home game, they would go to full screens of Lakers fans at home going crazy, reacting live watching on their laptops or TVs or whatever. I just thought it was the best possible presentation that the NBA could have put together. This is only game one.

It'll get better over time, I think. Oh, it was great. I was really blown away from it. And I would imagine some of the videos that people at Disney World took, you know, when plays happen, you can hear the fans there, the, you know, the fake fraud noise. Yeah, it sounded great. And I'm curious, I mean, right now we're recording this after midnight on the East Coast. as we see quotes come out, you know, overnight from players and, you know, they do their

talk during practices and whatnot. I'm going to be curious to hear more and more players' feedback on the atmosphere. Because, you know, from a fan perspective at home, it was outstanding. It was really top notch. The only thing that sucked was Reggie Miller. That was it. The rest of it was all fantastic. And the referees.

The first half was rough to watch. The referees were blowing way too many whistles. It's a Scott Foster game. Oh, God. The first half was really tough to watch. No, it's truly clockwork. Yeah. And God forbid if you see him on like a Rockets game, then it's just a, it's mayhem.

It's mayhem. Just rough, just rough, man. I mean, like, I hate harping on refs. Like, refereeing is a hard job. But sometimes just don't blow the whistle on like these 50s and things. He stays destroying the flow of the game. Just like, like, like, lane violations and shit. Yeah, just stop.

you're doing too much. Swallow your whistle. You know what I mean? Little pushies under the basket. Like, come on, man. Stuff like that can go. And by the way, you see what happens to the game when you do let that go. In the fourth quarter, it was an amazing basketball.

It was amazing basketball from the first quarter and on. There's like a flow to the game. Anyway. It was great. The other thing was, beyond the presentation, you know, you and I talked about this a lot leading up to them doing this in the bubble. And there was that moment in time where there was at least a conversation of, hey, there were guys that were talking about, should we go do this, right? If we want to be an agent for social change is the best thing for us to do to go down to a bubble

in Orlando and playing. And I continued to make the argument, look, you're going to have the sporting landscape and the NBA fans' attention to yourself. And the amount of the amount of the stage that you will be on and given the opportunity to get out whatever message you want to get across to people, you are clearly the NBA went out of their way to make it a partnership and say we encourage this and we will facilitate this. And I thought from the game presentation to obviously the jerseys that they're wearing to the solidarity during national anthem stuff to all of the commercials that were running throughout the breaks. I mean, it was omnipresent, and I thought they did a very good job of this.

You know, inevitably, you are going to have people out there that attempt to bastardize whatever it is that people are trying to stand up for and turn it into an argument about something totally different than what, like, instead of just listening to what they're saying and saying, hey, this matters to them. how about I listen and try to understand why this matters to them. They have been given the opportunity. And for that stage, we have seen guys use their press availability for it. You have seen guys use their jerseys for it.

You have seen guys use their post game comments for whatever it may be. And if the idea was, hey, if we go play basketball, everybody's just going to be cheering us. And nobody's going to care about this anymore. Or like, I think that could not be further from the truth with the way we saw this all be presented over the course of the last two days. I remember the week there was the talk after the Kyrie phone call about maybe guys not playing, you know, showing unity together by not playing. Someone from the league and someone from a team both said to me, you're not going to be able to watch an NBA game without hearing the message of the players in the league. and the coaches and everybody associated. And that turned out to be beyond the truth, you know?

Like you said, even the commercials. Yes. Even the commercials sent that message. And we've talked about this a lot. I think there needs to be a lot that goes beyond symbolism and a lot that goes beyond awareness. But that is a significant component of this. You know, that matters. It matters to raise awareness here.

And that's exactly what the NBA is doing with the stage and the spotlight on them. And, I mean, that's showing unity during the anthem and everything else. It was really powerful. All of it was. I say this as an a dad, an older guy, if you will, right? That it ain't about me. Like, hopefully you are going to change some hearts and minds of the older people that are out there bitching. Let me tell you, though, Kevin, these guys are heroes to my 10-year-old.

and there is no question that if a child sees that and hears what these guys are saying, it impacts them. There's just no way around that, right? There is a generation of people that you're never going to change, but I don't want anybody to lose sight of the fact that there is, the NBA has an enormous amount of young fans. And there are some of those fans that are not going to be privy to those. messages in their own home, as sad as that may be.

They're not going to know about other cultures or they may just not even know what's going on in the world. And they will be educated through this towards things that take place. 100%. I will tell you, my son knows what's going on, man. He knows what's going on in the world. And part of that is absolutely because of the people he looks up to, follows, etc. and what he hears about and him watching these games and him playing 2K and all the things that go into it.

And so, like, yeah, there's going to be older people that are bitching about politics and everything else. And, oh, this is this kind of a group and this is this kind of a group. And the flag and blah, blah, blah, like, look, there's a, there's a lot of people. There's a lot of young fans that are going to be growing up. They're going to be watching this stuff and they are going to be impacted in a positive manner. That's what I would tell you. You could do all your bitching and you could do all your fighting online. There's a lot of people out there that need to hear this.

Hopefully we'll listen, open their hearts and minds. And for a lot of kids, that these are their heroes, I think it is something absolutely to look up to and something that they need to be aware of. 100%. I'm glad you brought that up because tonight I was thinking about, you know, the symbolism aspect. And I was thinking about why that matters. And I thought about the youth. I thought about a couple weeks ago when you mentioned your son, you know, how kids look up to these players, they're heroes to kids.

And I was thinking to myself, like, right now, I was like, earlier tonight during the Lakers' Clippers game, I'm like, right now there's a kid up watching this game and his parent walked in the room and was like, turned this off because they saw it said Black Lives Matter on the court, that their parents said that to them. And that kid, maybe he's young and his parents did turn off. They unplugged the TV on him. And then that kid's like laying in his phone at night. Like, why? Why?

This is ridiculous. Like, why would my parent do that to me? And they're doing their own research, learning about it. And they're realizing how wrong their parents are to feed them that nonsense and that racist mindset that so many people have in the world. And that kid is hopefully going to grow up and feel empathy for others and care about. about others and not judge others by the color of their skin. And that could partially be due to the message that is sent collectively from the NBA and the players. And that to me is what made it so powerful tonight,

we're just seeing everybody together on that court, knowing that that message was being sent to the youth. And like you said, it made me you can change the minds of some older people too. But overall, though, if you can get to kids when they're young and send them a point, positive message about equality, that can make the world a better place in the long run. Because it's going to take time for things to change. It always does. But the next three months,

we're going to talk a heck of a lot about basketball. That's going to be 90% of what we talk about. But what's going to matter for the long run, I think is what's going to happen on the social side. And I think the next three months are going to be incredibly important and powerful and impactful. And I look forward to seeing this is only day one, day one of the games that actually mattered. I just look forward to seeing what the NBA does over the coming three months, with the interviews that they could have, with the messages of equality, the educational videos that they could put together for people. There's a lot of ways the NBA can inform the world, especially the youth.

And there's an incredible opportunity here for the league to do that. There's no question about that. Hey, Chris, before we move on, let's take a quick break to hear from today's sponsor. Today's episode of The Ringer NBA show is brought to you by Fandul. Sports are back, and you can find all. the action on Fandul. The MLB is already here and the NBA just arrived. Whether you've been with Fandil for a while or your new thing experience, Fandul has two great ways to win that you won't want to miss. First off, Fandul is adding $10 and free bets to every account, no deposit

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There was an early game. The first time we saw NBA basketball in a regular season form, whatever you want to call this, was the first game of the night, which was the New Orleans Pelicans and the Utah Jazz. And this was hilarious to me because it was two and a half hours of everybody giving fallatio to the New Orleans Pelicans and then the Jazz won the game. Like that's exactly what took place for two and a half hours.

Everybody was talking about how great Brandon Ingram is and how great Drew Holiday is and how great Zion is and how great everybody and how great Lonzo is and how great JJ Reddick is and how awesome it's going to be to watch the Pelicans play the Lakers and all this crap. And then and the jazz stink and dot of it, Mitchell is overrated, and Rudy Gobert can't finish in Alleyoop, and who the F is George Nyang. And then in the end, and then in the end, and then in the end.

Brandon Ingram doesn't hit a shot for an hour until some free throws at the very end. Zion's sitting on the bench because, I don't know, I guess he's hurt, I don't know. Maybe his conditioning is poor, even though he looked like Superman. man like two weeks ago. What happened to the ripped his eye on anyway? He started eating down at Disney World. That was probably the post-workout. Maybe so.

I don't know. I don't know about that. I've never seen those muscles on me in the middle. Apparently, after you work out, your veins pop. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it the pump. The pump. It's an amazing feeling. The bump.

That fourth quarter by Utah, though, was amazing. I scored New Orleans by 10. Oh, just amazing. Look, I hate to break this to you and everybody else in the country. This was not about Zion sitting on the bench. New Orleans sucks in close games. It's been that way all season long. It has been that way with Zion.

It has been that way without Zion. We talk about teams that, like, find a way to win or just know how to win and, you know, have a trust. They now, in games that they are. or behind by three points or fewer in the last five minutes, they're five and 23 this year. That's stinky. That is stinky. Now, small sample size.

I mean, like, they're five and 23. How many they got to lose? How long have you been sitting on that stat? No, I just tell you. Shout out to my guy, Fast Break Breakfast, who tweeted that out tonight. I mean, look, the rightful rookie of the year obviously puts games away over and over again. That is John Moran.

And while everybody is all caught up, I thought this was the funniest episode tonight was just watching everybody go crazy over the Pelicans and then Utah beat them. And Utah's got like Conley obviously was very good tonight and had 20 points. Donovan was not good. And then when it mattered most, he was, he looked like a guy who had been in big games, in close games, and he came through. And then in irony of all irony, this whole damn thing gets shut down in part because of Rudy Gobert originally. Obviously, coronavirus exists without Rudy Gobert. But just for the sake of the NBA and the way that storyline went, Rudy Gobert was the first name we knew.

about the test of positive. It was all a scandal. And then Donovan got it. And then they couldn't stand each other. And here we have a pass from Donovan Mitchell to Rudy Gobert. He gets fouled because he doesn't finish. 62% free throw shooter. And he's the one that goes and knocks down the prethos to win the game.

I mean, what the hell? What the hell? And by the way, I'm glad you mentioned Mitchell because Drew Holliday had a heck of a defensive game. Yes. But Mitchell down the stretch really started to create. and generate baskets for himself and for others. Just a really strong game by him. You know,

that's going back to what we said about the Lakers and Clippers' stars. That's oftentimes what stars need to do. That's another aspect of it. You're struggling, but you get through that, you push through that, and you make a difference towards the end of the game. And that's what Mitchell did tonight.

It is a really incredible fourth quarter performance by him. And Rudy Gobert, yeah. I mean, it's great, symbolism. It sure was. Well, let me tell you. Kev, Kevin off the, coming off the bench. I mean, do you want to barf? Emmanuel Moudier, Jordan Clarkson, Tony Bradley,

George Nyang. I mean, Clarkson at least gave a point. Would you rather have the Lakers bench than that? Yes. Okay. I was just asking. Just checking. Well, look, clearly, look, Ingalls would be there. He's in the starting lineup now because

they lost Bogdanovich, but I mean, good, grief. That is rough. That's rough. Ingram got off to a fantastic start in that game. But boy, he really sputtered at the end. By the way, Manuel Moudia, another guy that got the Knicks bump for a minute. That lasted a long time. Not for, not for me. I only give filthy Frank Nilequino because he deserves it. But Moodye had never been a fan. I mean, they have, you know, look, Gobert can own the paint, certainly, for long portions of time. And the Pelicans thing, it's like, okay, who's the man, who's taking over?

Like, you did see that in that game, right? Where there were a couple Mike Conley plays where Conley's been in those situations and obviously Conley looks solid. Can go and take care of things. And then you saw Donovan Mitchell, who, you know, he was thrown into a very difficult situation. I thought, you remember me coming on the pod saying, like, I don't know why the hell everybody's killing this guy. Sometimes we're preaching wait four and five years for guys to develop, rightfully so. I'm like, this guy is in his second year in the NBA. He's the best player

on a playoff team who the other team is swarming because there's nobody else to throw the ball to when it's like, give this guy a break, man, not of him, Mitchell. Sometimes we're so in. patient. He's in his second year. But then you see those, I just feel like down the stretch of this game, you see that come out of a guy who's taken some lumps already. And I do think that the, I felt like the pelicans kind of look around. Then it's like, okay, who's the closer here? Who's going to, who's going to do this? And obviously, Ingram tried to, but Ingram was, I mean, he started off looking like, damn, Kevin Durant in this game.

And then he just, I mean, he might as well gone under the building for 20 minutes. I mean, I didn't even know where the- He was really bad at the end. And that first quarter of it was a large portion where he was just non-existent. I'd rather you be bad than not-existent. By the way, I think part of that's on Gentry. There's a point of that game where I was thinking to myself, like, how were they not running a play here for Ingram? How are they not running and play here for him to get the ball on the elbow or on the posts and let him go to work in a one-on-one situation? There's certain points where the Pelicans just weren't running any offense.

And you can credit the Jazz for that. But that's a portion of it for sure. Jazz have a great defense. But there's certain points of that game where Gentry wasn't running plays. And that's one of the reasons why I think they really have sputtered in the fourth quarter and one of the reasons why they're so bad at closing games. But you mentioned the reason why they lost that game isn't because Zion wasn't in there at the end. And that's true.

They lost this game for a lot of different reasons. They played horrible defense. throughout the game, Jazz did not always take advantage of that because the Jazz offense was sputtering at times too. New Orleans could have given up 20 more points in that game. They were bad on defense. But at the end of the game, though, that is a situation in which you need offense to be generated against an elite defense that realistically would be locked in at the end of a game, playing their best lineups during a portion of the game where it's hardest to score. And I, let me make this clear first of all. Zion playing 15 minutes and

having a minute's restriction, I get it. He's almost 300 pounds. He generates force like he's a rocket ship, and then he's going to land on those knees, knees that haven't played in skirmages or five on five in a long time. Those long-term concerns that the pelicans have for him are 100% understandable. So in that sense, the minutes restriction makes total sense to me. What that said, what doesn't make sense to me is when he was on the court. And you think look at his minutes. In the first quarter, he played from the opening tip to the nine minute mark. Second quarter, 12 minute mark to the 823 mark.

Third quarter, 12 minute mark to the 806 mark. Then the fourth quarter, 12 minute mark to the 7 minute 19 second mark. Why does Gentry extend Zion in the fourth quarter and not pull him at the nine minute mark to save those extra two or three minutes for a potential end game situation when you would need him? That's what really I don't understand. Well, I will say this. I will give gentry, and maybe I'm not going to be giving him correct credit, but I will just tell you that reading his quotes prior to the game,

he was going out of his way to say, look, I want this guy. And it's going to be up to the medical staff. And we'll talk to the medical staff. And I can just say that sometimes when things don't make sense the way they're playing out, it is because there is a higher power than the head coach that is making these decisions. I don't know how they come to their solutions, but there are when you become secondary to the training step, when the training step is given the power to say, okay, this is. how we're going to do it. And our evidence shows, or here's how you should do it, right? And bringing him back three minutes, you know, that's shown we might overextend him at that point. Or it's better to play him for this amount of time straight, this amount of time straight. Don't bring him back

for three minutes. I mean, I just think that obviously, my inclination is that Alvin Judge, who probably would have wanted to do that, Kevin, but that he was told, because why would he not? You know what I mean? Like, of course. Like, I can't just think he's a buffoon that doesn't want to put the guy back in the game. I think that if that seems odd, I just know of times in the past where I've criticized things. And then I've been told, look, that's the training staff's call. And like, sometimes these guys just say, okay, you tell me when he can play and when he can't play,

and then we'll play him at that. Right. And very well, it could be that they said only four. stints. Right. Only four stints and that those four stints were beginning of the first, second, third, and fourth quarter. Not five stints, four stints.

It could have been that. You could be 100% right. I don't know. I mean, I don't know that. They got weird ways of coming up to the way that's how many minutes you can play at this time and load managing within the context of a game. And then, of course, they got stuff hooked up to you all the time. But what we were told, though, is that it was, you know, 15 minutes.

Right. He hit the max. He hit the max. it were about minutes and you can use it whenever you want to, what I don't understand is not using that at the end. And just a quote, Gentry so you can, you know, hear it from him.

He said after the game, quote, of course we wish we could have played him down the stretch, him being Zion, but we used the minutes that we were given to us, and that's the way it is. The medical people said we played them and the minutes that were allowed for us to play him

and just move on, end quote. There you go. So it's interesting. It's interesting. The medical people said we played them in the minutes that were allowed for us to play him. And that sounds like to me that it's opening quarter.

And that's it. But I still question, why not try to find a way to get something at the end of the game? You know, it's just odd to me. Maybe the old Bulls Brass was in the crowd. Remember when we were watching the last dance? They said, don't put him in. Oh, yeah, yeah. He said, I'm going in.

Maybe Zion should have pulled the door. Zion didn't watch the last dance. He should have said, put me back in the game. even though I've got a busted foot or whatever. It's just frustrating. I mean, by the way, Zion, and like also the counter argument to all that is like even if he could have had an extra three minutes, Zion was horrible on defense in that game.

He was a zero on the defensive end of the court. Bizarrely. Bizarrely. Yeah. Which, I mean, look, he hasn't played, like I said earlier, he hasn't played in a long time. In five on five, he didn't get any of the scrimmages. He also stunked during the season on defense,

considering he didn't come back until January. So it's not unsurprising, but he was especially bad on defense tonight. And it's weird because he was so great at Duke on defense, so active. He's everywhere. And I just look forward to seeing that player again whenever he comes back. And I hope we see that Zion again. Let me bust up. Here is one thing that I do think Gentry deserves to be criticized or can.

Okay. Throughout that game, there was one time where I thought the Pelicans, I'm watching them, and I'm like, damn. like they are on and cracking and this is a problem. Guess what it was when our frigging ringer cohort JJ Reddick is in the game. Like I don't get it. What the hell is Lonzo ball? I mean, Lonzo had bad foul trouble and he was bad tonight anyway.

Lonzo was bad tonight. I mean, shit, I'd run JJ out there 30 minutes a night just with the way it fits with everything and the space he creates. and he was just, I thought he busted that game wide open, then they took him out of the game, and it went back to being slogged down and a problem. I mean, and I know that there,

you know, he's got some limitations, but geez, what he played, he probably played 20, 20, low 20s tonight. I didn't look at the box score. 26 minutes.

Oh, he played, oh, he played 26. All right, that's fair. To your point, you want 32.

Yeah. Six more minutes out of JJ. Oh, yeah. And certainly he should be on the court when it matters most to me. Yeah. And so he played his average for the season. He averaged 26.4 minutes for the regular season, had 26 tonight. But to your point, though, I mean, Lanzo, you know, he does the things that he does on defense.

He's active on that end. He rebounds. He passes. But two for 13 from the floor. There's nights like this when Ingram's sputtering down the end, when Zion's not playing because he hit his minutes limit, you need Lanzo to be more in order to win a game like this. And just to bring it back to this eye on not playing more than 15 minutes, the source of the frustration here really is is what you touched on, that New Orleans is right on the heels of Memphis.

They have a chance at a nine seat here with a nice young roster. Not anymore. They're not. I'm kidding. I mean, I mean, I'm getting. Oh, no,

but big win tonight for Portland for Sacramento and San Antonio and Oh, no. That Portland game becomes enormous for the Grizzlies Portland game. for seating-wise becomes huge. And I've told you that I am a bigger believer in Portland than I am New Orleans. And that is simply because, I mean, look, it's Lillard & McCollum, and they've got NERCATCH-Healthy back, they've got Collins back,

and they've proven they can be an outstanding team. Like, I know everybody wants, I feel like the narrative on the Pelicans is something that they have never been. And they haven't been this whole season. I don't understand why if it's like, oh, well, they've just been injured, and that's why they have it. I know their point differential because they beat the shit out of some teams throughout the deal. But like the results are the results, right? Like the old Bill Parson, you are what your record says you are.

And throughout this season and then you see them play against a playoff team tonight. And it's like, okay. they've got the what were they up I think they're up 16 in this game of 16 in this game and that Utah team they ain't got that much they're in trouble in the playoffs kev they are that Utah team's gonna be in trouble I was glad they got that win tonight but the Bogdanovitch thing hurts but it really hurts because they ain't got nothing else I just a bigger loss he's a bigger loss some people give credit because that bench is a I mean they got nothing it's

It's Tony Bradley, George Nying, and frigate Emmanuel Moodye. Like, what the hell? Moodye had a nice game. Oh, God. He stinks. I mean, they're just, again, you're pretty reliant on. Ed Davis didn't play tonight. No.

You know, our theme song by John Titterington and Dan B'amie of Father John Misty is called Ed Davis. That's my guy. That's the name of the song. I love Ed Davis. Did you know that? Yeah. You know that?

You know what's called Ed Davis. I saw it in the email. Okay, okay, just making sure. I love Ed Davis. I've always loved Ed Davis. Yeah, he's a great player, great role player, I should say. Well, he was. He was.

Let me tell you what he's truly great at. Craps. Really? Interesting. Oh, God. Summer League last year, I walked down there. He had just won 60 grand. It was eight in the morning.

And it wasn't because he hadn't gone to sleep. It was because he's already up for the day. He's not a big, like, drinker, you know? He wasn't up all night. He wasn't up all night. He actually got up early in the morning and went down. You know, I've never gambled in Vegas. Is that true?

I've never gambled in Vegas. And like four, four, five years at Summer Lake or however long, how many years it's been. I haven't gambled a buck. Yeah, me neither. Yeah. I really haven't. I'm not lying. You think I'm kidding?

Let me tell you this. I steal. You think I'm kidding right now. No, I don't. think you're kidding. Okay, okay. I would totally believe that you'd never gamble anything. That is the most believable thing you've said to me.

No. I, still to this day, I got one last week. I was telling my buddies about this. I was like, this is embarrassing. I still get emails. The first year I went to Summer League, I stayed at the win. And, yeah, you came down there. We did the show.

That was the year. Remember? Yeah, your 70 second floor. It was unbelievable, right? It was an unbelievable, unbelievable room. Like, overlooked at the first night I was there, I remember, and I hadn't been to Vegas before. And the first night I was there, I, like, come in. Of course, I stayed up.

I gambled all night. I get into my room at, like, 3 o'clock of the morning, and I'm, like, trying to get to bed, and I hear this, you know, So, baby, pull me closer in the, you know, da, da, da, da, da, da. like that like that. And I'm like, is that the chain smokers? I was like, God, man, this is there a freaking club downstairs or something? And I look downstairs and of course, there's like a beach club and it's still bumping. But it really was the freaking chain smokers. Like they were playing at the party. And I was like, is this what this is going to be like? And in fact, it was what it was going to be like. And to this day, I still get emails with them offering me like free

rooms and cops or whatever. I'm like, bro, how much money did I lose? I'm like, how much money did I lose. I mean, I must have lost a fortune. My first year there. I swear, I haven't stayed there in four years and the wind still sends me emails every month. You haven't unsubscribed? No. One day I'm going to take them up on it.

The buffet there is fire. And they just brought their golf course back. I got to go back sometimes. Interesting. I guess if those keep on coming, why unsubscribe, though? You'll get it eventually. Maybe one day I'll want to go back. Anyways, what we do need to mention was, that was that was a great game, too, that Pelicans

Jazz game, down to the very end of the game, right? And so we got two really good ones right off the bat. In terms of competition level, we kept saying we don't know what these teams are going to look like. I mean, it looked like we were watching NBA games. And if you didn't tell me we had just taken off four months and that we're playing in a weird situation in a bubble in Orlando and you just presented me the basketball game, it wouldn't look any different outside of obviously noticing the fans aren't there. Then I'm talking competition-wise. Wouldn't look different than what we would have been watching. I chatted with the ringers Jason Concepcion at network on Twitter, host of NBA desktop and the Connect.

binge mode. You think you need to promote him? So he got a problem with his name getting out there? Emmy winner if you didn't. Yeah. Emmy winner. He's a Pepsi out of NBA

to stop. Yeah. And we talked to her. He's like a Twitch stream during the Jazz Pelicans game. And I said to him and I'll say this to you now, part of me felt like

the atmosphere and the crowd and, you know, everything we touched on a little bit earlier was better than like some NBA games. You mean New Orleans? Kind of, yeah. I mean, New Orleans are some places where it's just empty crowds.

It ain't better than Utah. Utah is, wow. Not better than Utah. It's not going to be better than OKC or either of the LAs or anything like that. But, I mean, it was better than a lot of NBA arenas. That's for damn sure. Yeah. No, I mean, it's for damn sure.

Commotion. Yeah, it was great. I mean, there's some empty seats in the virtual fans, so it's just kind of realistic for New Orleans games. But I'm sorry if you're a Pelicans fan, but it's just the truth. I'm sure if you're a Pelicans fan, it probably annoys you, too. You know, if I were a Pelicans fan and I looked on TV and I see empty seats, I'd be pissed off. Because I would want an atmosphere like OKC has, like Boston has, like Golden State has.

I'd want that. Yeah, and I would also really want a fair shake from the media because nobody, nobody dangles off our ball sack like in the national media. New Orleans Pelicans, not with them. Take an L. Do you feel like, and I'm curious about this since you brought that up, do you feel like Jah Morant and Memphis to an extent, but especially Jha, doesn't get enough national attention? I'm talking like from ESPN, TNT.

He gets more now. He gets more now, but does he not get enough? Does he deserve more? Did you see the corner graphic that run in both of these games? Friday night, turn into TNT, NBA, rookie of the year debate. What the up? I didn't see this. What was that?

They're promoting a show where they're going to debate the rookie of the year. Where was this? It was on the corner of the screen in both the games tonight. And they did the reads. The announcers did the reads. That show should be 10 seconds. Was it constantly in the corner? Not omnipresent, but I mean, it was, they mentioned it and they did the read.

Tune in Friday night, rookie of the year debate. And they had a little picture of John, a little picture of Zion. And I like, I wanted to vomit. I couldn't believe it. Like, that's what is different about his deal. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, they're going to debate it.

I mean, you could argue Zion shouldn't even be in the top three for rookie of the year. I had him second. You played 19 games. I know, part of me was like, why do I even have him second? By the way, I had Jaffirs, which is a no-brainer. Anybody who doesn't have Jop first, I question your sanity. I had Brandon Clark third. Oh, wow.

he made a winning impact as a rookie good defense one of the most efficient best rim runners i don't want to ramble about bernan clark but but like i feel like it is just interesting that's being framed as a debate well look i'll tell you this i know who does take it a little bit seriously sometimes so bam out of bio the last exhibition game bam out of bayou walked in with the like a real rookie of the year shirt of kendrick nun oh yeah yeah yeah kendrick nun should be in that conversation too for a top three spot. Jal went out and urinated on them. He had like 24 and 12 in 20 minutes.

And Kendrick Nunn did nothing. Kendrick Nunn. I couldn't put him in my top three because he doesn't play a lick of defense. That's why. Oh, interesting. He had a very good rookie season, though. He did. Don't get me wrong.

He's great offensive spark plug for Miami important to that team. But Brennan Clark is a better two-way player. So I gave him the slight edge. I feel like people have talked about the Pelicans all year about a team that has not existed. You know what I'm saying? They will get there and they will be a powerhouse if Zion lives up to his, what is inevitably his destiny. I get it, right?

But for this particular season, I mean, God, the ringer, even the other day, you saw me tweet him, what the hell? which first round series. It's like they are the eight seeds. Like they have done anything. They haven't done anything. And in fact, Portland is better than them. Speaking of which, we mentioned that they are,

it's the first game tomorrow with the Grizzlies and the Portland Trailblazers, which does become a massive game for the Western Conference playoff standings. Because with the Pelicans losing, clearly Memphis would be able to gain a huge amount of space between not only it's a double game right we still don't really know about Lillard and whether or not you know there's not sure thing that he's going to play I went and was thinking you know look I'm always logical about this

stuff if you're if you're Portland and the guys if you're worried about it it a little bit, then you say, okay, what's the next game? If we ran him out there, could he just sit the next game? Because we might be able to beat Memphis without him, dependent upon, you know, if you got like a Brooklyn or a Washington or whatever in the next game, their next game is Sunday afternoon on national TV against Boston. And then go look at Portland's schedule after this Grizzly game tomorrow. I did not realize this until today when I looked at it and read it, read it off for people.

Portland, I mean, this is Murderers Row. One thing just to say real quickly, Jason Quick of the Athletic reported today that Damien Liller will play tomorrow. Okay. So we'll see if that ends up happening tomorrow or today, Friday. Yeah, yeah, Friday. It's recording this tonight. It's a Friday. but their schedule.

So Memphis Friday, like you said, Boston Sunday. Then Houston, Denver, Clippers, Sixers, Mavs, Nets, last game. But until that Nets game, oh my goodness, is that murderers row right there for them. Brutal. Brutal. I was shocked. I guess I just hadn't caught. You know, you see all the schedules at the beginning.

And there was a lot made of, you know, Memphis has a most difficult schedule and the Pelicans have the easiest schedule but looking at that Portland one I was like God what did they do to somebody what did they do so wrong here's the thing though like that schedule's tough but NERCITs looked really good in scrimmages

if NERCCH is back to being the NERCCH that we last saw Portland in terms of quality of play right now they should probably be viewed as like on the same level of like Denver O KC. Absolutely. You know, if Nirkich is that guy because of the what he does for their defense, you know, what he does a passer in the half court, pick an roll partner with Dame Lillard. And I mean, C.J. McCollum had the Hardin level, Hardin lookalike step back.

They can compete with anybody. They can compete. To your point, Kemp, they got somebody that like, there ain't a lot of these teams that you could say, hey, that guy could go for 60 tonight. He might go for 60 points. Really, you could throw CJ in there. CJ's a guy who can go for 50. They can go for 60 any night.

They can win any game, but that schedule's tough regardless of the team. Terrible. And I do need to ask for a bit of forgiveness here. The Trailblazers Grizzly game is not the first game tomorrow. And many of you will be listening to this pod on Friday. and I'm so sorry because this is it's a blood war for the seventh seed

in the Eastern Conference and it's going to go a long way towards deciding that and that is the magic and the nets. Oh, I can't wait. And if that game was in my backyard I would not raise the blinds. But there is also more games going on in the afternoon.

First, Suns Wizards, another. Just monster game. I'm going to tune in. I'm going to tune in to watch Devin Booker, my guy and the bright future sons. Look, at Kings spurs, both two teams. Look, the Kings are a little bit dangerous, can be, right? Because they're right there record-wise.

They could catch somebody if they got Fox and healed, going off at the same time, whatever. Nobody expects them to. but I'm just saying they're at least in striking range if they ran off some wins. That being said, two huge games. Celtics, Bucks. Now we're not going to get to see Conitin's still out, Bledsoe's going to be out. So it's not going to be full-on Bucks experience.

But you got Bucs Celtics. You got number one and number three in the Eastern Conference. And then the nightcap Hardin versus Luca. So we got the Mavericks Rocket. Again, this one, it's a double. It's a double game because much like I said, giving the other team a loss in this situation while you're getting a win is going to count double for you.

And the Mavericks, I mean, like hell, want to get away from that seven seats so they don't have to play the Clippers in the first round. And the Clippers, by the way, they got to get the win in because they're only, a game and a half up. Well, that's the thing. You say that, but like, what if Clippers fall to the three spot?

And right now, I mean, they've played a game more than anybody else. Actually, no, it's not true because Utah played Zite. They're only two ahead of Utah right now. Theoretically, I mean, the Clippers could slip here. They could. I mean, I don't think they will. They could. I expect them to win a heck of a lot of these seating games, but they could.

So, like, you talk about that seventh spot, what if the seven spot becomes the place you want to be? to avoid the clippers, that could happen. Oh, well, because if you're the clippers, you could say to yourself, you know what, these teams, anybody that could pass us, what is it really matter? There's no home court.

So two or three makes no difference to us. No difference is actually. But it absolutely matters. The only thing that matter, you just can't drop the four because then you'd have to face the Lakers before the West Finals, but if you're two or three,

it doesn't even matter, but it absolutely matters to whoever's six and seven. No doubt about that. But I think you've got a plan on that being second to still try to get away from being seventh. You don't want to mess around with that. Of course not. No.

I mean, you want to win games. You're competing. You're trying to get back in rhythm before the postseason. You're trying to figure out new things on offense. I mean, for most, there's some teams here that I do wonder if they start off like 0 and 3. Or if a guy, you know, will they start limiting minutes? Like for the bucks, is there any reason to play Janus more than 30 minutes?

Is there any reason? Probably not. Hell, most games during the season, they don't have to. They're usually kicking somebody's ass by the end of the third quarter so bad. Exactly, yeah. He doesn't have to. That's what makes his season really so extraordinary. The fact, he only average 30.9 minutes.

Very important question for you as we close this. Thank you. Because this is the right. Rockets and the Mavericks. Two teams that you have done videos about or written about being very dangerous. Well, Kevin O'Connor, I ask you, what happens when danger meets danger? Rockets versus Mabs. Two of those.

Two of my favorite players, James Hardin and Luca, don't you? And two teams that you have deemed very dangerous teams. Dangerous. Yes. Dangerous teams. So if they're both dangerous, what happens? when they meet each other. Because many times they are just facing someone who is not dangerous.

But what happens when the dangerous team meets the dangerous team? Are you just going to have a full erection the entire game? They say four hours is when you have to go see your doctor. So this should only be two and a half. Only two and a half hours. So I'm good. Yeah. I'm not going to call it a doctor while I watch Luca and James Harden and just go at it.

You do. That sounded really wrong. That sounded really wrong. You did. Leave that in. That sounded so wrong. That was non-intentional. I'm going to tell the video team to clip that part out.

We're going to run that as a breakout. The rockets. The rockets you are still higher out, correct? Yeah, I am. But I will say they also have probably a lower floor, too. I mean, this weird. funky small ball experiment that we're about to see. I have questions about how that's going to work.

I do. I don't know if it's going to matter as much versus Dallas. Chris Stap's Porzingis can't beat a 5-foot-11 guy on the posts. So, you know, it's not going to matter versus them, but it matters versus Denver. And matters versus L.A., both L.A. teams. But for Dallas, so it doesn't matter quite as much. So, like, this first game, Houston and Dallas, for the Houston small ball experiment side that I want to see and learn from. I don't think we're going to learn a lot in this game from that. I just don't because Chris Staps can't beat you if you're small. He sucks on the post. And that's something

poor Zingis, as much as I like him, you know, as lethal as he is from the perimeter, nice weapon than he is, good defensive player. He stinks in the post, man. And he needs to get a lot better there for the Dallas Mavericks to be what they can be. And he hasn't gotten better. And that's unfortunate. I talked to him last October when I reported the preseason story on the Mavs. And he's like, I worked a lot on this during, you know, my time away from the court. You know, he focused on me beating mismatches, getting small, beating smaller guys. He brought up how Mark is smart so effectively defended him during the season and the past. And I'm like, oh, yeah, this is encouraging. I mean, good. I'm glad he's acknowledging

his weaknesses. But then this season, Chris Thompson is going to score only 0.79 points on postups, which is ranks in the 21st percentile of all NBA. players according to synergy. And that's with a heck of a lot of possessions against smaller guys than him. It's just about it. It's not about that being a huge part of their offense because I know Rick Carlisle said like basically what the hell do you want? We got like the best offense in the league.

Like we're doing okay here. But of course. In your point, to your point, he's got to be able to expose the fact that you can set. Yeah, that can't be in the post season. That can't be even Stephen. If you're 5.7 and I'm 7.3, I can't. got to be able to punish you for being five seven.

And that's the thing. Regular season, they had one of the greatest offenses of all time because Luca had one of the, he had the best season for a second year for a guy 20 years old, best 20 year old season ever, only comparable to LeBron's 20 year old season. But the fact is in the post season, he's got to be able to beat those mismatches to really be that greatest playoff offense ever level.

And in thus far he hasn't proven that he could be that. Hopefully he comes back with it. Basketball is back. I love that we're getting to talk about players. We're getting to talk about games. And this has been a late night recording. I just want to check before we wrap this up. Isaac, have you stopped crying yet?

I have not. No, I have been sighing and tears have been coming down my face this entire hour that we've been podcasting. No, I mean, like, as you guys said at the beginning, you know, the Clippers were missing Lou and Trez. It's not something that we should be taking too. personally. At the same time, I do want to push back a little bit to what you said, Chris, about how the kilpers have a better roster up and down, because you're not accounting for the fact that in the playoffs, if these teams do meet in the Western Conference finals, the clippers are going to be facing an engaged LeBron James, a LeBron James that does not shoot as poorly

as he did tonight, presumably, right? We have a track record with LeBron where he dials it up in the playoffs. This is a guy who made eight finals in a row before last year. So I would be a little concerned about like how much do you weigh Lou and Trez's production as opposed to LeBron turning it up?

I think that we got a pretty good LeBron experience outside of the scoring. He's not going to be scoring 35 every night, right? And I do think that Or is he? Maybe. Who knows?

I can read your tweets now. Don't take LeBron James for granted. I think Lou Williams and Montres Harrell are, again, I might have a higher opinion of them than many do. Maybe even you, the Clipper fan, do. I don't know. I don't think you have a higher opinion of Lou Williams and Montres Harold than me. I don't think you do. Hey, let me tell you who else goes to another level in the playoffs. You're a guy.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. This guy was the best player in the world last year. He did it over the course of every series. He never slowed down. He just kept getting better. He was like Jordan. It seriously was like Jordan.

You're right. I kind of think that could happen again. You know what I mean? He could turn up too. And I just, I don't know, man. If I'm counting on Kyle Kuzma and Dionne Waiters, I'm not... The thing is, like, this is kind of moot because I pick the bucks to win the title. I still think the bucks are going to win the title.

So for me, it doesn't really matter. That's fair. That's fair. It's totally fair. All right, that's going to do it for another episode of the mismatch. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Enjoy all of this basketball. Kevin, I will talk to you on Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to next Tuesday. And I also just want to say, thank you to the listeners. These last four and a half months, since the NBA stopped and y'all sticking with us and sending mailbag questions every week, listening to the show. it's great doing this. We made it. And having that relationship.

Yeah, we're here, guys. We're here talking live basketball games. We made it back to basketball. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.