The Ringer NBA Show - The Seven Biggest Questions of the Play-in/offs | Group Chat

Episode Date: May 18, 2021

The play-in tournament is upon us and Justin, Rob, and Wos join forces to tackle the biggest questions surrounding the matchups (03:00). We also speculate on who has the better chance at the title, Utah or Phoenix, discuss what is to be done about the tanking Clippers (21:13), and debate who in the East is the favorite to go to the Finals (30:00). Hosts: Justing Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Head into the Ringiverse to stay up to date with all things superheroes and nerd culture entertainment. Hosted by a rotating lineup of super fans at The Ringer, including Mallory Rubin and Van Lathen, shows will provide instant reactions to blockbuster releases, insightful backstories on canon, and mind-bending theories, as well as fresh takes on the latest news and rumors. Check out The Ringerverse on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Group Chat, the Ringer's weekly MBA group discussion, where Rob will now perform a dramatic reenactment of

Kwami Brown's hour-long YouTube rant, word for word. No, no, that was actually a miscommunication. I was here to invite you and was to my upcoming one-man show in which I perform the Kwame Brown monologue. You know, it's really kind of an autobiographical piece as well. I kind of turned it inward. I'm still a workshopping title, so if you guys have any ideas, I'm here for it. A tour to force, says the ringer.com.

Rob is here, also joining us as he was last week. Wazney Lambray. What's up, buddy? I'm good, man. I will not call you, refer to you guys as boys or talk about how nice your hair is on this podcast. I promise you. I mean, you can if you want. Was, are you keeping the Big Wasbri-Waz branding or do we need to rebrand you for your ringer experience?

Well, I mean, I've been going with Big Wads since freshman football. So it's been 20 years of Big Waz. So it's like the longevity of it is an institution now of its in and of itself. no, I will not be getting rid of big. Somebody actually texts me that. I was like, wait, man. So you were to ring it down and you're going corporate that we're not calling you Big Was anymore?

I was like, no, I'm still Big Wals. And as a matter of fact, the boss man called me Big Waz last week on his podcast. So Big Waz is here to stay. Right. A lot of equity built into that, right? Exactly. I mean, and it's all my social media. As a point of clarification, like,

were you actually big as a freshman in high school? I was like, I was like, I was like 5-9 or 5-8, like 135 pounds or something. I wasn't big, no, I was a normal size. And the person who gave me that name, my man, Big Dan, Dan Anglastro, he was our left tackle to give you an idea of what size he was. He's the one who gave me the name, so shout's to Big Dan. But you also weren't small enough to be ironically big wards.

No, it wasn't. You were just normal-sized was. I was just, yeah, just a regular-sized dude. I remember freshman year in college, my man Devo, he's like, now is Big Wads you or is it your dick? I was like, what? I was like, this is a weird question, bro. No, it's just a stupid nickname. So, yeah, that's just how it goes.

What a way to start off a podcast at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Great. Great stuff. Well, if we don't get fired before this comes up, today we're going to talk about the seven, count them, seven biggest questions heading into the play-in slash playoffs. We are here. We made it. It's very exciting. Let's start with a really easy one. If the Lakers win the title from the seven seed or the play-in, wherever they end up,

maybe they don't even make it into the playoffs. Will this be LeBron's best title ever? Was, what do you think? No. It's impossible for him the top 2016. I just, what it meant for Cleveland, being down 3-1, Golden State being seen as this immovable objects, juggernaut, world beater, you know, universe crusher, and for them to come back and LeBron to play the way that he did, right? Like, it's one thing to win the championship, but it's another thing to, like, literally will your team to this damn championship, both scoring and playmaking, just game six alone.

That game in Cleveland where they just dominated Golden State. Draymond was back, wired or wire more so than game seven. I remember game six of 2016, where LeBron was just, he was as good as he's ever freaking been at basketball. So no, I don't think this season can top it just because him and AD got injured and they got a whack seed, right? Nobody in this field is considered like impossible to beat. Even the Brooklyn net, too, as talented as they are,

those guys have played less than 10 games together. as a unit, and they're going to be figuring it out in the crucible of the playoffs. So no, nothing will top 2016. And even though I don't give a damn about the sentimental Cleveland stuff, it matters to people. So, like, I don't think 2016 will ever be topped. Yeah, I don't think it's even that close, right? I mean, a 3-1 finals come back against one of the best teams of all time with the way

LeBron played, like Waz was saying, it literally does not get much better than that. That is a crowning achievement of all crowning achievements across NBA history, an incredible thing. And was you right, how he played in the Cavs played in Game 6 of that series is one of the lost gems because of how big Game 7 was. And the block and Kyrie shot, like all those moments are a little bit more immortal in that way. But the way they came back and the way they were able to rally in Six specifically was huge. I mean, they were just so close to being swept out of that series completely. And so that to me is always is always going to be on that level

unless you get an opponent in their side of the bracket at some point who's on the level or at least is an all-time kind of team like those warriors were. Yeah, I don't disagree. Like definitely emotionally from a big moment standpoint, it's almost impossible to come close to 2016. That was like pretty much scripted by Jerry Bruchheimer.

Like had every little thing you would want. Like David versus Goliath, all that stuff. The counter to that is, one, this is the lowest LeBron has ever. been seating wise. The lowest he's been is a fourth. He will have to not have home court advantage pretty much throughout the playoffs. I'm curious

how that's going to affect things. I think this is going to be in some small way like a referendum. Unless they play the clip of course. In which case they most certainly will have home court. Sorry Clippers. It's true. It's true. And then the other thing is historically this is absolutely unprecedented.

Zach Kram had this in his piece today since they expanded to 16 teams in 1984. Only two teams. have won a single series from the seven or eight seed. So, like, in the broad sense of things, if LeBron wins a title, if he even gets to the title game, this is unprecedented.

I think that will matter. It might not be as dramatic, but I think that's really, like, this is a pretty, you know, he's on the precipice of something great, potentially. Yeah, and even though he didn't win titles with those Cleveland teams, that were just so stinky,

The one that, especially the one that didn't have Kyrie on it was such a freaking stinky team. And I get the East wasn't that great either. But like the fact that he was able to go to the finals with those teams, right? You know, again, like when AD's right, this team is really, really good. Like the Suns, I think they're going to beat the Suns in four games, but I could see it going five. Like, I don't think the Suns have a shot against the Lakers. I think Utah obviously has a shot, but I think the Lakers feel comfortable beating them up too. This team is like extremely talented.

So while the seating may be sucky, I think it's suckier for teams like Utah and Phoenix who would have to play them in the first round rather than getting some patsy like the Grizzlies or something like that and meeting them in the second round. I think it stinks for them. But this Lakers team is very talented. So it wouldn't surprise me in the least. bit to see them go to the finals and beat Brooklyn or Milwaukee or Philly, I guess, if they so make it to the finals. Yeah, obviously the dynamics with the Lakers as an underseated team are pretty different than the other historical seventh and eighth seats, not just because they have LeBron

and AD, but the whole power dynamic is flipped. Like, if the Lakers do go on a long run, I think some of the reason, even the seven and eight teams that make it out of the first round tend to peter out in the second round is, just the emotional charge and the wear of doing that takes a lot out of a team to just make it out against a top-seated team. If the Lakers make it out of the first round, like, they expect to win. They expect to win every series they're going to walk into. I just don't think they'll have to be invested emotionally in that way, like the we believe warriors or something like that, to kind of pull off that upset. It's just, it's not exactly the same thing. And so I think it's tough.

It's going to wear on them to go through series after series after series against really good opponents, but there's just not the same toll on a team like the Lakers to make it out. Yes, right. I do think like it's hard to, at full strength, you know, not respect the Lakers, right? But I can't get out of my head, though, that the last image we have of regular season LeBron is him limping off the court as they were trying to muster a win against a completely like injury ravaged Pelicans team. They were like, that wasn't an easy win they got against Najee Marshall and Willie Hernam Gomez.

and all these other guys. And LeBron didn't look particularly great. The Lakers, as a whole, did not look particularly great. And so really, if you have faith in the Lakers, you have one faith in just LeBron and just everything he's done throughout history. And also in your medical doctorate that you got from Twitter University

because nobody can tell me how healthy LeBron actually is and how healthy AD is, even though he has been playing lately. So it's just like there's this blind faith that I just can't get over, which leads me to my next question, like, how much do you guys even believe? even the Lakers in general, given their current state? Well, they still finished with the best defense in the NBA,

as our notes clearly illustrate. And that's the thing. I don't think that LeBron is going to be asked to be a super score in this playoffs, right? They're going to grind possessions out. They're going to stop people. And they're going to score just enough, right? He's not going to have to be a sort of one-on-one killer all playoffs long. Like we've seen it on teams past.

Like I mentioned that, you know, where Rodney Hood was the second best score on one of those Cleveland teams, right? And they weren't very good at defense, by the way. And so this ain't that. They're going to stop people. And they're going to do just enough to score to get by. And like, if they had, if they needed LeBron to be like a 32 point per game type of guy during the playoffs, I'd be like, man, this is going to be tough.

for the Lakers. But because they've shown themselves to be the best defensive unit in the NBA, I set it on real ones. I love their big man rotation in the sense of the versatility that they have with Drummond, with Mark, with AD, and even Montrez in spot duty, right? Like, I love how they could play with it. Vogel has shown that, yeah, Tres, we get it, your clutch, we get it, it's a contract year. I don't care. I'm playing my best players when the matchup dictates that do that. And I don't think they're going to count out the drumming and be like, oh, this guy wants his money this offseason. He needs to play.

No, this is going to be matchup specific. We're out here to win a damn championship. So I like their chances. Yeah, I like their chances against any of these teams. The question is whether they can beat a run of them without having any injury setbacks,

without running out of steam. It's really the cumulative aspect of that. And, you know, since, you know, we're just talking among friends here, nobody's ever going to listen to this conversation. I just want to whisper something into the ether here, not saying it's going to happen or even that it's likely, but I mean,

what happens if they lose in the play-in game? I don't think it's impossible that they lose to the Warriors, and then all of a sudden you're, maybe you get like the best game of some Grizzly's life, and that's it. That's game over. I'm not ready for that. I mean, I can't even imagine the face-melting temperature of the takes

that would result from something like that. but I think there's a better possibility of that than we're kind of willing to publicly acknowledge at this point because they are a contender. They are a team that could win at all. They're also a team that we might not be talking about, at least as an active team in a week. I'm not ready to go to that extent,

but I do think things are going to be a little bit more difficult than perhaps a lot of us are just assuming based on history and the bronze, just track record in the NBA. But it does bring us to our next question because I do wonder if a lot of what's going to happen in the West is going to come down to how the bracket broke out, And so here is our second question of the day here.

Who is a better chance at the title, Utah or Phoenix? Rob, who do you think? Yeah, I mean, I've heard Waz is all over this, too, about the Sun's Biggs. I just don't think they're quite ready for this moment. And I don't want to make it all about Aiton and Sergeant Kaminsky. Like, obviously, there are more complex dynamics at work there, but they're going to be put through every test, I mean, through the gauntlet, especially if they're playing against a team like the Lakers.

I just, I don't necessarily trust them to hold up in that particular way. And so I go to Utah almost by default there. I just, I trust their veterans a little bit more. Even for a team that needs to prove it, quote unquote, prove it in a lot of ways. They've shown they can get through early rounds of the playoffs. The Sons, there are just so many young guys starting with that front court. You know, it's crazy because to me, the real answer is whoever doesn't play the Lakers in the first round has the best chance at the title. Like in a vacuum, give me Utah all day.

I just think, you know, I believe in their ability to get stops. And as I've said over and over and over again, I really think Donovan Mitchell is going to prove himself to be the sort of offensive hub one-on-one type of guy that you absolutely need on the wing on the perimeter to win championships. I can't remember the last time a team won a championship without a guy who could kill you from the perimeter. So give me Utah. As much as I love Devin Booker, don't get it twisted. And obviously I love what Chris Paul is done for that team organizationally and on the floor.

But give me Utah. I just love their core components a little bit more. I think they're a little bit more trustworthy. And sure, a lot of it is that I haven't seen anybody on the Suns do anything in the playoffs ever in my life, aside from Chris Paul, which I think, you know, counts for something. and so yeah, give me the jazz all day. 8 and O in the bubble, baby. Come on. That was not to playoffs.

That was not the playoffs. I just want to point something out here. You know, I've heard Waz go on every podcast the Ringer has, slamming Rudy Gobert, taking shots at Rudy Gobert. I get it. But now I'm kind of wondering if it was such a steady drumbeat that if you were just trying to drive down the Gobert stock so that right now, when it's pick-um time, you're swooping and you're buying it all up.

The WOS agenda is laid bare on this podcast. Rudy, look, this is the thing about Rudy. It's like you got paid to be a great defensive big man. Be happy about that. You know, like, be happy. Like, bro, generational wealth created because you set great screen assist. When you come up to a damn scrum and you literally start crying and say it's because your mom is sad that you didn't make the all. Your mom?

your mom is more sad that you didn't make the All-Star team than that you were freaking 350 millionaire. Are you out your damn mind, Rudy Gobert? I'm supposed to believe you. He's crying. Ben Wallace is in the Hall of Fame now. I mean, it's a big, it's a good time for Big Man. Just appreciate it. Come on, Rudy.

He cried because he didn't make the All-Star team. That's just, that's weak sauce. I'm sorry. I'll never forgive him for that. But that being said, when you're not, when you're not being forced to cover a Steph or a dame, and your Utah, and I know Utah fans going to be in my mentions talk about Rudy's gotten better at covering his space.

Anthony Davis, he is not, guys. We can all admit that, please. And so when you don't have to deal with that in a given series, although his potential first-round opponent might be the Warriors, I think Rudy is amazing as a big.

Jamal Murray is out of the playoffs, right? Kyrie's on the other side of the bracket. There's only a few of these guys, that threaten the Rudy types in that specific way. So when that's not the case, Rudy's great. Yeah. No, and that's if there's a case to be made for Utah. I mean, there's a good case to be made for Utah.

But that's, to me, the strongest one, because the bracket broke for them in a way. It doesn't feel like they're going to face some of the players that can expose that biggest weakness early on. Like, obviously, Kauai is great. Paul George is great. But then you wonder, like, are they going to struggle against the Mavs? I'm also concerned that I haven't seen Donovan Mitchell in like a month.

Like I Googled Donovan Mitchell, like, where are you? And the, like, the latest evidence that he is in existence was he was doing, I guess, like, you know, he was, he was given the speech at a graduation at the University of Utah. And I'm like, oh, that's cool that he's doing that and not playing basketball right ahead of this, like, dramatic Utah jazz playoff run where they're just like, they're already talking about historic, how historic finishing with the top record in the West was this year. and in the NBA, and I'm just like, I don't know, guys. I'm still a little concerned that your best player or your best wing player is like nowhere to be found. Is it just me? Justin, we got to talk about how you use Google.

I'm a little concerned. No, I mean, no, you got to be concerned. But I think, you know, they were winning games. They had an opportunity to be conservative. I think the condensed nature of this year's schedule made a lot of teams. teams feel like they were emboldened to rest their guys more, you know, record be damned. And if the ultimate test is going to be what they do in the playoffs, then, you know, I can't be mad at them for being conservative with the guy. It's not like they were fighting for seating

or trying to do trickeration like some other team that we know seating-wise. I get it, but the concern is valid 100%, because it's going to be on him. They're not going to win. They're not going to go far in the playoffs because Bogie did well. You know, like, Bogey might do well or he might not, but he's not going to be what makeup breaks this team. It's going to be Donovan Mitchell.

That kind of brings me to my 2B question here, because I can't figure out a clear-cut favorite here. It sounds like you guys are saying the Lakers just based on default, but I really can't get over the fact that, like, there are some really dramatic concerns about the Lakers'Halth here. Like, just in a broad sense, like,

who would you say is the favorite in the West was? The favorite in the West is the Clippers, because they are the most relatively healthy team, right? And the most talented, right? When it comes to, when you combine talent and health, then, you know, Sergei Baca comes out and talks about whatever. But like, Paul George and Kauai Leonard are relatively healthy. Again, can't be stated enough.

Wing players get you to the freaking championship. They have two of them, and they're great. So LeBron's ankle being hobbled, to me, that makes the clippers the favorite in the West. But I don't put anything past LeBron. You know what I'm saying? Like, how could I? You know, like, I can't put anything past LeBron. So, you know, the Clippers are the favorite, though.

Definitely the favorite. Yeah, that's the right dynamic. I think with the Lakers, calling them a favorite would just feel like too much, given the place they're starting from. And then you get into the process of elimination. Like, I mean, we've been talking ourselves out of the Suns a little bit, at least relative to the Jazz. Who talked himself into the Suns Championship? Come on, guys. It's a nice story.

And with the Jazz, too, I mean, there is a, I'm kind of tempted based on how the bracket broke and the season Utah had to lean into the Jazz a little bit and to say I could kind of see what a long run for them would look like. But as you mentioned, Justin, the health situation there scares me a little bit. Just in terms of, we don't know quite what we're going to see out of Mitchell. or Conley in a long run. And there's just a little bit of an I need to see it happen first quality with them.

And so then you kind of start crossing teams off the list and you end up with the clippers. Like I was saying, they're the most healthy. It probably comes down to a question of like how much you trust Paul George to be a big time player. Personally, I do.

I think not only can he be, but he has been in previous situations. That's what I've seen him do it before. Our memory on that stuff is so short. We're just going to forget everything that happened before he became a clipper. all like the huge games.

He went toe to toe with some of the best players in the league. I guess those just don't count. You just want to talk about the Clippers now because I have this later on, but I feel like we should just do that. It's looming. It's the elephant in the room, the Clippers.

It's a lot. Okay. So the Clippers tanked pretty freaking hard the last two games of the season. They were trotting out guys that I'd never heard of. Otero, that Thunder game was, that's going into the Smithsonian, that one.

Yeah. That was Mark Madsen. taking 20 or so shots, level bad. Yeah. How do we feel about the fact that they tanked specifically, it seems, to avoid the Lakers? Because it almost like confirms everything you fear and know about the clippers where like your intellectual brain is like, oh my God, on paper, this team makes so much sense. Two of the best two-way wings in basketball. That's how you win in today's NBA. Like they have shooters. They have big rotation. Oh my God. They have everything. But on the other hand, like, do they,

can you be confident in this team based on the way they just completely like blew up in last year's playoffs? And this is kind of the same thing where it's like, intellectually, I understand. You want to avoid the Lakers

because that's the best route in order to get to the finals, right? That makes sense. On the other hand, kind of make some cowards. Like, how am I supposed to have confidence in a team

when my biggest concern about them is their confidence in themselves? You know, the Clippers thing kind of reminds me as something I went through like a month and a half ago or a month ago, I got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, right? And, you know, I spent weeks making fun of people who are anti-vax or whatever. Then inevitably, like, two days later, gets called off the market. And I spent, like, I spent, like, maybe two or three days sincerely believing that I had blood clots.

And so I say that to say, like, and like, I just psyched myself out. And I was like, oh, my God, I spent all this time making fun of people about this. This is crazy. I don't have blood clout, y'all. But I was just saying, the clippers, I didn't believe in any of this clipper curse. Oh, they're scorned, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like, come on. They have Kuwait Leonard down.

They got Paul George. The team is incredible. They're going to be amazing. They go up 3-1 on the Denver. But then how else can you explain what happened against Denver? besides some carmic force working against this team

constantly. I just can't understand it. You know? I guess the counter to that would be like the explanation was Doc Rivers playing Montrez Harold too much and like both of those guys

are gone. So maybe but like you mentioned Serge Abaka, another guy who hasn't played in how many months and I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty concerned about the way he's talking about his injury.

He told the media the other day and he wasn't playing well when he was playing. That's another thing. He has a pinch nerve, which already, yikes, and he's been saying that it's been hurting him pretty much the entire season, doesn't feel 100% even though he played in these last two games.

The Clippers were even like, yeah, we weren't even sure he was going to play last Friday, but he ended up suiting up. That seems important, especially because Rob, I believe you made the case early on the season that surgery is going to be big for them. Yeah, well, especially for their matchup against the Lakers. And this is why you duck the Lakers.

Like, the one guy you brought in to help you handle rim defense for LeBron's drives to help you corral Anthony Davis a little bit he's kind of MIA or at least a big question mark in terms of what your playoff rotation is going to be I don't really mind the ducking the Lakers thing in general because I mean here's the thing

if you win the title no one cares no one is going to if the Clippers win no one is going to remember that they went all this way to not play LeBron and the other thing about it too is if the Lakers run out of steam early in these playoffs for some reason if you know one of their guys gets dinged up

and they lose in the second round or something like that and the clippers never have to play them, I don't think we're going to get this same joky energy that we're all talking now about the clippers and how they're cowards for ducking their side of the bracket. This could work out really well for them. I think they, I really see no problem with it,

especially because they are a team that could win. And if you're that kind of team, you don't take chances with this shit. You do everything you can to get the same. Yes, it feels weird for the clippers, carmically to be doing this. Really, Clippers, you're going to test the basketball guys. You guys are going to do this? You spent 30 years not making the playoffs,

and y'all are the ones that think it's okay to test the basketball gods. But at the same time, I think a lot of times we lose sight of the fact that these guys are human beings, right? Like, I know that is not the most profound thing, but, like, there's something to be said about the accumulative energy expenditure of playing the Lakers in the first freaking round. If I'm going to get to the title, man, that's going to be an energy suck. And then I got to do it in the second round. Then I got to do it in the conference finals.

Then I got to do it in the finals again. There's something to be said about that, right? To be like, man, we ain't trying to do all that in the first round. I get that. And I think Ty Lou is one of the most pragmatic NBA coaches that we have. He's the guy who like, if a play works once or twice in a row, he's running three and four times in a row again. right? He's going to do the thing that he thinks works no matter what. And that goes with lineups, that goes with, you know, how he attacks matchups. That goes with anything. Tailu was going to do

what he thinks works. And to him, he's like, why would I want to play LeBron and him in the first round? Why? For pride? To that point, the 73 win Warriors shot 41.6% from three that season. The Clippers this season shot 41.1% from three. That's pretty good. That's from our guy LaMurray at the athletic. It's pretty freaking good. But on the other hand, I don't love the fact that they're also playing

the Mavs in this first round. It's going to drag up a lot of like old storylines, a lot of more pressure than there should be for a first round series for a team that's been this good this year. So I'm worried. I'm not saying that I don't believe in them, that they're not going to even make the finals or even win the title. I'm a little worried.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah. And, you know, you talk to Mavericks people, they felt really good about the series until Chris Staps went out. They liked what they were able to get against these guys. They felt like they could run their stuff and get quality looks on a consistent basis. They're going to throw some stuff at Kawhi, by the way. They're going to be really smart about how they attack Kawhi with doubles and length, et cetera, et cetera.

this is not going to be an easy series. I think the Lakers series would have been harder, but this is not going to be some walk in the park for the clippers. This is going to be tough, particularly if Sergei Baca can't be out there to match up with Chris Staps. Right. Now, and that goes with offensively just having, they got a five-man floor spacing.

We got a five-man floor spacing. And our five-man is going to chase people around. He's going to protect the rim, et cetera, et cetera. not having that dynamic is going to make things more difficult because, you know, shout to my man, Yovan Buha, who was freaking zoob hive to a ridiculous extent last regular season. But this is not a matchup for him, to be honest with you guys. I would hope that the clippers are smart enough.

And I think Tailu, because he is a very offensively minded coach. He would, like, when push comes to shove, he'll put out an offensive lineup. to sacrifice some defense any freaking time. And I think the clips, if they're smart, we'll do Morris at the 5 type of stuff and really open up their offense and be like, you know what, y'all not going to be able to guard us with this

and not try to do the whole, we need a big in there, defense first, et cetera, et cetera. That's going to be a great series. And, you know, the Mavs all year have played up against good teams and they've just sucked against bad teams. The fact that we're getting kind of the rematch element of it And really across the playoffs, we're getting a couple of these rematches. You got the heat and the bucks on the other side of the bracket.

You got Portland and Denver circling back. They had a great seven-game series a couple years ago. I like that we're getting some of these continuing dynamics and storylines from those teams. And you also have the Nets who, I mean, Kevin Durand is either going to play against Russell Westbrook in a series or Kyrie Irving is going to play against the Celtics in a series. I mean, that's some pretty fun stuff for the first round. Yeah, I don't know if I'm into the repeats, but I want to get that. I don't know if I'm into the repeats,

but I want to get to that later in the second half of the pod. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about some teams in the East. Let's flip to the other side of the conferences here now. Who is the favorite in the East?

Rob, who do you like? I think it's the Nets. I think there's just too much that they can do to maneuver through a series. There's too much they can throw at any one team. And there's too much potential to kind of balance all the weight of the playoffs over a long run between

their three guys. You know, Kevin, like Durant, Irving and Hardin, they don't have to be great all the time. They just have to kind of balance it and juggle it between them just enough. I think that's good enough. That being said, I think this is one of the cases where the overwhelming answer will be the Nets. If you surveyed all media, maybe even if you surveyed people in the league, Nets would be the overwhelming response. But I think if you broke down the percentages of who is actually likely to get out of the East, it's much closer to break even between Brooklyn and Philly and Milwaukee. I think it's just, that the Nets have a slight enough edge and it's noticeable. And a lot of teams are going to pick, a lot of people would pick them for that reason. But Philly and Milwaukee have a really good shot, I think, to make the finals. Rob illustrates a beautiful point. If you surveyed NBA media, it overwhelmingly be Mets. I mean, excuse me, Mets.

Wishful thinking on that one. Relax. It would overwhelmingly be the Nets. But that doesn't mean that they're just going to beat everybody within four or five games, right? Like, it's not going to be easy. The playoffs are not easy, particularly for teams that just came together and have never done it together, right? Like, that first big playoff game where Kyrie comes down three possessions in a row and misses three shots, okay? Those are big moments, right?

And how you respond to that and how his teammates sort of respond to that. That's what makes a team what a team is. You know, Landry Shamit, you're going to have to make big shots with you. your team maybe down 1-0, you know, staring 2-0 down the barrel. And if you brick it, what are you going to do next time? You're wide open again,

right? Like, these are questions that will need to be answered, right? Like, people are going to be like, Bruce Brown, you're a nice story. Beat us. Go ahead. Beat us. Do it. We want to see it. You know, Blake, we want to see what you got. You know,

and I think that matters. But ultimately, if James is relatively healthy, they're going to beat everybody because their offense is going to generate great looks no matter who they face. So long as James Hardin is on the floor, they're going to generate quality offense. That's a big if, though.

It is a big if, but I'm confused why we're so convinced that the Lakers are going to be so dominant in the West when they have injury concerns and the nets aren't just because they haven't done it before. I think this, I love this point of the season because it feels like we're going to be on the verge of like something big happening, like a team like rising to prominence and all of a sudden like maybe reeling off one or two titles, right? I feel like we're going to look back on this time and wonder why we weren't all in on the

nets, why we were so concerned about like, you know, do they have one enough shots to go around for this team? Like, we're always constantly questioning how these things are going to fit. When I look at this team and it has so much offensive talent, probably the most offensive talent ever assembled in NBA history and think, like, there's a pretty easy answer here. Just go with the most talented team. I kind of wonder if we're going to look back at this time and be like, no stupid. Just like go with three generational talents, two players who like completely shaped the way we play basketball in 2021. I know that's what I'll be saying to Mo Doc Hill.

I've been dissing them ever since. Ever since he tried to lecture me about defense being important and winning championships and nobody going to defend on this team. And yada, yada, yada, yada more. I'm getting in your ass once the Nets get to the finals, boy. The slander parade continues. No, no, seriously. But, like, as the Nets, like, things started coming together once they got James and, like, Hardin was so, like, it was just like, wow, what the fuck were we thinking?

How did we overthink this? Hardin's amazing, right? I just kept texting, Mo, and dissing them on every single podcast that I would go on. And so the street continues, Mo, we're still getting on you. 48 wins when how many games did these guys even play together? That is the most impressive part of this, that they only needed two to finish one win behind the 76ers. That's like, it's incredible. And like, so here's actually my question, because you guys are basketball historians, right?

Sure. Do you think this team is more offensively talented than the big three heat? Hell yeah. Yeah. Are you shooting me? Okay. Because like the Big Three heat, you know, the first two years, they were making their bones on defense. And even to a certain extent,

2013, they could still sort of rev it up, but they were no longer that defensive jugging out, mainly because D. Wade wasn't a supernova athlete anymore. The injuries had sort of sapped him of that. They wouldn't, like, they found their way offensively when they was like, all right, Bosch is the five men. We're inverting him in LeBron. He's going to play.

on the wing and LeBron's going to sort of play out of the mid post and the low post and they turn into a really good offensive team. But the driver was one guy. Like if LeBron wasn't making things happen, that team wasn't going to get great looks. That's not the case for the Nets. Like it's hardened and what he's able to do in pick and roll and one-on-one. And then KD, who is probably the best one-on-one scoring threat wing ever, ever. Ever. So, like, that's just a different proposition when it comes to a defense and you say to yourself, all right, we're going to take away X, Y, and Z and live with this. The nets, those, the things that you have to live with will kill you.

You know, like, it's just different. They're way better offensively than those heat. Well, especially with the way you framed the question, Justin, which is talent. Like, who is the most talented? I think there's a case that Kevin Durant is the most talented basketball player we've ever seen in terms of what he can do at his size, unbelievable. LeBron's obviously in that conversation too. But the other part of that that we're kind of glossing over

in kind of discussing the top part of the pecking order is, you know, Chris Bosch was a great offensive player before he showed up in Miami. But what if Chris Bosch before he showed up had been a killer in an NBA finals, had been a champion before, had that kind of pedigree for big shots and huge moments and didn't have to earn it and kind of piece that part of himself together as a member of the heat? that's where Kyrie's coming from. I mean, he's going to come in with no conscience, make some huge plays and critical moments

coming off of 50, 40, 90 season in his sleep. I mean, like, you know, I've been a Kyrie critic for a long time, especially as the top guy on a team. I'm still one. Yeah, but if he's, but if he's your third dude and James Hardens running the offense,

I mean, that's vicious stuff. That's vicious. Tough. All right, I actually thought this was going to be more in debate, so I completely agree with you guys. What if you factor in defense, though? What about complete team? Does it become more of a conversation for you guys?

Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, to me, and I mean, offensive talent, though, I think Golden State with KD is the only team that compares because of how complimentary the talent was. Like, how deadly from three KD, Clay, and Steph are. Like, that's just, it's just like it puts a defense in such panic mode to the point where your break glass in case of emergency

is KD isolating against a guy completely alone, 18 feet away from a rim? That's the worst case scenario of your freaking offense, right? Like, that's the only team that I think you compare. You know, I don't think, it's interesting. I think individually, a lot of people would say, as far as offensive output, that you can compare James Hardin to Steph Curry. And I would generally agree with them when you factor

in how great of a playmaker Hardin is, right? Obviously, he's not good as good as at putting the ball in the hoop. But, like, Clay and Kyrie, I mean, Kyrie is more dynamic offensively than Clay Thompson is. So, you know, you got to, man, I probably got to give the edge to the Brooklyn Nets, even in the Warriors scenario, even though the pieces were more complimentary on the Warriors. You know, the one thing they don't have, especially if we're going to compare them to all-time great teams, is that continuity, the chemistry.

the knowing how to play together, that'll kind of put them in a separate category. They're going to have to figure a lot of that stuff out. What's scary is what if, like, midway through the second round, that stuff starts to click? What if they start to synergize in that way that great teams do? And they're not just taking turns and balancing lineups and trying to keep enough scoring on the floor

and, you know, figure out whatever they can do with their defense. What if they start to look like a real all-time basketball team? Because they have the talent to do it. It's just a matter if they have the time to kind of figure that out. Well, speaking of continuity, we should probably talk about the other two teams that are kind of in the Nets tier here in the east. Rob, we've talked about the Bucks many times this season. I know you've spent many a night just painfully going over the statistics in order to find hope amidst the Bucs' repertoire here. How are you feeling?

Where are you on the optimism scale about the Bucs going into this postseason? I'm a relative believer. And again, it comes down to the fact that I think the Nets gets so. much support and so much belief because of their talent that we kind of gloss over both Philly and Milwaukee. I don't know, man. I mean, again, it's kind of in my mind's eye, who can I imagine winning the East? I think, I can imagine the Bucks winning. I can see what that path looks like. And especially, you know, like they've channeled like more and more ball handling like through Drew Holiday into pick and rolls with Janus, through Chris Middleton into pick and rolls with Janus.

Like, they're moving in the right directions for what you need in terms of perimeter creation to take that next step, to elevate themselves as a team. And they have the flexibility defensively, at least in terms of personnel, to best match up with either of the other two best Eastern Conference teams. That's not something we can just throw out.

I get the Mike Bootenholzer slander, and I want to see him adjust and make those changes too. I get the questions about Janus and putting up the wall against him in the playoffs. All that stuff is totally valid. This is still a great team, and one that's still learning and still evolving. And, I mean, lest we forget,

get, Drew Holiday is a playoff badass. That is a dude who shows up for huge games, who locks guys up, who will body you, and is just flat out stronger than most of the guards he's going to be up against. And if you want seven games of that, I mean, I just don't think that's wise. You know, I think the bucks are going to wear on teams more than more than people might expect. Yeah. To be fair, we haven't seen Drew Holiday for many playoffs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They have been good when he has, when he's been there, he's, he's done his thing, both Philly and you know, in New Orleans.

I just, yeah, I hate being productive sports radio guy, but show me. You know what I'm saying? Do it. I got to see it. And because last year was just a revelation for me, man, like people say, oh, Miami caught thunder and, what is it?

Lightning in a bottle. I was about to say thunder in a bottle. Lightning in a bottle and, you know. So they call Poku. And, you know, They kind of ran into a buzzsaw, but, you know, we saw the same stuff over and over again. And yes, they did spend a whole off season hearing about how predictable they were. They did spend the regular season. I think sacrificing regular season wins, which I think is important, experimenting with different things,

i.e. not having Janus start a possession, 30 freaking feet from the basket with the ball in his hands. And Rob, I'm glad you mentioned, doing more picking rolls with Drew Holiday, letting him take table set doing the same thing with Middleton. I think he's an underrated table setter, honestly. I think he's gotten better and better at it every single year. Rob just gotten gorge. But, you know, they're going to have to stop Brooklyn. They're going to have to stop them.

That's scary to me. Like the Lakers in a Brooklyn matchup, because their five-man can beat, I can just do that with AD at the five for 44 minutes and switch him on to any one of your big three in a picking roll. setting and feel pretty fine about it, you know, not to mention all my other wing defenders, et cetera, et cetera. Like, they can do a heavy switch defense. And I'm like, they're going to do a decent job with the heavy switch system with the

lineups they can put out there, right? Whether it be with Caruso and Braun and AD, et cetera, et cetera. Is Milwaukee going to be as good at it? Is Janus going to be as good as Anthony Davis was in game six of the final? finals against the heat, right? Where that was like, I don't think I've ever seen somebody play defense that good before, right? Like, I don't know. I don't have that confidence in the Bucks, but, you know, people are telling me that I should,

so we'll see. Well, the regular season says they're not going to be as good at it. Like, you know, the Bucks did try new stuff. They were not always great at the new stuff. Yeah, they're kind of like the suburban mom just like trying out the new trend. Wow. Wow. these jeans shorts look so good on me.

Oh, Lord, have mercy. I actually have no idea what the trends are. It's just yoga pants. That's it. Yoga pants. That's the new trend. Yeah, exactly. But this does bring me to a question I did want to ask.

So getting back to the idea of like how things tend to be obvious in retrospect, like I do wonder every year there does seem to be a team that we look back and they're like teetering on the brink of just like an existential crisis or just a full rebuild or whatnot, not like eventually the ESPN, like TikTok comes out. And it's like, oh, actually they hated each other. And that one had each other in the headlock right before they went out on the floor before game five. What team do you think is most likely to experience that? Is it the Bucks?

No, I think the Bucks are a happy group because Janice signed a long-term deal, right? Like, your best guy is basically giving buy-in to the guys on the team. Like, I think you guys have what it takes. and relative kumbaya there in Milwaukee. And when you have your best, when you have one of the five best dudes, six best dudes in the NBA locked up for five years, there's no real reason to panic. I have Yonis under contract. Like, I don't have to panic, right?

So I don't think that it is the Bucks. I think Utah, because because they have played the best basketball of any NBA team this season, they're a champ. should be, they should view themselves as a championship contender. If they peter out just in a limp, wrist fashion, like, that's going to be tough because it's like you're dueling with your two things of like, yes, I am a small market, therefore I don't deserve to be a contender. That's what they always say, right? Like, all these small market is always bitching at us about, we can't compete. We can't do it with the big boys.

The Lakers have an unfair advantage. We just can't do it because I'm. market is so small. We're always crying about the market size and the competitive disadvantages and we're just always crying about it. We're just a small market cry babies crying, right? How do they balance that with the reality that you guys played as good as any team in the NBA this year? So if they lose an embarrassing fashion, I think small market brain is going to creep in and be like, holy crap, we're capped out. Maybe let's start shutting some sales. Let's start getting rid of some of these guys because Jesus Christ,

we're not going to be a championship team in Salt Lake City. I ain't paying hundreds of millions. Yeah, I do think that a lot of this comes down to like contractual circumstances here and the jazz are facing kind of like a difficult future ahead of them. Conley is a free agent.

I believe they already have more money committed next year than they do this year. Boyan is 33. Ingalls is 34. And like you said, they're a small market. They have a new owner, like maybe the new owner want to pay in order to like get the buy-in from the fans,

but you could also see it going the other way. Big boy teams pay. If you're a big boy team, you pay up. I don't want to hear your small market crap. You got a team that's that basically by any metric, whether it be point differential, winning percentage, top five defense, offense, all of that stuff. You have a team that's a real freaking team, you know, so you pay for that. It costs.

You know, I'm tired of owners, man, these small markets, billionaire dudes crying about. money. How you cry about money and you work for a billion something dollars? That don't make no damn sense to me. Tie to small markets, JV. We need to get Waz in there. Waz for the new Lakers owner. Rob, what do you have here?

I think the answer's kind of already been given to us, which is it's the Celtics. Yeah. You know, this feels like a pretty pivotal moment for them because if they were to just run it back with what they got, it would be an acceptance of a pretty middle

spot in the pecking order. That team is not cracking the top three in the east right now. But Danny Age is the best GM in the NBA, according to a majority of our colleagues in the media. Danny Age is incredible. How could you ever be in pedigold?

I see WISE over here just like, just waiting patiently to jump on this one. Don't get fired this quickly, Wals. Danny Age is the best things in sliced bread when it comes to team management. He's so jean, he hoarded all these assets. The amount of times I heard about the Celtics

goddamn assets ever since that damn Brooklyn deal and what the hell have they done? Well, I mean, they got to the conference finals a couple of times. It's not nothing. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I mean, Angie

just kind of set himself up here because they talked a lot about using this trade exception and around the deadline. They're like, well, we're actually going to wait until the offseason because we think we can get a better player for it. Didn't pull the trigger on getting anyone like a, you know, John Collins or whoever.

When they said, well, actually, the reason why we're not killing people this year is because of Kyrie. They came out and said that publicly. I said, wow. Holy moly. That's embarrassing, dude. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. Hold yourselves accountable.

You failed. You had a war chest. That's all I heard. The Celtics war chest of assets. The assets are going to save them. War chest assets. Age is so diabolical. He only does.

deals when he completely kills the other side, blah, blah, blah. Look at this team. It's pathetic. It's a pathetic squad. Come on, man. You got to be kidding me. Tatum has done his thing. Brown has obviously done his thing. You know, Smart was hurt and Campbell was hurt this year, et cetera, et cetera. And I said this with the big man on his pod last week. The back of that roster, horseshit. Horrible. That's why they stunk up the joint this year. Absolutely nothing behind those four dudes. They got nothing from anybody who wasn't those four dudes.

Like they got nothing at all. And who's that on? That's management. You know? The geniuses with the war chest put together nothing behind these young boys. Come on now. All right. I'm done, J.B. I was just waiting for you to finish. The problem with the Celtics over the past

like half decade is that they have done such a good job of meticulously planning out their roster and making sure they don't make any bad moves. So the point where, like, they just didn't even have, like, the mid-tier contracts in order to trade and package together, like, a guy that they didn't want in order to get somebody else, right? They've actually done, they've been pretty, I would say, an elite level, like, front office over the past couple years. The problem is, like, there aren't factoring in, like, human decisions in that and, like, personal choice. And Kyrie was just, oh, by the way, I'm just going to go play for this other team,

and everything completely dismantled after that. And, like, that's a big part. of this, especially, it's probably the biggest part of this game now when, if like stars, wherever they want to go is dictating titles, yeah. This is my problem with praising what they do when they approach. Darrymori was like, I don't care about the future. If I can get James Hardin, Ben Simmons, you're out of here. Get the hell out of here. Harding can leave whenever he wants, whatever, I'm putting my team in a position to win a

goddamn championship this year. Period. That's what I'm doing. But he didn't. But he wanted to. But he tried. Houston just did something stupid, right? And decided they didn't want to do that.

It ultimately comes out like every Danny Hange I almost traded for X, Y, Z drafting. Does it though? No, Ben Simmons was actually on the block. The Sixers were actually going to do it. They weren't talking about doing it. Houston said no. Houston decided that they wanted to make a worse trade for themselves, which is fine. Go ahead.

Sure. But like, more he was willing to do it. it. The aims thing to do would have been like, no, keep the young guy on here so I can continue to be like, they're young, we're building, blah, blah, blah. I'm so smart. Asset. He's a young asset, blah, blah, blah. You can always do that. Job security always, that future, GMs always feed media guys, I'm so smart about the future and the assets I have. That's job security. Don't fire me. Because in the future is going to be amazing. Doesn't matter what's happening right now. It's so self-serving for GMs to constantly be talking about future this, future.

Future this, future that. When championship level plays are on the table and the point is to win a freaking championship. Who cares if this dude don't sign with your ad. You're about to bring a chip to the people. Nah, it's about job security and ass covering. And that's what they always do. And the media falls for it every single time I saw it with Hinky. Yo, you know what you should actually let me do?

Lose until I draft LeBron. No matter how long it takes. I should have the ultimate job security until I draft LeBron or KD. Just let me lose forever. Until it happened, because, you know, we're just going to keep playing it. Until we get the KD and LeBron that saves our franchise. And, well, how long should it take? It doesn't matter.

Let's do it for as long as it takes. That's so self-serving for a management type. And we peddle that shit. I don't disagree, but we did just talk earlier about, like, what you want to start your team is too young, two-way wings in the NBA. And they do have Brown and Tate. If there is a flaw, it's that they didn't try to supplement that over the past. six or so months with the next day. Like, Kyrie didn't go with your team.

Like, there's nothing really you could do about that. Your market is your market. But they didn't really recover from that by going for it again. They took a step back consciously, like, invested in the Naismiths and some of these younger guys and hope that they would build around that. Yeah, I agree. I don't just agree with that. And I should have pushed now, not his son of.

And by the way, I'm somebody who thinks either one of the young boys, you get James Hardin in there. Your now is completely altered. you're now a serious, you know. But, you know, it's more beneficial to keep the young boys and say, the future. Just let me do this forever. We don't need to do anything in the now. There's always the future, the future.

We love the future. I do think it's telling, too, that Jalen Brown took a big jump this season. He did. And it got them pretty much nowhere. I mean, that kind of is, to me, illustrative of their upward mobility process. problem. Like even if Tatum takes another half step forward, which he's already a great player, that would be amazing. I don't know that it's really elevating them in the way they need to be elevated. Like they need more out of the spot that Kemba is taking. They need more out of the

back half of the roster like Waz was saying. Maybe maybe it's a Kemba problem. I don't think it's a Jalen Brown problem. If anything, like having those two guys is great. We don't go, we don't go against New York City, man. We can't do that. I know, especially me. I don't know how I became the biggest Celtics defender here. Yeah, yeah, you were Celtics Homer. Yeah, right. Company man. That's what you are.

Company man, J.V. Why don't we take a break? We'll talk about something else. Oh, God. All right, we're back. Pretty good segue coming off of our last conversation because we want to talk about the play in the East here just briefly.

So, as you're feeling confident about the Celtics, I take it? Man, it's hard for me to envision this team winning a game because this season has been just miserable for those guys. Like, it's been horrible. And then it culminates and crescendos in a freaking Jalen Brown injury that takes him out after the dope-ass season that he's had. It's just like, that's a microcosm of it.

Like the one guy who's actually doing it doesn't even get to play in the postseason this year. man, it's just been a horrible season for them. And, you know, guys who I love, Kimball Walker, who's somebody I've been rooting for since day one, right? I was a bit torn when he signed with the Celtics because, you know, you know, but it's like, it's somebody who I root for constantly. Like, he's been hit by the injury bug,

and he's just not, he doesn't have his explosion. He doesn't have his lift that you could count on, right? Like, he was that sort of, all right, when things break down, run up Kemba pick and roll. You know, like, you're getting quality looks out of that. He hasn't been able to do that this season. I just think they've had the season from hell. And I don't see why it would turn around in the postseason for them. But, you know, stranger things have happened in the NBA playoffs.

I'll say that. So that brings us to the other team, I think that people are actually excited about. The Washington Wizards. My question is not that, like, will they get out of the play-in? my question is how much noise will they make when they get out of the play and have to face either Brooklyn or the 76ers here.

Do you think that this team can actually not win a series, but can they give like the nets a firm nudge here, Rob? Are you saying like basketball noise or just actual literal noise? Like they're a noisy kind of team. I don't really see them

putting much fear into the nets. I think they're probably the team that's toughest out of this Eastern Conference play-in group. Just, again, another kind of process of elimination situation. You know, the Pacers, the Hornets, the Celtics. These are teams that they're really kind of limped into the play-in in quite a state, whereas the Wizards are streaking. Like, they're finally putting it together.

You have, you know, Brad Beale's hamstring injury, which has taken the air out of this thing a little bit. But, you know, that's still a team that's formidable in an energy sense, you know, in a momentum sense. But, come on. Like, we just sang the Nets praise. for like 15 minutes earlier, about how this team is kind of unstoppable offensively,

I don't see the Wizards having the solution to that, even like a six-game series solution. I think that's going to be kind of open and shut if it turns out that way. The only reason that I was like semi-excited about the Wizards coming into this season because I thought they were going to, like, not they, but finally for Russ,

he was going to be in a situation where he played with a shit ton of floor spacing. and it just never sort of materialized this year for them or him in that way. Except if you saw some of those lineups in that last game they played where they spread it out for Russ and he just attacked downhill, that looked good. That looked promising. That looked like something that has legs and could work against pretty much any team that they would come up against. So I'm excited to see if they do something like that to actually optimize their best to. players, you know. So I'm excited to see what that brings. They have played actual defense in spurts,

and like actual hard-nosed defense, like executing assignments, rotations, you know, playing on a string, all of that cliche stuff. They actually been doing in stretches for the last month or so. So I'm excited for that prospect. That being said, no, they're not going to make noise against no damn Nets. No, no, no, no, no, no. They're not going to make noise against the Nets. Yeah. I always have the same experience with the Wizards where I'm really, really excited when I first, like, yes, theoretically, like, I'll tune into the game. I'm like, wow, Russell Westbrook, I'm really appreciating what he's doing now. Bradley Beal, oh my God, can he win the scoring title? Robin Lopez is doing these, like, Kareem hooks now that are apparently unguarable.

Daniel Gafford, I know who his name is. There we go. That's how deep I am on the Wizards, but then you're like, oh shit, they're struggling with the hornets. And like the hornets aren't even at full strength. Like, oh, I don't know. Like, they were 15 and 5 over their last 20 games, but they somehow finished four games under 500. Like, that is the wizard's experience in microcosm. And so I'm very excited to see Russell Westbrook back in a playoff situation. Like, I just, like, that's where he should be.

Like, like a kid should be in a ball pit. Like that rush should be in playoff basketball. I just want to see that and enjoy that. But yeah, no, I don't think they'll do much beyond the plane. Well, they're fun regardless. Justin, even to your point about that Charlotte game, like, they looked awful in the first half. And then they rallied and made it a game and won with Brad Beale limping around,

like, not chucking up shots the best he could, trying to contribute. I don't know. Yeah, they're not in a position to really compete with anything, but all those games are going to be fun. Every time that team gets on the floor is going to be fun. It's going to be competitive, even if the Nets pull away in the fourth quarter or whatever. Like that's a team you want to see.

And I want to see Bradley Bill play in clutch postseason possessions, right? Because I think he is a killer in those spots because when the Wizards spread you out, Bradley Bill presents so many problems for you because he can beat you off the dribble. He can knock down a step back three. He can beat you mid-range. He can, he's so deadly in those moments. I want to see him in a big playoff possession type of atmosphere and setting. So, you know, he is hobbled, which is.

is unfortunate for us who love watching these guys hope. But, you know, I'm glad that they're in this mix, though. It's awesome that they're in this mix, particularly for their two best players. And, you know, the young guys are the young guys. And that is what it is. But, like, I'm excited to see what Russ and Brad Biel do. So since we're talking about fun and since we're such fun guys,

let's talk about the first round matchup that we're most excited to see. Rob, we started talking about this a little bit earlier. but who's on the top of your, if not league pass list, I guess, like basic cable list here. I mean, I love all the rematch stuff,

but let's be real. It's Lakers versus Sons. It's Lakers versus anybody. Like, however the playing breaks, we get an early stress test to see what the playoff Lakers are going to look like.

That is appointment viewing. I mean, you got to be there to see what LeBron and AD have going on right now, what the rest of that team can muster, because that could be the whole ball game. If they can really put it together, that could be game over for everybody else.

I'm going to be, basic and go bucks heat because it's automatically nut crunching time Bud was like we're not tanking out of spots to avoid cats we're a real team

we feel like when we lace them up we can beat anybody and this is immediately that's put on the line and put to the test against a team and a coaching staff that is going to try you

they're going to test you you're going to have to pass test they're going to put the hurdles in front of you between what Jimmy and Bam we're going to do and their willingness to get down and dirty and muck things up for you and make this a grind fest.

Spolster's ability to try stuff, adjustments, adjustments, adjustments, adjustments. Like that combination is going to test Milwaukee automatically. They're going to have to put their money where their mouth is right out the freaking gate. So I'm really excited about the heat bucks. Well, this is a good point to talk about some of these repeats that we were kind of referring to

earlier here. I know Rob, you said you were excited about that just because of the inherent drama some of these series already have. I'm not really sold on it. And I wasn't sold on it in the regular season when I think a lot of people were really excited to see these two game sets a lot of the times we were getting. Like, oftentimes it was just like a worse version of the first game or vice versa. Here, I just feel like we've already done that. I want something a little bit fresh. Like I like rivalries. I mean, Bucks heat, that seems fun, especially because these teams have almost flip-fopped in terms of expectations

now. But a lot of the times, like, I just don't want to watch the same thing over again. And if a lot of these series just play out the same, or even if, like, if they meet expectations that the clippers just, like, roll the Mavs, if the Bucks roll the heat, like, it doesn't get

me really excited. I'm more excited about, like, Laker's sons, like you were saying, Rob, I don't really want to watch a ton of these repeats. Well, I think the difference is, especially coming off of the bubble season, which was such a unique thing, we now get to test these hypotheses we had, right? Like, like Waz was saying earlier, the Mavs felt really good about their chances in that series

against the Clippers before KP went down. So let's run it back. Let's put KP out there. Let's see how you can do. You know, the team's a little bit different, but Luca's still one of the best players in the league. You still have, again, been playing up against good competition all year. Let's see what you got.

And with the bucks and the heat, you know, again, the same big question we've been talking about for months, and we get it answered right off the bat. could the bucks handle that kind of threat if they had to face it again? And we get the same kind of matchup, the same shooters, a heat team that doesn't have it stuffed together in quite the same way, but presents similar challenges in terms of the way it's structured and the way they're going to guard you out.

They're going to do fundamentally the same stuff that they did to beat the bucks last time. And we get resolution on that fact right out of the gate. That's what's exciting to me is we don't have to wait on any of this stuff. We don't have to wait to see if the Lakers are going to be good in the playoffs. We don't have to wait to see, you know, on some of the, the new matchups, if the sons are going to be up to their playoff competition, like all this stuff is going to be answered pretty much right away. And then we're just refining and refining and narrowing the field to awesome teams slugging each other over and over. I mean, that's the dream.

That's what we want. So to start out this way with some, again, not just rematches, but kind of do-overs in a sense that you get to weed out some of what may have been the variables last time. That's what's exciting to me. All right. Final question here, which I guess is questions. I have seven down, but we probably asked like 14 at this point. Prediction time, which I know Rob loves. Love it. So we'll go to you second here.

Wise, who do you have is your finals prediction? I picked the Lakers and the Nets before the season. I'm not deviating from the plan. The Lakers are going to play the Nets in the NBA finals. Again, I just think when it goes to grinding out every single possession, I trust LeBron to figure out how to attack whoever the hell it is he's playing against. How to best attack that matchup. Slow-ass possessions, walking the ball up, shrinking the freaking game.

I think the Lakers, because they have LeBron, are going to figure out how to beat everybody in front of them out west, right? Like, they're not going to do this fast break up and down. No, they're going to get stops, walk it up, figure out how to dissect you, and I think that's going to carry the day. Brooklyn, like we said already, they're just way more talented than the teams in front of them in the east. And so I think they're going to meet the Lakers in the finals. I'm going Netsover Clippers.

And I can already imagine us circling back to these predictions in a couple months and regretting this choice more on the clippers front than the nets front. But again, right now, that's where I am. I am risk averse if we're going to make picks. I'm going to take the team that's healthiest that has the talent. I believe in Kauai and PG. I think they can get there. I have the exact same pairing in the exact same scenario. Like, after everything I said about the clippers, they're probably the safest bet. And that's really all you want in your predictions. Like, you want the highest odds of ending up being right here. So, I have nets over clippers as well.

They can put us in the stockades together and throw tomatoes at us. I look forward to being up there alongside you, JV. All right. So this is our last morning recording and our last Tuesday recording throughout the playoffs, I believe, we're going to flip to Wednesday nights. And we might be doing some locker room stuff there in addition to recording our podcasts off of the previous nights games.

So Wednesday nights games. So we will see you next week, Wednesday. Same crew. Thank you to Steve Allman on production, get well sharks, and we will see you next time.