The Ringer NBA Show - Thunder Just One Win Away From an NBA Finals Appearance. Plus, Can the Knicks Reclaim Home Court? | Real Ones

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Logan Murdock and Raja Bell start the pod by reminiscing about Allen Iverson's Philly days, and then they immediately shift to the Western Conference finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder have taken a commanding 3-1 lead in the WCF following a Game 4 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night. How has OKC taken Anthony Edwards out of his offensive game and forced the Wolves' role players to make plays? How has the physicality been in the WCF, and is SGA getting a more favorable whistle than others ? Karl Anthony-Towns had the performance of a lifetime, dropping 20 fourth-quarter points in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals to help the Knicks avoid an 0-3 record. Can the Knicks take Game 4 in Indy and reclaim home-court advantage? Plus, Podcast P is back with another clip The Real Ones had to discuss. (5:46): Thunder - Wolves Series (41:14): Fan Duel Ad Break (45:35): Knicks - Pacers (57:07): Pack Watch: Paul George The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hit the mailbag! [e-mail] Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer/Audio: Clifford Augustin Video Producer: Victoria Valencia Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to The Ringer NBA show presented by Fandul. America's number one sportsbook has made it easier than ever to get in on the action during an NBA playoff game, even after tip off. Just look for the live SGB tab on the Fandual Sportsbook app and build your bet slip. Then sit back, relax, and track the outcome of your parlay right in the app. If you don't already have it, download the Fandual app today to make every moment more. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. please visit rg dash help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available

and listen to the end of the episode for additional details must be 21 plus and present in select states gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or visit rgdash help dot com what's popping real ones looking byrd i care rogerville there Howard beck later this week i asked roger if he was ready to pod and he gave me a look like my fuck i'm recorded what the fuck is wrong with you like you gave me like a really cold look dude are you okay. I'm good. I don't like people asking me dumb shit, though. Tommy, I just generally speaking. You don't like what we ask you if you're good. If you late, you don't like us calling you. You weren't asking, let's be, let's be clear. Let's just to clarify, you weren't asking if I was

good. Like, how are you doing today, man? Like you haven't any feelings that you need to talk through with anybody. You weren't asking me that. You were asking me if I was recording to which I would say again, I don't like people asking me dumb shit. Yo, we're recording this at 9-11 Pacific time in the morning. And the reason why we're doing this is because for five minutes, we just had Philly talk. I promise we're going to talk about OKC, Shea versus Ant, Knicks, Kat, all these things. But first off, we made a revelation.

We found out some good news on the real ones pre-pod meetings. The TGI Fridays on City Ave in Philadelphia is still open, ladies and gentlemen. The famous TGI Fridays made, let me just, let me just quarterback this thing real quickly. Before the pod, about maybe 30 minutes before the pod, Cliff sends me and Victoria. Also, shout out to Victoria on the board, or Victoria on the video, Cliff on the board. So Cliff sends us a, on Instagram, this like Philly like, Lerick. Legends Instagram, and it's Valen Iverson. And it's talking about like how you used to be shooting dice on the, on the,

on the corner used to be at the TGA Fridays. And among other things, the thing that I gravitated towards was the CGI Fridays on CityLine. I don't know what city line is. So I had to just Google that. And turns out this TGI Fridays is still in business. And I was really, really happy about this. What is your favorite TGI Friday moments that you can share, Raja?

Is it? Me? No, no, no. I was not a... You were invited to the TGI Friday parties? I wasn't a regular at TGI Fridays. The Iverson TGI Friday partner? You weren't here? Can't say that I was. I mean, I may have been at one or two, but like that wasn't at my regular stop after a game. Okay. You didn't go after practice. You said it was a cross street from the practice. You didn't go after practice. You didn't go after practice. Yeah. No, I lived in the other direction. I lived down towards St. Joe's. Okay. So like, you know, after practice, yeah, I'd be out the other way. No disrespect to Fridays. I like a Fridays.

And I've been in that Fridays many a time with my uncle and my family. But, like, I wasn't a regular with Chuck and his crew at the Fridays after. Okay, Cliff put his own camera on. He put his own bubble on. He didn't even get some. He has something to shit to say it to you, apparently. I'm sorry. Yo, the way that Rod just tried to pull that off is like, yeah, St.

Joe's a little bit further. Bro, St. St. Joe's five minutes from that. No, but I said it's the other way. It's the other way. It is the other. Yo, Raj, it is the other way.

but St. Joseph's legitimate. Five minutes down City Live. You can't be doing all that. Like it's like some far out West Philly somewhere down there. I wasn't trying to say it was St. Joseph's right there. I wasn't trying to say we were going deep into Overbrook or anything like that. I was simply saying when I left PECOM at the light at City Ave, I make a right to go to Fridays. Or I make that left and I hit the shop right on the right hand side, get me a little something for lunch.

And then I'm straight to the executive house, which is like so I wasn't making the right. I was making the left. Okay. This real Philly talk here. But, you know, but Logan, did he make that seem like

it was like some far plane it seemed like T.J. Friday was beneath him. He was like, maybe I'll go. What? You know what I mean? Yeah,

bro. You forgot about us? You forgot about us, Robin? That's what y'all came on here. Y'all had a pre-pod meeting. Y'all was just going to fuck with me today. That's what that is.

That's you get from being a whole minute late. The pod record. Okay. All right. Let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's get ourselves. I will say this. I will say this my first department. Maybe this is why I didn't go to to to Fridays a whole lot because my first apartment upon, you know, arrival in Philly for that second year was a nice little like apartment complex tucked back behind the TGI Fridays. And yeah, I was robbed very quickly in there on a road trip. So there wasn't a whole lot that I wanted to do over in that area. I were a little triggered out of St. Yeah, you're a little triggered. When you go to TJ Friday, you're like smoking from Friday. You're over here. Sweat like a pigeon. Just sweat like a slave in the pigeon coop.

Oh, man. There's no transition for this. So we're just going to go right into it. It's going to Minnesota. Minnesota, Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC takes a commanding series lead. I thought the biggest takeaway that I got from this game, Rajah, was just how much control OKC had on this.

game. And it's really hard in postseason settings to have control of the game and control of the pace of the game, but also have control of the game in the sense that whenever Minnesota made a run, O.K.C. had an answer. Whether it was Shet Holmgren put back dunks, whether it was J. Dub, who was my favorite player in the league. I think that I have made that clear. If I haven't made it clear on the pod, I've made it clear to everyone that I see in an arena that J. Dub is my favorite player in the Lee and he was hitting big shots. Shea was great. And people will see a stat line 13 of 30 from the field.

Geez, he wasn't having a good game. No, he took control of the game. And I juxtaposed that, Rajah. We talked about this in last, I believe it was last episode, about Ant's ability to control a game and how that could help or hurt the Minnesota Timberwolves. And I felt like even though I think it was post game, he said that, He made all the right plays. I just didn't see the aggressiveness that I would like to see

and also the calmness that I would like to see from a big time player. And also Julius Randall, my goodness. My goodness. It's a tough series for him. He's both beating the allegations in the postseason and also succumb to the allegations of the postseason. It's kind of a, I don't know what it is with Julius Randall. But the series is 3-1.

And it very much seems like OKC has really hit its stride in this postseason right now. Well, let me just, I mean, I would agree with that. 13 for 30. Like, that's not a bad game for a 40 ball with 10 and 9. Like, pretty good game. It was a pretty good game. Pretty pretty good. No, but my thing is this, though, from like, I'm saying it's a great game.

But just supposed that what Aunt did in terms of aggressiveness, I was really disappointed in Ant with that, right? With the season on the line, which you want to see is you want to go down shooting. And I feel like Shea understood the assignment. He's going to get up 30 shots no matter what. So there are layers. They're layers to this, right? Like, there is because I was, you know, I watching it in real time and then I watch it again. And look, we spoke on, I think it was the last pod about, let me.

maybe it was two pods ago about how aunt, if he wanted to score more efficiently, needed to get behind the first wave of defense and so on and so forth. And then towards the end of that, I said, and the only other thing you could really do offensively if your aunt, with the way OKC is playing you,

is just distribute the hell out of the ball and hope that others are making shots in a way that could win a game for you. if you were just the primary shifter of defense. Like everything you're trying to do offensively is to get the defense to kind of like shift or rotate to where two people have to be responsible for one. And then the ball starts moving, right? That's typically how it works unless they're just going to really just stay at home and then it's kind of one on one, right? Aunt did that last night.

Aunt said, look, they're doubling me almost every time I put it on the floor. anytime they give me a real look with Dort and I go to get somewhere, here comes the bodies. And he was kicking around. And kudos to his teammates who were cash. Like they were on and support. Oh, my goodness.

Nikiel Alexander Walker. Like dudes were, you know, the only one that didn't really support him was Julius Randall. Here's what I would say. So I heard his post game where he said I didn't feel like I had an off game or a bad game, I just didn't shoot enough. What I thought Shea did a much better job of. Some of this is the defense.

Like Minnesota is not choosing to double him in that way. Although, you know, they were early flooding to him when he was on the strong side of the floor. He stayed patient early because Jay Will was really carrying him really early in that game, right? She hadn't really got it going yet. Like I hear everybody saying that She came out and he was on his shit from the jump. He really wasn't. He was just kind of letting the game come in.

13 of 30, not a 13 of like 23 or something like that. No, but he wasn't, he wasn't even forcing it, though. He was letting, he was just distributing early. And Jay Will, like, if my memory serves me correctly, and this was first quarter, but Jay Will was making the first four or five shots of the game, right? And then what Shea did better than Ant was just not succumb to, oh, they're trying to take me away and I'm only going to be a facilitator. She just kept checking his offense, right?

sporadically, boom, boom, until he hit one. And you're like, okay, here's a little wrinkle. Like, now he's cooking. And what Aunt didn't, aunt didn't stay present as an offensive bucket in the way that he needed to. He kind of gave up that, you know, that that's what I, that's what I'm mad at. He kind of gave up that part of his offensive repertoire, right? He was just like, okay, they're doubling me. I'm going to just kick it and make the right basketball play.

Yeah, well, first of all, I mean, some of that has to do with, I mean, Lou Dort is phenomenal when he's on him. There's no breathing room coming off any of those screens. And a few times that he did have breathing room, you know, Ant made a play. Right. But like Lou Dort is connected.

The screener's man, the defender that's guarding the screener is up and corral in the hell out of him. They're just throwing a lot of bodies at him. And even when you got casing on him and other people, like they did a really good job on him. What he doesn't have yet that Shea has,

is the ability to put somebody on his hip. Like, that is an equalizer sometimes. Like, Ant wants to play facing you off of that live dribble. And again, you're in a lot of those instances. He's up high on the court. Do you know, listen, we'll just geek out for a second. Do you know what I'd, like, if you're playing a basketball game and you got a primary score and they're running a zone,

do you know where you do not want that guy to be? On the wings, on the wing side. Top of the key. Oh, I thought that was, I thought that was, I thought, oh, that's man to man, huh? You don't, man to man if you're trying to double, the worst part to be is in the middle of the correct. If you're going to double him, like, it's hard to double if he's in the middle, right? But against a zone, like you don't want that guy, your best player all the time to be at the top of the key. Now, you start him at the top of the key and then you run him through so he's getting to the wing or the baseline, that's fine.

But the reason you don't want him at the top of the key is because all eyes have their, butts to the baseline and they're looking at him. So that's everyone is in a natural support position to help against the dude with the ball. You're theoretically your best player. That's where they have aunt almost all the time. And so if a team is dedicated to like stacking, you know, the lanes and, and choking off your angles to the basket or doubling you, soft doubling you off a pick and roll, it's going to be tough sledding if he's always there.

They, Minnesota did some stuff late in the game. I like. They got him off the ball and they started running him off of screens. And the few times they ran him off of screens, he got right downhill. He got right downhill and on top of the basket. And you just got to move him around and you got to help him out because he is developing into the offensive player that Shay is. She's got some years on him. She's got some experience on him. She is a little bit more polished in terms of, you throw this at me. I can do, I have these answers to the test. Doesn't mean aunt won't get there. But like last night, he let them take him out. out of that game.

And he was brilliant in terms of spraying it around, but they needed, and they had a chance to win. But like you need him to point produce a little bit more than that. They had a chance to win. I don't, there was never a moment during the game where I was like, that goes back to the control thing of OKC, but there was never a moment in a game where I was like Minnesota is taking this, right? Because OKC had an answer for every single thing that they did.

What do you think that aunt, say your aunt's trainer, what do you, what are you focusing on this this offseason. What do you want him to look through? Because I mean, he's a brilliant, brilliant player. But I think these are the learning lessons that you get throughout the postseason, right? When great elite defenses are key in on you, what do you want to see him mature in offensively this summer? Well, I've said this before, and I don't know if this was analytically driven by their team

or his trainers or if this is just who he is as a player. but if I'm if my memory serves me correctly again, Aunt used to play more in the mid-range space than he is currently playing. When I watch him play now, it feels like if you don't give him the three, he's got to get all the way to the basket. And I'll just say this again. Doesn't mean that work through the course of an entire season, and you can't be really good at doing that.

But when you come up against the best defenses, the best perimeter defenders, the nut crunch time in the playoffs, there needs to be a little bit more variance to his offensive game. There needs to be more second level scoring for me, whether that is without a dribble, and I'm just giving you a nice catch on an elbow or around the free throw line if I'm afraid of them doubling, and you can play a la dirk, like where you have clear vision both ways.

They can't double you. Paul Pierce used to do that a lot. or it's more mellow and KD, where that's on the side of the floor and we're just going to let you cook there. Or, you know, have the offense and he would need help with this from Minnesota, not always have to have him on the ball and initiating with pick and roll. Do what I said they did like fractionally and very sparsely last night, which was like run him off of some stuff, a la Reggie Miller, Rip Hamilton. Like, you know, we don't run, Stefan Curry in today's day and age.

like move him a little bit more. If he doesn't want to do the, the Shay where I'll just bring you down and put you on a hip and then kind of go to work, Brunson does that very well, then help him find some variance in his scoring repertoire so that he can be three levels more than he is right now. Right now he's two levels. And I think that's by design, but I don't agree with it in playoffs all the time. It's funny you said that you brought up Steph Curry's name because I think Steph is one of the singular reasons. he shoot so many threes and like his game is switched up as much as it has because i think there was a warped sense of like we talked about this as the beginning of the season i think there was a warped sense of for ants oh i'm around these guys i shot a lot of threes over the summer with team

usa i'm gonna just go chuck up threes because you know steps steps right there and that's the influence but i think what he you know i think what he failed to realize and i'm not mad at it because Because at this stage of your career of superstardom, you're just trying to test the limits of what your game is right now. You're trying to see what you can do at every level. He's not as refined. So I'm not mad at it. But I think that he got a warped sense of how to get your threes. I think he was forcing a lot of threes this season.

They were going in because he's a great shooter. But I don't think there was a lot of times where you're like, you're not doing this within the flow of the game. You're forcing a lot of stuff. And me and Cliff were talking about this over the weekend. Bro, just get to your mid-range, you know? It doesn't have to be you go to the cup or you hit threes. Like you said this a couple pods ago, you make it easier when there's two levels. Like if I know that's your only anecdote to a three-point attempt is you're going to go to the cup,

my ass is either at the painted area or it's above the three-point line or something in those. a paraphrasing, right? But I think that he needs to, like you said, needs to just figure that out and just figure out he could shoot the three just when the timing of it is there. And I think that that's going to be fine. I think he's going to figure that out. But I think you're seeing why, like,

it was the way he shot threes early in the season throughout that kind of annoyed the modern observer. Yeah, well, look, he will be fine. Like, so I, you know, we're doing a little, a mini deep dive into, you know, his offensive game and what was lacking last night. But look, this is, to some degree, this is natural progression. We talk about this all the time in a star, in a superstar, in a player in general, right?

Like, you're going to go through these things and you're going to learn from them, hopefully. You'll go back to the drawing board. And the next time we see you, you'll have an answer to that. I do think that, you know, if you watch the game closely, you could also make an argument that that Shea plays from the top a lot, right? Well, the difference is, for whatever reason, Minnesota was not throwing as many bodies at Shea all night long as as OKC was throwing at Ann. They threw them early. Like there was a play.

I remember She had it on maybe the left block. He was backing his man down. There were three dudes flooded, right? And Richard Jefferson even said it, I think, after Shea split through three people and laid it up. Like, bro, if you're going to have three people there, he can't get all the way to the rim. but he did. So you have to give a lot of credit to O KC and the bodies that he saw, but I want to go back to Shea, right?

And you asked me what does aunt need to work on. Shea does a great job of even though their bodies there being really patient, he's got like a herky jerky kind of like move. He makes that little like, I was trying to show my son Ty the move where he kind of like, he kind of like steps back off that right foot, the ball's in his left pocket. And what that step back does is just gives you time to read, right? We're talking space now. It's like you're just like you're going to a double dutch.

Yeah, but like, so I'm going to, I'm going to like kind of step back on you and create, I don't know, two to three feet of space by by me stepping away from you. What are you going to do now? If you stay back, then that's enough space for me to shoot that jump shot, right? He's also got a wicked hezzy off of that. But if you close that space, now your force is moving this way and my force is is moving that way and I'm already faster than you so you're dead so that gives him like an answer to being out there and what he does when he gets in the pain is he plays off a two a lot and by that I mean he

gets to two feet so he's got a lot available to him aunt used to do this like aunt used to get in the paint have his fade have his spin fade it wasn't there he stepped through that wasn't there he'd get back to the spin fade like shade does that really well and what aunt has done with the getting all the way to the rim is everything is kind of in the air off of one foot. You saw him last night and they're like flying at the rim. There was one where he could have done. It was actually a burger, but he could have dunk that shit and just like,

yeah. But, but so I would add to it is maybe playing off a two a little bit more. And that would go hand in hand with like getting to that second level scoring when you have to. If the three's going in, Logan, look, I'm not an old commodging.

If you're, if you're shooting and making enough threes to win games, do it. But like you become more predictable. when that's when that's what you're doing, especially when they're not running. Steph does it because they run all kind of shit that gets him open threes.

Yeah. It's not like he's just handling the ball and casting up threes. That's what they're doing with, and absolutely. That was the point I was trying to make, right? Where the three is the threat. Steph Curry's three is the threat. It helps him do a lot of different things.

Like he's always faking the three or trying to use a three. to keep you on edge. But like he's he's also got a mid-range game that they don't, that doesn't get publicized, right? He also can get to the cup. He also can do a little do some shit in the paint, do a little fade away. It's not the up and under moves that you're saying, right? It's the total bag and has the total bag. That's why I say like he's settling because he's not using the three-pointer as a threat.

He's forcing the three-pointer instead. Okay, but it's more nuanced. You know what I'm saying? I do. But what you, I think to some of the three-pointer, I think to some, degree, if you will, what you're missing in that is like, it's a threat for Steph because he shoots it so well and because of how they keep him moving to get them. The action that sets up his three is a very reflexive action. So like, you know, you do this and you make that wrong read and

Steph's popping for a three. And because he's such a good shooter, people are closing out to him, like just trying to run him off of that three. So now you've got a live dribble where you can shoot the head fake and use the threat to get by your man. Aunt doesn't have that luxury because everything is off the bounce. Like, look, look. Yeah. Let me do this right now. I'm going to do this right now.

Like I got a young son that plays like Ty. People have heard me talk about him before, right? And he plays in a program that, that, um, it's a very good underarmor program. But the guy who coaches him at the Under Armour level isn't his high school coach, right? And I kind of stay out of it. Like I just watch him play. But Ty's a pretty good score and they need Ty to score. this coach has kind of intimated that Ty's so good at scoring that he doesn't run anything for him.

He'll just let him go get buckets to which to which they got beat the last time they played. They had a good team from Cali. They did what they did to Ant. They bodyed him over every screen. They threw three bodies at him every time he drive the ball and all of that. And what I said to his coach who asked me the question, I said, hey man, that's fine. Like he's going to beat a lot of teams doing that. Like you're just rolling it out and telling him to go get.

20, it's fine. I was like, but when you see those teams that are going to stack a defense, that know all of his tendencies to do all of that, then you got to help him by running some actions that get him a touch with a live dribble. So he can now use his ball fake to get by people. You know what I'm saying? Or like, those are different touches than ants getting. And the only reason I'm, I'm really dialed in is because it just happened a couple weeks ago, which is like, look, If your only option to shoot a three is having to like wiggle your man and and come, you know, and shoot a three off the bounce or come off of pick and roll, which they can take away by sending by just staying with you as a secondary defender, like you're not going to get many of those. Yeah. Staying on that really quickly, but I want to talk about the defensive.

You said something earlier about the differences in how each defense is between the Timberwolves and the Thunder are attacking each of the stars, right? And you talked about how the thunder are blitzing the Timberwolves, but the Timberwolves aren't necessarily blitzing Shea, right? And how much of that is a personnel issue, right? Because maybe they're also scared of J. Dub, like, because there was a play. Me and Cliff fucking saw this. It was also like just a bad defensive rotation, but it was towards the end when I think it was McDaniel about to, he, he, she had the ball to center of the key in her, playing man to man.

and J-dub was on the left wing, I believe, and McDaniel just runs towards Shea to double him, and it fucking gives a wide-open three-point shot to McDaniels, and it was just, it was a defensive lapse, but what I'm saying is, like, how much do you think that the Timberwolves are scared to blitz, Shea, because he has a better supporting cast, right? Love to Dautey Vincenzo, love to,

Alexander Walker. Jada McDaniels, all of them. But they're still not, they're not J-dub and Chet Holmgren. You know what I mean? So like how much do you think of that plays a part into the differences in defensive approaches in the series? Well, it definitely plays a part, Logan. Anytime you have real competent support, it lessens what someone can do to take you away

because of the threat of them beating you. It is always going to boil down to, at least in large part, to what. What are you willing to live with? What do you want to say beat you if it beat you? Do you want to say that, hey, the others beat me? Or do you want to look someone in the face and say, yeah, I let the fucking MVP beat me? Yeah. Now, I don't have the answer to that.

Your answer might be, hey, man, we'll let him score 50 and we'll try to choke them out. And I've told you in the past that I've got multiple instances where we either employed that strategy or we, we or someone employed it against us. and it bore fruit. Finding the balance of that, again, sorry, guys, this is geeky shit, man, this is really weeds, this is in the weeds of basketball. But like, when Ant goes, Ant goes full speed. Yeah. There's very little probing.

Once he decides he's not shooting the three, he's on top of the rim, right? Well, let's say we don't double you right away. Think about decision making. Do you make better decisions when you have more or less time? you have less time. Oh, do you have, we have big better decisions when you have more time. When you have more time, right? So if Ant is going from A to B and it's taking him 0.5 seconds, all right?

And then all of a sudden, as he starts moving, boom, here's a double team. That's a small amount of time to make a decision and make a play and decide you want to still score. Whereas Shea is like probing a lot of the time trying to work his way to the basket. it. So that same point five seconds to get to the rim for Aunt, Shea's doing it in two seconds, right? That's four times the amount of time because it's so decisive. Yeah, but it's also just his style of play, right? So like when you're trying to send doubles at him, they don't really surprise him.

He's still under control and he's playing at a speed where now he can make the decision that kills you over and over again, right? So like he's harder to double than aunt, I would say if I was defising a defense. I would say it's harder to double him, not just because he's got better supporting pieces, but because the style, the pace and the areas where he is at on the floor at times can make it harder for him to double. I would still say to you, Denver zoned them. That was their answer to taking SGA away, right? Zone. Yeah. Now, you're going to tell me they had Yo Kitchen. That's true to like in whatever. But that was their effort to say, yo, this dude is not going to.

a single-handedly beat me. And they got him to what, seven games? Seven games. That's a zone with Yokic, though, by the way. That's a zone with Yokage, granted. Zone with Yokage. I'm not saying that you go out and you say, yo, I'm about to run a bunch of zone.

I'm not saying that you come out and you say we're blitzing him every time he touches it. I'm not telling you that you come out and every pick and roll, which is a free hit, by the way, because they're just bringing a secondary defender up there. But I'm not telling you to do that. What I am telling you is throw some shit at the wall. What about a little box in one from time? to time. I'm not saying it's going to be like the answer, but maybe that throws them off with

their rhythm a little bit. We're just talking to you lost by what, two points? Yeah. Any little break in the rhythm. Triangle, but triangle in two, you saw, you saw Golden State use that a few years ago against Toronto. Remember that? Like, we were like, oh, shit, look at that. Like, you got to have some wrinkles to at least see if it throws them off of their spot. You can't let this man come out here and be 40 balling you with 10 and 9. You can't do that. Roger, don't ever apologize for geeking out like that. That was phenomenal, buddy. Yeah, thanks, man.

I mean, I don't know if it's good potting, but like, it's real talk. Like, that's right. I enjoyed it. Yeah. Don't be all right. Okay, so at 6.21 p.m. as we're watching the game on the Roald ones in group chat, I get a notification from Roger Bell. Mind you, Rajah doesn't, Roger doesn't participate in the group chat unless it's like something pertinent.

And so at 621 p.m. on the, on the, on the. in the group chat. We get a Roger Bell text. They're letting these mofos kill each other, crying emoji. What do you think of the physicality of this series? For?

Again, I'm here for it. I mean, I like the physical brand of basketball. I enjoy watching it. But we're not going to come on here. And to some, I hope Howard's listening. Because, like, last pot, I felt like he was really trying to argue, like, kind of lightweight,

subtly that, like, the whistle was the same, we can all agree that it's not the same, right? We're watching the same shit. You know, he put on his specs and said, you know, we got data. We got data. We're watching the same shit, though, right? I'm not arguing that they don't blow, but they are letting those dudes like, like, really get after each other physically. The amount of bodies that were like spleen on the floor.

It was like the league had a memo just like, oh, y'all was talking shit all these years about the lack of physicality. don't trip, bet. It's not all good. It's fine. They're letting your hard hats. And you know what? Like I have always, you know, basketball is a contact sport. Now, you have to make contact legally. But if you do that, there is there is contact that is appropriate and should be, you know, in in the game. And to the degree that they legislated some of it out, I disagreed with. But I like the style of play. I like the way the rest are handling it. I don't think it is it has reached a point of.

boiling over at any real time that I can remember. I mean, so I'm for it. And, you know, I think that when you're talking about a champion, it shouldn't just be the team that shoots the best or executes offensively the best. These are grown men, bro. That's why you spend all that time in the weight room. That's why you take care of your bodies. That's why you do all of that.

There should be a component of that that goes into the equation when you're trying to parse through who's the better team. and allowing the physicality to be in the game, you know, allows that to be a part of it. Roger, speaking of physicality and the foul calls, I'm still getting the foul merging allegations from SGA on the timeline. I'm still, the best one was from Miles Brown, though. He called him Essence Harden. You wouldn't get this because you're not in these high B streets, but that was a phenomenal pull for him. Anyways, it was all of these arguments. are talking about, are kind of like trying to nullify, I feel like, Che's impact because they feel like he's baiting calls and all these things.

This is a discussion that we have had for most of the season. I don't think we've had it much on this program. Who's Miles Brown? He's on a... He's a writer. He's a Twitter personality. All right, all right. All right, go ahead, go ahead.

My bad. Who the fuck is Renee Zell Wedget? My bad. Go ahead. My man. I didn't mean, I guess I did. But I, who is that? All right. Anyways, I've, I've been seeing it. And then I've been watching like Shane's game, bro. And I just want to say, man, I really get really tired about these, these foul birds and allegations because they're annoying. Because you just got to fucking stop them. Figure out a way to stop them, man. The calls are the calls, bro. You know, it is what it is. Go figure it out. Can I request a segment? I'm just annoyed by it. Can I request a second? I don't know if we have the technological capabilities here. Victoria is one of the greatest of all time. Put a respect on our name. SGA.

He went to the free throw line 14 times last night, right? If there would be a way that we could bring up all of the plays where he was fouled and awarded free throws, I'd like to go through them with you, with Howard, with anyone. I'm not, look, it might, it might wind up that the jury. Let's figure it out for next episode. He was foul baiting. Let's figure that out. But I'd like to do that exercise. I was watching last night.

I'm with you, Logan. He's a tough person to guard. He has mastered putting you as the defender in a compromise situation and having to make contact with him. And he's even further mastered once you make that contact exposing it. And if that is a foul merchant or a baiter, I don't see it as a baiter. what is the true definition of merchant? Let me look up merchant. Like, what do it,

is it have a negative connotation in any way, shape, or form? You know, merchant. This is from Miriam Webster. It's a buyer or a seller of commodities for profit. So I guess he just sells calls. You're selling it. Well, then I would, okay.

I don't see that as a negative. The only reason I was asking is I thought there might be some language and some other, like, the definition of it that suggested he was doing something nefarious or that wasn't, that it was illegal. Like, if I'm selling a foul that has happened so that you realize it has happened, I'm not apologizing for that. I'm not apologizing for him for that. That is what you are supposed to do.

When you are a professional score, any professional score knows that they're going to be nights when that thing is not going in the basket in the in the normal way you you have a bad shooting night the way you supplement and you're able to continue to score and point produce is by getting to the what you get to the free throw line you don't get to the free throw line you don't people master that and and sure is does he push the envelope and like like he hit a shot last night I think it was going right he took that little bump that he normally takes and he kind of like threw himself to the right but he still best. banked that sucker in.

They didn't give him the call. They didn't give him the call. He banked it in. Like, yeah, some of them that he doesn't get pushed the line further than it should be pushed. But I think the rest have done a relatively good job, at least in the playoffs when I've been tuned into every game of letting that go. Here's another thing. When Hardin played in the playoffs, right? And this is also Cliff chiming on the group chat.

And he doesn't make a great point. And I still want to make my heart in point. But he says, people are complaining about the type of wish he gets compared to others, not necessarily how many he's getting. And also, here's the thing, bro. This isn't a fucking meritocracy, bro. Like, people get different calls, dude. It's not like we're not all, it's not all fair.

It's not that way. They don't get the ball the same amount of time. But, okay, go ahead, Roger. Because I want to make my heart employment. Go ahead. Make the point. I'll stay right here. Okay.

The thing with Harden is when you saw him in the playoffs, one of the things that fucked him up was what he was going for those same calls and it didn't work. Like he was actually fishing for those calls and it did not work as opposed to I feel like what you're saying with Shay. He's going. He's exemplifying the contact that is already there. Yeah. He is making it obvious that there is a legal contact in some of those situations. and receiving the benefit that is the foul. But the thing is he's still making those shots where harm would not be making

those shots. But here what I'm saying to you. In some of those situations, they give it to him and some they don't. But he doesn't rely on that to score. This man is still out there putting on a clinic offensively. He is taking it to the rim like fuck these officials on a lot of occasions. He's not relying on them on those middies all the time. But if he gets you in a bad way, i.e.

Rudy Gobert on the switch and Rudy got that nine foot arm out there on his fucking hip and he feels it he's going to go up into the air and get that arm to come down on his off arm and draw two free throws. That's what he's going to do and that's why he's a professional score.

And if you don't like it, go look at everybody. Let me tell you this story again. I've said it before. Kobe Bryant, everybody's favorite. Okay? Like said to an official

in front of me, in my presence, at a game, at the Staples Center, call it both ways. I couldn't believe my ears. I'm going to say this again. You want clip it? I don't give a fuck. We got heated. I was up in his space. He hit me with an elbow, split my lip.

We got kind of chest to chest. He felt like I had challenged him in a way. He looked at the official and said, call it even tonight. I was appalled. That was gangster. Look up how many, that's not fire. That's not fire. That's not fire.

That's some bullshit. But look at how many free throws I shot that night. And look at how many free throws I historically shot when we played the Lakers. Do you ever the game specifically? Do you ever the game specifically? This would have been, I was with Utah more than likely. So it would have been 04 or 05 in the Staples Center. I don't remember which one of those years it was.

Okay. I will look that up during the break. The point is, the point is, all of your favorite players, all of your best players, get a whistle that the ninth guy on the bench doesn't get. They get a whistle that the fifth starter doesn't get. They get a whistle that the number three player on the team doesn't get. Book it. So before we go to break, I just want to put a stat out that I just,

It was a simple Google search. And his NBA playoff career, say Gilgis, Alexander, averaged 6.8 free throw attempts per game. Throughout his NBA career, Michael Jordan averaged 9.9 free throw attempts per game in the postseason. Who else? Give me other names.

I mean, give me other names. What is LeBron average in the playoffs? What is Larry Bird average in the playoffs? Free throw attempts. Well, I mean, Dwayne Wade fucking, he had 97 free throws to lose. The six-game series in 06 finals. So, I mean, we saw that.

I got to go to break, rather. We've got to talk about the next, brother. And I've got to look up your stats. So let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. The NBA playoffs are finally here, and there's no better way to be a part of the action than with Fanduel, America's number one sports book. After another competitive season,

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There's only one game. Nick's Pacers. I'm going to take the Knicks. I'm going to take the over on points as an assist from Jalen Brunson. And I'm going to take the over on points in the fourth quarter of Carl Towns. I think he can do it again. Why not? Don't just be spectacularly this postseason.

Head to fendool.com slash ringer NBA to download America's number one sportsbook and make every moment more. Must be 21 years and older and present. elect states were 18 and older and present in D.C. Opting required bonus issued is not with durable profit boost tokens. Restricts supply, including any token, expiration, and max wager amounts. See terms at sportsbook. That fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RGhelp.com.

And we are back, ladies and gentlemen, we did some investigative reporting on basketball reference.com. We have found the game, ladies and gentlemen, where Raja has been just referencing for years. Since we started this podcast, he's literally told this story millions of times. And we found the game finally. It's one of my wild. It's one of my wildest NBA stories. It's a wild.

So this is February 15, 2005. This is a 102.95 victory for the Los Angeles Lakers. So Roger Bell finished with 16 points. He was 5 of 12 from the field. He was 6 of 7 from the free throw line. This dude averaged 1.6 free throws per game in his career. Do you want to know how many, hold on, do you want to know how many Kobe would call it even how many Kobe got that night?

When you free throws. Probably 14. Over under 14. Well, now since you've said over under, probably over. Yeah, 19 free throw attempts, 15 of 19. Yeah, dude. So like, you're still going to get the whistle. You're clearly a much better, you're much better play.

But like they gave me I would I would venture to say I know this is crazy people probably go find it and I'll be wrong. But of the 1.9 free throw attempts I had per game. No, 1.6. 1.6. It's probably less than that when we played the Lakers. So the fact that they gave me seven was way out of character when I played them jokers.

That's nuts. I hope. So it's nothing. It's only to say your favorite player gets. They get to the free throw line, dude. I go on YouTube all the time. I hope this becomes a real where they do the thing, where they put like us talking in the background and him just like.

I don't do that, man. I don't want to be. I don't need no clips. I don't want to do it. You just said you didn't give a fuck about getting aggregated in the last part. It doesn't mean that I want it. You understand what I'm saying? You're like it like Howard right now, bro.

You're like a real scary right now. Well, bitch, why don't you get your ass up there and get aggregated by millions of fucking Kobe fans? You do it. I've been aggregated by billions of motherfucking fans. You just ain't been outside. It's tough. Kobe fans.

Kobe fans, I said. Well, I was the one shitting on you. When you're talking about Kobe fans, yeah, I was one of the aggregators. Yeah, that's what I said. I said, you go ahead and do it. I've been aggregated. I mean, getting aggregated by like a million fucking any fandom of stands is not great. Like, it sucks.

Look at this shit, Roger. I'm sending this to you right now. this is when we got aggregated by clutch points and it was amazing you see that that's what you that's what that's how I felt to get aggregated by you were you were breaking up to Jordan pool how do you feel about that sir I mean I don't even remember what I said about that but I can't I can't listen aggregation is it kind of comes with the territory I guess but uh if I can avoid it like I don't want to incite it so like I don't I don't mind being I mean I'm not on there like that you know that so half of the shit that i get aggregated for it goes i don't see it

okay no it was awesome this this was awesome anyway um speaking of awesome let's talk about the bugging performance of carl towns um let's do that let's do that and in game in game four of their series or game three of the nix pacer series um dog carl towns was just brilliant bro he was the oge at dykeman He was the big dog at West Forth. He was just at Rucker. He had the knee pads on, bro. He's running like this and shit. He's a Dominican OG.

He was holding down. 20 points in the fourth quarter. It felt like a, I don't know if it was a sea chains or like a sub-fluke shit, but it was, it was beautiful to watch. Roger, what did you thought of a performance and how does he continue this on from now? because I feel like the Knicks have a chance in the series still. After all the things that happen at Madison Square Guard, and after everything that popped off,

this team has heart. And I believe that they can still win this in seven. Like, it's just going to be one of those wonky series. And this is going to come out of like four, like an hour before the game. So this might be Nolan Boyd when this podcast comes out. But I just, I feel something. That maybe feels type of way.

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I guess I said from the jump, I don't have a real, a real great feeling on this series. It's kind of played out like that. I mean, 20 point lead disappeared for the next. 20 point lead disappeared for the Pacers. Pacers, like, it's just a weird series.

Carl Anthony Towns was fantastic in the fourth quarter. Aggressive, decisive, just in his bag all around. I think how he continues to do that is going to require, I want to be delicate when I say this, but I think other people have made the point. I've said it before, too, as it relates to, you know, I've even said it as it related to Jason Tatum when he got hot and he was on the ball.

Jalen Brunson is going to have to find the happy medium, that balance between being the assassin that he is and closing games, but leaving enough opportunity for the others to help him out. and not just completely kind of throwing the flow of the offense off. That sounds so crazy because I'm not, this is an accusatory in any way. Like he is their offense a lot of nights, you know what I mean? But like you have to have a good feel for when you've got to give up a few of those touches and a few of those ISOs and a few of those monopolizing possessions to just get it up and get it

moving and let other people get a taste. Yeah. What did you think of the decision to bench Brunson for much as the second half by tips? Well, he was in foul trouble. Yeah. Did he come into like the one minute mark or like the, like it with two minutes left in the game? Well, at that point, you're coaching. I mean, you're coaching, man.

Like, I don't think he, I don't think he benched him because he didn't like what he was doing. He sat him down because he was trying to protect him from the foul trouble. But once you're sitting there, if we are. hooping, hooping, hooping. I mean, I'm riding that for a while. I just, I owe it to everybody out there. You too, included. You're on the team, right?

So, like, while you, you're still my best player and my best closer, like, I'm going to ride this wave until it crashes on the shore, right? And then we'll call that time out, I try to get you in the game or what have you. So I didn't have a problem with it. It would have been different had they said, like, he's having a bad night. We're going to just sit our star. I don't think it didn't come about like that. So I was okay with it.

this seemed like a Raja Bell type game. The role players were fucking insane in this game for the Knicks. What was your favorite performance of the, and I'm going to give you three names. Yeah. I'm going to give you two and a half. O.G. Josh Hart or McBride in the first half? Oh, yeah, that's tough.

McBride in the first half. McBride in the first half was, he was good. And I like, but, but I think ultimately for me, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. And, and the reason, the reason being because he was asked to sit down to start a game. He was asked to play a different role. And I don't know that he was asked, but he was put in a situation to have to sacrifice for the, for the betterment of the team. And, you know, you always talk to young players about that, young athletes, just about, you know, what you can control, what you can't control. and how you act in the face of change and how that relates to a team being able to have success because of you or a team not being able to have success because of you. And I thought he just went about that the right way. I thought he went about that. And I had no doubt he would.

But like that's just something you can always point to as a dad, as a coach, you know, as a mentor and say, look at, look at that. You know, sat him down. You didn't sulk, came out. And he, you know, didn't score a lot of points, but was just doing everything that they need him to do. The rebounding down the stretch was incredible. That last rebound where he just fell on his knee, but you knew it was okay. Fucking, that was like superhero shit, bro. That was it, it was a marvel to watch him down the stretch.

It was a marvel to watch OG down the stretch. He had that one block at the end. I think that was on, was it on knee Smith? I was on knee Smith. Knee Smith tried to back him down and hit a fade away. and OG was like, nah, fuck that. Yeah, that's not even in your bag, oh, me. That's not even, you know.

He was in mid-backdown. You don't practice that shot. Is that your shot? To play, but that was not, like, you could tell that was not comfortable. But it was like almost like OG was offended that he would even go into that bag, knowing that that's not even his bag, bro. He was like, what are you doing? That was a great block, not to go back a series, but there were two blocks last night

that were incredible. Jaden McDaniels on the, like, uh, uh, uh, J. Will had the, the layup that he wrapped behind his back and McDaniels was already contested that and came down and then beat up the shot on the other side of the backboard and then Chet's block late off of like, wow.

Yeah, man, I didn't say enough about Chet. We're going back to the next series, but like, very impressed by how Chet has responded from those, from those miss free throws against Denver. He's just been bawling, bro. Like, he is a legitimate piece going forward for them and just the donks,

the toughness, right? It's probably 87 pounds, but he's using it so I can get people out of the way. But where do the Knicks go from here? Because, like, the Knicks are down to one in the series. But I feel they're a bit different than Minnesota because this has been very, even through three games and the wins that Indiana got, like, I still feel like these two teams are still way evenly matched, right? like the Knicks can make a great argument they should be up to one in the series right and

they played really well in Indiana I'm basically saying all these things to say I don't have a feel for this series and I don't know what the hell is going to go on do you have a feel for this series roger do you do you know what's going on or is it just going to be like whoever just is still on the court of game seven is going to win or is it I don't know I just I really don't I'm speaking this out because I don't have a fucking clue what's going to happen in the series I don't know what's going to happen tonight Yeah, I don't know. I don't know either. I haven't known from the beginning. I would say that the pace of this series has come back down into the Nick's wheelhouse. You had like, you know, 1.30s, although that was inflated because of overtime in the first game. But then you were like 114, I think was the winning number in game two. And then what was it, 106 in the last? game 106 100 if you're holding Indiana to a hundred a sub 110 if you can hold them to that

with a combination of of of dictating pace and and defending you're going to be in that's a good spot for the Knicks to be in very good spot for the Knicks to be in if we are talking in that next five point range the one 10 to 115 I don't have a great idea anything could happen 15 plus you're going to lose. Yeah. So I, you know, that's what I think I know. What happens in the series, how they do it? Like this shit's all over to place.

I didn't have a good feel coming in. I still don't. Because you can make the same case that the Pacers should be right in 30 right now and everybody's packing their bags for Cancun. That's what I'm saying. That's just what this series has been, bro. Like I have no clue because like as a series wears on, I do feel like it

I feel like it pushes towards the Nix's way because the game slows down as the series goes further and further. Like you're not going to be having all them runouts after getting your ass kick for four games, right? Like this is not going to happen. But then again, like, Pacers could very well run them out of the building.

So we'll see. Yeah. I actually, I don't know, but I tell you what, and I don't know why. Like this isn't like a prediction or anything. just have a gut. I think the Pacers, I think the Pacers might, might hang a number on them the night. I don't know why I feel like that. There's nothing supporting that. It's just kind of my gut. I don't know. We'll see, man. I don't know. Thoughts on Halliburton's dad getting, getting allowed back into the buildings. You know, you're a resident dad reporter here. Welcome back.

Bro. That man paid his, he paid, he did his time. He made a mistake. He did his time. He paid his You see him at the bar out here doing a choke sign out here at these streets. He's out here at these streets, Rock. You know what? You know what, man? Like, here's what I'll say to that. Definitely not a good look on the heels of everything that transpired, right? Right, but we can agree.

But, but, but, you know, that seems to be who he is. It's, and, and we should probably know that because, like, his son kind of gets down and, and has some antics and is known to pop a little shit. So like, I'm not mad at you, dad. He raised a great boy. Yeah, time in a place, right? Time in a place. But good for him being back in the building.

That's your child, man. And do you know how proud? I mean, I can only imagine. I mean, I'm proud as hell just watching my kids do their youth sports and stuff like that. But if I had a kid playing a professional sport this late in the playoffs, I mean, I remember my parents being in the building and the pride that them and my grandparents and aunts and uncles had. I don't want anyone to miss out on that unnecessarily. So I'm paid his penance, man, did the time.

Let him back. That's what so. You know who's not proud of their team? What you got, buddy? Mr. Cliff Augustine. I wanted to give him the floor right now. We've been on the Paul George beat. The last few weeks.

The return of podcast P has just given us a lot of gems. What's your deal with podcast P right now? What's going on? Give us the Philly temp check on his last podcast appearance on the car on the 7 p.m. and BK podcast. No, no, no. That was actually podcast P. Oh.

It's their brand body, same. A wave. Shout to all the homies that wave, man. Shout out to all the homie. Shout out to all the homie. Shout out to them. They're doing crazy good work over there. to podcast P shout out to 7 p.m.

And Brooklyn, shout out to Kazim. That's our dog over here. That's not what we're here. It's not what we're here. It's not why we're here. That's not why we're here. Let's be clear. While we're here is that Pock SP has continued his apology tour to the city of

Philadelphia for being hurt last season and coming up short and having all types of excuses of everything that's going on. And I text a little bit and I said, what's up with this man? I said he got about, I said he got about one more of these until like everybody's just Like, yo dog, just pack it up, bro. Just stop. We will buy you out as a collective ourselves, bro. Get the fuck out of here.

I think that's what we're at right now. So, so he, he, he, so in case you didn't know, podcast P got stuck in traffic after the Eagles won the NFC championship game against the Washington commanders. And he was literally driving on the broadstreet for some reason. I have no clue why. There's a lot of fans driving. And they're like, and he reminisced about the story. He said, yo, is that, is that podcast P? He's like, we should have just fucking kept Tobias.

instead of giving you the contract. And then Paul, Paul laughed it off. He said, yeah, you know, shout out to TB. That's my dog. I'm just coming from a point. I'm like, what are you laughing at all for, you? You just came up short all crazy last season. You were hurt all last season.

Now you want an apology tour. Tobias Harris objectively had a pretty solid season in Detroit. Although they did finish, you know, losing to the next and six games in the first round, Detroit was obsolete before that hadn't made the playoffs in what 15 they had a lot cardier cliff like yeah yeah like come on man you see rise this is my point about players doing this player media stuff and I love it because it gives you a lot of clips but at the same time it's like yo you're exposing yourself you're doing yourself somewhat of disservice and now you went on an apology tour but on top of that you're acting as if you're above a player who actually perform better than you like what's like the

mentality of that is just weird. How did he act like he was above him? What do you do? I mean, maybe I missed something. What do you do? So when he said, so a fan told him while he was driving and the car is like, we should just kept the bias. He was like, damn.

And he started laughing it off and shit. And I'm just like, like, yo, bro. Like, what's up with you? I don't know why. So you are a true Philly fan, Cliff. I am. True Philly fan. I am.

It wasn't, it wasn't that long ago. And I remember, I don't know what episode or I would try to clip farm it. where you said something about we don't want Tobias Harris no more. We already know what he does. I remember that. Because I'm friends with Tobias as well, right? But what I'd say, shout out to Tobias. Good dude, by the way, great to do.

Great. Good, good, good. I got a lot of questions. Why would you be on Broad Street with your windows down so that you could be interacting with anyone is besides, but that I have, I would have. No idea why you're doing that. Yo, after the NFC championship game, literally, after the NFL's a sprinter with tense. With tense, dog.

Or he's driving. At minimum. He's driving himself. At minimum being a sweet, like hanging out in the bowels of the stadium until like the traffic dies down. But P. hollet me if you need some advice on beating the traffic, though, because I'm an expert in that. In terms of, listen, this is just, I mean, again, you guys as Philly fans are so. passionate. It's what everyone loves about you when they play for the team. It's what everyone else hates about you. But he's like what people fail to realize it used to happen to me a lot was

what happened on the court was just a small part of my life. You know what I mean? And the fan is so invested in it that it creeps over into like, every. part of their life. Like they're going to work. They're talking about the Sixers game, the Knicks game. They're going to the dinner at Mama's house. They're like,

what the fuck is going on? Yeah. And when we step away from it, we try our best to leave it where it was. So we're not like holding on to any of those feelings about, you know, I wasn't good enough last night. And so I can't be riding.

We're just not, we're not. Oh, no, no, I'm not saying, yeah, I'm not coming at him for like driving and going home and doing his thing.

and being a human being. I have no zero issues with that. But in terms of, in terms of like, in terms of his message, like him laughing that off. Like he, he ain't worried about it.

Like, he just ain't worried about it. Like, what you want, that's what I'm saying to you. That's where we got to beef. That's where we got a beef. And that's not worried about it.

Why? Not. But this is where my inner, this is where my inner gillia kid comes out. Because to me it's like, bro, we give a shit. Like,

we keep, we keep, we keep going. He doesn't mean that he doesn't care, though. There's nothing he can do about it right now. Like, there is nothing he can do. There is nothing he can do about it. But his apology tour is just starting to really irk the hell out of me because it's like.

You want that apology tour to be on the court. Yeah. What did he apologize for? Maybe I'm missing something. What did he? No, no, he's not a policy. He's not literally saying, I'm sorry. He's just kind of saying like, yeah, man, you know, I had the injury.

Shit wasn't right from the start of the season. He's going on the first two returns of his body. as he's going in depth about how everything just went wrong to start the season. And to me, I'm just like, yo, dog, you letting, you're leaving a lot up to interpretation to people that are way more illogical than I am. Like, I'm at least somewhat reasonable.

This is going to, fuck. Step into my office, Cliff. Step into my office. Dr. Rogers is going to. I like this. Go ahead and get comfortable. Could it be. I like, I like this doctor.

Could it be. But Cliff. Yeah. the the the the the the the philly fan the representation of the embodiment of the philly fan is projecting their feelings of a needed apology on paul when all he's doing is sitting at a microphone in the past telling no no he's not apologizing though what i'm saying you're projecting that on the man the man's just telling you what happened the man he ain't tripping off of that y'all motherfuckers wants to talk about we don't want an apology tour he's not an apology tour i'll be real

I watched the Gilly the Kid joint. It was definitely trying to get into some. Maybe it wasn't an apology, but it was trying to get into some good graces back into some good graces back to the Phillie. You don't come back from your podcast with Gilly the Kid. If you're not trying to apologize, whether directly or in Raleigh and Wallow, if you're not trying to grovel to the Philly fan base,

please, come on. But I'm going to cut him some belt. I'm going to cut him some belt. At least it seems like he is determined to, you know, obviously make up for what was, what happened last year and how bad the sixers ended up being. Like I said, number three overall pick.

A lot of it relies on drawling B. But to me, if he's doing all this shit in the off season, I don't want his pod to be canceled by December. Like, you better come out swinging early on in the portion next season, right? Listen, you got to cash in what you're talking about. I ain't got to do shit, but cash these checks and, and show up. If we're keeping it a buck. I'm not trying to hear.

That's all I got to do. That's all I got to do. We're not trying to. You might listen. That's a fact of life, but we're not trying to hear or try to hear whatever you want or don't want to hear. But I'm telling you, like as far as I'm concerned, if I'm Paul, listen, I ain't apologizing to y'all for shit.

I didn't have a good year. Most of my years have been good ones. This one wasn't. I'm going to go back to the drawing board. I'm going to work my ass off. I'm going to come back and earnestly pursue a championship with these Philadelphia 76ers. But if I should happen to be bad again next year,

don't give a fuck about what none of y'all are talking about. I'm going to be right up on my podcast handling mine. Logan, you think Paul George would appreciate Roger speaking for him in this manner? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Paul, hey, Paul, if you don't like to speak like this, dog, I'm available. I figure out of rate.

I tell all these motherfuckers, hey, bro, Paul ain't got to worry about shit. Hey, hey, a podcast, P, man. Hey, podcast P, you better come back, hooping. drop 25 per game. We're not trying to hear none of the shit Rod's talking about. I'm not trying to hear Dr. Rise.

We're not. Raja ain't even in Philly. Raja, way to fucking Miami talking that pool. He ain't even in Philly. He ain't even in Philly. Hey, Paul, you live here, yo. You don't want anything.

You don't want to go down South Street. People yelling at you. Tell him out you tell him out some, get in the fucking gym. No, dog. You back talking to that shit because he played the game that we're amplified.

He played the game that he simplified Philly ball. That's why he went to the mall. I saw. And shut the shit down. I suck. No, I suck my second year.

I appreciate that. No, we love you out here, Doug. We love you out here, if we're keeping it a buck, I do get love in Philly. But if we're really keeping it a buck,

it was for a very, very, very small sample size. Right? And that next year. But guess what? That's all you need in Philly though. I'll take it. That's all you need in Philly.

I'll take it. But you know what I, you know what I wasn't about to be doing that next year? When I wasn't good? Apologizing to no motherfucker in the king of Prussia mall. I wasn't about to walk in the city blue and be like, yo, my bad, y'all. I wasn't good last night, bro. I can see that Aver X?

Nah, we ain't doing that. And for the record, Paul's not literally apologizing. I feel you. You know what I'm saying? Like, it just feels, Logan, it just very much feels very much. You don't have Gilly the kid on, bro. You don't do that in the first episode back if you're not trying to gain some good favor. I'm just saying, here's a thing, though.

Paul's George ain't getting his jersey retired. TJ Friday's on fucking city view, though. He ain't doing that, though. He ain't getting shit put up in the rapids of the DJI Friday. Those city line. That ain't happening. City lines. He definitely making that left back to St.

Joseph after practice right now. You know what I'm saying? Even if they practice somewhere else, you get the sentence. You get my drift. Best piece of advice for Paul for me is just keep popping your shit, but back it up with 25 and eight. And the playoffs. In late May, though. In late May, though.

He should bounce back. In late May, you got to do it in late May. You can't do it in late May. And late May, but let's have a healthy year. Let's have a healthy all season. Hopefully, Joel comes back alongside with you. You know what I'm saying? Keep popping your shit, but drop that 25 and 8, bro.

That's all I'm saying. That has been another edition of a real. Go ahead, Ron. Go ahead, Rob. Pop your shit, Roger. Pop it. I say, at what point does Paul, when all of these questions start coming at him, just do this to the locker right next to his?

give rosson did he do that i thought he never no i don't because you have to be a real low teammate to start pointing the finger you know what he did though you know what he did though he didn't he didn't do it he had he had gilly do it on his podcast first pot back that's what he did he had gilly go at him be but gillie doesn't care but gillie doesn't care so you know what he said though keep going on his you know what he said what gilly said on who gilly look Killian Wallow are two of my favorite. They're two of my favorite, like, personalities. I just, yeah.

You know what he said? That was amazing on the podcast. I was sitting here to clip even after I said this. He was said, you know what Philly fans don't give a fuck about the Olympics? Talking about him, B. Yo, true words could not have been spoken, bro. True words could not have been spoken.

But not, look, Raj, I don't think at any point in time, Paul will just definitely just be like, up. No, I was shaking. Yeah. Yeah, he's going, Paul going to get here. That's where that's, I guess my point would be, yeah, I mean, if we're going to have a reboot of or a replay of this year next year, that ire should be squarely pointed at one of the two of them. And it ain't Paul. Hey, that's, that's what, hey.

Right. You know what I'm saying? So like at some point, the Philly fan, you want to direct that anger to where it's supposed to be directed. When Raj, you're not wrong. Raj, you're not wrong. When Roger gets put on retainer by the Sixers to sit next to NB's locker, or not NB's locker to Paul George's locker after games, he's just all he's going to do is he's going to be like.

Raj, why are you not in the front office, you know? Like you can talk to the, Rod, why are you not in the front office? You can talk to the media. You could be transparent about injuries. Like stuff like that. Like the Sixers never are in people's favor because they aren't

transparent enough for me. Yeah. Why I'm not in the front of. office anymore as well. Who knows whether I would have wound up being good at it long term. But I really enjoyed it working with the cabs and stuff. But my kids were so young, Cliff, like it was it was too hard to balance being the dad. I wanted to be with. You did say that. Yeah, but I enjoy, listen, don't get me wrong. One of what they used to do, what Griff used to do with me was like, he'd take me in and like there would be like a, you know, like a ticket holder

event and stuff like that. And they'd be like a state of the team, right? Before we came out and really played games. And I'd give that address, right? Like, I'd give the state of the team. I'd let the fans fire questions at me and stuff like that. So, like, I actually enjoy stuff like that. Those were like the easy parts of my job. So maybe, who knows?

And another, like, you know, once the kids are grown or something like that, if there were ever any opportunities. But like, nah, dog, I got, I, no, I mean, I like to be at these games. Ellen Brand. El and Brand, need a partner, man. You need to be. Can we just be him and Daryl up there. Him and Daryl, they've been taking heat for years.

So somebody, you somebody else. to. Yeah, exactly. So you probably fit that role really well, man. You know, you sound like you don't tell like you don't. Tell them how about me, man. They let me off the leash. That's only my only condition, bro. I got to be unleashed. Hey, Darrell, hey, Darrell, no. You heard that, man. After, after, uh, after, yo, you know what's perfect and Todd can go to temple. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. How perfect would that be? How perfect would that be? Victoria, take his bubble up. Pop Clif's bubble. This has been another edition of Real Ones, God, that got all the rails really fast, talking about Philly. Real ones, mailback at gmail.com, Romansmanmelback at gmail.com.

Remus melbaugh at gmail.com. We will talk to you on Friday with Howard motherfucking Beck. Talk to you soon. All this shits. Bye. Must be 21 years and older and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and older and present in D.C. gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler, or visit RGhelp.com. Call 1888-78-98-9-7777. Or visit CCPpGpG.org and Connecticut. Or visit MD-gamblinghelp.org and Maryland. Hope is here.

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