NBA Playoffs First Round Has Way More Meaning Than Just Advancing

[00:00:11] It's Monday, you know what time it is. It is Front Runner Podcast Collective

[00:00:16] It is your humble host Vince and we are back

[00:00:20] Last week we got three episodes in this week

[00:00:23] We are looking to do the same in today's episode

[00:00:27] What we're going to be doing is we're going to basically look at all the series

[00:00:32] We're gonna leave the Minnesota Suns

[00:00:35] Minnesota Timberwolves Phoenix Suns series

[00:00:38] for last and

[00:00:40] We're just gonna see what we've learned over this period of time with these series

[00:00:46] And we're gonna go from there. So the first couple things that we're gonna talk about is the YouTube page

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[00:01:27] The other thing is X or Twitter as I like to call it because I am one of the olds as

[00:01:33] As being one of the old you can find me at front runner

[00:01:38] PC and

[00:01:40] Then the last thing is if you're new to the podcast welcome

[00:01:44] You can find us on Spotify. You can find us on Apple. You can find us on Amazon music

[00:01:51] You can find us on I heart radio and you can also find us on

[00:01:56] Pandora, so with all that being said let's get to these games

[00:02:01] And get to these series the first series that I want to take a look at is the Celtics and heat series

[00:02:08] We talked about it at the start and I thought that this was not going to be a series where we learned anything

[00:02:16] Now the heat are still the heat Eric's poster of the coach of the heat

[00:02:21] He just does a great job with what he has and he maximizes the ability of his players

[00:02:27] Now he just doesn't have another enough bullets in his gun to be able to do the things that he wants to do

[00:02:34] They are terribly diminished

[00:02:37] Rosier hasn't played

[00:02:40] Due to a neck injury

[00:02:42] Jim Butler is dealing with a knee

[00:02:44] it's just been a mash unit and

[00:02:49] We know that Boston is very talented and we knew that this was going to be

[00:02:54] The situation going into it and now that we're here

[00:02:59] And they're up to one in the series and it looks like they're gonna go up three one

[00:03:06] You know, I just look at this is the heat doing exactly what they're gonna do they're gonna fight to the end

[00:03:12] They're gonna play hard. We're learning things about Yeovich though

[00:03:17] And we're learning things about Jaime high cast jr. That are going to be beneficial

[00:03:23] for us going forward and what I mean by that is that we now know that

[00:03:30] They are not scared of the bright lights and they

[00:03:34] Played and held up extremely well in these playoffs

[00:03:38] And when they have been called upon to score and be productive

[00:03:43] They've been able to handle the load that they've been given and

[00:03:47] Those are the type of things that a building blocks that you can lean on as a franchise going like this is not a lost year

[00:03:53] from them

[00:03:54] And I can tell you that spo is probably not looking at it as a lost year

[00:04:00] Anytime that you can go into battle is a child is a time that either for greatness or to learn where your

[00:04:08] Weaknesses are and then you go ahead and fortify those weaknesses and get better

[00:04:14] That's literally the mindset of the Miami Heat and if you don't think so go talk to Piot Riley. That's his deal

[00:04:22] Now as far as Boston is concerned extremely talented not really being challenged a lot

[00:04:28] I think what we've learned a little bit is that

[00:04:31] Mozilla really loves Peyton Pritchard and

[00:04:34] And I don't know if it's some sort of

[00:04:38] He played I know that Mozilla played at West Virginia under Bob Huggins. I do know that

[00:04:46] Mozilla is a really smart guy, but I wonder if there's some sort of like

[00:04:51] You know vicariously I can live through Peyton Pritchard

[00:04:55] I'm not saying that Peyton Pritchard plays way too much or anything like that. That is not the case

[00:05:00] It is just funny that Peyton Pritchard

[00:05:03] like right now they it's

[00:05:06] There in the second quarter six minutes to go

[00:05:09] Boston's up 41 to 29 in this game and I'm gonna tell you right now. He's already played nine minutes

[00:05:15] So he's part of the rotation. He's getting burned and

[00:05:20] Mozilla is

[00:05:22] Probably extremely excited every time he sees him on the court

[00:05:26] Again, I think for the Celtics and then as we get into these other series

[00:05:34] It really is laid out for them

[00:05:36] I mean they really should be in a in a position where they should run through the East as

[00:05:41] Talented as they are and if they can dispatch the heat in a

[00:05:46] quick fashion

[00:05:47] They'll be able to

[00:05:49] Maybe possibly get some rest as well. So

[00:05:53] Let's get to the thunder and the New Orleans series for a second and what have learned

[00:06:02] Unfortunately, I spoke too soon on the Zion thing. He got hurt literally right before the playoffs

[00:06:12] It's such a tough break. I

[00:06:14] Think the other thing that we learned with the Pelicans is that we've gone as far as we can go with this team

[00:06:21] I'm not saying that Zion is getting traded this person's getting traded

[00:06:25] but I do believe that one of the big pillars is probably going to be gone and

[00:06:31] It looks like it probably will be

[00:06:35] Brandon Ingram, I don't know who's the team that's gonna get them. I don't know if Atlanta would love to have a stable

[00:06:44] 25 point a game star like Brandon Ingram

[00:06:48] I don't know if he goes back to Charlotte and kind of

[00:06:51] That would be a weird little kind of thing in Charlotte

[00:06:55] I think I dig it a lot when you have three guys at about six foot seven six foot eight all together and

[00:07:01] Can do different things in their skill set

[00:07:05] so I

[00:07:07] Think Brandon Ingram might be the piece to kind of just kind of shake up the roster a little bit give them a little

[00:07:12] more diversity and what they're trying to do and

[00:07:17] I think from that point

[00:07:20] They just have been missing something and

[00:07:24] You know we we're gonna get into the New York series as we get closer and closer to the end here

[00:07:30] I want to save that series for close to last because it's been such a phenomenal series

[00:07:37] But the Pelicans

[00:07:40] Because of Zion not being able to play you thought they would be able to utilize their height utilize their length to

[00:07:49] Discourage the Thunder it really hasn't done anything

[00:07:53] what we learned is that as I

[00:07:57] Was worried for the Thunder not because I'm not saying they were the Sacramento Kings last year because I'm not

[00:08:04] What I am saying is that I?

[00:08:07] Thought that this is new

[00:08:10] Are they gonna be able to live up to the moment these are all things they checked all the boxes and

[00:08:16] Chet has been phenomenal. He's been scoring. He's been rebounding

[00:08:21] He's been providing the rim protection that they need for the Oklahoma City Thunder and they're not scared

[00:08:28] They're just not scared of this what the situation is

[00:08:33] Mark Dagnall who is now one coach of the year who would are coach of the year

[00:08:39] Congratulations to Mark Dagnall for that honor and he has a team that

[00:08:45] Knows their personality and they know themselves very well and they seem to be I

[00:08:53] Wouldn't say ego less, but I will say that whatever the ego situation is on that team

[00:09:00] They seem to be able

[00:09:02] to

[00:09:04] galvanize together

[00:09:06] Play the brand of basketball that Mark Dagnall likes to deploy and has been super

[00:09:13] Successful, I loved every minute of it kudos to the Oklahoma City Thunder fans

[00:09:18] I am glad that you guys are back. This has been an incredible rebuild. It is only taking three years

[00:09:26] Sam Presti

[00:09:28] deserves all the credit in the world

[00:09:31] I know that Sam does not like praise

[00:09:34] I know Sam doesn't like any promotion whatsoever

[00:09:39] What his group?

[00:09:41] that coaching staff that player development staff have found the guys that fit this system they play with a a

[00:09:52] fervor and a vigor that is

[00:09:56] Really something that you would see in older teams older teams know when to turn it on older teams know when okay

[00:10:03] Hey, we got this team

[00:10:05] Up against the ropes and let's go ahead and finish them right now

[00:10:10] Okay, see seems to have a lot of that it belies their age and

[00:10:16] What I mean by that is that we I think we talked about it in a podcast about three weeks ago

[00:10:21] the average age of the Oklahoma City Thunder is

[00:10:26] approximately 22.8

[00:10:29] The North Carolina Tar Heels their their

[00:10:33] accumulative of age average age was

[00:10:37] 23.6

[00:10:40] So a college team is older

[00:10:43] than a professional basketball team

[00:10:47] so

[00:10:50] The Thunder look ready for the moment so so far so good

[00:10:55] Let's go ahead and talk about the Lakers a little bit

[00:10:58] And I don't want to spend a lot of time on it because I really want to give a lot of attention to

[00:11:02] What happened yesterday and also what we learned but?

[00:11:07] So far

[00:11:12] The Lakers play their second best game of the series

[00:11:19] In game four I still think the game they lost

[00:11:23] 101 to 99 when Jamal Murray hit that

[00:11:27] Unbelievable buzzer beater to go ahead and ice them in game two was their best play game

[00:11:35] This game they play really aggressive they came out they put it to Denver early

[00:11:40] They played with desperation and it's really hard to be

[00:11:47] desperate

[00:11:48] I've talked about it on this part before when a team is up against the wall like the Lakers were

[00:11:55] Who have some pride who have some talent like they do?

[00:11:59] you will see a

[00:12:01] fight and you will see a

[00:12:05] type of mentality

[00:12:07] That you go well where where the hell was this the whole series right but something clicks in to a person's head when they're

[00:12:17] uber competitive person and

[00:12:20] They know that there's some finality about to happen if things don't go right

[00:12:25] And there's a there's a focus and there's a level that they can get to that is is really

[00:12:32] impressive to me

[00:12:33] With that being said the Lakers winning that game

[00:12:37] Did it state does it just stay about basically what we know is going to happen?

[00:12:41] I believe so but there was one little moment and

[00:12:46] We really haven't heard anything more about this

[00:12:50] about Jamal Murray and

[00:12:53] They're saying day-to-day with Jamal Murray

[00:12:55] So I would say that means he's probably gonna play tonight and if that's the case then the Lakers are done

[00:13:02] Because a 70% of Jamal Murray is still better than a hundred percent of Reggie Jackson no offense to Reggie

[00:13:09] But that chemistry between Murray and yolkage it just cannot be

[00:13:14] Duplicated and

[00:13:16] It's magical on every way and with all the other pieces that they have it's hell to deal with

[00:13:22] You got to have multiple

[00:13:25] Energetic defenders you can't have anybody fall asleep

[00:13:29] Because yolkage will just pick you apart and unfortunately the Lakers don't have the horses to do this

[00:13:37] So what have we learned in this series? There's a couple things one

[00:13:42] There's been a lot of rumor and whispering that what happens now

[00:13:48] right with the Lakers and

[00:13:51] I think the Lakers are really an open book. I think they're much more so an open book

[00:13:59] than they were before the playoffs start and the only reason I say that is

[00:14:05] Because if LeBron really can't get

[00:14:08] At least to the Western Conference finals, I think he might look elsewhere

[00:14:17] Now I'm not saying he's 100% leaving

[00:14:21] Whatever

[00:14:23] Palinka could come up with through the exit interview or through the first couple weeks of the offseason

[00:14:30] And come up with a plan that really

[00:14:33] Appeases LeBron and says okay, this sounds good now

[00:14:39] additive to that is if Palinka said the magic words were also going to buy a second round pick and

[00:14:46] Draft Ronnie James

[00:14:49] That will also solve a lot of issues right there

[00:14:54] It will be for another day that we talked about is it worth

[00:14:59] Using a pick on Ronnie. We will not deal with that right now, but we will deal with what we have in front of us

[00:15:08] LeBron can opt out of his his player option

[00:15:12] We do expect him to do so

[00:15:16] Usually it's to put pressure on the organization to make change

[00:15:22] It just so happens that the organization is also eager to make change

[00:15:28] And depending on where both

[00:15:30] Parties fall on this will decide on where the Lakers go

[00:15:35] Now there's like two or three options on the board for them

[00:15:40] Who knows I think this is something

[00:15:44] That when this series does finally end and we get back on this podcast on Wednesday

[00:15:51] We can really kind of roll up our sleeves and get into it and see what we can talk about

[00:15:57] As for the Nuggets

[00:15:59] The thing that couldn't happen has happened Murray is now compromised and your bench is not great

[00:16:06] This now opens the door for the other competitors in the West

[00:16:11] One that we'll talk about at the end of the podcast

[00:16:15] But you have now given okay see a lot of hope

[00:16:20] Okay

[00:16:22] You've given Minnesota a lot of hope and probably whoever is in that

[00:16:28] Four or five thing that maybe they think they can do something as well, but at this point in time

[00:16:34] Do something as well, but at this point in time

[00:16:38] Jokic is gonna have to be more of a score

[00:16:43] Michael Porter jr. Is going to have to give what he's given so far

[00:16:47] These are all things that are in the realm of possibility

[00:16:50] So they're not in in dire straits and if this injury is just more of a pain management

[00:16:57] thing that it is that it

[00:17:00] inhibits his

[00:17:02] Agility or his ability to make cuts or stock when I die

[00:17:08] which I

[00:17:10] Don't think there's any way that it could not

[00:17:13] hamper those things, but if it's

[00:17:16] Not hampering it to a degree

[00:17:18] Where it really takes a lot of the stuff that he likes to do a lot of the actions

[00:17:24] Are are eliminated because of this then?

[00:17:29] The Denver Nuggets will be okay

[00:17:32] If this is something that is a lingering injury that really

[00:17:38] Compromises him to a point where?

[00:17:40] He's not able to move he's not able to really defend

[00:17:45] Really be able to be used in this pick and roll action

[00:17:49] It'll just make it harder for Denver. It will make it harder for Jokic

[00:17:53] But with Aaron Gordon's energy and his ability to just constantly move

[00:18:00] with

[00:18:02] Michael Porter Jr. Probably every time somebody gets hurt

[00:18:07] He probably is the one dude that's sitting on the court going

[00:18:11] Man, I'm gonna get more shots

[00:18:14] I'm gonna get more

[00:18:17] Opportunities to show these people how awesome I am

[00:18:23] I love Michael Porter Jr.'s

[00:18:27] Kind of

[00:18:29] It's all about me mentality, I don't know why there's just something about that kid

[00:18:34] But uh he's been playing well the whole series. So I mean honestly again

[00:18:40] The learning of what I mean, honestly, I hope the Lakers fans have learned something

[00:18:46] and

[00:18:47] I mean that from the bottom of my heart because I hear a lot of stuff here in Los Angeles

[00:18:52] About how we're so close and we're this and we're that

[00:18:58] I'm gonna say in since last year

[00:19:01] We are not close

[00:19:03] If you are putting all your

[00:19:07] Eggs in a basket for LeBron James who's 39 going to be 40

[00:19:12] Going into his 22nd year in the NBA and that's the guy who was going to be

[00:19:18] the guy

[00:19:20] Then I don't like your chances

[00:19:23] It's just too hard for him. Now if he's your third guy

[00:19:27] And I know that sounds very disrespectful to LeBron

[00:19:31] But if he's your third guy, he can do all the facilitating

[00:19:36] He can always come very very useful in clutch situations because

[00:19:43] The one thing we do know about LeBron is that he does make the right play most of the time

[00:19:50] He's not Jokic

[00:19:52] Jokic makes the right play

[00:19:55] like 99.8 percent of the time

[00:19:58] And I say LeBron is probably somewhere in the group of like about 92

[00:20:04] 90 percent of time

[00:20:06] But we'll see how how that all works

[00:20:09] But if he's your number one, it's just gonna be super difficult. You got the healthiest season out of LeBron this year

[00:20:15] You got it

[00:20:17] What's the chances do you get in that next year?

[00:20:21] What's the chances of Anthony Davis being as healthy as he was this year?

[00:20:28] Hmm things to think about as you go forward let's get into

[00:20:35] Some of the games we saw yesterday

[00:20:38] And into some of these series that are going on

[00:20:46] Man that Brunson that Brunson in b battle was uh, absolutely nuts

[00:20:50] Let's start with the the clippers and the mabs and and what's going on here

[00:20:57] um

[00:20:59] I am

[00:21:02] It's easy for me to say I was wrong about the clippers

[00:21:06] It really is

[00:21:07] um, not because of the fact that I live here in Los Angeles and I have any

[00:21:12] Affinity for the clippers and as you know

[00:21:16] If you've been a day one to this podcast, you know, i'm not a clipper fan at all

[00:21:22] There's a couple people in that organization that I have a profound respect for

[00:21:27] um

[00:21:28] and being privileged to uh

[00:21:31] You know, um

[00:21:33] I don't even know what you want to say about that

[00:21:35] Just you know be able to to watch their their growth over their career

[00:21:40] And being able to see some of the things that they've been able to do has been

[00:21:44] Been amazing

[00:21:46] But i'm not a clipper fan

[00:21:49] but what they did in game four

[00:21:52] was

[00:21:55] It was crazy because when they got up so big I was like, I don't even know what's going on right now

[00:22:00] You know what's going on right now?

[00:22:02] and you know, we start talking about what's gonna happen with Dallas and what's gonna happen with

[00:22:07] You know, you know, this is a bad look for Dallas if this goes down like this, you know, blah blah blah

[00:22:13] And then Dallas slowly worked their way back into this work their way back into the game

[00:22:19] And at some point they had taken the lead. So this team was down by 30 points

[00:22:25] Dallas found a way to come back now

[00:22:27] Albeit the clippers are missing kawaii and we will get to that in a second

[00:22:34] but

[00:22:37] they

[00:22:39] They they didn't panic at any point in this game, even though the lead was dwindling and and what have you

[00:22:46] There seemed to be a calm

[00:22:49] Between paul george and james harten

[00:22:52] Paul george was a house on fire in the first half. He could miss

[00:22:56] Uh, he finished the game

[00:22:58] Seven to ten from three point land. Uh, we're gonna talk about a couple things

[00:23:03] that went on

[00:23:04] harten also

[00:23:06] Ended the game great, but he started the game

[00:23:09] Terribly and it really wasn't like performance wise he got into foul trouble

[00:23:14] so some of the aggressiveness with his drives and

[00:23:18] Extending that arm out a little bit and maybe kind of pushing the line a little bit

[00:23:24] Maybe he was a little more tentative until he got to a point where he felt like okay cool

[00:23:30] I can go ahead and play my regular game

[00:23:33] There was a point where in the second quarter with 9 36 left to go

[00:23:37] Dallas mavericks were 9 of 14 from three and the clippers were

[00:23:43] 0 of 10 from three

[00:23:46] And also by that time

[00:23:48] With 5 32 left in the second quarter this tells you a lot about the game

[00:23:53] With 5 32 left in the second quarter kairi gets his first points of the game

[00:23:59] Pg and harten at that time had combined for 33

[00:24:05] And the clickers were

[00:24:08] Up 55 to 33 and then kairi makes an 8-0 run that actually turns into a 14-2 run

[00:24:15] And the only reason I say is a 14-2 run is because he scored 12 points

[00:24:20] But he also assisted on the other basket. So I give him credit for the points on that

[00:24:26] and then at the half you're sitting there and you're going like what is going on but paul georgette scored 26 points

[00:24:35] In the first half he also shot

[00:24:39] What he shoot for the game he shot 11 for 19

[00:24:43] But in the first half he shot 9 of 14

[00:24:46] so that he

[00:24:47] I mean he balled out

[00:24:49] Now jayce harten did his damage in the second half again remind you

[00:24:54] He was

[00:24:56] Tentative because of the foul trouble, but he finished amazingly. He he was completely efficient too

[00:25:03] He was 12 of 17

[00:25:05] From the floor

[00:25:06] He was 4 of 5 from three

[00:25:08] And he was also 5 of 5 from the free throw line the team just continued to play

[00:25:19] Now kairi hit the damndest

[00:25:23] Layup i've ever seen in my whole entire life now

[00:25:27] We talked about on this podcast that kairi

[00:25:31] is an absolute

[00:25:33] witch when it comes to

[00:25:36] dribbling the basketball and

[00:25:39] Controlling his dribble and keeping his dribble pressure doesn't seem to bother kairi

[00:25:45] Nor do nor do

[00:25:48] Six foot eight to six foot eleven do's that i'll weigh him by like 30 to 50 pounds

[00:25:54] They don't seem to bother him either

[00:25:57] That layup that he made over

[00:26:01] There was what three do's there. There was like three sets of hands

[00:26:05] And somehow he kind of

[00:26:08] Quadruple

[00:26:09] Pump in the air all this is while in the air and they found an angle and got this ball

[00:26:15] To go into the basket. It was literally the damndest thing i've ever seen in my whole entire life

[00:26:21] um his his

[00:26:23] His below the rim

[00:26:25] imagination and skill

[00:26:30] To get the ball on the rim or on the backboard with the english it needs to get

[00:26:37] You know to be successful to go into the basket

[00:26:41] There's nothing like it in the nba so shots out to kairi playing such incredible basketball

[00:26:47] Uh luka had a down game he even a down game for luka

[00:26:52] 29 points 10 rebounds 10 assists he shot 10 to 24

[00:26:58] Now he'll tell you the one and nine

[00:27:01] from the three point land

[00:27:03] Not great

[00:27:04] He even said after the game. He said I need to

[00:27:08] Help my teammate kairi

[00:27:10] He said I failed him

[00:27:13] Uh, I mean

[00:27:14] You can't ask for anything more in a leader

[00:27:19] You really can't ask for anything more

[00:27:22] Take responsibility. Okay. Yep. I didn't play my best gang

[00:27:27] You know and shoot anybody else put up 29 10 and 10

[00:27:32] You know, they out there popping bottles

[00:27:35] Like you see how nice I was in this game

[00:27:38] You took the L but I was nice though

[00:27:41] right

[00:27:42] Now luka was hurt after the game

[00:27:46] But I mean hurt in the sense of

[00:27:48] You know felons was hurt. He did deal with some sort of knee

[00:27:52] deal

[00:27:54] as well

[00:27:55] Which was

[00:27:57] Problematic, I think he's he's lagering as well

[00:28:01] And so what have we learned about this series i'm gonna tell you right now

[00:28:05] Whoever loses this series to me

[00:28:08] becomes a really

[00:28:10] huge storyline

[00:28:13] Going into the offseason

[00:28:16] I know it's all speculation

[00:28:18] but

[00:28:19] It's paul george

[00:28:22] I know people are gonna be like oh you're just saying this to get clicks or whatever. No, i'm really asking a question

[00:28:28] If i'm paul george and I see I see kawaii because we're getting to the kawaii thing now

[00:28:33] I see kawaii

[00:28:35] And listen, there's no doubt whether he's hurt or not because he came back in those two games

[00:28:41] Games two and three and he looked

[00:28:44] completely

[00:28:47] Unplayable he just didn't move right

[00:28:50] The team's whole vibe was different

[00:28:54] So if kawaii and the other thing that we see when kawaii is in the game

[00:29:00] Paul george is not nearly as aggressive and also

[00:29:04] James harten is not nearly

[00:29:06] As aggressive and he's not

[00:29:08] Getting them into their actions and allowing the movement and the cutting to work when when uh kawaii is on the floor

[00:29:18] So they come out and they play this game minus kawaii, right?

[00:29:24] And you just see just a freedom and a flow to the offense

[00:29:28] And i'm not saying that the clippers are better without kawaii. I'm just saying for this

[00:29:34] moment this moment in time

[00:29:37] Until he's completely right, which I don't know what that will ever be in this

[00:29:42] season

[00:29:44] But for right now

[00:29:46] I think

[00:29:47] letting paul george and

[00:29:50] James harten cook

[00:29:52] Is probably the best best thing to do

[00:29:57] All right. Uh, oh

[00:30:00] We need to talk about mavericks we need to talk about a couple things now

[00:30:05] Kyrie half 40 played an excellent game. We told you about the crazy layup, which will be

[00:30:11] Is good all over your instagram and twitter

[00:30:16] The other thing that we kind of really need to talk about is

[00:30:19] They need another score they need somebody to step up and give them points

[00:30:25] They need somebody who has that that firepower

[00:30:30] I would really like to see jade jayden hardy get a chance

[00:30:35] I would like to see him

[00:30:37] Get more minutes. I know he's young

[00:30:40] I know he's not terribly like

[00:30:43] I care about everybody else getting touches. I know he's a kind of a mercenary when it comes to the scoring

[00:30:50] but he might just be that guy you need to have the

[00:30:53] just

[00:30:55] Delusional confidence

[00:30:57] I'm the best player on the court

[00:30:59] We've seen it with reggie jackson and other dudes

[00:31:03] but

[00:31:04] him having

[00:31:05] Irrational confidence a delusional count confidence

[00:31:08] And coming in and

[00:31:10] Hitting five threes might be the spark between dallas losing this series and dallas winning this series

[00:31:18] Now I still think dallas is going to win the series. Nothing changes there

[00:31:21] But if for some reason they don't what's the next move?

[00:31:27] Because they went all in when they got daniel gafford

[00:31:31] And they picked up pj washington

[00:31:33] They went all in

[00:31:35] So my question now is what's next if this doesn't work

[00:31:44] Who gets the blame? Is this a jason kid thing?

[00:31:48] Does he fall on the sword?

[00:31:53] I think their picks are pretty much compromised until like 2030. So we don't have to worry about that

[00:32:00] Actually, I think they change one of the picks from okc to give it like less protections

[00:32:06] So yeah, they're pretty much screwed on their picks at this point. I think they might have one more left

[00:32:10] but other than that

[00:32:12] It's bleak in dallas. If this doesn't go the right way the best part about it is though is that luka is still young

[00:32:19] And kairi is playing at a level that is

[00:32:23] entertaining one and it's providing a lot of value and production

[00:32:28] So you could bring those two back with a whole season

[00:32:32] Of pj washington a whole season of daniel gafford

[00:32:37] a

[00:32:38] Whole another season with derrick lively jr

[00:32:41] Who should get better josh green who should get better?

[00:32:45] We're praying for our guy jaden hardy to get better

[00:32:49] So you can get some burn

[00:32:51] but

[00:32:52] Those are the type of things that I would they're not like in super panic mode because your superstar is young and

[00:32:59] There might be some

[00:33:00] Some upticks in development with two or three that your guys that make might make a huge difference

[00:33:06] So I don't see them really panicking but it does it does beg the question of what happens now

[00:33:14] I think more on the clipper side than on the maverick side, but

[00:33:18] Just something to look out for

[00:33:21] All right

[00:33:22] The next series we're going to get into which is kind of a sad one is the paces and the bucks

[00:33:28] I would like to formally

[00:33:33] Congratulate tyrese haliburton

[00:33:36] For having such an incredible game yesterday. He was uh, for the first time

[00:33:42] He looked like himself and it was good to see

[00:33:46] Um, so that's what we learned is that we might be starting to see a more healthier

[00:33:52] Tyrese haliburton and that's great. He shot the ball

[00:33:56] um

[00:33:57] With more volume that was the best part he shot the ball 16 times. He was five or 12 from three

[00:34:04] He was eight of 16 total, but the big story was miles turner miles turner could not miss

[00:34:11] miles turner

[00:34:13] who

[00:34:15] For the longest period of time was on the trade block. I mean

[00:34:20] Indiana tried to trade miles turner like three four five times

[00:34:27] There were at least two significant laker deals that I know

[00:34:32] There was there was heavy discussions on

[00:34:36] I heard

[00:34:37] Him going to charlotte at one point. I've heard him go into all kinds of myriad of places

[00:34:43] I think he actually was the uh

[00:34:46] The apple of dallas's, uh, the maverick side for a stint as well

[00:34:52] so

[00:34:53] Imagine my surprise to see miles turner

[00:34:56] Turn in to like vintage steve curry and go seven of nine from three point land

[00:35:02] and just

[00:35:03] Lift his team up

[00:35:05] and beat

[00:35:07] The milwaukee bucks 126 to 113 this series is now 31

[00:35:14] Dame didn't play

[00:35:16] There's a uh

[00:35:19] Killy strain

[00:35:21] Middleton

[00:35:22] Who had a great game two?

[00:35:26] Game three or game four. I'm sorry game three. He had a great game three

[00:35:31] That they almost won he almost he hit the shot to put him into overtime

[00:35:36] And he kept scoring but it just was to no avail because tyrese hadleburton hit the game winning shot for that one

[00:35:42] Now in this game, it was just not close everybody was hurt. So no dame no no yanis

[00:35:50] um

[00:35:51] They ran a lot of offense through gorg locus because it's smart to do

[00:35:57] Um, we saw a lot of that

[00:36:01] But wait bobby porter is getting ejected like and only playing like seven minutes

[00:36:07] You're leaning on conaton. You're leaning on

[00:36:11] Middleton heavy

[00:36:13] brooke lohez

[00:36:15] Andre, jackson got some burn so we were excited for that. He actually played well. I thought his defense was good

[00:36:22] Um, but they play old school basketball

[00:36:24] it was like get the ball to the post allow the ball to

[00:36:28] Get kicked out the post and then swing it to the open man

[00:36:32] Uh smart. It kept them in that game for a long period of time. They were in that game. I want to say till up until

[00:36:39] Probably about nine nine ten minutes to go in the fourth

[00:36:44] They just didn't have the weapons to to deal with that. Now. Here's the thing that we learned with

[00:36:50] milwaukee

[00:36:51] um

[00:36:54] Where do you go from here? Because that's the question, right?

[00:36:58] This clearly didn't work now you can say three things one

[00:37:04] A whole season with doc dame and janis. Let's see what it looks like

[00:37:10] Okay

[00:37:11] seven to eight

[00:37:12] To close out the year not great not fantastic whatsoever

[00:37:17] but

[00:37:18] um

[00:37:20] More 17 to 18. I'm sorry

[00:37:24] um

[00:37:24] Under 500 but these injuries you can't really say hell no

[00:37:30] We say hell well, you know because this team would just not

[00:37:35] The paces are way better than them

[00:37:37] Especially if you're taking janis and dame off the court. There's no question about who has the most talent

[00:37:44] So as far as like oh this person's got to go this person's got to go

[00:37:47] We didn't gain any information of like oh this team really can't play together. We didn't see janis

[00:37:55] Deploy or not deploy the pick and roll because he's been injured the whole time

[00:38:01] You know

[00:38:03] Dame has tried to give them as much

[00:38:06] Energy as possible got himself hurt

[00:38:09] So what is this team to do? I don't know

[00:38:13] But I think changes would be afoot

[00:38:17] Now I don't have any clear cut things, but I think they'll revisit maybe

[00:38:22] Taking one of their guys away and then trying to turn that guy into two guys

[00:38:26] I'm not saying it's going to be dame. I'm not saying it's going to be janis

[00:38:32] I just think maybe one of the the the tertiary pieces might be

[00:38:37] a piece that could go and provide you with

[00:38:42] multiple either multiple picks or multiple

[00:38:46] A pick and a player whatever it takes, but I would think they couldn't come back exactly the way they are

[00:38:53] Exactly the way they are in indiana might be finding themselves in a really just crazy

[00:39:00] uh

[00:39:02] advantageous position

[00:39:04] Because the next couple games we talk about

[00:39:08] Kind of involved in but we're going to get to the cavaliers and the magic

[00:39:13] because i owe

[00:39:18] And the reason why i'm

[00:39:20] hopping on

[00:39:22] Back to saturday is i owe the orlando magic

[00:39:26] fan base an apology

[00:39:29] You came out

[00:39:31] first of all, the fans have been amazing the

[00:39:34] The arena down there orlando has been just on fire. It's been nuts

[00:39:40] Shots out to the fan base who's been

[00:39:42] starving for

[00:39:44] This type of basketball team for a while and to see this young group play as hard as they have been

[00:39:50] the whole time

[00:39:52] um, it's been

[00:39:54] A credit to jamal mosley head coach of the orlando magic they play with a furger on defense

[00:40:01] They love each other

[00:40:03] They play for one another

[00:40:05] there seems to be a

[00:40:07] a

[00:40:08] Unselfishness that really is unique to orlando

[00:40:13] And and funny

[00:40:15] so

[00:40:16] The key to this game

[00:40:19] This last one where cleveland got their doors blown off

[00:40:24] Is that franz wagner?

[00:40:26] Became the on-ball initiator

[00:40:31] It unlocked franz to a point where he scored 34 points, which he's been struggling the whole series

[00:40:39] He had 13 remounts for a sis

[00:40:41] Uh paulo gancaro actually did a lot less but he didn't have to really do too much of anything my man chilled for a change

[00:40:49] Which is great

[00:40:50] Uh jonathan isaac played a monster game 20 minutes 14 rebounds seven a seven

[00:40:58] I'm sorry 14 points seven remounts one assist. How many blocks did he have in this game?

[00:41:04] He had two blocks and a steal

[00:41:06] He's just a menace

[00:41:08] They played great

[00:41:10] But what did we learn?

[00:41:12] We knew orlando was going to give everything they had in every opportunity in every minute of the games

[00:41:20] That they were going to play in whether it was going to be four five six, whatever the case might be

[00:41:26] What we have learned is that that cavalier's team

[00:41:32] It's not that it's just not put together correctly

[00:41:36] I don't think

[00:41:39] I don't think that team either a likes each other

[00:41:43] But they damn sure don't play for one another

[00:41:47] There's a lot of

[00:41:50] Garland standing to the side and then when it's his turn, he's very apprehensive

[00:41:55] To be aggressive with the basketball. I don't understand that

[00:42:00] I don't know if that donovan mitchell

[00:42:03] Um are really in this series who's so aggressive and he's kind of stayed aggressive because you know play off

[00:42:09] basketball is what you're gonna need to do

[00:42:12] But

[00:42:13] I don't know if that's really messed up

[00:42:16] Garland or not. I have no clue

[00:42:20] strews

[00:42:21] who

[00:42:23] for some reason

[00:42:25] He was shooting everything

[00:42:28] when

[00:42:29] Garland and mobley were out early in the season. He was just shooting the lights out. He only took

[00:42:36] five shots

[00:42:38] Three shots from three now credit orlandos defense they ran them off the three-point line

[00:42:43] And actually the funny part about it is is that our

[00:42:47] cleveland only shot

[00:42:50] 17-3s total may 4

[00:42:56] Not great

[00:42:57] not great bob

[00:43:00] in this game

[00:43:02] So

[00:43:03] We go back to cleveland and now this could be as this

[00:43:08] This could be as easy as

[00:43:10] You go back to cleveland the energy goes up because you're in your building

[00:43:15] you win

[00:43:17] and now

[00:43:18] The playoff experience takes over or whatever. Well, here's the thing the cavaliers aren't playing hard

[00:43:25] They are being

[00:43:27] out physicaled by the orlando magic which we thought could happen

[00:43:33] but

[00:43:34] You would have thought that jared allen and evan mobley learned their lesson from last year and

[00:43:41] They have not they are not playing

[00:43:46] I think they're playing physical

[00:43:49] as

[00:43:50] As possible as they can possibly play

[00:43:54] but

[00:43:55] They can't get it to that level what paulo and jonathan isaac and windell carter jr are doing

[00:44:01] and uh

[00:44:03] To me this team's look like this looks like a team that needs

[00:44:08] Some change now, I don't know if it comes in the form of donovan mitchell asking for a trade

[00:44:16] Which we kind of said on this podcast before that we most likely that's probably what's going to happen

[00:44:23] But does it stop there?

[00:44:25] Do you make decisions between jared allen and evan mobley?

[00:44:29] Which which way you would want to go?

[00:44:32] Do you expect like a wing back?

[00:44:35] You know, are you are you targeting a wing? Is there a certain type of wing you're looking for?

[00:44:42] I think this offseason is going to be phenomenal. It's going to be crazy

[00:44:45] I think there's going to be a lot of movement not just

[00:44:48] Reagent wise because I think reagent wise it probably won't be that great

[00:44:52] But as far as trade wise I think we're going to have a pretty robust trade season

[00:44:57] Trade season because I think a lot of teams are going to be really dissatisfied

[00:45:02] With how they ended this season golden state already getting a jump on that no move so far, but i'm sure

[00:45:10] there's a lot of

[00:45:12] conjecture and

[00:45:15] conversation going on

[00:45:17] In the walls of the chase center

[00:45:19] Now getting back to cleveland

[00:45:23] As simple as this are you going to play hard or not?

[00:45:25] Not

[00:45:26] Donovan mitchell i'm gonna ask you a question. Are you a superstar or not? Because bro, this is this is not great

[00:45:33] This is not good

[00:45:34] my man

[00:45:36] You out here

[00:45:38] Uh, and I understand the size is you know

[00:45:41] Hold you back. I'm not sitting here trying to tell you like this

[00:45:45] is

[00:45:46] Easy it's not

[00:45:48] But i'm also watching jalen brunson shoot over a seven foot two joe on b and i'm going hmm. What's up?

[00:45:55] Because if you ask me

[00:45:58] And you tell me donovan

[00:46:00] You know i'm asking the question

[00:46:03] Are you more athletic than jalen brunson?

[00:46:06] Because I think that's the case

[00:46:10] Your profile says that you are you're more athletic than jalen brunson

[00:46:14] Then my man i'm gonna need you to take over some of these games

[00:46:17] I'm gonna need you to go ahead and lead joe team to this

[00:46:21] series victory and get this over with

[00:46:24] Because those two performances in orlando are indicative of a team that is not

[00:46:31] Looking to do anything but to survive a first round and then get obliterated

[00:46:38] by the boston celtics

[00:46:41] This is why we're telling you that the celtics have an easy road to get to at least the eastern conference finals

[00:46:47] um

[00:46:48] Now all right, so we talked about orlando. We talked about cleveland

[00:46:52] Let's see if there's another series that we have not hit on we talked about those series. We talked about

[00:46:59] um

[00:47:01] Okay, so

[00:47:02] This leaves the two that I want to talk about

[00:47:05] So let's get into the dicks and to the philadelphia 76s

[00:47:09] um

[00:47:11] First and foremost, let's talk about the game itself

[00:47:14] It was a war

[00:47:16] I mean, um the 76s have nothing

[00:47:20] to

[00:47:22] Hang their hat on at all

[00:47:24] and uh

[00:47:27] Man it's

[00:47:28] Whoo?

[00:47:29] Hmm

[00:47:32] I'm gonna say this right now

[00:47:35] For the people who are giving

[00:47:37] Jill lmb the philadelphia 76ers center

[00:47:41] any shit for

[00:47:44] How he is played or how he is produced?

[00:47:47] Or what he looks like in the four quarter and what he doesn't look like in the four quarter

[00:47:55] You guys can screw

[00:47:57] Honestly to tell you the truth

[00:48:00] The man

[00:48:02] And you'll say to me well that surgery was successful and he's back

[00:48:09] He has had several

[00:48:12] difficulties

[00:48:13] With the same knee. This is not

[00:48:17] a typical

[00:48:19] Surgery anytime you have surgery nothing's typical about it if we start tearing with you we start

[00:48:26] Opening up your knee and let me tell you ask you how you feel two three days after your surgery and see

[00:48:32] What you tell me?

[00:48:34] So now we have a seven foot two guy

[00:48:38] 300 pounds

[00:48:40] And he's in pick and roll action with jalen brunson and jalen brunson is dancing

[00:48:46] I mean, this is some dancing with the stars type of shit that's going on

[00:48:51] There's some ballroom dancing with jalen

[00:48:54] And joe lmb

[00:48:56] He is putting him into the spin cycle on a real level lots of moves

[00:49:01] Lots of things we're gonna get into some of the shots he hit it was crazy

[00:49:05] um

[00:49:07] There was one in the third quarter where brunson

[00:49:11] Hit a fade away on maxi that was just

[00:49:15] nasty it was

[00:49:17] I'm sorry. It was the second quarter. It was second quarter 5 30 in the in the second quarter

[00:49:23] He hits this just like he backs him down. It's like three dribble

[00:49:28] Works his moves you can see him doing the shimmy with his shoulders kind of getting rocking moving and then

[00:49:34] Hit him hit him with it

[00:49:37] um

[00:49:39] Um

[00:49:41] There was a great passing sequence between um

[00:49:44] lorry and b

[00:49:46] batum and maxi

[00:49:48] And it led to just a just a wide open bucket. I just loved that play. It was like 4 40 in second quarter

[00:49:55] now at the end

[00:49:57] Of the first half we had jalen brunson with 23 points

[00:50:01] And it was 49 47

[00:50:04] In video maxi had combined for 27, so you know, they're playing their balance game what have you

[00:50:12] We're gonna get into how this kind of played out

[00:50:15] So with 109 to go in the third quarter

[00:50:21] In b crumples to the ground

[00:50:23] With brunson at 74 74 look like both dudes were hurt

[00:50:29] um

[00:50:33] And beat is going through a lot. I mean the bells palsy situation as

[00:50:40] He gets hammered every single time when he's in the paint

[00:50:44] and then the knee injury

[00:50:46] And then asking him to switch on to a guard. That's that is literally 14 inches shorter than him

[00:50:52] And he's given up like 70

[00:50:56] No shit, he's giving up like 100 pounds to this dude

[00:50:59] And he's asked to guard him

[00:51:02] Now here's the other thing that i'll say. Well on joe on b's behalf

[00:51:09] I told you guys he did not have to come back. I told you I told you I told you

[00:51:17] Y'all sat here. Oh, no, it's good. It's good. You are now three one

[00:51:21] This is exactly where I thought you'd be

[00:51:24] I told you I think you guys are talented this series will go six

[00:51:28] I think you guys are talented this series will go six, but inevitably new york was going to win

[00:51:33] They have more dudes and you got better dudes. The problem is the problem is

[00:51:40] Is one dude in particular

[00:51:42] Now i'm not a big like call dudes out whatever but i'm just gonna ask this question

[00:51:48] I don't understand

[00:51:50] if you are

[00:51:51] Six eight and you are two hundred and twenty six pounds. I don't understand why you

[00:51:58] Constantly can't

[00:52:00] Take the ball to the basket to bias harris. I am really

[00:52:05] Bewildered by this whole situation. Here's another game. He scored 10 this time. He got to double digits

[00:52:13] Let the gods of basketball

[00:52:16] Shine down upon you because you scored double digits the last two games. It was eight so we

[00:52:24] We we you know, we're creeping up

[00:52:30] They need 18 from him. I said this in last podcast they need 18. I don't know

[00:52:35] Why they can't get 18?

[00:52:37] Tobias harris is too talented for this

[00:52:40] Uh, I I would have thought that

[00:52:43] Embiid

[00:52:45] Playing on one leg would

[00:52:48] Inspire the troops and my man is just kind of going nah. Nah non-inspired

[00:52:54] This doesn't move me at all

[00:52:58] um

[00:53:01] so

[00:53:04] The the nicks are playing first of all

[00:53:08] They're playing

[00:53:09] Not just harder than the philadelphia 76ers

[00:53:14] Joe mb can't be who he normally is because of the injuries

[00:53:19] So for people asking him to to fly around the court and and die for loose balls and all this type of stuff

[00:53:26] I think is absolutely

[00:53:28] ludicrous

[00:53:29] your

[00:53:31] inflection points is

[00:53:33] How come kelly oogray jr is out playing to bias harris?

[00:53:37] that's the first and foremost thing and um

[00:53:43] Let's see

[00:53:46] Um and with

[00:53:49] Buddy hill getting out

[00:53:51] Somebody from that bench unit gonna have to step up and give some points and we thought it would be

[00:53:56] Paul reed because paul reich, you know showed himself to be

[00:54:00] Um pretty steady when in the regular season obviously the postseason different animal they're just not doing it

[00:54:07] Let's get back to the nicks

[00:54:10] Because we're going to talk about what we've learned in this series in a second

[00:54:16] um

[00:54:18] Joe mb really had a hard time scoring the basketball in the four quarter

[00:54:24] And one of the reasons for that is that og ananovi, uh checked joe mb

[00:54:31] Six seven two hundred thirty pounds

[00:54:33] Check joe lb now mind you. I will tell you that joe l is very

[00:54:39] very

[00:54:41] compromised

[00:54:42] But to see og step up to the plate he played 47 minutes. That's the whole game except for one

[00:54:50] Uh, josh hart did his uh typical josh hart thing. He played pretty much the whole game

[00:54:56] 17 rebounds five assists his shooting wasn't great. He did not shoot the ball at all, but

[00:55:02] Way to be additive when you're not shooting the ball

[00:55:06] He also had three blocks. So he he found a way to be impactful in this game

[00:55:14] The other person that we need to talk about obviously is jalen brunson now I made him

[00:55:21] my

[00:55:22] He was fifth in my mvp

[00:55:25] um

[00:55:27] rankings

[00:55:28] He was uh first team all nba

[00:55:32] Because I he deserved it

[00:55:35] I laid it out. Why?

[00:55:37] I think I was clear. I think I was concise if there was any question about whether he was first in in be

[00:55:43] All nba now

[00:55:46] I like to see the detractors

[00:55:48] Tell me differently now. This is not how I told you so it's just

[00:55:55] when you

[00:55:59] When you watch these games like I watch these games for you guys to do this podcast and I hope to like

[00:56:05] Give you something that I just like you might be seeing it, but it's always great

[00:56:10] I know when I see something and then somebody says oh man

[00:56:14] Did you see this and I think he's going to another level and then you agree because you're thinking the same exact thing

[00:56:21] I hope there are so many moments in this podcast when you're going damn. You know what?

[00:56:27] Vince I think I was thinking that too

[00:56:32] Due to all the injuries that brunson had

[00:56:35] around him due to the changes that went on around him with uh putting og n ovi and

[00:56:43] And pulling the ripping the band-aid off and trading

[00:56:46] rj barrett away in

[00:56:49] Emanuel quickly away

[00:56:52] This dude had to go through a lot he is showed at this team

[00:56:56] He scored 47 points

[00:56:59] Which is a nick

[00:57:01] Playoff record

[00:57:03] He surpassed the great

[00:57:05] bernard king

[00:57:07] If kids you don't know anything about bernard king

[00:57:11] He had a knee injury, but before the knee injury he was nice

[00:57:17] He can give it to you how you want it now was he this crazy three-point shooter. No that wasn't his game

[00:57:24] but

[00:57:25] Anything in the mid-range?

[00:57:28] 18 feet and now

[00:57:29] Whatever, you know because we didn't shoot a lot of threes back in the day. This is 84 i'm talking about

[00:57:36] But bernard king was the guy and brunson

[00:57:40] 47 points 10 assists first of all also with that he's the first

[00:57:46] To have a 40 point 10 assist game

[00:57:49] Yeah, that's nice, too

[00:57:51] Brunson is worth all the dollars that they gave him. I remember people talking about the contract going like what's this? What's this?

[00:57:58] Now it's well documented that this contract was great

[00:58:02] and

[00:58:03] Dallas really messed up, but man my man is gonna get paid again

[00:58:09] Jalen brunson about to get paid again. Okay

[00:58:12] And I hope we can help him make that first all nba team. I really do. I hope they

[00:58:18] Are our words and our love and our admiration for his game and how beautiful it is because here's the thing

[00:58:26] It's not that he scored the 47 points. It's not

[00:58:29] The 34 shots that he took

[00:58:32] It's not

[00:58:33] any of that it's

[00:58:36] kelly, ugray

[00:58:38] Guarded him nicolas baton guarded him joe lmb guarded him

[00:58:44] Kyle lowry assaulted him

[00:58:47] um

[00:58:49] And all in the name of playoff basketball. This wasn't no, you know real thing but and for him to just continue

[00:58:57] to

[00:58:58] Attack the paint

[00:59:00] Is um mind-boggling to me?

[00:59:03] Um, the other thing that I wanted to talk about with jaylen brunson was this

[00:59:07] According to second spectrum jaylen brunson drove to the paint 29 times in that game

[00:59:16] Okay

[00:59:17] Uh luca in the playoffs

[00:59:21] As the most time that he's driven to the hole

[00:59:24] Is 23 now luca's what eight inches taller?

[00:59:29] And what 35 pounds 40 pounds heavier?

[00:59:32] All right

[00:59:33] Now here's the step that I thought was very important. So jaylen brunson drove to the rim 29 times

[00:59:41] The entire sixers team

[00:59:44] Drove 32

[00:59:49] I'll let y'all deal with that

[00:59:51] I'll let y'all deal with that

[00:59:57] um

[00:59:59] Oh

[01:00:00] Let's talk about a couple of shots that he hit man. It was crazy

[01:00:05] Uh in the fourth quarter with 907 with the shot clock running out

[01:00:09] Bronson hits an off foot floater over nb

[01:00:12] That literally literally looked like it touched the top of the wells fargo center and then fell into the bucket

[01:00:19] Um for cash money

[01:00:22] Um, let's see

[01:00:29] Uh, oh dulce mcbride had another good gang by the way that guy has shown himself to be

[01:00:34] the

[01:00:35] Best emmanuel quickly replacement in new york nick history. I know that's hyperbole

[01:00:42] I'm saying it just like that for the hyperbole so, you know what i'm talking about

[01:00:47] The other thing is this is that um

[01:00:51] There are a lot of questions

[01:00:54] How this series ends

[01:00:56] I actually saw somebody say something about well

[01:01:00] You know

[01:01:01] We should do well

[01:01:03] It wasn't anybody else significant. So it was I think it was twitter

[01:01:07] But they said well, you know, we've gotten all we we could out of nb. It's time to trade them

[01:01:12] And you know, well i'm like what?

[01:01:17] He's the only reason you're in this series by the way like maxi is played well for sure

[01:01:23] but

[01:01:24] We know the straw that stirs the drink is joe l and b

[01:01:30] um

[01:01:31] You know, I again, you know, i'm not gonna bring it up

[01:01:34] Well what I thought they should do with them not gonna do it anymore. But

[01:01:38] You know, this is kind of the penance you pay for him playing

[01:01:42] You know he was

[01:01:44] But now you go into an off season you hopefully you can get him healthy

[01:01:49] Do not let him play in the olympics. No, none of that. That's a that's a no-go for you

[01:01:56] and then it's

[01:01:58] Then it is

[01:02:00] What do you do?

[01:02:02] To replace tobias harris

[01:02:04] You need to replace that

[01:02:07] same exact height same

[01:02:10] exact weight whatever maybe a little bit bigger if you could

[01:02:15] shooter from the outside

[01:02:17] but not scared to take shots and

[01:02:20] And I don't need my

[01:02:22] 6'8 to 6'10 forward to disappear for like 16 minutes in a wall game. I'm I just don't need that

[01:02:31] so

[01:02:32] There's a lot of optimism rolling through philadelphia, even though this is a painful time

[01:02:40] It's tough right now it's tough, you know, I wish I had more more cheer to give you philadelphia

[01:02:48] Um

[01:02:49] I'm not going to get into the whole fans thing and the new york fans were there and why why would philadelphia?

[01:02:56] Fans let new york nicks fans in the building or whatever

[01:03:00] Listen if you can make money off tickets, I know there's a second. Uh

[01:03:05] You know

[01:03:07] a second market for it

[01:03:09] As far as that's concerned and you know if it can help you pay some bills off and you got a playoff ticket

[01:03:17] Do what you need to do player, but uh, yeah, I mean

[01:03:21] It did sound very nickish

[01:03:24] Um as somebody said it sounded very madison square garden in the well swargo center. So

[01:03:31] That's also something to be said for that

[01:03:34] Now with the nicks being up three one

[01:03:37] And then they get to play indiana

[01:03:40] Are they gonna have anything left in the tank mitchell robinson?

[01:03:43] Couldn't go in this game because of the injury you

[01:03:47] Had in game three

[01:03:49] Now i'm not saying it's a long-term injury, but he just got back and it was the same ankle that he previously hurt

[01:03:57] so

[01:03:58] Anytime you get a a reoccurring injury on the same exact

[01:04:04] Area that was infected before

[01:04:07] It's always troubling because you wonder if this is just something

[01:04:11] That it's just gonna hamper him the whole way through the playoffs. I hope not. I hope they can

[01:04:17] um get him back right

[01:04:20] And uh with a couple days of rest and not being able to play in these games that maybe it just allows it

[01:04:27] To heal up a little bit more

[01:04:29] But yeah, I mean, I don't know what

[01:04:31] The nicks will have left for a probably a well-rested indiana pacer team. So we'll see right?

[01:04:39] Um

[01:04:43] The last one let's get to it down because this is my favorite it involves a lot of people that I like

[01:04:50] Um, and then we can get up out of here

[01:04:54] Let's talk about this

[01:04:55] Excuse me. I just hit my microphone stand, you know trying to be professional here

[01:05:04] let's talk about anthony edwards and

[01:05:07] The minnesota timber was swept out the phoenix sons

[01:05:11] 122

[01:05:13] 116 um

[01:05:18] We're gonna get into phoenix real quick, but the first thing that we're going to talk about

[01:05:25] Is anthony edwards

[01:05:26] He scored nine points in the first half. So he scored 31 in the second

[01:05:32] He ended up with 40 he dominated the game

[01:05:36] Really pretty much from the fourth quarter on

[01:05:39] 13 or 23 for the field 7 of 13 from three

[01:05:44] and

[01:05:45] He had a dunk with two 12 left to go

[01:05:49] In the fourth quarter

[01:05:51] And let me tell you something

[01:05:53] That was anthony edwards telling the entire nba

[01:05:58] that

[01:05:58] He is the eater of worlds. He is here

[01:06:03] to eat

[01:06:04] your world

[01:06:07] He took the heart

[01:06:08] From phoenix with that done and everybody in phoenix knew

[01:06:13] That it was over as soon as that dunk hit it was like dude, man, we

[01:06:18] Uh, okay

[01:06:20] The car knows right they got some draft picks. Yeah, we well we got marvin harrison jr

[01:06:26] How the diamond backs doing this year?

[01:06:28] Oh, we're losing our hockey team. So we can't worry about that anymore

[01:06:32] Okay. Yeah

[01:06:34] Maybe maybe we should

[01:06:36] You know have a golf trip or something because yeah, we can't be worrying about

[01:06:41] The sons anymore because anthony edwards just killed him

[01:06:45] That's pretty much what happened with that dunk. That dunk is amazing. I know it's all over

[01:06:50] YouTube ig tiktok everywhere twitter. It was amazing. I loved it

[01:06:57] Oh shots out to our guy

[01:06:59] windham rotunda

[01:07:02] rip

[01:07:04] to

[01:07:05] one of the most

[01:07:09] creative wrestlers

[01:07:11] As far as storytelling is concerned

[01:07:14] but uh

[01:07:15] Since we used his catchphrase

[01:07:17] Either eater of worlds and and we gave that moniker to anthony edwards

[01:07:23] I thought we should pay some respect to

[01:07:26] uh windham rotunda

[01:07:28] We you probably know him as bray wyatt

[01:07:33] So shots out to bray wyatt

[01:07:36] All right. Um a couple more things booker did everything he was supposed to do

[01:07:40] To keep his team in it. He scored 49 points. He shot 21 free throws, okay

[01:07:47] 21 free throws

[01:07:50] He had 20 of them

[01:07:52] He has six assists. So he did his part kevin dorant

[01:07:56] Scored 33 points have four blocks eight rebounds. Obviously he did his part

[01:08:03] bradley bill

[01:08:05] bradley bill

[01:08:07] bradley bill

[01:08:08] now

[01:08:10] bill

[01:08:11] was

[01:08:13] In foul trouble all game

[01:08:15] Okay

[01:08:17] Well, we'll keep that as a caveat

[01:08:20] Bradley bill scored nine points in a gotta have it type of game

[01:08:25] now obviously gracing allen who

[01:08:29] Missed game three and game four

[01:08:31] That was problematic

[01:08:34] He just didn't have the horses to go ahead and get it done, but I will say this

[01:08:38] I know that bradley bill was basically free for the taking

[01:08:43] um, I understand that

[01:08:47] You know, it was a way to kind of

[01:08:50] Add more firepower. But now you're stuck

[01:08:53] You're stuck

[01:08:55] Phoenix is stuck

[01:08:57] And what do you do?

[01:09:00] We're already starting hearing rumors that vogel might get fired now

[01:09:06] nothing's been

[01:09:08] cemented but

[01:09:09] The rumors are going around that

[01:09:12] Players are upset with

[01:09:14] The way they were coached

[01:09:16] some players are upset with the way they were utilized

[01:09:20] Some players are upset with scheme

[01:09:23] Some players are upset with playing time. It is a mess in phoenix

[01:09:33] Is there any way that kevin dorant asked for a trade?

[01:09:36] Now i'm gonna tell you if he's looking at it from

[01:09:40] His legacy point of view

[01:09:42] He better not he better not ask for a trade

[01:09:45] But the one thing that we always ask to kevin doran is like are you self-aware?

[01:09:51] like you

[01:09:53] You left

[01:09:55] You left uh

[01:09:58] You left

[01:09:59] I'm, sorry you left oklahoma city to

[01:10:02] To go to golden state right you did that now. That was the team you played in the playoffs

[01:10:08] Team that then

[01:10:11] you went to

[01:10:13] Then you left them which supposedly golden state was like the greatest like

[01:10:19] team

[01:10:20] ever

[01:10:21] Ever assemble they do so they're doing so many crazy things light years ahead all this

[01:10:28] Completely dominant team once in championships. It wasn't even closed. The nba wasn't fun for a couple years while

[01:10:35] Kevin durant was there then it wasn't good enough because it wasn't his team

[01:10:40] He leaves he goes to brooklyn teams up with kai ree

[01:10:44] Uh, we all know story there yada yada yada, but now we're here

[01:10:48] Why are you asking out? This is exactly where you said you wanted to be you actually gave brooklyn

[01:10:56] You said hey, I don't want this to be some sort of bidding war. I would like to keep this under wraps

[01:11:04] I here's the team. I want to go to the phoenix sons, please make it work and for you

[01:11:13] I'm not saying he has asked out i'm not saying that at all

[01:11:17] I just hope that we just don't hear those words

[01:11:20] Because it will be really disappointing

[01:11:23] for me

[01:11:25] As a basketball fan, I understand player empowerment. I understand player movement

[01:11:31] But you can't sit there and say you chose

[01:11:34] Your last three destinations you chose those

[01:11:37] One you're winning championships didn't like that

[01:11:42] the next one

[01:11:43] you

[01:11:44] Playing with your best friend supposedly

[01:11:47] and then you guys are like basically the

[01:11:50] The coach the gm of the team and everything runs through you and you didn't like that situation either because

[01:11:58] Things got a little got a little freaky at the end, right?

[01:12:02] And now you come to phoenix

[01:12:05] Where supposedly you want it to be

[01:12:08] then

[01:12:09] Be here be in phoenix make it work figure out what you need to do with devin booker

[01:12:18] To make this successful

[01:12:20] I don't know what to tell you

[01:12:22] But if you ask out

[01:12:24] Man, that's gonna hurt

[01:12:28] That's gonna hurt my guy

[01:12:30] That's really gonna hurt

[01:12:32] That's really gonna hurt

[01:12:35] And you're like the oracle of the podcast bro, so don't ask out be a man

[01:12:40] Take this situation

[01:12:42] You got it. You know, you got a butt whooping so it's time to uh, go ahead suck that one up and see if you

[01:12:47] Can do something different

[01:12:49] Maybe you shouldn't have went all in on bradley bill

[01:12:53] That might have been the first thing and maybe you should have got something better

[01:12:57] For for deandre ateon should have waited somebody should have been patient

[01:13:02] In that deal as well

[01:13:04] All right. That being said I think we are ready to get up out of here guys. Thank you so much for

[01:13:11] Uh joining us in this podcast remember, uh

[01:13:15] Front runner podcast collective on youtube

[01:13:19] At front runner pc on twitter

[01:13:23] And tell a friend be a friend tell a friend tell everybody about the podcast tell them how to get it

[01:13:29] Download it for them

[01:13:31] Like follow it for them. Just go onto their phone and hit follow under, you know pop for under frpc

[01:13:38] Just you know boop hit follow and say yo, we're good

[01:13:41] Now you got the podcast you get what I get which is great and now we can talk about it

[01:13:47] This dude vince is crazy. He says a lot of good stuff. So

[01:13:51] With that being said it's time for me to get up out of here. The best part about you is you

[01:13:57] Uh, don't let anybody diminish your shine

[01:14:00] Allow yourself to be unique

[01:14:02] And individual as you possibly can live in within the parameters of the world that we have to live in obviously

[01:14:09] But um, yeah, man enjoy yourself and have a good rest of your week

[01:14:13] We will be back on this feed on wednesday

[01:14:16] To probably wrap up a couple more series and talk about what the hell they're going to be doing in the off season

[01:14:21] So with that being said i'm up out of here. You guys have a good one. Deuce