March 20, 2024 • 49 mins
The guys were pleased to be joined by The Athletic's NBA writer Tony Jones for today's episode. The trio discussed the state of the Denver Nuggets, the Knicks and the postseason, the future 'face of the league' and more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh you didn't know. Well, they could never stop this show.
We're back. Maybe the Nuggets. No, you didn't know you Sorry, Oh,
I got a news slash for you. But it seems
like what we've been thinking all along. It's probably said
to happen with the Nuggets and Celtics, just on some
kind of collision course again this June. But there's still there. Yeah.
(00:25):
You know, if there's some teams out there that you
don't want to voice their opinion, maybe they have something
to say. And we have well great guests to discuss
that with today. NBA writer Tony Jones on today's episode,
I'm Miles Gray and I'm Drack O'Brien and this kid
is Miles.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Busty.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Do I look at the kay.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Be driving Spinny boys got up with five.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
He's gonna try another, great, mister, bron James, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tony Jones, NBA writer for The Athletic, You're covering both
the Utah Jazz and the and the Beat, the Denver
Nuggets and of course the NBA at large. Thank you
so much for joining us again. Man, have you been.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Thank you so much. I expected confetti, so I'm just
a little disappointed. But hey, this is perfect, man. I
appreciate y'all, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, we had a bit of a mishap our last episode.
Our air cannon that launched it injured my neighbor, so
flew in there.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah yeah, yeah it got nasty.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
That sounds yeah, But luckily this is an audio podcast,
so it was just only for past cast Blake Wexler to.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Be traumatized by. But yeah, we're here, We're all right,
We're all right, We're all right. Where do we Where
do we start? Where do we start? Should we start
with the Nuggets? Are they just inevitable? I guess since
the last time we recorded, the Nuggets beat the Celtics
pretty I mean it was a good game. Yeah, I
mean the I think both teams were like treating it
(02:10):
like an important game, like it was maybe a preview
of what we're going to be seeing in a couple
of months, and the Nuggets just I don't know, a
lot of people are like, it's inevitable at this point,
the Nuggets are going to do it again.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
I don't know if that's necessarily the case, but they did.
I'm personally rooting for whoever's not the Celtics and so
that that gave me a little bit of ease as
well as a fan sided article I'm going to talk
about a little later on. But would you see Tony.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You know, that's a good question, whether I think is
in whether I think the Nuggets are inevitable in the
Western Conference, And you know, I think the thing that
we have to acknowledge is that they're the best team
in the Western Conference, right, Like they are definitely the
best team. But the other question is, you know, cam
(03:01):
Phoenix knocked them off. Are they capable of knocking them off?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
The phoenis Yeah, the Timberwolves.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Or the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, capable of knocking
them off. And you know, I don't know, like I
would favor Denver in every series in the Western Conference
that they that they could that they could face for
different reasons. And you know, I think I think the
(03:31):
Celtics should be inevitable in the Eastern Conference. Like I
don't think that there's any team that's you know, playing
on their level in the Eastern Conference or at that level.
Maybe Milwaukee could get there because you know, Damian Lillard
is such a playoff riser, you know, but this seems
(03:53):
like the Celtics cheer, and this seems like the year
where you know, if they don't at least get to
the finals, know that that should be a loss. It
should be considered a lost year for them. So, you know,
I do think that the West is a little bit
more murky. I think it's a little bit more it
should be more competitive, But I do I do think that,
you know, going into the playoffs, that Denver should be
(04:15):
the favorite in the Western Conference.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
The West is so bizarre, like the Golden State Lakers
Sons are ten, nine and eight, like that's and then
Dallas that's the play in those are the playing teams
right now, and then you know, it's just nobody knows
anything obviously heading into the season. But I don't think
many people had Okay, see Minnesota, the Clippers as three
(04:41):
of the top four teams, so it is very strange.
And then Denver seems like this island of predictability in
the middle.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Of it all.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
So we'll we'll see. But I am counting on Jokic
to carry the day against the Celtics if it does
come to that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
There is I wonder, like, do you think there's this
thing that because it feels so inevitable. Whenever there's anything
other than like a victory, people are like, I don't
know what's going on with the Nuggets, man, like, because
they're like eleven and two, so it's the All Star
break and like those two losses were that Kyrie left
hand or from another dimension?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I was.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
I was impressed by that, Miles, you were less impressed
by that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Look like I said, I could do that, you know
what I mean. Over Jokic, come on, and you're like
hot hands, I'm like, but that's what you have to
do to win the game, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And that winning.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm sorry, how how would you have done it?
Because that's no other way to do that except to
be as audacious as as that man was there. And
then the other one was like a but it was
an overtime loss. But do you think there's something about
that sort of like expectation that for for people who
are watching and wanting the Nuggets to win that they're like, oh, man,
I don't know, man like it like it's almost too much, like, yeah,
they're they're human beings. They're not gonna win. They're not
(05:52):
gonna win. Out from here, there's gonna be anomalies or
you know, just just certain performances that kind of shake
the try.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Well. I think the thing that we have to, you know,
consider in the Dallas game is that you know, Dallas
raised their level the Denver's level. You know, I don't
think that Denver played badly, and especially down the stretch,
right like the last five minutes of the game, excluding
the final possession where you know, Jamal Murray, you know,
(06:22):
a typically missed a fiftieth look, there was a really
good look. I was actually shot. The mistake of that
that possession was that Jamal Murray went so early that
he should have went two seconds later.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah, but I wouldn't have gone that early, and I
also would have made it. That was my two things.
You got to make too early, and I listen, it's
hard for me to understand why you did it the
way you did it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I would have tried to make it right.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, but yeah, Tony, but like you know, I was
shocked that he missed it. But you know, but beyond that,
those that final possession, I mean, Denver got pretty much
what it wanted down the stretch when it became winning time.
You know, they got good shots, They made good shots.
You know, Jamal hit the three. The possession before he
(07:14):
had another three, a couple of possessions before that, he
had a layup possession before that, Jokic had an easy
uh post up on Doncic. So that's you know, four
possessions and ten points in you know, the last two
or three minutes, you know, out of about four possessions.
You know, I think Denver scored you know, on a
(07:36):
number of consecutive possessions down the stretch, and they took
a four point they took a three point lead. Yeah,
Dallas just raised their level, and Dallas played up to
that level, which is what you have to do in
order to beat Denver. You know, Denver's never gonna play below.
They're very rarely going to play below a certain level.
And they're always you know, and obviously they can raise
(07:59):
their game to a level where, you know, it's hard
to read, it's hard for any other team to reach.
But you know, like you said, they're eleven and two
beyond the All Star break, they're playing like the best
versions of themselves. You know, they began they began the
quote unquote second half of the season, you know, multiple
(08:21):
games behind the number one seed. You know they were.
They briefly took over the number one seed a couple
of times in the last week. So, you know, I
think that Denver is happy with where they are. I
think they're happy with how they're playing, and you know,
I think that you know, the down the stretch, you know,
(08:43):
they want to be playing like what they consider the
best versions of themselves, and they want to be healthy.
And I think that they're two for two in that
right now.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, looking at the other team that they're you know
that we're talking about inevitability with the Cell to have
won six straight, lead the Eastern Conference by ten games.
The other thing that other than the so the Nuggets
game made me feel a little bit like, Okay, maybe
(09:11):
this isn't uninevitability.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The past couple episodes, we've talked about how.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Their net rating is historically great, and usually teams like
their top four I think, or they were pretty recently
a top four net rating team, and like anybody in
the top ten is usually either winning the title or
or losing Lebron getting losing to Lebron essentially, those are
(09:37):
one thing. One analysis that I read this week that
kind of made sense to me is that when you
look at those teams, their best player is almost always
way better than the rest of their players, you know,
Like it's the old cliche in the NBA is like
you want to gamble on the team with the best player.
(09:58):
Whoever the best player is is gonna wing you the
playoff series. And of the six teams to like finish
the season with a net rating of plus eleven or grader,
their best players box plus minus is on average nine
point two, and the lowest from that group is Kevin
Garnett having eight point two for the Celtics and seven
(10:20):
oh eight this season. Celtics best players tatum at like
five point two, which is not like it's it's really good,
but it's not like elite. I think it's like eleventh
in the league, So I guess it's elite, but it's
not to the to the level that those top ten
(10:41):
teams usually are. And that I guess that kind of
coincides with what I see from the Celtics every season
when they're expected, you know, the advanced stats are like
they're gonna win the title. They go into the playoffs
at feeling inevitable. The thing that'll usually derails them is
that like at there's that moment when it's up to
(11:05):
their best player to take over, and he just hasn't
been able to do that. And I guess that's borne
out a little bit by the advanced stats, that like
they're the best team, one of the best teams ever
because of how dominant there the rest of their team
is and not their best player, which could be a
(11:27):
problem in the playoffs, I guess is the theory of
this fan sided article. We'll link off to in the footnotes.
But I thought it was an interesting analysis.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
You know, I think it's an interesting analysis, and I
think it's fair. But I think, you know, every case,
you know, should be taken in and of itself. And
if you look at what the Celtics are in the
Eastern Conference, and if you look at them realistically, realistically,
(11:57):
the only team that should be able on paper take
them to seven is Milwaukee, just because you know, Giannice's
is so great and he's always been, you know, a
playoff riser, and Damian Lillard, like I said, he's, you know,
one of the best playoff riser. Is that that you know,
we've seen in the last you know, ten or fifteen years.
(12:21):
For what those metrics say to matter about Tatum, the
series has got to be close. And if you're Boston
and you get let's say you get Atlanta or you
get you know, if they you know, let's say, let's
give Miami a lot of respect and say they can
(12:42):
take two games off of Boston. You know, it's it
still should be a multiple game series, and you know,
they should be favored by multiple games over everybody they
play and outside of you know, possibly Milwaukee and possibly Cleveland,
you know, because I do you think that Donovan Mitchell,
you know, it was also a playoff riser, and you know,
(13:04):
I think I do think that Cleveland's got, you know,
the physicality to be able to to bother Boston. We
know that Boston is a great regular season team and
one of the greatest regular season teams of our time.
And you know, we we also know what happened in
the Eastern Conference finals last year. I think that they're
(13:26):
a better team, significantly better team than they were last
year because you know, last year there was no christophs Porzingis. Yeah,
so Boston still should win the East, even with those metrics,
even with the with what the metrics say, if it
should matter, it should matter in the finals if they
played Denver on the margins. And that's what we saw
(13:51):
in the two matchups with Denver and Boston. Denver won
by one or two possessions in both in both games
because the margins mattered, and I thought that Denver was
a little bit better on the margins than Boston was.
So do I think it should matter? You know that
Tatum's a five point two in the playoffs, probably not
(14:13):
until the finals, and if they meet Denver there then
then yeah, it possibly does matter because they won't have
the best player in the series, because Nicola Yogas will
be the best player in the series.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
He's the best player in any series, because he's probably
the best player in the league according to at least
these advanced stats, which yeah, I mean backed up by
the eye tests as I don't usually say that, but
people who watch a lot of NBA basketball say that, should.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We take a break, guys take a look around the league?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Yeah, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
We're back.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
You got to see Wemby in person recently. He keeps
having historic nights where he's like just the total of
like points, field goal percentage, blocks, rebounds are three made.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Just Yeah, every day it's like a new record broken
or I realized, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
But what what did it would you glean from watching
Wembyam in person?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Like I've heard he's pretty tall?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Oh my, is that true.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I've never seen anything like I've seen one. All right.
So at the very very very beginning of my career,
like I'm talking fresh out of school, it's around two
thousand and five, two thousand and six, and I interview
Yao Ming, and Yao was taller than me while he
(15:48):
was sitting down.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
And that like me and my five year old Yeah right.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
His legs were like thick, like tree trumps. Like that's
the other thing I noticed about, Like he just had
these very very thick legs. And you know, I've been
covering the NBA for a long time and beyond that,
the only time I've seen anything, you know, physically more
(16:22):
outlandish or as ourlandish, was you know, watching Victor win
Bayama walk two feet by me in an interview room
and he was almost as tall as the ceiling he
had to duck. Again, I was just like, what a
tall human being? And you know, for him to be
that big, that's tall and to be able to handle
(16:44):
the ball like a guard the way he does. I
think that, you know, that's that's really really really amazing, right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, it's just just in like the last thirty days,
like there's always like a new thing where it's like, oh, yeah,
he's now thirty one points, twelve rebound, six assists, six
blocks only Kareem and Kareem did that ten times, and
he did that twice. David Robinson did that five times,
Pakeem did that three times, Kat did it, Ad did it,
Charles Barkley and they're like, and this is his rookie season.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
And then you go.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Even condensed like all in this like thirty day stretch,
like the frequency which is happening. It's yeah, I don't
really know what else to say except for like, yeah,
he's it's truly making good on like the promise that
at least we saw in all the speculation that was
happening before.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
He end he's as good as as advertised. And yeah,
you know, I think he affects every part of it,
every fast of the game. I think he does everything.
You know, when I wrote about him a couple of
weeks ago, you know some of the things you know
I asked him, you know, is your playbook so to speak,
(17:54):
opening up, you know, because you know he did limited
actions in November, but now you know, the Spurs are
running their offense to him now, and they're running dribble
hand they're running Dho's dribble handoffs with him, and you
know he's directing the offense, you know, from the nail,
(18:14):
you know, from the block they're putting, getting them in
mid post and obviously he's doing this stuff facing the
basket and above the arc, you know, so he's he's
kind of directing things a lot more. So you can
see the progression even from you know, November to now,
and you can see how much of a significantly better
(18:35):
player he is now. And you know, in the weeks
since that article that I wrote about him, you know,
he's that's that's when he's kind of really like blown up,
like having those thirty one twelve seven six type of
games you know, with like five assists and three steals
as well, he had five by five. You know, So
(18:56):
he's he's a I think he's going to get a
quadruple double at some point in his career. You know,
he's he's a guy who's every bit is as good
as has been advertised.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah, it's really fun. And it seemed like the Nets
game was particularly fun. If people didn't watch the highlights
for that, go check it out. Because it also felt,
for the first time, felt like the team was getting
him involved, Like you said, they're getting used to playing
with him enough to like get him involved and like
(19:29):
actually throw inbound passes to him, which seems like it
should be easy since he can just like reach up
and nobody can can get the ball. So but like
there were some fun ALU plays and some fun like
hitting him as he was like storming to the basket
and like you know, dunking at his chin because that's
(19:50):
like when he gets ahead of steam going and jumps
like it's the hoop is below his neck.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
So yeah, I don't know, is it excit times.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I'm really looking forward to seeing, like if they're able
to build around him, if they're able to like bring
a point guard in, if there are like some NBA
point guards who are like, man, this would be a
really fun challenge, fun time, you know. Yeah, yeah, like
getting to have him finishing everything around the basket like that.
Who's who's the dream point guard to like pair with him?
(20:24):
I feel like Chris Paul would be a lot of
fun with him.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Yeah, Chris Paul ten years ago would be a lot
of fun. Yeah, you know, maybe Trey Young because I
think Victor is good enough defensively to Mascus flaws and
oh yeah, and and Trey is so so good offensively,
and you know, he's he's a guy that that can
(20:50):
carry you know, the offense on his own. And also
you know, get Victor involved, you know. So I think
they he's a guy that that would be good, uh
to play with him. Yeah, this will never happen, but
you know, s g A would be great to play
(21:11):
with him.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I think both those guys should be I think Chet
and uh Whyama should be on the same team.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, I don't know, because I don't think. I don't know.
I don't know. First of all, I don't know that
those two like each.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Other, right, No, No, I'm just playing like that. It
would be very weird if they were on the same
I mean, if I.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Was playing two k Yeah, I'm putting them on the absolutely.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
But you know what in real life, I mean basketball
skill wise, they fit. I mean, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
They'd be tough, they'd be tough.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Yeah, it'd be really tough and it'd be really tough
to score on them.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Yeah, all right, we got to talk about your Knicks
because you are a Knicks fan.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
That's four straight.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
That's what I just played forty eight minutes. Now, go ahead, joke.
I'm sorry, But.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
How are you feeling heading towards the playoffs?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I feel like Jaylen Brunson always overperforms in the playoffs.
The Knicks have one four in a row. They look
tough there and fourth they would be playing the Magic
at this point in the matchup. How do you feel
about how the Knicks matchup and just how are you
(22:24):
feeling about them heading into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
We need to get out of the fourth seed and
get into the third seed so that we have way
Boston in the second round.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
We need to get healthy, but apparently OG's elbow is
a strand of spaghetti at this point, you know, and
we don't know when Julius Randall's coming back. Like listen
on paper. If we get everybody healthy, you know, we've
we've got a chance at least as punchers chance at
least going to the to the Eastern Conference finals. You know,
Jalen Bronson is has been so good It's been one
(22:59):
of the biggest creating steals in a long time. Remember
when we were like, do we really want to pay
Jalen Brunson one hundred million dollars? Right now it looks
like a real bargain. You know, He's he's been terrific.
Dante Divincenzo's been terrific, Josh Hart has been, you know,
an absolute monster. Yeah, you know, but I worry about
(23:20):
legs because you know, nobody in the starting lineup has
come off the court in the last month as Tibbs
is wanting to do, we want to do and you know,
and I worry about I worry about health, right like
you know, I think it's very concerning that Og came
(23:41):
back and lasted two games, yeah before he went back out,
And you know, we got to get Julius Randall healthy.
But and we got to get Mitchell Robinson healthy. But
if we can get those those guys, and we can
have all of our guys heading into the playoffs, I
feel good about our chances for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
I mean, Mitchell Robinson was possibly coming back, he's he's.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
There is there is hope that he can make it
back by the play Wow, is.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
A high school coach still living with him.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
That's a good question.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I think the answer is yes, Yeah, I feel like yeah.
I mean, look, I felt like Karmicle. I'm like, that's
a good look, man. I feel like the universe will
will smile upon you for your for your good deeds.
And then also, man the game against the Warriors, I
was like, is is Steph Curry? Is that Steph Curry?
Or has Deuce McBride just completely? I mean, I love,
I love that this guy shares my name, Miles McBride,
(24:37):
But what what's going on with him? Locked up?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Abron? Locked up?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I could not believe what was what was he putt
in eight eight from twenty ors eight for twenty and
then like four from thirteen from deep.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
The league has, uh, there are something. There is some
speculation that the league has tipped the balance of how
they're calling games a little bit and letting letting defenses
get away with a little bit more. And I do
feel like if anybody is going to profit off of that,
it is going to be the Knicks and a Tom
(25:09):
Thibodeaut team like the Knicks, regardless, just like it's in
the DNA of the franchise and then a Tom Thibodeau
team like it's just gone there, like, oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Only hopes is that they let us drive basketball and
drag basketball back into the nineties. When we are in
seven games, seventy nine to seventy six, right right, that's
my only hope. Then we'd have a chance for a championship.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
That would be fun.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That would be fun.
Speaker 5 (25:35):
We're on the floor. I still remember that Sports Illustrated cover.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
All right, enough about the teams we do there, there
have been two plays from this week that stopped the
world in their tracks that we wanted to review as
if short films. Anthony Edwards just absolutely detonated on John
Collins where he took look off from It's just it's
(26:02):
one of the wildest things I've ever seen, Like truly,
it's it's up there with some of the plays that
we've talked about with like Jaw where he jumps up
and grabbed that ball with two hands and then just
like kept going up, just ascending into the rafters. Yeah,
this just feels otherworldly. It doesn't make sense. It's so athletic.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So it's like.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Also like it's like the MJ and Space Jam dunk. Yeah,
you know what I mean, does he have enough arm?
And he just said yes, there's plenty. I mean, like, yeah,
looking at all, the images of it are just it's icon.
Even from the way Collins was on the ground, I
know he like hit his head or whatever, but the
pose of him, like it looked like he was baring
(26:46):
his head in his hands, as if he's like, why
did I make a terrible business decision like that?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
I've never identified more with an NBA player than John
Collins in that moment. Just how you feel like, that's
exactly how I would react. I think he was reacting
that way because like he got a finger in the eye.
But that's just what I would do every time. I
got done so hard that.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It dislocated Anthony's Edward Singer, that's how hard that impact was.
But yeah, I mean, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Was just go full.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
I would sit on the ground, put my head in
my hands, and then take off one of my shoes.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Oh yeah, I would be over Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would.
I would hire lawyers to be like, you have to
get this image scrub from the internet. There's too much
I can't. Yeah, yeah, exactly, something like that. You gotta
hi you gotta have a good team of lawyers to
sort of obscure that. But yeah, that's definitely. I mean,
we've had so many dunks this year. I mean even
(27:41):
last week, who was it, Jalen Greens dunk we were
talking about, there's just been so many, so much slamage.
As they say, this slamage has been absolutely off the charts.
I'm yeah, we're gonna have to do a whole episode
even just trying to figure wrap our heads around it.
But how's that rank for you, Tony? That Anthony Ambler's done.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It was one of the best dunks I've ever seen overall,
and probably the best dunk I've ever seen live. And
I would probably say, like it's not as good as
what Vince Carter did the Frederick Wece that Okay, yep,
(28:20):
that for me was always going to be probably going
to be number one.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Where he jumped over him, he just cleared him.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, but you know there, so first of all, I'm
a shameless plug. Everybody go to the Athletic and read
my story on that dunk, Okay, because I have a
story up in the Athletic right now about that dunk
Anthony ever was over John Collins. Second of all, I've
come to get to know John a little bit through
(28:47):
covering him. So shout out to my man John. Pull
one out for John.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Every text was you want to see a dead body?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, everybody, Yeah, you know this, you know, was was
that on this for my homies? Just pull one off
of John? You know. But the third thing is, you know,
it was more than just the dunk. You know, Uh,
Minnesota was running in mud like all night and what
Edwards did it, you know, threw some juice into them.
(29:23):
And then what he did after the dunk, which is
just take over the game with you know, an assortment
of jump shots and and terrific defense and rebounding the
ball and you know, playmaking for his teammates. You know,
he you know, it wasn't just the dunk. He really
took over that game afterwards, and you know, he ran,
(29:44):
He runs back to the locker room, he pops the
finger back in, he runs back to the free throw line,
he takes the free throw, and then he keeps playing.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
And I asked multiple guys in the Timberwolves locker room
if they had seen that before, and you know the
answer was was no except for one. Monte More has
told me that a guy named Doug Anderson from his
hometown of Flint, Michigan, had a dunk that was just
as good. Anthony was also told me that he did
(30:16):
a dunk like that in high school at Holy Spirit
Prep down in Georgia when he was a sophomore in
high school. He was like, that wasn't the only time
I did that. I did that in high school. He
was like, all the big schools was there. I was, so,
I said, Anthony, I said, oh, you started getting recruited
after that, you started getting and then he was like,
I already had letters answer.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Is that so very Anthony Edwards answer.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I liked that, but it is it kind of reminds
me of the jaw thing, that two handed block, because
it also came at comes at this moment as he's
like kind of ascending to a new level of just dominance,
you know, and being like somebody that is a bunch
of people's favorite player in the league, and there's just
like more and more people falling in love with him,
(31:04):
and then like this moment just kind of brings everything
together and it's like the probably most seen clip on
the internet last night.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I mean, maybe not.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
For all day yesterday because of course Kate Middleton was
spotted Spottish grocery store.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Part I think it's doing better numbers now. Actually, if
you add up to different angles that people watch, I
think it does. It does eclipse the Middleton.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
I got a question for you guys. I mean, it's like,
when Lebron and stuff retire, is he the face of
the league? Like I really think he could be. I
think he's got the combination of he's going to be
good enough as a player, combined with how charismatic he is,
right in terms of you know, he's going to be marketable,
(31:48):
he's going to be and I think they you know,
he's going to be a guy that that would have
no issues embracing everything that comes with that.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Well, when Lebron retires, he's going to be in Anthony
Edwards is going to be in his early forties, so right, Yeah,
I don't know, you have to see how how he's
gonna last because Lebron Lebron's not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
But yeah, I mean I think it's definitely possible. Yeah,
he's got the he has the magnetic personality where you
just like you just want to hear what he has
to say, and he's really witty. I think, uh, you know,
he's had he's he's still growing up. I think that's
the one thing Lebron had sort of locked down the
second he entered the league, Like he was just polished,
you know, he's so polished as like a media personality.
(32:35):
Anthony is a little bit more raw, but I think
that's also part of his appeal. So I don't know
if he'll be exactly quite the same, but I but
he definitely has the tools to be sort of like
the poster child of the league for sure.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Yeah, I mean Jannis obviously, uh Luka Jokic and and him,
like we need we need an American in there.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
He's he's going to be.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But like Luke and Joker are too cool with it,
you know what I mean, They're they're kind of they're
kind of like you know.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
What Joker in the hotel commercials with Peyton was wasson.
Yokich is a lot more charismatic than I thought he
would be. Oh yeah, I think those commercials are witty
and I think they're funny, and I think, you know,
I think they've been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Right, I guess, Yeah, the other thing is like, what
do I mean? It also felt like John Morant could
have also been that person too, maybe will be Yeah,
it's hard to know. Again, some people are polished though,
Some people are polished, and I think that's kind of
I think that's the biggest difference maker, you know what
I mean? More than anything, it's because even funny, because
even it's wild though too, because Anthony Edwards has those
(33:41):
moments too, where he's like doing postgame interviews He's kind
of saying stuff. You're like, all right, bro, we get it,
we get it, we get it. But it's also the
that's the fun of Anthony Edwards though too, in contrast
with those other persons. Yeah, yeah, all right, let's take
a quick break.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
We'll come back.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
We should talk Pels and we should get into the
fastest segment and podcasting shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Well yeah, I think we should.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
All right, we'll be right back, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
We're back, We're back.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And the Pelicans.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
So the reason the Suns, Warriors and Lakers are you know,
hoping to stay in the play in game at this
point is because teams like the Pelicans are you know,
ascending past them. The Pelicans are currently forty one twenty six,
fifth in the West, right on the heels of the Clippers,
(34:38):
who are forty two and twenty five. Beat the Clippers
in the season series three to one. Zion isn't the
best shape he's been in this year. It's kind of
maybe the best shape we've seen him in. Has reportedly
lost twenty five pounds since the end season tournament when
he was getting a lot of side eyes from people.
But yeah, he's just bring the ball up for them
(35:01):
a lot. And you know, Ingram just quietly putting up
twenty one six assists, five boards on forty nine thirty
six eighty splits and I don't know, they haven't been
to the playoffs since twenty one twenty two, so this
is exciting, exciting times for the Pelicans. Well, how are
(35:22):
you feeling? You think you think they can make some noise?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
I think they're good enough to, you know, I think
a lot is a lot that happens with the Pelicans
is and a lot that's going to happen with you know,
the Western Conference. I think is going to be contingent
on who gets the number one two in three seeds
out of Denver, Minnesota and Oklahoma City. I think the
order of which they fall is going to determine a
(35:47):
lot in terms of what happens in the playoffs. Because
here's the thing, I would not write off the Warriors
or the Lakers because as flow as those teams are
in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Very flawed, very flawed, the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Are a different game. And as long as Lebron is
playing at this level, and as long as Steph is
playing at the level that he's playing at, and you know,
let's go Phoenix in there. As long as you know,
Book and Kevin Duran are playing at the level that
they're playing at. You know, same thing with Luca. It
doesn't matter if those guys are in the play and
(36:28):
those guys with those specific guys are capable of making
noise in the playoffs because all of those guys are
such good basketball players, and the playoffs are just a
drastically different thing than the regular season. So back to
(36:49):
the to the Pelicans, you know, there aren't many teams
that are deeper than them, more athletic than them collectively
their length at you know, so many spots. You know,
with Herb Jones, you know, basically at the two brandon Ingram,
at the three Trey Murphy the third, you know, even
(37:13):
Dyson Daniels. Then you know you got you know, Big
j V on the interior. You know, they can play
multiple styles of games. You know, volenteeris allows them to
play below the rim and allows them to play you know,
(37:34):
really physical, while you know, all of those wings allowed
them to play above the rim and allowed them to
play the entire court. You know. And CJ. McCollum is
is you know, a draftee scorer who's known, who has
been known to being a playoff riser. So you know,
they've got a lot of components. They've got a lot
of of talent. They've got a lot of length and
(37:57):
athleticism and depth, and you know Zion kind of ties
it in with you know, if he can be as
locked in as he has been over the last few months.
So you know, from me, New Orleans is definitely a
dangerous team.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean yeah, CJ. McCombs definitely come to life.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I was.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I caught their last two games and just even the
way Zion is playing man, because yeah, it's a lot
different than the guy who lost to the Lakers and
the plane and people are like, bro, what what's going
on with him and then that that's clearly a turning
point for him mentally, because I mean the way he's
putting pressure on the paint. You thought he was trying
to get graffiti off the wall. Does that work? It's
a pressure washer, right Lake? Okay, Yeah, yeah, Okay, I was.
(38:40):
I was workshopping that before the show.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Zion deserves a lot of credit because you know, I
think we we questioned his pride back in December.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Right r Lebron obliterated him.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Let's let's be real, like Lebron absolutely dominated him and
dominated the Pelicans in that game. And you know, because
it was the n season tournament, because there were no
other games to take attention off of that, Like everybody
saw it, all of them being like all of the
NBA as a community, We were all watching that, and
(39:15):
we all ran the twinter We all said the same thing,
like yo, when you like you can't let a guy
come and just like destroy you like this and not
fight back. And I think Zion took that. I think
he took it to heart, and I think he's gotten
into shape. I think that he took it personally, and
I think that he showed a lot of pride, and
that's what you want to see, right Like, you want
(39:36):
to see a guy, you know, fall down, but we
want to see the guy had the pride and the
competitiveness to get back up and and you know and
quote unquote fight back. And I think that's what Zion's done.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, especially too, when like there are people like Shaq
and Chuck would be like, man, if you just put
it together, man like, you have to want it and
that it's there are a lot of people have those
moments where they're like, yeah, this this is how you
differentiate yourself from other players from good to great. And yeah,
to see that kind of you know, not evolution, but
just to see him really like knuckle down and make
(40:13):
consistency his thing and work so hard, it's like, yeah
that it makes them. Yeah, I think that's I wouldn't
be surprised if they do something really fun. If again,
if they stay healthy, I feel like that's always the
caveat That's the.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Thing though, right Like, and that's where I made the
point with the top three seeds. You know, if it
feels like New Orleans is locked into that four or five,
right you know, maybe they can get up to the
four and steal home court away from the Clippers. But
you know, maybe they hit a slide and they fall
to six, but you know four as their ceiling, they're
(40:48):
likely going to be in that four or five. Right,
It's a different Let's say they get past the Clippers.
It's a different feel in a different series if that
second round opponent is Oklahoma City, right, or if it's Denver. Right.
So that's why I said, I think you know wherever
that those first three seeds land, because they're all within
(41:09):
half a game of each other. I think it's going
to tell a lot with how the rest of the
West shapes out around Denver.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, well, I regret to tell you, Tony that you
have stepped into the fastest segment of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
I'm sorry to do this to you. Man, Sorry to
do this because we really enjoyed the conversation. But this
is the rapid fire round questioning. Okay, and you already
know the deal. We asked you a question. Just chest
pass it right back reflexively. Boom, think about it. Just
put it all on the line.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
We don't even have time for the boom. Usually people
say bing bang boom, No, not even time.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I need the ball.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
I need thank you, rock rock rock, right, that's me,
that's me on offense.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
They're like, no, no, no, bro, you're not even in
the game, man, sit down, you're on the bench right now. Yeah,
I just want to get you ready for it. But
here we go, Tony. I hope you're ready. Are you ready?
Just confirmed? Okay? Well good because Bryan start the clock,
all right, quick, quick to we're going quick, Jack, you're
(42:22):
going first. I'm not going first. You go first already, Tony.
More likely to happen to why Pelican's Western Conference final
run or Knick's Eastern Conference final run.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Go Pelican's Western Finals run because they're deeper and there's
less of a chance that they get tired.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
M But what about your Knicks, man, you're not even
feeling good about them?
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Yeah, but I'm still an objective.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Journalists always surprises us, always surprises us in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
So that's what I admire about our guests, who are
the journalists. The objectivity of it rather than the mental
illness of fandom doesn't make sense. Yeah, yeah, that makes
sense to me. It's kind of it sounds like you
don't believe in your squad.
Speaker 5 (43:00):
Tony, you have a time machine. Congratulations. Unfortunately you have
to use it on something NBA related. To go back
and personally witness one of the following Wilt Chamberlain's one
hundred Game seven, two thousand Western Conference Final, Kobe de Shacklob,
Michael Jordan's final game as a Bull in Utah Game seven,
(43:24):
twenty sixteen Finals, the Lebron block, the LA block.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
Wilt Chamberlain. Because NBA Twitter conspiracies there is trying to say,
because there's no.
Speaker 6 (43:37):
Video and that it hasn't happened, So send me back
to Hershey, Pennsylvania in nineteen sixty two, the witness will
score on one hundred.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
All right, yeah, yeah, yeah, Wilt's game.
Speaker 5 (43:50):
I feel like we're it would be watching a lot
of like that play that they had with Wemby against
the nets where they just like threw it up and
he was just holding the ball all the way up
and people couldn't reach it. I feel like that would
be a lot of Wilt's one hundred, but it would
be worth seeing.
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I think the biggest thing with Will's one hundred was
the fact that he couldn't shoot free throws. To save
his life, and he shot twenty eight for thirty two
from the free throw line.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
I there it is. Yeah for that alone. You're like,
only missed four, but he scored one hundred points. Like,
but do you know about his free throw shooting one
hundred and four? Yeah? Right exactly. Okay. Tony ranked these
current duos in terms of your postseason expectations. Okay, Yoki, Chim, Murray, Luka,
Kyrie KD and Book, Maxie and Tobias Harris.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
I added that last one.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
I know, Maxie and Tobias Harris.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Okay, the objective, now the objective.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
Now give me give me Murray Jokic thing. Wow, he
didn't give me. Didn't give me. Who was the fact?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Maxie and Harris? No, it was the Luca and Kyrie.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
They give me Luca and Kyrie. Me.
Speaker 5 (45:03):
You're gonna want to take a look at that Maxine
Harris again.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I feel like they're.
Speaker 4 (45:07):
I'm just going to pick Maxie and Harris forth just
out of GP.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
Okay, all right, okay, okay, okay, interesting interesting decision.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Look I took a shot jack, you know what I
mean to say?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
All Right, your time machine still active.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
You now have the ability to go back and use
a magic wand to grant Twitter to the world during
a moment during a single night, for one NBA game,
What one moment or a game from NBA history would
you have liked Twitter to have been around.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
For Game six, nineteen eighty eight Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers,
Isaiah Thomas cours twenty five in one quarter.
Speaker 5 (45:50):
Yeah, on a turned ankle, Right, wasn't his ankle messed
up at that point?
Speaker 4 (45:55):
It's severely sprained ankle.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
Yeah, great, Yeah, that reminded me of me, really gutty
and just like skip my medi you know.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
I want to show NBA Twitter why Isaiah Thomas is
the second best point guard in NBA history.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Wow, shots fired.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
Nuts inspired just saying he's He's criminally underrated in terms
of the NBA Twitter. And I think NBA Twitter needs
to watch a full Isaiah Thomas game, right to get
a grasp of just how good that guy really was.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, number two behind Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (46:34):
Right, number two behind Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Ay. Now, which brings us to our next question and
the most important question, perhaps the final question. Tony, you're
in the sea and you're on a life raft, and
you come upon in the water two men struggling to
stay afloat, one Carmelo Anthony, the other Jalen Brunson. They
need help, but you can only fit one of them
(46:58):
in your life raft. Who do you say, Jesus, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (47:05):
That's tough, and this.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
Is going on your permanent record and it will be
sending your answer and adding them.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
You're like, wow, because I love both of them as
a as a Knicks fan. Man, they both belove it. Man,
that's that's really tough. I'm gonna say Jaylen Brunson for
one reason and one reason only because Jalen Brunson is
still playing. Yeah, still has a chance to add to
his legacy. So theoretically I can still win an NBA
(47:34):
title with Jayleen Brunson. Wow.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
And then you'd be like, Mellow, you get it, man,
you get it, bro, you.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
Got it right, Like you know what I'm saying, Like
this is a Titanic women and children first, Yeah, that's
right because they still have a chance and it's well.
Speaker 5 (47:48):
Not the oldest men, the old men went down with
the ship. Mellow, you get it. Yeah, not asking if
you get it, I'm telling you you get it as
I row away.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
It's been a pleasure playing with you tonight, gentlemen, wait,
can we talk about this a little bit?
Speaker 5 (48:03):
I said, it's been a pleasure playing with you. Mellow
please well, Tony Jones, what a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Having you on. Thanks for doing it, man.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
My guys appreciate y'all. Man, thank you so much. Shout
out to you guys, and shout out to Jabari Davis
for having me as well.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Before. Beware for the people that want to continue hearing you,
reading you all that kind of thing. Where do people
find you and and ingest your content?
Speaker 4 (48:29):
You can find me at the Athletic and you can
follow me on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
It's T Jones on the NBA perfect well. You can
follow us on Twitter and you can follow our hashtag
on Twitter hashtag mad Boosti's v W S t I
E s. For show links and updates. You can follow
me on Twitter. I'm at Miles of Gray.
Speaker 5 (48:46):
I'm at Jack Underscore O'Brien.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
And that that's gonna do it for us this week.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
That well, that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
That's about that well, or there will be continued Yeah,
there will be continued boosties and they will be mad
in it all right, we'll see anything Bye.
Oh you didn't know. Well, they could never stop this show.
We're back. Maybe the Nuggets. No, you didn't know you Sorry, Oh,
I got a news slash for you. But it seems
like what we've been thinking all along. It's probably said
to happen with the Nuggets and Celtics, just on some
kind of collision course again this June. But there's still there. Yeah.
(00:25):
You know, if there's some teams out there that you
don't want to voice their opinion, maybe they have something
to say. And we have well great guests to discuss
that with today. NBA writer Tony Jones on today's episode,
I'm Miles Gray and I'm Drack O'Brien and this kid
is Miles.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Busty.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Do I look at the kay.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Be driving Spinny boys got up with five.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
He's gonna try another, great, mister, bron James, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tony Jones, NBA writer for The Athletic, You're covering both
the Utah Jazz and the and the Beat, the Denver
Nuggets and of course the NBA at large. Thank you
so much for joining us again. Man, have you been.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Thank you so much. I expected confetti, so I'm just
a little disappointed. But hey, this is perfect, man. I
appreciate y'all, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, we had a bit of a mishap our last episode.
Our air cannon that launched it injured my neighbor, so
flew in there.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah yeah, yeah it got nasty.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
That sounds yeah, But luckily this is an audio podcast,
so it was just only for past cast Blake Wexler to.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Be traumatized by. But yeah, we're here, We're all right,
We're all right, We're all right. Where do we Where
do we start? Where do we start? Should we start
with the Nuggets? Are they just inevitable? I guess since
the last time we recorded, the Nuggets beat the Celtics
pretty I mean it was a good game. Yeah, I
mean the I think both teams were like treating it
(02:10):
like an important game, like it was maybe a preview
of what we're going to be seeing in a couple
of months, and the Nuggets just I don't know, a
lot of people are like, it's inevitable at this point,
the Nuggets are going to do it again.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
I don't know if that's necessarily the case, but they did.
I'm personally rooting for whoever's not the Celtics and so
that that gave me a little bit of ease as
well as a fan sided article I'm going to talk
about a little later on. But would you see Tony.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
You know, that's a good question, whether I think is
in whether I think the Nuggets are inevitable in the
Western Conference, And you know, I think the thing that
we have to acknowledge is that they're the best team
in the Western Conference, right, Like they are definitely the
best team. But the other question is, you know, cam
(03:01):
Phoenix knocked them off. Are they capable of knocking them off?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
The phoenis Yeah, the Timberwolves.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Or the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, capable of knocking
them off. And you know, I don't know, like I
would favor Denver in every series in the Western Conference
that they that they could that they could face for
different reasons. And you know, I think I think the
(03:31):
Celtics should be inevitable in the Eastern Conference. Like I
don't think that there's any team that's you know, playing
on their level in the Eastern Conference or at that level.
Maybe Milwaukee could get there because you know, Damian Lillard
is such a playoff riser, you know, but this seems
(03:53):
like the Celtics cheer, and this seems like the year
where you know, if they don't at least get to
the finals, know that that should be a loss. It
should be considered a lost year for them. So, you know,
I do think that the West is a little bit
more murky. I think it's a little bit more it
should be more competitive, But I do I do think that,
you know, going into the playoffs, that Denver should be
(04:15):
the favorite in the Western Conference.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
The West is so bizarre, like the Golden State Lakers
Sons are ten, nine and eight, like that's and then
Dallas that's the play in those are the playing teams
right now, and then you know, it's just nobody knows
anything obviously heading into the season. But I don't think
many people had Okay, see Minnesota, the Clippers as three
(04:41):
of the top four teams, so it is very strange.
And then Denver seems like this island of predictability in
the middle.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Of it all.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
So we'll we'll see. But I am counting on Jokic
to carry the day against the Celtics if it does
come to that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
There is I wonder, like, do you think there's this
thing that because it feels so inevitable. Whenever there's anything
other than like a victory, people are like, I don't
know what's going on with the Nuggets, man, like, because
they're like eleven and two, so it's the All Star
break and like those two losses were that Kyrie left
hand or from another dimension?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I was.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
I was impressed by that, Miles, you were less impressed
by that.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Look like I said, I could do that, you know
what I mean. Over Jokic, come on, and you're like
hot hands, I'm like, but that's what you have to
do to win the game, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And that winning.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, I'm sorry, how how would you have done it?
Because that's no other way to do that except to
be as audacious as as that man was there. And
then the other one was like a but it was
an overtime loss. But do you think there's something about
that sort of like expectation that for for people who
are watching and wanting the Nuggets to win that they're like, oh, man,
I don't know, man like it like it's almost too much, like, yeah,
they're they're human beings. They're not gonna win. They're not
(05:52):
gonna win. Out from here, there's gonna be anomalies or
you know, just just certain performances that kind of shake
the try.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Well. I think the thing that we have to, you know,
consider in the Dallas game is that you know, Dallas
raised their level the Denver's level. You know, I don't
think that Denver played badly, and especially down the stretch,
right like the last five minutes of the game, excluding
the final possession where you know, Jamal Murray, you know,
(06:22):
a typically missed a fiftieth look, there was a really
good look. I was actually shot. The mistake of that
that possession was that Jamal Murray went so early that
he should have went two seconds later.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah, but I wouldn't have gone that early, and I
also would have made it. That was my two things.
You got to make too early, and I listen, it's
hard for me to understand why you did it the
way you did it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I would have tried to make it right.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, but yeah, Tony, but like you know, I was
shocked that he missed it. But you know, but beyond that,
those that final possession, I mean, Denver got pretty much
what it wanted down the stretch when it became winning time.
You know, they got good shots, They made good shots.
You know, Jamal hit the three. The possession before he
(07:14):
had another three, a couple of possessions before that, he
had a layup possession before that, Jokic had an easy
uh post up on Doncic. So that's you know, four
possessions and ten points in you know, the last two
or three minutes, you know, out of about four possessions.
You know, I think Denver scored you know, on a
(07:36):
number of consecutive possessions down the stretch, and they took
a four point they took a three point lead. Yeah,
Dallas just raised their level, and Dallas played up to
that level, which is what you have to do in
order to beat Denver. You know, Denver's never gonna play below.
They're very rarely going to play below a certain level.
And they're always you know, and obviously they can raise
(07:59):
their game to a level where, you know, it's hard
to read, it's hard for any other team to reach.
But you know, like you said, they're eleven and two
beyond the All Star break, they're playing like the best
versions of themselves. You know, they began they began the
quote unquote second half of the season, you know, multiple
(08:21):
games behind the number one seed. You know they were.
They briefly took over the number one seed a couple
of times in the last week. So, you know, I
think that Denver is happy with where they are. I
think they're happy with how they're playing, and you know,
I think that you know, the down the stretch, you know,
(08:43):
they want to be playing like what they consider the
best versions of themselves, and they want to be healthy.
And I think that they're two for two in that
right now.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, looking at the other team that they're you know
that we're talking about inevitability with the Cell to have
won six straight, lead the Eastern Conference by ten games.
The other thing that other than the so the Nuggets
game made me feel a little bit like, Okay, maybe
(09:11):
this isn't uninevitability.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The past couple episodes, we've talked about how.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Their net rating is historically great, and usually teams like
their top four I think, or they were pretty recently
a top four net rating team, and like anybody in
the top ten is usually either winning the title or
or losing Lebron getting losing to Lebron essentially, those are
(09:37):
one thing. One analysis that I read this week that
kind of made sense to me is that when you
look at those teams, their best player is almost always
way better than the rest of their players, you know,
Like it's the old cliche in the NBA is like
you want to gamble on the team with the best player.
(09:58):
Whoever the best player is is gonna wing you the
playoff series. And of the six teams to like finish
the season with a net rating of plus eleven or grader,
their best players box plus minus is on average nine
point two, and the lowest from that group is Kevin
Garnett having eight point two for the Celtics and seven
(10:20):
oh eight this season. Celtics best players tatum at like
five point two, which is not like it's it's really good,
but it's not like elite. I think it's like eleventh
in the league, So I guess it's elite, but it's
not to the to the level that those top ten
(10:41):
teams usually are. And that I guess that kind of
coincides with what I see from the Celtics every season
when they're expected, you know, the advanced stats are like
they're gonna win the title. They go into the playoffs
at feeling inevitable. The thing that'll usually derails them is
that like at there's that moment when it's up to
(11:05):
their best player to take over, and he just hasn't
been able to do that. And I guess that's borne
out a little bit by the advanced stats, that like
they're the best team, one of the best teams ever
because of how dominant there the rest of their team
is and not their best player, which could be a
(11:27):
problem in the playoffs, I guess is the theory of
this fan sided article. We'll link off to in the footnotes.
But I thought it was an interesting analysis.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
You know, I think it's an interesting analysis, and I
think it's fair. But I think, you know, every case,
you know, should be taken in and of itself. And
if you look at what the Celtics are in the
Eastern Conference, and if you look at them realistically, realistically,
(11:57):
the only team that should be able on paper take
them to seven is Milwaukee, just because you know, Giannice's
is so great and he's always been, you know, a
playoff riser, and Damian Lillard, like I said, he's, you know,
one of the best playoff riser. Is that that you know,
we've seen in the last you know, ten or fifteen years.
(12:21):
For what those metrics say to matter about Tatum, the
series has got to be close. And if you're Boston
and you get let's say you get Atlanta or you
get you know, if they you know, let's say, let's
give Miami a lot of respect and say they can
(12:42):
take two games off of Boston. You know, it's it
still should be a multiple game series, and you know,
they should be favored by multiple games over everybody they
play and outside of you know, possibly Milwaukee and possibly Cleveland,
you know, because I do you think that Donovan Mitchell,
you know, it was also a playoff riser, and you know,
(13:04):
I think I do think that Cleveland's got, you know,
the physicality to be able to to bother Boston. We
know that Boston is a great regular season team and
one of the greatest regular season teams of our time.
And you know, we we also know what happened in
the Eastern Conference finals last year. I think that they're
(13:26):
a better team, significantly better team than they were last
year because you know, last year there was no christophs Porzingis. Yeah,
so Boston still should win the East, even with those metrics,
even with the with what the metrics say, if it
should matter, it should matter in the finals if they
played Denver on the margins. And that's what we saw
(13:51):
in the two matchups with Denver and Boston. Denver won
by one or two possessions in both in both games
because the margins mattered, and I thought that Denver was
a little bit better on the margins than Boston was.
So do I think it should matter? You know that
Tatum's a five point two in the playoffs, probably not
(14:13):
until the finals, and if they meet Denver there then
then yeah, it possibly does matter because they won't have
the best player in the series, because Nicola Yogas will
be the best player in the series.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
He's the best player in any series, because he's probably
the best player in the league according to at least
these advanced stats, which yeah, I mean backed up by
the eye tests as I don't usually say that, but
people who watch a lot of NBA basketball say that, should.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We take a break, guys take a look around the league?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Yeah, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
We're back.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
You got to see Wemby in person recently. He keeps
having historic nights where he's like just the total of
like points, field goal percentage, blocks, rebounds are three made.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Just Yeah, every day it's like a new record broken
or I realized, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
But what what did it would you glean from watching
Wembyam in person?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Like I've heard he's pretty tall?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Oh my, is that true.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I've never seen anything like I've seen one. All right.
So at the very very very beginning of my career,
like I'm talking fresh out of school, it's around two
thousand and five, two thousand and six, and I interview
Yao Ming, and Yao was taller than me while he
(15:48):
was sitting down.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
And that like me and my five year old Yeah right.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
His legs were like thick, like tree trumps. Like that's
the other thing I noticed about, Like he just had
these very very thick legs. And you know, I've been
covering the NBA for a long time and beyond that,
the only time I've seen anything, you know, physically more
(16:22):
outlandish or as ourlandish, was you know, watching Victor win
Bayama walk two feet by me in an interview room
and he was almost as tall as the ceiling he
had to duck. Again, I was just like, what a
tall human being? And you know, for him to be
that big, that's tall and to be able to handle
(16:44):
the ball like a guard the way he does. I
think that, you know, that's that's really really really amazing, right.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, it's just just in like the last thirty days,
like there's always like a new thing where it's like, oh, yeah,
he's now thirty one points, twelve rebound, six assists, six
blocks only Kareem and Kareem did that ten times, and
he did that twice. David Robinson did that five times,
Pakeem did that three times, Kat did it, Ad did it,
Charles Barkley and they're like, and this is his rookie season.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
And then you go.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Even condensed like all in this like thirty day stretch,
like the frequency which is happening. It's yeah, I don't
really know what else to say except for like, yeah,
he's it's truly making good on like the promise that
at least we saw in all the speculation that was
happening before.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
He end he's as good as as advertised. And yeah,
you know, I think he affects every part of it,
every fast of the game. I think he does everything.
You know, when I wrote about him a couple of
weeks ago, you know some of the things you know
I asked him, you know, is your playbook so to speak,
(17:54):
opening up, you know, because you know he did limited
actions in November, but now you know, the Spurs are
running their offense to him now, and they're running dribble
hand they're running Dho's dribble handoffs with him, and you
know he's directing the offense, you know, from the nail,
(18:14):
you know, from the block they're putting, getting them in
mid post and obviously he's doing this stuff facing the
basket and above the arc, you know, so he's he's
kind of directing things a lot more. So you can
see the progression even from you know, November to now,
and you can see how much of a significantly better
(18:35):
player he is now. And you know, in the weeks
since that article that I wrote about him, you know,
he's that's that's when he's kind of really like blown up,
like having those thirty one twelve seven six type of
games you know, with like five assists and three steals
as well, he had five by five. You know, So
(18:56):
he's he's a I think he's going to get a
quadruple double at some point in his career. You know,
he's he's a guy who's every bit is as good
as has been advertised.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah, it's really fun. And it seemed like the Nets
game was particularly fun. If people didn't watch the highlights
for that, go check it out. Because it also felt,
for the first time, felt like the team was getting
him involved, Like you said, they're getting used to playing
with him enough to like get him involved and like
(19:29):
actually throw inbound passes to him, which seems like it
should be easy since he can just like reach up
and nobody can can get the ball. So but like
there were some fun ALU plays and some fun like
hitting him as he was like storming to the basket
and like you know, dunking at his chin because that's
(19:50):
like when he gets ahead of steam going and jumps
like it's the hoop is below his neck.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
So yeah, I don't know, is it excit times.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I'm really looking forward to seeing, like if they're able
to build around him, if they're able to like bring
a point guard in, if there are like some NBA
point guards who are like, man, this would be a
really fun challenge, fun time, you know. Yeah, yeah, like
getting to have him finishing everything around the basket like that.
Who's who's the dream point guard to like pair with him?
(20:24):
I feel like Chris Paul would be a lot of
fun with him.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Yeah, Chris Paul ten years ago would be a lot
of fun. Yeah, you know, maybe Trey Young because I
think Victor is good enough defensively to Mascus flaws and
oh yeah, and and Trey is so so good offensively,
and you know, he's he's a guy that that can
(20:50):
carry you know, the offense on his own. And also
you know, get Victor involved, you know. So I think
they he's a guy that that would be good, uh
to play with him. Yeah, this will never happen, but
you know, s g A would be great to play
(21:11):
with him.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I think both those guys should be I think Chet
and uh Whyama should be on the same team.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, I don't know, because I don't think. I don't know.
I don't know. First of all, I don't know that
those two like each.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Other, right, No, No, I'm just playing like that. It
would be very weird if they were on the same
I mean, if I.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Was playing two k Yeah, I'm putting them on the absolutely.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
But you know what in real life, I mean basketball
skill wise, they fit. I mean, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
They'd be tough, they'd be tough.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Yeah, it'd be really tough and it'd be really tough
to score on them.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
Yeah, all right, we got to talk about your Knicks
because you are a Knicks fan.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
That's four straight.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
That's what I just played forty eight minutes. Now, go ahead, joke.
I'm sorry, But.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
How are you feeling heading towards the playoffs?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I feel like Jaylen Brunson always overperforms in the playoffs.
The Knicks have one four in a row. They look
tough there and fourth they would be playing the Magic
at this point in the matchup. How do you feel
about how the Knicks matchup and just how are you
(22:24):
feeling about them heading into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
We need to get out of the fourth seed and
get into the third seed so that we have way
Boston in the second round.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
We need to get healthy, but apparently OG's elbow is
a strand of spaghetti at this point, you know, and
we don't know when Julius Randall's coming back. Like listen
on paper. If we get everybody healthy, you know, we've
we've got a chance at least as punchers chance at
least going to the to the Eastern Conference finals. You know,
Jalen Bronson is has been so good It's been one
(22:59):
of the biggest creating steals in a long time. Remember
when we were like, do we really want to pay
Jalen Brunson one hundred million dollars? Right now it looks
like a real bargain. You know, He's he's been terrific.
Dante Divincenzo's been terrific, Josh Hart has been, you know,
an absolute monster. Yeah, you know, but I worry about
(23:20):
legs because you know, nobody in the starting lineup has
come off the court in the last month as Tibbs
is wanting to do, we want to do and you know,
and I worry about I worry about health, right like
you know, I think it's very concerning that Og came
(23:41):
back and lasted two games, yeah before he went back out,
And you know, we got to get Julius Randall healthy.
But and we got to get Mitchell Robinson healthy. But
if we can get those those guys, and we can
have all of our guys heading into the playoffs, I
feel good about our chances for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
I mean, Mitchell Robinson was possibly coming back, he's he's.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
There is there is hope that he can make it
back by the play Wow, is.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
A high school coach still living with him.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
That's a good question.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I think the answer is yes, Yeah, I feel like yeah.
I mean, look, I felt like Karmicle. I'm like, that's
a good look, man. I feel like the universe will
will smile upon you for your for your good deeds.
And then also, man the game against the Warriors, I
was like, is is Steph Curry? Is that Steph Curry?
Or has Deuce McBride just completely? I mean, I love,
I love that this guy shares my name, Miles McBride,
(24:37):
But what what's going on with him? Locked up?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Abron? Locked up?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
I couldn't.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I could not believe what was what was he putt
in eight eight from twenty ors eight for twenty and
then like four from thirteen from deep.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
The league has, uh, there are something. There is some
speculation that the league has tipped the balance of how
they're calling games a little bit and letting letting defenses
get away with a little bit more. And I do
feel like if anybody is going to profit off of that,
it is going to be the Knicks and a Tom
(25:09):
Thibodeaut team like the Knicks, regardless, just like it's in
the DNA of the franchise and then a Tom Thibodeau
team like it's just gone there, like, oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Only hopes is that they let us drive basketball and
drag basketball back into the nineties. When we are in
seven games, seventy nine to seventy six, right right, that's
my only hope. Then we'd have a chance for a championship.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
That would be fun.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
That would be fun.
Speaker 5 (25:35):
We're on the floor. I still remember that Sports Illustrated cover.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
All right, enough about the teams we do there, there
have been two plays from this week that stopped the
world in their tracks that we wanted to review as
if short films. Anthony Edwards just absolutely detonated on John
Collins where he took look off from It's just it's
(26:02):
one of the wildest things I've ever seen, Like truly,
it's it's up there with some of the plays that
we've talked about with like Jaw where he jumps up
and grabbed that ball with two hands and then just
like kept going up, just ascending into the rafters. Yeah,
this just feels otherworldly. It doesn't make sense. It's so athletic.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So it's like.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Also like it's like the MJ and Space Jam dunk. Yeah,
you know what I mean, does he have enough arm?
And he just said yes, there's plenty. I mean, like, yeah,
looking at all, the images of it are just it's icon.
Even from the way Collins was on the ground, I
know he like hit his head or whatever, but the
pose of him, like it looked like he was baring
(26:46):
his head in his hands, as if he's like, why
did I make a terrible business decision like that?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
I've never identified more with an NBA player than John
Collins in that moment. Just how you feel like, that's
exactly how I would react. I think he was reacting
that way because like he got a finger in the eye.
But that's just what I would do every time. I
got done so hard that.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It dislocated Anthony's Edward Singer, that's how hard that impact was.
But yeah, I mean, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Was just go full.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
I would sit on the ground, put my head in
my hands, and then take off one of my shoes.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Oh yeah, I would be over Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would.
I would hire lawyers to be like, you have to
get this image scrub from the internet. There's too much
I can't. Yeah, yeah, exactly, something like that. You gotta
hi you gotta have a good team of lawyers to
sort of obscure that. But yeah, that's definitely. I mean,
we've had so many dunks this year. I mean even
(27:41):
last week, who was it, Jalen Greens dunk we were
talking about, there's just been so many, so much slamage.
As they say, this slamage has been absolutely off the charts.
I'm yeah, we're gonna have to do a whole episode
even just trying to figure wrap our heads around it.
But how's that rank for you, Tony? That Anthony Ambler's done.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
It was one of the best dunks I've ever seen overall,
and probably the best dunk I've ever seen live. And
I would probably say, like it's not as good as
what Vince Carter did the Frederick Wece that Okay, yep,
(28:20):
that for me was always going to be probably going
to be number one.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
Where he jumped over him, he just cleared him.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, but you know there, so first of all, I'm
a shameless plug. Everybody go to the Athletic and read
my story on that dunk, Okay, because I have a
story up in the Athletic right now about that dunk
Anthony ever was over John Collins. Second of all, I've
come to get to know John a little bit through
(28:47):
covering him. So shout out to my man John. Pull
one out for John.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Every text was you want to see a dead body?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Yeah, everybody, Yeah, you know this, you know, was was
that on this for my homies? Just pull one off
of John? You know. But the third thing is, you know,
it was more than just the dunk. You know, Uh,
Minnesota was running in mud like all night and what
Edwards did it, you know, threw some juice into them.
(29:23):
And then what he did after the dunk, which is
just take over the game with you know, an assortment
of jump shots and and terrific defense and rebounding the
ball and you know, playmaking for his teammates. You know,
he you know, it wasn't just the dunk. He really
took over that game afterwards, and you know, he ran,
(29:44):
He runs back to the locker room, he pops the
finger back in, he runs back to the free throw line,
he takes the free throw, and then he keeps playing.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
And I asked multiple guys in the Timberwolves locker room
if they had seen that before, and you know the
answer was was no except for one. Monte More has
told me that a guy named Doug Anderson from his
hometown of Flint, Michigan, had a dunk that was just
as good. Anthony was also told me that he did
(30:16):
a dunk like that in high school at Holy Spirit
Prep down in Georgia when he was a sophomore in
high school. He was like, that wasn't the only time
I did that. I did that in high school. He
was like, all the big schools was there. I was, so,
I said, Anthony, I said, oh, you started getting recruited
after that, you started getting and then he was like,
I already had letters answer.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Is that so very Anthony Edwards answer.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I liked that, but it is it kind of reminds
me of the jaw thing, that two handed block, because
it also came at comes at this moment as he's
like kind of ascending to a new level of just dominance,
you know, and being like somebody that is a bunch
of people's favorite player in the league, and there's just
like more and more people falling in love with him,
(31:04):
and then like this moment just kind of brings everything
together and it's like the probably most seen clip on
the internet last night.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I mean, maybe not.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
For all day yesterday because of course Kate Middleton was
spotted Spottish grocery store.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Part I think it's doing better numbers now. Actually, if
you add up to different angles that people watch, I
think it does. It does eclipse the Middleton.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
I got a question for you guys. I mean, it's like,
when Lebron and stuff retire, is he the face of
the league? Like I really think he could be. I
think he's got the combination of he's going to be
good enough as a player, combined with how charismatic he is,
right in terms of you know, he's going to be marketable,
(31:48):
he's going to be and I think they you know,
he's going to be a guy that that would have
no issues embracing everything that comes with that.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Well, when Lebron retires, he's going to be in Anthony
Edwards is going to be in his early forties, so right, Yeah,
I don't know, you have to see how how he's
gonna last because Lebron Lebron's not going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
But yeah, I mean I think it's definitely possible. Yeah,
he's got the he has the magnetic personality where you
just like you just want to hear what he has
to say, and he's really witty. I think, uh, you know,
he's had he's he's still growing up. I think that's
the one thing Lebron had sort of locked down the
second he entered the league, Like he was just polished,
you know, he's so polished as like a media personality.
(32:35):
Anthony is a little bit more raw, but I think
that's also part of his appeal. So I don't know
if he'll be exactly quite the same, but I but
he definitely has the tools to be sort of like
the poster child of the league for sure.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Yeah, I mean Jannis obviously, uh Luka Jokic and and him,
like we need we need an American in there.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
He's he's going to be.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
But like Luke and Joker are too cool with it,
you know what I mean, They're they're kind of they're
kind of like you know.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
What Joker in the hotel commercials with Peyton was wasson.
Yokich is a lot more charismatic than I thought he
would be. Oh yeah, I think those commercials are witty
and I think they're funny, and I think, you know,
I think they've been fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Right, I guess, Yeah, the other thing is like, what
do I mean? It also felt like John Morant could
have also been that person too, maybe will be Yeah,
it's hard to know. Again, some people are polished though,
Some people are polished, and I think that's kind of
I think that's the biggest difference maker, you know what
I mean? More than anything, it's because even funny, because
even it's wild though too, because Anthony Edwards has those
(33:41):
moments too, where he's like doing postgame interviews He's kind
of saying stuff. You're like, all right, bro, we get it,
we get it, we get it. But it's also the
that's the fun of Anthony Edwards though too, in contrast
with those other persons. Yeah, yeah, all right, let's take
a quick break.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
We'll come back.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
We should talk Pels and we should get into the
fastest segment and podcasting shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Well yeah, I think we should.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
All right, we'll be right back, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
We're back, We're back.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And the Pelicans.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
So the reason the Suns, Warriors and Lakers are you know,
hoping to stay in the play in game at this
point is because teams like the Pelicans are you know,
ascending past them. The Pelicans are currently forty one twenty six,
fifth in the West, right on the heels of the Clippers,
(34:38):
who are forty two and twenty five. Beat the Clippers
in the season series three to one. Zion isn't the
best shape he's been in this year. It's kind of
maybe the best shape we've seen him in. Has reportedly
lost twenty five pounds since the end season tournament when
he was getting a lot of side eyes from people.
But yeah, he's just bring the ball up for them
(35:01):
a lot. And you know, Ingram just quietly putting up
twenty one six assists, five boards on forty nine thirty
six eighty splits and I don't know, they haven't been
to the playoffs since twenty one twenty two, so this
is exciting, exciting times for the Pelicans. Well, how are
(35:22):
you feeling? You think you think they can make some noise?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
I think they're good enough to, you know, I think
a lot is a lot that happens with the Pelicans
is and a lot that's going to happen with you know,
the Western Conference. I think is going to be contingent
on who gets the number one two in three seeds
out of Denver, Minnesota and Oklahoma City. I think the
order of which they fall is going to determine a
(35:47):
lot in terms of what happens in the playoffs. Because
here's the thing, I would not write off the Warriors
or the Lakers because as flow as those teams are
in the regular season.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Very flawed, very flawed, the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Are a different game. And as long as Lebron is
playing at this level, and as long as Steph is
playing at the level that he's playing at, and you know,
let's go Phoenix in there. As long as you know,
Book and Kevin Duran are playing at the level that
they're playing at. You know, same thing with Luca. It
doesn't matter if those guys are in the play and
(36:28):
those guys with those specific guys are capable of making
noise in the playoffs because all of those guys are
such good basketball players, and the playoffs are just a
drastically different thing than the regular season. So back to
(36:49):
the to the Pelicans, you know, there aren't many teams
that are deeper than them, more athletic than them collectively
their length at you know, so many spots. You know,
with Herb Jones, you know, basically at the two brandon Ingram,
at the three Trey Murphy the third, you know, even
(37:13):
Dyson Daniels. Then you know you got you know, Big
j V on the interior. You know, they can play
multiple styles of games. You know, volenteeris allows them to
play below the rim and allows them to play you know,
(37:34):
really physical, while you know, all of those wings allowed
them to play above the rim and allowed them to
play the entire court. You know. And CJ. McCollum is
is you know, a draftee scorer who's known, who has
been known to being a playoff riser. So you know,
they've got a lot of components. They've got a lot
of of talent. They've got a lot of length and
(37:57):
athleticism and depth, and you know Zion kind of ties
it in with you know, if he can be as
locked in as he has been over the last few months.
So you know, from me, New Orleans is definitely a
dangerous team.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean yeah, CJ. McCombs definitely come to life.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
I was.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
I caught their last two games and just even the
way Zion is playing man, because yeah, it's a lot
different than the guy who lost to the Lakers and
the plane and people are like, bro, what what's going
on with him and then that that's clearly a turning
point for him mentally, because I mean the way he's
putting pressure on the paint. You thought he was trying
to get graffiti off the wall. Does that work? It's
a pressure washer, right Lake? Okay, Yeah, yeah, Okay, I was.
(38:40):
I was workshopping that before the show.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Zion deserves a lot of credit because you know, I
think we we questioned his pride back in December.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Right r Lebron obliterated him.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Let's let's be real, like Lebron absolutely dominated him and
dominated the Pelicans in that game. And you know, because
it was the n season tournament, because there were no
other games to take attention off of that, Like everybody
saw it, all of them being like all of the
NBA as a community, We were all watching that, and
(39:15):
we all ran the twinter We all said the same thing,
like yo, when you like you can't let a guy
come and just like destroy you like this and not
fight back. And I think Zion took that. I think
he took it to heart, and I think he's gotten
into shape. I think that he took it personally, and
I think that he showed a lot of pride, and
that's what you want to see, right Like, you want
(39:36):
to see a guy, you know, fall down, but we
want to see the guy had the pride and the
competitiveness to get back up and and you know and
quote unquote fight back. And I think that's what Zion's done.
I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, especially too, when like there are people like Shaq
and Chuck would be like, man, if you just put
it together, man like, you have to want it and
that it's there are a lot of people have those
moments where they're like, yeah, this this is how you
differentiate yourself from other players from good to great. And yeah,
to see that kind of you know, not evolution, but
just to see him really like knuckle down and make
(40:13):
consistency his thing and work so hard, it's like, yeah
that it makes them. Yeah, I think that's I wouldn't
be surprised if they do something really fun. If again,
if they stay healthy, I feel like that's always the
caveat That's the.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Thing though, right Like, and that's where I made the
point with the top three seeds. You know, if it
feels like New Orleans is locked into that four or five,
right you know, maybe they can get up to the
four and steal home court away from the Clippers. But
you know, maybe they hit a slide and they fall
to six, but you know four as their ceiling, they're
(40:48):
likely going to be in that four or five. Right,
It's a different Let's say they get past the Clippers.
It's a different feel in a different series if that
second round opponent is Oklahoma City, right, or if it's Denver. Right.
So that's why I said, I think you know wherever
that those first three seeds land, because they're all within
(41:09):
half a game of each other. I think it's going
to tell a lot with how the rest of the
West shapes out around Denver.
Speaker 5 (41:17):
Yeah, well, I regret to tell you, Tony that you
have stepped into the fastest segment of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
I'm sorry to do this to you. Man, Sorry to
do this because we really enjoyed the conversation. But this
is the rapid fire round questioning. Okay, and you already
know the deal. We asked you a question. Just chest
pass it right back reflexively. Boom, think about it. Just
put it all on the line.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
We don't even have time for the boom. Usually people
say bing bang boom, No, not even time.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I need the ball.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
I need thank you, rock rock rock, right, that's me,
that's me on offense.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
They're like, no, no, no, bro, you're not even in
the game, man, sit down, you're on the bench right now. Yeah,
I just want to get you ready for it. But
here we go, Tony. I hope you're ready. Are you ready?
Just confirmed? Okay? Well good because Bryan start the clock,
all right, quick, quick to we're going quick, Jack, you're
(42:22):
going first. I'm not going first. You go first already, Tony.
More likely to happen to why Pelican's Western Conference final
run or Knick's Eastern Conference final run.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Go Pelican's Western Finals run because they're deeper and there's
less of a chance that they get tired.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
M But what about your Knicks, man, you're not even
feeling good about them?
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Yeah, but I'm still an objective.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
Journalists always surprises us, always surprises us in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
So that's what I admire about our guests, who are
the journalists. The objectivity of it rather than the mental
illness of fandom doesn't make sense. Yeah, yeah, that makes
sense to me. It's kind of it sounds like you
don't believe in your squad.
Speaker 5 (43:00):
Tony, you have a time machine. Congratulations. Unfortunately you have
to use it on something NBA related. To go back
and personally witness one of the following Wilt Chamberlain's one
hundred Game seven, two thousand Western Conference Final, Kobe de Shacklob,
Michael Jordan's final game as a Bull in Utah Game seven,
(43:24):
twenty sixteen Finals, the Lebron block, the LA block.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
Wilt Chamberlain. Because NBA Twitter conspiracies there is trying to say,
because there's no.
Speaker 6 (43:37):
Video and that it hasn't happened, So send me back
to Hershey, Pennsylvania in nineteen sixty two, the witness will
score on one hundred.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
All right, yeah, yeah, yeah, Wilt's game.
Speaker 5 (43:50):
I feel like we're it would be watching a lot
of like that play that they had with Wemby against
the nets where they just like threw it up and
he was just holding the ball all the way up
and people couldn't reach it. I feel like that would
be a lot of Wilt's one hundred, but it would
be worth seeing.
Speaker 4 (44:07):
I think the biggest thing with Will's one hundred was
the fact that he couldn't shoot free throws. To save
his life, and he shot twenty eight for thirty two
from the free throw line.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
I there it is. Yeah for that alone. You're like,
only missed four, but he scored one hundred points. Like,
but do you know about his free throw shooting one
hundred and four? Yeah? Right exactly. Okay. Tony ranked these
current duos in terms of your postseason expectations. Okay, Yoki, Chim, Murray, Luka,
Kyrie KD and Book, Maxie and Tobias Harris.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
I added that last one.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
I know, Maxie and Tobias Harris.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Okay, the objective, now the objective.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
Now give me give me Murray Jokic thing. Wow, he
didn't give me. Didn't give me. Who was the fact?
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Maxie and Harris? No, it was the Luca and Kyrie.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
They give me Luca and Kyrie. Me.
Speaker 5 (45:03):
You're gonna want to take a look at that Maxine
Harris again.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I feel like they're.
Speaker 4 (45:07):
I'm just going to pick Maxie and Harris forth just
out of GP.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
Okay, all right, okay, okay, okay, interesting interesting decision.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Look I took a shot jack, you know what I
mean to say?
Speaker 2 (45:20):
All Right, your time machine still active.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
You now have the ability to go back and use
a magic wand to grant Twitter to the world during
a moment during a single night, for one NBA game,
What one moment or a game from NBA history would
you have liked Twitter to have been around.
Speaker 4 (45:42):
For Game six, nineteen eighty eight Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers,
Isaiah Thomas cours twenty five in one quarter.
Speaker 5 (45:50):
Yeah, on a turned ankle, Right, wasn't his ankle messed
up at that point?
Speaker 4 (45:55):
It's severely sprained ankle.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
Yeah, great, Yeah, that reminded me of me, really gutty
and just like skip my medi you know.
Speaker 4 (46:03):
I want to show NBA Twitter why Isaiah Thomas is
the second best point guard in NBA history.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Wow, shots fired.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
Nuts inspired just saying he's He's criminally underrated in terms
of the NBA Twitter. And I think NBA Twitter needs
to watch a full Isaiah Thomas game, right to get
a grasp of just how good that guy really was.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, number two behind Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (46:34):
Right, number two behind Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Ay. Now, which brings us to our next question and
the most important question, perhaps the final question. Tony, you're
in the sea and you're on a life raft, and
you come upon in the water two men struggling to
stay afloat, one Carmelo Anthony, the other Jalen Brunson. They
need help, but you can only fit one of them
(46:58):
in your life raft. Who do you say, Jesus, that's cool.
Speaker 4 (47:05):
That's tough, and this.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
Is going on your permanent record and it will be
sending your answer and adding them.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
You're like, wow, because I love both of them as
a as a Knicks fan. Man, they both belove it. Man,
that's that's really tough. I'm gonna say Jaylen Brunson for
one reason and one reason only because Jalen Brunson is
still playing. Yeah, still has a chance to add to
his legacy. So theoretically I can still win an NBA
(47:34):
title with Jayleen Brunson. Wow.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
And then you'd be like, Mellow, you get it, man,
you get it, bro, you.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
Got it right, Like you know what I'm saying, Like
this is a Titanic women and children first, Yeah, that's
right because they still have a chance and it's well.
Speaker 5 (47:48):
Not the oldest men, the old men went down with
the ship. Mellow, you get it. Yeah, not asking if
you get it, I'm telling you you get it as
I row away.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
It's been a pleasure playing with you tonight, gentlemen, wait,
can we talk about this a little bit?
Speaker 5 (48:03):
I said, it's been a pleasure playing with you. Mellow
please well, Tony Jones, what a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Having you on. Thanks for doing it, man.
Speaker 4 (48:14):
My guys appreciate y'all. Man, thank you so much. Shout
out to you guys, and shout out to Jabari Davis
for having me as well.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
Before. Beware for the people that want to continue hearing you,
reading you all that kind of thing. Where do people
find you and and ingest your content?
Speaker 4 (48:29):
You can find me at the Athletic and you can
follow me on Twitter.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
It's T Jones on the NBA perfect well. You can
follow us on Twitter and you can follow our hashtag
on Twitter hashtag mad Boosti's v W S t I
E s. For show links and updates. You can follow
me on Twitter. I'm at Miles of Gray.
Speaker 5 (48:46):
I'm at Jack Underscore O'Brien.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
And that that's gonna do it for us this week.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
That well, that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
That's about that well, or there will be continued Yeah,
there will be continued boosties and they will be mad
in it all right, we'll see anything Bye.
The Daily Zeitgeist News
Hosts And Creators
Jack O'Brien
Miles Gray
Show Links
StoreAboutRSSLive AppearancesPopular Podcasts
1. The Podium
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
2. In The Village
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
3. iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.