On today's episode, Jason explains why he believes Luka Doncic's 43 point, 17 rebound, 13 assist performance in the Dallas Mavericks' Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Clippers will go down in history as one of the seminal individual playoff performances of the last 40 years, tells us why 'Playoff P' Paul George could be one of the worst postseason performers in recent history, and wonders aloud why Kawhi Leonard and Doc Rivers aren't facing more criticism from the talking heads as the Clippers' best player and head coach, respectively. Jason also explains how the fact that Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray both dropping 50 points on Sunday night in the same game is further proof that the overall talent in today's NBA is much higher than in year's past. Plus, FS1 and Bleacher Report NBA analyst Ric Bucher swings by to explain why he's still not 100% sold on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, why Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid - and necessarily head coach Brett Brown - should shoulder much of the blame for the Philadelphia Sixers playoff struggles the past few seasons, why he's betting on the Golden State Warriors keeping the #2 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, and much more! Finally, Jason puts his gaudy 71% winning percentage to the test in the Monday edition of the Best Bet.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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to one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's
one flowers dot com slash tune in. This is Straight
Fire with Jason McIntyre. Ladies and gentlemen. It is a
glorious Monday morning. Thank you for joining us for week
(00:46):
three of the Straight Fire Podcast. I'm a little worried
that this may be the best episode we've had. I
don't know if that's possible yet. I mean, we've had
some pretty darn good episodes, but so much happened in
the sports world Sunday, particularly the n b A. I
want to obviously thank you guys for following me on
the Best bet Now five and two after Friday Nights
win and also for subscribing, rating, and reviewing. Remember, this
(01:10):
is the week we want to get to a hundred
and at that point, Rob g and I will come
up with something to uh thank the listeners who give
the most creative comments on iTunes and Spotify. Remember tell
all your friends. All right, let's get down to the
good stuff. Um. I figured we'd start with the Raptors,
just a little humor on a Monday morning. Raptors beat
(01:33):
the nets. Nobody cares. Nobody does except for the city
of Toronto. But we have to start with Luca Done.
And I don't know, guys, I've been an NBA fan
for a long long time and as far as I know,
in the last forty years, I count four seminal NBA
playoff performances. Four. That's it. And before anybody scrambles to
(01:58):
look up the dictionary, what is seminal? Jason highly influential
in an original way? Four seminal playoff performances. Luka Done
just Sunday was the fourth. That's how good it was
what he did to the Clippers going for well, let
they look at this forty three points, seventeen rebounds, thirteen assists,
(02:21):
the game winning step back three over Reggie Jackson, which
is comical that Reggie Jackson found itself guarding Luca done
multiple times, by the way, late in that game. So
four performances and Lucas right there. The other three, I'll
buzz through them quickly. Number One, Magic Johnson at twenty
years old in Okay fills in for Kareem Abdul Jabbar
(02:42):
at center. Jabbar was injured. My dad's favorite player, Creem
Abdul Jabbar. Magic at forty two, fifteen and seven as
a rookie. That seventy team, by the way, had Darryld
Dawkins Chocolate Thunder and Julius Irvin Magic and the Lakers
win second seminal performance NBA playoff history last forty years.
(03:03):
Michael Jordan's sixty three in the Boston Garden overtime lost.
Now that's the only of these four games where the
performer lost. But that was the game afterward where Larry
Bird goes. That was God disguised as Michael Jordan's. Jordan's
hung sixty three on the Celtics, who were in the
midst of, like you know, their eighties dynasty, and nobody
(03:26):
could guard. Jordans just cooked everybody who stepped up. And
Michael Jordan's arrived on that day. We knew he was good.
He was winning dunk contests and all that fun stuff.
That was when it was like, whoa, this dude's gonna
take over the league. He's going to wreck the league.
And you know, four years later he started that amazing
run with the championships. Okay, so Magic one, Jordan's two
(03:48):
and Lebron James was my third. He was twenty two
years old in two thousand seven. He was going up
against the Pistons, who you remember had ended the Kobe
Shack run and then they had three years later. They
were a little old, were but as memory served that
Pistons seam was the number one seed. Lebron went for
forty eight points, had the final twenty five points for
(04:09):
the Caps, and that night I'm watching that game just
in awe is a twenty two year old I'm like,
what's going on? Who is this guy? I mean, is
he that good? We knew he was awesome coming into
the league, but Lebron taking down a team full of champions,
scored twenty five straight points to end the game. He
just willed them to victory. Mesmerizing performance. What we saw
(04:30):
from Luca on Sunday, Guys, that's in the realm of magic.
Michael and Lebron and I'm not even exaggerated, there's no
way around it what Luca did on that And let's
not even forget Okay, Game three, he has to leave
in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, hobbled off
the court, Ice stopped Ice up Son, and he didn't
(04:54):
have Porzingis, their second best player. It's still really unexplained
how Porzingis can go for thirty four points in Game
three and then he's hurt and out in the next
game some some knee injury. And I'm just in all,
I don't care if Luca doesn't win this series. They
they're not expected to. And I know what you're gonna say, Jason,
come on, come on. Magic took down a championship worthy
(05:18):
Hall of Fame team with that Sixers group. Okay, Lebron,
that pistancy, they won a title. Michael took down Larry's
Celtic and Matt Michael lost that game. By the way, Luca,
who's he beating on the Clippers? Oh, I don't know,
the team that was favored for a large chunk of
the season to win the title to a team that Oh,
(05:40):
I don't know. When the season started everybody was saying, Oh,
it's just the greatest team since Michael Jordan's Bulls. I'm
not even making that up. That seriously, I put the
graphic on my Instagram like people were making Oh, look
at this Paul George, Kauai, Montros Eero. This team is
stacked the l A Bulls. They were they were seriously,
that was the hype for this team, and Luca just
took him apart. And now we've come to the portion
(06:03):
of the program where I need to just take a
dump on Paul George. I know, Rob g loves to
just smash Paul George because he's a gigantic playoff fraud.
And I like Paul George. I'm serious, I really do
like him. I wanted him to go to the Lakers,
but of course he wanted to team up with Kawhi Leonard,
and now Kauai looks kind of like an idiot, right,
(06:23):
I mean, it was like, hey, do you want to
come play with Anthony Davis and Lebron and totally dominate
the league and be like a massive super team. No, no, no,
I just want to I want Paul George to run
with me and Paul George that I got the numbers.
Are you ready? Paul George, who has been an abomination,
averaging fifteen a game through four, shooting twent from three.
(06:45):
His points have gone down every game fourteen eleven nine,
he was invisible, invisible in game four. Lou Williams was
like an offensive machine. Problem with Lou Williams is the
MAVs just match up hunt him every single time down
the court. Now, rob G, I'm gonna bring you in here.
But first, I've watched the final few minutes several times.
(07:07):
I've watched the final play at least a dozen. I
showed it to my kids, and then I went out
and started shooting baskets Sunday night. I just needed to.
I mean just I watched Luca, just all his moves.
I'm just like dribbling between my leg doing all this
nerdy stuff. This is I'm a nerdy basketball fan. Okay.
By the way, quick note, it was so hot in
Los Angeles this weekend and we don't have air conditioning.
(07:30):
I convinced the wife, well you know, the wife kind
of convinced me, let's get out of our house. Go
to a hotel where there's air condition Our first hotel
stayed during the pandemic. So we went to Santa Monica.
It's kind of nearby ten miles and I'm watching the
game on my phone at the pool. Of course, I
gotta watch this, and I'm like, this is crazy and
my phone's running low, you know, the batteries like low.
(07:52):
I'm like, I gotta go up to the room. I'm out, sorry,
and I go to room and like it was just madness.
I was just in the room just screaming when this
is going down. I'm a big sports fan, this is
what I do. And watching the Clippers choke was just
so much fun. Rob G, how on earth just Kauai
not get totally trashed for just going off the screen
(08:16):
on the final play when Luca we knew he was
getting a ball and he just switched onto Maxi Kleiber,
who was a big decoy. I don't know, rob G,
how were we not crushing Kawuhi Leonard? I know Paul
George is getting hammer Kauai does there's a lot of
blame here. I feel like you've been reading my my Twitter.
That's what I feel like, because that's exactly the question
that I put out yes on a Sunday evening Kauai Leonard,
(08:40):
and he was great, you know, thirty two points, nine
rebounds forces. He was what Kauai is. But it's not
like he didn't have help, like you said Lou Williams
at thirty six. Reggie Jackson, for all of his faults,
had fourteen off the bench. Zubias had fifteen, So it's
not like guys didn't go with him. The only one
who didn't really show up at all was Paul George.
(09:01):
And somehow Kawhi Leonard escapes complete criticism after blowing a
twenty point lead and refusing to stick on Luca at
the seminal moment of the game. I don't understand how
he can, on one hand, by our good friend calling
coward friend of the show, can possibly be top five
all time with another championship, while also not being good
(09:25):
enough to wear a loss like this on his shoulders
as the leader and the best player on the team.
I don't get it. Yeah, Paul, I mean, Paul George
is playing awful, There's no doubt about that. And listen,
they can easily bounce back and win the next the
next game, but this series is too too and if
Porzingis comes back and You've gotta wonder how shook the
Clippers are. I mean, defensively, you're giving up a buck
(09:47):
twenty five, a buck thirty without Patrick Beverley. I know
he's a dog, and I my god, Chris Boussard loves
to say that Clippers got all these dogs. I mean,
you want a dog like Marcus Morris is a dog.
He can't guard anybody. Montres Harrold shrinking under Bond villain Boban.
By the way, fun note, I was eating dinner with
(10:07):
my family pre pandemic, and Boban was like walking around
and my kids are like, oh my gosh, look at
that guy. Who he must be in the circus and
I was like, no, no, that's this guy on the Clippers.
Bobad's he's a giant. And of course that was you
know when bobab was on the Clippers. Now he plays
for the Mass and I mean he is literally just
turning around and dunking on Montres Harrold. I mean, rob
(10:30):
g I keep hearing about the dogs in Marcus Morris
and Montres Harrold and Kauai and Paul George. I'm not
seeing it. I was so upset yesterday after the game
because the first thing I wanted to do, because you know,
I produced the odd couple of crisp we saw Rob
Parker weeknight seven AM, shameless plug. But Chris specifically has
said all season the difference between the Lakers and the
(10:51):
Clippers is the Clippers have all these dogs in him
and last game in particular, they look like poodles. They
look anything like these German shepherd pit bulls. I've been
led to believe, and I wanted to call him out
and clown Chris Brusstar is so bad for what he's
been saying. But the problem is is that he's also
said that Luca don Ch has like top ten all
(11:13):
time potential, so he covered his basis on both sides.
So if I talk to him about the Clippers and
he'll be like, well, I told you Luca can do this.
So it's kind of frustrating because I really wanted to
get into him, but it's just it's just a personal level.
I don't want to say only Luca was responsible for
this win. It's not just that a twenty one year
old European kid is destroying and eviscerating this allegedly great defense. Um,
(11:37):
let me give a shout out to Seth Curry, who
was pretty great again. Seth Curry story, by the way,
is great. Undrafted in He's been on six different NBA teams.
I don't see how he's not a major contributor everywhere
in the league. This kid can play. And how about
Trey Burke. Trey Burke had twenty five points in the
spots start for Porzingis. He's got to get a big
(11:58):
money deal next year. By the way, folks, Trey trade
Bird is gonna get paid in he was on the
Westchester Knicks. That's an n B and G League team.
I mean, this guy was a lottery pick back in
the day, bounced around teams the G League, and he
just hung twenty five on the alleged dog Clippers. I'm
stunned at this development. Like the Clippers are just a
(12:21):
total embarrassing by the way, guys, if they lose, oh
my god, if they lose this year, I don't even know.
I need to start to prepare mentally. If the Clippers
lose this year, I'll be just so geeked. All right,
We've we've done enough hammering of the Clippers. Want to
cut you off real quick? Can I just pour one
out for all the Doc Rivers apologists who have been
telling me for years that he's a great coach, you know,
(12:42):
discounting the fact that I think could I could be wrong,
but I'm almost positive I'm right. He has two separate
nineteen game losing streaks on his record, and he also
is the one of the originators of the blue a
three one lead with the Chris Paul Lobsy Clippers against Houston.
That's right. But I've been told he's the great coach
and he's the you know, the difference maker for the Clippers.
(13:03):
Rick Carlyle's coaching circles around him in this seaies. I
mean at the end of regulation on Sunday, basically the
Clippers had like eighteen seconds with the ball and it
was Kauai pounding, pounding, and then he took like a
twenty ft fade away, fade away jumper for the win.
Like what kind of play is that, Doc Rivers. Let's
be real here, guys. And I said this about Kevin
Garnett Paul Pierce, Like, seriously, if you don't put to
(13:28):
if Danny Agents doesn't put together a dream team with
KG Pierce, Ray Allen, did he did none of those
guys have titles. They put together a dream team to
stop Lebron and that's for another podcast. But I mean,
other than that great team assembled by Danny Ainges like
Dyac Rivers, I don't see it now. He's very well
liked in l A. He's a super nice guy, apparently
(13:51):
very popular among the media. Knows how to play that game,
so he's he gets a lot of passes. But you're right,
I don't no doubt about half of those guys don't
have jobs. Yeah. I like Kendrick Perkins, but he's not
an NBA anast with that with that ring, Paul Pierce
probably is doing like a local Kansas Jayhawks game if
he doesn't have that ring. Alright, briefly elsewhere Sunday, as
(14:11):
I said, Raptors took down the nets Um guys. On
on my Saturday radio show last July, I did this
fun rant blasting the Raptors because Kauai was leaving and
Danny Green was leaving, and I said, it's back to
the basement, back to the cellar. Nobody cares about the Raptors,
and it was funny, um, And of course they're not
in the basement. The Raptors are now in the second round,
(14:34):
and I swear every time they do something good, tending
with game winning streak, somebody in Canada pops that and
my Instagram and Twitter is just flooded with responses and
the video has got like eight hundred thousand views, which
is I want to get into a million. Let's do that.
So I think I'm gonna have to have a guest
from Toronto. I keep going on these Toronto radio shows
(14:55):
because you know, people love to call in and just
crush me. Oh he was so wrong. Yeah, the Raptors
are gonna face the Celtics. I'm not giving away my
pick now the season the series starts Thursday. Um, just
for point of reference, Celtics, did you know ding them
up a little bit in the regular season, beat them
three and one. Obviously Boston has no margin for error
(15:17):
without Gordon Hayward. But the only Raptors advantage is the bench.
We will talk about that series much later in the week. Uh,
and quickly elsewhere Sunday. And I know there's some people
out there, Jason, what are you guys gonna do? NFL
And before I get to the Nuggets Jazz breakdown, Like,
let's be realistic. There's no NFL games. Did you see
(15:38):
the news that there were seventies seven false positive and
NFL COVID tests over the weekend. Like, that's where we
are in the NFL. There's no games to talk about.
Hard knocks is boring. I can't get into Antonio Brown
maybe getting a look. I mean, obviously the Earl Thomas
released from the Ravens is a big story, but which
(16:00):
talking about a guy who's over thirty. Um, his big
his big claim to fame outside of being parts of
the Legion of Boom, was that he was in an
orgy this summer with his brother during a national pandemic.
Earl Thomas ditches his wife, get some Instagram chicks and
his brother and they have an orgy. And then Earl
(16:20):
Thomas his wife shows up with a gun and puts
a gun on it. Like that's the big story right
now with Earl Thomas. I personally think that's hilarious. It's
one of the top five sports wacky, off the court,
off the field stories of the year. And then Earl
Thomas went to Ravens camp this week. I guess he
was running his mouth again and got in a fight
with a teammate and like the rest of the team
(16:42):
was like, Yo, we don't want this guy in the
walker room. He's a Hall of Famer, no doubt, but
he's a problem. Okay, So that's the biggest story in
the NFL. So we're gonna do plenty of NFL right now.
It's just the NBA is hot, and we do hot
stories on here, hence the title straight fire Okay, real quick,
uh um Okay. First of all, seventy sixers are eliminated.
(17:03):
I'm sure we'll get into that more later in the week. Actually,
we have a guest coming up, Rick Buker, the Great
Rick Buker, who will talk to you about a little
seventy sixers action. Who do you trade? But I just
want to say real quick, nuggets Jazz and I don't
know if you feel the same way, rob G. But like,
on the surface, I wouldn't really care about this series.
And then you turn on a game and watch for
(17:24):
like five minutes, and guys, the ability of guys to
make shots in this league is off the charts. I
know people want to say the NBA is like too
much scoring, no defense. It's not just like there's layups.
You've got like Jamal Murray, who's not even a top
twenty player in the league. He went for fifty on
Sunday Night. Donovan Mitchell had I think fifty one. I
(17:48):
mean yeah, Like, these are guys who are not superstars
and they're dropping fifty because they don't miss. The shot
making in the NBA right now is incredible. The Raptors
scored a hundred fifty on sun Day. Hundred fifty. I mean,
I love daties basketball. I grew up watching Magic and
Larry I was a Magic guy, obviously, and Jordan and
(18:08):
the basketball in the eighties was great. Basketball in the
nineties is a little more rugged, and you know, ninety
point scoring games because they let people tackle one another
and a lot of fights. The the shot making in
the NBA right now is absurd. Even if you don't
love the NBA and you're just listening to this because
you like me, I'm you like the cut of my jib.
I'm kind of funny. I put things in perspective. Whatever.
(18:32):
Just watch, Okay, Mondon, just watch a little bit tonight
and let me know, Holy cow, the level of that
that the guys are really good and Nuggets Jazz was fun.
Jamal Murray hit a three at the buzzer for the cover.
I didn't give it out here, but I did bet
it in game because I was down thanks to the
Clippers loss. But that's neither here nor there. Guys, coming
(18:54):
up next, we got a great interview. I'm talking to
Rick Buker. He's FS one, he's bleacher, he does a podcast,
used to work at ESPN. He's got more jobs than
I do. He knows the NBA. Well, we'll talk to
Rick Buker right after this. Adoption of teams from foster
care is a topic not enough people know about, and
we're here to change that. I'm April Tonuit, the host
of the new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt Us Kids.
(19:17):
Each episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told
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Visit adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe
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you by the U. S Department of Health, that Human
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(19:37):
What grows in the forest trees, sure know what else
grows in the forest? Our imagination our sense of wonder,
and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
(19:58):
near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot Org,
brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
the AD Council. What grows in the forest trees? Sure
know what else grows in the forest. Our imagination, our
sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because
when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we
(20:24):
reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think.
Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
the Forest dot org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Jason likes to
think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I
(20:44):
know what sports stands want, But for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, I'd like to welcome in a special guest
to straight Fire, the great NBA veteran report her. He's
on TV, he's got a podcast, he writes. I like
to think I have a lot of jobs, but Rick
(21:05):
Buker has me beat the great Rick Buker. How are you, Rick?
I'm doing well. How are you, Jason? Yeah, I'm enjoying
the NBA playoffs, that's for sure. We will get to
UH Sunday's recap shortly, but I want to start with
the big game tonight. Lakers trying to take a three
one lead against Portland's You know, when Portland took that
(21:26):
one oh lead, there was some consternation among the Laker
fan base, Rick, and now everything seems to be okay. Hey,
Lebron is playing great, Anthony Davis is showing up k
cps making shots. Are the Lakers finally starting to look
like the championship contender that many think they are. I
don't know that they're looking like a championship contender. They
(21:46):
are looking like a team that should beat the Trailblazers,
and that there was some real question about that after
Game one and the way Game one went. But I'm
still seeing a lot of things that would worry me
as far as their ability to to to win a championship.
Their transition defense is really lazy. They are still giving
(22:08):
up a lot of UH straight line drives, to a
team that certainly has great ball handlers, but there's a
size disadvantage. To me, there's just some things that they're
gonna need to tighten up and they're gonna have to
be more efficient with if if we're talking about winning
a championship. The other thing that concerns me is that
(22:28):
it's requiring a lot of energy from Lebron James. They
don't play well unless Lebron James plays well. And it's
been my contention if you look at some of the
other teams that are vying for a championship, their best
player doesn't can doesn't, can't play poorly, but there are
(22:49):
other guys who can pick up the slack and can
play big and play big at the end of games
and win games. We've seen everybody's like knocking Paul George
for the fact that he's been up and down, and
yet the Clippers continue to play well without because Kauhi
Leonards playing well. Uh, They're They're getting contributions from a
(23:11):
lot of different places, and that, to me is the
biggest concern with the Lakers is are you going to
get enough guys contributing on a regular basis If we're
talking about winning a championship. Not beating the Blazers, but
winning a championship. Okay, okay, I jumped ahead. Championship. Let's
back up to the second round when they get by
the Blazers. Um, you know they've really struggled. Containing Lillard
(23:32):
and McCollum made one of the best backcourts in the league.
They're gonna face another pretty good backcourt duo next round.
Assuming James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Well, James Harden by
himself puts away. Okay. See, Um, I don't know. I
keep thinking that the Rockets are way more dangerous than Portland,
and maybe even more dangerous to the Lakers than the Clippers,
(23:53):
because for whatever reason, Frank Vogel loves the big double
centers and Anthony Davis hates to play the five. The
Rockets pose a significant threat. That's accurate, right, I'm gonna
say yes. And I didn't always feel that way. I
wondered whether they could survive, and I still I guess
the question still remains. When you ask so much of
(24:15):
one guy in James Harden, can he give it to
you night in, night out. As the competition increases and
as the playoffs go on, can he maintain this? That
is the biggest question that I have. But the way
they've been able to function playing super small UH, and
(24:37):
the way that they're I mean, Ben McLamore is hitting
open threes. P J. Tucker, as we know, is the
king of the corner three. Just watching them against okay See,
Like okay See hasn't played poorly, but nobody shoots the
three like Houston does. And so even when you're being
(24:57):
efficient in your half court set as a bigger team
and you're getting to the cup or you're getting it
to your big and Steven Adams is core scoring, he's scoring,
you go to the other end and somebody's hitting a
wide open three and you've you you think you've done well,
but you have lost in the exchange three to two.
(25:18):
And I think there's a pressure that comes with that
to start shooting threes the way Houston shoots threes, to
to keep pace, and as a result, you end up
doing something that they're ultimately better at. Yeah, and so
okay See struggle with that. It's a great point. They
fell into the three point shooting UH in Game three.
(25:39):
But Rick, let me, I don't want to say that
the Rockets are locked to get by okay See, because
I wonder in that overtime, for the first time in
the bubble, Harden looked a little bit tired. He did
take twenty seven shots, he missed, uh fifteen of them
fouled out. He looked a little gas and okay Se
went small. I mean, it would be huge for the
Lakers obviously if they beat Portland for one and okay
See's able to push Houston. But do you think that
(26:02):
the Lakers have enough to get by the Rockets in
the second round. Yes, I do believe that they have enough,
but they are going to have to play a lot harder,
more consistently than they have. And what's really interesting, this
is one of the elements that I'm watching, is everybody
(26:24):
has these. First of all, Alex Caruso became like a
regular season hero, right, And people have high expectations for
Kyle Kuzma because of his athleticism. Right, he's kind of
the the young gun among the top players with the
with the Lakers, he compensates for what is otherwise a
(26:45):
very old team. Right. But as the player like Alex
Caruso is is being exposed as oh, he's a really
nice regular season player. But now you get to the
playoffs and now how you have to be efficient or
now you're not getting those calls, or now they have
(27:05):
to lean on him a little harder to make plays
in big spots, and now you're not seeing it. You're
not you're not seeing the same thing. And Kyle Kuzma's
erratic decision making like suddenly you go, oh, that's like
that hurt. It. Just the expectations and the level of
(27:26):
play goes up another level. And those guys who look
good in the regular season because you could kind of
get get away with their mistakes and you could glorify
their successes. Now the successes you have to have. That
has to be part of the equation, and you gotta
be able to get rid of some of those those mistakes.
And and so that's that's where I'm concerned, is you're
(27:49):
relying on guys in Kuzma and Caruso. I mean, I'm
not making this up, right, if you look at them,
you're expecting contributions, Jason, You're expect think those guys to
contribute in some significant way, right kind of. I mean
Caruso was solid in Game three, he was forgettable in
the first two games. He had ten point seven assists
(28:12):
in that game three win. But I think that's probably
exceeding what you're saying the Lakers should expect. So so,
so here's the thing. So we have Danny Green, you
have k CP, you have Kyle Kuzma, and you uh uh,
and you have Alex Caruso, Like you have to have
at least two of those guys show up every game, right,
(28:33):
at least two? At least two? Are you confident that
you're going to get something out of two out of
the four every game? I mean, Rick, I'm hopeful that
Rondo's back spasms, uh, you know, subside and he's able
to chip in because I think him as a secondary
(28:54):
ball handler would be massive. And then Dion Waiters, I
don't know what's going on with Dion Waiters. He's somehow
uh fallen out of favor with Frank Vogel. I mean,
he's behind J R. Smith in the rotation. I don't
have you heard anything as to what Waiters did or
said that's got him kind of in the doghouse. I don't.
I don't know that it's anything that Waiters did. I honestly,
I feel like they needed to get j R. Smith
(29:16):
in the shape and then to see what he has.
You're seeing the same thing with the Clippers. They started
Reggie Jackson, they started Landry Shammont. I was really amazed.
I was like, why is Doc still playing Landry Shammont?
He was so bad in the bubble. He could not
hit a three, He could not hit the three. He
had wide open threes that he was missing left and right,
(29:38):
And I'm like, at some point, don't you have to
put this guy on the shelf. But I think what
the what what coaches are doing is they're looking at
the fact that this schedule where you're playing every other
day without a break, and you're playing playoff level basketball.
It's like they're trying to protect guys from getting hurt
(30:00):
having to play at this level this frequently with the
relatively short run up. So it's like, you know what,
I'm going to continue to go into my bench. I'm
gonna continue to try to milk minutes from different places,
and when we get to a place where the series
is two two or three two, or we're we're we're
(30:20):
in a need situation, then I'll tighten up my my
my rotation. But for now, it's like, I need to
just be able to utilize everybody so that I'm not
putting too much stress on any one player. And we
saw that with the Clippers on Sunday. Right, Porzingis had
thirty four in game two. Sorry, Game three was great,
(30:41):
and then he couldn't go, you know, in game four
because of nis ortists, and I wonder you're right if
you're onto something with the injuries, Rick, let's quickly move
on to a team Sunday that you know, they had
the loss of Ben Simmons and they never looked right.
You could argue they never were in a game really
against the Celtics. I mean they had a couple of
moments here and there. But you know, we we were
(31:02):
kind of early on this Rick last week we said, like, listen,
the process is over. You're gonna have to look at
Dustin Brett Brown. I think Elton Brand's gonna face some
scrutiny here for the contracts he gave out like Candy
last summer. I'll start you off big picture here, where
do you go from here? If you're the Sixers you
got swept by the Celtics, Who goes, who stays? And
(31:23):
who do you put on the trade block. The difficulty
is what can you get back for Ben Simmons or
Joel embid at this point, that's going to be it's
gonna make make you appreciably better. First of all, they
have huge contracts and now not one, but both of
them have injury questions. So like, if I'm another team
(31:45):
the talent, yeah, like I I I could see wanting
either guy, but is either am I giving away healthy
pieces for these guys? I mean, let's let's flip it around.
I'm a GM who fires Joel Embiid and then he
gets hurt, I might as well just hand in my top,
(32:05):
my my resignation, right and because I can't go well,
I didn't see that coming or or Ben Simmons at
this point, like the in the Patel a tendon injury
that he has, the back injury. These are not like
rolled ankles. These aren't like torn meniscus, These aren't stand
These are the kind of injuries that raise red flags
(32:27):
as far as having long term issues. So honestly, I,
you know, the the the easiest thing is to change
out the coach. I would fully expect that that that
that that that that's going to happen at this point.
But because but it's and it's not so much that
Brett Brown couldn't coach them, it's that now you need
to turn the responsibility on Ben and Joel and say, look,
(32:55):
all right, coaches gone, we got a new coach. You
guys need to show that that was the problem and
that you're not the problem. I, on one hand, becomes
Delton brand. I love the fact that he decided, you
know what, everybody's playing small, We're gonna go the other direction.
(33:15):
We're gonna go big and we're gonna we're gonna beat
people up and we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna zig
when everybody's aggs. I I don't I don't have a
problem with that. I think that's I get it. It's
kind of the way they did it, like Al Horford
giving him that kind of money at his age, if
(33:36):
he was a big and he was twenty seven and
you still had that that like he had that market value.
But moving out at this point, like who's taken on
that money? Especially with the salary cap potentially going down.
They just handed themselves in the corner. How about this,
if you're the Atlanta Hawks, I think you had the
(33:57):
youngest team in the league, you have no veteran presence
in that locker room, you have a ton of salary
cap space. Obviously, don't want to take on a bad contract.
But it's rick It's not like the Hawks are luring
any top tier free agents there. So if you're Atlanta,
do you consider Al Horford as a potential mentor to
the likes of Clint Capella, John Collins, even a trey
(34:19):
young DeAndre Hunter learned how to be a professional, how
to show up for work every day, do the right thing.
I mean, is that crazy to say. I'm sure Hawks
fans would hate taking on a bad contract, but the
reality is nobody's there. They're not getting anybody to go
there in free agency that the Hawks have seen Al
Horford as I know, I know and well. And this
(34:40):
is the tricky part when it comes to Al, is
that Al is the consummate professional. He is a lead
by example guy, but he's not a voice in that
locker room. And he's and and there are times where
that's what you need, and that's that's the that's the
misnomer in in thinking that Al going to provide that,
(35:01):
And honestly, it's what Philadelphia desperately needs, like losing JJ Reddick,
losing Jimmy Butler. Those were the veteran vocal guys in
the locker room. And that's what they do not have.
And the tricky part is, I don't know where they're
going to get it. Owl's not that Tobias is not
(35:23):
that Joel is Is is a goofy kid. He's still
a goofy kid. He still plays like a goofy kid.
Ben doesn't hold anybody accountable, like he doesn't call himself accountable.
And I mean, that's that's the heart of it. When
you have a guy in Ben Simmons who has resisted
(35:44):
developing a jump shot when that is critical to the
success of the team, and that's your leader. The excuse
that gives everybody else when you go, hey, you listen,
you gotta do this, you gotta develop this, you gotta
develop your left hand, and you gotta be able to
like whatever it is. Every guy's gonna look at and
(36:04):
go he's not. You're not making him do it, and
he's more critical than I am. Like it. It eats
away at the fabric of your team when your best players,
when Joel embat is not getting in in premium shape.
When Ben Simmons is not completing his talent his skill
(36:25):
set like this, that the example that sets for the
rest of your team is crushing. If you want to
win a championship, there's just there's like you can blame
Bett Brown all you want. When your two best players
are setting that example, there is no chance of you
winning a championship. I mean, double zero, Rick. I wish
(36:46):
that that shot by Kauai last year, that Game seven
buzzer beater had not gone in, because I would have
loved to see what would have happen six ers Bucks.
We're right, we would have got embad versus Janice. I
love that. Jimmy Butler or wing with you know, jj Reddick,
as you said, like that would have been the series.
It felt like that was the end of the process,
and then a bunch of clownish decisions. Well, and and
(37:10):
that's the thing is like, so say they go to
the next level, say they say they say they played
for a championship. Don't you think Philadelphia takes a completely
different approach to the to the offseason. I mean it
really is like the direction of teams can change on
a on a game like that, and you can go
(37:33):
from this is what we could have been. I mean,
it's funny because I'm I'm working on a working on
a book with Brian grant Um his memorials. He's battling
Parkinson's now. And he played on the Portland's team that
(37:55):
was really good and got stopped in its tracks by
San Antonio with the mirror goal shot by Sean Elliott.
And the San Antonio Spurs go on and they play
the Knicks in the in the finals, that eight seeded
Knicks team that beat the Miami Heat in the lockout year.
(38:15):
San Antonio wins its first championship and totally different approach.
Portland loses and they move some pieces, they bring some
veteran guys in like Steve Smith and uh And and
Scottie Pippen, and then they go for it and they
lose the game seven to the Lakers. And then and
(38:35):
the Lakers turn the corner and they become a championship
team and the Blazers have to go back to the
drawing board again. And and it's like you look at what,
you know, how close certain teams get to that point,
they get to the top of the mountain and they
can't take that last step and then it's like it's
(38:57):
almost like it never happened. Okay, so that's perfect. Let
me wrap up with this. So the Golden State Warriors,
of course, we're on track to win the title. Last year,
Durant goes down, Clay goes down, They're a train wreck.
This year they now got to have the number to
pick in the draft. But Rick, what's interesting to me
is there's a lot of talk about this trade exception
that they have seventeen million dollars. Okay, they've got Draymond Wiggins,
(39:20):
Clay Curry. I know we're in a pandemic and a
lot of owners are stretched thin. But if I'm Curry
and Clay and Draymond, I'm saying, hey, listen, we've got
the core to make a run. Look at the West, Okay,
Lebron and the Lakers look susceptible. Uh, You've got a
lot of teams that are on the come up. The
West is gonna be stacked next year. The Sons could
be players. Let's make a go. Do you think the
(39:42):
Warriors make any dramatic changes in terms of some kind
of package of Wiggins in the number two or making
a move on someone for the trade exception. You know,
I know it. It feels like the end for the Warriors,
but I feel like their ownership is gonna make one
more play. I don't see it. Oh goodness, it's and
(40:02):
it's simply because one, I don't know who you're going
to get with the Wiggins draft pick package that is
going to make them demonstrably better, like that are gonna
put him in that category. And the other part is
you need you need that. You need that rookie salary.
(40:25):
You know, you need a good player on the rookie
salary because they are very expensive. They have a brand
new arena that Joe Lake of financed. You're not. You
don't have any concerts in there, you don't have any
fans in there like they For as brilliant as they
have been and as great as that was, uh financially
(40:48):
to create that, they are hurting in the biggest way possible.
So I just don't see where you go that. And
quite honestly, now you're putting yourself in a position Asian
where your whole team is going to get old at
the same time you need and they have no young
players to develop on Like I'm I I have to
(41:09):
I can't look at I'm gonna throw everything against the
wall in order to get one last stab with Clay,
Steph and Dre. And then what then I had what
Jordan's pool? Eric Pashal. No, they don't, they don't have
no they I mean they they haven't. And and it's funny.
(41:30):
I just did this piece on t J. Warren sent
to the Pacers for cash considerations, and I was thinking,
that's the guy that the Warriors needed to get because
he's a scorer. He can play that three four position,
but he's a scorer with a conscience. He's a kind
of guy who can fill it up, but he wants
(41:51):
to play the right way, so he would have no problem.
He has the same mindset as Steph and Clay and Dre,
which is I'm want to play. Yes, I can score,
Yeah I can do my thing, but I want to
play team basketball. And that's the kind like if they
were really light years ahead of everybody else, as Joel
(42:12):
once said, that's the guy that you find who is
at that age and has that ability where you find
that diamond in the rough. And they missed on that,
and and it's now it's like now you'd be chasing
the dragon you're trying to, like, trying to get something
that I just don't think is there to be got?
All right, Rick Buker obviously follow him on social media,
(42:35):
knows the NBA as well as anybody. Rick, Thanks a
lot for your time. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs.
You gotta chasing YouTube, Get right to the romance and
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(42:56):
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(43:19):
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(43:41):
and we're live here outside the Perez family home, just
waiting for the And there they go, almost on time.
This morning. Mom is coming off the front door, strong
with a double arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has
the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but
the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and boys are everywhere.
(44:02):
But Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle
for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks
to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in
the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bad clothes and they're off,
But looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is
still on the roof of the car. And there it goes. Oh,
(44:23):
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(44:47):
thing better than sitting on your couch watching the game.
He's making money while you do it. Here's your best
bat right. Bet moved to five and to Friday night
with a victory, and I've already forgotten more game it was.
(45:08):
There's a million games over the weekend. Forgive me for that.
I looked really hard at Houston bouncing back, but I'm
let me just put the concern out there now. James
Harden for the first time. We know he's got some
history of wearing down in the postseason. He's looked fresh
throughout the bubble restart. But James Harden late in that okay,
(45:28):
see game, looked a little tired. Twenty seven shots, no
rush to defer to, he did foul out and UM
shot selection wasn't great. I don't think I can ride Houston.
I told you I'm done with the double digit favorite,
so obviously that rules out. In Milwaukee, I wanted to
get Cute into a Portland's first half bet because I
think that's their best bet. They show up early in
(45:49):
the first or maybe first quarter. Lakers those slow starts.
But I'm gonna ride my guys the Miami Heat. I
think if you're Indiana and you're now down, what is
it three oh in this year? Reason, it's like, what
are we doing here? I've been in the bubble for
six seven weeks. I get to go out and see
my family. I'm sure guys are lining up some you know,
(46:10):
some of these Instagram girls they like to date, They're
already setting stuff up. Is the focus on Duncan Robinson
and Tyler Hero and Jimmy Butler and bam a to Bio.
I think Miami beats down Indiana. I also think Miami
will watch what Milwaukee does to to Orlando and say, yo,
we need an extra day off. We gotta take him down.
(46:32):
So give me the Miami Heat favored by six and
a half over Indiana as my best bet for Monday Night.
All right, guys, thanks a lot for listening. Another show
in the books. This one got a little long, but hey, Luca,
as we said, historic stuff on Sunday, I can't wait.
This week is just gonna be awesome. Remember, tell all
your friends, subscribe, rate and review, And I do see
(46:53):
all the tweets. I can't reply to all of them
or the Instagram d ms, but trust me. I see
him as the show continues to gain steam and momentum.
I'm just so excited and having a lot of fun,
and I'm glad you guys are on board. We'll talk
tomorrow
Get right to the romance and find the way to
wow this Valentine's with one hundred flowers dot Com. From
classic roses and Bouquet's to decadent chocolate covered berries, gourmet
treats and more. Surprise your Valentine with one flowers dot
com right now. Get the eighteen stem enchanted rose medley
for or upgrade red Roses for ten dollars more. Go
(00:23):
to one hundred flowers dot com slash tune in. That's
one flowers dot com slash tune in. This is Straight
Fire with Jason McIntyre. Ladies and gentlemen. It is a
glorious Monday morning. Thank you for joining us for week
(00:46):
three of the Straight Fire Podcast. I'm a little worried
that this may be the best episode we've had. I
don't know if that's possible yet. I mean, we've had
some pretty darn good episodes, but so much happened in
the sports world Sunday, particularly the n b A. I
want to obviously thank you guys for following me on
the Best bet Now five and two after Friday Nights
win and also for subscribing, rating, and reviewing. Remember, this
(01:10):
is the week we want to get to a hundred
and at that point, Rob g and I will come
up with something to uh thank the listeners who give
the most creative comments on iTunes and Spotify. Remember tell
all your friends. All right, let's get down to the
good stuff. Um. I figured we'd start with the Raptors,
just a little humor on a Monday morning. Raptors beat
(01:33):
the nets. Nobody cares. Nobody does except for the city
of Toronto. But we have to start with Luca Done.
And I don't know, guys, I've been an NBA fan
for a long long time and as far as I know,
in the last forty years, I count four seminal NBA
playoff performances. Four. That's it. And before anybody scrambles to
(01:58):
look up the dictionary, what is seminal? Jason highly influential
in an original way? Four seminal playoff performances. Luka Done
just Sunday was the fourth. That's how good it was
what he did to the Clippers going for well, let
they look at this forty three points, seventeen rebounds, thirteen assists,
(02:21):
the game winning step back three over Reggie Jackson, which
is comical that Reggie Jackson found itself guarding Luca done
multiple times, by the way, late in that game. So
four performances and Lucas right there. The other three, I'll
buzz through them quickly. Number One, Magic Johnson at twenty
years old in Okay fills in for Kareem Abdul Jabbar
(02:42):
at center. Jabbar was injured. My dad's favorite player, Creem
Abdul Jabbar. Magic at forty two, fifteen and seven as
a rookie. That seventy team, by the way, had Darryld
Dawkins Chocolate Thunder and Julius Irvin Magic and the Lakers
win second seminal performance NBA playoff history last forty years.
(03:03):
Michael Jordan's sixty three in the Boston Garden overtime lost.
Now that's the only of these four games where the
performer lost. But that was the game afterward where Larry
Bird goes. That was God disguised as Michael Jordan's. Jordan's
hung sixty three on the Celtics, who were in the
midst of, like you know, their eighties dynasty, and nobody
(03:26):
could guard. Jordans just cooked everybody who stepped up. And
Michael Jordan's arrived on that day. We knew he was good.
He was winning dunk contests and all that fun stuff.
That was when it was like, whoa, this dude's gonna
take over the league. He's going to wreck the league.
And you know, four years later he started that amazing
run with the championships. Okay, so Magic one, Jordan's two
(03:48):
and Lebron James was my third. He was twenty two
years old in two thousand seven. He was going up
against the Pistons, who you remember had ended the Kobe
Shack run and then they had three years later. They
were a little old, were but as memory served that
Pistons seam was the number one seed. Lebron went for
forty eight points, had the final twenty five points for
(04:09):
the Caps, and that night I'm watching that game just
in awe is a twenty two year old I'm like,
what's going on? Who is this guy? I mean, is
he that good? We knew he was awesome coming into
the league, but Lebron taking down a team full of champions,
scored twenty five straight points to end the game. He
just willed them to victory. Mesmerizing performance. What we saw
(04:30):
from Luca on Sunday, Guys, that's in the realm of magic.
Michael and Lebron and I'm not even exaggerated, there's no
way around it what Luca did on that And let's
not even forget Okay, Game three, he has to leave
in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, hobbled off
the court, Ice stopped Ice up Son, and he didn't
(04:54):
have Porzingis, their second best player. It's still really unexplained
how Porzingis can go for thirty four points in Game
three and then he's hurt and out in the next
game some some knee injury. And I'm just in all,
I don't care if Luca doesn't win this series. They
they're not expected to. And I know what you're gonna say, Jason,
come on, come on. Magic took down a championship worthy
(05:18):
Hall of Fame team with that Sixers group. Okay, Lebron,
that pistancy, they won a title. Michael took down Larry's
Celtic and Matt Michael lost that game. By the way, Luca,
who's he beating on the Clippers? Oh, I don't know,
the team that was favored for a large chunk of
the season to win the title to a team that Oh,
(05:40):
I don't know. When the season started everybody was saying, Oh,
it's just the greatest team since Michael Jordan's Bulls. I'm
not even making that up. That seriously, I put the
graphic on my Instagram like people were making Oh, look
at this Paul George, Kauai, Montros Eero. This team is
stacked the l A Bulls. They were they were seriously,
that was the hype for this team, and Luca just
took him apart. And now we've come to the portion
(06:03):
of the program where I need to just take a
dump on Paul George. I know, Rob g loves to
just smash Paul George because he's a gigantic playoff fraud.
And I like Paul George. I'm serious, I really do
like him. I wanted him to go to the Lakers,
but of course he wanted to team up with Kawhi Leonard,
and now Kauai looks kind of like an idiot, right,
(06:23):
I mean, it was like, hey, do you want to
come play with Anthony Davis and Lebron and totally dominate
the league and be like a massive super team. No, no, no,
I just want to I want Paul George to run
with me and Paul George that I got the numbers.
Are you ready? Paul George, who has been an abomination,
averaging fifteen a game through four, shooting twent from three.
(06:45):
His points have gone down every game fourteen eleven nine,
he was invisible, invisible in game four. Lou Williams was
like an offensive machine. Problem with Lou Williams is the
MAVs just match up hunt him every single time down
the court. Now, rob G, I'm gonna bring you in here.
But first, I've watched the final few minutes several times.
(07:07):
I've watched the final play at least a dozen. I
showed it to my kids, and then I went out
and started shooting baskets Sunday night. I just needed to.
I mean just I watched Luca, just all his moves.
I'm just like dribbling between my leg doing all this
nerdy stuff. This is I'm a nerdy basketball fan. Okay.
By the way, quick note, it was so hot in
Los Angeles this weekend and we don't have air conditioning.
(07:30):
I convinced the wife, well you know, the wife kind
of convinced me, let's get out of our house. Go
to a hotel where there's air condition Our first hotel
stayed during the pandemic. So we went to Santa Monica.
It's kind of nearby ten miles and I'm watching the
game on my phone at the pool. Of course, I
gotta watch this, and I'm like, this is crazy and
my phone's running low, you know, the batteries like low.
(07:52):
I'm like, I gotta go up to the room. I'm out, sorry,
and I go to room and like it was just madness.
I was just in the room just screaming when this
is going down. I'm a big sports fan, this is
what I do. And watching the Clippers choke was just
so much fun. Rob G, how on earth just Kauai
not get totally trashed for just going off the screen
(08:16):
on the final play when Luca we knew he was
getting a ball and he just switched onto Maxi Kleiber,
who was a big decoy. I don't know, rob G,
how were we not crushing Kawuhi Leonard? I know Paul
George is getting hammer Kauai does there's a lot of
blame here. I feel like you've been reading my my Twitter.
That's what I feel like, because that's exactly the question
that I put out yes on a Sunday evening Kauai Leonard,
(08:40):
and he was great, you know, thirty two points, nine
rebounds forces. He was what Kauai is. But it's not
like he didn't have help, like you said Lou Williams
at thirty six. Reggie Jackson, for all of his faults,
had fourteen off the bench. Zubias had fifteen, So it's
not like guys didn't go with him. The only one
who didn't really show up at all was Paul George.
(09:01):
And somehow Kawhi Leonard escapes complete criticism after blowing a
twenty point lead and refusing to stick on Luca at
the seminal moment of the game. I don't understand how
he can, on one hand, by our good friend calling
coward friend of the show, can possibly be top five
all time with another championship, while also not being good
(09:25):
enough to wear a loss like this on his shoulders
as the leader and the best player on the team.
I don't get it. Yeah, Paul, I mean, Paul George
is playing awful, There's no doubt about that. And listen,
they can easily bounce back and win the next the
next game, but this series is too too and if
Porzingis comes back and You've gotta wonder how shook the
Clippers are. I mean, defensively, you're giving up a buck
(09:47):
twenty five, a buck thirty without Patrick Beverley. I know
he's a dog, and I my god, Chris Boussard loves
to say that Clippers got all these dogs. I mean,
you want a dog like Marcus Morris is a dog.
He can't guard anybody. Montres Harrold shrinking under Bond villain Boban.
By the way, fun note, I was eating dinner with
(10:07):
my family pre pandemic, and Boban was like walking around
and my kids are like, oh my gosh, look at
that guy. Who he must be in the circus and
I was like, no, no, that's this guy on the Clippers.
Bobad's he's a giant. And of course that was you
know when bobab was on the Clippers. Now he plays
for the Mass and I mean he is literally just
turning around and dunking on Montres Harrold. I mean, rob
(10:30):
g I keep hearing about the dogs in Marcus Morris
and Montres Harrold and Kauai and Paul George. I'm not
seeing it. I was so upset yesterday after the game
because the first thing I wanted to do, because you know,
I produced the odd couple of crisp we saw Rob
Parker weeknight seven AM, shameless plug. But Chris specifically has
said all season the difference between the Lakers and the
(10:51):
Clippers is the Clippers have all these dogs in him
and last game in particular, they look like poodles. They
look anything like these German shepherd pit bulls. I've been
led to believe, and I wanted to call him out
and clown Chris Brusstar is so bad for what he's
been saying. But the problem is is that he's also
said that Luca don Ch has like top ten all
(11:13):
time potential, so he covered his basis on both sides.
So if I talk to him about the Clippers and
he'll be like, well, I told you Luca can do this.
So it's kind of frustrating because I really wanted to
get into him, but it's just it's just a personal level.
I don't want to say only Luca was responsible for
this win. It's not just that a twenty one year
old European kid is destroying and eviscerating this allegedly great defense. Um,
(11:37):
let me give a shout out to Seth Curry, who
was pretty great again. Seth Curry story, by the way,
is great. Undrafted in He's been on six different NBA teams.
I don't see how he's not a major contributor everywhere
in the league. This kid can play. And how about
Trey Burke. Trey Burke had twenty five points in the
spots start for Porzingis. He's got to get a big
(11:58):
money deal next year. By the way, folks, Trey trade
Bird is gonna get paid in he was on the
Westchester Knicks. That's an n B and G League team.
I mean, this guy was a lottery pick back in
the day, bounced around teams the G League, and he
just hung twenty five on the alleged dog Clippers. I'm
stunned at this development. Like the Clippers are just a
(12:21):
total embarrassing by the way, guys, if they lose, oh
my god, if they lose this year, I don't even know.
I need to start to prepare mentally. If the Clippers
lose this year, I'll be just so geeked. All right,
We've we've done enough hammering of the Clippers. Want to
cut you off real quick? Can I just pour one
out for all the Doc Rivers apologists who have been
telling me for years that he's a great coach, you know,
(12:42):
discounting the fact that I think could I could be wrong,
but I'm almost positive I'm right. He has two separate
nineteen game losing streaks on his record, and he also
is the one of the originators of the blue a
three one lead with the Chris Paul Lobsy Clippers against Houston.
That's right. But I've been told he's the great coach
and he's the you know, the difference maker for the Clippers.
(13:03):
Rick Carlyle's coaching circles around him in this seaies. I
mean at the end of regulation on Sunday, basically the
Clippers had like eighteen seconds with the ball and it
was Kauai pounding, pounding, and then he took like a
twenty ft fade away, fade away jumper for the win.
Like what kind of play is that, Doc Rivers. Let's
be real here, guys. And I said this about Kevin
Garnett Paul Pierce, Like, seriously, if you don't put to
(13:28):
if Danny Agents doesn't put together a dream team with
KG Pierce, Ray Allen, did he did none of those
guys have titles. They put together a dream team to
stop Lebron and that's for another podcast. But I mean,
other than that great team assembled by Danny Ainges like
Dyac Rivers, I don't see it now. He's very well
liked in l A. He's a super nice guy, apparently
(13:51):
very popular among the media. Knows how to play that game,
so he's he gets a lot of passes. But you're right,
I don't no doubt about half of those guys don't
have jobs. Yeah. I like Kendrick Perkins, but he's not
an NBA anast with that with that ring, Paul Pierce
probably is doing like a local Kansas Jayhawks game if
he doesn't have that ring. Alright, briefly elsewhere Sunday, as
(14:11):
I said, Raptors took down the nets Um guys. On
on my Saturday radio show last July, I did this
fun rant blasting the Raptors because Kauai was leaving and
Danny Green was leaving, and I said, it's back to
the basement, back to the cellar. Nobody cares about the Raptors,
and it was funny, um, And of course they're not
in the basement. The Raptors are now in the second round,
(14:34):
and I swear every time they do something good, tending
with game winning streak, somebody in Canada pops that and
my Instagram and Twitter is just flooded with responses and
the video has got like eight hundred thousand views, which
is I want to get into a million. Let's do that.
So I think I'm gonna have to have a guest
from Toronto. I keep going on these Toronto radio shows
(14:55):
because you know, people love to call in and just
crush me. Oh he was so wrong. Yeah, the Raptors
are gonna face the Celtics. I'm not giving away my
pick now the season the series starts Thursday. Um, just
for point of reference, Celtics, did you know ding them
up a little bit in the regular season, beat them
three and one. Obviously Boston has no margin for error
(15:17):
without Gordon Hayward. But the only Raptors advantage is the bench.
We will talk about that series much later in the week. Uh,
and quickly elsewhere Sunday. And I know there's some people
out there, Jason, what are you guys gonna do? NFL
And before I get to the Nuggets Jazz breakdown, Like,
let's be realistic. There's no NFL games. Did you see
(15:38):
the news that there were seventies seven false positive and
NFL COVID tests over the weekend. Like, that's where we
are in the NFL. There's no games to talk about.
Hard knocks is boring. I can't get into Antonio Brown
maybe getting a look. I mean, obviously the Earl Thomas
released from the Ravens is a big story, but which
(16:00):
talking about a guy who's over thirty. Um, his big
his big claim to fame outside of being parts of
the Legion of Boom, was that he was in an
orgy this summer with his brother during a national pandemic.
Earl Thomas ditches his wife, get some Instagram chicks and
his brother and they have an orgy. And then Earl
(16:20):
Thomas his wife shows up with a gun and puts
a gun on it. Like that's the big story right
now with Earl Thomas. I personally think that's hilarious. It's
one of the top five sports wacky, off the court,
off the field stories of the year. And then Earl
Thomas went to Ravens camp this week. I guess he
was running his mouth again and got in a fight
with a teammate and like the rest of the team
(16:42):
was like, Yo, we don't want this guy in the
walker room. He's a Hall of Famer, no doubt, but
he's a problem. Okay, So that's the biggest story in
the NFL. So we're gonna do plenty of NFL right now.
It's just the NBA is hot, and we do hot
stories on here, hence the title straight fire Okay, real quick,
uh um Okay. First of all, seventy sixers are eliminated.
(17:03):
I'm sure we'll get into that more later in the week. Actually,
we have a guest coming up, Rick Buker, the Great
Rick Buker, who will talk to you about a little
seventy sixers action. Who do you trade? But I just
want to say real quick, nuggets Jazz and I don't
know if you feel the same way, rob G. But like,
on the surface, I wouldn't really care about this series.
And then you turn on a game and watch for
(17:24):
like five minutes, and guys, the ability of guys to
make shots in this league is off the charts. I
know people want to say the NBA is like too
much scoring, no defense. It's not just like there's layups.
You've got like Jamal Murray, who's not even a top
twenty player in the league. He went for fifty on
Sunday Night. Donovan Mitchell had I think fifty one. I
(17:48):
mean yeah, Like, these are guys who are not superstars
and they're dropping fifty because they don't miss. The shot
making in the NBA right now is incredible. The Raptors
scored a hundred fifty on sun Day. Hundred fifty. I mean,
I love daties basketball. I grew up watching Magic and
Larry I was a Magic guy, obviously, and Jordan and
(18:08):
the basketball in the eighties was great. Basketball in the
nineties is a little more rugged, and you know, ninety
point scoring games because they let people tackle one another
and a lot of fights. The the shot making in
the NBA right now is absurd. Even if you don't
love the NBA and you're just listening to this because
you like me, I'm you like the cut of my jib.
I'm kind of funny. I put things in perspective. Whatever.
(18:32):
Just watch, Okay, Mondon, just watch a little bit tonight
and let me know, Holy cow, the level of that
that the guys are really good and Nuggets Jazz was fun.
Jamal Murray hit a three at the buzzer for the cover.
I didn't give it out here, but I did bet
it in game because I was down thanks to the
Clippers loss. But that's neither here nor there. Guys, coming
(18:54):
up next, we got a great interview. I'm talking to
Rick Buker. He's FS one, he's bleacher, he does a podcast,
used to work at ESPN. He's got more jobs than
I do. He knows the NBA. Well, we'll talk to
Rick Buker right after this. Adoption of teams from foster
care is a topic not enough people know about, and
we're here to change that. I'm April Tonuit, the host
of the new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt Us Kids.
(19:17):
Each episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told
by the families that lived them, with commentary from experts.
Visit adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe
to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids, brought to
you by the U. S Department of Health, that Human
Services Administration for Children and Families, and the Act Council.
(19:37):
What grows in the forest trees, sure know what else
grows in the forest? Our imagination our sense of wonder,
and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
(19:58):
near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot Org,
brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
the AD Council. What grows in the forest trees? Sure
know what else grows in the forest. Our imagination, our
sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because
when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we
(20:24):
reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think.
Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
the Forest dot org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Jason likes to
think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I
(20:44):
know what sports stands want, But for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, I'd like to welcome in a special guest
to straight Fire, the great NBA veteran report her. He's
on TV, he's got a podcast, he writes. I like
to think I have a lot of jobs, but Rick
(21:05):
Buker has me beat the great Rick Buker. How are you, Rick?
I'm doing well. How are you, Jason? Yeah, I'm enjoying
the NBA playoffs, that's for sure. We will get to
UH Sunday's recap shortly, but I want to start with
the big game tonight. Lakers trying to take a three
one lead against Portland's You know, when Portland took that
(21:26):
one oh lead, there was some consternation among the Laker
fan base, Rick, and now everything seems to be okay. Hey,
Lebron is playing great, Anthony Davis is showing up k
cps making shots. Are the Lakers finally starting to look
like the championship contender that many think they are. I
don't know that they're looking like a championship contender. They
(21:46):
are looking like a team that should beat the Trailblazers,
and that there was some real question about that after
Game one and the way Game one went. But I'm
still seeing a lot of things that would worry me
as far as their ability to to to win a championship.
Their transition defense is really lazy. They are still giving
(22:08):
up a lot of UH straight line drives, to a
team that certainly has great ball handlers, but there's a
size disadvantage. To me, there's just some things that they're
gonna need to tighten up and they're gonna have to
be more efficient with if if we're talking about winning
a championship. The other thing that concerns me is that
(22:28):
it's requiring a lot of energy from Lebron James. They
don't play well unless Lebron James plays well. And it's
been my contention if you look at some of the
other teams that are vying for a championship, their best
player doesn't can doesn't, can't play poorly, but there are
(22:49):
other guys who can pick up the slack and can
play big and play big at the end of games
and win games. We've seen everybody's like knocking Paul George
for the fact that he's been up and down, and
yet the Clippers continue to play well without because Kauhi
Leonards playing well. Uh, They're They're getting contributions from a
(23:11):
lot of different places, and that, to me is the
biggest concern with the Lakers is are you going to
get enough guys contributing on a regular basis If we're
talking about winning a championship. Not beating the Blazers, but
winning a championship. Okay, okay, I jumped ahead. Championship. Let's
back up to the second round when they get by
the Blazers. Um, you know they've really struggled. Containing Lillard
(23:32):
and McCollum made one of the best backcourts in the league.
They're gonna face another pretty good backcourt duo next round.
Assuming James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Well, James Harden by
himself puts away. Okay. See, Um, I don't know. I
keep thinking that the Rockets are way more dangerous than Portland,
and maybe even more dangerous to the Lakers than the Clippers,
(23:53):
because for whatever reason, Frank Vogel loves the big double
centers and Anthony Davis hates to play the five. The
Rockets pose a significant threat. That's accurate, right, I'm gonna
say yes. And I didn't always feel that way. I
wondered whether they could survive, and I still I guess
the question still remains. When you ask so much of
(24:15):
one guy in James Harden, can he give it to
you night in, night out. As the competition increases and
as the playoffs go on, can he maintain this? That
is the biggest question that I have. But the way
they've been able to function playing super small UH, and
(24:37):
the way that they're I mean, Ben McLamore is hitting
open threes. P J. Tucker, as we know, is the
king of the corner three. Just watching them against okay See,
Like okay See hasn't played poorly, but nobody shoots the
three like Houston does. And so even when you're being
(24:57):
efficient in your half court set as a bigger team
and you're getting to the cup or you're getting it
to your big and Steven Adams is core scoring, he's scoring,
you go to the other end and somebody's hitting a
wide open three and you've you you think you've done well,
but you have lost in the exchange three to two.
(25:18):
And I think there's a pressure that comes with that
to start shooting threes the way Houston shoots threes, to
to keep pace, and as a result, you end up
doing something that they're ultimately better at. Yeah, and so
okay See struggle with that. It's a great point. They
fell into the three point shooting UH in Game three.
(25:39):
But Rick, let me, I don't want to say that
the Rockets are locked to get by okay See, because
I wonder in that overtime, for the first time in
the bubble, Harden looked a little bit tired. He did
take twenty seven shots, he missed, uh fifteen of them
fouled out. He looked a little gas and okay Se
went small. I mean, it would be huge for the
Lakers obviously if they beat Portland for one and okay
See's able to push Houston. But do you think that
(26:02):
the Lakers have enough to get by the Rockets in
the second round. Yes, I do believe that they have enough,
but they are going to have to play a lot harder,
more consistently than they have. And what's really interesting, this
is one of the elements that I'm watching, is everybody
(26:24):
has these. First of all, Alex Caruso became like a
regular season hero, right, And people have high expectations for
Kyle Kuzma because of his athleticism. Right, he's kind of
the the young gun among the top players with the
with the Lakers, he compensates for what is otherwise a
(26:45):
very old team. Right. But as the player like Alex
Caruso is is being exposed as oh, he's a really
nice regular season player. But now you get to the
playoffs and now how you have to be efficient or
now you're not getting those calls, or now they have
(27:05):
to lean on him a little harder to make plays
in big spots, and now you're not seeing it. You're
not you're not seeing the same thing. And Kyle Kuzma's
erratic decision making like suddenly you go, oh, that's like
that hurt. It. Just the expectations and the level of
(27:26):
play goes up another level. And those guys who look
good in the regular season because you could kind of
get get away with their mistakes and you could glorify
their successes. Now the successes you have to have. That
has to be part of the equation, and you gotta
be able to get rid of some of those those mistakes.
And and so that's that's where I'm concerned, is you're
(27:49):
relying on guys in Kuzma and Caruso. I mean, I'm
not making this up, right, if you look at them,
you're expecting contributions, Jason, You're expect think those guys to
contribute in some significant way, right kind of. I mean
Caruso was solid in Game three, he was forgettable in
the first two games. He had ten point seven assists
(28:12):
in that game three win. But I think that's probably
exceeding what you're saying the Lakers should expect. So so,
so here's the thing. So we have Danny Green, you
have k CP, you have Kyle Kuzma, and you uh uh,
and you have Alex Caruso, Like you have to have
at least two of those guys show up every game, right,
(28:33):
at least two? At least two? Are you confident that
you're going to get something out of two out of
the four every game? I mean, Rick, I'm hopeful that
Rondo's back spasms, uh, you know, subside and he's able
to chip in because I think him as a secondary
(28:54):
ball handler would be massive. And then Dion Waiters, I
don't know what's going on with Dion Waiters. He's somehow
uh fallen out of favor with Frank Vogel. I mean,
he's behind J R. Smith in the rotation. I don't
have you heard anything as to what Waiters did or
said that's got him kind of in the doghouse. I don't.
I don't know that it's anything that Waiters did. I honestly,
I feel like they needed to get j R. Smith
(29:16):
in the shape and then to see what he has.
You're seeing the same thing with the Clippers. They started
Reggie Jackson, they started Landry Shammont. I was really amazed.
I was like, why is Doc still playing Landry Shammont?
He was so bad in the bubble. He could not
hit a three, He could not hit the three. He
had wide open threes that he was missing left and right,
(29:38):
And I'm like, at some point, don't you have to
put this guy on the shelf. But I think what
the what what coaches are doing is they're looking at
the fact that this schedule where you're playing every other
day without a break, and you're playing playoff level basketball.
It's like they're trying to protect guys from getting hurt
(30:00):
having to play at this level this frequently with the
relatively short run up. So it's like, you know what,
I'm going to continue to go into my bench. I'm
gonna continue to try to milk minutes from different places,
and when we get to a place where the series
is two two or three two, or we're we're we're
(30:20):
in a need situation, then I'll tighten up my my
my rotation. But for now, it's like, I need to
just be able to utilize everybody so that I'm not
putting too much stress on any one player. And we
saw that with the Clippers on Sunday. Right, Porzingis had
thirty four in game two. Sorry, Game three was great,
(30:41):
and then he couldn't go, you know, in game four
because of nis ortists, and I wonder you're right if
you're onto something with the injuries, Rick, let's quickly move
on to a team Sunday that you know, they had
the loss of Ben Simmons and they never looked right.
You could argue they never were in a game really
against the Celtics. I mean they had a couple of
moments here and there. But you know, we we were
(31:02):
kind of early on this Rick last week we said, like, listen,
the process is over. You're gonna have to look at
Dustin Brett Brown. I think Elton Brand's gonna face some
scrutiny here for the contracts he gave out like Candy
last summer. I'll start you off big picture here, where
do you go from here? If you're the Sixers you
got swept by the Celtics, Who goes, who stays? And
(31:23):
who do you put on the trade block. The difficulty
is what can you get back for Ben Simmons or
Joel embid at this point, that's going to be it's
gonna make make you appreciably better. First of all, they
have huge contracts and now not one, but both of
them have injury questions. So like, if I'm another team
(31:45):
the talent, yeah, like I I I could see wanting
either guy, but is either am I giving away healthy
pieces for these guys? I mean, let's let's flip it around.
I'm a GM who fires Joel Embiid and then he
gets hurt, I might as well just hand in my top,
(32:05):
my my resignation, right and because I can't go well,
I didn't see that coming or or Ben Simmons at
this point, like the in the Patel a tendon injury
that he has, the back injury. These are not like
rolled ankles. These aren't like torn meniscus, These aren't stand
These are the kind of injuries that raise red flags
(32:27):
as far as having long term issues. So honestly, I,
you know, the the the easiest thing is to change
out the coach. I would fully expect that that that
that that that that's going to happen at this point.
But because but it's and it's not so much that
Brett Brown couldn't coach them, it's that now you need
to turn the responsibility on Ben and Joel and say, look,
(32:55):
all right, coaches gone, we got a new coach. You
guys need to show that that was the problem and
that you're not the problem. I, on one hand, becomes
Delton brand. I love the fact that he decided, you
know what, everybody's playing small, We're gonna go the other direction.
(33:15):
We're gonna go big and we're gonna we're gonna beat
people up and we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna zig
when everybody's aggs. I I don't I don't have a
problem with that. I think that's I get it. It's
kind of the way they did it, like Al Horford
giving him that kind of money at his age, if
(33:36):
he was a big and he was twenty seven and
you still had that that like he had that market value.
But moving out at this point, like who's taken on
that money? Especially with the salary cap potentially going down.
They just handed themselves in the corner. How about this,
if you're the Atlanta Hawks, I think you had the
(33:57):
youngest team in the league, you have no veteran presence
in that locker room, you have a ton of salary
cap space. Obviously, don't want to take on a bad contract.
But it's rick It's not like the Hawks are luring
any top tier free agents there. So if you're Atlanta,
do you consider Al Horford as a potential mentor to
the likes of Clint Capella, John Collins, even a trey
(34:19):
young DeAndre Hunter learned how to be a professional, how
to show up for work every day, do the right thing.
I mean, is that crazy to say. I'm sure Hawks
fans would hate taking on a bad contract, but the
reality is nobody's there. They're not getting anybody to go
there in free agency that the Hawks have seen Al
Horford as I know, I know and well. And this
(34:40):
is the tricky part when it comes to Al, is
that Al is the consummate professional. He is a lead
by example guy, but he's not a voice in that
locker room. And he's and and there are times where
that's what you need, and that's that's the that's the
misnomer in in thinking that Al going to provide that,
(35:01):
And honestly, it's what Philadelphia desperately needs, like losing JJ Reddick,
losing Jimmy Butler. Those were the veteran vocal guys in
the locker room. And that's what they do not have.
And the tricky part is, I don't know where they're
going to get it. Owl's not that Tobias is not
(35:23):
that Joel is Is is a goofy kid. He's still
a goofy kid. He still plays like a goofy kid.
Ben doesn't hold anybody accountable, like he doesn't call himself accountable.
And I mean, that's that's the heart of it. When
you have a guy in Ben Simmons who has resisted
(35:44):
developing a jump shot when that is critical to the
success of the team, and that's your leader. The excuse
that gives everybody else when you go, hey, you listen,
you gotta do this, you gotta develop this, you gotta
develop your left hand, and you gotta be able to
like whatever it is. Every guy's gonna look at and
(36:04):
go he's not. You're not making him do it, and
he's more critical than I am. Like it. It eats
away at the fabric of your team when your best players,
when Joel embat is not getting in in premium shape.
When Ben Simmons is not completing his talent his skill
(36:25):
set like this, that the example that sets for the
rest of your team is crushing. If you want to
win a championship, there's just there's like you can blame
Bett Brown all you want. When your two best players
are setting that example, there is no chance of you
winning a championship. I mean, double zero, Rick. I wish
(36:46):
that that shot by Kauai last year, that Game seven
buzzer beater had not gone in, because I would have
loved to see what would have happen six ers Bucks.
We're right, we would have got embad versus Janice. I
love that. Jimmy Butler or wing with you know, jj Reddick,
as you said, like that would have been the series.
It felt like that was the end of the process,
and then a bunch of clownish decisions. Well, and and
(37:10):
that's the thing is like, so say they go to
the next level, say they say they say they played
for a championship. Don't you think Philadelphia takes a completely
different approach to the to the offseason. I mean it
really is like the direction of teams can change on
a on a game like that, and you can go
(37:33):
from this is what we could have been. I mean,
it's funny because I'm I'm working on a working on
a book with Brian grant Um his memorials. He's battling
Parkinson's now. And he played on the Portland's team that
(37:55):
was really good and got stopped in its tracks by
San Antonio with the mirror goal shot by Sean Elliott.
And the San Antonio Spurs go on and they play
the Knicks in the in the finals, that eight seeded
Knicks team that beat the Miami Heat in the lockout year.
(38:15):
San Antonio wins its first championship and totally different approach.
Portland loses and they move some pieces, they bring some
veteran guys in like Steve Smith and uh And and
Scottie Pippen, and then they go for it and they
lose the game seven to the Lakers. And then and
(38:35):
the Lakers turn the corner and they become a championship
team and the Blazers have to go back to the
drawing board again. And and it's like you look at what,
you know, how close certain teams get to that point,
they get to the top of the mountain and they
can't take that last step and then it's like it's
(38:57):
almost like it never happened. Okay, so that's perfect. Let
me wrap up with this. So the Golden State Warriors,
of course, we're on track to win the title. Last year,
Durant goes down, Clay goes down, They're a train wreck.
This year they now got to have the number to
pick in the draft. But Rick, what's interesting to me
is there's a lot of talk about this trade exception
that they have seventeen million dollars. Okay, they've got Draymond Wiggins,
(39:20):
Clay Curry. I know we're in a pandemic and a
lot of owners are stretched thin. But if I'm Curry
and Clay and Draymond, I'm saying, hey, listen, we've got
the core to make a run. Look at the West, Okay,
Lebron and the Lakers look susceptible. Uh, You've got a
lot of teams that are on the come up. The
West is gonna be stacked next year. The Sons could
be players. Let's make a go. Do you think the
(39:42):
Warriors make any dramatic changes in terms of some kind
of package of Wiggins in the number two or making
a move on someone for the trade exception. You know,
I know it. It feels like the end for the Warriors,
but I feel like their ownership is gonna make one
more play. I don't see it. Oh goodness, it's and
(40:02):
it's simply because one, I don't know who you're going
to get with the Wiggins draft pick package that is
going to make them demonstrably better, like that are gonna
put him in that category. And the other part is
you need you need that. You need that rookie salary.
(40:25):
You know, you need a good player on the rookie
salary because they are very expensive. They have a brand
new arena that Joe Lake of financed. You're not. You
don't have any concerts in there, you don't have any
fans in there like they For as brilliant as they
have been and as great as that was, uh financially
(40:48):
to create that, they are hurting in the biggest way possible.
So I just don't see where you go that. And
quite honestly, now you're putting yourself in a position Asian
where your whole team is going to get old at
the same time you need and they have no young
players to develop on Like I'm I I have to
(41:09):
I can't look at I'm gonna throw everything against the
wall in order to get one last stab with Clay,
Steph and Dre. And then what then I had what
Jordan's pool? Eric Pashal. No, they don't, they don't have
no they I mean they they haven't. And and it's funny.
(41:30):
I just did this piece on t J. Warren sent
to the Pacers for cash considerations, and I was thinking,
that's the guy that the Warriors needed to get because
he's a scorer. He can play that three four position,
but he's a scorer with a conscience. He's a kind
of guy who can fill it up, but he wants
(41:51):
to play the right way, so he would have no problem.
He has the same mindset as Steph and Clay and Dre,
which is I'm want to play. Yes, I can score,
Yeah I can do my thing, but I want to
play team basketball. And that's the kind like if they
were really light years ahead of everybody else, as Joel
(42:12):
once said, that's the guy that you find who is
at that age and has that ability where you find
that diamond in the rough. And they missed on that,
and and it's now it's like now you'd be chasing
the dragon you're trying to, like, trying to get something
that I just don't think is there to be got?
All right, Rick Buker obviously follow him on social media,
(42:35):
knows the NBA as well as anybody. Rick, Thanks a
lot for your time. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs.
You gotta chasing YouTube, Get right to the romance and
find the way to wow this Valentine's with one hundred
flowers dot com. From classic roses and Bouquet's to decadent
chocolate covered berries, gourmet treats and more. Surprise your Valentine
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(42:56):
eighteen stem enchanted rose Metalley for thirty nine or upgrade
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tune in. If I could be you and you could
be me for just one hour, if you could find
a way to get inside each other's mind, walk a
(43:19):
mile in my shoes, wacome mile in my shoes shoes.
We've all felt left out, and for some that feeling
lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn
how it belonging begins with us dot org brought to
you by the Act Council. Welcome mile in the machine,
(43:41):
and we're live here outside the Perez family home, just
waiting for the And there they go, almost on time.
This morning. Mom is coming off the front door, strong
with a double arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has
the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but
the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and boys are everywhere.
(44:02):
But Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle
for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks
to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in
the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bad clothes and they're off,
But looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is
still on the roof of the car. And there it goes. Oh,
(44:23):
that's a shame that mug was a fan favorite. Don't
sweat the small stuff. Just nailed the big stuff, like
making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right
seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more n h t
s A dot gov slash The Right Seat visits n
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to you by NITZA and the ad council. The only
(44:47):
thing better than sitting on your couch watching the game.
He's making money while you do it. Here's your best
bat right. Bet moved to five and to Friday night
with a victory, and I've already forgotten more game it was.
(45:08):
There's a million games over the weekend. Forgive me for that.
I looked really hard at Houston bouncing back, but I'm
let me just put the concern out there now. James
Harden for the first time. We know he's got some
history of wearing down in the postseason. He's looked fresh
throughout the bubble restart. But James Harden late in that okay,
(45:28):
see game, looked a little tired. Twenty seven shots, no
rush to defer to, he did foul out and UM
shot selection wasn't great. I don't think I can ride Houston.
I told you I'm done with the double digit favorite,
so obviously that rules out. In Milwaukee, I wanted to
get Cute into a Portland's first half bet because I
think that's their best bet. They show up early in
(45:49):
the first or maybe first quarter. Lakers those slow starts.
But I'm gonna ride my guys the Miami Heat. I
think if you're Indiana and you're now down, what is
it three oh in this year? Reason, it's like, what
are we doing here? I've been in the bubble for
six seven weeks. I get to go out and see
my family. I'm sure guys are lining up some you know,
(46:10):
some of these Instagram girls they like to date, They're
already setting stuff up. Is the focus on Duncan Robinson
and Tyler Hero and Jimmy Butler and bam a to Bio.
I think Miami beats down Indiana. I also think Miami
will watch what Milwaukee does to to Orlando and say, yo,
we need an extra day off. We gotta take him down.
(46:32):
So give me the Miami Heat favored by six and
a half over Indiana as my best bet for Monday Night.
All right, guys, thanks a lot for listening. Another show
in the books. This one got a little long, but hey, Luca,
as we said, historic stuff on Sunday, I can't wait.
This week is just gonna be awesome. Remember, tell all
your friends, subscribe, rate and review, And I do see
(46:53):
all the tweets. I can't reply to all of them
or the Instagram d ms, but trust me. I see
him as the show continues to gain steam and momentum.
I'm just so excited and having a lot of fun,
and I'm glad you guys are on board. We'll talk
tomorrow
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