May 2, 2025 • 37 mins
Sean Brace and Sean Barnard talk about the #Knicks beating the #Pistons in 6 games and the lost bet against Sam Oshtry, Warriors-Rockets Game 6, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Picks and Roll, handicapping the hardwood with Sixers insider Sean
Bernard and Sean Brace and away we go.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes, we have a lot to discuss. Picks and Roll
coming your way, Chan Bray, Sean Bernard. A lot going
on in the world of the NBA Playoffs front and center.
The New York Knicks advance to the second round and
congratulations New York. You get to take on the reigning
(00:27):
world champions in the Boston Celtics. And oh, by the way,
DraftKings releasing the odds. We'll get into all that, of course,
Sean Minard represents to find folks over there at a
DraftKings sports book. You know, look, we could talk odds,
we can talk money, but we have to open up
with the fact that you now have lost a bet
to Sam Austrey. It's a shame because you did win
(00:49):
the over five and a half big picture wager. Nice
work there, but this one stings a little bit. You
now have to go sit in a bar full of
Knicks fans and you will be wearing Celtic green for
one of those games starting next week. Hysterical. I can't
(01:10):
wait to see it, Sean. But uh man, that was
a tough loss last night because I thought it was
a great game. I thought that Detroit was going to prevail.
From the standpoint of or the simple fact that they
were down by double just thirteen, I believe battle back.
That fourth quarter magic happened, and then it was like
the potion just ran out and all of a sudden,
(01:31):
Brunson hits the game winner. As man Jalen Brunson has
done a lot in the fourth.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Quarter, sure, sure, yeah, And we will dive into the game.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
To stay on the wagers side of things for a
second here, I've already recruited a Celtics friend, so I
don't get my face stomped in on this situation.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I think you needed to recruit a New York Nick fan.
To be honest with you, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
A bad point, not a bad point. Yeah, maybe that
is the better move there. So maybe I'll have to
hit the timeline and then figure that one out there
if you have any yeah, yeah, yeah, unfortuned.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I don't think that many of the Knicks fans are
friendly with no, which I understand as well. There and
speaking of the lost wagers that tend to just keep
coming my way.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
The jack McCain.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
TikTok recreations will begin dropping tomorrow in a countdown to
the NBA Draft Lottery, so those are coming as well.
NBA Draft lottery is when the fourteenth, twelfth, So I
was my game plan has been a ten day countdown
for these TikTok recreations. I thought about doing the opening
of next season, but I don't wanted to slip that
far away. And in case there's no juice if this
lottery goes wrong, I'll get him out of the way now,
(02:30):
So we'll do ten day countdown.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Ten day countdown is strong. Nice work by you on
that one. We'll lock in and maybe some people want
to join us for getting out in a town, to
going out and watching the Celtics in New York Knicks,
And like I said, I think we need to do
it early because I'm not so sure how long this
series is going to last for all. Yeah, it doesn't
shock me that you're already pitching a sweep here. But
(02:55):
right now draftings sports Book minus eight hundred for the Celtics,
the Knicks plus five point fifty. To put that in perspective,
the Cleveland Cavaliers right now are minus four to twenty
five versus the Pacers a plus three thirty. I didn't
think the odds makers were given the Pacers a shot.
They're sure as he'll not give the Knicks a chance
(03:17):
to beat the Boston Celtics in the seven game series.
Why would they. They haven't beaten them in the regular season,
the Celtics at the Celtics on and so forth. So
we understand that we'll have plenty of time to talk
about that series, no doubt about it. Back to the
game though, last night, Brunson hits the game winner. Man,
what happened on that play for Thompson? Like curious? I
(03:37):
don't want to sit here and say like that that's easy.
And because Brunson's amazing, he has unbelievable ball skills, but
what the hell was getting like he was sent into
another dimension on that cut?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Yeah, it wasn't great there, and sar Thompson one of
the highest level primiter defenders in the entire NBA. There,
I've seen some of the you know, armchair quarterbacking here
of it should have been Dennis Ruder, who think did
an excellent job on Brunton for the large majority of
the series. I kind of didn't love the Pistons whole approach.
Like to me, there was a much clearer focus on
limiting Karl Anthony Towns, which they were effective, and he
(04:10):
fouled out of that game. Believe he finished with ten points.
There was pretty much a non factor. It was a
quiet ten points at that and they kind of said,
it's Jalen Brunson burst the world and we're gonna see
what's happened. And Jalen Brunson did his thing there. That
is not how I personally would have gone about defending
this next team, but that is what Detroit opted to
do last night. I don't think this is one of
the more stellar chess matches as far as coaching goes
in a playoff series between either one of these head coaches.
(04:31):
But the bottom line is Jalen Bronson did hit that shot.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Now, I still have my doubts about this next team,
There's no doubt. I'm very well open that I think
they have zero chance against the Celtics team. I even
think the minus nine hundred is low in favorite of
Boston for that. But the Knicks did do their job
and get through there. I don't think there's a way
where as a logical Knicks fan, you could have watched
this series and feel great about how it went. That
this was as close of a playoff series as you
(04:55):
can possibly ask for. Frankly, the Pistons outplayed this next
team for the majority of the series. Now, I get
it's a four to two, but if this were an
eleven game series or a fifteen game series, I'm not
certain the Knicks win that every single time here, and
that should be frightening for New York fans like this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Now you're now going against the defending champs if the.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Nixt fifteen game series, come on.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I get I'm saying I I is it fair to
assess that basically every single one of these games was
a toss up, no.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Doubt, But I think maybe we were sleeping a little
bit on Detroit, just a little bit. Detroit is a
scrappy team. They have some good size look, Knicks are
flawed if you take away Brunson, who's scoring.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I mean, Carl Anthony town Like they're supposed to have
talent here there.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I know, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
My issue with this next team, I do think each
one of their individual stars are flawed, every one of them.
From og Nnoby to Michale Bridges, to Karl Anthony Towns
to Jalen Bronson specifically here like for Bronson my overall
outlook and one of my skepticisms like I don't think
you can win a championship with Jalen Bronson is your
best player. That list of players is incredibly small, and
I don't think he cracks it. And for what it's worth,
(05:58):
like to give him his respect here, like he absolutely
can be the guy to deliver the knockout punch as
he did last night, but to keep on the fighter comparison,
I don't think he's a guy that can body blow
you through a series that you're gonna be a Luka
Doncic or an Anthony Edwards or a Giannis or a
player like that that is just carrying a roster. They
beat the Pistons, man, they beat a team that won
fourteen games last year and took a massively foward that
(06:19):
is on their proper trajectory and growth pattern.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Here it does.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I really don't think if you're a logical Knicks fan,
you can sit here and that series what awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well do those people exist? I don't think there's a
logical Knick fan out there. That's one. Yeah, look, you
know we can go through this exercise right now. Like
if you put SGA and replaced him, remove brunts, and
put SGA on.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
The next team, they're better.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think they're, man, they're definitely better. I still don't
think they're a championship contender.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
See I would in that case, like this is what
we can't brush over if we're gonna do the entire
Jalen Brunson conversation that he's all time talent, Like he
also gets slubbed off the floor for key defensive possessions,
Like there's things that you have to dive in the
woods weeds here.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
That's not the case with sy Yiotis Alexander.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
But like that is a guy that I do believe
can be the best player on a champion team that
does get the job done on both ends of the
floor and has that same ability it to hit those
big time shots. Jalen Bronson is a closer. He can
deliver nut punches, But I still have my doubts. Can
he be a body blow guy that carries you through
a series?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I I well, he did that series, I know and
again now he plays like a legitimate title contender, which
the Knicks are designed to be.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Ohin ten against top three teams this year, like they're
a flawed basketball team.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
They got the job done in this series, and I
have to wear that, and.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I can't say anything different, right I just like we
were talking about championships, like that's the next, next, next level,
that's the pinnacle. And I don't know, like we've seen
how many times Lebron James get to the finals. We're
talking about the greats here, we're talking about Jordan, like
to win a championship, like you have to be the
(08:01):
guy and oh, by the way, surrounded by a pretty
damn good team as well, So like the bar is
extremely high. But that's what it takes. That's the conversation
we're in right now. So I'm not trying to talk
both sides of my mouth, but I definitely think Jalen
Brunton needs a little bit more credit than what you're
giving him, and I think and the Pistons, I guess
(08:24):
I'm trying to give them a little bit of more
credit because of how scrappy they were. They looked like
they were hungry, they were more physical at times, but
the Knicks ended up winning that series. That was a
big time victory, you know, to lose that double digit
lead and then all of a sudden, Brunton put the
team on his back. I think he finished with the
final eight points of the game or something like that.
From the next perspective, finished with forty you know, like this,
(08:49):
this was a hell of a performance by Jalen Brunson.
And to hit that shot, Dude, he's got that Kowhi
vibe right now offensively where he's if he's putting it,
it's going in. There was shots last night that he
missed that. I was shocked. I go, I can't believe
he missed that three pointer. Like that's where we're at
right now. Like if Kawhi pulls up, I feel like
(09:10):
it's going in. There are a few players that you
get that vibe from. I'm getting that vibe from Brunson.
It's not gonna be enough to beat the Celtics. I'm
not sitting here saying that, but last night was an
all time performance in my eye as far as NBA
playoffs definitely have recent history. That was a damn good game.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah, And to give him his credit, like last night
was the first time to give him his credit to
dive into the state like Jalen brunsh okay, to give
Jalen bruns In his credit. Like last night was really
the first time in this that like as the game's
winding down that we're getting to those final minutes, and
I'm like, thinking about this from a very clear Pistons perspective,
It's like you have to play the clock right to
make sure he does not get the last shot. And
(09:46):
they did not do that correctly there. They obviously did
fail and we all knew it was coming. Like when
that was lining up. That was a case where it's
like here comes the dagger from Jalen Brunson. You cannot
give him that opportunity. And then at the end, man
like Malik Beasley.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You just got catch the ball.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
There was a look there man, like you have an opportunity,
catch it, shoot it.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's what you do.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
That is your whole job, as being Malik Beasley, it
is get the ball at three point line and put
up a three point shot and it slipped right through
his fingers. So a very frustrating into that game all around. Yeah,
I did not enjoy that viewing experience. Frustrating night all around.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I know, I know, yes, it was a crazy result.
First of all, shout out Matt, check it in. We know,
I love it. Great to see you Matt as always
kicking ass on the timeline doing big things, and thank
you for everything helping out here on the Gambler. But
we know he's a New York Knick fan, and last
night I was just entertained. I'm watching this game. I
(10:41):
thought it was over. I'm like, damn, the Knicks are
gonna blow them out. Really And then I'm like, all right,
there's a full fourth quarter that home Detroit's at home,
so maybe we can get some of that magic going.
And then it happened, and then the lead, It's just
like what is going on? And then all of a sudden,
next thing, you know, the Knicks bounce back like that
was a great play off battle. And that's one of
(11:02):
the games why the ratings are up right there. Like
if you were a basketball fan, college tubes a negative
nancy when it comes to the NBA. You tuned in
last night from start to finish. Normally it's like fourth quarter,
a couple minutes left, whatever. That was a great game
from start to finish. The juice was in that building
a lot of energy on the timeline. Just a fun
(11:23):
watch across the board. Unfortunately a bad result and now
sha Bnard has to go sit in a New York
Nick friendly bar, which is kind of funny. We got
some comments about that in field over it, like where
those things exist?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Yeah, people, I'm not familiar either. You're gonna have to
put me on to wear that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
But well, our resident of New York Nick fan sam Ostrey,
knows all of them. He was like, oh, yeah, I
go to him all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, probably was there last night. It puts down off
on bars.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
By the way, watching a game at a bar is
probably the most overrated thing in the world. That was
my situation last night. It was Buddy Mine's birthday, so
we went out, had a nice dinner. We went the
two separate bars. Both times. It was actively I was
asking the bartender to solve world peace, to change the
TV channel to put on an NBA playoff game. I get,
we're a little out of our jurisdiction here, being it
like a Knicks Pistons game. This isn't a Philly sports
(12:09):
centric you know kind of moment here, but unreal there
and then like like we're down crunch time, of this
game here and I'm with my friend his girlfriend and
my girlfriend here and there's like thirty seven seconds left
on the clock and they're the girls are just gasping away.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Can you believe he's dating him?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And it's like, I couldn't care anything less about, well,
who one of my friends is dating right now, when
there's thirty seven seconds left in this Knicks verse Pistons
game that is going down to the wire, I'm watching
this team fall apart. It was an all around I'm
like in alone by myself, freaking out about this game.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Not a good viewing experience.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I've never watched an NBA playoff game at a bar again,
except for I guess this one coming up, this Knicks
versea that's O right.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, unless the friend is Bill Belichick and I am
with you there. I don't care about anybody's dating life,
especially with the final minute of the game. The viewing
experience at a bar, nothing just We were talking about
this a couple of weeks ago when Beef in the
guys went out and asked to put the the NBA
or no to college. It was the March Madness game
I think was the Elite eight game on a Thursday
(13:08):
night and bartender wouldn't change it because he had two
TVs on there were both showing a Phillies game. He's like, yeah,
we got people here to watch the films. It's March madness, bro,
and especially like NBA PLAYFFS to me as a bar owner, restaurantner,
I know you have a million and one things to
worry about, but if you are a bartender, that is
number one on the list. What is on your TVs?
(13:29):
You want to clean bar, you want to be ready
to go, But immediately following is my TVs. And I'm
going to have what's the best of the best, and
I'm gonna make it work so you don't have to ask,
Like if I roll into a bar on Saturday at
six pm, I'm gonna have the Kentucky Derby on. You
better have it on? Like where's the awareness? But we're
asking too much these days, man.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Yeah, and the Phillies was the first thing that was
throwing my way. Mind you, the bar that we were at,
shot to third and spruce up and reading Pa.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
There.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
There's like thirty five TVs, all of them had the
Phillies on. There was two with a basketball.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Game in the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I'm not having to like watch well, like everyone's seated there
and I'm like, you're telling me we can't get one
more of these TVs with this game on here. But finally,
once that final outwent, it was like, yep, I'm back
on this. I don't mean to be the guy that's
causing a whole scene here, but this is just completely
unreasonable for this not to be an option for.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Matt checking back in. He was watching that shot at
a Staten Island bar last night was movies.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
That's an exception if you're in it with the crowd
that like, I can get behind that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, the whole different ball game there. They are Philadelphia
centric bar, right, we're watching the Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, Eagles whatever.
It may be, nothing better. You're right about that unbelievable
NBA playoff game last night? Really fun? Anything else you
want to say about the Nixon Pistons.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
No, I mean congratulations to the New York Knicks. Man.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
I think we all, like I even myself as a hater,
could acknowledge they're probably what we're down to the final eight.
They're probably in the eight best teams in the NBA.
So I think we're right at their ceiling here, and
this is how things are designed. So maybe you guys
can squeak out a gentleman's sweep. That'll be I think
that's what should be the go from a New York
perspective for the series.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
If they were facing off with the Pacers, who you
got in Madison Square Garden home home home court advantage.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Certainly a better chance against Pacers. That one seems like
a seven game series to me. I still lean Pacers
unsurprisingly here that, Like, I do think the depth is
that would be a matchup where we clearly see the
contrast and the Pacers rolling down their rolodex of depth
versus the next play. You know, they're guys the monstrance
minutes there. So I STI would lean Pacers on that.
But I think that's close. I think it's a very
clear Celtics and Cleveland is the top two in the East,
(15:28):
and then a big gap the Pacers and Knicks right
in that next mix.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, so there's draftskings, odds makers they agree with you
right now. Knicks to win the NBA Championships seventy five
to one plus seventy five hundred Pacers sixty to one,
Nuggets fifty to one, Clippers twenty eight to one, Warriors
seventeen to one, t Will seventeen to one, Calves plus
four to seventy five Celtics plus two hundred, OKC plus
one fifty, So a significant drop off from Cleveland, Boston
(15:55):
and OKC to everybody else. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
They play.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
They play the game on the floor, not on paper.
We'll see what happens in the next series. Again, the
oddsmaker is not giving the Knicks that much of a chance.
Why would they We know what they're the result was
all season long. That was regular season. We'll see what
happens in the next round versus the Boston Celtics. First
game Saturday night? Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
No, Monday, that feels I think Monday is what I saw.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I know Game one for Calves Pacers is Sunday, so
that'll be the start of the second round.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, I think Knix Celtics starts Monday.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Correct. Knicks and Celtics Game one in Boston. Boston and
eight and a half point favorite to fourteen and a half.
We'll see how that one plays out. Plenty of time
to discuss it. Sunday game one between pacers and calves.
Line movement slightly was eight and a half yesterday, now
down to eight. So money coming in on the pacers
there two twenty nine and a half series though, money
(16:48):
coming in on the calves. That bump back up in
favor of the calves. How about that? So that is
intriguing their money coming in on the calves to win
the series. Not a lot of value there, but good
luck if you got deep pockets, you can make money there.
All right, stay with last night, Shoppynard. We did have
an answer from the La Clippers and they extended the series.
(17:12):
I wasn't too sure how that one was gonna play
out halfway through it, but you know when the second
half rolled around and you saw Kawhi going off, Harden
played well. One eleven one oh five was your final score,
Clippers advance. We now have a Game seven cliche cliche cliche,
best two words in sports Game seven one eleven one five.
(17:34):
Interesting note here that number went from six and a
half down to five and a half to six. Back
up the six and a half. When we got done
with the show yesterday, I think at tip most places
had it at six. So on the money on the
mark clips Nuggets push Clippers extend the series to a
game seven. Your thoughts on last night with mister Uno
(17:58):
showing up in a big way, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
He did, and they needed it out of James Harden
last night, ultimately finishing with twenty eight points, eight assists,
ten to twenty from the field, had six boards as well.
Thought Kawhi was really good twenty seven to ten there,
like what really stuck out to me. And by the way,
let me give a full shout out to Niko Batum,
who one of them more like, I just appreciate him
as a basketball player.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Guys. He logged thirty four minutes last night.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
That's only the third time all season that he's played
over thirty minutes and is doing it in that playoff series.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
The box score is never gonna pop. In those thirty
four minutes.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
He had six points, six assists, five rebounds, but just
the dude that does all the little things. He had
a block on Russell Westbrook with about a minute to
go where the game was pretty much over, but that
was definitely kind of the nail in the coffin moment.
He had another one against Jokic which was just really
impressive to be doing this at his age and this
far into his career here, so I thought he was
a real difference maker for this Clippers team. And what
stood out to me, like I think we all felt
(18:47):
this way coming into the series, that as the best
five man unit, there's no doubt the Clippers have that
to their advantage. But there is the Nicola Jokic factor,
and there is this championship pedigree that Denver possesses that
we have not seen on this Clippers team. It felt
to me like it was James Harden thrown into tow
in that previous game. It was nice to see a
bounce back that he does so happen. So I'm grateful
that we are getting a game seven. This is a
(19:09):
series that feels like it deserves that. So glad that
is the case there. And honestly, I've flip flopped on
the way I see this Game seven going. So it's
gonna be a really intriguing matchup.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, I gotta give a shout out to our guys. Sam.
He was on the Money last night two and zero
and he thought, oh, he's been saying from the beginning
that this series is going seven. That's tough. That's a
tough wage to make and then to obviously win. You know,
for a series to go seven, it really has to
be pretty much even across the way. Do you feel
(19:39):
that when you watch these two teams? Have you felt
that through six games? I get it three to three.
I understand what I'm asking, But is there a little
bit of a difference for one of these teams? And
specifically when we're talking about going back home for Denver here,
are you giving him the edge?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
I lean that way, but I certainly am gonna bounce
back and forth on this one to be up front
about it, Like I there's something about Nicole jokicch that
I'm now bought into like that, like when you give
him now, Yeah, it did take me a while to
get right now Like this year.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Sure, Yeah, I certainly was king part in the grand
scheme of things.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Who's a better player? Joker or brunt?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
But I mean, like, if the Clippers bring their a game,
they're gonna win Game seven here, it's just if they
can actually do that at a consistent period. And like
James Harden is certainly the forefront of that overall conversation here.
So I still like the Clippers other guys so much
better than Denver's. But I do think like we haven't
seen Kawhi Leonard kind of take the bull by the
reins here and be the guy in the series the
way that I was expecting to where he was looking
(20:42):
to after that first round there. So if you can
get that in game seven, there's no doubt that he
can win this game. But there is something that just
has me worried with the variants of this Clippers team
based on kind of what I know what I'm getting.
But with that at that same point, like Denver's been
up and down to the Michael Porter Junior is the
Jamal Murray. He's been mostly very good in this series,
but they're certainly downstretching Gordon like they have valuable guys
that I think is a tough ask for Yokis to
(21:04):
go him versus the world, but he very well might
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, I am. I'm invested with the Clippers. Pre series.
I took the Clippers to win this series. I felt,
you know, like last year, but he was telling me
the Clippers were the team kind of bought it, and
the Clippers eventually clipped. This year, I just felt like
it was a different ballgame. And oh, by the way,
the success that they had to close up chop this year, Yeah,
I was eye opening, but I always felt like it
(21:28):
was gonna be an uphill climb going into Denver playing
a team with a championship mentality where people were kind
of picking against them to sleeping on them Game seven
though in their home arena. Flip a coin, I what
do you want from me?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Like?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I want the Clippers to win? Will anybody be surprised
if Denver prevails on their home for it?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
No?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right? Like, this is a great game though, so tune
in right now and go figure it's to pick them
to point spread tomorrow night? Yeah, today's Friday, Saturday night,
nine thirty five pm. What else are you doing? From
Kentucky Derby a little bit of some cocktails, mint jul
ups into Nuggets Clippers Game seven? That sounds like a
Saturday night that I'm looking forward to again. Two oh
(22:10):
five is our total in that one? Do you think
we see defense prevailed? You thinke these two teams slow
it down? Seems like a low total there.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, And I've leaned towards the under to be honest
that I think this will be an old fashioned kind
of rock fight that certainly plays more to the Clippers'
favor there. That I think Denver's has some nice flashes
where they've been able to push the pace, ge out
and transition. That's definitely beneficial to them. That the Clippers
would prefer to play a bogged down half court style there,
and I do think that's how things mostly play out.
That's definitely not discounting Denver's chances of winning if the
game script goes accordingly, but that is my expectation. Now
(22:38):
we see defense, we see slow pace, and this is
going to be a grinded out who's got the best,
you know, half court offense versus half court defense and
pretty much growth of these settings.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, and if you want to be entertained in that
final few minutes, don't be at a bar. All right,
that's all We'll say, six games played, only one game
has remained under that low low total there of two
to five, and that was Game four. The Clippers won
oneh one to ninety nine. All Right, some good stuff
there as far as the NBA playoffs front and center
(23:08):
for everybody, But we're not done, because tonight we got
the Rockets and Warriors Game six back in the Bay,
Warriors five point favorites. Two oh seven and a half
is our total in this one. I'm pretty sure that
the majority of America, the betting public out there, will
be in agreement when I say the Warriors rested up.
(23:30):
They were content with losing what took place at Game
five in Houston, saving things up for Game six in
the Bay and this is all Golden State tonight. Is
there a chance, though, in your mind, that Houston could
do something differently, maybe offensively, Houston could do something differently,
maybe defensively to limit Steph or Jimmy or whoever's going
(23:51):
off at that point in time in that game for
tonight to make this a close battle and then maybe
win a clutch game or a tough game down the
stretch by hitting clutch.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Your thoughts on that, Yeah, I'm not fully discounting Houston here.
It's the Jalen Green experience is really what we're talking
about here, that like, there might not be a player
with a wider range of when he's at his best
and when he's at his worst than Jalen Green across
the entire NBA. And we've seen it up close and
personal in the specific series here. Now, granted, he's been
held to eleven points or fewer in all but one game.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Now, that one game that he didn't.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
He popped off for thirty eight and looked like the
best player on the floor in that game there, So
they need somewhat of that version of Jalen Green to
have a chance.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Frankly, I don't think they probably get it that.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
I think some of it has certainly been You gotta
credit Golden State for the way that they've defended him,
the way that they've kind of limited his opportunities to
get going early, and that certainly feels like something he
feeds off as a player, that when he sees a
couple of ball go through the hoop early on, that
leads to a good game for him.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
I don't think that happens tonight.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
I do think Golden State ultimately advances puts in the
finishing game winning performance tonight, and since Houston packing, I
still think this should be looked at as a massive
success for Houston this year.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
But for the same reasons that I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Speaking about these past games, I do think there's something
to the championship pedigree that Golden State possesses here. The
Jimmy Butler is a real thing for what he's brought
to this team, They're gonna bring it. Steve Kirk very
clearly waved the white flag very early in game five,
earlier than I expected or thought would be the case there.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
But it is all building for this game six.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So I think we get the A plus effort from
Golden State, and Houston's not able to match that.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
You know, the things that aren't put out there in
the box score, and you got to dig a little
bit deeper and pay attention to his sort of things.
Is Steph Curry's injury to his thumb right and you
got the Dylan Brooks back and forth and he said
he's going after you and it didn't say he's going
after but they're going after it. And then it's a
hand hand on the ball. It's fine, that's playoff basketball man,
Steph Curry. Steph Curry, if I catch it, I'm not
(25:40):
going in there attacking the thumb. Like if he's dribbling,
it's his right hand. If he's dribbling his left hand,
I'm punching his right No. But guess what a lot
of it is is he a little bit? For sure,
there was one clip that looked pretty brutal.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
That's like release the ball, It's like very clearly, he
shoots it, brings his hand down, and Den Brooks then
slaps at his hand there. So he's still doing Dylan
Brooks things. For Yeah, that's out of line.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I can't do that. But what I could tell you
is that I would be okay with the way that
Minnesota went after Luca. And it's hard fouls. This playoff basketball.
You saw it last night when Kat had the breakaway
and I forget who it was for Detroit. Yeah, so
like that's I expect that. I want that. That's what
playoff basketball is about, especially in this situation do or
Die for Houston. Does that play into your mind at
(26:29):
all that maybe Steph Curry could be off tonight because
of this thumb?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, I mean not really to be honest, this like
it's kind of just popped to the forefront. But this
has been an issue that Steph's been dealing with for
like months at this point that he's just kind of
played through this thumb and injury.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And obviously it's on a shooting hand.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
It's not a non factor here that you got to
kind of fight through this but if you're shooting a
basketball correctly, which Steph Curry obviously does, the thumb should
not have much of an impact on that thing.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We need to hit him. Doug Gottlieb on that one.
I don't know if he does or right.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, yeah, maybe get a kid some pointers behind the scenes,
teach stuff about a thing or two about how to
shoot hoops. But uh, I don't think it's gonna end
up being a factor in this. I'm sure there will
be physicality that they're trying to bump them all that
Dylan Brooks will be doing Dylan Brooks things. I will say, like,
even as physical as this series has been, it's been
below my expectations for the amount of like ejections and
flagrance and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I thought it'd be even scaled up more than it
has been.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
So I don't think we probably see that tonight, since
they've been on their best behavior, even when that's guy,
I guess a large cushion for what we consider best
behavior there.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
But ultimately I don't think.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
It'll be a huge factor for stuff that he's sort
of figured out how to how to adjust and play
through this.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
At this point, this game.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Could get ugly either way. Like, if it's a tight game,
like maybe they're exhausted, they walk off the floor, tip
their caps, see you. But if it's a blowout, I
could see Houston turning up.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Yeah, and and and you.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Know, pushing and shoving.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, this timon man like Draymond loose cannon.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Draymond is the loose k. He's just out of his mind,
so he looks for this. But at the same time,
and Steve Kerr, I'm sure is somewhat aware, but like
it'll even get him out of the game. If it's
a blowout. You can't. You cannot allow yourself to be
suspended for that next series. You can't. You can't miss
any time. Draymond doesn't think like that. We'll see how
(28:15):
this one plays out once again. Tonight, Rockets and Warriors
Game six, Do or Die for Houston? Sean, did you
give me a play on this one? Do you think
all right? We'll start with five points spread Golden State
covering that number?
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Yeah, I like the minus five in favorite of Golden State.
Here it is a little bit larger than I would
like there. Ultimately, I don't think it's gonna be at
a point where it matters that. I think Golden State
is capable of having one of those offensive barrages to
straight up put a game away. I think his game
probably hangs in the balance for the first couple quarters here,
and then either the third or fourth quarter is where
Golden State's able to bust things open here. I think
the Warriors can reach the defensive level that Houston wants
(28:49):
to play at. I don't think Houston can reach the
offensive level that Golden State is capable of. So to me,
that's gonna be the story of this final game of
the series, and that's why the Houston gets sent home packing.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You know, at home already in this series for Golden State,
really going to be difficult for them to go in
there and win. Jimmy Butler has played well no matter where,
but even better at home. Last time out, he had
twenty seven points and Golden State when they won one
oh nine, one oh six, perfect from the stripe against
Steph Curry. Though it starts, it ends with him. No
(29:20):
surprise there for anybody, Even if you're living Underneaight the
Rock for the last five seasons, it doesn't matter. It's
Steph Curry. He was limited in that game six to thirteen,
only finished with seventeen points. It's just you know, look,
I want to make it simple and try and give
Houston the opportunity to keep this close, but I just
don't feel like they have the offensive firepower down the
(29:41):
stretch to match Golden State. And even if it is ugly,
it is only a five point spread. I still go
back Golden State to get this job done. And I
think it's a pretty easy wager. I hate to say
it like that, but it's Golden State tonight. That's definitely
the vibe that I got there. I'm sure everybody's in agreement.
I would love to know that those DraftKings numbers probably
scary to look at, but.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Probably we'll be writing about it later today, so we'll
be on DraftKings Network.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, very nice. Definitely be checking that out all right.
Once again, all things NBA playoffs. We got a lot
to chew on after last night's games. Again, we got
a Game seven going off tomorrow and now we got
bold Series second round in the NBA Playoffs for the
Eastern Conference. And man, a lot of excitement when it
(30:28):
comes to NBA playoffs this year. To represent, just real quick,
some futures to represent the East right now in the
NBA Finals, that number has come down again. The Cavaliers
plus one sixty Celtics minus one forty five. We talked
about that, yes, there with Julian Edlow Pacers to get
to the NBA Finals, sixteen to one, Knicks to get
to the NBA Finals, eighteen to one. Over on the West,
(30:49):
Okay Cee minus one seventy five, t Wolves plus five
to fifty, Golden State six to one, Clippers twelve to one,
Nuggets fit nineteen to one, Houston Rockets forty five to one.
For anybody out there that feels like h Town has
a little bit more in their bag. All right, quickly
on this so we have some time real quick, Sean,
we do have some news and notes from around the league.
(31:09):
First and foremost, let's talk about the Sacramento Kings removing
the interim tag from Doug Christy. Good move in your mind.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, I mean I think it's fair to give him
like a real opportunity. I still like, didn't love the
Mike Brown firing midseason. I do like Mike Brown is
a head coach and kind of circle back to I
think we see it a lot. The coaches are the
fall guy, and I certainly think that was the case.
Where this falls under this category. Sacramento is gonna have
an interesting offseason where they're gonna have to really evaluate
the future of Demonisabonis and some of the key players there.
(31:37):
So I think there's gonna be a lot more moving
parts within Sacramento, and to me, that does make sense
to keep some security to keep the head coach in place.
I still my doubts about him as a head coach,
to be perfectly honest, but I don't think it's fair
to just judge him on the second half of the season,
so I respect sticking.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
With him all right. Over it to the Phoenix Suns.
Didn't didn't James Jones win an award a couple of
years ago?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Yeah, I believe that that's correct. Executive the Year. I
think he won.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Phoenix announced today that the changes to the front office.
Brian Gregory has now been named general manager and James
Jones will slide over to a senior advisor. Oh, by
the way, that means he will be out pretty soon. Here,
I'm trying to find it. I'm yeah, Executive of the Year,
I know you want it. I'm ninety nine percent sure,
I'm not seeing it, but still, uh, Phoenix, any hope
(32:26):
for them moving forward? Here's what's their moves this offseason.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Durant's gonna be out of there, I think pretty certain.
Certainly they're there. They got to jump through some hoops
from a CBA perspective to actually make a trade logically
work and you know, make the money match all those
type of things. That they are a second apron team,
and they've pushed the limits of that more than we've
seen any other team in regard to the handcuffs that
come with that making moves, So we will see. I
do give him credit, like they've been pretty creative and
(32:50):
finding ways and making things happen sociats like the balloon
signing that that they that they did in the past offseason.
Some of their draft picks they have hit on. So
there's gonna be a lot going down in Phoenix. I
think matt Ishbieck gets a little bit worse rep than
he probably deserves. That sort of my sense or read
on him is that he is a guy that generally
wants to build a championship caliber winning basketball team, but
doesn't quite have the basketball savvy to sort of come
(33:12):
up with those things here, So I think he gets
right back to the poker table, starts playing a couple
more hands, and tries to figure out how can we
rework this and build around Devin Booker. You can make
a strong case that the best outlook for the franchise
is to completely rebuild and cash out with your top
chips that you have. But the biggest like roadblock they're
going to continue to run into it is that no
trade clause by that Bradley Beial possesses. Just Bradley Beal
(33:34):
and Lebron James the only two players in the NBA
to have a full no trade clause. That's tough because
I don't see a world where while still having that
financial number attached to that player on your books, you
have the cleanest path to building the contender. But I
do think like the ultimate biggest move is Kevin Durant
will be traded this offseason.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Any idea where he's going to end up.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
I mean, Houston's a hot name right now, and I
do think that makes a lot of sense for a
lot of reasons. For starters that Houston possesses. There is
a lot of Phoenix's draft picks, so you can get
your direct capital back in that also, like what Houston's
issue is is very clearly not having a guy to
operate in the clutch time there. Giannis is also going
to be an interesting conversation that shakes up and it
wouldn't time you that these overlap and a lot of
(34:14):
those conversations. Well, there's other teams as well. Toronto has
the pieces to get in the mix. Orlando, certainly, I think,
is in the spot where they should and can take
a big swing there.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
You could even make a case could is ready to
speed up this process entirely.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That would be an intriguing fit as well. So it
is shaping up to be a pretty eventful offseason in
the NBA. So it should be excited.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
All right. One more with the eight teams that are
currently well, excuse me, so we do have more than eight.
We got ten teams that are currently remaining. If Jalen
Brunson did win the NBA Clutch Player of the Year award, Okay,
who's the guy that you would like over Jalen Brunson
to have the final shot, because I know you're not
(34:54):
picking Jalen Brunson. Who is the one player that is
still remaining final shot that you would take over Jail
and Brunson.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I mean peak for peak, Kawhi is probably my answer
to that question. There said, there is just like a
helpless feeling that Kauhi instills in you that I really
have seen in very few players.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So I think that's probably my answer to that.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Even though like this hasn't been a stellar series by Kauhi,
I would say.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Right there with you. When he pulls up, You're like, dude,
it's it's he's just so massive, right, and the ball
doesn't even go high. It's just like it goes right
and most of the time doesn't even hit the rent,
just nothing but net. Yeah, all right, great job across
the board. Sean Maynard. You can find them on socials
of course, doing a bang up job for the folks
over at dknetwork dot com. And Sean was on the
(35:40):
golf course yesterday and Sean, you know I can tell
that you were on the golf course, right.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
It's a little sunburn action, ye I'm feeling.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
We got to hook you up with our friends over
at where SPF justin Thomas's brand of course, the great Golfer.
He'll be in attendance here coming up at the Truest
Championship where SPF dot com. Folks, let's go here. Put
it in your bag. You gotta have it in a
car once you have a kid. Trust me, you have
(36:08):
suntandloation or we'll have wear SPF all over the place.
But yeah, man, you're extremely red, all right, and I
think I know your skin from knowing you for the
past couple of years. Put some damn suntannlotion on, would you.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Yeah, I missed a boat on that yesterday. We were
running a little late getting to the course there, so
it was a stressful arrival.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Did not apply the SPS at any point.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Hey man, that's the golf game. Nobody ever gets to
the course earlier enough. You know, wear SPF dot com.
Check them out. Justin Thomas shout out. All right, great stuff.
We're keeping it moving here, keeping locked to the Gambler
for great content all throughout the course of the day,
including exces into you brand new Union podcast Spachelor two,
Matdy g and Adam Booth will take the reins on
(36:51):
that one. We got draft coverage. We got it all
going on right here on the Gambler. And as always,
if you miss anything, check US out f FOXPHO gambler
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
The pix and Roll podcast can be found on fox
PHL gambler dot com
Picks and Roll, handicapping the hardwood with Sixers insider Sean
Bernard and Sean Brace and away we go.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yes, we have a lot to discuss. Picks and Roll
coming your way, Chan Bray, Sean Bernard. A lot going
on in the world of the NBA Playoffs front and center.
The New York Knicks advance to the second round and
congratulations New York. You get to take on the reigning
(00:27):
world champions in the Boston Celtics. And oh, by the way,
DraftKings releasing the odds. We'll get into all that, of course,
Sean Minard represents to find folks over there at a
DraftKings sports book. You know, look, we could talk odds,
we can talk money, but we have to open up
with the fact that you now have lost a bet
to Sam Austrey. It's a shame because you did win
(00:49):
the over five and a half big picture wager. Nice
work there, but this one stings a little bit. You
now have to go sit in a bar full of
Knicks fans and you will be wearing Celtic green for
one of those games starting next week. Hysterical. I can't
(01:10):
wait to see it, Sean. But uh man, that was
a tough loss last night because I thought it was
a great game. I thought that Detroit was going to prevail.
From the standpoint of or the simple fact that they
were down by double just thirteen, I believe battle back.
That fourth quarter magic happened, and then it was like
the potion just ran out and all of a sudden,
(01:31):
Brunson hits the game winner. As man Jalen Brunson has
done a lot in the fourth.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Quarter, sure, sure, yeah, And we will dive into the game.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
To stay on the wagers side of things for a
second here, I've already recruited a Celtics friend, so I
don't get my face stomped in on this situation.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I think you needed to recruit a New York Nick fan.
To be honest with you, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
A bad point, not a bad point. Yeah, maybe that
is the better move there. So maybe I'll have to
hit the timeline and then figure that one out there
if you have any yeah, yeah, yeah, unfortuned.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I don't think that many of the Knicks fans are
friendly with no, which I understand as well. There and
speaking of the lost wagers that tend to just keep
coming my way.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
The jack McCain.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
TikTok recreations will begin dropping tomorrow in a countdown to
the NBA Draft Lottery, so those are coming as well.
NBA Draft lottery is when the fourteenth, twelfth, So I
was my game plan has been a ten day countdown
for these TikTok recreations. I thought about doing the opening
of next season, but I don't wanted to slip that
far away. And in case there's no juice if this
lottery goes wrong, I'll get him out of the way now,
(02:30):
So we'll do ten day countdown.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Ten day countdown is strong. Nice work by you on
that one. We'll lock in and maybe some people want
to join us for getting out in a town, to
going out and watching the Celtics in New York Knicks,
And like I said, I think we need to do
it early because I'm not so sure how long this
series is going to last for all. Yeah, it doesn't
shock me that you're already pitching a sweep here. But
(02:55):
right now draftings sports Book minus eight hundred for the Celtics,
the Knicks plus five point fifty. To put that in perspective,
the Cleveland Cavaliers right now are minus four to twenty
five versus the Pacers a plus three thirty. I didn't
think the odds makers were given the Pacers a shot.
They're sure as he'll not give the Knicks a chance
(03:17):
to beat the Boston Celtics in the seven game series.
Why would they. They haven't beaten them in the regular season,
the Celtics at the Celtics on and so forth. So
we understand that we'll have plenty of time to talk
about that series, no doubt about it. Back to the
game though, last night, Brunson hits the game winner. Man,
what happened on that play for Thompson? Like curious? I
(03:37):
don't want to sit here and say like that that's easy.
And because Brunson's amazing, he has unbelievable ball skills, but
what the hell was getting like he was sent into
another dimension on that cut?
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Yeah, it wasn't great there, and sar Thompson one of
the highest level primiter defenders in the entire NBA. There,
I've seen some of the you know, armchair quarterbacking here
of it should have been Dennis Ruder, who think did
an excellent job on Brunton for the large majority of
the series. I kind of didn't love the Pistons whole approach.
Like to me, there was a much clearer focus on
limiting Karl Anthony Towns, which they were effective, and he
(04:10):
fouled out of that game. Believe he finished with ten points.
There was pretty much a non factor. It was a
quiet ten points at that and they kind of said,
it's Jalen Brunson burst the world and we're gonna see
what's happened. And Jalen Brunson did his thing there. That
is not how I personally would have gone about defending
this next team, but that is what Detroit opted to
do last night. I don't think this is one of
the more stellar chess matches as far as coaching goes
in a playoff series between either one of these head coaches.
(04:31):
But the bottom line is Jalen Bronson did hit that shot.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Man.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Now, I still have my doubts about this next team,
There's no doubt. I'm very well open that I think
they have zero chance against the Celtics team. I even
think the minus nine hundred is low in favorite of
Boston for that. But the Knicks did do their job
and get through there. I don't think there's a way
where as a logical Knicks fan, you could have watched
this series and feel great about how it went. That
this was as close of a playoff series as you
(04:55):
can possibly ask for. Frankly, the Pistons outplayed this next
team for the majority of the series. Now, I get
it's a four to two, but if this were an
eleven game series or a fifteen game series, I'm not
certain the Knicks win that every single time here, and
that should be frightening for New York fans like this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Now you're now going against the defending champs if the.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Nixt fifteen game series, come on.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I get I'm saying I I is it fair to
assess that basically every single one of these games was
a toss up, no.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Doubt, But I think maybe we were sleeping a little
bit on Detroit, just a little bit. Detroit is a
scrappy team. They have some good size look, Knicks are
flawed if you take away Brunson, who's scoring.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I mean, Carl Anthony town Like they're supposed to have
talent here there.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I know, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
My issue with this next team, I do think each
one of their individual stars are flawed, every one of them.
From og Nnoby to Michale Bridges, to Karl Anthony Towns
to Jalen Bronson specifically here like for Bronson my overall
outlook and one of my skepticisms like I don't think
you can win a championship with Jalen Bronson is your
best player. That list of players is incredibly small, and
I don't think he cracks it. And for what it's worth,
(05:58):
like to give him his respect here, like he absolutely
can be the guy to deliver the knockout punch as
he did last night, but to keep on the fighter comparison,
I don't think he's a guy that can body blow
you through a series that you're gonna be a Luka
Doncic or an Anthony Edwards or a Giannis or a
player like that that is just carrying a roster. They
beat the Pistons, man, they beat a team that won
fourteen games last year and took a massively foward that
(06:19):
is on their proper trajectory and growth pattern.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Here it does.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I really don't think if you're a logical Knicks fan,
you can sit here and that series what awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well do those people exist? I don't think there's a
logical Knick fan out there. That's one. Yeah, look, you
know we can go through this exercise right now. Like
if you put SGA and replaced him, remove brunts, and
put SGA on.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
The next team, they're better.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think they're, man, they're definitely better. I still don't
think they're a championship contender.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
See I would in that case, like this is what
we can't brush over if we're gonna do the entire
Jalen Brunson conversation that he's all time talent, Like he
also gets slubbed off the floor for key defensive possessions,
Like there's things that you have to dive in the
woods weeds here.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
That's not the case with sy Yiotis Alexander.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
But like that is a guy that I do believe
can be the best player on a champion team that
does get the job done on both ends of the
floor and has that same ability it to hit those
big time shots. Jalen Bronson is a closer. He can
deliver nut punches, But I still have my doubts. Can
he be a body blow guy that carries you through
a series?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I I well, he did that series, I know and
again now he plays like a legitimate title contender, which
the Knicks are designed to be.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Ohin ten against top three teams this year, like they're
a flawed basketball team.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
They got the job done in this series, and I
have to wear that, and.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I can't say anything different, right I just like we
were talking about championships, like that's the next, next, next level,
that's the pinnacle. And I don't know, like we've seen
how many times Lebron James get to the finals. We're
talking about the greats here, we're talking about Jordan, like
to win a championship, like you have to be the
(08:01):
guy and oh, by the way, surrounded by a pretty
damn good team as well, So like the bar is
extremely high. But that's what it takes. That's the conversation
we're in right now. So I'm not trying to talk
both sides of my mouth, but I definitely think Jalen
Brunton needs a little bit more credit than what you're
giving him, and I think and the Pistons, I guess
(08:24):
I'm trying to give them a little bit of more
credit because of how scrappy they were. They looked like
they were hungry, they were more physical at times, but
the Knicks ended up winning that series. That was a
big time victory, you know, to lose that double digit
lead and then all of a sudden, Brunton put the
team on his back. I think he finished with the
final eight points of the game or something like that.
From the next perspective, finished with forty you know, like this,
(08:49):
this was a hell of a performance by Jalen Brunson.
And to hit that shot, Dude, he's got that Kowhi
vibe right now offensively where he's if he's putting it,
it's going in. There was shots last night that he
missed that. I was shocked. I go, I can't believe
he missed that three pointer. Like that's where we're at
right now. Like if Kawhi pulls up, I feel like
(09:10):
it's going in. There are a few players that you
get that vibe from. I'm getting that vibe from Brunson.
It's not gonna be enough to beat the Celtics. I'm
not sitting here saying that, but last night was an
all time performance in my eye as far as NBA
playoffs definitely have recent history. That was a damn good game.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah, And to give him his credit, like last night
was the first time to give him his credit to
dive into the state like Jalen brunsh okay, to give
Jalen bruns In his credit. Like last night was really
the first time in this that like as the game's
winding down that we're getting to those final minutes, and
I'm like, thinking about this from a very clear Pistons perspective,
It's like you have to play the clock right to
make sure he does not get the last shot. And
(09:46):
they did not do that correctly there. They obviously did
fail and we all knew it was coming. Like when
that was lining up. That was a case where it's
like here comes the dagger from Jalen Brunson. You cannot
give him that opportunity. And then at the end, man
like Malik Beasley.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You just got catch the ball.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
There was a look there man, like you have an opportunity,
catch it, shoot it.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's what you do.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
That is your whole job, as being Malik Beasley, it
is get the ball at three point line and put
up a three point shot and it slipped right through
his fingers. So a very frustrating into that game all around. Yeah,
I did not enjoy that viewing experience. Frustrating night all around.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I know, I know, yes, it was a crazy result.
First of all, shout out Matt, check it in. We know,
I love it. Great to see you Matt as always
kicking ass on the timeline doing big things, and thank
you for everything helping out here on the Gambler. But
we know he's a New York Knick fan, and last
night I was just entertained. I'm watching this game. I
(10:41):
thought it was over. I'm like, damn, the Knicks are
gonna blow them out. Really And then I'm like, all right,
there's a full fourth quarter that home Detroit's at home,
so maybe we can get some of that magic going.
And then it happened, and then the lead, It's just
like what is going on? And then all of a sudden,
next thing, you know, the Knicks bounce back like that
was a great play off battle. And that's one of
(11:02):
the games why the ratings are up right there. Like
if you were a basketball fan, college tubes a negative
nancy when it comes to the NBA. You tuned in
last night from start to finish. Normally it's like fourth quarter,
a couple minutes left, whatever. That was a great game
from start to finish. The juice was in that building
a lot of energy on the timeline. Just a fun
(11:23):
watch across the board. Unfortunately a bad result and now
sha Bnard has to go sit in a New York
Nick friendly bar, which is kind of funny. We got
some comments about that in field over it, like where
those things exist?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Yeah, people, I'm not familiar either. You're gonna have to
put me on to wear that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
But well, our resident of New York Nick fan sam Ostrey,
knows all of them. He was like, oh, yeah, I
go to him all the time.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, probably was there last night. It puts down off
on bars.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
By the way, watching a game at a bar is
probably the most overrated thing in the world. That was
my situation last night. It was Buddy Mine's birthday, so
we went out, had a nice dinner. We went the
two separate bars. Both times. It was actively I was
asking the bartender to solve world peace, to change the
TV channel to put on an NBA playoff game. I get,
we're a little out of our jurisdiction here, being it
like a Knicks Pistons game. This isn't a Philly sports
(12:09):
centric you know kind of moment here, but unreal there
and then like like we're down crunch time, of this
game here and I'm with my friend his girlfriend and
my girlfriend here and there's like thirty seven seconds left
on the clock and they're the girls are just gasping away.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Can you believe he's dating him?
Speaker 4 (12:25):
And it's like, I couldn't care anything less about, well,
who one of my friends is dating right now, when
there's thirty seven seconds left in this Knicks verse Pistons
game that is going down to the wire, I'm watching
this team fall apart. It was an all around I'm
like in alone by myself, freaking out about this game.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Not a good viewing experience.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I've never watched an NBA playoff game at a bar again,
except for I guess this one coming up, this Knicks
versea that's O right.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, unless the friend is Bill Belichick and I am
with you there. I don't care about anybody's dating life,
especially with the final minute of the game. The viewing
experience at a bar, nothing just We were talking about
this a couple of weeks ago when Beef in the
guys went out and asked to put the the NBA
or no to college. It was the March Madness game
I think was the Elite eight game on a Thursday
(13:08):
night and bartender wouldn't change it because he had two
TVs on there were both showing a Phillies game. He's like, yeah,
we got people here to watch the films. It's March madness, bro,
and especially like NBA PLAYFFS to me as a bar owner, restaurantner,
I know you have a million and one things to
worry about, but if you are a bartender, that is
number one on the list. What is on your TVs?
(13:29):
You want to clean bar, you want to be ready
to go, But immediately following is my TVs. And I'm
going to have what's the best of the best, and
I'm gonna make it work so you don't have to ask,
Like if I roll into a bar on Saturday at
six pm, I'm gonna have the Kentucky Derby on. You
better have it on? Like where's the awareness? But we're
asking too much these days, man.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Yeah, and the Phillies was the first thing that was
throwing my way. Mind you, the bar that we were at,
shot to third and spruce up and reading Pa.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
There.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
There's like thirty five TVs, all of them had the
Phillies on. There was two with a basketball.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Game in the corner.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I'm not having to like watch well, like everyone's seated there
and I'm like, you're telling me we can't get one
more of these TVs with this game on here. But finally,
once that final outwent, it was like, yep, I'm back
on this. I don't mean to be the guy that's
causing a whole scene here, but this is just completely
unreasonable for this not to be an option for.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Matt checking back in. He was watching that shot at
a Staten Island bar last night was movies.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
That's an exception if you're in it with the crowd
that like, I can get behind that.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, the whole different ball game there. They are Philadelphia
centric bar, right, we're watching the Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, Eagles whatever.
It may be, nothing better. You're right about that unbelievable
NBA playoff game last night? Really fun? Anything else you
want to say about the Nixon Pistons.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
No, I mean congratulations to the New York Knicks. Man.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
I think we all, like I even myself as a hater,
could acknowledge they're probably what we're down to the final eight.
They're probably in the eight best teams in the NBA.
So I think we're right at their ceiling here, and
this is how things are designed. So maybe you guys
can squeak out a gentleman's sweep. That'll be I think
that's what should be the go from a New York
perspective for the series.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
If they were facing off with the Pacers, who you
got in Madison Square Garden home home home court advantage.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Certainly a better chance against Pacers. That one seems like
a seven game series to me. I still lean Pacers
unsurprisingly here that, Like, I do think the depth is
that would be a matchup where we clearly see the
contrast and the Pacers rolling down their rolodex of depth
versus the next play. You know, they're guys the monstrance
minutes there. So I STI would lean Pacers on that.
But I think that's close. I think it's a very
clear Celtics and Cleveland is the top two in the East,
(15:28):
and then a big gap the Pacers and Knicks right
in that next mix.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, so there's draftskings, odds makers they agree with you
right now. Knicks to win the NBA Championships seventy five
to one plus seventy five hundred Pacers sixty to one,
Nuggets fifty to one, Clippers twenty eight to one, Warriors
seventeen to one, t Will seventeen to one, Calves plus
four to seventy five Celtics plus two hundred, OKC plus
one fifty, So a significant drop off from Cleveland, Boston
(15:55):
and OKC to everybody else. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
They play.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
They play the game on the floor, not on paper.
We'll see what happens in the next series. Again, the
oddsmaker is not giving the Knicks that much of a chance.
Why would they We know what they're the result was
all season long. That was regular season. We'll see what
happens in the next round versus the Boston Celtics. First
game Saturday night? Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (16:17):
No, Monday, that feels I think Monday is what I saw.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
I know Game one for Calves Pacers is Sunday, so
that'll be the start of the second round.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, I think Knix Celtics starts Monday.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Correct. Knicks and Celtics Game one in Boston. Boston and
eight and a half point favorite to fourteen and a half.
We'll see how that one plays out. Plenty of time
to discuss it. Sunday game one between pacers and calves.
Line movement slightly was eight and a half yesterday, now
down to eight. So money coming in on the pacers
there two twenty nine and a half series though, money
(16:48):
coming in on the calves. That bump back up in
favor of the calves. How about that? So that is
intriguing their money coming in on the calves to win
the series. Not a lot of value there, but good
luck if you got deep pockets, you can make money there.
All right, stay with last night, Shoppynard. We did have
an answer from the La Clippers and they extended the series.
(17:12):
I wasn't too sure how that one was gonna play
out halfway through it, but you know when the second
half rolled around and you saw Kawhi going off, Harden
played well. One eleven one oh five was your final score,
Clippers advance. We now have a Game seven cliche cliche cliche,
best two words in sports Game seven one eleven one five.
(17:34):
Interesting note here that number went from six and a
half down to five and a half to six. Back
up the six and a half. When we got done
with the show yesterday, I think at tip most places
had it at six. So on the money on the
mark clips Nuggets push Clippers extend the series to a
game seven. Your thoughts on last night with mister Uno
(17:58):
showing up in a big way, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
He did, and they needed it out of James Harden
last night, ultimately finishing with twenty eight points, eight assists,
ten to twenty from the field, had six boards as well.
Thought Kawhi was really good twenty seven to ten there,
like what really stuck out to me. And by the way,
let me give a full shout out to Niko Batum,
who one of them more like, I just appreciate him
as a basketball player.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Guys. He logged thirty four minutes last night.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
That's only the third time all season that he's played
over thirty minutes and is doing it in that playoff series.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
The box score is never gonna pop. In those thirty
four minutes.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
He had six points, six assists, five rebounds, but just
the dude that does all the little things. He had
a block on Russell Westbrook with about a minute to
go where the game was pretty much over, but that
was definitely kind of the nail in the coffin moment.
He had another one against Jokic which was just really
impressive to be doing this at his age and this
far into his career here, so I thought he was
a real difference maker for this Clippers team. And what
stood out to me, like I think we all felt
(18:47):
this way coming into the series, that as the best
five man unit, there's no doubt the Clippers have that
to their advantage. But there is the Nicola Jokic factor,
and there is this championship pedigree that Denver possesses that
we have not seen on this Clippers team. It felt
to me like it was James Harden thrown into tow
in that previous game. It was nice to see a
bounce back that he does so happen. So I'm grateful
that we are getting a game seven. This is a
(19:09):
series that feels like it deserves that. So glad that
is the case there. And honestly, I've flip flopped on
the way I see this Game seven going. So it's
gonna be a really intriguing matchup.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, I gotta give a shout out to our guys. Sam.
He was on the Money last night two and zero
and he thought, oh, he's been saying from the beginning
that this series is going seven. That's tough. That's a
tough wage to make and then to obviously win. You know,
for a series to go seven, it really has to
be pretty much even across the way. Do you feel
(19:39):
that when you watch these two teams? Have you felt
that through six games? I get it three to three.
I understand what I'm asking, But is there a little
bit of a difference for one of these teams? And
specifically when we're talking about going back home for Denver here,
are you giving him the edge?
Speaker 4 (19:55):
I lean that way, but I certainly am gonna bounce
back and forth on this one to be up front
about it, Like I there's something about Nicole jokicch that
I'm now bought into like that, like when you give
him now, Yeah, it did take me a while to
get right now Like this year.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Sure, Yeah, I certainly was king part in the grand
scheme of things.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Who's a better player? Joker or brunt?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Go ahead?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
But I mean, like, if the Clippers bring their a game,
they're gonna win Game seven here, it's just if they
can actually do that at a consistent period. And like
James Harden is certainly the forefront of that overall conversation here.
So I still like the Clippers other guys so much
better than Denver's. But I do think like we haven't
seen Kawhi Leonard kind of take the bull by the
reins here and be the guy in the series the
way that I was expecting to where he was looking
(20:42):
to after that first round there. So if you can
get that in game seven, there's no doubt that he
can win this game. But there is something that just
has me worried with the variants of this Clippers team
based on kind of what I know what I'm getting.
But with that at that same point, like Denver's been
up and down to the Michael Porter Junior is the
Jamal Murray. He's been mostly very good in this series,
but they're certainly downstretching Gordon like they have valuable guys
that I think is a tough ask for Yokis to
(21:04):
go him versus the world, but he very well might
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, I am. I'm invested with the Clippers. Pre series.
I took the Clippers to win this series. I felt,
you know, like last year, but he was telling me
the Clippers were the team kind of bought it, and
the Clippers eventually clipped. This year, I just felt like
it was a different ballgame. And oh, by the way,
the success that they had to close up chop this year, Yeah,
I was eye opening, but I always felt like it
(21:28):
was gonna be an uphill climb going into Denver playing
a team with a championship mentality where people were kind
of picking against them to sleeping on them Game seven
though in their home arena. Flip a coin, I what
do you want from me?
Speaker 4 (21:42):
Like?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I want the Clippers to win? Will anybody be surprised
if Denver prevails on their home for it?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
No?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Right? Like, this is a great game though, so tune
in right now and go figure it's to pick them
to point spread tomorrow night? Yeah, today's Friday, Saturday night,
nine thirty five pm. What else are you doing? From
Kentucky Derby a little bit of some cocktails, mint jul
ups into Nuggets Clippers Game seven? That sounds like a
Saturday night that I'm looking forward to again. Two oh
(22:10):
five is our total in that one? Do you think
we see defense prevailed? You thinke these two teams slow
it down? Seems like a low total there.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, And I've leaned towards the under to be honest
that I think this will be an old fashioned kind
of rock fight that certainly plays more to the Clippers'
favor there. That I think Denver's has some nice flashes
where they've been able to push the pace, ge out
and transition. That's definitely beneficial to them. That the Clippers
would prefer to play a bogged down half court style there,
and I do think that's how things mostly play out.
That's definitely not discounting Denver's chances of winning if the
game script goes accordingly, but that is my expectation. Now
(22:38):
we see defense, we see slow pace, and this is
going to be a grinded out who's got the best,
you know, half court offense versus half court defense and
pretty much growth of these settings.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, and if you want to be entertained in that
final few minutes, don't be at a bar. All right,
that's all We'll say, six games played, only one game
has remained under that low low total there of two
to five, and that was Game four. The Clippers won
oneh one to ninety nine. All Right, some good stuff
there as far as the NBA playoffs front and center
(23:08):
for everybody, But we're not done, because tonight we got
the Rockets and Warriors Game six back in the Bay,
Warriors five point favorites. Two oh seven and a half
is our total in this one. I'm pretty sure that
the majority of America, the betting public out there, will
be in agreement when I say the Warriors rested up.
(23:30):
They were content with losing what took place at Game
five in Houston, saving things up for Game six in
the Bay and this is all Golden State tonight. Is
there a chance, though, in your mind, that Houston could
do something differently, maybe offensively, Houston could do something differently,
maybe defensively to limit Steph or Jimmy or whoever's going
(23:51):
off at that point in time in that game for
tonight to make this a close battle and then maybe
win a clutch game or a tough game down the
stretch by hitting clutch.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Your thoughts on that, Yeah, I'm not fully discounting Houston here.
It's the Jalen Green experience is really what we're talking
about here, that like, there might not be a player
with a wider range of when he's at his best
and when he's at his worst than Jalen Green across
the entire NBA. And we've seen it up close and
personal in the specific series here. Now, granted, he's been
held to eleven points or fewer in all but one game.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Now, that one game that he didn't.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
He popped off for thirty eight and looked like the
best player on the floor in that game there, So
they need somewhat of that version of Jalen Green to
have a chance.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Frankly, I don't think they probably get it that.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
I think some of it has certainly been You gotta
credit Golden State for the way that they've defended him,
the way that they've kind of limited his opportunities to
get going early, and that certainly feels like something he
feeds off as a player, that when he sees a
couple of ball go through the hoop early on, that
leads to a good game for him.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
I don't think that happens tonight.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
I do think Golden State ultimately advances puts in the
finishing game winning performance tonight, and since Houston packing, I
still think this should be looked at as a massive
success for Houston this year.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
But for the same reasons that I'm.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Speaking about these past games, I do think there's something
to the championship pedigree that Golden State possesses here. The
Jimmy Butler is a real thing for what he's brought
to this team, They're gonna bring it. Steve Kirk very
clearly waved the white flag very early in game five,
earlier than I expected or thought would be the case there.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
But it is all building for this game six.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
So I think we get the A plus effort from
Golden State, and Houston's not able to match that.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
You know, the things that aren't put out there in
the box score, and you got to dig a little
bit deeper and pay attention to his sort of things.
Is Steph Curry's injury to his thumb right and you
got the Dylan Brooks back and forth and he said
he's going after you and it didn't say he's going
after but they're going after it. And then it's a
hand hand on the ball. It's fine, that's playoff basketball man,
Steph Curry. Steph Curry, if I catch it, I'm not
(25:40):
going in there attacking the thumb. Like if he's dribbling,
it's his right hand. If he's dribbling his left hand,
I'm punching his right No. But guess what a lot
of it is is he a little bit? For sure,
there was one clip that looked pretty brutal.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
That's like release the ball, It's like very clearly, he
shoots it, brings his hand down, and Den Brooks then
slaps at his hand there. So he's still doing Dylan
Brooks things. For Yeah, that's out of line.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I can't do that. But what I could tell you
is that I would be okay with the way that
Minnesota went after Luca. And it's hard fouls. This playoff basketball.
You saw it last night when Kat had the breakaway
and I forget who it was for Detroit. Yeah, so
like that's I expect that. I want that. That's what
playoff basketball is about, especially in this situation do or
Die for Houston. Does that play into your mind at
(26:29):
all that maybe Steph Curry could be off tonight because
of this thumb?
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, I mean not really to be honest, this like
it's kind of just popped to the forefront. But this
has been an issue that Steph's been dealing with for
like months at this point that he's just kind of
played through this thumb and injury.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
And obviously it's on a shooting hand.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
It's not a non factor here that you got to
kind of fight through this but if you're shooting a
basketball correctly, which Steph Curry obviously does, the thumb should
not have much of an impact on that thing.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
We need to hit him. Doug Gottlieb on that one.
I don't know if he does or right.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, yeah, maybe get a kid some pointers behind the scenes,
teach stuff about a thing or two about how to
shoot hoops. But uh, I don't think it's gonna end
up being a factor in this. I'm sure there will
be physicality that they're trying to bump them all that
Dylan Brooks will be doing Dylan Brooks things. I will say, like,
even as physical as this series has been, it's been
below my expectations for the amount of like ejections and
flagrance and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
I thought it'd be even scaled up more than it
has been.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
So I don't think we probably see that tonight, since
they've been on their best behavior, even when that's guy,
I guess a large cushion for what we consider best
behavior there.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
But ultimately I don't think.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
It'll be a huge factor for stuff that he's sort
of figured out how to how to adjust and play
through this.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
At this point, this game.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Could get ugly either way. Like, if it's a tight game,
like maybe they're exhausted, they walk off the floor, tip
their caps, see you. But if it's a blowout, I
could see Houston turning up.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Yeah, and and and you.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Know, pushing and shoving.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Yeah, this timon man like Draymond loose cannon.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Draymond is the loose k. He's just out of his mind,
so he looks for this. But at the same time,
and Steve Kerr, I'm sure is somewhat aware, but like
it'll even get him out of the game. If it's
a blowout. You can't. You cannot allow yourself to be
suspended for that next series. You can't. You can't miss
any time. Draymond doesn't think like that. We'll see how
(28:15):
this one plays out once again. Tonight, Rockets and Warriors
Game six, Do or Die for Houston? Sean, did you
give me a play on this one? Do you think
all right? We'll start with five points spread Golden State
covering that number?
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Yeah, I like the minus five in favorite of Golden State.
Here it is a little bit larger than I would
like there. Ultimately, I don't think it's gonna be at
a point where it matters that. I think Golden State
is capable of having one of those offensive barrages to
straight up put a game away. I think his game
probably hangs in the balance for the first couple quarters here,
and then either the third or fourth quarter is where
Golden State's able to bust things open here. I think
the Warriors can reach the defensive level that Houston wants
(28:49):
to play at. I don't think Houston can reach the
offensive level that Golden State is capable of. So to me,
that's gonna be the story of this final game of
the series, and that's why the Houston gets sent home packing.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
You know, at home already in this series for Golden State,
really going to be difficult for them to go in
there and win. Jimmy Butler has played well no matter where,
but even better at home. Last time out, he had
twenty seven points and Golden State when they won one
oh nine, one oh six, perfect from the stripe against
Steph Curry. Though it starts, it ends with him. No
(29:20):
surprise there for anybody, Even if you're living Underneaight the
Rock for the last five seasons, it doesn't matter. It's
Steph Curry. He was limited in that game six to thirteen,
only finished with seventeen points. It's just you know, look,
I want to make it simple and try and give
Houston the opportunity to keep this close, but I just
don't feel like they have the offensive firepower down the
(29:41):
stretch to match Golden State. And even if it is ugly,
it is only a five point spread. I still go
back Golden State to get this job done. And I
think it's a pretty easy wager. I hate to say
it like that, but it's Golden State tonight. That's definitely
the vibe that I got there. I'm sure everybody's in agreement.
I would love to know that those DraftKings numbers probably
scary to look at, but.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Probably we'll be writing about it later today, so we'll
be on DraftKings Network.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, very nice. Definitely be checking that out all right.
Once again, all things NBA playoffs. We got a lot
to chew on after last night's games. Again, we got
a Game seven going off tomorrow and now we got
bold Series second round in the NBA Playoffs for the
Eastern Conference. And man, a lot of excitement when it
(30:28):
comes to NBA playoffs this year. To represent, just real quick,
some futures to represent the East right now in the
NBA Finals, that number has come down again. The Cavaliers
plus one sixty Celtics minus one forty five. We talked
about that, yes, there with Julian Edlow Pacers to get
to the NBA Finals, sixteen to one, Knicks to get
to the NBA Finals, eighteen to one. Over on the West,
(30:49):
Okay Cee minus one seventy five, t Wolves plus five
to fifty, Golden State six to one, Clippers twelve to one,
Nuggets fit nineteen to one, Houston Rockets forty five to one.
For anybody out there that feels like h Town has
a little bit more in their bag. All right, quickly
on this so we have some time real quick, Sean,
we do have some news and notes from around the league.
(31:09):
First and foremost, let's talk about the Sacramento Kings removing
the interim tag from Doug Christy. Good move in your mind.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, I mean I think it's fair to give him
like a real opportunity. I still like, didn't love the
Mike Brown firing midseason. I do like Mike Brown is
a head coach and kind of circle back to I
think we see it a lot. The coaches are the
fall guy, and I certainly think that was the case.
Where this falls under this category. Sacramento is gonna have
an interesting offseason where they're gonna have to really evaluate
the future of Demonisabonis and some of the key players there.
(31:37):
So I think there's gonna be a lot more moving
parts within Sacramento, and to me, that does make sense
to keep some security to keep the head coach in place.
I still my doubts about him as a head coach,
to be perfectly honest, but I don't think it's fair
to just judge him on the second half of the season,
so I respect sticking.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
With him all right. Over it to the Phoenix Suns.
Didn't didn't James Jones win an award a couple of
years ago?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Yeah, I believe that that's correct. Executive the Year. I
think he won.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Phoenix announced today that the changes to the front office.
Brian Gregory has now been named general manager and James
Jones will slide over to a senior advisor. Oh, by
the way, that means he will be out pretty soon. Here,
I'm trying to find it. I'm yeah, Executive of the Year,
I know you want it. I'm ninety nine percent sure,
I'm not seeing it, but still, uh, Phoenix, any hope
(32:26):
for them moving forward? Here's what's their moves this offseason.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Durant's gonna be out of there, I think pretty certain.
Certainly they're there. They got to jump through some hoops
from a CBA perspective to actually make a trade logically
work and you know, make the money match all those
type of things. That they are a second apron team,
and they've pushed the limits of that more than we've
seen any other team in regard to the handcuffs that
come with that making moves, So we will see. I
do give him credit, like they've been pretty creative and
(32:50):
finding ways and making things happen sociats like the balloon
signing that that they that they did in the past offseason.
Some of their draft picks they have hit on. So
there's gonna be a lot going down in Phoenix. I
think matt Ishbieck gets a little bit worse rep than
he probably deserves. That sort of my sense or read
on him is that he is a guy that generally
wants to build a championship caliber winning basketball team, but
doesn't quite have the basketball savvy to sort of come
(33:12):
up with those things here, So I think he gets
right back to the poker table, starts playing a couple
more hands, and tries to figure out how can we
rework this and build around Devin Booker. You can make
a strong case that the best outlook for the franchise
is to completely rebuild and cash out with your top
chips that you have. But the biggest like roadblock they're
going to continue to run into it is that no
trade clause by that Bradley Beial possesses. Just Bradley Beal
(33:34):
and Lebron James the only two players in the NBA
to have a full no trade clause. That's tough because
I don't see a world where while still having that
financial number attached to that player on your books, you
have the cleanest path to building the contender. But I
do think like the ultimate biggest move is Kevin Durant
will be traded this offseason.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Any idea where he's going to end up.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
I mean, Houston's a hot name right now, and I
do think that makes a lot of sense for a
lot of reasons. For starters that Houston possesses. There is
a lot of Phoenix's draft picks, so you can get
your direct capital back in that also, like what Houston's
issue is is very clearly not having a guy to
operate in the clutch time there. Giannis is also going
to be an interesting conversation that shakes up and it
wouldn't time you that these overlap and a lot of
(34:14):
those conversations. Well, there's other teams as well. Toronto has
the pieces to get in the mix. Orlando, certainly, I think,
is in the spot where they should and can take
a big swing there.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
You could even make a case could is ready to
speed up this process entirely.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That would be an intriguing fit as well. So it
is shaping up to be a pretty eventful offseason in
the NBA. So it should be excited.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
All right. One more with the eight teams that are
currently well, excuse me, so we do have more than eight.
We got ten teams that are currently remaining. If Jalen
Brunson did win the NBA Clutch Player of the Year award, Okay,
who's the guy that you would like over Jalen Brunson
to have the final shot, because I know you're not
(34:54):
picking Jalen Brunson. Who is the one player that is
still remaining final shot that you would take over Jail
and Brunson.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
I mean peak for peak, Kawhi is probably my answer
to that question. There said, there is just like a
helpless feeling that Kauhi instills in you that I really
have seen in very few players.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So I think that's probably my answer to that.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Even though like this hasn't been a stellar series by Kauhi,
I would say.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Right there with you. When he pulls up, You're like, dude,
it's it's he's just so massive, right, and the ball
doesn't even go high. It's just like it goes right
and most of the time doesn't even hit the rent,
just nothing but net. Yeah, all right, great job across
the board. Sean Maynard. You can find them on socials
of course, doing a bang up job for the folks
over at dknetwork dot com. And Sean was on the
(35:40):
golf course yesterday and Sean, you know I can tell
that you were on the golf course, right.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
It's a little sunburn action, ye I'm feeling.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
We got to hook you up with our friends over
at where SPF justin Thomas's brand of course, the great Golfer.
He'll be in attendance here coming up at the Truest
Championship where SPF dot com. Folks, let's go here. Put
it in your bag. You gotta have it in a
car once you have a kid. Trust me, you have
(36:08):
suntandloation or we'll have wear SPF all over the place.
But yeah, man, you're extremely red, all right, and I
think I know your skin from knowing you for the
past couple of years. Put some damn suntannlotion on, would you.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Yeah, I missed a boat on that yesterday. We were
running a little late getting to the course there, so
it was a stressful arrival.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Did not apply the SPS at any point.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Hey man, that's the golf game. Nobody ever gets to
the course earlier enough. You know, wear SPF dot com.
Check them out. Justin Thomas shout out. All right, great stuff.
We're keeping it moving here, keeping locked to the Gambler
for great content all throughout the course of the day,
including exces into you brand new Union podcast Spachelor two,
Matdy g and Adam Booth will take the reins on
(36:51):
that one. We got draft coverage. We got it all
going on right here on the Gambler. And as always,
if you miss anything, check US out f FOXPHO gambler
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
The pix and Roll podcast can be found on fox
PHL gambler dot com
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