12/25/2020 - Best of The Odd Couple

Rob Parker and Martin Weiss, in for Chris Broussard, discuss the Golden State Warriors disappointing start to the season and the guys explain why the dynasty is over for the Warriors and they won’t win another championship. Shaun Powell from NBA.com joins the show to discuss all of the latest happening in the NBA. The guys talk about the Brooklyn Nets and what their potential is this season. Plus, the guys share their thoughts on the NFL Playoffs, whether the Saints still have a shot at winning the Super Bowl and if Drew Brees has enough in the tank to lead them there.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
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(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brusso and Rod Harker. You smell that that's the
Golden State Warriors. Yes, the team that moved from Oakland
and San Francisco and their new shiny building because they
made so much money and they won those three championships

(00:45):
and they were printing money and everybody told us how
great they were and how Steph change basketball and oh
my god, look at this team, and this is unbelievable,
and everybody should follow their blueprint. They stay, they stink.
I don't want to hear about Draymond Greene not playing

(01:06):
Clay Thompson has hurt. I get all that. That doesn't
mean you should be losing by forty every night. And
I get it. They played Brooklyn and they played Milwaukee,
two of the best teams in the East. I get it.
But this is a mess. And I'm telling you the

(01:29):
days of them raising a banner in the Bay Area
when it comes to NBA basketball or Lord God, it's
a wrap. It's done. It was done. When kd took
his busted ankle and moved and went to Brooklyn, we

(01:51):
knew they weren't winning again. I know nobody thought Clay
would get hurt again. But the minute that Kevin Durant
left Golden State, that dynasty was over. And I think,
what the at the end of the day, when it's
all said and done, the way we're gonna look at
this Golden State dynasty the same way that you look
at if you look at the NBA and the history

(02:12):
of it. Right, you have a couple, you have a
couple of dynasties, right, you have you have the Lakers.
You have a couple of back to back Pistons championships.
And then like in my generation, you have Lebron. Right,
like Lebron has been the guy who's been in the finals.
He's been in the Eastern obviously for most of most
of his career. For a ten years stretch, he was
in the Eastern Conference finals, right finals record notwithstanding, he

(02:35):
was the representative from the east, right, So do you
don't look at like a Cleveland dynasty or a Miami
dynasty or another Cleveland dynasty. It was Lebron. I think
what we're gonna see now with Brooklyn. It was Kevin Durant.
It wasn't Steph Curry, it wasn't Klay Thompson, it wasn't
Draymond Green. Because all of those guys were there beforehand.
And Kevin Durant is the reason why they won multiple

(02:56):
titles instead of just winning the one. There's no doubt
about it. You know what, when he came to Golden State,
everybody talking about step this step that Kad took his
team like he took his lunch money the best player.
He didn't step aside for the best betterment of the team.
If you're the better player, you're always gonna be the

(03:18):
better player no matter who comes on the team. But
seeing the thing was it fitted narrative right because Katie
was quote unquote I had no problem with Kevin Durant
going to Golden State. In fact, you'll remember Rob a
bet that you and I made. I bet you when
they were down the Golden that Katie was going to
the Warriors way back when. But that's a story for
another day. But I'll say this. People wanted to say

(03:39):
that Katie was a snake for going to the Warriors,
and he was this, and he was bas that'll never
you know what, it'll always you tell him, Martin, you
don't tell me. You tell me Rob Park at the
time where you had a job opportunity that was better
than the one that you had and you didn't take it. No,
but that's not the issue. It's that when you talk
about competition and the way people look at you, all
I'm saying is they'll count the MVPs, they'll count the titles.

(04:03):
But unless he goes to Brooklyn and brings a championship
to the nets up never won anything, people will always
look side eyed at it. And people like you, people
like you looking side eyed, are now surprised. And when
I said that the Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry
and Clay Thompson and Draymond Green can't compete at the
highest level. Now with Steph Curry, he changed the game.

(04:25):
He can't compete. The only game he can compete in
is losed by forty. No, I'm saying whatever, everybody wants
to have this narrative against Kevin Durant. So now you
have to figure out all these other reasons why the
Warriors were winning. And now Steph Curry is one of
the greatest point guards of all time, and all this
and that in the third and I'm like, look, Steph
is great, Clay Thompson is very good, but Kevin Durant

(04:45):
was the thing that made that thing go in that
first title. If you think about it in a way
that the like Lebron went back to Cleveland and re uped,
He's signed to a Tristan Thompson, back to the big deal,
Jerry Smith, back to the big deal, and everybody in
retrospect now it was looking like, well that was dumb,
why would you do that? But if you look at
it in that perspective, they went all the way and

(05:07):
they took that finals to Golden State team, They took
them to the pressure, all the way to the wire
without two starters. And if Kevin Durant hadn't a going,
Lebron has to think, look, we had injury luck in
that first Golden State and that first Golden State title.
Lebron had to feel like, yo, we just had bad
injury luck. We could run this team back back back
back back. Kevin Durant came and completely shifted the paradigm.

(05:28):
That's right. Look at that Lebron was one and eight
in NBA Finals games with Kevin Durant played, And you're right.
When you look back at this Warriors quote unquote dynasty
and where they were, it'll have a different look at it,
especially when they don't win again, when they get the band,

(05:49):
when Clay's healthy and when they have Dreymond and you
realize it ain't happening again. They're not winning, and then
you'll look and say, they won one championship and know
when they wanted when when? Uh when when the Cavaliers
didn't have That's the championship that that championship got Matthew

(06:11):
Delavadova paid that. I mean, think about the people that
Lebron has gotten paid on championship runs, like Matthew Delladova
got paid off of that championship run, and that if
that doesn't show you that, like, what are we doing here?
To me? The Warriors are they got I want to
say they got lucky, right, because they did. They got
to that finals. That first finals was for sure legitimate,

(06:34):
but they remind me of the Toronto Raptors. The biggest
problem with the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference was
that Lebron James was also in the Eastern Conference right
otherwise like like he was the one that just was
blocking them to the finals. That was the biggest problem.
They just kept running into Lebron wherever he was at. Okay,
Lebron leaves, they get Kawhi Leonard Boom title, Kawhi leaves.

(06:55):
How many titles was Towanto are gonna win? Now? Are
you thinking Toronto? Those a real competitor for this Eastern
Conference for the East, and now that Brooklyn has put
together that, I don't see them going anywhere. Look at
the East now, I would pick fourteen before I would
pick Toronto exactly. And so to me, to me, they
are very similar teams. They're right, they had a very

(07:16):
good they had a prolonged period of success. But it's
not necessarily the dynasty in that way, and it's over
unless unless you do some massive, I don't know trade
for James Harden and then he changes his personality and
he starts to want to play basketball hard. It is
amazing where we are and I know all those Warrior

(07:38):
and Steph fans, they're gonna make the excuses. What do
you expect to heard? Steph can win by it? So
Jaymond and bay Glay Thompson's heart again, that's a wowsey wowsy,
woo woo. Nobody wants to hear it. The reality of
it is, it's over. It ain't happening in Golden State.

(08:02):
I don't care if they moved up to the East
Side because they finally got a piece of the pie
and they're now plying their trade in San Francisco and
that shiny new Chase Building or Chase Center whatever they
call it. I've been there, beautiful, I get it. But
they were in the high red district Martin. But they
not win in no more championships. The other thing is

(08:25):
too you got you know, you got you know, basketball scholars,
veteran basketball scribes like Christopher Bruce sard Sis in a
chair right here next to me, We'll tell you that
Steph Curry changed the game and with all of this
and that where is it now? Right? That's what I
want to know, Like Wheah, he changed the game. He
made it acceptable to take ridiculous threes because he knocked

(08:46):
them down, most of them, and so people started doing it.
The kids been doing it and just throwing up threes
from all over the place. Yes, if you want to
say that, but he ain't changed the game, because I
haven't seen another Guarden like that win a champion ship.
I haven't seen. Please, it's it's about Lebron and Anthony
Davis and uh kd Those are the guys who have

(09:09):
won the championship. Guys who are above six seven, who
who are going to getting buckets, getting rebounds, dunking on
folks like the mid range. Like if you look at
any any elite scorer in the NBA, they all have
this little free throw line pull up or just you know,
half two steps in from the three point line. Because
when it gets to the playoffs, me and Rick Bucker
were actually talking about this. You name me an efficient

(09:30):
score that can't take two dribbles and pull up, it
doesn't happen. Like that's why guys like Duncan Robinson they
can't shoot twos right because they can't dribble, they can't
get open like that. They're all three point guys three
in ds and it's just Golden State. Now, I think
I heard on the radio on the way up here
they missed some twenty three wide open three pointers, and

(09:50):
so like, yeah, that scheme works when you have Draymond
Green having his best shooting percentage of his career, right,
which was a blip. If you watched Draymond through Michigan State,
and then you watch I played against Raymond Green in
high school. He was obviously the best player on the court,
but he was never a prolific outside shooter. Right, So
he gets to Michigan State, he wasn't a plific outstart shooter.
Then now he's surrounded by Clay Steph and he's shooting

(10:11):
much better. Yeah, but he's come back out about it.
Then you have It's just when you don't have Clay Thompson,
who's obviously one of the best shooters of all time,
like and Steph, who are of the best shoots of
all time, opening all that stuff up, and now you
replace it with Kelly Oubray and Andrew Wiggins, it doesn't
look the exact same. It absolutely does not. Thanks for

(10:34):
listening to The Odd Couple Podcast. Be sure to catch
us live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm
Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox
Sports Radio dot Com or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching f s R. He

(10:58):
is by far one of the best NBA writers columnists
in this country. Writes for NBA dot Com. Former co
worker friend of mine, mister Sean Powell. Welcome to the
Odd Couple on this Christmas night, Thank you, buddy. Ain't
no problem man. Happy Holidays everybody you know it. Hey, Sean,

(11:20):
let me, let's just before we get we were talking
about Golden State before you came on and how Putrid
has been. But let's just start with Brooklyn. That game
is winding down and they just blew out Boston And
what do you make of this team? Because it's scary good.
I look at the roster. We already know about k

(11:40):
D and Kyrie and how good they are, and if
they're healthy, you know what they can do. They have
a loaded bench, all these other players that made the
playoffs last year without the two big stars. How good
is this Brooklyn team if they stay healthy. Well, you
left out one other component, and that's Mike Danntoni's assistant coaching.
It's his offense. And you know, Mike D'Antoni is properly

(12:04):
one of the most, if not the most influential offensive coaches,
UH in the last twenty years. Um, he's taken team. Now,
he hasn't won a championship or whatever, but he's taken
teams and just overhauled the system. And you know in
phoenixs in Houston, and he succeeded with them. And now
he doesn't have to worry about, uh, trying to get

(12:28):
James Harden on the same wavelets as the next star
in Houston. He's got k D and Kyrie, those two,
those two superstars are already on the same way left.
So when you when you add Mike D'Antoni and his
system to the mix, that's going to take full advantage
of what k D and Kyrie have to offer. And

(12:49):
of course you've got Spencer Denudie, Joe Harris, you know, uh,
you know, just like you said, that's a very deep team. Um,
you know, it's gonna be awesome. You know. The next
sort of remind me of what the Clippers were supposed
to be last year. If you recall the Clippers before
they got Paul George and Kwide Leonard uh They were

(13:10):
a team that took two games from the Warriors in
the first ground, and they had exactly they had Lou Williams,
they had Montress Harold, they had a good cast and
Pat Bev and so then they add these two stars,
and you know, they were supposed to be the NBA
those title favorites last year, but then things happen, And

(13:32):
that's sort of what it is with the Book of Nets.
They had a good cast and then they add Kevin Durant,
Kyrie Irving, and now, based on what we've seen after
two games, they has a small sample size, but based
on what we've we've seen after two games, they're probably
the favorite in the East now. But there is a

(13:53):
lot of a lot of Clipper vibes to this team,
and I'd say I disagree with that. I mean, we'll know,
just write one championship. I'll put it like this, there's
a lot of Clippers vibes in the team and to
the idea that there was a team that had a
level of success before they signed two big free aar
to acquire two big incredible pillars to the organization. Now,

(14:13):
like you know what I'm saying, the Clippers were eight.
C competed got Kawhi and Paul George. The Nets competed
got Kyrie and KD. But to that point, Kyrie and
KD aren't the most necessarily most go along and get
along type of guys, I don't. I just wonder about
the chemistry issues. They're two and oh now and they've
won everything by like twenty points. What happens when this

(14:34):
team is in a five point game in the fourth
quarter and there's no like they're arguing over who's going
to take the last shot. I just you know, well,
you raised a good point. The only thing I would
say in defense of them is Durant got along pretty
well with Steph Curry with Warriors. Now, I think everything
all that is really on Kyrie Irving, a guy who

(14:54):
didn't even want to play with Lebron James anymore. But
we can only take them for what we've seen so far.
First of all, these two guys wanted to get together,
so they had to kind of, you know, feel each
other out, the figure out whether or not they would
be right for each other. And judging from what we've
seen so far, I mean, it doesn't seem like they're

(15:15):
wrestling over the ball. I mean, it's like, hey, you
want it, you take it. And again, the has got
to be in putting, you know, when we see them
in a tough stretch, when we see them in a
big game and all that, and how they deal with
the pressure, all those things. We don't know that yet,
but from what we've seen so far, so good. Our
guest is Sean Powell. He joined us here on the

(15:36):
eye couple from NBA dot Com, NBA TV and if
you want to reach them on Twitter, it's at Powell
to the people, DA people. I love that, Sean. What
about the Golden State Warriors. I know Drey Mind's out,
I know Clay Thompson's heard Steph Curry. Everybody told us
he changed the NBA, changed the basketball. What is why

(16:01):
can't they be competitive? I'm not expecting them to win.
And yes, they played Brooklyn and they played Milwaukee, two
really good teams, but my god, they are awful. What
is going on with Golden State? Well, you know, you're right,
I think that this team, again, they played two very
good teams. I mean, and those matchups that they had

(16:24):
with those two teams are probably the worst matchups they're
going to see. Maybe outside of the Lakers. So I
mean I want to see them over a bigger scratch
against some you know, some other teams to see how
they are. And obviously we got to get Draymond back
in there and all that. Having said that, you know,
I think they were looking for something a little bit
more from you know, Kelly uber A, who was what

(16:45):
one for ten shooting today and really he was all
neck at all three pointers. You know, after two games,
he's been horrible. Andrew Wiggins has got to shake that
stigma being a guy who's just an under a classic underachiever.
And you know there's sometimes he does he goes through
stretches where you just scratch your head, like the decision
making and the lack of big shots and just not

(17:08):
following through. I mean, he's just caught in a stigma
right now. He's got to shake that. And the other
thing is, hey, you know what, let's talk about Steph Curry.
About a guy who, you know, when the Warriors are good,
he had at least one, sometimes two fellow All Star
scorers next to him, right so, and you know, hey,

(17:29):
how about putting some pressure on Steph Curry's shoulder. I mean,
this is a guy two time MVP. He is supposed
to be good enough to carry teams like this, absolutely, Sean.
I think that's fair. People can't make an excuse. You know,
we've seen guys with one player or whatever, you know,
when you got to do it alone or you don't

(17:49):
have the best supporting cast and you might not win
every game, But to get blown out by forty every night,
I mean, for me, it's like Kevin Durant was the
guy righting lyrics and Steph Curry was on the hook,
and it's kind of kind of what it seems like
these like Steph Curry was singing the chorus of these
championships songs. But I wanted to ask you about James

(18:10):
Wiseman and the rookie class coming out because everybody was
hyped that the Warriors were going to get the you know,
a top pick, and and through two through again a game,
LaMelo Ball hasn't looked impressive at all. Right, Is he
is that dude? What do you see from him going forward?
And then like just a Rookie of the year kind
of speculation, does he have a shot? Well? I like

(18:31):
to talk about Wiseman first. The one thing that makes
it all the more impressive what we're seeing from Wiseman
is consider that number one, he didn't play at all
in the preseason, and then number two, he played a
memphs FO five games. So the guy hasn't really played
basketball since his high school senior year. Um. And I
mean if you go from his from the end of

(18:54):
his high school senior year, so now he played what
seven games, you know, and you had the pandemic, so
he really didn't get a chance to practice against top
caliber competition during that time. So that's the thing I'm
looking at it. I'm just really impressed by what I
see as far as uh LaMelo ball. I mean again,

(19:15):
I mean, I'm not going to judge him a rookie
and nineteen year old opera. The first NBA game was
an over five, you know, I mean what it Yeah,
it was. But you know what, though, Bob Um, I
think the flaws we've seen from him that they were
the flaws we knew all all along. The gud was

(19:36):
not a great shooter. And you know, but we've also
seen NBA, but we've also seen players come into the
in the NBA at nineteen twenty years old who couldn't shoot.
Who by the time, you know they reached twenty five,
they were respect respectable shooters or decent shooters. The thing
with him is that he's got this weird hitch that

(19:56):
I don't think you can fix at this point, and
you just I have to hope that he can refine
it to the point where you know he'd connect more often.
One other thing, why does he have to shoot three pointers?
Why can't develop a good mid range shot? It kills
me when I see a guy like him who can't
make three pointers. He'll throw the ball to somebody and

(20:17):
then he'll stand behind a three point line. Try to
face the four. The defense is not going to respect
you when you get the ball right. Doesn't make sense.
His name is Sean Powell, one of the best in
the business to cover the NBA for NBA dot Com,
NBA TV. Merry Christmas to you and the family. Sean.
You know I appreciate you on the holiday, Okay, both
of you guys, man, have a good holiday. Appreciate that

(20:39):
you no doubt appreciate it. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard and Rob
Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. I don't know
which one strikes more, how bad the Warriors were or

(20:59):
how great the nets look. Which which one is more
eye popping to me? How great the nets look. I
expected the Warriors to be taking a major step back
after Kevin Durant left, even with a healthy Clay Thompson
and Draymond Green. However, I didn't expect to Kevin Durant

(21:20):
after I think the number some like six hundred days
of playing basketball right like to look, I mean, he
looks to People have been saying it, and it's not
hyperbolic to say he looks like he never left. He
looks like nothing happened. And it's only two games in,
and it's like, you know, he hasn't played a back
to back, and he hasn't you know, the grind and
all of that. But he looks amazing. And as long

(21:41):
as he continues to look amazing, and as long as
Kyrie Irving keeps his head on he gets a bad
rabbit urs of like keeping his head on straight. As
long I don't say he's like, I don't think he's
crazy in the way that he's derailing the locker room
but as long as Kyrie is mercurial personality lends towards
the team's success, I'll say is the probably a better
way to put it at this Brooklyn, that team disguised

(22:03):
the limit. It is scary good and I know we
don't want to be a prisoner of the moment. But
Boston was in the Eastern Conference finals a year ago? Right?
Where was that game in Boston? What? No, I mean,
this is not even a prisoner of the moment. Just

(22:23):
look at the other teams in the Eastern Conference, right,
who represented the Eastern Conference last year? The four seed Miami, right,
And it was kind of like an out of nowhere
type of deal. So if you look at the true
and I'm not saying that not trying to downplay Miami.
I met a lot of money betting in Miami in
the bubble. I really liked that team. I like their culture.
But if you look at the teams that are really

(22:43):
truly expected to compete for a title in the East,
and when you look at their number one guy, Kevin
Durants the best one by far, and Kyrie Irvan is
nothing but like you know, top two point guard in
the league, right, and he's not he's kind of shown
that he's not enough to win by himself. But everybody
talks about Kyrie and dogs about all the other stuff,

(23:05):
But the Duke can play when he's healthy and tell
me he's not this and listen. I mean, he'd probably
hate to hear it, but you name me in a
better second banana in the last in the last ten years,
right like in the last ten years for a championship
running team like Kyrie was, he was the ultimate bat
He was the ultimate Robin to Batman, uh to Lebron's batman.

(23:28):
And I just think it's a it's a great position
for him to be in it now, just as long
as he can, like like, I don't necessarily have a
big problem with him saging the Boston Garden or like
doing all this and that, but if they can coalesce,
because you see what happens, like you hear stories about
in Houston, what happened in Houston, right like why does
Houston fall apart? Chris Paul and James Harden didn't get along,

(23:50):
and then Russell Westbrook and James Harden didn't get along
because of what James Harden because of the way that
they approached work and the way that they approached the
game like they're Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook are two
militaristic type dudes. James Harden is having the time of
his life getting dr suitcases at a strip club. Right.
It's just different approaches to the game. They're both they're
obviously all three of them are incredibly successful. As long

(24:12):
as Kyrie and KD can stay on the same path
and stay on the same wavelength, and no matter how
they go about doing it, if they as long as
they can, there's no team in the East that can
compete with them. The Nets will beat the Nets if
they if they lose. The difference here when you put
these two guys together, and if you talk to Chris Bussard,

(24:33):
you know who's plugged in on the NBA. These guys
are friends, friends and are close and the difference between
when you think about Harden and Westbrook, Westbrook, we're childhood friends, right,
but they neither of them have won anything, is what
I'm saying. You have two guys who have both won championships,

(24:54):
who both plan this out to leave their teams and
go to Brooklyn. They could have gone a lot of places.
They could have gone to the Knicks. A lot of
teams have money. They decided to go to New York
to go to Brooklyn. Kyrie grew up in New Jersey
as a Nets fan. He wanted to play in Brooklyn.
And I'm trying to my point is only injury can

(25:16):
stop this team. In fact, I'm gonna tell you right now,
the Nets are the best team in the NBA. Stop
it better, No better. No, I reject that state. No,
I'm not talking about hold on, I'm not talking about
lifetime Achievement awards or what somebody did last year in

(25:40):
the bubble and the team they have put together. I'm
telling you these two guys because Kevin Duram has been
a Lebron killer. Yes he has, Yes he has. And
when Lebron had that big comeback against Golden State, it
was Kyrie who made the shot heard round the NBA

(26:02):
who made that big shot. And when you look at
the Nets bench and those players, and you push everybody
back two spots and you look at the strength and
what they have, I'm telling you this is going to
be the best team in the NBA. I'm not even
playing I really believe that. When they signed those two guys,

(26:24):
I swear to you, Martin. You can look at my Twitter.
I said that the Clippers would win the championship last
year and Brooklyn would win at the year after. That
was even before you know, everything else had to come
back and injury and all that. That's how confident I
was with this pairing and that group that's already assembled.
I just do not. I can't go with them being

(26:47):
better than the Lakers, because I would maybe if you
had shown it, maybe at the start of last year,
if if Brooklyn had been healthy and started last year,
I'll be here for it. But to see the level
that Anthony David stepped up to in the playoffs and
in the finals, I can't. I can't go there. I
saw Anthony Davis have five rebounds in a few playoff games.
Did you not? I did? But I can't. I can't.

(27:08):
I can't go there because Kevin. You're right in the
fact that Kevin Durant has been given lebron the Blues
in the playoffs. But that is with Kevin Durant surrounded
by two of the best shooters of all time, and
Steph Curry and Kyrie and Steph Curry and Clay Thompson,
and I know, we just got through saying how Kevin
Durant was the thing that made that go. However, Kevin
Durant obviously benefited from having those guys around him and

(27:31):
having still bust Lebron in the face. You remember that
shot to win. Uh, he did it two years back
to back. He bust run in the face. And I
get that. And all I'm saying is, Hey, I know
people are gonna say premature boss of the Nets or
two and all or whatever, but I've been on this
team for a couple of years. That's all I'm saying.
And if you if you want to check my Twitter

(27:52):
and go back and see who I picked to be
the twenty twenty one champion, it was the Brooklyn Nets.
I liked their team. I like what they have. I
like that these two guys have both won before. Those
are the kind of guys you want to go to
war with, Martin, you want to have guys. And that's
what happened. That's what happened. That's all well and fine,

(28:13):
but I'm sitting here looking at a guy seven feet tall,
two hands, two feet in one eyebrow and named Anthony Davis,
who Brooklyn has no answer for it Ron James at
at thirty six years old, a year eighteen in the NBA.
I just I don't know how long it's gonna last.
I've seen Anthony Davis, Yes, he's playing great. And we'll

(28:37):
wait and see how the chemistry with the changes with
the Lakers. Yes, it's about the Lakers. It's about the Clippers.
It's about the get all that. I would like to
get it on the record. I don't have the Clippers
up there like you guys do. I do not. I
I don't know what you're not watching. They're a really
good team. I mean, they're good. I just don't see it.

(28:57):
I don't see the same way I didn't see it
last year. That's why I bet on the Nuggets to win,
to come out of to beat them in that series
when they were down three to one. You thought the
Nuggets were gonna win out? Oh no, yes I did.
I did. I did. I showed them. I'll show you
the Vegas tickets. Oh I got you check the timeline. Yes,
you bet them, But three one, I bet. I bet
the Nuggets to win. The series had to start, and

(29:18):
then I bet him again to win this series. Down
three one, I'm telling you I promise you I wasn't
on the Clippers, because here's the deal. I've never been
a Paul George believer, never ever since Paul George said
that c J. Miles needed to pass in the ball
back when they were going against Lebron when he was
with the Paciers, and I think it was just last
Paciers here, said c J. Miles. He had to be
the one to take that game when he shot and

(29:38):
he passed it with three seconds left. Yeah, I'm out
on Paul George. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. You
watch what he did to the Lakers in Game one,
and you know what, Like Shannon Sharps had on TV
the next day, congratulations to the Los Angeles Clippers the
second and secutive Opening day championship. That ain't that a championship.
It's nothing but one. It's like Lebron, Dwayne Wade, Lebron

(30:00):
Dwayne Wade and uh Chris Bosh lost their first year
together in Miami against an inferior Dallas team. But what
did they do and what did they do? They came
back to next year. I'm just telling you to watch
out for it, all right, So you're you're not feeling me,
the way I'm feeling. Bolld Uh the Nets. I like

(30:21):
the Nets is the best team out of the East.
I can't just go ahead and give him the title
because I mean the team and the team in LA,
the Lakers just they're too real. They're they're way too real.
Lebron has won four championships in seventeen years. Now, he's
winning back to back and three in a row. All
of a sudden, I said three in a row. I'm
just saying, I've been asking you, back to back is legit.

(30:42):
I think back to back if I don't know what
you know, what of Courd and everybody, all y'all will
be like, we didn't went back to back because he
won the mickey Mouth Bubble Championship the first time, so
it was back to backers a one and a half time.
Do you tell me, Rob, I'm just asking you, like,
it would be different when they got that championship. I'm
not taking it away from them, but they did go
through Denver and they went through Miami. This is gonna

(31:05):
be a different year with these other teams involved. That's
all I'm telling you. This is gonna be a redemption tour.
When you talk about the Clippers, but I'm all on
the Nets. I still believe the Nets are going to
win the NBA Championship if they stay healthy. I'm all in.
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure

(31:26):
to check us out live every weekday from seven pm
to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific, or on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs
R Martin. Let's talk some NFL. It was one game

(31:50):
and Steve de Sega just updated us. The Saints rolled
over to Vikings, who just couldn't stop Alvin Kamara at
all on the ground with six touchdowns in an amazing day.
But still I picked New Orleans to get to the
Super Bowl. Drew Brees has the eleven broken ribs and

(32:12):
a punctured long This is the second game back. I
have a question, randomly, how many ribs do people have?
I thought you had twenty four ribs because I looked
into it. So he has a busted half a slab,
so you know, I never really knew. I thought we
kind of had ten apiece, right, I'm like, how do

(32:33):
you break at anyway, No, twenty four ribs. You know,
when I went to medical school, that's what they talked about.
They said, got you got the half off for fifteen
ninety nine? Is that what the half slab? Half a slab?
Do you get cold slaw with that? I'm just asking,
I'm just asking. But anyway, Martin, I picked the Saints

(32:54):
before the season to get to the Super Bowl. I did.
I picked Baltimore against the Saints. I don't feel as
confident confident about the Saints. They gave up the number
one seed in the NFC to green Bay and it
looks like they might not be able to get that
back because green Bay beat him in New Orleans. You're
from New Orleans. You grew up there, you grew up

(33:17):
as a Saints fan. And where are you on the
Saint I had the same Super Bowl as you. If
I had known that, I would have switched it up
because I'm Lord of Mercy. But I also picked up
the Saints and the Ravens to go to the Super
Bowl at the start of the season. And I say
out of the NFC like, I still like the Saints,
I just not nearly as much as I liked them

(33:38):
before the season started, because I mean, we talk about
Ben Roethlisberger has been getting old. Drew Brees has been
this way for like the last probably three years. He
doesn't have much left in the tank. Now. I've talked
to a couple of NFL guys about this because I'm
of the belief, like, yo, he doesn't look like he
can get it done. Why do guys like Breeze and

(34:00):
Philip Rivers and this and that? Why why are they
still you know, commanding such respect you know from different
and from posing defenses and so on and so forth.
And the things that I've come to realize is that
they say, like Breeze will get you in the right play,
where so often a quarterback like Taysom Hill or Jamis
Winston won't. Now what had me concerned is Breeze's actual

(34:24):
ability to play. Sure, he maybe you can read the
defensive editor ahead of time and gets you in the
right situation, but then is he gonna be able to execute?
He's thrown one deep ball that I can remember off
the top of my head in the last like eighteen
or nineteen games, so that's just not happening. So but
with him being hurt, the last two years, the Saints

(34:45):
have had to play left handed in a way with
their backup quarterback both times, and it shows that they're
a team that can win any type of way. And
I think that what you'll see this year in the playoffs.
If you look back last year in the playoffs, they
lost to the Vikings and went and they couldn't move
the ball until they put Taysom Hill in at quarterback
and they started running read option type stuff. Then they

(35:07):
put Breeze back in couldn't move the ball again. I
think now what Sean Payton has learned from that experience
and as well as his like pretty incredible record of
winning games with backup quarterbacks, I think he's gonna take
some of that into the playoffs this year and figure
out the best way to just win the game ahead
of in front of you, because I think a lot

(35:27):
of times what happens is, you know, Sean Payton, you know,
looks ahead or he thinks that we got this one
or And I think that the Saints still have a
very good shot to win the NFC because defensively, I
think they're much better than any of the other top contenders.
Offensively is a concern, but Offensively, they have Kamara. Michael

(35:48):
Thomas has obviously been nicked up, but they're shitting him
out now to get him ready for the postseason. And
if they can remain dynamic at quarterback, I think the
Saints should be the odds on favor to win, even
though Green Bay as a one seed. Yeah, I'm not
buying it. I was buying it. I loved their defense.
At one point during their nine game win streak, they

(36:09):
were giving up like, uh, what was it nine points
a game or so. It was just incredible how good
the defense was and it didn't matter. I just don't
think Drew Brees is good enough. And if you make
a team one dimensional, even with the Kamara, and you
say to yourself, we're not gonna let them run the football,
Drew Brees is going to have to throw the football

(36:30):
to beat us. I think you can beat the Saints.
That that's and see what I think is I think
I think you're right about that. But where my where
I changes. I think that Sean Payton also knows that.
So I think Sean Payton said, if if it's gonna
be come back to Drew Brees, You're throwing the ball.
We're gonna take him out of the game. Even even
on that bad call when the Rams got the referee,

(36:54):
they got the ball back. If you go back and
watch that game, you watched it, Martin, Drew Brees was
terrible at the end. No, the game wasn't over. The
game winning drivers that was taken away by the referees.
And that's a hell I'm dying on that. That's a
game winning field. Did they get second of the third
most actor kicker behind Justin Tucker and Harrison Bucker. No,
there's an absolutely no way. Nakel Roby Coleman knows it,

(37:16):
and he said it before I'm camera. I don't know
how the ref blew that call. And you know, take
that call away, they get the ball back and they
have a chance that call away, the game's over. I'm
asking you, could they still have won the game? Yes
they could they Yes, they could have still won the game,
But that ignores the fact that they would have won it,
or they wouldn't have had to need to win the
game twice, rob most games you only have to win

(37:37):
the just asking you. All I'm saying is if Drew
Brees was totally healthy and played, maybe I'd buy into
it him trying to get We talked before the show,
even though they were winning, you didn't feel that good
about Drew Brees. No, I don't feel good about him now,
But I don't feel any worse about him than I
did last year. Of the year before Drew Brees not

(37:57):
throwing the ball on the field, they gone to the
Super Bowl than those last couple of years with Drew Brees.
If you're feeling the same way, no, but Minnesota miracle.
Drew Brees won that game three times in the second half.
Minnesota miracle is wild lucky. And then oh gosh, and
then I don't I don't want to talk about it.
The referees, Nick Nicole with the reverybody, stop with you man, free,

(38:17):
stop with the stop with that, ignoring the fact that
the Saints were going to win that game, period, Stop
and the story. It's all well and good, that's fine.
We probably all just caused him quick crying about the refs.
You know what is gambling on? All these games are
gonna be upset. Drew Brees is horrible. Today they scored
fifty two points. Drew Brees. You ready get somebody touched out.

(38:39):
Drew Brees had in a fifty two point game for
the Saints. He had none. He had zero nineteen for
twenty six, three hundred and eleven yards and two picks. Okay, well,
he had zero touchdown. I heard enough updates from Steve
to Sager to know that Alvin Kamara tied the rushing
touchdown records. So let's not leave out he's gonna have

(39:00):
that every game. Is that what he's gonna do in
the playoffs? Martin White, So you're gonna win. You're gonna
win a Super Bowl when your quarterback has eleven broken
barbecue ribs. Seriously, not a punct long. I'll tell you this.
The competition is Green Bay and green Bay's defense suspect,
concredibly suspect they can't stop the run. And if you
can't stop the run, you're not gonna win a lot

(39:22):
of playoff football games. All I know is they went
to New Orleans and beat the Saints in New Orleans,
and you know the other things. Drew Breens was playing
and he didn't have eleven busted ribs and a puncture
long and we talk about Matt Laflour, and even if
they did, they not did they win that games? That
absolutely happened. But you know what matters is what happens

(39:43):
in three weeks from now, not what happened eight weeks
from then. All Right, eight weeks from today, there's more
games before they played Green Bay. They're not gonna play
Green Bay first. They're gonna probably play Tampa or the Rams. Right,
there will be other games first. I'm just saying that
the main competition for the Saints and the NFC is
likely the Packers. Who else would you have as a
competition to really compete for the Super Bowl out of

(40:05):
the NFC? Well, Seattle. I mean you could say the Packers, Seattle.
Neither one of them have a defense. That Seattle doesn't
have a defense. The Packers can't stop the run, like
I just they have very dynamic offenses. But when it
comes down to it, and they're gonna be trying to
shorten some of these games in playoff games, shorten some
of these possessions, how are they going to get off
the field. I don't. I think it's short changing the

(40:29):
Packers because they're twelve and three and somehow, some way
they've been able to do it. And when you look
at the Saints, that game was a game changer, when
they went down there to win that game, because it
changed the dynamics of them being able to get the get.
And if you could just look at even in Tom
Brady's career when he's not when he doesn't have the

(40:54):
when the top seed in the conference, he doesn't get there.
He when he has to go on a road. When
you have to go on the road and win games,
it's harder, that's all you gotta admit. There are a
few guys who have done it. Aaron Rodgers did it.
Eli Manning did it when they were on the road
the whole time and had to win four road playoff
games in order to get there. But it's usually harder,

(41:16):
Martin when you don't have home field, no. One hundred percent.
And the other thing that throws it all off, though,
is the lack of the second bye. Because if you
told me that the Saints had the two seat and
a bye, right, no worries whatsoever. A lock and agree,
that's the difference this year. Only if green Bay holds Onto,
it will only be green Bay, right, And that yeah,

(41:38):
green Bay in Kansas City are the teams leaned up
for the bye and and this is a deep gambling
stat but like the teams who have the buy are
more likely to like the conference championship. In typical years,
we have two buy teams, and the conference championship teams
are almost always like seventy of the Saint, Like you
know what I'm saying. So if you because you don't
have to win as many games and you have to

(41:58):
be like that, that's easier. If you only have to
play two games to get to the Super Bowl, that right, Yeah,
I mean it's exactly like the Packers last year. They
won the game and then they were in the NFC
Championship game against the forty nine ers. It's just like,
it's it's it. It seems so I don't want to
say it seems unfair. It just seems so much easier
than having to win on a wildcard. Well, but I
think it is easier, and that's why you make the

(42:20):
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