05/16/2021 - FOX Sports Sunday with Chris Plank and Arnie Spanier - Fox Sports Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio. We're getting ready for
the show tonight live here on Fox Sports Rating. We
got a big guest list coming up. Well, we'll look
up with Arnie here in a second. So I'm watching
the Pelicans Lakers game because tonight, tonight, this is a
football show probably nine percent of the year, right, right,

(00:26):
this is a football show. And he's a football guy.
I'm a football guy. M college football guy. I'm a
football guy. Right. But tonight it's it's an NBA show
because it's the final night of the regular season. We're
approaching the playing game, are the playing tournament, however you
want to describe it. And there's there's a little drama.
So this shows you where Arnie is right now in
his preparation for the show. I'm I'm literally watching the

(00:49):
Pelicans Lakers game, and I get this text from Arnie. Oh,
there goes the season, aid he hurt his ankle. Now
not he stayed in my thank you. My first thought is,
as I'm watching this and no offense to a dy
Homer's out there, but we're referring to and by the way,

(01:11):
this was late third quarter. Lakers are up ten with
ten minutes to go. Now. At the time, we said
in studio when he was the game was stopped and
he was like bent down and holding the ankle, we
all said, why is he in the game in the
first place. They're controlling the game. They're good to go, right, So, well,
it doesn't matter this result with the Lakers because Portland's dominating.

(01:34):
It's game, and the Lakers are not gonna be able
to pass Portland because they lose it. It's irrelevant. Right now,
you're playing in the play and you're playing against Golden State.
It's gonna be fun. Everyone's gonna talk about it. But
here's here's the part though, that made me laugh, him
texting season over when he had spent three hours last
week telling us how the Lakers were done. Now, I

(01:54):
know that that his opinions tend to change like the
weather in certain parts of the country. I don't know
if you know, but yeah, so apparently the Lakers are
done Round two Di Seger but for an injury that
wasn't even an injury because he came back in the
game and didn't even miss any time. But I understand
with Anthony Davis. Every single time the dude goes down,

(02:17):
it looks like it's something that could be career ending, right,
I mean it, honestly, everything we had there's been college
football players, and I mean I can remember this name
vividly and some of the Sooner fans that are listening,
there's a guy named ron L. Lewis. They called him
the Hammer, one of the and he played in the NFL.
He played with the Lions for a couple of years.
Might have been one of the baddest dudes I've ever

(02:38):
seen on a football and I've seen a lot of
bad and I don't mean that, and I mean that
in a good way, Like he was a bad dude.
He came with bad intentions and he was real. He
was a good football player. But every single time he
went down with an injury, you thought he was done
for his career. Right, I'm not kidding. It's like four
doctors are out there, they're over him, and you're like, oh, no,

(02:59):
ron El's down. He Hammer is not going to get
back up. He might be done and did the same
thing wondering, oh, I see Durant's not moving well or
Zion is not moving right. Every injury is the end
of the world. And then all of a sudden they
pop up and you're like, oh, I guess he's gonna
be okay. That to me, to Sager is Anthony Davis
right every single time he goes down. And granted he's

(03:20):
been hurt, so maybe everything is a little bit more
hyper sensitive right now. But in my home, in my
humble opinion, I think he's gonna be okay. And if
I'm a Laker fan, I'm actually feeling pretty good about
the way things are going. Unfortunately, with the way the
injuries mounted up, and yes, Lebron is still in this game.
I had a good week. Lebron's look good this weekend.
He's feeling good. I'm feeling good about things if I'm

(03:43):
a Laker fan. But let me ask you this, because
I'm sure Ernie's gonna tell us how horrible it's been
and how it's all sucked and it's been an awful
day in the NBA. But did you kind of get
some of that drama? I think that the NBA was
looking forward at least in the storylines leading up to
the game. You got him, right, I did. But it's
more the case of when you're single and cooking spaghetti
and you just throw a spaghetti strand against the wall

(04:05):
and you see if it sticks. To find out if
it's done, they threw the strands against the wall. The league,
they had everybody play. So it's kind of like when
we get a good college football day. Well, of course
we had three games because they're on TV. I hope
we had three good games. Here. We had fifteen NBA
games all on the same That doesn't happen on opening night,

(04:25):
but it happened here on the final day of the season.
So yeah, we got a little bit of drama. I
guess the Knicks clinching the four seed today was a
little bit of drama. I mean, the Celtics didn't play
their regulars and that started the theme for the day, right,
I mean there was no Kauai letter Paul George Knight.
By the way, this is not me speaking, many NBA
people did notice. Boy, did you see how the Clippers

(04:48):
just tank the weekend. They're not going to be in
the Lakers bracket. They're gonna get to play Dallas like
they want. Everything's good for the Clippers going in. Dallas
was trying to take tonight. But you know from the
Clippers one up to on that, so Dallas is unfortunately
going to have to rematch with a Clipper team that
certainly has beaten them in the playoffs, by the way,
last year. A fascinating game that is coming down to

(05:09):
the wire because you mentioned the Clippers and the Thunder
right now, which but we still got a minute and
a half left in that game. I can flip around
here a little bit. Neither one of these teams want
to win this game. I mean, and I know it's
kind of irrelevant now with the Clippers because the way
things are set in the West, but I'm not I'll
all have to ask Todd Firm and about this when

(05:30):
Todd comes on next time. By the way, we got
a great guest list lined up tonight. Rick Buker is
coming up in our next segment next hour. We're gonna
talk to Todd Firm and Eric pink is staying up
late with us in the final hour. But this may
be an historic tank jop by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They're already up to fifty losses in a shortened season
that when they had they had they had a winning

(05:54):
or they were I don't want to say they had
a winning record, but they were they were on the
cusp of being a petitive team with Shay Gil just
Alexander if they wanted to heading down the stretch of
the season, I think I think as Oklahoma City sits
at one and fifty, I want to say they had
nineteen win to the All Star Break, they were at

(06:14):
nineteen and twenty four. As of March nineteen and twenty four,
they've won what is it two games since two and
one of them was against the Celtics, and I think
they backed into one like against the Rockets or somebody
else to where Toronto, thank you, that's right, Toronto who
suddenly sucks? So yeah, this is one of them. And

(06:36):
I'm watching this game now and it's actually kind of
hilarious to see the substitution patterns that are in that
that are in place, because I mean, Pokaschewski all of
a sudden, you know, thunder fans are like, oh, Pokaschefski.
I'm like, he's being guarded by a dude that was
like waiting tables last week that the Clippers signed to
a ten day contract. I mean, they're they're pulling out
all the stops. If you want to see bad basketball

(06:58):
at its best right now, what the clips and the
and and the thunder have going on. Which Oklahoma City,
you know, by with more teams that are involved in
the lottery now and kind of the way that they've
set up to try to eliminate tanking. But what's ended
up happening to say, when you have more opportunities, more
teams will tank. Right. Oklahoma City was the team that
we looked down like, oh, they're gonna tank that have

(07:20):
one win. It's March Oklahoma City. Yeah, yeah, one one um.
Then all of a sudden, Houston was like, wait, wait
a minute, here, they're passing us. If we end up
falling out of the top five, are the five worst teams,
they get our pick. We need to suck. Then all
of a sudden, the Pistols are like, hold up here
just a little bit. Also with Minnesota, which is around

(07:43):
fifty losses, is that pick conveyed to Golden State? I
mean it's some of not even some a lot of
the NBA regular season. I know it's been condensed and
all of that, and there are reasons, but a lot
of it's just been NBA action. It's craptastic. That's been
what the commercial should have been this year because there
are too many time I'm glad they weren't selling out arenas.
I'm glad they didn't have full capacities because the product

(08:05):
didn't deserve it. This we we've gone as far and
I'm not I'm not turning this into an Oklahoma City
Thunder shore show. Hey that's a w for the thunder
look out. Is it a final? Is a final? Oh
my gosh, thunder fans are gonna be I rate right now.
Make it three wins in the second half of the
season for Oklahoma City as they knock off the Clippers.
And my personal favorite part of this game is because

(08:28):
I'm watching the final seconds now. Is in in most
most in game situations, when it's like a three point game,
one of the teams would be like calling time outs
or Stratton. Nope, nothing, not a thing from Tyler. Let's
just let's just get this over with. I mean, they
let some dude get a follow dunk when no one
boxed them out. But what's been fascinating is there's some

(08:52):
of us that are even speculating because Oklahoma City never
allowed fans this year. They they shut the doors like,
oh no, no, we're not allowing fans. I was thinking
was strategic to say, listen, we're not allowing fans, but honestly,
well I don't want to be you don't. You don't
want to see this this year. So they end up
with their third win. So to say, you're just real quick,
because you've been all over this before, I dive into
a couple of Aaron Rodgers notes and we continued effort. Arnie,

(09:14):
we're set now, right, I mean, there's nothing that can
happen in these latterers. The other games are not final
five six minutes to go, but there, yeah, we're set.
The game of the evening in sports is the fact
that the Portland Trailblazers are winning at home, which forces
the Lakers into the play in tournament this week. The

(09:34):
Lakers could be eliminated from the playoffs by Friday. In
other words, that's how it works. Not even a best
of five early you know, a chance to lose one. No, no,
you lose Wednesday and Friday, your season is over. This
is a team that is should be the seven seed
and starting its best of seven series in the first
round this weekend, but not with the play in tournament.

(09:56):
So for the Lakers to move up to the sixth
seed and avoid the play They would have had to
win tonight and Portland's lose. Why because they just lost
head to head to Portland and therefore lost two of three,
lost the tiebreaker to the Blazers for the season. It
was interesting at the top of the Western Conference that
a Phoenix win today at least kept them alive for
the top seed despite the resting the starters. They won

(10:18):
by two at San Antonio. But Utah is going to
clinch the one seed in the West because they were
dominant in their game at Sacramento. It's still two minutes
to go, but one seventeen to ninety two, Utah is
gonna be the number one seed in the West, which
is news for Utah because a people don't believe in
them nationally and be they came this close to gagging

(10:39):
the number one seed. They had three games against Houston
this against Phoenix this season and lost all three. They
would have because of that, lost the tiebreaker, lost the
one seed tonight if they didn't come through. Yeah, they
were down first quarter, but they're gonna win by double
digits and then some at Sacramento tonight. Two minutes left.
Frod Water that never runs out go tank Close with
NAVII and Navy. Tankless Water Heaters provides endless hot water

(11:02):
for spotlight comfort. Visit Tankless made simple dot com and
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I want to read this one tweet because the Thunder
winning does have some serious ramifications on the actual lottery.
He said, this is wrong. One of my friends just
sent this. I swear you crap on the entire season

(11:24):
to set it up for the last game and then
go out and win. Watching a tank is horrible, But
then being stupid enough to screw the whole thing up
the last game, why lose all season? It's just ridiculous.
So basically what you have here if if you're a

(11:46):
fan of Tank, tank City, tank City, which is what
Okay see Minnesota, Houston, Detroit, and Orlando have been. With
the win tonight, the Thunder moved and fifty on the season.
So that means that essentially the the ping pong balls
go more the direction of Orlando, Detroit, and Houston than

(12:09):
they knew Oklahoma City. What do you say to saw
three wins in the second half of the season, three
three all season long? Well, I mean the second half
in quotes because it's just an odd season and it's
an odd schedule. But yeah, they were at nineteen wins
as of March and they had two wins in the
last one. But it's a couple of months until tonight.

(12:32):
But absolutely, the bad teams that you mentioned, I mean,
there's five teams that had at least fifty losses this
year on a shortened schedule. They played seventy two games,
and you're losing fifty out of seventy two. If you're
the Rockets, you're losing fifty five out of seventy two
games played. That's how bad some of these teams are.
So the best odds to win the lottery is this, right?

(12:54):
Is the Orlando Magic will have the top odds to
win the lottery after the thunder win tonight over the Clippers. Unbelievable.
All right, So here's what we've got going on tonight.
We got a busy show. Rick Buker is coming up next,
Todd Furman an hour too, and our buddy Eric Pink
is a staying up late with us. I've got tons
of NFL to get to. Where are we with Aaron
Rodgers Saga Regular Sunday Night Guest Peter Bokowski had an

(13:16):
incredible article this week because, as I've talked about on
this show, I've been fascinated with the win. I'm a
big who what win where? Guy? Who? What? When? Where
and why kind of a guy. I'm whin. I'm fascinated
with the w H E N of the Aaron Rodgers
saga when did this turn? Is it as far back
as his frustration with Mike Lark? So keep you out

(13:41):
of that. Well, we're going to a break right now, yakin, Okay,
we did just by the way Portland's wins, it's official,
the Lakers will have to have the play in game
Wednesday night hosting Golden State, which, by the way, they're
going to win game to. Denver went all in tonight.

(14:03):
Denver didn't sit their starters, they just got their asses. Kid. Yeah,
they pulled him in the second half one, but so
that is set in stone. By the way, the Clippers
finishing fourth with their loss, and that means Denver's in
what the three six against Portland's. So things are settling in.
We'll dive into what it all means next. As Arnie

(14:23):
joins Us and Rick Buker right around the corner on
Fox Sports Radio. It's Arnie and Plank on Fox Sports Radio.
How are you stinking genius? Good? I'm doing good. My
Knicks one with the number four seed, we're gonna be
the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. Let's go, let's go.
Let me feel about the Sixers potentially in the second round.

(14:44):
Then joining us right now to give us more perspective
on that is Rick Buker. Hey, Rick, Arnie obviously a
big Knicks guy, so I'll save that for him. I'm
curious just your thoughts in general on kind of the
drama of the last day. Yeah, some of it was
was taken out whenever. You know, you had a feel
of the results early. But how how do you think

(15:04):
this played out on the final day for the NBA
something they want to repeat. Oh yeah, there's no question
about it. Simply because we went down to the final
day of the regular season with so much up in
the air. That's ultimately what they were trying to accomplish
with the play in games. I hope they also consider
staying at seventy two games because I think that was

(15:26):
a factor to Uh, it's only ten games less, but
it made everything more meaningful, and I think with a
regular training camp, regular off season. Uh, teams are not
gonna coast early the way some of them did. But
there's no question, and I dare say that you talk
to anybody in the league, Uh, they would they would

(15:48):
confirm that this is the whole play in concept and
how everything is played out. It's exactly exactly what they wanted.
And we've got more more excitement in store because we've
got some really interesting playing games coming up as well. Rick,
I think if you lose to the Rockets in Oklahoma City,
you should be thrown out of the playoffs. What are

(16:10):
the Clippers doing? Well? What's going on here? I know
they didn't play their guys, but I mean you don't
want to You want to finish the year losing to
the Rockets in Oklahoma City? Well, I do. Honestly, I
don't know how much you would gain by beating those
teams because they're so bad. They would only give you
a false sense of what you're running and considering you

(16:30):
know where Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Let's not forget
both of those guys missed time this year with injuries.
We just saw Lebron James. I don't know if you're
keeping an eye on this. Lebron James came down wrong
on his right ankle and then he walked off the
court and he's not playing Anthony Davis. Uh tweaked. Tweaked
his ankle. So that's the risk that you run in

(16:54):
terms of uh playing guys when you kind of already
establish east where you're going to be. I don't I really,
I don't take anything away from that. The Clippers demonstrated
for the better part of this year that they were
playing with a different mindset than they did last year.
I think the chemistry is different. And well, whether they

(17:16):
wanted to play the Dallas Mavericks in the in the
fifth spot, I think that they would have had an
easy time whether they were in the third or fourth spot,
playing either Dallas or Portland's. But certainly they have to
look at Dallas and say, hey, you know what this
will be, This will be a good tune up series
for US. Um, we shouldn't we shouldn't have a problem advancing.

(17:38):
I would dare say that they would have felt the
same way if they were in the slot against the
against the Trailblazers, And so I'm not I'm not going
to take anything away from the fact that they laid
down these last two games. I thot I find it
fascinating what happened between Denver and Portland, as Rick Buker
joined us on Fox Sports Radio, because Denver could have

(17:58):
easily kind of pulled a clip or is right and said, oh,
we want to avoid the Lakers getting the six. They
played their starters and the Trailblazers brought it. Now they
rested him in the second half. But man, I gotta
tell you what, Rick, I was impressed, and I've been
impressed with Portland's down the stretch. I have to and
if I was gonna, you know, call for an upset
right now now, Obviously, look, I dare say Denver not

(18:20):
didn't show anything that they plan on using in a
series against the Blazers tonight. So I don't want to
take too much from this one game. But I do
think that the that the Nuggets are vulnerable simply because
if you can make things hard on Yokich, then you

(18:41):
know there's no Jamal Murray there and the rest of
those guys. I'm I've been impressed with the evolution of
Michael Porter Jr. But I don't know that he's ready
for prime time postseason action, and you've got a couple
of big bodies to go up against yok Yokis, and
includeing Nurkic, who knows him well because they were teammates

(19:02):
in Denver. So I really like this matchup. I've not
been overwhelmed with the first three seeds and their ability
to replicate what they've done in the regular season in
the postseason, and I would include the Denver Nuggets in
that mix. I think the Blazers should feel very good

(19:24):
about who they have to face in the in the
first round, and in spite of being the lower seed,
that they have a very good chance of moving on
direct the real M v P of course. Julius Randall
in my New York Knicks O, what a matchup? I love?
How many minutes have we been on? I disappointed? I

(19:47):
love that matchup against the Atlanta Hawks. I really do.
I think the Knicks. I think it's important not only
the Knicks to win for the for the Knicks fans.
I think it's good for the NBA to Nicks get
get out of the first round and see who they'll
play in the next one. But I think that's a
great matchup against the Hawks. It is a great matchup.
And look, I've have kept expectations low when it comes

(20:10):
to the Knicks in the postseason because they did have
a great regular season. But you're still looking at Julius
Randall and Derrick Rose as your go to guys with
the game on the line, and I'm trying to think
who they were playing the other it's the Lakers, the
shorthanded Lakers, and uh Tips played Derrick Rose two practically

(20:32):
twenty two straight minutes trying to eke out that win.
And I and I wasn't you know, I thought Tips, like,
you're you're killing yourself to win this one game and
go four and two on this road trip rather than
three and three, Like it's it's Tips not being able
to help himself. It's why they have a great They've
had a great season. But sometimes like you just gotta

(20:54):
fight to live or you gotta live to fight another day.
And that's my I This is the thing with the
Tips team and with the Knicks in general, which you
take pride in the fact that they have played close
to their capabilities on on a near nightly basis, and
that has put them where they are now. The problem

(21:18):
is you're growing up against teams that can take it
another level. Do the Knicks have those kind of guys?
And their bench has been such a big part of
why they have the regular season record that they do.
And generally in the postseason you shorten your rotation, so
that's not as much of a factor. The starters go longer.

(21:39):
So I but all that said, I love this matchup
for the Knicks, and I love the fact that they
could catch the Brooklyn Nets in the second round because
I've been saying it for a while. I see the
Nets as a potential second round and out team and uh,
just because defensively they're they're not there. So this is

(22:00):
this is you know, they styles make fights, and you've
got exact opposites between the Brooklyn Nets and the New
York Knicks and how they play and defense generally generally
carries a little more weight in in the postseason. So
I'm I don't want to get ahead of myself here,
but I would love to see a Net Nick series

(22:21):
because I think that would be a lot more competitive
than people think it would. Oh, I would love that
to love I'm sure you would. Hey, final thought for me,
is it okay that I'm pretty jacked up about the
Warriors and the Lakers in the playing game on Wednesday night.
I think that's gonna be awesome. Why not, I mean,
I I just hope it lives up to our expectations.
I hope it's a game. I hope we get like

(22:43):
for the for the Warriors, they have to keep it
as a possession by possession game in the fourth quarter.
They can't, like there's a certain limit to the magic
of Steph Curry. If if they're you know, if they're
down double digits, it's going to be hard for them
to win that in the in the last minute or two.
But if it's not, if it's any if it's seven

(23:06):
or less, then we should have an exciting finish. And again,
you know, the other part is we just what's going
to be the condition of Lebron James because he tweaked.
That's saying that. I believe it was his right ankle
that he had the high ankle screen on. He just
tweaked at again towards the end of this game tonight.
And uh, if he can't, if he's not active, if

(23:30):
he's not able to cut and move, then their offense
is not going to be any better than we saw
it for the last couple of months, which made it
one of the you know, bottom ten in the league.
And as good as they are defensively, uh, you know,
people quietly sleeping on the Warriors. I don't know quite
how they did it without a real rim protector, but

(23:52):
they were. They finished fifth in the league in defense,
and so they've been getting after it, and uh, I
would I'm with you. I'm I'm jack to see that.
If there's any playing game that I would want to see,
it's it's that. And we'll just see if Curry's got
any magic left. Let's go. Thanks Rick, We appreciate your time, man,

(24:14):
You're awesome. My pleasure. Guys. Rick Buker NBA insider UH
an outstanding follow on Twitter with great perspective on all
things n b A. You can find Rick on Twitter
at Rick Buker b U C h E R Twitter Lists.
Steve to Seger comes rolling in to get us caught
up on everything going on in the world of sports.

(24:34):
What's up, Steve, and let's update as the Lakers will
be hosting the Golden State Warriors in a playing game Wednesday.
The winner Wednesday Night goes directly to the first round
of the playoffs against two seed Phoenix. The loser on
Wednesday night has to play again on Friday to try
and save the season. We said it earlier in the show,
it is possible that the Lakers postseason ends on Friday

(24:57):
already because two lost is in this playing tournament and
you're done losing the Golden State. I promise you that
two games they're gonna lose Wednesday and then lose the
second game against say the second game, just the first
game right by the way, yeah, a little hard on radio.
Steph Curry clinched the scoring title. Today's Golden State beat

(25:17):
Memphis one one oh one. Curry average thirty two points
per game this season. He scored forty six today. Golden
States won sixth straight going into that Wednesday play in
in l A. The Lakers have won five straight going
into that game. Lakers won their season finale at New
Orleans one ten to The Lakers could not move up
in the standings because in the last couple of weeks

(25:39):
and this was their key game of the last month,
they lost to Portland head to head. Therefore, they lose
the tiebreaker to the Blazers because for the Lakers to
move up in the standings tonight and avoid this play,
and they would have had to win and Portland lose.
Portland certainly did not lose. Finished the season at home,
dominating Denver. It was eleven nothing early. Blazers went at
one thirty two to one sixteen. The Portland trail blay

(26:00):
There's are the sixth seed in the West. They avoid
the play in the Blazers are at Denver to start
the first round best of seven. Utah wins tonight to
clinch the number one seed in the West one to
nine nine at Sacramento. It's good news for Utah because
Phoenix did win the day game at San Antonio one.
The Suns at least put a little pressure on I'm

(26:21):
a chance to steal the one seed in the end,
the Suns had gone three and oh against Utah during
the regular season, would have won the tiebreaker, but no,
Utah's the one seed, getting an easy win tonight. Minnesota
and Oklahoma City with victories as well. Just for the record,
the Knicks feed Boston regular season is over and the
next are the four seed in the East. Milwaukee is

(26:45):
the three seed. Brooklyn nets one tonight to clinch the
number two seed in the East. James Harden was out
for Rest. You know, the Nets had all three of
their stars on the court yesterday for the first time
in three months. Philadelphia had already clinched the one seed
in the Eastern Conference. Into the basket Ball Hall of
Fame one class, sixteen people total, including Chris Bosh, Chris Webber,

(27:06):
Paul Pierce and others. Now, what we had yesterday on
TV were the ceremonies for the Class of of course,
for obvious health reasons, they couldn't have that last year.
That class included Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnette. Classes
induction will take place in September. Hall of Famer's new
Hall of Famer's name today include Ben Wallace, Tony Coo Coach,

(27:29):
and Bob Dandridge. Three NHL Playoff openers Islanders in overtime
when at Pittsburgh today four to three Minnesota than one
in overtime, one nothing at Vegas, and tonight Tampa Bay
scored late to win five four in regulation. At Florida,
k h Lee took the Byron Nelson Classic by three strokes,
his first tour victory. He now gets the last spot
in this week's p g A Championship. Alex Bowman won

(27:51):
the NASCAR race at Dover. And by the way, do
you know the name John Force. This is not nascas
drag racing for many years. This guy today was first
in the funny car field at North Carolina. I bring
it up because John Force is seventy two years old
at three hundred thirty miles per hour roughly at a

(28:14):
Chevy Command. Now, granted it's drag racing. He's going for
four seconds, but three hundred thirty miles an hour at
seventy two years old. Congratulations John Forced. They don't all
drive straight. I think we know that much, Thanks Steve.
So there's the other story tonight that we joked about
off the top as we welcome you back to Arnie
and Plank on Fox Sports Radio. And that's the lottery.

(28:38):
So Houston and Detroit, along with Orlando, have the three
best odds for the number one overall pick. Both uh, well,
all three of them were at fourteen per cent. With
its win tonight, Oklahoma City went from a fourteen percent
chance to at eleven and a half percent, So it's

(28:59):
not that crazy, but their chances for a top four pick,
it does drop from fifty two percent to forty five
percent now, So they tanked all season long and then
it was almost as if the Clippers wanted to lose more.
I don't think that's embarrassing. I don't. I'm not. I
don't agree with Rick on that one. I think that's

(29:21):
just it. I I feel like they purposely went out
of the way to make sure they didn't have to
play the Lakers. Um just in case the Lakers ended
up in the sixth seed. They didn't want to be
in the three seeds. Oh, I absolutely positively agree with
you on that. But if in that instance, though, Arnie,
why should they even care? Right because the Lakers stink
now according to you, so everyone should want to play

(29:43):
the Lakers and would be honestly, you do want to
go in with a little momentum. Doesn't make a difference
that you lost to the rocket O Colodmen City is
what one? In uh what twenty one? They won one
game against the Seting. They beat the Raptors too, so
don't be disrespecting that second win. You know, Bobo brought
up this point last week. But let's let's remember when

(30:04):
the Lakers started in the bubble, they only won like
one game. They won their one game to clench the
number one overall seat, and then they were awful from
there on out. But this is obviously a much different situation.
I'm not just making this relative to the Lakers, aren't it,
but to the Clippers and then oh my gosh, Denver
getting smoke tonight. But I do think that's gonna be
a fun series between the Nuggets and the Trailblazers. And

(30:25):
tell me if you think I'm wrong. I think, for
the first time in a long time, even though we're
just getting back to go to the sporting events, I'm
not so sure that the Laker home court advantage is
going to be as strong as it usually is. People
are gonna come in and see that the Lakers are
a seven seed, you know, they won the championship last year.
I think people are gonna be a little complacent and
you know, maybe not have that strong home court advantage
though well, I mean, what's their percentage at right now?

(30:47):
Is it? Is it still? I mean, they're not gonna
have that strong home court advantage because it's still at
a percentage. But I don't care where you're ranked. If
you've got a chance to play staph in a playing game,
and then when you get in that playing game, you've
got a chance to make a run. I think I
don't know what is it at right now, guys? Is
it's still like fifty or six at Staples right now.
I don't think that where they're seated is going to

(31:08):
affect the crowd at all, Aren'tie? I really don't, And
then maybe it would be a strong crowd to I mean,
I was listening watching the Knicks game. I think they
have like two thousand people there, something like thousand, and
what was amazing? No? I mean, do you guys, haven't
we just gave a starving man a cracker? Aren'tie, He's
gonna lose his mind. That's a Knicks fan right now.

(31:29):
You guys have been starved for years, and we've given
you a buffet dinner, it seems, instead of a cracker.
So I'm excited. Listen, we haven't done this yet, so
let's real quick. Let's run through the way the NBA
playoffs are set up, and then you and I, I
know you and Aaron had a chance to get after
it last night here on Saturday Night on Fox Sports Radio,
but we haven't even really had a chance to dive

(31:50):
into the schedule release, which I know you've already got
everything figured out. I'm still in the process of trying
to to dive into how strategic it was to see
a couple of Packer games in primetime earlier. What did
you say about Brady the rest of the year? What
did I say about him? He's he's crazy, like you.
If he's taking the Jaguars are gonna win eight to
nine games, you must have called them a dopeas Brady
Gwyne agrees with me that the Jaguars are gonna win

(32:12):
nine games, and that's what I said, and you called
me a dope. I want some of what you're both
ingesting or smoking, because there is no way on God's
green earth that you can look at Jacksonville schedule and say,
I see nine wins there. Yeah, there's there's nine wins
there from a one in fifteen team. But anyway, of course, well,
we can talk about the one and two all we want,

(32:33):
but the Jazz is secured the one seed, the Sun
secured the two seeds, so they the Suns will play
the winner of that first played game, So they'll either
get the Warriors of the Lakers, and then the Jazz
would either get the loser of the Warriors Lakers game
our San Antonio and Memphis, so Jazz one sons to
the four five. I find this fascinating, Arnie, a rematch

(32:55):
of last year Clippers and the Mavericks, and then you
get the Nuggets and the Trail Lasers in the three
six matchup. It's kind of funny because you think about
that Clippers the Clippers Maverick series being tight because Lukey
hit that game winner. But I think that the Clippers
came back won by thirty two the next night or
something like that. Yeah, you know what I'm telling you,

(33:15):
I don't think that that's a tough matchup as as
bad as people think for the Clippers. Um, you know,
I don't think it's gonna be pushed to the limit.
And they've been resting their guys for a long time.
So again, I still don't like that they lost the
euston Oklama City, but I guess that really doesn't make
a difference. At the end, you're East playing games. The
Celtics and the Wizards are playing for the seven seed,
and then obviously whoever loses that will play the winner

(33:38):
of the Hornets Pacers, who are still very much alive. Then,
of course the one seed is Philadelphia. Brooklyn is the two.
You get the four or five with your Knicks and
the Hawks, and then the three six Janice and the
Bucks against the Heat. He played in the finals last year.
I think we kind of lose sight of that. They
haven't necessarily been on that consistent this year. But aren'tie

(34:00):
pretty fun East Bracket two? No, that is gonna be good.
A matter of fact, I think people are gonna take
Miamby as the sexy underdog upset there against Milwaukee. I'm
all over the Knicks in Atlanta. Uh and you know
Brooklyn Pubby gets by. I would love to see the
Knicks play Brooklyn in the next round. I don't know
if that's even possible though now they the Knicks, by

(34:20):
the way, would eventually get Brooklyn if they play in
the Eastern Conference finals. Market down, I'm going to that
when we come back. Let's dive into a little bit
of some NFL chat. The NBA playoffs are essentially set.
The Sager has got more updates around the corner. On
a busy hoops night, Eric Pinkis later in the show
as well on Fox Sports Radio Arnie and Planet on

(34:42):
Fox Sports Radio Big Story Tonight, potentially developing what the
Lakers Steve Disager, what do we know about Lebron's ankle?
He has told the coach he has okay. Lebron James
limp to the Laker bench in the fourth quarter tonight
of the season finale in New Orleans, which the Laker one, Yeah,
it's right. Ankles stepped down by a defender, hit the
court after scoring on a three sixty lay up, stayed

(35:05):
down for a few seconds, which is why I got
brought up by Rick Buker in the last segment looking
at his ankle. That's the same one that forced him
to miss out of twenty eight games in the last
couple of months. But Lebron did play the final couple
of games to finish out the regular season. But he
went down with six and a half minutes left in
this one, So we all repeat, what is he doing

(35:26):
in the game with six and a half minutes to
go when at that point you have no chance to
pass Portland's in the standings? So yeah. Coach Frank Vogel
was asked post game about Lebron's ankle, and the coach's
exact quote is he says he's good to go, no issues.
The Lakers will host the playing game against Golden State
late Wednesday, ten pm Eastern time. You asked about attendance.

(35:49):
I do know the Lakers didn't even have any attendance
until mid April, one month ago. They started with two
thousand fans when they had the banner raising. Finally, they
waited for that championship banner range until they had some
fans in the building. When they had that this past week,
it was four thousand fans. I know. For the state
of California, June fift is the big date a month

(36:10):
from now. There's not gonna be a max main date.
Everything's pending, you know, going in the right direction where
a lot of things, not just indoor sports arenas, will
be opening much more come mid June. But I haven't
heard a number for the start of the playoffs. So
if it was four thousand fans or so the recent game,
maybe it'll be something similar late Wednesday. Everything comes down

(36:32):
from the state Capitol. Fingers crossed uh that it can
be a little bit more juiced for both the Lakers
and the Clippers. But we'll find out. By the way, Uh,
here's a really good tweet, which is the best way
to stay in touch with the show. At the Stinking
Genius One. I'm at Plank Show and everybody should be
following us at Fox Sports Radio. Brendon writes, I'm hoping

(36:54):
for a Lakers Nick's NBA Finals just to hear Onie
get his hopes up of winning a championship before the
Lakers in the Knicks and they're super fan Ani back
to Earth. I'll be dating supermodels well before the Knicks
win a title. That's been way too long playing since
the Knicks one. I'm telling you this though I made
drive down to New York. I'm only four or four

(37:15):
and a half hours away by car to Madison Square Garden.
I've got to go to a game I had about
fifty years away from their last. As far as the Knicks, yes,
they've been bad, but they haven't been Sacramento Kings bad.
Can I just add this because I think for a moment,
who's been the worst team in sports in the four
major sports the last fifteen years? Good question, Sacramento Kings

(37:38):
have been one of them. They last made the playoffs
fifteen years ago, and so a great AP writer in
the Beggar Josh Dubo tonight, who's great on research. He
looked up in the four major sports. Okay, who has
the worst winning percentage these last fifteen years? And he
guess it's a football team the last fifteen The Raiders
are in the bottom five. You're it's the Cleveland Browns

(38:01):
the last fifteen years, a winning percentage of three nineteen,
also in the bottom five, Minnesota Timberwolves, Jaguars, and Raiders,
and then the Sacramento Kings. I can't believe the Raiders.
That I can. I've watched him every single snap of
every single game. Yes, they belong in that mix. Wow, Okay,

(38:21):
that's like the reality of hitting home that I'm in
the same position. But I'm having a moment here. I'm
in the same position Arnie and Steve that I am
every offseason at this time where I'm like, you know what,
I just saw the schedule. I think they might be
pretty good. I think they can win some games. I
like Derek Carton, John Good and of course I'm gonna
end up where were they in that list? St Eve
of losing his franchises over last decade. I'm just setting

(38:46):
myself up. When you look at their schedule before each season,
what you need to do is when you utter the
sentence that's a win, you need to stop after you
say that about five times. Yeah, after I go through
like I've already got him at six and one heading
in a weekend. So I don't know what I'm doing
to myself. All right, So good news on the Lebron

(39:07):
ankle situation. According to Frank Vogel tonight, he has heard
from Lebron and says, hey, I'm okay. We'll hear from
Lebron a little bit later on in the show. Plus
we'll recap what we were hoping would be a wild
day on the final day of the NBA season. Arnie.
Some good storylines, but I don't know if it really
had that drama where it came down to the final
seconds of a game you're like, oh, no, this is

(39:27):
the difference between a plane and it wasn't. But I
I think the NBA accomplished its goal. And listen, I
know we don't have enough time to dive into it here.
We got less than a minute left in this hour.
But could the NBA have asked for a better playing
game as far as two Markey franchises. Again, the Gold
State Warriors drew TV numbers unlike we've ever seen when
they were in the middle of their run. And now

(39:48):
you have Lebron and Anthony Davis and the Lakers in
that playing game. I love it. What time? What time
is that game starting? They're not gonna start a little
late that we're not gonna be able to stiff and
watch it. Are the ten o'clock Eastern time Central, seven
Pacific on Wednesday night on ESPN between the Lakers and
the Warriors. When we come back, we'll have more on

(40:10):
that matchup, plus what are the odds looking like in
the playing games? Todd Ferman Next Hour with Arnie and
Plank on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. Search f s R to
listen live. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every

(40:34):
weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fired with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired
narratives down your throat. Every day. Straight Fire gives you,
honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats
to help you win big at the sports book, and
all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen
to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the I Heart

(40:57):
Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts
hour too. Are you in for the full hour? Now?
Aren't you? Are you ready to roll? I'm in for
the you know, working half an hour each hour might
not be too bad, though, I might be a good
thing to do. Can't blame you. I did have to laugh.

(41:17):
I try not to get too carried away early in
the show on Twitter, but Paul tweeted in the defeat
and sadness in Chris's voice when Arnie came back was palpable.
Now I disagree with it. I absolutely disagree with it.
But yeah, it's good. By the way. I brought this
up yesterday on the show. I was talking to Torres.

(41:40):
I was kind of mad yesterday afternoon. Here it is
at one o'clock Eastern. I'm getting okay, let's put on
the Knicks game, big game. It's not on TV. Okay,
that's okay. We'll put on the Lakers game. Lebron coming back,
a d coming out, and that's not on. Oh, put
on the Brooklyn game, you know, the big three year plan,
not on what would say, BC showing UM instead of

(42:02):
the Brooklyn game or the NIXT game or the Lakers
game doublehead of the w n B A. I really
really come on, now, three important games. You gotta be
showing NBA. Stop it. Where did they put the NBA
games and they slipped over to the the NBA TV or something? No,
they wasn't on ESPN and one to the OHO you

(42:23):
any of that stuff was on TV. So this I
guess maybe there's a part of me that it is
the open Wasn't it the opening weekend for the next one?
It was the opening weekend? But maybe they're trying to
give a push to it. And I don't mean I'm
with you, I'm being serious that you know, I'm thinking
they should probably are just like the second half of
the w NBA game. That way you could get an

(42:43):
hour of instead of two hours of it, and yet
you save a little air time. You know, there used
to be a time when we only aired second to
the third periods of the hockey games back here was
that like seventy. I mean, come on, that was like
even wasn't that pre color television? Artie, you might bring
that pack though, I think about the people who watch
whole games anyway. Hey, can you imagine just we're just

(43:04):
gonna air the final three, getting seven, eight, nine of
the baseball games with that, Arnie, just not even tell
you how wrong your statement is. What am I wrong about?
That's just foul? Like I'm sorry, dude, Like the w
n B A is, I'm good they play some decent basketball, bro.
Like what I'm not saying it will play the basketball
but over the Laker game, over the next game, or

(43:25):
you don't even have the right, But you got to
think about who has the rights, Like the Lakers networks,
Spectrum Sports had the right to the game, so they're
gonna play it. Why would you let somebody else broadcast
simocastic game if your network has the rights to it? No,
what do you mean? You could put it on one
of your other channels, is what you could have done.
But I understand they want to put it on ABC.
But then we didn't have any of the I couldn't

(43:46):
even get it on the NBA channel, none of the
none of the places at those games, Steve, I assume
there's a set number of network games in the contract also,
and they were saying I got to the final day
and as far as the local channels being able to show,
that will not be the case. This we with the
play in tournament, that is only the national channels. Laker
Channel is not allowed to show their Wednesday night game,

(44:06):
for example against Golden State. How about that will be stuck? Arnie.
The name Arnie Bunker really fits in this conversation. For
the ABC has nineteen regular season games on NBC. ABC.
Excuse me with the NBA Finals through ESPN is eighty

(44:28):
two regular season games which are mostly on Wednesday and
Friday night doubleheaders occasional Sunday and Monday night games. The
and they gave them ESPN the Wednesday Friday exclusivity. That's
right in this that's right, l T e C the
Tuesday Thursday their normal nights exclusivity this week, and they
had late season games on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons.

(44:51):
So are you sure that? Did I say? ABC? The
ABC games are Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon, so that's
their TV package, Arnie. That's the way that it lays
out t n T S six T seven games NBA
and a regular season has a hundred and six NBA.
So I put it out on Twitter. I'm like, oh man,
I'm outraged we can't watch any of the games. And
I'll tell you, there wasn't a lot of outrage. There

(45:12):
was like we're the NBA fans. Some people were upset
a little bit, but there wasn't a lot of people,
like guys with the NFL schedule when they announced that
this past week and wait a minute, there's not a
cable double header for the first none. Yeah, it's set
in stone that they're just gonna give them. They'll make
up for it. Of course the set number will be total,
the same total, but it's the end of the season

(45:34):
where they're getting a couple and that's just how it is.
I also think, too, Arnie, that there is this and
this is just me I'm vamping here because I think
you read into that that people don't respond to you
saying how dare they have the w n B a
on over the NBA to say nobody cares about the NBA.
Who owns who? By the way, right? But the the
other part of that, I would say is I can't

(45:54):
help but think that maybe there's a large faction of
that die hard NBA fan like your Knicks fans, like
both of the Nets fans like the like the Lake,
A lot of new fans y'all who are just getting
the tags off your hats and your new shirts that
you just you don't even know who Horn is. That's right,

(46:14):
you have no idea that Chris Dudley contract, Derek Dudley,
Chris Dudley. But I think there's a lot of people
who aren'ty that are kind of in their mind they're
they're onto the playoffs. It's like Bill Belichick, come onto
the playoffs and they want to see what happens in
the playing game. And from that point forward. I got admit,
yesterday afternoon, we're we're still talking Saturday. I didn't have
much of a desire to tune in and see what

(46:36):
was going on because in my mind everything was pretty
much set. But there was some important games. That was
a big game for the Knicks. There we were, but
the Laker fans in l A got to see the
Laker channel or maybe direct TV people. But also it's
a business decision from the business that owns the w
n b A right by the way. As we head
toward playoffs, you mentioned and I can't wait for the

(46:57):
rating on that since the local channels aren't allowed to
show at Wednesday night, ESPN getting Golden State at Lakers
and the winner goes to the first round of the playoffs.
The Lakers are a seven seventh placed team in the
Western Conference. Nobody below six has ever won the NBA Championship.
Usually it's one of your top three teams from the
regular season that takes the title, usually one of the

(47:18):
top two. As has been mentioned this weekend, the lowest
seed in NBA history to win the title was the
Houston Rockets as a six seed with a La Juan
That clip got played with Rudy t getting into the
Hall of Fame this weekend. Never underestimate the heart of
a champion. Probably the closest in the old days to
that would Bill Russell's last year as a player he

(47:39):
was player coach, by the way, he got into the
Hall of Fame again as a coach today. But with
the nineteen sixty nine Celtics, they upset the one seed
Lakers in the finals. The Celtics record that regular season
was forty eight and thirty four by comparison, this year's
Clippers forty eight and twenty four. If they had won tonight,
that would have been there a record, so you had

(48:01):
and remember they're only half the teams in the NBA
back then, so that was half the rounds. It was
only four teams getting to the playoffs each conference instead
of eight. The Celtics were the fourth seed out of
four in the East, but they beat New York in
Philadelphia to make the final and then upset the Lakers,
so put that on the list of lowest seeds there.
There wasn't a sixth seed that existed back in nineteen,

(48:23):
but it is really rare for something below the top
three to win the title. And the Lakers finished seventh
in the West. Good luck. But yet here we are
watching history happen in front of us. Hey, I'm kind
of surprised, Aren'tie? That you came in here more upset
about not being able to see a game over the
w n B A. Then you were over Kyrie's comments

(48:43):
about how he cares more about what's going on overseas
as opposed to the NBA in the playoffs, I figured
you would be all fired up over that tonight as
opposed to not getting to watch a game yesterday. Well,
I mean you can't. You can't really rip the guy.
You're talking about a life in death situation, and you
know what, are you gonna say? No, you don't worry
about that, just go play basketball. Kind of proud of you, right, yeah, well,

(49:04):
thank you very much. I mean, it is terrible thing
what's going on over there. Um, you certainly want piece
and that's what Kyrie was just trying to bring uh
to the forefront. But you know what, I'll tell you
what does bother me. It's you know, he wants to
bring something like this to the forefront, which I'm totally
fine with. But then again, you go how many days
or weeks without speaking to the media because you're upset

(49:25):
about something. You can't have it both ways. That's why
you gotta go ahead and make sure you're speaking to
the media all the time when you want to get
your message out like that, or you can be strategic
like he's being yes, and and we're all losing our
minds about it. I mean, you're sitting here laying out
a rule and saying you've got to do this, But
damn one. It looks like it's working to me because
when Kyrie mentioned it, and again, I'm not a big

(49:45):
news hound. I mean, I'm I'm on Twitter all the time,
but that led me to read into the mystrosities that
are taken place. So it worked on me. I guess
I'm one of those that that was led by that.
And I was proud of him. Um, not that he
needs me to be proud of him, but I was out.
I was, I'm proud of you are because I thought
you were gonna come in spit and fire about how
you need to be focused on the playoffs. If it
was if he was gonna, you know, bring up something

(50:08):
else that wasn't life in depth, and maybe I would
have jumped down him, but you know, I give my
paths on that. Alright, couple of quick tweets before we
roll on, and coming up next, we're gonna talk to
our man, Todd Freman. The tweets have been great so
far tonight. Um and in fact, here here's a couple
of doozies. Johnny writes, I agree with Arnie. I was
looking for an NBA game yesterday. I was relegated to

(50:30):
NFL reruns, which is what I was watching What's Your Problem? Johnny?
To be honest, all w NBA games should be televised
on qv C. Oh my gosh, Johnny, you're definitely living
in And then Paul writes, let's be honest, let's be honest,
politically politically correct. America is trying to shove the w

(50:51):
n b A down everyone's throats and the public doesn't
want it. Matt Lock reruns would probably draw a bigger audience.
Listen to you, guys, Are you guys are like ni keg?
That is not going to be a fun one to
dive into. Uh. And then let's see one more quick one,
real quick like nature boys that say, let's make it interesting.
Let's have one of the w NBA teams play the

(51:11):
loser of the playing game or Oklahoma City. I think
that could be interesting. I'd like, well, it depends on
what whatever you get from the opponent, right. If Oklahoma
City plays a team that's trying to lose harder than
they are, then they've got a chance to win. But
in this instance, yeah, and then Jason writes, I guess
maybe Doc Rivers wasn't the Clippers problem. After about that,
are we okay, let's let's set a panic meter here

(51:34):
real quick before we grab a break and Todd for
him and joins us. Who should be freaking out more?
Should it be Laker fan or should it be Clipper fan?
Should be Clipper fails? The Lakers won the last year, so, um,
the Clippers have the most pressure coming into this playoffs
to win the championship. Who else would have more pressure
than them? Yeah? Sure, the Laker fans always have pressure.

(51:54):
The Lakers always have pressure. But after winning it, um,
you know they'll get a passive that or what this year,
especially with the injuries. I'm not buying into any of
that Clipper Bologne injuries. They have the most pressure to
win this thing, absolutely well. Okay, then, not to be
like literal Chris or anything, but I do think that
there's a little bit of a difference between pressure and panic.

(52:15):
So if I'm sitting here as a Lakers fan, you
say this championship that people like you question because it
happened in the bubble is fine. I shouldn't be anymore
concerned because I have that title and we've had the injuries.
Clipper fans because of the way they've played recently in
the investment of Paul George and quite literally that should
be the concern, right, that's what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely,

(52:36):
I mean I don't even you keep saying in the
bubble like, oh yeah, I forgot about that. Who cares now, bubble,
no bubble, You won the championship. Um the Coopers of
the most pressure, and I I guess Cooper fans will
paddic if if they don't get up to a good
start now, especially after what happened to the last year,
choking a three games to one lead away. You know,
all right, Well, I want to make sure you mark

(52:56):
this tape because when Arnie in June decides that since
the Lake is lost and maybe the second round of
the playoffs, that their championship in the bubble doesn't matter, Bubba,
make sure we have this moment he was giving them love.
They're gonna lose to my Warriors. Well know that now
they're definitely going to win. I've never been happier about
your Warriors. Let's go, Laker fans. You're moving on and

(53:19):
he's jumped on the Golden State bandwagon. All is right
with the world. I don't like courage with the m
v P. How awesome, but he's not gonna and then
Isaac ch neck I was Isaac was mad because I
referred to the the Timberwolves as a team that was tanking,
and he writes, the t Wolves were six and five
in their last eleven games at and have been playing

(53:41):
every starter at regular minutes. They beat Utah twice at
home during that stretch. How was that tanking? Okay? Well,
then they're just bad. I mean, I is that what
you would rather hear? That they stink instead of there
trying to lose. They're just a bad basketball team that
has somehow no offense. Boss Man two number one on
overall picks in the draft. They have Karl Anthony Towns,

(54:04):
and they have the uh the stud out of Georgia
last year who I see on every single dunk highlight
in Anthony Edwards. And they still stink. You're you're just
trying to suck up to the Boss by talking Minnesota Timberwolves.
That's his team. So I'm just gonna one up for you.
Even though they're not in the playoffs, I'm still picking
the Timberwolves to win the championship this year. So now

(54:24):
you up, what go ahead? Beat that one, big boy?
Suck up to the boss worse than that. Uh, I
was just reading a tweet. When we come back, let's
dive into what Vegas thinks about this playing game. Is
there as much excitement for the betters as there seems
to be for the fan base. We'll ask Todd for him,
and next with Arnian Plank on Fox Sports Radio. Sarnian

(54:45):
Plank on Fox Sports Radio on a Sunday night into
a Monday morning to start your week. And who better
to get us pointed in the right direction than the
star of fs ones Fox bet Live, Bet the Board podcast.
He hangs out with us most Sunday nights here on
Fox Sports Radio. Todd Ferman is in the house. Todd,
we get quite the doozy on Wednesday night. What are

(55:07):
the numbers looking like for Lakers Warriors right now? Lakers
a favorite, big favorite. It should be a heck of
a contest. When you talk about Lebron James obviously putting
a bit of a scare into folks with that tweaked
ankle late in the game, and that's going to keep
that number off the board until we know his updated status.
But when you look at the other trio games, Chris,
we're talking about Memphis a three point home favorite against

(55:30):
the San Antonio Spurs, and in the two games being
played on Tuesday night, the Indiana Pacers opened a three
three and a half point favorite about where I expected
to against the Charlotte Hornets, and the Boston Celtics, arguably
the most disappointing team in the entire NBA this year,
a modest two and a half point favorite against the
Washington Wizards. Todd, I like Golden State ankle, no ankle

(55:50):
on the way Steph Curry is playing. And by the way,
Lebron just came out just down and said he thinks
Steph Curry is the real M v P boy. I'd
like to have somebody on that if they ever pulled
off the upset. But I think that first Rock game
between the Lakers the Golden State uh and could go
to the Warriors in that one. I think the only
way that that game would be more intriguing than it
will be on Wednesday night if that was a single
elimination type scenario, you had two of the marquee superstars

(56:13):
in a one and done type scenario. We know that
there's a bit of a safety net for whoever comes
out on the wrong end of that particular decision. But
when you talk about staff forty plus point games, I
believe it was his tenth of the season coming earlier
today as he clinched the scoring title. There is no
player more valuable to his individual team than Staff. But
when you look at the overall body of work, I mean,
if anybody but Nicola Yokis took him the hard or

(56:36):
I'd be stunned. And that's not going out in a
limb knowing he was a one to sixty favorite Arnie
coming into the weekend. Wow, Arnie likes those long shots.
So obviously we've been having a lot of conversation is
about about the Clippers tonite and how they're trying to
ruin my thunders opportunity to end up with a couple
of top five picks. But with that in mind, you
worried at all about them going forward the Clippers, that is,

(56:57):
with the way they've played down the stretch, Todd, you
wonder about a team that has a very fragile psyche
and that may be a generous way to try and
put it. Given what we saw last year blowing multiple
double digit leads against inferior Denver Nuggets team and I
think whether it's the greatest Machiavellian effort here to try
and go we want to be on the other side
of the bracket from the Lakers, or having a little

(57:19):
bit of that defeatist mentality, whereas you want the heart
of a champion, you want a team going, hey, look,
we don't care where we finish. We're gonna be whoever's
in front of us, even if it means matching up
with the Lakers in the opening round. So we'll see
if this is a Clippers team that can finally realize
its potential. We know Kauai Leonard and what he's been
able to accomplish on a big stage, but there's a
glaring hole on Paul George's resume, and I think for

(57:40):
all of those naysayers to back off a little bit.
The Clippers have to win the Western Conference, and it's
a tough team to back given what we've seen over
the last couple of games and how they've played down
the stretch. One thing I will say with the Oklahoma
City Thunder, which is interesting, Uh, they did give some
betters a little bit of false hope, a travesty that
this team's wins photo was twenty two and a half
on the year Crest, and you look at how they

(58:00):
finished the season, coming up just short at especially down
on the stretch. Let me ask you this, Todd, seriously,
why did you take a million dollars and bet on
the Rockets on the money line against the Clippers the
last game and did the same thing on the thunder
this game? I mean, what was it? Three to one,
four to one? I don't know. I mean it's steely.
The Clippers didn't want to win that stealing money there, Todd.

(58:22):
I hated disappoint but you're only taking home the money
line around plus two seventy plus two eighty, and both
of those games against the Houston Rockets, that number came
down considerably once the Clippers announced a few key contributors
weren't going to play. And then when you look at
the money line today plus two eighty more or less
the consensus that you could have grabbed on fan tool
right before tip off not bad. Here we are on

(58:44):
our first show together post NFL schedule release, and I
haven't even talked NFL yet, Todd, So I want to
start with you. Was there anything you read into with
the early primetime games for the Packers, and then not
anything until maybe later when you could flex it out.
I mean, what really stood out to you, if anything,
from the schedule released this past week that I have

(59:05):
to give some of our Fox executives the heck of
a lot of credit for having two games that happened
to be in that late afternoon time slot on Sunday afternoon.
The game we expect will be the Marquis between Green
Bay and New Orleans. And oh, by the way, we're
just gonna put the Denver Broncos in that exact same
time slot in one of the biggest NFL markets against
the Marquis franchise and the New York Giants. Should Aaron

(59:25):
Rodgers change addresses before the season starts. When you look
at Green Bay, I think we have to go forward
operating under the assumption that Rodgers will be the quarterback.
But I get more and more pessimistic by the day,
and I know it's going to kill our producer Lee
who's not ready to embrace Jordan's love, Blake Bortles or
Kirk ben Kurt, who they brought in as a veteran
presence for o t a that the handing of the

(59:46):
baton will not be nearly as seamless once Rogers leaved,
as it was from Brett far up to Aaron when
they made that transition. You know, Todd, everybody talking obviously
about Week four Tampa's coming into town to play the Patriots.
Is that the first of all, I think it's gonna
be the what the the highest rated regular season game
in the history of the NFL. And when you're talking
about betting, Look, you're not going to get as much
as the super Bowl, but is it gonna be like

(01:00:08):
as much as a playoff game or I mean, I
got to assume they'll be props and everything on that.
It's got to be through the roof on on the betting,
on the betting window there. It's the kind of game
that bookmakers will love, especially if Tom Brady starts off
the season like we all expect him to and he'll
have a chance to break the passing record in that
game in foxbro wearing the enemy's colors, I think the

(01:00:29):
biggest question the Patriot fans are gonna have to struggle
with do they want to root for their team or
do they want to root for the man that brought
them six super Bowl championships and Lombardi trophies. But I
can tell you, Ernie, I think that number will open
in that three and a half four range with the
Bucks Road favorites. It will arguably be the single largest
decision that sports books will face during the month of September,
because you have to anticipate the general public will be

(01:00:50):
all over Tom Brady and company laying the points, betting
them on the money line. Uh. And if you believe
anything that Tom Brady's father has said, New England may
as well not show up because this is gonna be
a fifty the three white washing. Yeah, I think I
think we talked about this a little bit last week, Todd,
but just kind of the follow up on it. You know,
in the general question of did anything change your mind

(01:01:11):
on a potential win loss total for a team based
on what you saw schedule wise, usually it's no, because
we know the opponents, but maybe some primetime decisions. I
don't know. Did did anything affect an over underwin lost
total in your mind based on what we saw last Wednesday?
You've seen a couple of wind totals move a little bit,
but nothing to alarming, either in the positive or negative direction.

(01:01:32):
A team that I was pretty high and still remain
that way. In the Minnesota Vikings, even with their trade
of Mike Use earlier this week, their schedule really does
them no favors. So when you look at the layout
and what they're going to have to go through, the
other thing that I think a lot of people are
making a bigger deal about their optimistic about Dallas and
how the Cowboys can start the season because they don't
play a whole lot of playoff teams, at least from
last year after their season opener against Tampa. But you

(01:01:55):
look at the slate of opponents and while the Chargers
don't scare your tone, it's a real game again, an
up and coming quarterback. You have a pair of division
games in a three game homestand that includes Philadelphia, Carolina,
UH and of course the Giants, and then you have
back to back road games. I'll get separated by a
by against two teams that I think are by low
candidates in the New England Patriots in Minnesota Vikings. So well,
everyone wants to gravitate towards Dallas being the most talented

(01:02:17):
team in the division, which they are on paper. Let's
see how they get out of the gates. Because if
they have a slow start in dak Prescott is in
running that offense, things will get a lot more difficult
for the Cowboys, who have a very unique quirk at
the end of their schedule as well, where they'll play
four divisional games in the final five weeks, including Washington
UH in a twice in a three week span, which
could ultimately go a long way in defining who wins

(01:02:39):
the NFC East. You know, Tyed, I know a lot
of off shore books. UH took a bath when Tom
Brady went to the Buccaneers um because there was it
was like a long shot. So whoever made the bet
on that one a lot of money. Anybody make any
money about Albert pool hold score to the Dodgers. I
thought that came out of nowhere and that that was
like whot or something. It doesn't create nearly. The buzz

(01:03:00):
is Albert Pools is in the twilight of his career.
I don't think, Arnie, and you can quote me on
this and you can play it back, that he will
be the make or break peace if the Dodgers are
going to defend their World Series from a season ago.
We've we've seen the Dodger Bats wake up a little bit,
of course, clearly dealing with more injuries. They need a
healthy Corey Seeger, they need a healthy Cody Ballinger. But
this is a team that even if they don't get

(01:03:22):
to a hundred wins, I don't think anybody should panic
by any stretch of the imagination. Things will be just
fine for l A. But I don't think Albert Pools
will be the missing link for the Dodgers quest to
win two World Series in as many years. Todd, have
a great week man. We always appreciate your time and
help talk to you next Sunday night. Always a pleasure, gents.
Well love that dude. Todd Firm in Vegas Inside for

(01:03:43):
f s once Fox bat Live were brought to you
tonight in part by Discover, which matches all the cash
back you earn on your credit card at the end
of your first year. It's amazing because discovers accepted at
places in the US to take credit cards. Learn more,
Discover dot Com, Slash Yes one, Nilson Report, Limitations up plus.
Still not sure why I'm not on that TV show.

(01:04:04):
I'm not haven't asked me yet, even have you? Have
you offered to go on at Steve to Seger as
an update. You shouldn't have to offer come on now,
that's right. They should just know instinctively you're the man
for the gig. Exactly. By the way, when I heard
the words Albert Pooles and missing link in the same sentence,
you know he's old enough. He could be. He's gonna be.

(01:04:25):
He's not gonna be pinch running for the Dodgers. But
I like him. I don't like him on the Dodgers,
but I think he's gonna have a decent second half
a work standing by he's batting under two hundred. However,
the Dodgers are so injured they actually need another right
handed bat off the bench today's lineup. I may look
at the amount of minor leaguers they had in there

(01:04:46):
and the amount of poor batting averages in there. So
if there's a lefty starting, you might get a pool
Hole start, even at first base. But they just need
a right handed bat off the bench. A. J. Pollock
injured this weekend. He mentioned Corey Seeger's name, of course.
The World Series in EP was placed on the injured
list by the Dodgers today. Broken hand hit by a
pitch out at least four weeks his right hand is

(01:05:07):
in a cast. The Dodgers have thirteen players on the
injured list, and on top of that, Chris Taylor today
was due to start and right before the game, this
guy who plays infield and out field for l A,
he was scratched with a sore wrist be evaluated tomorrow
to the NBA. Now update on the Lebron injury in quotes,
it's really not that, he says. The ankle injury in

(01:05:28):
the fourth quarter tonight of the season finale. It was
a tweak. I stepped on the opponent's foot after that
last lap. I'll be fine. He was asked, what does
that mean, I'll be fine, You'll be fine after treatment
or right now tonight you're fine? He said, it means
I'll be starting on Wednesday. The Lakers have won five
in a row. They did win at New Orleans for

(01:05:50):
the Lakers to move up to the sixth seed and
avoid the play and they would have needed a win
and a Portland's loss, but no. Portland won easily over Denver,
so the Blazers get the sixth seed in the West.
They'll be at Inverteds start the first round, best of seven,
and the Lakers will be home to the Golden State
Warriors in a playoff game. Yeah, playing game late Wednesday,
ten pm Eastern. Loser of that has to play Friday

(01:06:12):
to save their season. Either Lakers or Golden State could
be out by Friday. And we haven't even started the
first round of the playoffs by that point. That's how crazy.
That game up just another hour, make it nine o'clock Eastern. Yeah,
I did notice that the start times when they released
it tonight for the Eastern Conference. It is nine pm

(01:06:32):
Eastern for the Celtics, because of course they don't want
to tip in Massachusetts at ten pm. This isn't like Chris,
you talked about the old days in the nine eighties.
You remember there were NBA Finals games that tipped at
PM because they didn't want they didn't want to interrupt
primetime television. They wouldn't get as good at ratings. That's

(01:06:52):
just absolutely crazy to think about. The Utah Jazz one
easily at Sacramento. Utah clinches the one seed in the
Western Ofference. And you know, since they added the three
point line of the NBA about forty years ago, the
Utah Jazz are now the first team in NBA history
to eat every single game in a season, make at
least ten threes. They had plenty more than ten threes

(01:07:13):
made tonight. Golden State one its finale, By the way,
against Memphis, we haven't mentioned Memphis at all in this show. Tonight.
San Antonio will be in Memphis for a playoff game
on Wednesday. The loser will be out because that's a
nine versus ten matchup. Over in the East, the Knicks
one to clinch the four seed. Milwaukee's the three seed.
The Nets one tonight to clinch the two seed. Philadelphia

(01:07:35):
had already clinched the one. In the East, the Boston
Celtics host to play on playing game on Tuesday against
the Wizards, who came back to beat Charlotte one ten.
Before you've already got this settled, the Hornets have lost
five in a row. They now have a playing game
Tuesday at Indiana and the losers out. So things have
gone so the opposite of swimming lea for the Hornets.

(01:07:58):
They could be out very quickly Indiana one. It's finale today.
NHL Tonight's playoff opener at Florida went to Tampa Bay
on a goal with a minute fourteen to go five
for lightning Minnesota one in overtime. Islanders took a game
one in overtime. The Sunday night ball game went to
San Diego five three over St. Louis. The Padres took
the lead in the fourth on two bases loaded walks

(01:08:19):
and a sacrifice fly, so that the Padres are only
a half game behind first place San Francisco in the
ed L West. Miami beat the Dodgers three to Seattle
three two, beating Cleveland and Shane Bieber back to you,
Thanks Steve. I'm all in on the NHL right now.
We've got to get into this Joe Girardi saga to
a little bit later on in the show if we
have some time forward and at some point aren't a

(01:08:42):
little buyer sell because I'm losing my mind not talking
NBA schedule really, I mean again, we got a long
way to go. We got a full summer of shows
where we can get into it. But mean, but yeah,
I'm sorry. You know I might not make that clear
when I say schedule release. I just assume everyone's fired
up about the NFL. Like guy, I was looking over

(01:09:02):
at the TV. I see that the Lakers in January
had a forty two chance of winning the championship. As
of today, they have an eight percent chance of winning
the championship. Um and that's uh, and that's still with
Lebron and Anthony Davis. So, boy, how the odds have
just come tumbling down for my Lakers. Um? Yeah, let
me tell you something. I couldn't care less about what

(01:09:23):
the odds say right now? Give me and Anthony Davis. No, yeah, gosh,
she's like win probability when they're up by fifty with
two minutes ago. No s, I mean, yeah, their numbers
are gonna go down. They've got to play in a
play in game, and we haven't really seen what that
long term ramifications could be of that. I mean, last
year didn't really work out so well for anyone involved.

(01:09:44):
So let's see if the Lakers can change that trend.
I'm jacked about Wednesday night, though, I won't lie to you.
I'm fired up about Wednesday night between the Lakers and
the Warriors. I gotta be honest with you. You don't
care about the Morant and the Spurs. Yeah. I was
about to say, yeah, you don't care, you care about
any another series Tuesday. I want to see what the
Celtics gonna do. Let me tell you something. They lose,
they get eliminated before this thing gets started. And I

(01:10:07):
know Brad Stevens decided that five year extension, but man,
you gotta start calling him to the carpet and say,
what the hell is going on here? That was one
of the most disappointing years. And like Celtic history, it's
a very unlikable team. And this is a guy that
Publis should have taken the Indiana job if he could have.
Why why do you why do you call it an
unlikable team? Yeah? You know they were talking about that

(01:10:27):
up here, saying, not only is it just underachieving, they're
just not likable, They're just not personable. They're they're just
I don't know what it is they you know, whether
it's Marcus Smart who a lot of people don't like,
or um, I don't know. Maybe Tatum and Brown are good,
but they're just not I don't know if they're just
not likable or what. But people kind of anti Celtic

(01:10:48):
right now? Can I can? I can I try to
whittle that down for you real quick? Go ahead, they're losing,
so you're much less likable Whenever you're losing what it is.
You can be and a whole ARNI all you want
and if you're winning, it's like, you know, he's got
a little bit of an acerbic personality. But yes, there
you go. That's funny. I like that. I bet hey,

(01:11:10):
I can't listen to Celtics were one. I don't know
what the preseason numbers look like, but they were considered
to be a team that would be in the mix
with the Sixers, favorite in the Eastern Conference and in
the Nets in the box right there right Well, the
Nets weren't ahead of him until they got hardened, and
that was after the season started, and they were probably
up there with Philadelphia. So um, either they were probably

(01:11:34):
gonna be one and two to go to the NBA
Finals or at least go to the Eastern Conference finals.
So that's that's why it's been a major disappointment. I
think Brad Stevens um it's just not a very good
and NBA coach. He's a pretty good college coach. Should
have went back to the college game. But remember he
had tough time handling the Celtics when Kyrie was here. Also,
I just don't think it fits his style. Maybe it doesn't,

(01:11:56):
Maybe it doesn't. Maybe he's wishing he would have taken
that Indiana job, and maybe they're waiting for Mike Witson
to fail after one year and then go after Brad
Stevens again. A couple of quick tweets before we wrap
it up, get the Sager back in here, U c
l a Dodger. Frank takes us back to the opening
of the show and rights Arnie's connection didn't drop. He's
driving to MSG right now to buy Nick's playoff tickets. Yeah,

(01:12:17):
I may go down there. I mean, look, four and
a half hours, that's nothing. That's a nothing drive. That's
like going from l A to Vegas, um and it's
at no traffic to get no traffic until you get
to Massachusetts to Boston and then you fight through that.
But otherwise I'm ready to go go down to the
Garden and be one of those two thousand or four
thousand people in attendance. Uh. This is from Paul, who

(01:12:39):
writes I was hoping that Memphis would beat Golden State
just to get some new blood into the playoffs. I'd
rather see Morant than a disinterested Lakers team or the
depleted Warriors. Well, first, yeah, you don't want to go
ahead and see somebody like Steph Curry. I can see.
I was just gonna say the Warriors might be depleted,
but my god, they're fun to watch. I mean, they

(01:13:00):
might be minus Clay, minus Wiseman, but man, you turn
them on and you're you're entertaining. I mean even today,
Steph lifting up the jersey doing the baron Davis from
the what they call him the kind of loud city
like team. And then you know, I mean, Memphis has
its time. It's coming that that roster is getting better.
But I mean, I don't think the Lakers are mailing

(01:13:20):
it in by any stretch of the imagine. I'm gonna
give you a hot sports opinion. If the Golden State
Warriors win the championship, Steve Kerr will come on this show. Okay,
Like they've done this before while we've been a show,
the Warriors. In fact, I think they've actually want a
couple of them since we've been a show. But but
he's took me too long. Now I think he's I

(01:13:42):
think it's about time he comes back on. Has it
you've ever been on this show with you and I
in the last decade. Yeah, that'd be a big no no,
are you sure about that? I'm I'm about ninety nine
point nine. Think think about it. Just the case you're wrong,
do you know what, I'll dig into the memory bait.
The Sager has been here every step of the way
with us. Bobo has been here just about every step

(01:14:04):
of the way. I don't recall either one of them
having to answer the phone. He had had what's up
Steve Kerr? My bad. Well when we come back, we've
got the Sager on our mind. Was what I was
gonna say. No, he's never been on. Yeah, yeah, thank you, Bobo.
I I just wanted to make sure we got the clarification.
I would never want to short change you aren't. So

(01:14:24):
let's talk a little bit about the playoffs, the matchups,
and I'm getting we gotta have some NFL conversations. We've
got to it's all coming up on a busy night
with Arnie and Plank on Fox Sports Radio. NBA playoffs
are set. Let's break him down Arnie and Plank on
Fox Sports Radio, Steve di Seger comes Slide and Eric
Pinks next hour as well. Where you want to start

(01:14:46):
here tonight to s start with NBA and Lakers that
there's really no ankle injury to speak of, with Lebron
tweaking that in the fourth quarter of the season finale tonight.
Here's the quote from his coach, Frank Vogel steps on it,
but he said no issues and quotes. If they lose
it to Golden State, they'll be issues, I promise you well,
not from them, I doubt. Meanwhile, that's twenty five points

(01:15:09):
a game at least for Lebron this season as well.
That's seventeen straight seasons he has averaged at least twenty
five points a game. Michael Jordan did that twelve times
in his career. Kobe had twelve seasons at twenty five
points a game. Car Malone had twelve. This is seventeen
years in a row with Lebron doing that. So the

(01:15:29):
Lakers were not able to pass Portland's Blazers win to
night get the sixth seed avoid the play In late Wednesday,
ten pm Eastern, it's the Lakers hosting the Golden State
Warriors in a play in game. I found the ratings
for last year's playing ABC had it, but the matchup
was Portlands against Memphis. It was under two million viewers
on ABC for that then once the playoffs started for

(01:15:51):
real the first round opener Portland against the Lakers. That
was almost three and a half million ers on t NT.
Let's see if Wednesday night. Keep in mind the local
channels are not allowed to show the play in tournament
this week. Let's see what ESPN gets for Wednesday night.
Uh in the feature matchup. Let's just put it plainly,

(01:16:11):
to play around Steph Curry, by the way, as he
goes into that goes in as the scoring champion of
this season in the NBA, the oldest scoring champion since
Michael Jordan's over twenty years ago. Jordan was thirty five
and still won a scoring title. Steph Curry, this is
his twelve year in the NBA. Already he didn't need
to do much. He had the lead already going into

(01:16:32):
the finale. He missed his first four shots, finally got
a layup late first quarter, and then when he hit
a jumper the next time down standing ovation, he was
scoring champion. He kept playing, he kept scoring. He scored
forty six as they beat me. This Golden States won
sixth straight going into the playing game. Lakers have won
five straight, including tonight. Going into the playing game, Curry
average thirty two points per game. By the way, you

(01:16:55):
talked about Kyrie Irving earlier, he did play he and
Durrant James and rested tonight. Brooklyn wanted to clinch the
number two seed in the East behind Philadelphia. But Kyrie
Irving became that rare player to have a season in
the NBA shooting at least fifty percent from the floor,
at least from three point range, and at least on

(01:17:16):
free throws. He hit all three of those. Well, stay tuned,
I got what other on that life, But to do
that and average at least twenty five points per game,
the only guys that have done that are Curry, Durant
and Larry Bird. Granted, three point shot again wasn't a
thing in the NBA fifty years ago, but still a
pretty impressive year. Now, there's a guy named Tony Snell

(01:17:39):
who was playing with the Atlanta Hawks. Started about half
the games he played for the Hawks this year. He
is officially the first player in NBA history to shoot
at least fifty percent from the floor, at least fifty
from three point range, and not miss a free throw
at all for a full season. He was eleven of
eleven on free throws, but he took over a hundred

(01:17:59):
three e's and had a great percentage and again was
over overall from the floor. So congratulations to him. Uh
into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Now, we had the
ceremonies last night for the class of twenty including Kobe Bryant,
Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett. The induction for one will take
place in September. Chris Bosh is in the Hall of Fame.

(01:18:21):
He was an All Star eleven straight years through Paul
Pierce is in the Hall. He averaged twenty points a
game in a nineteen year pro career, last two with
the Clippers as an l A native. Chris Weber is
into the Hall of Fame, and his pro career he
averaged twenty one points ten rebounds a game. Impressive playing
for five teams, by the Way, including Sacramento. The class
has sixteen people total. Ben Wallace is the first undrafted

(01:18:46):
player in the Basketball Hall of Fame. With Detroit, he
was NBA's Defensive Player the Year four times between two
thousand two two thousand and six. Bob Dandridch a playoff
hero for the Bullets and played for the Bucks in
the seventies as well and getting in the postseason a lot.
The Veterans Committee puts Dandridge in Tony Ko coach into

(01:19:06):
the Basketball Hall of Fame from the International Committee and
also coaches that are in. Rick Adelman is now a
Hall of Famer. Jay Wright from Villanova is getting into
the Hall this year. Bill Russell elected as a coach.
Of course, he's long been in as a player, one
of the greatest of all time. Also in this year's
class you'll landa Griffith, Lauren Jackson, Val Ackerman, Cotton fitz Simmons,

(01:19:29):
former coaches in as a contributor. Also Howard Garfinkle, Fats Jenkins,
Pearl Moore. So a class of sixteen. And before we
leave basketball, you should know by now how the playing
games work. This week it's the seventh through tenth place
teams in each conference. It starts Tuesday. The two games
in the Western Wednesday, including that late Wednesday Lakers hosting

(01:19:50):
Golden State, but the nine or ten seeds have to
win both games this week to advance to the first
round of the playoffs. The seven eight seeds only have
to win one. That's the advantage of just smissing out
on the top six, but I repeat, either the Lakers
or Golden State could be out of the playoffs entirely
by Friday night. In other words, before the first round

(01:20:10):
even begins. If you lose Wednesday, lose Friday, sorry, you're
not going to the first round. So just keep that
in mind. As far as the Dodgers, they lost three
to to Miami and an X Dodger got to save
Jimmy garcia Is seventh save already r A and the ones,
apparently after he had the ball off of the final
outflinged it toward the Dodger dug at that did not

(01:20:31):
make too many on his team very right back at him.
For the Dodger pitching staff, it was an all bullpen
game and they gave up three unearned runs in the fifth,
three run homer Adam Duval and then at the bottom
of the fifth Duvall throughout Mookie Bets at the plate,
So the Dodgers wind up losing. Meanwhile, the Angels got

(01:20:52):
a win because sho Hey Otani at Boston hit a
two run homer in the top of the ninth for
a six five victory. It's his twelfth homer. He's tied
for the Major your League lead Houston won its sixth
straight game. The Houston Astros are still only a half
game behind first place Oakland in the West. The Oakland
win was seven to six at Minnesota thanks to a
run in the top of the ninth on a wild

(01:21:12):
pitch on a strikeout. Yes, they beat the Minnesota Twins,
the worst team in the major leagues at Montreal as
I can't wait, what are you doing talking trash on
Minnesota sports teams caught it. All right, you do, I'm
back when we come back. All right, we got a
good debate Bruin on on Twitter right now. In fact,

(01:21:32):
it's led f bombs being dropped. It's out of control
right now, we're talking the best playoffs. It's hockey. It's niche.
But we're doing it next with Arnie and Plank on
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, let's go on the final hours.
What do you say let's like to call the Final
hour the power Hour? To me, it's it's the happy hour,

(01:21:55):
happy the happy hour. So many things to get to
and we got our buddy Eric Pinkas staying up Lade
with us coming up. And then that's no mask our Oh,
we don't want to get political. Forget about that. Well,
that's not political anymore. I mean, I'm I'm fully vaccinated.
Now I think you are to, not that we need
to like be craming that down on anyone's throat. But
when I went to a Walmart today, didn't wear a mask.

(01:22:18):
It was very weird. Two weeks after get vaccinated. If
you have no uh any, I guess you could say
effects sil effects from it. You're you're fully vaccinated. So
welcome to I guess the new the new normal, if
you will again around to I went to. I was
watching a couple of sporting events this weekend that had
full crowds on. He was great, get oh yeah, well

(01:22:40):
there's I knew Texas was allowing everybody, but that's been
like that for a while though. Yeah yeah. And then
the boxing match last week, incredible stuff. It's time to
get back baby, let's say MGM John Texan. Uh the
Montreal as the kiss of death just cursed the city
with no team, So there you go. But they got
they got the Canadian so don't forget about that. When

(01:23:01):
when we look back on history, will there and I
love I want to make this very clear. I've never
stepped foot near the Colosseum. Or where Oracle is or
was whatever, But is there gonna be a place that
died on the hill like the city of Oakland has

(01:23:22):
that the Colosseum is okay to hold professional sporting events
like it seems some are in the in the management
of that city. What do you mean there's nothing. This
is a great and even some fans there's nothing. It's fine,
it's nostalgic. You should play here. I mean, if they
don't get that new stadium RNTI, the A's are done
so done. And I know you said the Montreal as

(01:23:43):
kind of tongue in cheek, but Nashville, Carolina, Portland's there
are places pining away for an opportunity to bring in
a major league basement. Just ask you know who who's
to blame on this or people saying, well, the A's
to blame though you can't blame them. They want to
get a new stadium like everybody else out there. Um,
then you're gonna say it's the stadium, what commission or

(01:24:04):
something like that, right, or it's the city of Oakland.
It's not really their fault either. Um, you know whose
fault it is. It's the people that live there, the
people that vote um the ones that don't go ahead
and vote for like a quarter percent sales tax or
a quarter percent sales tax on rental cars or hotel rooms,
so that way you tax the tourists to build yourself

(01:24:25):
a new stadium. They have to take part of the
responsibility also because they didn't pass anything to help their
team stay in Oakland. I really, I mean listen, Vegas
has worked out great for the Raiders, at least it
appears it has with the brand new stadium. We'll see
what it's gonna be like with fans in there this year.
The new arena for the Warriors is awesome. But Oakland
has great people. It's got great fans. They deserve a

(01:24:48):
a sports team team. I mean the Oakland A's Gene Tennis,
Joe Rudy, I mean the whole the Catfish Hunter and
the whole crew back then, and they had some great
teams back in the seventies. I find it fascinating at
the first name you bring up when we talk about
the Oakland A's is Gene Tennis. Is that I mean

(01:25:08):
I I would think that maybe the first one that
would come up would be like Dave Steward or Ricky
Henderson or maybe Martin Require. Yeah, I think Joe Rudy
and Jean Tennis. A little bit random Oni and playing
brought to you by Discover, which matches all the cash
back you are and on your credit card at the
end of your first year. It's amazing because discovers accepted
at the places in the US and take credit cards.

(01:25:29):
Learn more Discover dot com slash he has one Nielson Report.
Limitations apply. Eric Pinkins is coming up here in just
a bit. Had a good little battle on Twitter a
couple of minutes ago, and I'm curious to get your
take on this. Minnesota, Minnesota man, listen, I could talk
oclaoma soft all night long. But you people, you people

(01:25:49):
were complaining. You people were complaining about the w n
B A being mentioned for like twelve seconds on this show.
So I don't want to somehow affect your may and
hood by bringing this up. So Minnesota man Kevin Wrights, Chris,
who seemed very hyped about the NHL playoffs, yet you
talked the NBA Playoffs, which is the most boring. It's

(01:26:12):
the same teams every year, and it's just boring in general.
I mean, I I disagree. I don't think it's the Sure,
you see the same eight that are kind of battling.
But the Lakers until what last year, hadn't been in
the playoffs in ages, you know, you're talking about five
years since they had been in the playoffs. The Warriors

(01:26:33):
had an incredible run, then they dipped down. No one
was talking about the Nets last year, and then here
they are as the two seeds. I mean, I would
argue getting isn't it the same NFL teams every postseason?
Like literally you can kind of predict minus like maybe two.
And it's the same thing with the with the NBA.

(01:26:53):
I mean, now with the extra playing games, I'm not
a fan of it, but it's still putting the extra
two teams a shot to make it. And also in
our on our defense, I mean, the reason we're not
talking a lot of NHL playoffs obviously it just started,
but too um take Wednesday for example, the Capitals and
the Bruins will be in Game three of their playoffs
series and the regular season still going on with Vancouver

(01:27:15):
and Calgary. So you know what I'm saying that they
haven't made up that they're still finishing the regular season
and I'm on game three of the playoffs between the
capitals of the Bruins. Can't they cancel those games? What
are you doing out here? I got I got playoff
hockey with regular season hockey. I've never heard of such
a thing. That it is very confrasing, to be honest

(01:27:37):
with you. So then Minnesota man Kevin goes with his
rankings NFL playoffs one March Madness to Major League Baseball
playoffs three, Stanley Cup four, MLS Cup five, and then
the NBA six No college football on there? Did he forget?
Maybe he's just leaving that out, And then it writes
completely disagree. The NBA playoffs are off awesome. The play

(01:28:00):
in will give it some extra hype too. Now if
if your fight is I'm tired of seeing the same teams,
that's that's kind of becomes sports, and don't we love greatness? Right? Um? Well,
but you notice the the the playoffs we like the best,
the NFL playoffs to college football playoffs, March Madness, all
are not best of seven series. So um, think about

(01:28:23):
that for a second. We love the one and Dawn,
and that's what it adds to all the intrigue. The
best of seven takes a lot of fun away from it.
Paul writes rights in with a great point. This Vancouver
Calgary game actually shows that the NHL is the best
postseason league. And what's ESPN starts promoting a seven? I

(01:28:43):
think it'll overtake baseball is the third most popular professional
sport in the US. Wow. Uh, I don't know if
I'd go that far, but I will say it's gonna
put a little rocket ship off its backside whenever you
start getting uh seven covers, just like Fox Sports did
for NASCAR. No one's talking about it, and I know

(01:29:06):
that it makes people mad, but NASCAR's numbers are big
time this year for him. Well, nobody's talking about this, Chris,
And maybe you know better than I do for sure. Um,
ESPN up their Major League Baseball package huge, from ninety
games to thirty games. Did I understand that right, that
they're gonna cut out sixty games? Um? Nobody said anything

(01:29:28):
that is that warning side? Nobody that nobody's concerned about that.
But but they they're given him more money, and I
think they're pushing more of it to ESPN Plus, right,
So they're trying to build up ESPN Plus continually. But no,
I see what you're saying absolutely, and you know Paul's point,
you know, I gosh, I know this is a take
that I make fun of quite a bit. So I

(01:29:49):
sound a little old Mannish, but I have a hard
time finding a hockey game whenever. It's like, oh, playoff
game tonight? Alright, well is it on NHL network? Well
so NHL? Now, well is it on NBCs N Well, no,
it's not in on nbcsn Is it on NBC No? No? No?
Is it? Where? Where is? I know that I have
a guide on my direct TV, and yes, I still

(01:30:09):
have direct TV where I can find everything. But I
feel like any time I have to try to find
a sporting of an Arnie, that's never a good sign, isn't. No,
you always have to I just talking to my remote
control and say New York Knicks and goes right to it.
It's funny technology works that way, you know. All Right.
A couple of other ones here, Uh, let's see. I

(01:30:31):
like this. Kevin writes, here's some a's ideas. The San
Jose a's, the Oakland a's down the street, yeah, because
that's where the new stadium allegedly would be built. The
Vegas a's are the Oklahoma as First of all, we've
got the Oklahoma City Thunder. I would love to see

(01:30:51):
professional baseball here beyond the Dodgers Triple A affiliate. Yeah,
probably not gonna happen. And I think that a place
like Nashville, I think play is like Charlotte, places like
Portland's would be just chopping at the bit to bring man,
do you think it would be better to put a
team and let's say, as you mentioned Charlotte or Montreal
or Vegas is a one time thing, or would be

(01:31:13):
better to put it in a city that could support
two teams? I mean, you got too in Los Angeles
Dodgers and Angels. You got two in Chicago Cubs and
White Sox. You know New York Yankees, Mets, Uh yeah,
the A's in San Francisco Giants. I don't know good
Boston support uh two teams other than uh, you know,
just the Red Sox out there. When they were thinking
about adding hockey, they were thinking about adding it to

(01:31:35):
another team in Toronto that they could support two teams.
I'm wondering what's the best for the ASA going to
their own city or or being doubling up with somewhere else.
Is a big market. Is there a rumor that they
might go to a big market or no, Well, they're
in a big market now kind of. I mean you
could say that, so, I mean, you know, it would
be a choice if they want. I think if they

(01:31:56):
get a new stadium, they're not going anywhere. I mean,
that's gonna happen. If they can find a way to
get their s together with the politicians and get this
deal done, then then they're staying there. But yeah, okay,
because I guess I'm miss studio Arnie. I thought that
you were laying out. Oh, maybe they can move to
a place like I'll just say St. Louis and give
a second team in St. Louis. That's maybe they can

(01:32:19):
move to Boston and then have two teams, you know,
the Red Sox and somebody else, just like all those
other major cities like New York Los Angeles that support
two teams. Well, I wouldn't you rather introduce it to
a new market than try to split the fan base
somewhere else. Look, how well that's working for the Chargers
right now? Right right? Well, yeah, that's not working. But
that again, that's uh, that's NFL. That's a little bit different.

(01:32:41):
Because you know, usually people don't go ahead and support
that second team. Though you got the Jets and the
Giants there, that's for sure. The Raiders used to be
up there with San Francisco forty. I mean, is this
a conversation you guys are having, I mean, are you
trying to get the he's out to Boston or so?
I think I think Montro would actually be a good
place for them. I mean think about that. Uh. They

(01:33:03):
had a preseason game, an exhibition game up there with
the Blue Jays. I think they had like fifty thou
people go to the game. They had an exhibition game
on a Tuesday. There was like thirty thousand. So, uh,
they're they're dying for baseball up there. Uh. And then
one more quick tweet before he grab a breaking Eric
pink has joined just to take a complete right turn,
Isaac Rights. When the NFL schedule came out, Stinking Genius

(01:33:24):
declared the Cowboys Super Bowl champions for the third year
in a row, but jumped ship to his Tampa Bay
Buccaneers five minutes later. It's this true, Arnie. I've not
done my Super Bowl pick this year yet, though I
I will have to tell you I feel pretty good
about the Dolphins. Um, and I feel great that the

(01:33:46):
Patriots are gonna win under uh nine games. I would
like to bet a hole. I think there are five
and twelve teams, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.
When we come back, let's talk about the Lakers and
the Clippers and each path that is very unique towards
the NBA playoffs. Plus, is this a game of dodging
the Lakers that have been played by many teams in

(01:34:08):
the West? Will ask Eric Pinks next with Arnie and
Plank on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, it's Arnie and Plank
on Fox Sports Radio, Legal app producing the show Bobbo
and the Wheels of Steel. Steve to say, you're on
updates and we're prompted to be joined Barman Eric Pinks
great follow on Twitter at Eric pinkis of course, uh
Bleacher Report contributor, NBA TV, you name it, I see

(01:34:29):
him everywhere, alright. So, Eric, this this theory, this idea
that we've seen teams dodging the Lakers down the stretch
as far as playoffs seating is concerned. You buying it?
Oh yeah, I mean the Clipper was lost to the
Rockets and the thunder in back to back games. You're
gonna tell me that doesn't have fun to do with it.
I thy month. I mean those teams have one like

(01:34:50):
you and I could beat the Rockets in the in
the thunder, like come on. So the Lakers are not
a typical I guess there's the seventh seeds. Uh. There
the seventh seed because this is a weird year. They
had major injuries. They didn't have injuries that were like,
you know, a c l or Chris season ending, but
they had long injuries to Lebron James and Anthony Davis.

(01:35:12):
And for the most part, as far as we could tell,
those guys are healthy. I know that Lebron had a
would look like an ankle tweak or a foot you know,
some sort of injury that you know, he said he
downplayed afterwards and that he's going to play on on
in the playing game. But they're just not a usual team.
They they would probably be in a normal world the
number one or number two seed. Uh at worst three.

(01:35:36):
And so yeah, you ducked them because you fought really
hard this season. Whether it's the Clippers, whether it's the Nuggets,
whether it's the Blazers, I guess not the Blazers, they
were just trying to get in. But the Mavericks or whomever. Uh,
you fought, you did everything you could to succeed, and
you draw the Lakers in the first round. That's that's
not a reward. I mean, if you're gonna play the Lakers,

(01:35:58):
play them at a later date. But I kind of
agree with Jared Dudley on Lakers who said, like, the
Lakers are probably more vulnerable now than they will be
once they get rolling. If you want to face them,
you want to beat them. Maybe you want to get
them early. So maybe Jared Dudley is the smarter one,
uh than some of these teams making these moves. Yeah. Yeah,
But Eric, when you if you're the Clippers and you

(01:36:19):
lose to the Rockets in Oklahoma City, I mean, men,
does that really get to mentally prepared for the playoffs?
But you lose the two dog teams like that? I
mean it's not It's normal for like playoff teams to
rest guys down the stretch and get them ready for
the playoffs. And in the last week, last one two
games of the season, you rest your top guys, you

(01:36:41):
play some young players, and you just sort of write
it off. And like, actually, if you look at Lebron
James and his teams through history, like the last three
or four games, his teams have like pretty losing records
or bad records, and it didn't happen here. Lakers want
a bunch late because they had to figure out how
to you know, none of them had played together all season.
And because you want, Drummond was a late edition and

(01:37:02):
Shrewder was out with you know, a COVID protocol things,
so they just needed to play. But most of these
other teams, uh, they rested guys in part because they
wanted to avoid the Lakers, but then also because that's
that's the right thing to do. It really is like
who cares it? Like you've already been seated, or at
least you're you have an idea of where you're gonna be.

(01:37:23):
You're in the playoffs. The most important thing is health
and having your guys ready. I don't think at that
point you're gonna worry that like you're gonna lose chemistry
and forget how to play. You played seventy games or whatever.
The last two are that those are gonna dictate like, oh, suddenly,
you know we'll get to the playoffs and because we
were you know, stunk it up for a couple of
games against the worst teams and civilization, then I think

(01:37:45):
you're all right. I will say, Eric, the funniest thing
about tonight. You know, I'm in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City fans
are not happy with a win because it kind of
changes those percentages. But I think you and I talked
about this a couple weeks ago. With the way that
the lottery ball percentage percentage is set, sure it dips
a little bit, but all those top four or five

(01:38:06):
teams have a pretty good shot of ending up with
the number one pick overall. Anyway, Yeah, if they changed
the rules a few years back and they actually it
was designed to try to prevent tanking, all it did
was encouraged tanking. Because you know it's true, you know
we're actually help what's helped uh this year is the Plan.
The Plan has one of the goals is to reduce tanking.

(01:38:29):
And I think it, by and larger worked. But in
this particular case, like it used to be that they
just picked the top three teams in the lottery, and
now they picked the top you know, the top four
picks are all lottery so you used to have three shots,
and now you have four, so you have a better
chance the odds uh at the bottom and if you're
the Thunder, yeah, I mean you you want as many

(01:38:52):
lottery balls as possible. But it's basically even for the
bottom three or four teams. Uh. And like you know,
you would rather be first. Like the Rockets. I think
they ended up with the worst record because let's say
you don't win the lottery, like at least your fifth.
Like there's a limit to how far you can fall.
So but then the Rockets they traded their pick actually

(01:39:14):
to the Thunder. Yeah. And so it's a swap thing
where the Rockets go from let's say they're one, two, three,
I think it's four. It's top four and then uh,
if they don't get that, then they get Miami's pick
uh instead and and that's from the Thunder who have that,

(01:39:35):
And then the Thunder would get like let's say the
Rockets were fifth, now the Rockets, So you know there's
all this. You know, the Rockets when they committed to
the tank, I mean they went full on and you
got to respect it. I mean they did what they
had to do. Uh, And the Thunder committed to it
as well, and and as much as it's it's not
a fun product to watch if you're really focused on winning.

(01:39:55):
But like, if you want to see this kid, you know,
like Poko or Moses Brown or who like would never
in a normal circumstance get major, major minutes, Uh, they
get the opportunity. And like, the only real way to
develop as a player, whether it's rec league or AU
or college, high school pros, is to play. And so

(01:40:16):
they're getting a great opportunity. So I don't hate tanking.
I don't like that, you know, you're not trying to win,
but I do like that it it does have. It
does allow for players to develop in a way that
maybe they never would have gotten that opportunity. So, you know,
the Thunder, I don't think they're going to be at
the bottom for long. They've got so many picks. They
got like more picks than anybody in history, I think.

(01:40:39):
And that's not even a joke, like that's accurate. I mean,
it's it's crazy. Eric. First of all, I think there's
a good chance that Golden States upsets the Lakers. What
happens is the Lakers lose two games and they get eliminated.
What happens then did they I don't know. They call
Kevin Durant and leave the nets, come to us and
they have to get another guy. What happens if they
do lose it and get eliminated, Well, I mean they'd

(01:41:01):
have a better draft pick. I don't know, they'd be
in the lottery. They'd probably be fourteen in the lottery.
But it's a one game series against Steph. And I
wrote my prediction on Bleacher. We did like a round table,
and my prediction was that the Lakers win. But if
there's if you had one guy in the entire NBA

(01:41:21):
to to to pick where you have to win just
one single game, you probably pick Steph. Uh. And so, yeah,
the Lakers are are vulnerable because Steph can score fifty
points in the game. But I think they'll be fine.
I think I don't like the matchup otherwise, uh, and
then the Grizzlies or the Spurs, those are good teams,
but I think the Lakers are are better than those teams.

(01:41:44):
What's important to me if I'm the Lakers is to
beat the Warriors, because they're the Lakers. Draw in their
particular racket is really favorable to them because they play
the Sons they play, the Nuggets, they play I think
the Blazers, and those are all teams that they match
up really well against. You know, the Nuggets biggest advantages
size and yo kitchen. The Lakers have size, uh, and

(01:42:07):
Aiden is an important piece of what the Suns do
and they kind of neutralize him, whereas the Clippers are
are really talented at those bigger wing positions. That's like
a little bit more vulnerable there. And then the Jazz
are sort of you know, they're shooting is off the charts,
and Colbert is such a good defender. Uh. And you
know Dallas is is Lucas. So I think the Lakers

(01:42:30):
need from their point of view, they don't need, but
they really really want to beat the Warriors. I think
they're going to take it very seriously, not because of
risk of falling out, but because the seventh seed is
really favorable to them. Good point, Hey, real quick before
I let you go, Eric, I'm kind of shocked that
we haven't talked about the East and Arnie's and Nick's yet,
But I do find I do find what's going on
in the East to be incredibly fascinating now and suddenly

(01:42:52):
that kind of new York market. Being relevant is very exciting.
I mean, I've got a good friend who's a diehard
Nick fan, and and uh we we spent a lot
of time together through the quarantine. We were sort of
in the same kind of like pod type thing situation,
and I he's you know, in the beginning, it was like,
you know, yeah, the Knicks are going to be great

(01:43:13):
because Nick fans are usually delusional, no offense aren't. And
you know, but you know, at some point it started
to to to be a real thing. And I know
Julius pretty well from his time with the Lakers. I
was there when he when they worked him out for
the first time, and when he was drafted, all that's
you know, when he got hurt, all that stuff, when
he when when he had a kid. I'm really fond

(01:43:35):
of Julius. And and I've done this job long enough
where you know, the the fandom side of of of
my soul has been crushed, you know, because you're not
you have to be objective. But what what um I
end up doing it? You know, you you find that
you root for people that you have you know, friendships
or affection for, and Julius is definitely one of those guys.

(01:43:56):
I so I'm thrilled for him. Uh. It's great for
the m A when the Knicks are good because they
know it's a huge market. And to have the Nets
be one of the elite teams as well, it's a
shift because those teams have been lousy for most you know,
the Nets have you know, they have the Jason kids stretch.
Uh and they did have KG for a minute, but
that didn't you know, really work out. By and large,

(01:44:17):
they haven't been great. And the Knicks it's been a while,
and so I'm excited to see the playoffs. Uh, the
Celtics might you know, they have to go through the plan.
I think they'll they'll they'll get there, but it's a
kind of a weird uh playoffs. I do think the
Heat are a sleeper, um, you know, because they're still
the Heat and they went to the finals last year.
But I can't wait to see what Philly does with

(01:44:39):
DC rivers, different coach. Are the Bucks finally going to
get over the hump? Uh? You know what? The Nets
are so offensively gifted. Can anyone stop them? But can
they get any stops? Because you know, got the honest
is going to destroy them and indeed and whatnot, so
really exciting postseason ahead. I'm looking forward to it a man. Eric,
We always appreciate your time him. Thanks ranging out late

(01:45:01):
with us at Eric Pinkas on Twitter. We'll talk to
you soon, buddy anytime. That's Eric pinks Blitcher Report, Laker
insider speaking of die hard Laker insiders, men who know
it all about what's going on inside the Staples Center.
Steve t. Saker comes rolling in. What's going on, Steve,
We've got a lot of NBA to discuss as the

(01:45:21):
regular season ended tonight. But first off, this from Tyson
Fury tonight. Now. Confirmation of this fight this summer has
not been made official by either of the boxers promoters,
but Tyson Fury announced he will take on Anthony Joshua
August fourteen in Saudi Arabia. Fury holds the WBC belt,
Joshua has the others. There hasn't been a utified or

(01:45:41):
an undisputed heavyweight champion and over twenty years since Lennox
Lewis so just for the record, that's on the sports
horizon And a NASCAR note. Next Sunday will be on
FS one again with NASCAR's first event at the Austin,
Texas Road Course and then the Coca Cola six hundreds
on Fox TV Memorial Day weekend. Today at Over, Alex
Bowman won the race, Kyle Larson finished second. Hendrick Motorsports

(01:46:04):
drivers took the top four spots. That's a first for
one organization since two thousand five, and team owner Rick
Hendrick said negotiations with Alex Bowman, today's winner are underway
and that a contract extension is quote a formality. As
for the NBA, Utah one easily at Sacramento tonight, the
Utah Jazz clinched the number one seed in the West,
which is great news for them because Phoenix had one

(01:46:26):
today to keep the pressure on staying alive for the
top seed. Phoenix had gone three and o against Utah
head to head regular season, would have won a tiebreaker.
Dallas lost tonight, but did clinch the five seed in
the West as a division champ. Dallas versus the Clippers
in the first round. Oklahoma City, which had lost nine straight,
beat the Clippers tonight. Just for the record, Portland's secures
the six seed. They stay at six in the West

(01:46:48):
standings and after beating Denver tonight, we'll be at Denver
to start the first round, best of seven. The Lakers
have won five in a row going into a play
in date hosting Golden State late Wednesday night, Golden State
eight one. It's sixth straight game. That's ten pm Eastern
Time from l A Lakers hosting the Warriors. The loser
of that has to play Friday to save their season.

(01:47:11):
Over in the East, tonight, Brooklyn was a winner to
clinch the number two seeds, so Milwaukee's number three, and
the Knicks one today to clinch the four seed. They'll
face Atlanta in the first round. Nicks beat Boston, which
did not play its regulars. The Celtics we already knew
would host a playing game on Tuesday, We now know
it's Celtics hosting the Wizards, who came back to beat
Charlotte one one ten. So the Wizards move up to

(01:47:33):
eighth in the East nine pm Eastern time Tuesday from Boston.
The loser of that has to play Thursday. But the
Hornets are slumping to end the season five straight losses.
Now they have a playing game Tuesday at Indiana, and
the losers out that's the game that's gonna start this
week's play A tourney Indiana when it's Finelli Today, by
the way into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Sixteen people

(01:47:54):
total in the class of one, including Chris Bosh and
Chris Weber. Three NHL playoff the Nurse Islanders one in
overtime on the road, Minnesota one in overtime on the road,
and Tampa Bay scored late to win on the road.
K H. Lee took the Byron Nelson Classic by three strokes,
his first tour victory. Lee from South Korea was twenty
five under par. But how about this, He now gets

(01:48:17):
the last spot in this week's p g A Championship
in South Carolina. He's now fully exempt on the tour
for two and a half seasons. There was a weather
delay late in the round, he finished out the win.
Jordan's speech dropped to a tie for ninth place. Seven
Back just north of Dallas, where Speece is from and
to baseball, the Padres won the Sunday night game at home,
beating St. Louis five three, the Cards two games over Milwaukee.

(01:48:40):
Card still first place in the NL Central. Seattle beat
Cleveland and Shane Bieber three to two. Miami down the
Dodgers three to two. M VP of the World Series.
Corey Seeger officially placed on the injured list with a
broken hand after being hit by a pitch last night.
He's out at least four weeks. His right hands in
a cast. The Dodgers have thirteen players on the injured

(01:49:01):
list at the moment. Looks like David Price is back tomorrow.
Cincinnati seven six winners at Colorado, as the Red scored
four in the top of the eighth and two more
in the ninth, one run in the ninth on a
pass ball, and one on a wild pitch, So a
complete gift from the Rockies, who owned the worst record
in the National League. Washington scored three in the eighth
to win three nothing at Arizona. Angels got a show

(01:49:24):
hey O Tony two run home on top of the
ninth to win at Boston six five. Orioles beat the Yankees.
Baltimore was down four nothing top of the first and
still beat the Yanks ten to six. Giants won again.
X Dodger Alex wood Is five and oh after a
four one victory at Pittsburgh. Kyle Hendricks actually had a
good start for the Cubs, winning five one at Detroit.
Tampa Bay beat the Mets seven to one. Notice we

(01:49:46):
haven't mentioned the Mets name tonight, Chris Blank, I'm not
mentioned that they are. They are still first place in
the n L East. The Phillies lost, so there's still
a half game up on the Pills. But the Mets
offense was two for tw nine today. And that includes
Francisco Lindor with the new contract, oh for four and
batting one nine. By the way, I'm paying him a

(01:50:08):
lot of money. Yeah, that's gonna be a lengthy contract
as this goes. By the way, Bryce Harper did not
play in the Phillies loss, out with a sore shoulder.
White Sox two in the bottom of the ninth be
Kansas City for three, Houston one at sixth straight Oakland
one on the top of the ninth run with a
wild pitch on a strikeout. They won seven six at
Minnesota Milwaukee a winner. And that's it. I love it, Steve.

(01:50:31):
Have a great week man. We'll talk to again next Saturday.
And you can't have next weekend off, so you better
be at work playoff time. Don't want it. Thank you,
non boss, You're welcome. Were you trying to take the
boss of everybody? I'm I'm being serious now, you don't
really believe that, right, I mean, you know it's the
problem is he's not the boss in his own house,

(01:50:52):
and therefore that he goes to work, so when he
comes here, I gotta be somebody said a couple of
tweets here, Thanks Steve, you can hit us up. The
show never stops on Twitter. Now Ben Mallar slides in here,
the Mallar militia takes over and we listen to Ben
spews hot point sports opinions all night long, but we
never stop on Twitter. I'm at playing show on He's
had stinking genius one and everybody should be following us

(01:51:15):
at Fox Sports Radio. A couple of loose end sitia
from earlier in the show, Nature Boy wrote, Kelvin Benjamin
wants to try out for a tight end job with
the Giants. Where is all the outrage we heard when
Tebow dared to want the same goal. I don't know.
I've I've heard a lot of fat jokes with Calvin
Benjamin signing with the Giants. I mean, and it's quite

(01:51:36):
the same name as Tim Tebow and not as polarizing,
polarizing as a as a Tim Tebow and what he
brings to the table. Ralphie Boy writes, your favorite quirk
of any team's NFL schedule. I think the Ravens getting
five weeks at home with four games and a buy
in between really benefits them greatly. Yeah, I thought that

(01:51:59):
was big. I found it to be very very interesting
how strategic the NFL was with the Packers schedule. You know,
you're Todd Ferman was talking about what is that opening
weekend where you've got the Packers on opening week and
then you also in that have the the Giants and
the Broncos in that weekend as well. But here's a

(01:52:21):
quirk that stood out to me, and I'm very happy
that we finally got to this after me trying to
avoid it for the whole show because I knew what
it would take over. Two of the first three games
for the Packers are in prime time, right, so Week
two and Week three, the Packers aren't in primetime again
until like late October, whenever they have their Thursday night game.

(01:52:42):
So that's you know, Thursday night games are what they are.
You're gonna have your Thursday night game, but then NBC
and ESPN don't put them on Monday Night Football until
they're flexible Arnie. So in other words, two games early Packers,
if it's not Aaron Rodgers, will see what Jordan loves like.
But whenever you start thinking about how many weeks are
we in the season now at a seventeen week and

(01:53:04):
teen week season, so uh, they're actually not in primetime
again until weeks seventeen and week fourteen. So by that point,
if there's no Aaron Rodgers and they suck, you can
flex them out. But early on. I think it's brilliant
that the NFL worked that out and they're covering their backside.
I thought that when I first saw the schedule, like, oh, well,

(01:53:25):
they think that Aaron Rodgers is gonna be on the
Packers all year long because they had scheduled a lot.
I didn't occur to me that they were waiting towards
the end of the schedules so they can flex them
on out. Do they know something that we don't know?
Is it up to them to call the Packers and say, hey,
what's going on here? There's a lot of money at
stake along with the ratings and billions of dollars, you
better give us a little bit of a head's up again,

(01:53:46):
you would think if anybody had the inside, it would
be them two of the first three. So in other words,
you've got the Lions in the second Monday night football
game of the year, and then the Niners Niners Packers.
I mean, they seem like they play in the playoffs
every single year in the past of Niners make it.
But that's Week three on NBC. But then again, you
don't worry about them in primetime until really late in
the year. I mean, I maybe they backed into it,

(01:54:09):
maybe they stumbled into it, but it was brilliant from
a strategy perspective on that front. And then one more
quick one. I wanted to get to here because we
were talking about Oakland and you had brought up the
Montreal A's mark rights. Oakland lost the Raiders twice, the
Warriors moved back to San Francisco. There is slim chance
they can keep the A's. I would not expect the

(01:54:29):
politicians to get a stadium built. It's been a topic
for decades. Not likely to happen. It's it's not going
to happen. You feel bad, But does that mean that
they'll just go to Santa Clara, which is pretty much
they'll be in the area for the ACE fans out there.
What happened to the Ace fans? You know I did?
They just stopped going because of the stadium, and they

(01:54:49):
just said, that's what we're bailing on the team. Last
year they didn't even have a radio home for the
for the Oakland so it really at rock bottom again.
Um again, going back to being literal risk. I think
it's kind of hard because we were dealing with a
pandemic and they're still on a very low percentage. But
a fans that can go to games, which your hope
is that those fans would be loud and active and
all over social media and on you know seven the

(01:55:12):
game in the Bay Area, making as much noise as
they possibly can, so it could be happening locally. Just
hate to see that Oakland is probably on the verge
of losing yet another sports The fans have to be
beside themselves and what are they gonna do with that?
That stadium just burn into the ground or was jeez
not good? All? Hey, are you are you ready? Are

(01:55:33):
you ready with your picks? Do you have? Are are you?
By the way, I think I can go ahead and
spoiler alert. Arnie has been claiming He's picking against the
Lakers all night long, so you can prepare for that.
But when we come before, I'll pick the four playing
games and a couple of first round picks too. There
you go, So Arnie's picks coming up next with Arnie
and Plank on Fox Sports Radio. Great Show Tonight, Bobo Music,

(01:55:59):
Span on Point, Love the Perspective, Lead a lap awesome
guest list. This evening, we wrapped it up with Eric
pinks at Eric Pinkas on Twitter. Fun conversation with Rick Buker,
Way Back an Our Number one, and Todd Ferman is
always on a Sunday night. Remember if you missed any
of the show, you can find it on however you
consume podcast, if it's at Heart Radio, if it's Stitcher,

(01:56:20):
Apple Podcast, whatever it might be. Simply search Fox Sports
Radio weekends and Boom Our show will be right. They're
great updates by Steve de Seger all night long. Discover
matches all the cash back you earn on your credit
card at the end of your first year. It's amazing
because discovers accepted at of places in the US to
take credit cards. Learn more Discover dot Com, Slash Yes

(01:56:43):
one Nielson Report limitations apply. Also, big thanks to all
the great editors behind the scenes who I got some
lebron sound that will share with you. Headed out the door.
But first, it's what y'all came for tonight. Yes it's Arni,
It's Arnie's picks. Take it away, st and Congenius. Give
me a little music. Put me in the mood. We
got NBA playoffs is what we're waiting for. My New

(01:57:07):
York Knicks gonna play the Atlanta Hawks. I know I'm
jumping uh the schedule here for the playing games, but
I just can't wait because you see, my New York
Knicks were three and oh against Atlanta and it was
a great matchup. I mean, I was so hoping they
would get the number four seed. I was watching that
Boston game today. It was making me sick that a no,
no name Boston team was keeping it close against my

(01:57:29):
Knicks and it made such a run. But my Knicks
will beat the Atlanta Hawks four games to one and
advance in the playoffs. I can't wait to see who
they're gonna play. By the way to uh Tuesday or Wednesday,
went to the Laker game Wednesday Wednesday Lakers Golden State
the Lakers are gonna be leading one fifteen, one thirteen

(01:57:51):
with three seconds left. When Steph Curry lodges one deep,
it goes in and Golden State will win it one
sixteen one over your Los Angeles Lakers. By the way,
the Washington Wizards love though you can boo all you want.
The Wizards will get by the Celtics. Put a little

(01:58:12):
bit more heat on the Celtics there. So I like
that Memphis will get by San Antonio. I like Indiana
to win over Charlotte, who's been going in the wrong direction,
And I'll give you a couple of or one upset.
I like Miami to get by Milwaukee in the first round.
I think that one's going seven, and I like Portland's
getting by Denver. So there you have my picks. Do

(01:58:34):
with him as you please, no longer strictly for entertainment purposes. Owner.
There you go. Clap clap, clap, clap clap, longer for
entertainment purposes longer, which means that at some point we
need to start keeping track of how you're actually doing.
I'm kicking butt. I' I think okay, uh, maybe they

(01:58:58):
should have you on that gambling show on don't know
why they don't. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. We're waiting to
see Lebron James availability on Wednesday night for the Lakers.
All right, say, playing game against the Golden State Warriors.
You've heard the sacred talk about it quite a bit,
um and again, aren't just spoiling it. But here's what

(01:59:19):
Here's what Lebron had to say post game tonight. Thisactly
what a tweak I scept on Alexander's foot on the
way down after the last layoup. Um. But I'll be fine.
And then there's this I'll prep for it is the
same as I've always prepped for a playoff matchup because
it is. Um, it's a playoff matchup between US and
go and State on on Wednesday. Familiar with a few

(01:59:41):
of their guys. Um, you know. But I'll prep tomorrow
by myself on our day off, and then as a team,
we'll will lock in on what needs to be done,
and then Wednesday will prep some morning get ready to
play Wednesday night. So, um, you know it's a playoff
game from me on Wednesday, I know that you uh,
you would kind of peaked dry brows up a little

(02:00:01):
bit whenever he mentioned playing the real m v P
in in step Cry at least yeah his who he
thinks is the m v P. I mean, come on,
we all know what's going on there, right, Well, he
just tried to pump him up before the game, right
is that we're just thinking? No, no, no, he's popping
him up for whenever Steph comes to l A and
when your next big three is a year of Lebron,

(02:00:21):
Stephen a D before Lebron retires and it's Steph Curry
and a D for a couple of years, maybe Russell
Westbrook and the twilight of his career comes over. I've
got the next ten years planned out for the Lakers,
and you just want to see my future plan for them.
But yeah, no, I I love it. Whenever you it was,
it was like when Lebron picked eight number one overall

(02:00:42):
in the play on that playoffs. Excuse we all start
a game draft. Come on, he knows what everything is calculated, Arnie.
Everything is like what he said, I'm familiar with a
few of their players. You may know a couple of
the other team. Good for you, I would. I think
we need to start keeping track, Like, what's the term
they use in Vegas units. I think we need to

(02:01:03):
start keeping track of how many units you could potentially
lose with this new thing to where you're promising us
things that are gonna happen. It's only on individual games.
You can't really do that on series, you know what
I mean? All right, well, this isn't a series. This
is an individual game, and I like Golden State win
by one, one six one fifteen, take it to the bank.
If that game finishes one sixteen, one fifteen, you might

(02:01:26):
as well just retire, because first of all, that would
mean one of those teams played some defense in some way,
shape or form. And then the other way is if
I'm telling you, I think if the Warriors are gonna
win that game, it's gotta be like in the one thirties.
It's gotta be Steph Curry going crazy. They're hitting every
single shot. I think if you're talking like one sixteen,
one fifteen, I think the Lakers are beating them up
down low. But we'll see. It's the first time in

(02:01:47):
a long time that I can honestly say I'm excited
about something that's a gimmick. Playing games a gimmick, right,
I mean it, I like it. I like it. I'm
all but I'm all in this year and I think
the NBA's back into a great matchup. All right again
thanks to Bubbo. Great job all night long. Legal app again.
If you missed anything from the show tonight, it's available
on the podcast page search Fox Sports Radio Weekends. Steve

(02:02:10):
de Seger. Great job by the crew cutting up all
the sound. Ferranni Spaniard, I'm Chris Plank. Don't go anywhere
because you're already here for Big Ben Mallor, who will
take you until the wee hours of the morning. We'll
be back next Sunday night with a full NBA First
Round kind of recap of the early games. We'll see
you next Sunday. Fer Ani, I'm Plank. This is Fox
Sports Radio.

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