April 28, 2025 • 48 mins
Adam Auslund sits in for Fred as we discuss the Lakers facing elimination with a 3-1 series deficit vs Minnesota, while the Clippers lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer in Denver as their series is now tied at 2-2. The Dodgers took 2 of 3 vs the Pirates but lost Tyler Glasnow early in yesterdays game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, yes, yes, here we go. Here we go on
a Monday, a beautiful Monday, I might add, and uh,
we had a full weekend, full weekend of sports. My man,
the salty one double A Adam Austin is in for
Fred today and I will say it's, uh, it's a
(00:21):
perfect day for you to be in Adham because we
got a whole bunch of you know what about the
NBA to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, a few different storylines after this weekend pertaining to
the Clippers and Lakers. I don't know how it worse. Wait, yes,
I do it with the Lakers for sure, but still
the Clippers don't have a great weekend as well. The
La Kingston have a great weekend. Who's got it worse
than us?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Nobody? Nobody, nobody. All right, man, so let's start with
the Uh, let's start with the Lakers and and where
they are down three to one now and again, look,
you know everybody's gonna you gotta hear this until they
play again. Oh, no team has come back. There's ninety
(01:04):
percent of the teams that are down three to one.
Blah blah blah blah blah. But in reality, Adam, Lakers
are in trouble. They're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
They are because this is bigger than just the record
in the series and being down three to one. There
are things that are not going to translate well throughout
the rest of this series. JJ Reddick got as desperate
as I've ever seen a head coach get in Game four.
I mean, we're talking about something historic what he ended
up doing in the second half of that game, playing
(01:35):
five guys twenty four minutes the entire second half of
the ball game that had never happened in the play
by play era, meaning since ninety six ninety seven. That's
just unfathomable. And you look what happened down the stretch.
They didn't have their legs. You got one guy who's
forty trying to pull this off playing twenty four straight minutes,
(01:56):
another guy who's not in the greatest shape, Nico Harrison's
having best weekend, by the way, and now Austin Reeves
and his skinny ass white guy legs that I know about, Like,
those guys are going to wear down over the course
of that time. The fact that he didn't have enough
faith or trust in any of his guys off the bench,
including Jackson Hayes, who started the game but only played
(02:18):
four minutes, and he's had more fouls than points so
far in this series. Like that tells you how bad
things are for the Lakers, that JJ was willing to
do something that nuts. It almost worked, but Minnesota came
through late and you could see the fatigue when the
Lakers are out there making bad fouls and missing layups,
missing easy bunnies right at the rim.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and turning the ball over just kind of because
when the fatigue sets in, not only does it hurt
you physically, and you know this, Adam, it'll it'll affects
you mentally. And you know, we saw it late in
the game and Lebron was completely gassed, and late in
the game, Luca was gassed, even like you mentioned, Austin
Reeves was gassed, even Ruya Chamorro, all of those guys
(03:01):
were gassed. We saw Lebron turn it over on inbound
play play at the end of the game. That was critical.
But you know more than that, what does that say
in a game that you must have right and you
mentioned this, you must have that you don't trust anybody
(03:21):
else on your bench to come in and give a
two minute break to Luca or a two minute break
to Lebron or anybody or even even the other guy. Okay,
so we're leaving Lebron and Luca in, but you're not
even interchanging anybody else. You know, you're not giving Ruy
a break. You're not giving anybody else a break.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's what's incomprehensible. And JJ is gonna take a ton
of heat for this, and as much praise as we
have given him this season, I think rightfully, so things
have sped up on him a little bit in this
series at times.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I gotta be honest, I thought the Lakers were win
in six, but I did say this, if Minnesota was
gonna win this series, they need a lot from Julius Randall.
They've got a lot from him. He's averaged twenty three
points per game.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
He's got a vendetta. He's got a vendetta right now.
Oh yeah, you know, being the former Laker and the
way he left and all that, and then getting you know,
basically shipped out of New York. I think he is
he has got something to prove. You can see it
in his eye, you can see it in his aggressiveness.
He is out there, he's playing bully ball right now
(04:23):
against the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Bull in a China shop, you know something about going
up against your former employer after leaving that team. You
got a little ship on his shoulder.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They which you will. They all do. Everybody does.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But here's what's crazy. The reason that Minnesota is dominating
this series so far, and they have even in that
game too. They made a run at the end of
that game when the Lakers were up pretty much the
entire way, and it looked to me like, oh, they're
ready for Minnesota. This was fluky. They have advantages that
the Lakers have no answers for because of their physicality
(04:58):
out there, and while Rudy go they've been able to
take him off the court at times and he was
a minus in that game last night. It doesn't matter
because you still have McDaniels out there, who's having a
hell of a series, who's not a score like this,
and yet he's had a twenty five point game and
a thirty point game. You got nas Reed, you got
Julius Randall, like, you have so many options to punish
(05:22):
the Lakers. So what does that tell you? If you're
being out worked and physically dominated and now you think
that you can get away with playing five guys the
entire second half against a team that's already buoying you,
that is physically dominating you. They're already wearing you down.
And you think you can push your guys to the
(05:42):
limit with that many minutes out there, It's not gonna work.
And came back to bite them in the as.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I did, and they got you know, there, the
youth angle for Minnesota, the energy level, you know, we
saw that in the fourth quarter, and just the way
they just attack the Lakers, not only just offensively, but defensively.
And then, like you mentioned, they've got guys that the
(06:07):
Lakers have no answer for. That they probably went into
it's going, okay, we stop Aunt Edwards and and we
we keep you know, we we find a way to
get go Bear out of the game. And then just
you know, keep an eye on Julius Randal. He'll be okay.
But you know Reid can't beat us, and you know,
you know Daniels can't beat us, so you know we'll
(06:27):
be we'll be okay. And those guys are beating them,
and they're beating them, and and and can we just
say that I don't know how far they go, I
don't know how the rest of this series goes. And
of course, you know, we're hoping the Lakers kind of
find their way back.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
But let's speak for yourself and Edwards.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right, Aunt Edwards, whether he wants to be the face
of the NBA or not, that man is a bad
man and he will be celebrated. His game has gone
to another level. It feels like it like even last
year in the playoffs, he got after it and brought
some smoke. But now I think because everyone and I'm
(07:09):
with you, I picked the Lakers to win this series.
Everyone picked the Lakers to blow by Minnesota. And it's
almost like he took offense to that. It's like, okay,
they still got it. They still got to get through me.
And he has been putting on the show. And he
scored sixteen in the fourth quarter yesterday, and you look
up and Lebron had zero in the fourth quarter and
(07:31):
they only had seven in the fourth quarter. I mean,
it is the energy level that he's playing with both
sides of the ball. That's the thing. Defensively is as
good as offensively. Because he is becoming as such an
annoyance to Lebron and Luca whoever he guards that he's
in their face. He's disrupting everything offensively for the Lakers
(07:52):
and their flow and Edwards every year, he's still going
on the upward trajectory as a superstar. League is gonna
be in a top five category as we sooner rather
than later.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You brought it up off the air earlier. But this guy,
with the way he's running through past stars right now
and current stars in LUCA. If they get out of
this series, we can go back to last season. They
took out KD and Book in four games, and I
thought that was a good matchup for Phoenix. Oh, Minnesota
doesn't guard the mid range and that's where Phoenix likes
(08:26):
to take all their shots. It didn't matter. Anthony Edwards
is dunking on KD. He is snatching chains, he's taking
skulls like he's the predator right now, like he's taken
trophies of guys. If he beats LUCA, if he beats
Lebron in this series and then in the next round
likely matches up against Steph Curry and Dre Moond, He's
taken out legacy players. That's how you become the face
(08:49):
of the league. Whether you want to be or not,
whether the NBA wants him to be or not. It
doesn't matter if you're this good, e know, if you're
a little bit polarizing, getting into it with the crowd
a little bit and talking about your junk like that.
Edwards is just too damn talented to ignore. He's too
talented to ignore he is.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And the thing about it, Adam, is he is. He's
doing what the great superstars do right because they you
look at Minnesota as we just talked about, you don't
look at them as, oh, they got the big three
in Minnesota. You know, they got you know, two perennial
All Stars and two you know, top fifty players in
(09:26):
Minnesota that they're gonna you know, those two they can
feed off or they're the big three like they had
and you know at Golden State or had in Miami. No,
it's Aunt Edwards and they've got you know, the supporting
cats is very good, very good. I'm not disrespecting them,
but their their star is Anthony Edwards and he gets
them going and he keeps them going, and that that
(09:50):
alone puts you on a different level. When you got
a guy like that that can put a team on
his back. And carry them and make everybody around him better.
And that's what he's doing well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And he has what Lebron and Luca apparently just don't,
and that is the stamina to play heavy minutes in
a playoff series and still be at your best late
in games and still be able to perform in the
most high leverage, crucial situations down the stretch. He's been
so much better than Luca down the stretch than Lebron.
(10:23):
Lebron was good in Game three. I know everybody's going
after him for zero points in Game four in the
fourth quarter, and that's fine, But I don't know what's worse,
Lebron having zero points in the fourth quarter last night
or Luca going one of six in the fourth quarter
and playing zero defense. At least, Lebron had three damn
blocks in the fourth quarter and was playing hard on
(10:44):
that end. Luca's getting burned putting up more shots and
only hitting one of them. It's been brutal to watch
because the Lakers in the fourth quarter that's where they
are losing this series right now, and almost outscored them
in Game four in the fourth quarter by himself was
sixteen to nineteen, like the Lakers were five of eighteen
from the floor in the fourth quarter, and that speaks
(11:05):
to fatigue, but also that level of desperation from JJ
thinking I got nobody else to help me here. This
is a roster construction issue. Now, granted we do this
could happen to some degree. Rodney, when Mark Williams and
that trade was rescinded, we said they have a glaring
flaw on this team that I don't know if they're
going to be able to overcome in the postseason against
bad matchups. Well, it turns out Minnesota's a real bad
(11:28):
matchup for them because they're so physical out there. And
I don't know if they had any other options at
that point, obviously on the ten day market on bringing
someone Christian Coloquo. They they brought in Alex len and
that wasn't going to fix anything. And now Jackson Hayes
has become unplayable in this series and they need those early.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Two on Hayes and his you know kind of him
getting into it a little bit early in that game
and he had to pull him after those quick two
fouls that that that JJ basically gave up on him
the rest of the game.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think he was looking for a reason to give
up on him, honestly, because of how he looked to
start this series two. It's just deer in the headlights
right now. And he he was always a project when
they brought him in. He's had some really good moments.
But there are eighty two game players and then there
are playoff players, guys that actually can translate what they
(12:25):
do in the eighty two game regular season into the playoffs,
and he hasn't been one of them. He's still young,
he can still get better. Here's the problem for JJ.
They lost a game where they went for it all out,
playing their guys in the second half. What are they
gonna have left now? Because you went forward to tie
the series of two games apiece and now it's three
(12:46):
to one, and now you're in this hole. And how's
everybody else feeling that stayed on the bench. How's Gabe
Vinson feeling when at the end of the third quarter
it looked like he was gonna come in finally and
JJ waved him off. How do they feeling about this situation? Oh,
you don't trust me? How are they gonna have confidence
in the next game? At some point they're gonna have
to use them I'm sorry, you can't play five guys or.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Forty not sustainable. What they did in game four is
definitely not sustainable. But you're right, is there gonna be
a confidence factor for for Vincent and and for anybody
else that's sitting over there going, wait a minute, I'm
supposed to be playing here in the third quarter. I'm
supposed to get my three minutes and my four minutes
in the third quarter, fourth quarter, and they're not getting them,
(13:29):
and they lose the ball game, and albeit, you know,
a very close game that they could have won. But again,
it's got to be glaring to them as they study
the films, like we ran out of gas last five
minutes of the game. We ran out of gas. So
something's got to change. But but but you mentioned that's
that's it's kind of my and I listen, I love
(13:49):
I love Lucas. He's a tremendous talent and from the
time he was fifteen, he was gonna be all world.
But you gotta play a little bit of defense, and
you got to be you know, down the stretch. You
got to be able to say it's on me, I
got this, and just some of the body language and
some of the you know, on some of the turnovers
(14:11):
of some of him, and not only just the body
language looking at the refs, because we've seen him do
that and saw him do that in Dallas and you know,
wants wants a lot of the calls, but even the
body language add towards his teammates when they weren't coming
in time to set the pick or they you know,
didn't you know it coming up the court. He wanted
them to do something different or moving a different area
(14:33):
or clear out for him. And that type of body language,
it will wear on you and it wear on teammates
at some point. So I just it concerns me that
that he'd see as that body language towards his teammates,
but also that he doesn't play a lick of defense.
(14:54):
And that's kind of where the momentum comes and shifts
when your guys. When Lebron gets a block like that,
it fired everybody up on a defensive end more so
than he did to Big Three.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Oh yeah, I always say this, Sometimes a block isn't
just a block. Sometimes a dunk isn't just a dunk.
Those are big momentum plays. Yeah, And I think the
biggest reason when you see a guy like Jaden McDaniels
having a coming out party in this series, offensively is
because he's just hunting Luca and just blowing by him
over and over again. Now, Luca doncis late in the
(15:29):
game when Lebron had that turnover on the inbounds pass,
not only is he not playing defense, that was on Luca.
I know a lot of people want to put pin
that turnover on Lebron, and technically it was his turnover.
Luca didn't meet the basketball, and he said postgame that
was on him. He's eigged. When Lebron thought he was
going to zag, they weren't on the same page. But
(15:49):
he didn't come to the basketball at all. There is
that tired legs. Is that being fatigued, This whole conditioning
thing that we've heard ever since he was traded from Dallas,
It is real. It is a fair criticism. Nico Harrison's
got a chesshire cat smile on his face this morning.
I'm sure, even with how bad the season went for
Dallas the rest of the way, this is his. This
(16:09):
is his championship right now. If the Lakers lose this
first round series, this is what Nico Harrison is waiting
for to be validated that Hey see, you guys, see
what I was talking about. You see this now. I
think it's a little bit unfair, And it still doesn't
justify the trade because he could have gotten more. He
has no chance of winning the trade unless Dallas wins
(16:30):
multiple championships. But yeah, it's it's just these are problems
that we all have noticed for a long time, and
you can cover them up if you're talented enough around
him to make up for his deficiencies. The Lakers just
aren't right now. They're not in that place with this roster.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
No they're not. They're not. And so that being said,
what do you think happens going forward? I know it's
you know, three to one. Here we go with the
stats again. Can they can they dig themselves out of
this three to one hole against Minnesota because they still
got to go They would have to go back there
obviously to to win it. But man, it is a
(17:10):
whole and you're you're talking about a young team playing
with a whole lot of confidence right now. And that
was the one thing that that that I was saying
that you cannot give them to begin with. You cannot
give a young hungry team, any kind of confidence, any
kind of life, because once they get that, they they
are going to be scrappy, they're gonna be doglike and
(17:31):
and it's gonna they're gonna be hard to beat and
you're gonna have to fight and claw to beat them.
And they got life by winning that game in La
uh and splitting with the Lakers here and took it
back to Minnesota. And now they're feeling it. They can
taste it right now. And so how do the Lakers
overcome this?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know, I don't always agree with Charles Barkley, and
he tends to jinks teams very often. In the minute
he said this series is over with the Clippers and
the Denver Nuggets, I was like, oh god, oh god, No,
he's guaranteeing a Clippers victory. But he says this often.
There comes the time in a series where both teams
(18:10):
know who the better team is and I think we're there.
But but the Lakers are in a better position to
come back down three to one obviously than Lebron was
in twenty sixteen against the Golden State Warriors. That Warriors
team had already won a championship and Game seven in
this case would be played at Crypto should they get
(18:31):
to that point. My thinking is, and Lebron said this postgame,
you can't think past the first game. But I'm already
considering that the Lakers is probably gonna win Game five.
They're probably gonna win Game five. They're gonna show some
desperation out there. Maybe we'll get a few calls. I
don't know if that's ever happened for the Lakers before,
but some home court whistles will be there at Crypto
(18:52):
for Game five. So then it comes down to we
just got to find a way to win Game six
on the road. We win that, all the pressures on
the timber not to choke away a three to one
series back at Crypto in our house. That's how I
see it. So I'm not counting them completely out yet.
I'm not looking to the offseason yet. But obviously things
are dire too, and they're in trouble. They're in deep
(19:12):
trouble because the matchups they aren't there for them, Like
this is not a favorable matchup like I thought it
could be heading into this series. Julius Randall has been
too good. The Wolves have been too physical, and they
got more wings and complimentary players around their stars than
the Lakers do. As you mentioned, like Anthony Edwards has
the perfect cast of guys next to him. Right now,
(19:32):
it looks like Lakers they're a mess. This is a
roster construction problem. So even as much as we criticized
JJ Reddick here Rodney, it's like, Eh, he doesn't have
a ton to work with. What are we asking for
to for good Win to play more minutes, for gab
Benson to play more minutes, for Jackson Hayes to play
more minutes, for Van do those aren't great options for
him to turn to. Now, you could still say, come on,
(19:56):
just stagger him in a little bit. Just get Austin
Reeves out for two minutes, Luca and Lebron on the floor,
and then take one of those two guys off for
two minutes and just keep doing it like that so
you always have two of your top three guys. But
the Lakers are desperate. It's gonna be rough if they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's gonna be rough. And the and they you know,
like we said, they hit you know, Lakers hit them
in the mouth. Game one, all of a sudden they're
still standing. They took that standing eight and said, okay,
let's come on, let's go. I'm gonna fight right back
with you. And now, now what do you do because
I'm I'm good in the later rounds and the championship rowns,
I'm I'm better than you because you don't have the backup.
(20:30):
And that's where the Lakers are facing right now. All right,
was it good? Was it before the red light, yellow light,
whatever you want to call it went off? Clippers lose
in a dramatic way at the end of the game.
We're gonna get into that, and that series is now
tied to too, so we'll get into the Clippers and
(20:51):
their future as well.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Oh god, why, oh yes.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Come on back. We are here on the Monday Salty
double Am Austin then for Fred Rogan today. Alright, Adam,
we just spend some time on the Lakers. Now, let's
talk to the Clippers. They had a chance, Adam, to
put their foot on the throat, on the throat, as
(21:16):
we like to say, when you got a chance to
go up three to one, and you can, you can
do it at your place and you let it slip away.
First of all, everybody can talk and we talk about
that last play and Aaron Gordon getting the dunk at
the end. Whether it was good or not, too close
(21:37):
to call. But they get down twenty two at them.
I mean, they make a run to come back and
do that, but just just for me, in a game
like that where you can really make this all but over,
they didn't do it. And it didn't looked like they
came out with that kind of fight.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They didn't have the same sense of urgency they had
in Game three when they just blew out Denver. And
I get it, it's human nature, but it's a huge
missed opportunity. Now, if you lose this series, you're gonna
feel like, oh, that's the one that got away. Why
didn't we show up? And I don't care. They started
in a weird time slot midday because the NBA won
the Golden State Warriors game to be later at night,
(22:20):
another West Coast contest. There's been this running theme with
the Clippers over the years that back before they had
into a dome, their own arena, they got all these
weird Mattine home games during the regular season, and they typically, yeah,
they were second fiddle. There were second to the Kings
and the Lakers back at Staples, back at crypto. They
would typically not show up for those games. This looked
(22:43):
like a sleepwalk you know, Donna the dead, walking dead
type of performance when they came out early on in
the game against Denver in Game four on Saturday night,
mid Saturday. It there's a reason you get down by
that much and the basketball gods don't reward you sometimes
at the very end of a game like that. I
(23:04):
don't even know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
If I believe in Karo Little the god said, listen,
you didn't come out to play from the beginning, so
we're not gonna reward you at the end. It felt
like it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
It felt like it. I don't know, but the basketball
guys have never been kind to the Clippers, of course,
but that was the first ever buzzer beating dunk in
the playoffs. You know how many things had to go
wrong for that to go right for Denver, Like even
Jokich's misses are apparently perfect. The ball placement there on
(23:36):
that fat away three over a double team, it is
something just the right spot for Aaron Gordon. If it's
a millimeter off, he's not getting it through the hoop
before the red light goes off.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
He's not.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
It's that close. I was in pain and because Rodney,
I think I haven't looked this up because I don't
want to tease myself too much. It's gonna be hurt
even worse. I'm pretty sure that would have been the
most fast and furious comeback in NBA playoff history because
they were down twenty two with eleven minutes left. If
you come back and win that game, I think that's
(24:11):
the all time record.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Not only is it the all time record, which I
believe you're right, but then it nails the coffin in
for for Denver. Oh yeah, because if they're they're up
by twenty two with eleven to go and they end
up losing that game, there's no coming back from that.
I don't care if they're going back home or not.
There's no coming back from that. Plus they're down three
to one, but they let they let them off the hook.
(24:36):
And yes, it was a great furious comeback that they
that they you know, portrayed. But but man, even get
down in that hole when you're at home and game three,
look we go to go back to that, you know,
into a dome. Game three? Is it not rocking? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
The best of times?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Gay not rocking? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know it was rocking because David Adaman was talking
that junk. So the Clippers beforehand. You know, it's a
high school thing. The wall. You know, it's cool, it's
cool and all. I don't know if it's gonna survive
what we Commissioner Adam Silver, is gonna tear down the wall?
I don't think. So they built that thing to stand. Yeah,
their house was built on rock. Not said.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah. So for them to come out the next the
next game and just not and and and lay an
egg early on, I just it just it just bothered
me because they did have an opportunity. Because I do
I believe that they get passed and they still I
think they still win win the series. Adam, I do.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
You can counterapt the Charles Barkley bat juju that he
had with Rodney saying this, I feel a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I'm right, yeah, right, hell with Charles. But I do
think they win the series. And and if if so,
and we said this before the series start, they get
past Denver and they go forward, they to me become
those teams that nobody wants to face. They really don't,
(26:02):
you know, they got you know, Norman Palgan going Kawhi
God forbid, we knocking on Wood that he stays healthy.
But they can they become the dangerous team and that's
left in the playoffs. And yeah because they can, Yeah
they can. They can match up with anybody.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
They have the ingredients. They don't have many flaws on
this team. They're lacking I think one more two way
player where at times you have to make a decision
between offense and defense. Do you stick with Chris Dunn
because his defense so good but he's missing shots, or
do you go with bog Don Bogdanovitch because he's better
on offense, but defensively he's got holes there there. They
(26:39):
aren't perfect, but there isn't a perfect team I think
out there right now, at least in the Western Conference,
because okay, see they're still flawed, they're inexperienced. They haven't
been to a Western Conference finals in this era before
SGA and then got by against them.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
They rolled a Memphis team that was should not even
been in the playoffs basically, so there's sitting there fat
catting it right now. You know, they're you know, they're
number one seed and feeling good, but like you said,
they're inexperienced, and there's some other teams out there in
the West that that match up to them very very well.
(27:15):
I know they're you know, they're they're looking at this
Minnesota series with the Lakers, going thank god, hope the
Minnesota runs them through because we don't match up well
with the Lakers either. So but yeah, they you know,
Clippers get by this. I think it's the sky's a
limit for them.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Here's what's interesting. Game five tomorrow night Backetball Arena in Denver.
And I haven't seen a ruling on this yet, but
Michael Porter Junior during that little kerf fluffle, that little
dust up at the end of the second quarter where
James Harden got into it with Christian Brown and then
Aaron Gordon came over, and then it was Yolkish and
(27:53):
avitza zoobots and they handed out six texts but nobody
got ejected. Well Aaron Gordon, first of all, it looked
like he threw a punch at Norman pal But Denver
fans are saying, well, look like James Harden might to
throw a punch at Aaron Gordon. So I'm fine with
them not kicking out anyone then. But the thing was,
there was a guy on the bench and Michael Porter
(28:14):
Junior who got off of it and walked all the
way out Because it happened on the near sideline. He
walks over from the Nuggets bench near the wall on
the far sideline all the way to the painted area.
He's on the block. He's fifty feet away almost from
their bench. The rule is, and it's hardline. There's no
(28:35):
ambiguity there. That you get off the bench, you get
a minimum of a game suspension for that. In the NBA,
of course, the most famous case going back to two
thousand and seven in that series between the Phoenix Suns
and the San Antonio Spurs were Bores Diau and Mary
Stodemeier got suspended. Now, that was under David stern iron fist,
(28:55):
the way he ruled the NBA a little bit different
than Adam Silver. But so what's weird is even though
we've had this rule, rulings have been inconsistent with it.
So they might have some wiggle room to just not
do it. I'm sure the Clippers are going to send
him some tape and be like, what's going on here?
Why is Michael Porter Junior off the bench? He didn't
(29:15):
do anything, He didn't escalate the situation. So the spirit
of the law should be he didn't add to the
dust up there. He didn't he didn't start a fight.
Let's let this one go. It's a playoff series. There's
too much at state to kick a guy out like that.
But the other part of it is why have the rule?
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Then?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Why have the rule, Rodney?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
If you're not going to enforce it. It's just in black
and white. If you leave the bench, you subject to
a minimum of one game and fifty thousand dollars. So
the end, Yeah, I mean, what what what do you do?
Like you mentioned that, you know the Clippers have probably
submitted everything. Why wouldn't you? And secondly, if that is
(29:54):
the rule, that is the rule. It's not one of
those you know, we've seen throughout these playoffs where the
games have been you know, they've kind of let the
you know, swallow the whistle in a lot of these
games and let the guys play and it's been physical
and which I love. You know, they're not calling every
ticky tack. File accept in certain situations they still call
(30:16):
those ticky tacks. Yeah, but but for the most part
they let them go. But it's not like that where
it's you know, it's you know, it's it's in the
reps discretion. I'm gonna call that file. I'm not gonna
call a file. The guy leaves the bench. There's there's
no argument, there's no debate, and the rule is clearly
stating if you leave the bench, you are suspended for
(30:39):
one game. So how do they get around it? If
he doesn't get suspended.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
The NBA put themselves in this corner. They put baby
in the corner themselves in this case where you're gonna
get criticized if you do or you don't. You damned
if you do, damned if you don't, because they've been
inconsistent with it. So if they do suspend him, Denver
Nuggets fans are going to point to you, what about
(31:07):
this situation where you did nothing about it, because actually
it happened against them in a series against Portland a
few years back, where guys came off the bench and
nobody got suspended. So there's precedent for them just ignoring this.
But then if he does get suspended, the NBA is
going to get criticized for affecting a series over a
play that you know, he didn't start a fight. He
(31:30):
didn't escalate things. He didn't throw any punches, He didn't
do anything that added to the drama going on. It
was much ado about nothing. But technically the rule is there,
so they need to look at this over the offseason,
make an amendment or get rid of it, because you
put yourself in such a bad spot.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's like it's you know, it's like the what they
did with the flagrant frowl. Right, we saw that in
the Laker, you know, Minnesota game with Rudy Gobert hitting
Lebron in the back of the head with the forearms
dirty and if you go above the neck, it's clearly
states in a non basketball move and a non basketball play,
(32:10):
that's a flagrant foul, and they gave him the flagrant.
They look at it and it's clear, and it's it
doesn't take very long to see it and call it.
They either have to look at it because if they don't,
if they don't rule on this the way the letter
of the law states, and he's not suspended, then they
(32:30):
got to really revamp the rule and really make it
to the point where it's under review or whatever it
may be. Did he come out off the bench with intent?
What was his role in all of that. They're gonna
have to get into all of that gray area stuff
if they don't suspend him, because that's going to be
a problem because now if they don't, everyone's gonna have
(32:50):
an appeal process. There's gonna be an argument for everything
and say, well he didn't Michael Porter Jr. Came off
and he didn't really do anything, so neither did I.
Why are you suspend than me?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Double stand every Yeah, I don't want to be like
Walter soapcheck and the big Lebowskian, be like, am I
the only one who gives an SS about the rules?
I don't want to be that guy because truthfully, you
want to beat everyone healthy and available. Yes you do,
because otherwise, especially in this era of sports, you say,
well there's an asterisk you didn't beat them when they
(33:22):
were fully healthy. You're gonna get that from fan bases.
And by the way, before JJ Reddick was this pioneer
of playing against the guys. The entire second half, the
Denver Nuggets have been playing their guys heavy minutes. They
cannot afford to have Michael Porter Junior out. Their bench
is depleted too. They don't have many answers or many
guys to look too, so it would really hurt them
(33:43):
if he's not able to go. I'm not saying I
want that for the Clipper's sake. I'm just interested how
the NBA is going to go about this. That's where
I'm at. Are you going to adhere to it? Are
you gonna find a way to wiggle out of this one?
Because it is clear he is way too far off
the bench. He's further than tomorrow is Stodham iron borders.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Do you say, though, if you're the NBA, how do
you justify if you don't suspend him? What do you say?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I don't know if there's any checks and balances going on?
For instance, it's not Adam Silver is gonna have a
press conference. Who's gonna ask him? If they just don't
do it. Where are the questions coming coming from? Who's
gonna be able to say something? Reporters gonna ask David
Adaman about it, He'll go, I don't know. Asked the
league like, are they going to release his statement and
(34:28):
say this is why he's not going to be suspended?
I don't know. I Clipper Nation, I think most of
them are like, look, we just want to win. The
damn series. I don't care about Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
We do, we do, but you look at it and go,
if one of our guys came off that bench, he
probably would have been suspended. That's you kind of look
at yourself going now, if the roles were reversed, they
would have suspended us, So why not suspend them.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
If it was Norman Powell, they want him suspended. I
know that. You just want consistency across the board in
the NBA when it comes to calls that are more
judgment calls like a foul. But this is clear cut,
it's black and white, it's obvious, it's strikes and balls, like,
there is a way to handle this. I don't know.
(35:16):
I don't know what the NBA is going to do
because it's a pivotal series and they love this first
round matchup between the Clippers and Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah they do. I don't know the numbers, but it
feels like, you know, the ratings are high on the
NBA playoffs this year, and maybe it's Luca in LA,
but the games and the matchups have been very, very good.
All right, we got to get into the Dodgers. You know,
they take two out of three from Pittsburgh. But it's Pittsburgh,
so are we really jumping up and down about that?
They lose to Paul Skiings, who's best in baseball on
(35:46):
the hill, but Dodgers have on today. Afternoon Delight is
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(36:08):
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All right, Adam switching gears to another sport and that
other team and blue around here is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
(36:53):
They played Pittsburgh over the weekend. You knew it was
going to be a battle on on Friday with Paul
Skeins pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Who's just a phenom.
I mean, this this guy is he's something special because
he he throws a hundred plus and it doesn't even
(37:13):
look like he's even trying to throw a hundred plus.
It just smoothed out of his hand. Dodgers had their
hands full, but they take two out of three. Hernandez
brothers went off yesterday with home runs, which is which
is cool to see Kik and Taaska do that. Yeah,
I don't know, I guess you know, right now, the
(37:34):
Mets have the best record in baseball. The Giants are
still winning, and a lot of people feel that the
Giants at some point are going to fall off and
they're not gonna be able to sustain this. Although I'd
look at him right now and you know, what do
we thirty games in or something like that, and they
look like they are a team that can sustain. But
(37:55):
what do you make what do you make of the
Dodgers right now? And I know everybody felt like they
were going to go when they started eight and oh
they everybody thought they were going to go, you know,
one hundred and sixty two and oh or one hundred
and forty and twenty two or something like that. But
it's a long season, and you know they're not dominating teams.
(38:19):
They're winning enough games, but they're not dominating teams. Are
you surprised that you know they're they're not dominating right now,
or they're losing the teams that they probably should beat,
or they've lost some series that they probably should have
won or everybody thought they should have won at this
point in the season. I mean it's still late April.
They're not hit their full stride yet. But again, when
(38:41):
everybody talked in the offseason how loaded this team, you
know is are you surprised that they are? They're not
like lead the league and wins and home runs and
hits and everything else in every category.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I mean, look, we're not even i think, twenty five
percent of the way through the season. Yet it is
early enough where you can always make the excuse, ah,
Dodgers get just got to figure it out by August,
they get healthy by August. Nobody's gonna want to see
this team. But there is something too. I think they're
not just competing with Major League Baseball in the summer
(39:17):
of twenty twenty five, they're competing with history. They're competing
with the all time great teams out there, the twenty
seven Yankees. You know, they're trying to do what the
Seattle Mariners weren't able to do when they won one
hundred and sixteen games or whatever. Yeah, they're trying to
complete it. Be the best regular season team, dominate the postseason,
(39:38):
and be considered the greatest team ever assembled. That's what
the Dodgers are chasing. So it's fair to, I think
critique them for a slow start, even though it's early.
There's also some context, like they've been banged up, they've
had real injuries going on, and they just had another
one with Glas now Now he could be going on.
(40:01):
This is scary because he's never even pitched one hundred
and fifty innings in a season before. Yeah, I mean
that is shocking. We're not talking two hundred, one hundred
and fifty innings. Last season he was at one thirty
for the Dodgers. That's the most he's ever topped out at.
And yeah, eventually he has the elbow injury, and now
it looks like he's compensated for that to try to
(40:23):
put less strain on his elbow to where it affected
his shoulder. And after a game where he goes out
for cramps last week, yesterday, he feels a tweak in
the shoulder and he's out, and with Blake Snell already out, yes,
Gonsolin's supposed to come back, I think on Wednesday. But
this is a guy who's as dominant as anyone when
(40:45):
he's healthy. But my god, he can't stay healthy. And
he's had some interesting outings so far this season and
just five starts where that he had that game in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Oh, Philadelphia was just ugly and he had the bad
body language and you know it was it was muddy
and rainy and all that, and just got rocked in
that game. And you're looking up and going, you know,
because last year before he got hurt, you know, even
with the with the up and down of the Dodgers
and they're pitching staff kind of being you know, banged up.
(41:18):
He was till about you know, July, all Star break.
He was the stopper. He was the guy they brought
in when it was her turn to pitch. It was okay,
Dodge's gonna win this game. And glass Noow was clearly
clearly the ace of the staff last year before he
got hurt. But again to your point, he was hurt
(41:38):
in Tampa Bay as well. He had never pitched above
I think one hundred and something innings, either ten inning
to twenty whatever, and and he was hurt down there.
And now you know, as you look up and he's
been here for a couple of years now that he's
yet hurt again. That's got to be a major concern
because you really counted on this guy being a big
(42:00):
part of your staff. And I know they bolked up
and they built up their their pitching staff this offseason,
but still he was one of the guys that you're counting,
you counted on as to be in your rotation, as
being one of the top guys in your rotation.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Now, if you're anyone but the Dodgers, you're screwed. If Blake,
Snell and Glass now go down. But the thing is,
the truth is the Dodgers are so damn stacked. He
can be a luxury at times. I'm sure they knew
the injuries weren't going to go away when they signed him.
They knew his track record, but they also knew, well,
(42:38):
when he's healthy, he adds to an already great team
and absolutely nobody's beating us because to that point, they
won the World Series last year without him. They figured
how a way to win without him. They're so overpowered
out there. They got so many backup plans, contingency plans,
the farm systems so good. They get all the guys
(42:59):
in free agency. Now they're running the league that Yeah,
Lasnew's healthy, ready to go, we're unbelievably unstoppable. But if
he's not, we can get by. We can find a
way the offense can pick it up. They look good
the last two games after they had kind of that
dry spell against Texas. They still won the series, but
the bats really weren't there. Well, they look good the
(43:21):
last two games.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Even Andy fa has had ten hits over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
So been. I mean, that's the thing about him, right,
He's like, okay, all right, we got that, you know,
top four in the lineup. We got to really stop,
you know, Otani and Mookie and Freddie and Tae Oscar.
Once we get past that, we'll be okay and we'll
do our Oh wait, oh wait, now Will Smith is
hitting none tier Oh wait, now Paz has went ten
(43:48):
for twelve and in the series against us with two
home runs. Keky Hernandez comes in and hits home runs.
I mean, they are They really are insulated in terms
of guys going down or even the pitching being subpar.
But it is the thing where you know, the bats
have got to come through, which I think they will.
(44:09):
They've got too many guys in that lineup that makes
it that makes it difficult for you to shut this
team all the way down. Unless you're you've got Paul
Skeens pitching every day for you, You're not gonna be
able to do that. And we forgot to mention Tommy Edmond,
who is just, you know, just a baseball player. At
the end of the day, he is just a complete
baseball player. Anything that is there, anything that concerns you
(44:34):
with this team as you look at him right now.
I know it's April and it's early, but anything that
concerns you down the road that could trip up the Dodgers,
whether it be offensively or even even with the pitching staf.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Well, the NLS does look good right now. It's not
just the Giants, but San Diego looks competitive. The Diamondbacks
are a couple of games over five hundred, but the
thing is the Dodgers are supposed to have Kershaw back
in May. Gonsolin's coming back this week. They do have
a six man rotation. So when you only have three
(45:09):
pitchers right now, Sasaki, Yamamoto and Dustin May, who's going tonight.
It's not just about finding two guys, you have to
find three guys. I'm sure they've been in this position
many times before. They'll figure it out. Do you remember
when Gavin Stone went out last season and everybody thought,
well that's it. Charlotte broke the Campbell's back as just
one injury too many. Nope, still went on to win
(45:30):
the World Series. I don't think anything can take down
this team unless the Batch just goes so cold. But
they got coverage for one another. If one guy's not hitting,
if Freddie's not hitting, it's gonna be Mookie hitting. If
they're both not hitting, no time, he's gonna pick it
up for them. Tao's had a great, great year so far.
Like they have so many different ways to beat you.
(45:51):
You mentioned the Giants, and they do have. And I'm
from norcl I'm not a converted Sacramento as fan, yet
I'm still rooting for the Giants. It's not yet.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, they gotta get Yeah, if.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
They get to sixty wins this season, maybe I'll be
in his.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Fan they'll be able to put enough cameras in the
stadium to make sure they can get all the angles
of home runs and stuff in Sacramental right now.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, they got issues, a little low budget operation going
on there. But the Giants do have some wind in
their sales because Buster Posey isn't the helmet. Yeah, you know,
that's their guy. He was their leader through a lot
of those three championships in five years twenty ten through
twenty fourteen, and it's just a fresh a fresh face,
I guess, even though he's very familiar. But the last
(46:34):
five or six years was far hard. It didn't work.
Now some of his guys are starting to hit now
or starting to figure it out, but it's too late.
He didn't see the promised land and Buster Posey's in
there and they're not playing the analytics as hard and
they just have a little bit of that magic back.
So I don't know if they're going away, if they're
going to slide to the extent that people are expecting.
So the division could be a little bit of a problem.
(46:56):
If the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
But is that helpful? Is that helpful? Because you know
there's some that say the Dodgers when they've struggled, have
and we'll break after this. But the Dodgers said, the
struggle has been where they they've run away with the division, right,
They've coasted into September and October and then they haven't
had to play competitive baseball for a period of time.
(47:21):
The fact that the division is good is going to
help the Dodgers, you believe that.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
I think there's something to that. Iron sharpens iron. You
got to be a little bit more battle tested. You
don't want it to be too easy and then you
get punched in the mouth in that divisional round like
we saw back to back years against San Diego and
then against the Snakes. I do think there's something to that.
But short term, by the way, the Dodgers' next nine
games against two twelve and fifteen teams Marlins, Braves, Marlins again.
(47:51):
So we'll talk with that, say more about this coming up,
But I think they're going to be able to weather
the storm of injuries and hang in there in a
tight n O West, even though it's early here.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
All right, heavy basketball a Little Dodgers, but we got
to get into the NFL Draft. That helping happened uh
this past weekend and of course uh Shadoor Sanders situation
and him going to the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.
We're gonna bring on our man, Bennie Bonnceignor, who's gonna
join us next hour as well, to talk about We're
gonna bring on our man, Bennie Bonsignor, who's gonna join
(48:24):
us next hour as well, to talk about the NFL
Draft and where it's going and all the mess surrounding
Chadeur Sanders, A five seventy l A Sports Come on,
Oh, yes, yes, here we go. Here we go on
a Monday, a beautiful Monday, I might add, and uh,
we had a full weekend, full weekend of sports. My man,
the salty one double A Adam Austin is in for
Fred today and I will say it's, uh, it's a
(00:21):
perfect day for you to be in Adham because we
got a whole bunch of you know what about the
NBA to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, a few different storylines after this weekend pertaining to
the Clippers and Lakers. I don't know how it worse. Wait, yes,
I do it with the Lakers for sure, but still
the Clippers don't have a great weekend as well. The
La Kingston have a great weekend. Who's got it worse
than us?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Nobody? Nobody, nobody. All right, man, so let's start with
the Uh, let's start with the Lakers and and where
they are down three to one now and again, look,
you know everybody's gonna you gotta hear this until they
play again. Oh, no team has come back. There's ninety
(01:04):
percent of the teams that are down three to one.
Blah blah blah blah blah. But in reality, Adam, Lakers
are in trouble. They're in trouble.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
They are because this is bigger than just the record
in the series and being down three to one. There
are things that are not going to translate well throughout
the rest of this series. JJ Reddick got as desperate
as I've ever seen a head coach get in Game four.
I mean, we're talking about something historic what he ended
up doing in the second half of that game, playing
(01:35):
five guys twenty four minutes the entire second half of
the ball game that had never happened in the play
by play era, meaning since ninety six ninety seven. That's
just unfathomable. And you look what happened down the stretch.
They didn't have their legs. You got one guy who's
forty trying to pull this off playing twenty four straight minutes,
(01:56):
another guy who's not in the greatest shape, Nico Harrison's
having best weekend, by the way, and now Austin Reeves
and his skinny ass white guy legs that I know about, Like,
those guys are going to wear down over the course
of that time. The fact that he didn't have enough
faith or trust in any of his guys off the bench,
including Jackson Hayes, who started the game but only played
(02:18):
four minutes, and he's had more fouls than points so
far in this series. Like that tells you how bad
things are for the Lakers, that JJ was willing to
do something that nuts. It almost worked, but Minnesota came
through late and you could see the fatigue when the
Lakers are out there making bad fouls and missing layups,
missing easy bunnies right at the rim.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, and turning the ball over just kind of because
when the fatigue sets in, not only does it hurt
you physically, and you know this, Adam, it'll it'll affects
you mentally. And you know, we saw it late in
the game and Lebron was completely gassed, and late in
the game, Luca was gassed, even like you mentioned, Austin
Reeves was gassed, even Ruya Chamorro, all of those guys
(03:01):
were gassed. We saw Lebron turn it over on inbound
play play at the end of the game. That was critical.
But you know more than that, what does that say
in a game that you must have right and you
mentioned this, you must have that you don't trust anybody
(03:21):
else on your bench to come in and give a
two minute break to Luca or a two minute break
to Lebron or anybody or even even the other guy. Okay,
so we're leaving Lebron and Luca in, but you're not
even interchanging anybody else. You know, you're not giving Ruy
a break. You're not giving anybody else a break.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's what's incomprehensible. And JJ is gonna take a ton
of heat for this, and as much praise as we
have given him this season, I think rightfully, so things
have sped up on him a little bit in this
series at times.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I gotta be honest, I thought the Lakers were win
in six, but I did say this, if Minnesota was
gonna win this series, they need a lot from Julius Randall.
They've got a lot from him. He's averaged twenty three
points per game.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
He's got a vendetta. He's got a vendetta right now.
Oh yeah, you know, being the former Laker and the
way he left and all that, and then getting you know,
basically shipped out of New York. I think he is
he has got something to prove. You can see it
in his eye, you can see it in his aggressiveness.
He is out there, he's playing bully ball right now
(04:23):
against the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Bull in a China shop, you know something about going
up against your former employer after leaving that team. You
got a little ship on his shoulder.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
They which you will. They all do. Everybody does.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But here's what's crazy. The reason that Minnesota is dominating
this series so far, and they have even in that
game too. They made a run at the end of
that game when the Lakers were up pretty much the
entire way, and it looked to me like, oh, they're
ready for Minnesota. This was fluky. They have advantages that
the Lakers have no answers for because of their physicality
(04:58):
out there, and while Rudy go they've been able to
take him off the court at times and he was
a minus in that game last night. It doesn't matter
because you still have McDaniels out there, who's having a
hell of a series, who's not a score like this,
and yet he's had a twenty five point game and
a thirty point game. You got nas Reed, you got
Julius Randall, like, you have so many options to punish
(05:22):
the Lakers. So what does that tell you? If you're
being out worked and physically dominated and now you think
that you can get away with playing five guys the
entire second half against a team that's already buoying you,
that is physically dominating you. They're already wearing you down.
And you think you can push your guys to the
(05:42):
limit with that many minutes out there, It's not gonna work.
And came back to bite them in the as.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I did, and they got you know, there, the
youth angle for Minnesota, the energy level, you know, we
saw that in the fourth quarter, and just the way
they just attack the Lakers, not only just offensively, but defensively.
And then, like you mentioned, they've got guys that the
(06:07):
Lakers have no answer for. That they probably went into
it's going, okay, we stop Aunt Edwards and and we
we keep you know, we we find a way to
get go Bear out of the game. And then just
you know, keep an eye on Julius Randal. He'll be okay.
But you know Reid can't beat us, and you know,
you know Daniels can't beat us, so you know we'll
(06:27):
be we'll be okay. And those guys are beating them,
and they're beating them, and and and can we just
say that I don't know how far they go, I
don't know how the rest of this series goes. And
of course, you know, we're hoping the Lakers kind of
find their way back.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
But let's speak for yourself and Edwards.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Right, Aunt Edwards, whether he wants to be the face
of the NBA or not, that man is a bad
man and he will be celebrated. His game has gone
to another level. It feels like it like even last
year in the playoffs, he got after it and brought
some smoke. But now I think because everyone and I'm
(07:09):
with you, I picked the Lakers to win this series.
Everyone picked the Lakers to blow by Minnesota. And it's
almost like he took offense to that. It's like, okay,
they still got it. They still got to get through me.
And he has been putting on the show. And he
scored sixteen in the fourth quarter yesterday, and you look
up and Lebron had zero in the fourth quarter and
(07:31):
they only had seven in the fourth quarter. I mean,
it is the energy level that he's playing with both
sides of the ball. That's the thing. Defensively is as
good as offensively. Because he is becoming as such an
annoyance to Lebron and Luca whoever he guards that he's
in their face. He's disrupting everything offensively for the Lakers
(07:52):
and their flow and Edwards every year, he's still going
on the upward trajectory as a superstar. League is gonna
be in a top five category as we sooner rather
than later.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You brought it up off the air earlier. But this guy,
with the way he's running through past stars right now
and current stars in LUCA. If they get out of
this series, we can go back to last season. They
took out KD and Book in four games, and I
thought that was a good matchup for Phoenix. Oh, Minnesota
doesn't guard the mid range and that's where Phoenix likes
(08:26):
to take all their shots. It didn't matter. Anthony Edwards
is dunking on KD. He is snatching chains, he's taking
skulls like he's the predator right now, like he's taken
trophies of guys. If he beats LUCA, if he beats
Lebron in this series and then in the next round
likely matches up against Steph Curry and Dre Moond, He's
taken out legacy players. That's how you become the face
(08:49):
of the league. Whether you want to be or not,
whether the NBA wants him to be or not. It
doesn't matter if you're this good, e know, if you're
a little bit polarizing, getting into it with the crowd
a little bit and talking about your junk like that.
Edwards is just too damn talented to ignore. He's too
talented to ignore he is.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And the thing about it, Adam, is he is. He's
doing what the great superstars do right because they you
look at Minnesota as we just talked about, you don't
look at them as, oh, they got the big three
in Minnesota. You know, they got you know, two perennial
All Stars and two you know, top fifty players in
(09:26):
Minnesota that they're gonna you know, those two they can
feed off or they're the big three like they had
and you know at Golden State or had in Miami. No,
it's Aunt Edwards and they've got you know, the supporting
cats is very good, very good. I'm not disrespecting them,
but their their star is Anthony Edwards and he gets
them going and he keeps them going, and that that
(09:50):
alone puts you on a different level. When you got
a guy like that that can put a team on
his back. And carry them and make everybody around him better.
And that's what he's doing well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And he has what Lebron and Luca apparently just don't,
and that is the stamina to play heavy minutes in
a playoff series and still be at your best late
in games and still be able to perform in the
most high leverage, crucial situations down the stretch. He's been
so much better than Luca down the stretch than Lebron.
(10:23):
Lebron was good in Game three. I know everybody's going
after him for zero points in Game four in the
fourth quarter, and that's fine, But I don't know what's worse,
Lebron having zero points in the fourth quarter last night
or Luca going one of six in the fourth quarter
and playing zero defense. At least, Lebron had three damn
blocks in the fourth quarter and was playing hard on
(10:44):
that end. Luca's getting burned putting up more shots and
only hitting one of them. It's been brutal to watch
because the Lakers in the fourth quarter that's where they
are losing this series right now, and almost outscored them
in Game four in the fourth quarter by himself was
sixteen to nineteen, like the Lakers were five of eighteen
from the floor in the fourth quarter, and that speaks
(11:05):
to fatigue, but also that level of desperation from JJ
thinking I got nobody else to help me here. This
is a roster construction issue. Now, granted we do this
could happen to some degree. Rodney, when Mark Williams and
that trade was rescinded, we said they have a glaring
flaw on this team that I don't know if they're
going to be able to overcome in the postseason against
bad matchups. Well, it turns out Minnesota's a real bad
(11:28):
matchup for them because they're so physical out there. And
I don't know if they had any other options at
that point, obviously on the ten day market on bringing
someone Christian Coloquo. They they brought in Alex len and
that wasn't going to fix anything. And now Jackson Hayes
has become unplayable in this series and they need those early.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Two on Hayes and his you know kind of him
getting into it a little bit early in that game
and he had to pull him after those quick two
fouls that that that JJ basically gave up on him
the rest of the game.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I think he was looking for a reason to give
up on him, honestly, because of how he looked to
start this series two. It's just deer in the headlights
right now. And he he was always a project when
they brought him in. He's had some really good moments.
But there are eighty two game players and then there
are playoff players, guys that actually can translate what they
(12:25):
do in the eighty two game regular season into the playoffs,
and he hasn't been one of them. He's still young,
he can still get better. Here's the problem for JJ.
They lost a game where they went for it all out,
playing their guys in the second half. What are they
gonna have left now? Because you went forward to tie
the series of two games apiece and now it's three
(12:46):
to one, and now you're in this hole. And how's
everybody else feeling that stayed on the bench. How's Gabe
Vinson feeling when at the end of the third quarter
it looked like he was gonna come in finally and
JJ waved him off. How do they feeling about this situation? Oh,
you don't trust me? How are they gonna have confidence
in the next game? At some point they're gonna have
to use them I'm sorry, you can't play five guys or.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Forty not sustainable. What they did in game four is
definitely not sustainable. But you're right, is there gonna be
a confidence factor for for Vincent and and for anybody
else that's sitting over there going, wait a minute, I'm
supposed to be playing here in the third quarter. I'm
supposed to get my three minutes and my four minutes
in the third quarter, fourth quarter, and they're not getting them,
(13:29):
and they lose the ball game, and albeit, you know,
a very close game that they could have won. But again,
it's got to be glaring to them as they study
the films, like we ran out of gas last five
minutes of the game. We ran out of gas. So
something's got to change. But but but you mentioned that's
that's it's kind of my and I listen, I love
(13:49):
I love Lucas. He's a tremendous talent and from the
time he was fifteen, he was gonna be all world.
But you gotta play a little bit of defense, and
you got to be you know, down the stretch. You
got to be able to say it's on me, I
got this, and just some of the body language and
some of the you know, on some of the turnovers
(14:11):
of some of him, and not only just the body
language looking at the refs, because we've seen him do
that and saw him do that in Dallas and you know,
wants wants a lot of the calls, but even the
body language add towards his teammates when they weren't coming
in time to set the pick or they you know,
didn't you know it coming up the court. He wanted
them to do something different or moving a different area
(14:33):
or clear out for him. And that type of body language,
it will wear on you and it wear on teammates
at some point. So I just it concerns me that
that he'd see as that body language towards his teammates,
but also that he doesn't play a lick of defense.
(14:54):
And that's kind of where the momentum comes and shifts
when your guys. When Lebron gets a block like that,
it fired everybody up on a defensive end more so
than he did to Big Three.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Oh yeah, I always say this, Sometimes a block isn't
just a block. Sometimes a dunk isn't just a dunk.
Those are big momentum plays. Yeah, And I think the
biggest reason when you see a guy like Jaden McDaniels
having a coming out party in this series, offensively is
because he's just hunting Luca and just blowing by him
over and over again. Now, Luca doncis late in the
(15:29):
game when Lebron had that turnover on the inbounds pass,
not only is he not playing defense, that was on Luca.
I know a lot of people want to put pin
that turnover on Lebron, and technically it was his turnover.
Luca didn't meet the basketball, and he said postgame that
was on him. He's eigged. When Lebron thought he was
going to zag, they weren't on the same page. But
(15:49):
he didn't come to the basketball at all. There is
that tired legs. Is that being fatigued, This whole conditioning
thing that we've heard ever since he was traded from Dallas,
It is real. It is a fair criticism. Nico Harrison's
got a chesshire cat smile on his face this morning.
I'm sure, even with how bad the season went for
Dallas the rest of the way, this is his. This
(16:09):
is his championship right now. If the Lakers lose this
first round series, this is what Nico Harrison is waiting
for to be validated that Hey see, you guys, see
what I was talking about. You see this now. I
think it's a little bit unfair, And it still doesn't
justify the trade because he could have gotten more. He
has no chance of winning the trade unless Dallas wins
(16:30):
multiple championships. But yeah, it's it's just these are problems
that we all have noticed for a long time, and
you can cover them up if you're talented enough around
him to make up for his deficiencies. The Lakers just
aren't right now. They're not in that place with this roster.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
No they're not. They're not. And so that being said,
what do you think happens going forward? I know it's
you know, three to one. Here we go with the
stats again. Can they can they dig themselves out of
this three to one hole against Minnesota because they still
got to go They would have to go back there
obviously to to win it. But man, it is a
(17:10):
whole and you're you're talking about a young team playing
with a whole lot of confidence right now. And that
was the one thing that that that I was saying
that you cannot give them to begin with. You cannot
give a young hungry team, any kind of confidence, any
kind of life, because once they get that, they they
are going to be scrappy, they're gonna be doglike and
(17:31):
and it's gonna they're gonna be hard to beat and
you're gonna have to fight and claw to beat them.
And they got life by winning that game in La
uh and splitting with the Lakers here and took it
back to Minnesota. And now they're feeling it. They can
taste it right now. And so how do the Lakers
overcome this?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You know, I don't always agree with Charles Barkley, and
he tends to jinks teams very often. In the minute
he said this series is over with the Clippers and
the Denver Nuggets, I was like, oh god, oh god, No,
he's guaranteeing a Clippers victory. But he says this often.
There comes the time in a series where both teams
(18:10):
know who the better team is and I think we're there.
But but the Lakers are in a better position to
come back down three to one obviously than Lebron was
in twenty sixteen against the Golden State Warriors. That Warriors
team had already won a championship and Game seven in
this case would be played at Crypto should they get
(18:31):
to that point. My thinking is, and Lebron said this postgame,
you can't think past the first game. But I'm already
considering that the Lakers is probably gonna win Game five.
They're probably gonna win Game five. They're gonna show some
desperation out there. Maybe we'll get a few calls. I
don't know if that's ever happened for the Lakers before,
but some home court whistles will be there at Crypto
(18:52):
for Game five. So then it comes down to we
just got to find a way to win Game six
on the road. We win that, all the pressures on
the timber not to choke away a three to one
series back at Crypto in our house. That's how I
see it. So I'm not counting them completely out yet.
I'm not looking to the offseason yet. But obviously things
are dire too, and they're in trouble. They're in deep
(19:12):
trouble because the matchups they aren't there for them, Like
this is not a favorable matchup like I thought it
could be heading into this series. Julius Randall has been
too good. The Wolves have been too physical, and they
got more wings and complimentary players around their stars than
the Lakers do. As you mentioned, like Anthony Edwards has
the perfect cast of guys next to him. Right now,
(19:32):
it looks like Lakers they're a mess. This is a
roster construction problem. So even as much as we criticized
JJ Reddick here Rodney, it's like, Eh, he doesn't have
a ton to work with. What are we asking for
to for good Win to play more minutes, for gab
Benson to play more minutes, for Jackson Hayes to play
more minutes, for Van do those aren't great options for
him to turn to. Now, you could still say, come on,
(19:56):
just stagger him in a little bit. Just get Austin
Reeves out for two minutes, Luca and Lebron on the floor,
and then take one of those two guys off for
two minutes and just keep doing it like that so
you always have two of your top three guys. But
the Lakers are desperate. It's gonna be rough if they don't.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's gonna be rough. And the and they you know,
like we said, they hit you know, Lakers hit them
in the mouth. Game one, all of a sudden they're
still standing. They took that standing eight and said, okay,
let's come on, let's go. I'm gonna fight right back
with you. And now, now what do you do because
I'm I'm good in the later rounds and the championship rowns,
I'm I'm better than you because you don't have the backup.
(20:30):
And that's where the Lakers are facing right now. All right,
was it good? Was it before the red light, yellow light,
whatever you want to call it went off? Clippers lose
in a dramatic way at the end of the game.
We're gonna get into that, and that series is now
tied to too, so we'll get into the Clippers and
(20:51):
their future as well.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Oh god, why, oh yes.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Come on back. We are here on the Monday Salty
double Am Austin then for Fred Rogan today. Alright, Adam,
we just spend some time on the Lakers. Now, let's
talk to the Clippers. They had a chance, Adam, to
put their foot on the throat, on the throat, as
(21:16):
we like to say, when you got a chance to
go up three to one, and you can, you can
do it at your place and you let it slip away.
First of all, everybody can talk and we talk about
that last play and Aaron Gordon getting the dunk at
the end. Whether it was good or not, too close
(21:37):
to call. But they get down twenty two at them.
I mean, they make a run to come back and
do that, but just just for me, in a game
like that where you can really make this all but over,
they didn't do it. And it didn't looked like they
came out with that kind of fight.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
They didn't have the same sense of urgency they had
in Game three when they just blew out Denver. And
I get it, it's human nature, but it's a huge
missed opportunity. Now, if you lose this series, you're gonna
feel like, oh, that's the one that got away. Why
didn't we show up? And I don't care. They started
in a weird time slot midday because the NBA won
the Golden State Warriors game to be later at night,
(22:20):
another West Coast contest. There's been this running theme with
the Clippers over the years that back before they had
into a dome, their own arena, they got all these
weird Mattine home games during the regular season, and they typically, yeah,
they were second fiddle. There were second to the Kings
and the Lakers back at Staples, back at crypto. They
would typically not show up for those games. This looked
(22:43):
like a sleepwalk you know, Donna the dead, walking dead
type of performance when they came out early on in
the game against Denver in Game four on Saturday night,
mid Saturday. It there's a reason you get down by
that much and the basketball gods don't reward you sometimes
at the very end of a game like that. I
(23:04):
don't even know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
If I believe in Karo Little the god said, listen,
you didn't come out to play from the beginning, so
we're not gonna reward you at the end. It felt
like it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
It felt like it. I don't know, but the basketball
guys have never been kind to the Clippers, of course,
but that was the first ever buzzer beating dunk in
the playoffs. You know how many things had to go
wrong for that to go right for Denver, Like even
Jokich's misses are apparently perfect. The ball placement there on
(23:36):
that fat away three over a double team, it is
something just the right spot for Aaron Gordon. If it's
a millimeter off, he's not getting it through the hoop
before the red light goes off.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
He's not.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
It's that close. I was in pain and because Rodney,
I think I haven't looked this up because I don't
want to tease myself too much. It's gonna be hurt
even worse. I'm pretty sure that would have been the
most fast and furious comeback in NBA playoff history because
they were down twenty two with eleven minutes left. If
you come back and win that game, I think that's
(24:11):
the all time record.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Not only is it the all time record, which I
believe you're right, but then it nails the coffin in
for for Denver. Oh yeah, because if they're they're up
by twenty two with eleven to go and they end
up losing that game, there's no coming back from that.
I don't care if they're going back home or not.
There's no coming back from that. Plus they're down three
to one, but they let they let them off the hook.
(24:36):
And yes, it was a great furious comeback that they
that they you know, portrayed. But but man, even get
down in that hole when you're at home and game three,
look we go to go back to that, you know,
into a dome. Game three? Is it not rocking? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
The best of times?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Gay not rocking? Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know it was rocking because David Adaman was talking
that junk. So the Clippers beforehand. You know, it's a
high school thing. The wall. You know, it's cool, it's
cool and all. I don't know if it's gonna survive
what we Commissioner Adam Silver, is gonna tear down the wall?
I don't think. So they built that thing to stand. Yeah,
their house was built on rock. Not said.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah. So for them to come out the next the
next game and just not and and and lay an
egg early on, I just it just it just bothered
me because they did have an opportunity. Because I do
I believe that they get passed and they still I
think they still win win the series. Adam, I do.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
You can counterapt the Charles Barkley bat juju that he
had with Rodney saying this, I feel a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I'm right, yeah, right, hell with Charles. But I do
think they win the series. And and if if so,
and we said this before the series start, they get
past Denver and they go forward, they to me become
those teams that nobody wants to face. They really don't,
(26:02):
you know, they got you know, Norman Palgan going Kawhi
God forbid, we knocking on Wood that he stays healthy.
But they can they become the dangerous team and that's
left in the playoffs. And yeah because they can, Yeah
they can. They can match up with anybody.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
They have the ingredients. They don't have many flaws on
this team. They're lacking I think one more two way
player where at times you have to make a decision
between offense and defense. Do you stick with Chris Dunn
because his defense so good but he's missing shots, or
do you go with bog Don Bogdanovitch because he's better
on offense, but defensively he's got holes there there. They
(26:39):
aren't perfect, but there isn't a perfect team I think
out there right now, at least in the Western Conference,
because okay, see they're still flawed, they're inexperienced. They haven't
been to a Western Conference finals in this era before
SGA and then got by against them.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
They rolled a Memphis team that was should not even
been in the playoffs basically, so there's sitting there fat
catting it right now. You know, they're you know, they're
number one seed and feeling good, but like you said,
they're inexperienced, and there's some other teams out there in
the West that that match up to them very very well.
(27:15):
I know they're you know, they're they're looking at this
Minnesota series with the Lakers, going thank god, hope the
Minnesota runs them through because we don't match up well
with the Lakers either. So but yeah, they you know,
Clippers get by this. I think it's the sky's a
limit for them.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Here's what's interesting. Game five tomorrow night Backetball Arena in Denver.
And I haven't seen a ruling on this yet, but
Michael Porter Junior during that little kerf fluffle, that little
dust up at the end of the second quarter where
James Harden got into it with Christian Brown and then
Aaron Gordon came over, and then it was Yolkish and
(27:53):
avitza zoobots and they handed out six texts but nobody
got ejected. Well Aaron Gordon, first of all, it looked
like he threw a punch at Norman pal But Denver
fans are saying, well, look like James Harden might to
throw a punch at Aaron Gordon. So I'm fine with
them not kicking out anyone then. But the thing was,
there was a guy on the bench and Michael Porter
(28:14):
Junior who got off of it and walked all the
way out Because it happened on the near sideline. He
walks over from the Nuggets bench near the wall on
the far sideline all the way to the painted area.
He's on the block. He's fifty feet away almost from
their bench. The rule is, and it's hardline. There's no
(28:35):
ambiguity there. That you get off the bench, you get
a minimum of a game suspension for that. In the NBA,
of course, the most famous case going back to two
thousand and seven in that series between the Phoenix Suns
and the San Antonio Spurs were Bores Diau and Mary
Stodemeier got suspended. Now, that was under David stern iron fist,
(28:55):
the way he ruled the NBA a little bit different
than Adam Silver. But so what's weird is even though
we've had this rule, rulings have been inconsistent with it.
So they might have some wiggle room to just not
do it. I'm sure the Clippers are going to send
him some tape and be like, what's going on here?
Why is Michael Porter Junior off the bench? He didn't
(29:15):
do anything, He didn't escalate the situation. So the spirit
of the law should be he didn't add to the
dust up there. He didn't he didn't start a fight.
Let's let this one go. It's a playoff series. There's
too much at state to kick a guy out like that.
But the other part of it is why have the rule?
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Then?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Why have the rule, Rodney?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
If you're not going to enforce it. It's just in black
and white. If you leave the bench, you subject to
a minimum of one game and fifty thousand dollars. So
the end, Yeah, I mean, what what what do you do?
Like you mentioned that, you know the Clippers have probably
submitted everything. Why wouldn't you? And secondly, if that is
(29:54):
the rule, that is the rule. It's not one of
those you know, we've seen throughout these playoffs where the
games have been you know, they've kind of let the
you know, swallow the whistle in a lot of these
games and let the guys play and it's been physical
and which I love. You know, they're not calling every
ticky tack. File accept in certain situations they still call
(30:16):
those ticky tacks. Yeah, but but for the most part
they let them go. But it's not like that where
it's you know, it's you know, it's it's in the
reps discretion. I'm gonna call that file. I'm not gonna
call a file. The guy leaves the bench. There's there's
no argument, there's no debate, and the rule is clearly
stating if you leave the bench, you are suspended for
(30:39):
one game. So how do they get around it? If
he doesn't get suspended.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
The NBA put themselves in this corner. They put baby
in the corner themselves in this case where you're gonna
get criticized if you do or you don't. You damned
if you do, damned if you don't, because they've been
inconsistent with it. So if they do suspend him, Denver
Nuggets fans are going to point to you, what about
(31:07):
this situation where you did nothing about it, because actually
it happened against them in a series against Portland a
few years back, where guys came off the bench and
nobody got suspended. So there's precedent for them just ignoring this.
But then if he does get suspended, the NBA is
going to get criticized for affecting a series over a
play that you know, he didn't start a fight. He
(31:30):
didn't escalate things. He didn't throw any punches, He didn't
do anything that added to the drama going on. It
was much ado about nothing. But technically the rule is there,
so they need to look at this over the offseason,
make an amendment or get rid of it, because you
put yourself in such a bad spot.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's like it's you know, it's like the what they
did with the flagrant frowl. Right, we saw that in
the Laker, you know, Minnesota game with Rudy Gobert hitting
Lebron in the back of the head with the forearms
dirty and if you go above the neck, it's clearly
states in a non basketball move and a non basketball play,
(32:10):
that's a flagrant foul, and they gave him the flagrant.
They look at it and it's clear, and it's it
doesn't take very long to see it and call it.
They either have to look at it because if they don't,
if they don't rule on this the way the letter
of the law states, and he's not suspended, then they
(32:30):
got to really revamp the rule and really make it
to the point where it's under review or whatever it
may be. Did he come out off the bench with intent?
What was his role in all of that. They're gonna
have to get into all of that gray area stuff
if they don't suspend him, because that's going to be
a problem because now if they don't, everyone's gonna have
(32:50):
an appeal process. There's gonna be an argument for everything
and say, well he didn't Michael Porter Jr. Came off
and he didn't really do anything, so neither did I.
Why are you suspend than me?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Double stand every Yeah, I don't want to be like
Walter soapcheck and the big Lebowskian, be like, am I
the only one who gives an SS about the rules?
I don't want to be that guy because truthfully, you
want to beat everyone healthy and available. Yes you do,
because otherwise, especially in this era of sports, you say,
well there's an asterisk you didn't beat them when they
(33:22):
were fully healthy. You're gonna get that from fan bases.
And by the way, before JJ Reddick was this pioneer
of playing against the guys. The entire second half, the
Denver Nuggets have been playing their guys heavy minutes. They
cannot afford to have Michael Porter Junior out. Their bench
is depleted too. They don't have many answers or many
guys to look too, so it would really hurt them
(33:43):
if he's not able to go. I'm not saying I
want that for the Clipper's sake. I'm just interested how
the NBA is going to go about this. That's where
I'm at. Are you going to adhere to it? Are
you gonna find a way to wiggle out of this one?
Because it is clear he is way too far off
the bench. He's further than tomorrow is Stodham iron borders.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Do you say, though, if you're the NBA, how do
you justify if you don't suspend him? What do you say?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I don't know if there's any checks and balances going on?
For instance, it's not Adam Silver is gonna have a
press conference. Who's gonna ask him? If they just don't
do it. Where are the questions coming coming from? Who's
gonna be able to say something? Reporters gonna ask David
Adaman about it, He'll go, I don't know. Asked the
league like, are they going to release his statement and
(34:28):
say this is why he's not going to be suspended?
I don't know. I Clipper Nation, I think most of
them are like, look, we just want to win. The
damn series. I don't care about Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
We do, we do, but you look at it and go,
if one of our guys came off that bench, he
probably would have been suspended. That's you kind of look
at yourself going now, if the roles were reversed, they
would have suspended us, So why not suspend them.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
If it was Norman Powell, they want him suspended. I
know that. You just want consistency across the board in
the NBA when it comes to calls that are more
judgment calls like a foul. But this is clear cut,
it's black and white, it's obvious, it's strikes and balls, like,
there is a way to handle this. I don't know.
(35:16):
I don't know what the NBA is going to do
because it's a pivotal series and they love this first
round matchup between the Clippers and Nuggets.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah they do. I don't know the numbers, but it
feels like, you know, the ratings are high on the
NBA playoffs this year, and maybe it's Luca in LA,
but the games and the matchups have been very, very good.
All right, we got to get into the Dodgers. You know,
they take two out of three from Pittsburgh. But it's Pittsburgh,
so are we really jumping up and down about that?
They lose to Paul Skiings, who's best in baseball on
(35:46):
the hill, but Dodgers have on today. Afternoon Delight is
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All right, Adam switching gears to another sport and that
other team and blue around here is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
(36:53):
They played Pittsburgh over the weekend. You knew it was
going to be a battle on on Friday with Paul
Skeins pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Who's just a phenom.
I mean, this this guy is he's something special because
he he throws a hundred plus and it doesn't even
(37:13):
look like he's even trying to throw a hundred plus.
It just smoothed out of his hand. Dodgers had their
hands full, but they take two out of three. Hernandez
brothers went off yesterday with home runs, which is which
is cool to see Kik and Taaska do that. Yeah,
I don't know, I guess you know, right now, the
(37:34):
Mets have the best record in baseball. The Giants are
still winning, and a lot of people feel that the
Giants at some point are going to fall off and
they're not gonna be able to sustain this. Although I'd
look at him right now and you know, what do
we thirty games in or something like that, and they
look like they are a team that can sustain. But
(37:55):
what do you make what do you make of the
Dodgers right now? And I know everybody felt like they
were going to go when they started eight and oh
they everybody thought they were going to go, you know,
one hundred and sixty two and oh or one hundred
and forty and twenty two or something like that. But
it's a long season, and you know they're not dominating teams.
(38:19):
They're winning enough games, but they're not dominating teams. Are
you surprised that you know they're they're not dominating right now,
or they're losing the teams that they probably should beat,
or they've lost some series that they probably should have
won or everybody thought they should have won at this
point in the season. I mean it's still late April.
They're not hit their full stride yet. But again, when
(38:41):
everybody talked in the offseason how loaded this team, you
know is are you surprised that they are? They're not
like lead the league and wins and home runs and
hits and everything else in every category.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I mean, look, we're not even i think, twenty five
percent of the way through the season. Yet it is
early enough where you can always make the excuse, ah,
Dodgers get just got to figure it out by August,
they get healthy by August. Nobody's gonna want to see
this team. But there is something too. I think they're
not just competing with Major League Baseball in the summer
(39:17):
of twenty twenty five, they're competing with history. They're competing
with the all time great teams out there, the twenty
seven Yankees. You know, they're trying to do what the
Seattle Mariners weren't able to do when they won one
hundred and sixteen games or whatever. Yeah, they're trying to
complete it. Be the best regular season team, dominate the postseason,
(39:38):
and be considered the greatest team ever assembled. That's what
the Dodgers are chasing. So it's fair to, I think
critique them for a slow start, even though it's early.
There's also some context, like they've been banged up, they've
had real injuries going on, and they just had another
one with Glas now Now he could be going on.
(40:01):
This is scary because he's never even pitched one hundred
and fifty innings in a season before. Yeah, I mean
that is shocking. We're not talking two hundred, one hundred
and fifty innings. Last season he was at one thirty
for the Dodgers. That's the most he's ever topped out at.
And yeah, eventually he has the elbow injury, and now
it looks like he's compensated for that to try to
(40:23):
put less strain on his elbow to where it affected
his shoulder. And after a game where he goes out
for cramps last week, yesterday, he feels a tweak in
the shoulder and he's out, and with Blake Snell already out, yes,
Gonsolin's supposed to come back, I think on Wednesday. But
this is a guy who's as dominant as anyone when
(40:45):
he's healthy. But my god, he can't stay healthy. And
he's had some interesting outings so far this season and
just five starts where that he had that game in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Oh, Philadelphia was just ugly and he had the bad
body language and you know it was it was muddy
and rainy and all that, and just got rocked in
that game. And you're looking up and going, you know,
because last year before he got hurt, you know, even
with the with the up and down of the Dodgers
and they're pitching staff kind of being you know, banged up.
(41:18):
He was till about you know, July, all Star break.
He was the stopper. He was the guy they brought
in when it was her turn to pitch. It was okay,
Dodge's gonna win this game. And glass Noow was clearly
clearly the ace of the staff last year before he
got hurt. But again to your point, he was hurt
(41:38):
in Tampa Bay as well. He had never pitched above
I think one hundred and something innings, either ten inning
to twenty whatever, and and he was hurt down there.
And now you know, as you look up and he's
been here for a couple of years now that he's
yet hurt again. That's got to be a major concern
because you really counted on this guy being a big
(42:00):
part of your staff. And I know they bolked up
and they built up their their pitching staff this offseason,
but still he was one of the guys that you're counting,
you counted on as to be in your rotation, as
being one of the top guys in your rotation.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Now, if you're anyone but the Dodgers, you're screwed. If Blake,
Snell and Glass now go down. But the thing is,
the truth is the Dodgers are so damn stacked. He
can be a luxury at times. I'm sure they knew
the injuries weren't going to go away when they signed him.
They knew his track record, but they also knew, well,
(42:38):
when he's healthy, he adds to an already great team
and absolutely nobody's beating us because to that point, they
won the World Series last year without him. They figured
how a way to win without him. They're so overpowered
out there. They got so many backup plans, contingency plans,
the farm systems so good. They get all the guys
(42:59):
in free agency. Now they're running the league that Yeah,
Lasnew's healthy, ready to go, we're unbelievably unstoppable. But if
he's not, we can get by. We can find a
way the offense can pick it up. They look good
the last two games after they had kind of that
dry spell against Texas. They still won the series, but
the bats really weren't there. Well, they look good the
(43:21):
last two games.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Even Andy fa has had ten hits over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
So been. I mean, that's the thing about him, right,
He's like, okay, all right, we got that, you know,
top four in the lineup. We got to really stop,
you know, Otani and Mookie and Freddie and Tae Oscar.
Once we get past that, we'll be okay and we'll
do our Oh wait, oh wait, now Will Smith is
hitting none tier Oh wait, now Paz has went ten
(43:48):
for twelve and in the series against us with two
home runs. Keky Hernandez comes in and hits home runs.
I mean, they are They really are insulated in terms
of guys going down or even the pitching being subpar.
But it is the thing where you know, the bats
have got to come through, which I think they will.
(44:09):
They've got too many guys in that lineup that makes
it that makes it difficult for you to shut this
team all the way down. Unless you're you've got Paul
Skeens pitching every day for you, You're not gonna be
able to do that. And we forgot to mention Tommy Edmond,
who is just, you know, just a baseball player. At
the end of the day, he is just a complete
baseball player. Anything that is there, anything that concerns you
(44:34):
with this team as you look at him right now.
I know it's April and it's early, but anything that
concerns you down the road that could trip up the Dodgers,
whether it be offensively or even even with the pitching staf.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Well, the NLS does look good right now. It's not
just the Giants, but San Diego looks competitive. The Diamondbacks
are a couple of games over five hundred, but the
thing is the Dodgers are supposed to have Kershaw back
in May. Gonsolin's coming back this week. They do have
a six man rotation. So when you only have three
(45:09):
pitchers right now, Sasaki, Yamamoto and Dustin May, who's going tonight.
It's not just about finding two guys, you have to
find three guys. I'm sure they've been in this position
many times before. They'll figure it out. Do you remember
when Gavin Stone went out last season and everybody thought,
well that's it. Charlotte broke the Campbell's back as just
one injury too many. Nope, still went on to win
(45:30):
the World Series. I don't think anything can take down
this team unless the Batch just goes so cold. But
they got coverage for one another. If one guy's not hitting,
if Freddie's not hitting, it's gonna be Mookie hitting. If
they're both not hitting, no time, he's gonna pick it
up for them. Tao's had a great, great year so far.
Like they have so many different ways to beat you.
(45:51):
You mentioned the Giants, and they do have. And I'm
from norcl I'm not a converted Sacramento as fan, yet
I'm still rooting for the Giants. It's not yet.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, they gotta get Yeah, if.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
They get to sixty wins this season, maybe I'll be
in his.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Fan they'll be able to put enough cameras in the
stadium to make sure they can get all the angles
of home runs and stuff in Sacramental right now.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
Yeah, they got issues, a little low budget operation going
on there. But the Giants do have some wind in
their sales because Buster Posey isn't the helmet. Yeah, you know,
that's their guy. He was their leader through a lot
of those three championships in five years twenty ten through
twenty fourteen, and it's just a fresh a fresh face,
I guess, even though he's very familiar. But the last
(46:34):
five or six years was far hard. It didn't work.
Now some of his guys are starting to hit now
or starting to figure it out, but it's too late.
He didn't see the promised land and Buster Posey's in
there and they're not playing the analytics as hard and
they just have a little bit of that magic back.
So I don't know if they're going away, if they're
going to slide to the extent that people are expecting.
So the division could be a little bit of a problem.
(46:56):
If the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
But is that helpful? Is that helpful? Because you know
there's some that say the Dodgers when they've struggled, have
and we'll break after this. But the Dodgers said, the
struggle has been where they they've run away with the division, right,
They've coasted into September and October and then they haven't
had to play competitive baseball for a period of time.
(47:21):
The fact that the division is good is going to
help the Dodgers, you believe that.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
I think there's something to that. Iron sharpens iron. You
got to be a little bit more battle tested. You
don't want it to be too easy and then you
get punched in the mouth in that divisional round like
we saw back to back years against San Diego and
then against the Snakes. I do think there's something to that.
But short term, by the way, the Dodgers' next nine
games against two twelve and fifteen teams Marlins, Braves, Marlins again.
(47:51):
So we'll talk with that, say more about this coming up,
But I think they're going to be able to weather
the storm of injuries and hang in there in a
tight n O West, even though it's early here.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
All right, heavy basketball a Little Dodgers, but we got
to get into the NFL Draft. That helping happened uh
this past weekend and of course uh Shadoor Sanders situation
and him going to the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.
We're gonna bring on our man, Bennie Bonnceignor, who's gonna
join us next hour as well, to talk about We're
gonna bring on our man, Bennie Bonsignor, who's gonna join
(48:24):
us next hour as well, to talk about the NFL
Draft and where it's going and all the mess surrounding
Chadeur Sanders, A five seventy l A Sports Come on,
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