Coby White Pummels Hawks, NBA Playoff Preview

Coby White submitted the best game of his life in the Bulls' first play-in game against the Hawks, scoring a hyper-efficient, career-best 42 points in powering Chicago to a blowout victory. Thanks to some huge injury luck, the Bulls are suddenly poised to beat the Heat in their second play-in match and make the playoffs proper. Max and Alex also preview the entire playoffs for good measure. Recorded 4-18-24.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to another edition of the BullsBros. Podcast. Hot are the heels
of the last edition of the BullsBros. Podcast, you guys, And
heck, we might even have another. That's right, a third Bulls bus
podcast for you before the week isout, because lots of stuff is suddenly
happening in bulls Land. You mightremember yesterday when I had a very dejected
Bulls Bros. Podcast. What cameout? I went, and this might

(00:33):
come on on Friday either way.And that was because I was resigned to
the fact that the Bulls looked aknee mckheading into the postseason, but also
trapped into nine seed and very capableof beating the Atlanta Hawks. I thought
it would be a close one,I said. I think the five point
margin was what I said. Andyou know then the heat or the sixers
were gonna kill us in the nextround. Well, a lot has happened

(00:56):
since then, you guys, tothe point where Max reached out to me
to say, hey, let's doa podcast, which never happens. I
can tell you that right now.I'm sorry. By the way, Bulls
Brother Alex here, Hello Bulls BrotherMax on the other line, Hello,
Yes, welcome welcome back, andwe're going to talk about suddenly the Bulls
look very likely to make it tothe next round beyond the play and to

(01:19):
advance to the playoffs. In theirmatchup for the eighth seed, they're going
to face the Miami Heat. Butfirst let's get to really quickly the bull
well not so quickly the Bulls game. It was to be quick about this.
This is the thing to talk about, is the playing game that just
happened. It was remarkable, Itwas astounding. It was like the most

(01:41):
the best they've looked since like thatlike initial Kobe Outburston, you know what
is it like early December, Iguess when he just looked like an All
star, Like it was awesome.It was like, yeah, they looked
great. Kobe looked amazing. Hehad forty two points on fifteen or twenty
one shooting from the field, threeto seven, nine of ten shooting from
the foul line, nine rebounds throughassist once deal, no turnovers, and

(02:06):
he registered a plus six plus minus. Now apparently no Bowl except for Kobe
White and Michael Jordan, has everdone the forty points, five rebounds and
UH zero turnovers thing uh in history, which is insane. Yeah, but

(02:27):
he looked amazing. He was inhis bag. I loved it. Damar
had a really nice night as well, quietly had like a crazy plus minus
had a great night. I wouldassumer who was not really the focal point,
like like tomorrow, Kobe did mostof the ball handling, but I
woul assume it was the beneficiary hegot in his spots. He drove when
he got the ball. Yeah,he looked to score. Yeah, played
played really good context of the offense. It was within the flow of the

(02:51):
offense. Yeah, it's like theperfect ioh game. Basically, he was
awesome. Vucevic. I have toadmit we talked about this before the podcast.
He played pretty well and I hatedit, but yeah, he out
played your guy c Capella. Iknow, every couple of months I advocate
for the bolster trader Cli Capella,and here I am eating those hot take
Clint Capella not that great. Lookswashed, as the kids say, looks

(03:15):
washed. I think he was alwaysoverrated. To be honest, well,
I don't know. I enjoyed hisroom rolling years on the rockets with the
Harden and stuff, but it's overnow for that guy. Feels like I
mean, he is not a gooddefender. I'll tell you that right now.
No, not anymore. I don'tknow I remembered him being one,
but yeah, he was a goodrebounder and like a defensive rebound rim protector,

(03:38):
but he was never I mean,Andre Drummond was just throwing him around
like a rag doll. It waspretty you know, So Andre Drummon was
throwing a lot of people around likea rag doll. So yeah, real
quick, she mentioned Cruise had areally good game for a while, and
uh, Javonte Green looked awesome insharp burst. He was like the only

(04:00):
bench score in double digits. Andyeah, so that that's pretty much that
takes year of all the good playersa Drummond. We did mention drum Drumm
played well for a second. Butthe the Bulls won one thirty sixteen over
the Hawks. The Hawks, itwas not that close. It was like
over like I don't know, midwaythrough the fourth, but they just kept
playing the starter. So Kobe wantto play like forty three minutes or something

(04:23):
whatever, he's like twenty four,who cares? Yeah, Trey Young looked
terrible. John day Murray clearly theirbest healthy player. Jayleen Johnson, I
guess might be the best role player. I would still give to Murray,
but like immediately whenever Trey Young wouldleave, the Hawks just looked so much
more composed. They did this threeguards starting lineup with Bojuon Bogdanovich and Trey

(04:43):
Young and John Dea. Murray didn'twork. That kept hanging on to that
for too long. Well, couldn'tstop us. They could not stop Kobe
and I oh, that lineup wasjust getting diced. And then we would
kick out so open threes. Imean, they couldn't do anything. We
torched them. There's a sequence wheKobe had like he put Bogdanovich and Trey
in a spin cycle and just droveright through the turnstile corps. Yeah,

(05:06):
it was great. It was great. And Quinn Snyder supposed to be this,
like, you know, this geniuscoach. Whatever they did nothing he
was you know, like name mcmillan and quin Snyder like interchangeable in terms
of the quality of their coaching withthis team. You know, it's the
team, it's not it's not thecoaching that's the issue. Well maybe a
bit of the coaching, but yeah, like Trey had a minus twenty seven

(05:27):
by the way plus minus six turnovers. Ye had like twenty two points and
like ten rebounds, but which afterAlex Crucioll got hurt. Basically, that's
true. That's true. I guessthat's the That's the other big thing.
Alex Cruso. Sander Drummond in thelast couple of weeks has injured two different
Balls players with collisions. First,when Tory Craig did a dumb bounce pass

(05:47):
off the backboard to himself for adunk, Drummond thought it was for him.
Drummond was trailing, and then theyboth tried to do the dunk,
so neither one did the dunk,and then Craig got kind of banged up,
more understandable than running over Alex Crusoeat half court when no one was
there. That yeah, and hestepped on his foot. Yeah, now,
I guess it was the foot thathe was planning on. The left

(06:08):
foot was actually the one that gothurt, not the foot that Drummond stepped
on, But it was because oflike the strain and like the way the
Cruiser was bouncing himself. So nowhe has a supposedly severe left ankle sprint
and he's like a game time decisionfor this heat game. Aka's probably not
gonna play, or if he's gonnaplay, he's not gonna play that much
or that well. So uh,but we're still probably gonna win that heat
game. Anyway. Let's talk aboutbefore we get to that. I want

(06:28):
your thoughts on what you saw lastnight, Max again recording this Thursday of
the game is Wednesday. Yeah,I loved what I saw. I thought
the offense was excellent. The passingwas crisp, not turning the ball over,
great passing attack, there was somegreat passes, were attacking the paint
and dishing it out. It honestlyreminded me a little bit of Billy Donovan's

(06:50):
Oklahoma City Thunder teams because of likethe guards like drive and kick like ball
movement, attacking the paint like itreminded me of that. Of course,
different Kauzvouch and Damar like a differentkind of different types of players than what
they had there. But I justthought Kobe really, like he's just so

(07:11):
much more comfortable both attacking and takingthrees and so confident, and his ball
handling passing is just so much better. I just was very very impressed.
I think everyone was, and tomorrowwas Damar and Io stepped up and our

(07:32):
big guys outplayed theirs, Our guardsoutplayed theirs. So I mean, just
it was a good offensive game.Defensively, you know, at times the
solid but I think there was definitelytimes when there was a lull defensively,
especially with Caruso was out and injured. We let them, Yeah, we
let them get back into it acouple of yeah, we did, but

(07:54):
you know, were like eighteen atthe end of the first time. I
mean, if they're if they're jackingup, if they're making three ease,
like they're gonna score. But atthe end of the day, we were
just the better team. And thatteam has more talent than we do.
So yeah, like at least onpaper, on paper they do so I

(08:16):
have to like give some credit forus. I mean, that was a
complete game and we don't off Wedon't do that that often. I also
like that we consistently win. Ifwe're we have a significantly going into the
fourth so I know, like tenplus points center in the fourth quarter,
we're gonna win. So that that'sgood to know. At the end of

(08:37):
the day, I thought it wasgood. They were played better than I
thought they would. I think wehave somebody in Kobe White. I think
he's a stud. I really do. This kid's real. I think he's
real. I think he's gonna Ithink he's an All Star caliber player next
year, so that is huge.I also love the fact that Zach Lvine's
like four almost five times as aexpensive and plays how many minutes compared to

(09:05):
him, like and look at theirplus minus. I mean, but at
the same time, the end ofthe day, like if you took xact
Levine's contract and spliced it up amongother players, added that to this roster,
it would be a better team.So I don't know there's something good
there. I just I liked whatI saw from him. At the end

(09:26):
of the day, none of itreally matters. But which is one of
my complaints to you for the lastI don't know however many months. But
at the end of the day,I had a great time watching that game,
And it's nice to have a meaningfulgame at the United Center, Like

(09:46):
you know, that counts for somethinglike a meaningful fun game after the season
is over. I know it's notthe playoffs, but it was nice to
have that game at the United Center. The fans got really into it,
and so I don't know what itThis was more different than that Piranho game,

(10:07):
right, So for me, likeI actually would say that the play
in for me was very much likeI was very anti playing for a hot
minute, especially because it was gonnagive justification to keep our front office and
coaching staff on board. They weren'tgonna get it. But at the end,
like we're team playing. But atthe end of the day, it

(10:28):
was a fun game. It wasentertaining, and I mean, like the
reality is we were gonna get smokedif we were the eight or seven seed
anyway in the playoffs, So likethat doesn't change, do you know what
I mean? Like we're gonna ifwe win this next game and become the

(10:48):
eighth seed, we're still gonna getsmoked. Like even if we were and
if we were good enough to bethe seventh seed, which we were never
even close to being this year,we were still gonna get smoked by the
two seeds. So at the endof the day, like doesn't really at
least it's some fun at the UnitedCenter. We could have taken the books
without Yan saying with middle Yeah,if they were the two hypothetically they're not.

(11:13):
Yeah, I'm just saying theoretically theyare the three seed, the Knicks
of the two seed, and eventhe Knicks Withoutjuice Randa would have would polarize
us. Well, I think competitive, I don't think they would polarize us,
but they would ultimately win. Wedid, I mean, we did
have a double or we had anovertime game that we really shouldn't have been
in. I think we would losein like six or maybe seven in the

(11:35):
seventh game in the MSG, butwe would ultimately lose that series to the
Knicks. But but like you know, but at the end of the day,
like it doesn't really matter because likeeven if let's say we beat the
two seed, we would lose thenext series. Like we're just I mean,
we're not good. So at leastwe had a fun game and now
we get to play the Heat inMiami and hopefully when that and then get

(11:58):
smoked by Boston. It's a weirdthing because I was saying earlier this week
that, you know, I wantedthe Bulls to lose the playing game because
I want their Turt Conner show wasfired as soon as possible, because yeah,
I just don't know how much ofa difference it makes, Like I
think, well, I think missingthe playoffs, you know, so many
years in a row or whatever,would it would eventually make a difference.
But I think if we make itand then we get smoked like swept by

(12:20):
Boston, they would still I mean, they still wouldn't be happy. I
don't think they would care. Theydon't think they would. He would sell
it as improvement. The Rhinds stargot to fire him this year, but
then I'm saying the next year,because then they wouldn't get good enough and
then they would get fired. Idon't think there's anything that could happen this
year that would lead to them gettingfired. I think he could walk on

(12:41):
the court and punch a fan inthe face and then stomp on him on
the court, and I don't thinkhe'd get fired. Well, we would
eject the fan of banner from theUnited States. That's basically what happened with
the Bobby Pork happened. But yeah, and then they Jordan the euro Duram

(13:01):
Pool and destroy Jordan Poole's life,ruined his career. I mean he's still
very very rich and he won thetitle, so whatever, But yeah,
I don't know. I think thatany kind of thing they can flip his
success or has improven over last year. However, Granular they're going to do
that, and the Rhinds Rus aretotally checked out in this team, and
so they'll be fine with like makingthe playoffs of the eighth seed for like

(13:22):
five years or whatever it is.So I, I, uh, long
term imory, but short term likeI'm writing such a high of that Kobe
performance, and I still you know, I love Damar. Yeah, I
love Cruise despite myself, I likeGavante, although I wish we had picked
up someone who's like toll than sixfour as a power forward whatever. But
you know, there's players that Ilike on this team and I want them
to succeed despite myself almost so kindweird to me that is playing over toy

(13:46):
Craig, that's an indictment of ourchurs. Car Show is off season?
Really you so did you? Yeah? But and I like car and well
we both messed that one up,like yeah, yeah, you want to
play like twenty seconds or something.I don't know. He's that was a
terrible we didn't know, I mean, that was that's this seems ok.
Campaigner Tory Craig when I was morehigh on anyway and whoops. Those guys

(14:13):
would work better with a guy likeAlonzo because he can like what we lacked
a lot of is ball movement andpassing and making life easier on the other
players. And guys like Carter andCraig don't. They don't move the ball
around, they don't create mismatches.They're more spot up guys. I did

(14:35):
like some of Craig's minutes defensively inthe fourth quarter, So I'm not saying
he doesn't have value, and he'scoming off the injury. I still think
he's good to have on a minimumcontract. I'm just saying, like Javonte,
he's also six seven. You know, he's an actual power forward.
Yeah, but Javonte plays bigger thanhe is, and he's athletic, and
he hustles all the time. Like, yeah, there gets hurt. He's

(14:58):
gonna get hurt. That's that's justplaying that position. I mean, we
don't have that many more games atmost five, so I think I don't
think it's that big a deal.I'm just pointing out, like I like
the hustle, and I think hekind of I think the team feeds off
that energy. That's that's a bitof a bummer though, you know what

(15:20):
I mean that like it takes ChavontaGreen to get us get us ants.
Well, we're not We're not avery energetic amped team. No, like
just everyone's sort of like collecting paychecksand pretty chill whatever. It's Kobe White
is like sort of becoming the leadernow because like themar is just like very
hands off. I mean, peoplelove Tomorrow like a good team people by

(15:43):
example, like, but he's nota vocal leader and you kind of need
one of those, and maybe Kobebecomes that. Yeah, I don't know.
It was great coming out a party. Yeah that was cool. I
mean I also think that, likeit was very funny to me. Do
you watch the ESPN broadcast or okay, so uh so the I don't know
who the guy was doing the commentarynext Richard Jefferson, but he didn't know

(16:07):
how to say DeMar or was itRyan Ruco? No Negle. Negle had
and trouble pronouncing DeMar de Rosen's name. He can't call him Demard de Rosian,
Yes, And I was like,do you know who this is?
This is a six time All Starnever quoted Bucha Visio's rebounds, which was
very annoying. Like he kept saying, oh, twenty two points. Really,
I'm like, and eleven rebounds,twenty and ten game, like,

(16:30):
yeah, big game, but likehe never quoted that number. It was
like he didn't realize that rebounds wereimportant for a center. I was confused.
Yeah, It's just so weird,Like I feel like no one knew
who Kobe was before this game orwhatever that wasn't watching the ball all the
time. Maybe because he's a uncguy for most super Player of the Year,
like he definitely was. People knowwho he is. I just feel

(16:52):
like the broadcasting team was like alittle surprised by him, and I just
was certain surprised how good he was. Yeah, yeah, because they have
been paying that we all come intothis game and they want to talk about
Tree, yeah, and de JonteMurray and Demart Rosen like that's who they're
planning on talking about, and heoutplayed all of them obviously. But I
mean, the Bulls back court wereso much better than the Hawks back court.

(17:15):
And if you told me that comingin, I'd say the Bulls are
gonna win. That's true. Imean the Hawks you know, they had
lost six in a row heading intothe playing game too. It's rough,
that's the other thing. Yeah,So that's that's why I did take the
Bulls to win. But I didn'tthink it was gonna be like that.
The one thing about the Bulls Abig issue I have with the Bulls personnel
building too. Then we talk aboutthe Lonzo really helped and Cruso is the

(17:38):
perimeter defense, the three point defensebecause the Bulls allow I think a league
high opponent three point shot attempts.That's bad over the course of the season,
where everyone you know takes so manymore shots in the Bulls. Anyway,
it's just you're just sort of givingup on this very obvious thing.
And you know, having the thea Lonzo Cruzo tandem out there so important

(18:00):
for like what made the Bulls sogood for that thirty five games or whatever
it was. So I just wantedto mention I hope that I hope that
you know, we do something Idon't. I mean, long term,
it's such a weird thing, rightbecause we have this twenty million dollars Lonzo
contract that's just been sitting there foryears, like can we can we dust
it off? And trade him atthe deadline and get some depth of we're
gonna try to be like mediocre todecent. I don't know, but Kobe

(18:22):
White deserves something. So give thisman a team. He's on an awesome
deal. I would assume when Iwas on an awesome deal, you know
what I mean. Let's let's eitherlike build around these guys or like do
a quick tear down get some depthand stuff. Although ak is such a
but we don't have assets, sowe can get an assets if we do
some trading, right, But likewill we what do we have that people

(18:45):
want? Caruso? But yeah,but if we trade him, we'll be
worse. Yeah, well, no, we have a season of tearing it
down. That the twenty twenty fivedraft is supposed to be really good,
so we do a soft tank foreach But don't we not have that draft
pick? O? Crap? Isit a lottery protected? What's the deal?
It's a yeah, it's some kindof it's just might maybe like a

(19:07):
top ten Yeah yeah, but itmight be top ten protected and you can
get into But we'll talked plenty aboutthis game. I think any final thoughts
in the game or the bulls orany anybody we didn't talk about. Mm
hmm. I like Dale and Terry'sdefense. He came in and played some
good defense. Uh, he didhave one nice dug. At some point
he's gonna have to learn how toshoot a three. But I feel like

(19:30):
Andre drummonds rebounding mentality is rubbing offa little bit on some of these other
players. Like I like seeing himgo after the offensive boards and stuff,
because we did this thing where wewould just like give up on the rebound
and go back and play transition defenseor something. I don't remember when that
was, but they kind of weren'tenforcing the going after the offensive boards as

(19:55):
much. And when Drummonds in there, people go after him. And like
some of those long lanky guys likeJavonte or like Dale and Terry, Tory
Craig, those guys go after theboards. Uh you know, I saw
I saw Kobe and Io mixing upand getting in there too. So they're
the strong guys their positions. Yeah, I liked a lot of what and

(20:15):
that's well, that's part of thetype of players that you guys like,
is guys like that, which Iget. It's just they have to also
have skills and that's the part whereit's hit or miss, right. Yeah,
I like Io though he's played well. I think I don't know,
I'm I. I'd like to seethem get some experience, you know,

(20:38):
in the playoffs. I would liketo see them get these young guys.
I think Kobe being a starting pointguard for a playoff series would be beneficial
for him in his development. SoI do actually want them to make the
playoffs for that reason. So Ican't root against this team because I just

(20:59):
don't think there's any way they're losingthis game on Friday. So let's turn
this into that. Now, letme tell you, let's transition to that.
Now, there we go. Yeah, I think that the Heat are
now without two starters, Terror Rogier, who's got next pasive issues, and
then Jimmy Butler, who has anMCL sprain. Was Kellybridge Junior fell on

(21:21):
him, awkwardly fell into him inthe first quarter of their one O five
one oh four seven eight playing matchuploss to the Philadelphia seventy six ers Wednesday.
Jimmy was grimacing in pain. Itlooked really bad. And then he
played the rest of the game andlike until the fourth quarter when he really
broke down. He actually looked likeokay, but he was playing with like
a serious mcl sprain, which,man, that's just so Jimmy right,

(21:45):
Like I didn't. I think itwas playing through an injury that was gonna
cost him weeks, you know.But you know, as soon as they
lost that game, you knew itwas over the Heat's playoff chances because they
fell to the eight seed now atbest, and they would lose the Celics
in the first round with a hotJimmy so and probably with a fully healthy
Celic team that we're gonna lose anywayin the first round, but by the

(22:06):
later rounds there's possibly Chris despertingas getshurt. So that's kind of what I
was hoping for for the Heat toget the seven seed. Anyway, the
Heat are done. I think thatthey are done. There's no way the
team can like er ex Sposer cansort of Frankenstein together some kind of lineup
they can score enough and defend enoughat the wing to save themselves. I
just think that they're also they're kindof small, which is another game where

(22:29):
Vuchwvic could have a zillion rebounds,which is weird to say that Vu is
gonna have such a big matchup advantageagain. But I feel like it's true
even I mean, BAM's really good. BAM's really good, but like Bam
is six' nine and like,I don't know, he's he's skinny,
you know, he's not like he'sa he's a power forward in another era
and you could see it in thesix ers game of quarters against Embiid.

(22:51):
But also like you can see itwhen you could see in the finals last
year against Jokic. You know,he's really good, but he's kind of
a small ball center. So Idon't I don't know. I'm not saying
that like he's not gonna have agood game. I'm sure, well,
but it's just not gonna be enough. So I think that the Bulls are
gonna win this playing game. Nowwe don't have Cruso. Well well no,
Cruso's game game time decisions, sowe might have Cruso. He's gonna

(23:14):
be a little limited or whatever.But I was like sort of taking that
like Cruso tutelage and uh, he'syou know, he's our second best premier
defender now and he's like pretty decentoffensive player when he knows his role,
and uh, yeah, I feelI feel weirdly confident about the both chances
on Friday against the Heat. Yeah, I don't think it's weird. Would

(23:36):
it be weird? I don't know, It's just it's just weird to me
that, Like, you know,yesterday, at the beginning of the day,
I was totally convinced, whatever happensin the Bulls playing game, which
I thought were gonna win, We'regonna get slaughtered in the next round by
either team, the Sixers or theHeat, you know, even with a
hobble, and I think we'd havea shot again see the team based on
the health of their best players.So but yeah, I mean we're gonna

(23:59):
I mean I think will beat theHeat, but I we're gonna guarantee it
because we could be really streaky andsometimes if the shots aren't going down,
they don't put as much effort indefensively and we could lose. But I
do think we'll probably win, andthen we're gonna get swept by Boston.
I'm really annoying how easy everything isgoing to be for the Celtics, Like

(24:22):
everything is lined up for them.All the other teams have one of them
has their best or their second bestplayer hurt. Yeah, the heater,
sorry ye, the East is setup Sixers, he Nicks. Everyone's got
guys out and the Celtics are justgonna be cake walking to the finals except

(24:44):
the Pacers, who are just notgood enough. I don't think the Paces
are gonna beat the Bucks, separationsthe Celtics, but they have no chance
in the next round yet no,sorry, no in the conference finals.
Hypothetically, their defenses is so terrible, there's no change. Will be Pacers
Pacers Knicks in the next round.Well, actually no, I don't know.
I think the Sixers could beat theKnicks if Embiid looks a little better

(25:06):
than he did on Wednesday. Helooked rough. They needed Nicholas but him
to score twenty points and gets sixthrees to barely win that game against you
know, like pretty much uh,super banged up Jimmy Butler, you know.
So it's tough. I don't know, but if Embiid is Embiid again,
you know, at some point inthat series, I could see them

(25:26):
upsetting the Knicks. It's just it'sjust tough. I even Bead's already hurt
at the beginning of the playoffs,you know, it didn't matter. He's
gonna get hurt in the first coupleof games anyway. He always does.
That's true. People never talk aboutthat every year. They used to be.
They used to should have been talkingabout it this whole time. People
are like, oh, he's thebest player in the Nisah, you can't

(25:48):
be the best player in the NBAif you're never healthy in the springtime.
I'm sorry, it's just that's justnot how it works. But yeah,
but I don't know. So,like six Ers Nicks could be interesting if
it beats healthy, I don't thinkso. I think Knicks are gonna win,
But the Knicks are you hurt togo that far? So I think
it'll be a weird. I thinkwe've got Knicks Pacers for the right to
lose in five to the Celtics andthe Commons finals. Basically is what things

(26:10):
are looking like to me right now. Yep, Probably, what do you
think? Probably? Yeah? AndI would take the Pacers, which would
just be hilarious just because well,the Knicks. But the Knicks are so
banged up and Obi's playing hurt,and uh Randall's not there hurt. Why

(26:32):
do you think they're so good?They have like three fewer losses than the
Knicks. Like, they're not thatbad, They're fine. Yeah, Wells
had way more wins than the nextlast year and they got beat Yeah,
but the Cavs have like two guysthat play the same positions in their starting
fives, you know what I mean? The play defense. Tarres Halburton is

(26:53):
one of the worst defenders in theNBA at least you think you think Jalen
Brunson is not going to exploit that. Well, yeah, that's true.
But like, how are they gonnastop Miles Turner. Arstine's okay, Yeah,
Artine's okay. Actually, they'll harassthem, they'll play physical. It's
the playoffs, so they won't callas many fouls like I think the Nicks

(27:15):
will win. They do have alot of like fun, sort of switchy
Billy Donovan core kind of guards thatcan play up. Okay, I'm gonna
I'm gonna call it a push.We can. We could re visit it
later, but I I'm giving anyway. So that's the okay. So that's
these So yeah, whatever's with theBulls and this this heat series. They're
gonna lose to the Celtics in asweep, no question. And uh,

(27:37):
but let's talk about the West.Uh now, yes, I know,
talk about the West. So theLakers advanced to the seventh seed. They're
gonna play the Nuggets. They're gonnalose the fiber or whatever. And then
the next round is the Kings versusthe Pelicans with no Zion Williamson. So
I guess the Kings by the way, they're missing Malik Monk and Kevin Hurder,
but they killed the Warriors, whichis kind of hilarious. I don't

(28:00):
know if you watched that game.Uh, Max's Max's asleep. Look okay,
So, uh, I'm gonna callthat series Ingram's Heart too. I'm
gonna I'm gonna say the Kings win, and the Kings get the eighth seed
to lose to the Thunder, whichis annoying because I thought the under were

(28:22):
an easy team for some lower seedto take down. But like I think
they're just They're gonna be so muchhealthier than the Kings, and the Kings
will play defense, so and theThunder gonna actually win the top seed.
But yeah, so I want totalk about first round upsets real fast in
the West, and then and thenquickly who makes the Commerce Finals next to
the Nuggets. So, uh,the three to six matchup. I'm not

(28:45):
the first person to say, thislooks like an easy opportunity for the Phoenix
Sun, the sixth seed to upsetthe third seed in Minnesota terms, if
you have just been loving all season. Uh, and then immediately once the
playoff preview podcasts start, everyone's talkingabout how Gobert you can't play him late,
and it's just he's gonna be inDefensive Player of the Year and he's
not a good enough defender to playlate in the playoffs. I just don't
understand what we're doing. But it'svery entertaining. So so yeah, I

(29:07):
think that the Suns could make alittle noise. And then another one that
I love hearing, just this this, Oh, the Clippers could do it.
You know, this could be theClippers year. Finally, people were
saying in the middle of that run, in the middle of the season,
I mean, I'm not hearing that. I'm hearing that the man now in
the middle of the hot sexy teamthough. Yeah, right, that's the

(29:29):
thing. Like the middle of waslike, oh yeah, the Clippers look
good, and I was thinking thatit's not gonna last. It never lasts.
Quilen is not going to be healthy. He just isn't so anyway,
Yeah, so I think that Ithink, I think it's Mavericks are going

(29:51):
to upset the Clippers, and thatthe Sons are gonna upset the Timberwolves.
And then I don't know what Imean. And then I think the Mavericks
are gonna upset the Thunder in thesecond round. Obviously the Songs will lose
in five to the Nuggets, andthen we got a frisky fun Conference Finals

(30:11):
Dallas, Denver. What say you? I think I think you're right on
all the first round. The onlything I think the Clippers do have a
chance of beating the MAVs. Butthe MAVs have a lot more depth now
than they But I mean, Idon't know. I think it. Kwai

(30:34):
is already hurt, by the way, he's already heard he's gonna try to
play. We don't know that he'splaying. Oh he might not play,
Okay, yeah, forget it.Then if he's not playing and like himself,
then they have no chance. SoI'll take them in any game where
he's like pretty much himself. Butif he's if if he and Paul George
are both like that. But ifthey're also Russell Westbrooker was heard, I

(30:56):
know, So yeah, yeah,MAVs. Then I think the MAVs and
then the Sons I think will takethem for to six again just like last
year. And then yeah, Ithink at the end of the day,
you're gonna see MAVs Nuggets and Ithink Joker is going to be too much
for them to handle. And Ithink they're gonna they're gonna win their beat

(31:21):
the MAVs in like five or sixgames. Yeah, I just think they're
trust their Celtics and like six orseven games. I think that that could
be a fun series. And uh, I guess I just don't If they
keep poor thing is healthy, Idon't know that they can, but if
they do, if they do,I think that they actually do have a
chance. I probably still would takeDenver, but it depends on Murray's health

(31:42):
a little bit. It's been alittle tenuous lately. True Murray came back
a little soon from this injury.They were trying to get that one seed.
They didn't. They got the twoseeds. But yeah, so I
think there's a chance. It's alsolike their depth is Okay, it's like
a little you know, it's it'skind of last year, right where they
have like I don't know, theygot three you good bench guys or whatever.
I like, yeah, well,I you know, Bruce Brown is

(32:06):
much better six man than anybody theyhave. Jeff Green, Uncle Jeff.
So I agree. So I thinkthere's a chance that the Nuggets lose,
but it's hard to see them losinganytime before the finals. Now, I
hope that that our predictions don't gotalking. You know, it's kind of
boring. It's become boring. Iwas so excited for the playoffs a couple
of weeks ago, and then Gianni'sgot hurt. Now, Jamie's hurt,
and Beads already hurt, Kawhi hasalready hurt, Randalls was out for the

(32:29):
season, and you know, nowit's just sort of boring. Yep.
But I hope that we're wrong.I hope that Fun and whatever in their
path, because it's going to befun. That the Sun's Temporal series could
be fun too. Yeah, Imean, Anthony Edwards is an X factor,
you know, if if he remembersthat he's probably the best player in

(32:52):
the series. So uh no,no, it sounds back then maybe they
could win. Yeah, they haveMcDaniels. I still think they'll lose.
They have their number. It's hardfor like they're built to defend the paint

(33:15):
and Phoenix is a jump shooting team, so yeah, gotta be a problem.
Yeah. So yeah, I justand uh, just the shot making
late of those guys, the threeguys that Phoenix has h plus like grayce
Allen is like one of the bestthree point shooters in the league now and

(33:36):
Nurkic has been like weirdly serviceable andweirdly healthy this year. So yeah,
I think that sounds can do it. I think Frank boll was coaching for
his job basically in this series.Yeah, I think he's gonna lose to
Denver, you know, but andstill keep his job. But yeah,
you can't lose in the first roundexcept for getting a major injury. Also,

(33:58):
one thing I want to say toyou is like, I don't know
if you were paying attention to thatmuch to the Philly Heat game, but
campaign hops in the game late immediatelymakes a corner to three, and I
was just remembering, Man, thatguy was a bowl once and uh,
he's now a useful guy. Ona on a play moments though. That's
true. That's true. I meanhe was Chris Paul's backup for a second

(34:19):
and then he immediately was kind ofbad when they resigned him. He was
on Milwaukee for a home minute andreally sucked, and they flipped them for
Beverly, and Beverly meedly made Milwaukeemuch better. Yes, but Milwaukee's cooked,
by the way, Milwaukee's cooked.Speaking of former Bulls, we got
two on that Bucks team, Ithink, right we got Beverly and of
course Portis and we had Rollo,but I think Rollo's gone now. But

(34:45):
anyway, so yeah, that's ourplayoff preview everybody for the first round.
We're gonna report back. I don'tknow if it's happen to playing game or
maybe right before the Celtics series.If that happens, and I want to
talk about the playoffs as they goalong. I'm hope that we get some
more exciting games in our predictions.Basically, I want I want upsets from
our picks. I want our picksto be totally wrong. Well, people

(35:07):
can get hurt at any time,and as soon as that happens, it
changes everything. So it's already startingto happen. I know, that's exactly
what I'm saying. Like, ifPorzingis goes out, then the Celtics are
vulnerable. Nix in the finals.Oh my god, I would not be
able to stand the media. Iwouldn't be able to I would not be
Stevin A. Smith and Chris Amoswould be in such Christ you know it's

(35:31):
not him that bothers me. It'severybody else who's like taking it so seriously.
Yeah, oh, ESPN would gocrazy. Ugh. But yeah,
hey, I hope that the Bullsmake the finals. I guess no chance
if four of the boss got hurt. Oh, the Bill Simmons connection would

(35:54):
be amazing. I think there's achance they steal a game. But yeah
it I mean, Tomorrow looked muchbetter than he usually does in the postseason.
In that game, I will say, maybe it's because Kobe was sort
of taking some of the pressure offhim or something, but he just so
it's a postseason game. But yes, playing, I think they played better

(36:15):
on the play. I think we'reteam playing. We're team playing. I
mean, we're playing in figuer competition, so it does make sense. Ye.
But yeah, oh, Cruso ishealthy at some point in that Boston
series. You know, I thinkhe's gonna try to play in this game.
I just don't think he's gonna behealthy. So we'll see. And
I just want Drummond to kind ofremember where his teammates are and to like
work in his peripheral vision. Idon't know if needs glasses or something,

(36:37):
some laser eye surgery before tomorrow something. Just stop stop hurting your own teammates,
stay out of their way. Noneed to be that too, that
too. Yeah, and yeah,we'll see anyway. Good to see h
Max. Go Bulls, Go Bulls,