First Round Predictions for Each 2024 NBA Playoffs Series

Episode 169: Arky Shea and Joel C. Cordes prognosticate every first-round matchup for the 2024 NBA Playoffs. They tackle big storylines like the Dallas Mavericks needing to win a series, why the Phoenix Suns are the worst possible matchup for the Minnesota Timberwolves, how the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are prepared for a bloodbath, and why the Milwaukee Bucks are about to be embarrassed by the Indiana Pacers.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome into Basketball by Association. Myname is Tyres Maxie. That is Joel
embiid. Welcome into the program.Everybody. Joel, see what I did
there? Do you see what Idid? Do you see what I did
that? Granted my name has nothingto do with Tyree's or Maxie, but
you know what, it wasn't thefew to the night last time? As

(00:20):
we're talking, Uh, Joe,how are you partner? We h?
As it looks if I'm looking righton the internet here, we've still got
basketball and these games count. I'mdoing well. I think you're probably doing
better than me, knowing that yourNew York Knicks don't have to host the
Miami Heat. Yeh again, althoughgetting the Philadelphia seventy six ers is kind

(00:41):
of a really crummy consolation price whenit's all said and done. But you
mean the fractured, broken down seventysix ers, is that what you're talking
about? Yeah, the ones whobeat the Heat that you didn't you didn't
want to see air go bye oneby one, and that was it was
a close game. That all thatgame, you know it was it was
neither one of those teams is playingreally great right now, and it was

(01:03):
a pretty good basketball game itself,but like it was, it was Eastern
Conference basketball all the way. Itwas playoff. It was a little surprising
that you got into the triple digits, although it's low triple digit still,
and it took to the very endof the game to get into the triple
digit. Let's still you know theyall count, Joe. I'm glad to
hear you're doing well. These gamesapparently do count. So we're in the

(01:25):
play in stages that you guys areprobably aware of the calendar speaking, and
I like to just if we goahead and just start with the game we're
talking about right now. The tiresMaxie led Joel Embiid's second fiddled Philadelphia seventy
six Ers beat Miami, which meansthey get the seventh spot. So guess
what, Knicks fans, we don'thave to see the stupid heat probably ever,

(01:48):
because they'll get eliminated immediately, maybemaybe even tomorrow, So God bless
that could happen. But what doyou think of the result in the game
itself. As you're watching last nightfirst half, it's easy just to say,
well, the Sixers were turning theball over too much, But it
goes a lot deeper than that.What I saw was the Philadelphia team that

(02:10):
was really trying to touch pass alot, which you absolutely cannot do around
the Miami heat, especially come playofftime. There is no room for touch
passing, especially in a zone.Philadelphia had trouble with Miami zone, which
is constantly changing. They talked aboutit on the broadcast a lot. You
know, the zone is really likea blob. It's a MorphOS It doesn't
have a shape, so it's reallyhard to key in on any one thing.

(02:35):
And Philly had to know coming intoit that Miami was going to play
that, but you still have toget up to that level. And first
half, when shots were not falling, Philadelphia was playing good defense. They
were being physical, but silly passes, passes that are off balance, touch
passes. Miami was just all overthat. And in the second half you
sensed an adjustment coming out at halftimein that Philly up the intensity on both

(03:00):
ends. The ball started to movea little bit more crisp, crisply.
They weren't panicking around the zone.I think that was a Nick Nurse adjustment
and really probably to the heats detriment. The zone worked so well in the
first half that they likely stuck withit going into the second half and didn't
necessarily adjust all that much, andso Philly was able to battle back into

(03:23):
it, cut down the turnovers.And then of course on the miamis Miami
side, they struggle in half courtoffense. They're down Terry Rogier, Duncan,
Robinson doesn't play in that game.And then when you lose Jimmy Butler
on top of that, Yes he'sstill played, but he was back definitely.
He only had twelve points. Hewas hard to say at the beginning
of the or the end of thatfirst quarter, and the story just come

(03:44):
out, He's gonna be out forthe next several weeks. Yeah, So
it was a tough scene for themto be able to try to recover from
that with all the other issues withthe half courts. Like if they it
was just gonna be difficult for themthe rest of the way. God bless
them that they they they were init to the end to try to be
able to win it. You know, the I have a few possessions were
basically separated everything. But yeah,like you said, it was they struggled
in the half court. It's reallysimilar in magnitude, which to Zion leaving

(04:11):
for New Orleans, a game thatwe'll talk about in a little bit here.
The only difference is Zion left inthe last three minutes of that game
and they lost. And Jimmy Butler, while he played through the entire game,
was hurt early and so was neutralizedfor a lot longer. And let's
be real, Miami, whether theyhave Terry Rogier or some of those other
guys who've been missing, Josh Richardsonhasn't been playing. Whether they have those

(04:35):
guys or not, they are almostalways out talented at just about every position
save bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.And when you're playing the Philadelphia seventy six
ers, I'm sorry. As goodas bam is, Joel Embiide is better.
So you're out ranked in that positiontoo. When Jimmy Butler becomes neutralized,
you no longer have any positions onthe floor where you're gonna out talent

(04:58):
anybody. And to Miami's credit,they defend on that string. They communicate,
their discipline, they move the ball, they do all those good things
as a team, and yes theyhave some talent. But Philadelphia was able
to lock in and they've gotten anadvantage at Tyres Maxi's position, at Tobias
Harris's position, at Kelly Uber Junior'sposition, and who knew at Nick Batum's
position last night too, where hecomes in huge and starts knocking down threes

(05:21):
and it's a dust off game forBatum, who used to be able to
do that four or five years ago. And we don't really see any Nick
Batum games like that recently, whereit looks like he's been running on fumes
for a couple of years. Stilla big body, a guy who knows
how to defend. But that's aboutit, So kudos to Philadelphia. They
just escape at home, but manMiami made him work. Yep. And

(05:44):
we'll talk about their future opponent comingup in just a moment, because now
it's time to talk about the otherEastern game that happened. How about the
fighting Chicago Bulls. Billy Donovan's stillgot some for somebody. Kobe White goes
for forty two and they roll theHawks more Nick's face and joyfully screaming last
night into the TV. Good Treyhung suck an egg? Okay, so

(06:06):
that's right, suck an egg.Good Hawks pun there how about this.
That loss was the first time theHawks had ever lost in the play in
tournament. They were three and ohbefore, which is kind of funny to
think about that. They clearly havethe most bodies in that tournament at this
point or that part of the tournament. Also, Kobe, what's forty two?

(06:28):
It's the second most ever scored inthe play in game, So I
think, who's it to score fiftylike two years ago? It doesn't matter,
but it's the second most ever.In Chicago looked great. Inlanta also
looked terrible. And I don't thinkthis means a whole heck of a lot
going forward for how good Chicago couldbe and how deep they can run.

(06:51):
But Atlanta, man, outside ofa few years ago where they were just
sort of chopping down the knicks andstuff, again, this team has just
been middling at best. I mean, every time they get sort of one
of the chance to have a bigmoment again, they just they collapsed.
They did. They're just not there'snot well put together, and you're running

(07:13):
out of scapegoats because you've changed coaches. You know, prior to Nate McMillan
arriving, it was a coaching issueand then Nate McMillan comes and they play
better, and then it becomes hisfall, and then it was a John
Collins issue. But both of thoseguys are gone. And yes, you
can point out that on Yaka kanngWu wasn't playing. He's been out for
you know, months at this point. And there's a couple other guys like

(07:34):
Jalen Johnson, guys that would havebeen helpful that were not available. But
the starting lineup still is about astalented as you're gonna get. The bench
is kind of a mess. Butbetween DeAndre Hunter, Clint Capella, Trey
Young, boy on Bogdanovic or boggedon Bogdanovich, excuse me, and then
de Jontay Murray, that's a nicestarting five. It's just it still doesn't
feel like it fits. You stilldon't know whether Trey Young is actually a

(07:57):
winning player. You still don't knowwhether guys really like playing with him or
not. Isn't it the weirdest part? Like to me, it seems like
Trey Young is especially the very veryvery good player, but it does feel
like that whatever comes around him doesn'twork, and he's kind of a common
factor here, like he's like soI don't know like it. It feels

(08:20):
a little James harden esk doesn't itthat he's there. That's fair because he
puts up good numbers. I'm talkingabout that Trey Young, like he played
fairly well for his numbers. Again, but there's you know, what was
it going into halftime when last nightwhere like you know, Trey just dribbling
the ball around right, and DantyMurray's like, dude, we've ran out
of the clock because you just dribbledaround like a prick. Sorry, you

(08:43):
just dribbled around like some to jerkfor a while, Like what's going on?
Like we're trying to win a gamehere? Like this is this?
It is our playoff lives. I'vesaid this before in the playoffs and around
teams that are struggling. You know, you watch body language as a big
indicator, and yeah, it's notan end all be all, But when
multiple times I see Tray Young setup Clint Coppeller or somebody else, that

(09:07):
the one I'm thinking of. Hethrows a lob to Clint Capella Capella jams
at home. It's a nice passCopella, nice finish. Capella doesn't even
give a point to the guy whothrew that lob to him. There's no
high fives. Capella gives a highfive to Murray as he walks back,
but no even eye contact to TreyYoung, no acknowledgment. That's weird.

(09:28):
That sort of thing is weird whenyou pay attention to it, especially when
you see the opposite and teams thatare locked in, and you know a
team that is typically locked in andhas good chemistry, you know they're struggling
when those things are not happening withthat regularity. That's how you can tell
a team is getting frustrated and forit to just not be happening organically,

(09:48):
it seems like in Atlanta is weird. So again, I don't know if
I don't know if it's time topoint the finger at Tray Young, but
I'm just saying we're running out ofscapegoats, and I do think it's time
to acknowledge that. Like as goodas bogdan Bogdanovic has been, Clint Capella
has been, maybe even DeAndre Hunter, you're gonna have to continue shuffling that

(10:09):
deck around Trey Young and continue workingthrough different iterations of the Atlanta Hawks.
I think de Jontey Murray deserves anotheryear there, but you continue working through
that until it becomes obvious that youcan't shuffle the deck anymore and it is
a Trey Young problem, and thenyou've got to move him. We're a
couple of years away from that.But this is the natural life cycle of
NBA teams. Yeah, I mean, except for you're the heat. But

(10:35):
you know, like it really kindof is sort of it, right,
So anyway, so this this,you know, Atlanta bug off, you're
out of here. So we gotMiami and uhh, Chicago for the for
the final spot in the in theeight seed. Real quick, who do
you like in that rematch? Imean last year I like the Chicago Bulls.

(10:56):
I theoretically without you know, SandsJim Butler, I should like the
Chicago Bulls again too. But AlexCaruso is dinged up may or may not
play sounds like he's good. Thereason this is the eight matchup, right,
Like, you want you want togive Chicago a chance to this,
but you know there's a reason they'renot. They're battling for their life right

(11:18):
now, and Miami feels like theirwhole reason was just like we don't really
care about the regular season. Wejust want to sort of get in Puck
Alfo. They've been banged up alittle bit too, but it's sort of
been there for the last handful ofseasons. So it's it's how many more
talented guards can Chicago continue to loseand still be able to get this done.

(11:39):
In Miami's case, they're going tocome out and play the same level
of defense, same level ball movement, whether they have Jimmy Butler or not.
The issue becomes can bam Anebayo andTyler Harrow step up in the half
court and manufacture offense for that team? And the answer is yes, they
can. They've done that before.There's no reason to believe that they won't
do it again. Another couple daysoff. Duncan Robinson should be in the

(12:01):
lineup here. They're probably not goingto get Terry Rozier back in time.
You know, maybe you get somethingout of the fumes that are left in
Kevin Love's tank, but there's otherguys there that will contribute. So on
paper, yeah, I'd love topick the Chicago Bulls, but how many
times have we been burned by doingthat. I think it's going to be
a close one either way. Ithink if if Alex Caruso can play the

(12:22):
entire game and you're able to deployhim on Tyler Hero, that changes the
complexity and complexion of that matchup alot. The Bulls don't have another guy
to go at and try to checkHero the way that that Caruso can,
and they really don't have a guythat's gonna keep bam from doing his thing,
although he only had ten points,twelve boards, and that that lost

(12:43):
to Philly. Yeah, Miami's theultimate paper doesn't mean Jack when we sort
of talking, like a lot oftimes, if you look at it,
you're like, Okay, that's whyyou're a five point favor or whatever,
like we get it. But Miami'sshe's like, I don't know why you
guys are always sleeping on us,you know. And I think they were
like foor five point underdogs to Philadelphia. He's still get it with that last
three down to one point game.So well, and here's the thing,

(13:05):
like it is, it's incredibly possiblethat bam Adebayo, who had ten points,
has thirty. It's possible that Herohits thirty even without Jimmy Butler.
You've got Caleb Martin, you've gothe with Hyde Smith and and Haabi Hakas
Junior. All three of those guyshave shown this year and in year's past
that they're capable of twenty point gameshere or there. You don't want to

(13:26):
rely on them to have to dothat every single night. But somebody out
of that group, and that's noteven mentioning Duncan Robinson, who we know
can go for thirty from downtown whenthe stars align. He's an incredibly streaky
shooter. But on those nights thatthat's clicking for Robinson, he cannot miss.
So there are still some weapons,you know in that heat, Holster,
Let's look at the West has startedoff on Tuesday evening. We'll quickly

(13:50):
get through the Lakers and the Pelicansthat you already brought up Zion leaving in
the last the few minutes of thatgame in which you know, I mean
it was it was a it wasa furious attempted to come back by by
by New Orleans later and that game, Zion gets a banged up Zion sprinting

(14:11):
into Lebron James like. It wasa testy, feisty kind of game that
both those teams clearly wanted to beable to win. That game, Zion
unable to be there for the lastfew minutes. Uh, and that team
is uh sadly no longer with ashot at the at the seventh seed.
So let me ask you this.Were you surprised by the overall results that

(14:35):
the Lakers were able to win?No? There there was that point in
the second quarter where New Orleans wenton a big run punctuated by a couple
of huge Zion Williams and jams.He also had a massive block on Lebron
James, and it felt like theLakers were about to look old. Yeah.

(14:56):
However, they responded on that sameplay where Zion just absolutely obliterates Lebron
James with a chase down block andthe same way that Lebron has done to
people so many times, the Pelicanswere not able to convert off of that
block. La forces a turnover onthe other end, comes down in scores,
and then promptly goes on a twelvenothing run. I think it was

(15:18):
or twelve to two. So theLakers they weathered that, and you saw
that veteran ability that they have,along with enough younger legs on this roster
where it's like, oh okay,nope, this is a game they're not
going away, and the Lakers continueto execute. For me, the telling
thing, it's less the result thatwas surprising. It was more the way
that it went down. But itwas a microcosm of everything that ails the

(15:41):
Pelicans. Zion is tantalizing when he'son the floor, but he's not on
the floor when it counts, andhe wasn't on the floor when it counted.
Brandon Ingram also has been hurt awhole bunch. He tried to play,
he'd been back only a couple ofgames. He sat the last five
six minutes whatever it was in agame that they desperately needed a star.

(16:03):
I was kind of yelling at theTV, why is brandon Ingram out there?
Like it shouldn't just be herb Jonesas the only lanky defender. Where
is brandon Ingram unless he's hurt?What is he doing on the bench.
I know he was minus sixteen andthe just eleven points, blah blah blah,
but like he was sitting Jonas Valentuniswas sitting down the stretch. Valentnis

(16:23):
had four points ten boards in thatgame. CJ. McCollum was one of
nine from Downtown four to fifteen.So you're talking three of your five starters
have been ineffective to the point thattwo of the three of them aren't even
playing. And then Zion Williamson isn'teven on the floor because he's hurt,
and you're trotting out your second unitalong with Herb Jones. And granted,

(16:47):
the second unit gave him nice energyand all that stuff, but to play
that group down the stretch and rideor die with them, that's not a
vote of confidence for the starting lineup of the New Orleans Pelicans, and
it is worrisome. And it alsoraises that question of how much longer can
you do this around Zion and brandonIngram, as talented as they are.

(17:10):
When you got twenty five minutes outof brandon Ingram and you did not have
Zion to close out a game thatyou needed, yeah, I think.
I mean, I don't know ifNew Orleans is there yet with a right
it's not yet, But it's likein Atlanta, you gotta start thinking about
it. Well, yeah, that'swhat I was saying. I think it's
got to be close to the frontof your brain. But the whole thing

(17:34):
is, like, you get sobogged down in what it could be if
one particular player is able to stayon the court when it counts the most
and when he's on the floor,and it's just that's not something you've been
able to rely on over the lastor isn't our career. Actually, he's
just not somebody that you could belike, Okay, this guy's good for

(17:55):
this because when he goes out forthe last three minutes, a very important
three minutes away in that game,that it could be the difference of them
playing Denver right now, Like theycould be the team playing Denver right now
over that last three minutes of Zion'sand of that point. So I'm not
sure where because by the way,New Orleans can still still make the eight
seeds, right, they can stillmake the eight seeds. So it's not

(18:17):
it's not the worst case scenario inthe world. But I don't know,
man, I right now, you'regonna do it without Zion, just like
the heater a gonna do it withoutJimmy Butler. So I don't I don't
know what their chances even look like. Well, well, let's let's talk
about that just briefly, because nowwe can talk about the Kings being very
aware of what was on the linegoing up against the Warriors. Uh,

(18:38):
and man did they thump the Warriors. Klay Thompson was abysmal in that game
over that's called zero nothing bad,very bad and shooting. And you know,
we could talk about this in theoposity. He's not heading into free
agency with you know, the leastamount of moment that you could probably have
as someone who was one of theSplash brothers and Sacramento said at the after

(19:04):
the game, the Coupler players said, we knew what was going on,
we knew who we were playing,we knew what we were fighting for.
And they they stripped down Golden Stateto their to their tidy whities, and
and they beat them down. Man, they beat them down. And what
a tremendous effort. Like I'm youknow where how I stand. I've said
it a thousand times about what theWarriors are, and you know, now

(19:26):
that they're eliminated stuff, they're stillfor me. I've been on that train
for a couple of years. Butto see Sacramentos show up in this sort
of like they're the kind of onesthat sort of came in and embarrassed our
season that we had a couple ofyears we had a chance to beat the
team, the fresh team, andwe couldn't even get out of the first

(19:47):
games because and we blew that biglead. To like, just think that
they got they got all. Theygot through all of that mentally, and
to be able to get over thatsort of big bad wolf that's sort of
in their head and to be ableto move bond, to continue playing in
the play and to be able tohave a shot at the eight seed.
I thought it was really cool forthem. I thought it was really cool
for them in a very good effortfor them. That's that. That's how

(20:11):
I like to see sort of ateam respond to sort of you know,
what's been a season. It's beenless than probably what they want in a
very tough conference. And it helpedthem too that it was the play in
format and you just had to beatthe Warriors once. Now, grant,
this Golden State iteration has been soshaky all year that I'm not saying in

(20:33):
a seven game series, I'm pickingthe Warriors. But it's not like Sacramento
had any momentum coming into this either. They were dinged up. They hadn't
played well down the stretch. Butthat you were right. They got up
for that game. There was alot of stuff going on with that.
You know, two years ago itwas the Warriors remember us to her.
Last year, it was just enoughleft in the tank that you saw their
veteranship over a Sacramento Kings team thatwas just happy to be there and was

(21:00):
just hoping to be able to putsomething together. And like you said,
the Kings took their lumps, andnow this year, the Warriors on absolute
fumes. We all see the dynastyhas done and Sacramento has been disappointing all
year, but they still have thatstarting lineup that works really well together,
you know, minus Kean Ellis beingin the starting lineup now because of injuries

(21:21):
elsewhere to Kevin Herder and Malik Monkand those guys. But Sacramento really returned
mostly the same team as last year. So if they can find that chemistry,
there is something special there. We'vepointed that out and they had it
that night at home. I'm pickingthem again over New Orleans just because New
Orleans is not whole and Sacramento hashas momentum here now, but again,

(21:45):
this is a King's team that thismomentum may mean nothing, and they may
be the ones coming out putting uponly ninety four points. In the follow
up came to New Orleans. Whoknows that the Pelicans will defend and they've
got some weapons. But I likeSacramento a lot like that group. They've
got to be able to harness thatedge that they played with where they were
winning all the fifty to fifty balls. They were so amped up. They've

(22:07):
got to be able to harness thatand transfer that to the next game.
It cannot be oh, well,we slayed the Warriors, mission accomplished,
our season was successful. Cannot bethat. Oh no, But I mean,
yeah, to get past this nextgame, yes, because because it's
gonna be a really tough slog inthe win one A. But they get
past New Orleans will be like,hey, listen, we're back into playoff

(22:30):
playoffs and we thought through that thatcould be. And all of a sudden,
they become the veteran team playing anOklahoma City thunder team that has never
been in that type of situation before, you know, fair enough, like
you know, the wiley veteran ofKeegan Murray. All of a sudden,
like, man, I've been hereforever, right he is Duncan Robinson level

(22:51):
streaky. Keegan Murgy is another oneof those guys where you will know in
the first five minutes of the gameif he's on, and if he is,
Heaven Hell help you. But whenhe's off, then it's gonna be
like a seven point night on twentyfive percent shooting. Yeah. No,
I think that's fair, I think. But I like Higan Murray like I
think. I think he's a really, really good piece for that team.

(23:14):
I think I like him a lot. I like him and Harrison Barnes together.
There's a lot of teams out therethat trot out what in the past
would have been a too small forwardlineup, and that's what it is.
They're both small forwards versus power forwards. But because they can shoot, and
because Harrison Barnes is a rugged defender. You know, Portland tried that around
Dame Lillard and CJ McCollum for along time. There's a lot of other
teams that deploy that type. Ithink a lot of it goes back to

(23:37):
Orlando Magic with stan Van Gunny whenthey had Dwight Howard and it was Rishard
Lewis and Hidu Turkulu. They provedthat you could do that with some lanky
shooters, you know, a coupleof small forwards. I like that type
of setup, especially when your hubis a guy like Demangra Sabonis who can
play out of the low block,can play out of the high post,

(23:59):
is a nominal passer and deer andFox playing with him. It's just kudos
to their front office for recognizing thestrengths that it would take to put around
Fox and Sabonis, and they've gotit. And that's not something you could
say about King's front offices for decades, it seemed. Do you know the
last time I thought of Hidu Turkulu? It's been a while. Thank you

(24:23):
for bringing it back in moment.Okay, before we get to the remainder
of the playoffs and such what weknow so far, let me ask you
about a certain fellow, Blake Griffin, announced that he's going to retire from
the league. I just want toget your thoughts on what you think.
For you, his legacy is inthe NBA. What do you think of
when you think of Blake Griffin.I think of the second coming of Sean

(24:48):
Kemp. That's who I compared Griffinto during his prime. There had never
been a dunker more ferocious or fearedthan Sean Camp until you got to Blake
Griffin. And there's been some amazingones. And that's not to take away
you know, Vince Carter, butI'm talking to power forward level dunker,
a big body level dunker, andBlake Griffin was that. And there was

(25:12):
the major question marks coming into theleague and then of course getting hurt right
away, it was kind of anomen of things to come. But when
healthy and for that five six yearstretch, Blake Griffin was a human highlight
reel on a team built to beall over Sports Center with Lob City,
just as in the same way thatthose Sonics and I've got GPS, you

(25:33):
know Jersey behind those Sonics with theGlove and with Rainman, they were all
over Sports Center and they deserve tobe. You know, Kemp's downfall was
was drugs, It was a wholelot of other things that was going on
his weight after the lockout. BlakeGriffin's it was injuries. But both of
those guys had large contracts signed thatthey weren't able to quote unquote live up

(25:56):
to and the steep decline out ofthose out of that contract for both players
was very quick and then to thepoint of irrelevancy where it felt like,
oh man, this guy is brokendown. He's out of the league and
he's in his early thirties. Youknow, Sean Kemp should have been able
to play a lot longer. Youthink of the careers that a Charles Barkley

(26:18):
or a Karl Malone or some ofthose peer power forwards, you know,
even Garnett and dunkin later on.That should have been the type of career
that Sean Kemp had and he nevergot it. That should have been the
type of career that Blake Griffin hadand never got it. In the case
of Griffin though, it wasn't selfinflicted, So there's always going to be
that little bit of bittersweet. ButI think we have to remember the good
times with Blake Griffin and to gothat guy was. He was all over

(26:45):
my smartphone, he was all overSports Center. He was one of those
faces of the league that you reallyjust like, oh man, did you
see Blake Griffin's dunk last night?That's the way I want to remember Blake
Griffin. Yeah, I remember BlakeGriffin. Guy coming out of Oklahoma.
As you mentioned, he's a thunderdunker man. He was, you know,
the first thing I always think ofhe jumped a car in a dunk

(27:07):
contest. He jumped a Kiya inthe key of dunk contest, right Like
that sort of to me is hislegacy. And he's a multi time All
Star. I think he finished inthe top three of the MVP once or
twice, and he's voted. Ithink he was the Rookie of the Year
his first sixth time All Star Ibelieve six times. Yes, so he's
very good player. But you're right, like what we could have had without

(27:29):
the injuries, we will never know. And that Detroit Piston sure wish that
was the case, right they bringhim in on that big contract he has
signed with the Clippers and trying topair him and Andre Drummond together, and
on paper it should have been somethingand it was nothing. Reggie Jackson there,
Bruce Brown there. So you thinkof like his would he come in

(27:51):
the league like twenty ten, elevenish somewhere around there. You think of
like his first six, five,six, seven years, just a shooting
star, like just this meteor thatwas so fun to sort of be able
to watch. Twenty eleven is whenhe came into twenty eleven. Okay,
yeah, his first six, five, six, seven years just phenomenal to

(28:14):
watch. As you mentioned, aguy that before the phone was in everyone's
hands consistently you were just like,hey, man, did you check out
the highlight today? His first fivewe're all his first five seasons were all
All Star campaigns. He sets outthe one year, the rookie year with
the knee injury, and then goesfive straight All Stars. The six wouldn't
come until he was in Detroit andwe all forgot about that. Yeah yeah,

(28:38):
yeah, yeah, well you werethe Detroit first that with that Detroit
year that was the what year wasthat? Twenty twenty nineteen he logged seventy
five games, which was huge forhim. Wow, Yeah, okay,
I had average twenty four and ahalf points per game and seven and a
half boards, five and a halfassists. So in an Eastern conference he

(28:59):
did He didn't play this year,did he? Like this is another one
of those, like like like Rondoa couple of like last time we talked
to this guy, they retired.He didn't play this year. Yeah,
he was on the Celtics last season. Didn't get a call this year.
And just kind of took that tomean that the time is the time.
I think for that for a lotof those guys to announce the retirement when
you've sat out a year, ittakes a lot to stay ready. It

(29:21):
takes a lot to stay mentally andphysically ready for that call, and to
do that for an entire year,especially when you get to the playoffs and
to go, man, I'm noteven on somebody's playoff roster. They didn't
even bring me in for the lastyou know, a dozen games or whatever.
I'm gonna I'm gonna stay in thisshape and stay this mentally ready for
nothing. That's I think when guyslook around and go, I made my

(29:42):
money, it's time to move on. What's next? If they don't want
to play overseas and so forth?So I want to see if I can
figured it out. You Okay,let's say, quick man figuring out Okay,
all right, do you want totake a guess at how much Blake
Griffin has earned in his career?Two hundred and sixty million dollars. I'm
looking at it. Oh thank you, basketball referenced. I was like,

(30:04):
holy smokes, that can't even me. Yea, you know, I was,
I was on the Blake Griffin page. Okay, all right, so
I just remember I'll just remember himas a sort of shooting star. Like
the NBA is littered with these guys, right, the guys that flash for
such a And I would say fiveyears is brief, but when you consider
the fact that he was in tilllast year in the league, it was

(30:27):
technically a brief time. But hewas an effective player, but a hard
player all the time, and fora short time he was a dynamo in
the league. He was a hewas a you gotta find this guy's stuff
kind of That's why I always say, enjoy those players while they're there,
because we can sit and knock them, you know, on a show like
this or on NBA Twitter or wherever. You can sit and knock this guy

(30:49):
out what he's supposed to be andwho he's supposed to be. But there's
no guarantee that they'll even be backnext year. There's no guarantee that they
will ever be what they are rightnow. And then when they're gone and
people aren't gonna remember, Oh,Blake Griffin had some playoff troubles. Oh
he had this issue, he hadthat issue they're not going to remember that.
They'll remember, oh yeah, BlakeGriffin was hurt a lot. Man,
I loved watching Blake Griffin. That'swhat most people are gonna say,

(31:11):
And that's I guess that's the wayit should be. I just wish we
will do that. Ron's, KevinDurant, Steph Curry's, they just don't
happen, Like they just don't happenwhere you're that good for that long and
you can just be like, oh, I guess, well, I guess
we'll catch him again. Like there'sjust so many John Morant a great example

(31:32):
that right now we don't know whatthe rest of it is, right,
but such a phenom right now orup until basically last year, we don't
know what the rest of it's gonnabe. So like he could become a
Jason Kids story where kid had somereally rough early goings to his career.
I mean Kobe, Kobe nearly wentto jail, you know, and his
career was almost was almost derailed.Could be a guy like that where you

(31:57):
know, hopefully John gets it togetherand has an illustrious career. But then
you always look at the Gilbert Arenassituation, right, Arena's got in trouble
with guns. There was bad Carmen, bad juju following him all over the
place, and as soon as hewas allowed to come back and play,
it was injury injury, injury,injury, and he never got back on
track. Here here's one question Ihave for you. Is Blake Griffin a

(32:20):
Hall of Famer? No? No, he's not an Hall of Famer.
No, I mean, to befair, I mean basketball was everybody in
the Hall of Fame. It feelslike it's one of the less discretion if
you were to do eventually, itfeels like, yeah, if you were
to do like the Archie say BasketballHall of Fame. No, but if
you were doing is that a lackof longevity for him? Is that what
keeps him up? Yeah? Becausehis numbers are pretty good when he actually

(32:44):
did play. But like you know, he amassed a number of years,
but not a number of games overthose years where you're like overwhelmed by the
numbers. These averages are, ifyou look at him, are pretty good
for the for the most part.It's just you know, I don't think
you can put him in now.Can I have a wing for Best Dunk
Contest winners? I'd like to puthim in that. Yeah, yeah,

(33:07):
I mean average nineteen points, eightboards a game, four assists for his
career. Yeah, and they're notthey're really nice numbers. They're pretty good.
Yeah, Like, I just don'tknow that's that's not r K Hall
of Fame numbers. But probably hewill end up getting in because he was
also more than just the basketball player. He was an I mean, there
was a time you couldn't watch anNBA game and not see his commercials show

(33:28):
up everywhere, like he used tobe in everything. So you know,
maybe there's sort of a cultural aspectthat too. They meant a lot to
the NBA culture at that time forthat first for seven years or so in
the league. All right, let'slook going forward. I think we already
sort of hear that. You're thinking, you'd like to believe the Bulls beat
the Heat, and you think theKings over the Pelicans. So we don't

(33:50):
really have to go too deep intothat, So we'll look into what happens
then on Saturday when real basketball starts. Excuse me, the Magic in the
Capers are the biggest game of theday, clearly, the Magic and the
Cavs. I'm fascinated by this seriesbecause I think it could be a lot

(34:12):
of fun and a lot of peoplearen't gonna want to watch it because it's
sort of the names on the jerseysin the game and the game and the
names on the front and back ofthe jerseys. But if you want to
talk about a series that shapes upto be like maybe the most entertaining of
the of the four that we'll starton Saturday, it's actually maybe the best
most entertaining first round series. Ithink I'm really intrigued by this one.

(34:37):
Yeah, I don't know if i'dgo most entertaining, but I think it
will be very entertaining. They're evenlymatched. Cleveland is a team that needs
to get some playoff demons off itsback. They've been loaded as a roster
the last couple of years, especiallyin the starting lineup. This year they
rounded out the bench, although becausethey were hurt a lot of you know,
there's just been a lot of timemissed where they weren't able to build

(34:59):
the chemistry they want it. Orlandois a team that has had some nice
pieces for a little bit and suddenlywas ahead of schedule. They were not
able to keep that momentum all theway into the playoffs. But they're built
on defense and this is going tobe their chance to come in against the
Cavaliers team that is not invincible.I'm going to pick the Cabs in the
series. But Orlando, this isa great learning experience for them. It

(35:20):
is the type of team that youmight be able to steal the series from
if Cleveland has yet another you know, power outage type of issue, if
if Donovan Mitchell has yet another poorplayoff series, or guys you know,
continue to struggle with injury issues likeEvan Mobley has had. But I do
think Cleveland's deeper, They're more veteran, there's more weapons. Orlando will put

(35:43):
up a good fight. This isdefinitely a series to watch. I am
always a sucker for what they callthe NBA TV playoff series, which is
the smaller markets. The teams usuallyin the four or five or the three
six matchup, and it may notbe as nationally compelling to the people who
are fence riders and they just jumpin. But this is the type of

(36:04):
matchup I want to see because it'sgonna be devoid of the usual l A
Miami, Boston, New York bigmarket, biased from from the from the
announcers, and just from the theleague itself. You can always it's palpable
when that when that's there, andso to be able to get into kind
of, you know, more ofjust a pure matchup. I like those,

(36:29):
and I like when I know thatit's like, yeah, this is
good basketball and the people who arefence riding fairweather fans are probably not tuning
into this one. That's the seriesI want to watch. Now, there's
there's value to those those bring inlike eyeballs with people want to go.
The NBA just announced that they've hadtheir best attendance year ever for sure for
crossing over the the season before andwhich was the previous record, more sellouts,

(36:55):
higher percentage of sellouts than they've everhad. Uh So, yes,
there's there's value to that. Butmercy could have hurt some of these national
outlets to like cover in Orlando everynow and then, right, even New
York, even New York doesn't getthe national level and it's New York.
Yeah, even Oklahoma City doesn't andthey're the number one team in the West

(37:15):
now and Minnesota wasn't getting it whenthey were number one, and Denver wasn't
getting it last year when they werenumber one, Like, you know what
bias is real? You know whatI love about it is, by the
way, it's such a cool storythat no one really wanted to discuss except
just a touch the fact that theWest had never ended in a three way
tie. No no, sorry Eastnow, no one, no conference that

(37:37):
ever ended in a three years Andthey're all from the same division. They're
all from the same division. Noone wants to talk about that. Everyone's
just like, yeah, but likethe Warriors could make it right. It's
like, yeah, but the Warriorssuck? Like why do we want to
look Steph Curry's fun and Draymond Green'sa nutcase and Clay tops has got no
legs? Is that the story?We want to talk about everything day?

(37:59):
Like right to me now for ourpiece on Kevon Looney's mouthpiece, Like I
deactivated my Twitter, Like I don'tknow. I think it takes a month
officially to activate. They'll be gone, soume. But I haven't been on
Twitter in since beginning, since beforethe basketball season started. Waiting for it's
been it's been almost three years forme. Now that's almost three years,

(38:21):
and I gotta tell you, man, I have not missed it for a
day. I don't I don't missthe fact that every day, no matter
what's happening in the day, somehowon my timeline a Lebron versus MJ things
shows up, and I'm like,you can't do this every day, Like
you just can't, Like it's justimpossible for your brain to do this.

(38:45):
I don't know why we're doing this. And that's the same thing whenever I
turn on one of these one ofthese networks, it's like, you know,
ad healthy, he played sixty fivegames, that'll be what are you
talking about? Every Kendrick Perkins andsteven A. Smith debate Austin Reeves's shoe
selection, and then every now andthen they get be like, okay,
so how does Denver matchup with laright? Shut up? Shut up?

(39:08):
And they'll always say that the smallmarket team is the one in danger always
now to be fair, at leastnow didn't realize the matchup, but it
is like it was just oh,yeah, well is okay see real?
Yeah? Nor is it a given? I mean we might as well talk
about it. Nor is it agiven that Denver is just gonna roll through

(39:31):
that their starting lineup is impeccable.They're healthy ish enough. The bench has
been okay, but the Lakers arevery multifaceted and deep in that lineup with
young legs with veterans. I've beentalking about it all year. I'm looking
forward to that series in the firstround. I wish that they'd be meeting
a little bit later in the playoffs. I hope that Denver puts on the

(39:53):
brass knuckles and just ousts La andkind of just sets this t rest once
and for all, because they gotone of those teams in a big way
last year. To do it againtwo years in a row, it's going
to force the Lakers to go.I don't know if we can beat these
guys as presently constructed. So I'mrooting for Denver. That's no surprise.

(40:14):
But I do expect a good series. And you and I have both been
on record. You know, we'reLakers haters by trade, but this has
been one of those few Lakers teamsthat don't really actually hate. Like it's
a good roster and there's a bunchof good dudes on that roster. Miracle,
this roster exists. The miracle islot. By way, did you
see The graphic was a I guesswe could go ahead and just go to

(40:37):
this game even though it's the lastone the night for Saturday is Austin Reeves,
who played all eighty two games thisyear. They put out a graphic
that was like they had they hadthem in like it's like all eighty two
games. He's like, well,that's an interesting graphic. You played the
fact that he played all eighty twogames. That's interesting. Thes only a
few guys out there. I mean, I'll go look right now, there's

(40:59):
only a few guys out though thatyou can say that about these days.
Well, I just thought it wasan interesting like, all right, let's
make a graphic about this. You'relike, okay, we got a playoff
game tomorrow, so I don't.Yeah, Reeves did play all eighty two
games. He started fifty seven ofthem, okay, So I was like,
all right, fair enough, hedid appear in all of them,
which, by the way, Idon't want to spend a lot of time

(41:19):
on this, but you see thestory on the Dante Divicenzo that he's not
eligible for Most Player because technically hedidn't play enough of the twenty plus minute
games or twenty five minute, twentyplus minute games. But there's a window
that if you play like like,the NBA will give you the like if
you play like above fifteen minutes orsomething a game, they'll give you credit

(41:43):
for some of that, and it'sstill missed out by like a game or
two. Yeah, you're like,okay, this is a little I mean,
this is this is the man.This is why I win my fantasy
basketball championship in the league that werun for this show. I win the
championship if Victor went Minyama doesn't getsat too out of the three final games
and I lost by eight points,not eight categories, eight points total.

(42:07):
If he shows up, we winand loser mentality, sanan Antonio, come
on, okay, let's just let'sjust wrap up this Lakers nugget game.
So you're talking about how we wererooting for the Lakers to basically lose,
and it's fine, but they canbe good in this game. We thought
that also last year. But Denveralso exercised a whole lot of demons last
year and meets us not out ofthe Lakers and gave them no chances to

(42:30):
be in that series. Now,is Denver a little fat and happy.
Do they feel like that they're butyou would think that they're like the four
seed this year, but they're stillthey were still tied for the first seed.
I don't I don't feel them asbeing fat and happy. They had
a dog fight in that division withthe Thunder, with the Timberwolves all year.
They were in that fight the entireway. They did drop a lot

(42:52):
of games, but they missed againa lot of games with injuries. And
especially it's gonna come down to JamalMurray. I think he's the number one
X factor here. Jokich is agiven and the Lakers can do all they
want to try to neutralize or makelife tough on Jokic and he will find
a way to still contribute. JamalMurray has got to be on. You're
gonna need Michael Porter Junior to playwell in the series. Remember last year

(43:15):
in the playoffs he was really,really, really struggling, and Denver still
won a championship despite that. Porterhas had a lot more confidence this season,
but that's got to translate into theplayoffs. The other two guys for
me that are X factors here isAaron Gordon, who's been just you know,
has turned into a really rugged typeof player. He's he's given up

(43:37):
that Blake Griffin junior, you know, type of moniker that Aaron Gordon had
when he's coming in the league ofOh, he's a dunker, he's going
to be the next Blake Griffin whateverto now being this defender. Yeah he
can, he can finish a lobplay, but he is just really battling
in there, and they're trying togrow Peyton Watson into that same type of
role. Watson, a rookie lastyear who hardly played this here, has

(44:00):
been in the rotation. Is aphenomenal shot blocker, runs the floor well,
kind of limited offensively. But thoseare the two guys that you are
going to need to check Lebron Jamesa lot. Those are the two guys
that you're gonna need to help outon Anthony Davis, maybe even guard Davis
straight up, depending on how youwant to deploy Jokic. It's going to

(44:21):
be really important that both of themstay out of foul trouble, that both
of them are able to finish plays. But I think more importantly that both
of those two players institute their willand their physicality on that Lakers front.
Line and make the Lakers come matchit, not the other way around,
because the Lakers are physical and they'vegot big bodies beyond just Lebron and ad

(44:44):
ruy Hatchemura has really I think toughenedup over the last couple of years.
Jackson Hayes plays with a lot offorce. There's a couple others, even
somebody like Torrian Prince, who's amuch smaller guy. He's lanky, he's
rugged, he sticks his nose inthere. LA is not a pushover soft
team, and Denver is gonna needto be able to set that tone.

(45:06):
It's gonna start with Gordon and withPeyton Watson, all right. Next up
on the list is a team thatwe text about you didn't really want to
see as the Minnesota Timberwolves. Finisyou are the Phoenix Suns. That's there
are better matchups I guess you couldhave had going into this one. But
regardless, we can still talk aboutthis hair game. You get to start

(45:29):
at home. That's a good time. That's a good sign. This also
has been your team that has beengood all season long at home. There's
also team has been good all seasonlong, and I think for the most
part is everybody healthy. Is everybodyback? I think everybody Cat's back,
right, Cat came back for thefinal two or three games. Okay,
this is the It's probably as goodas you're gonna be right now. So

(45:52):
as far as health it's concerned.So if you're going to go into a
matchup you don't love in Phoenix,you at least got all your weapons around.
What do you think? Here's howmuch? Here's how much I hate
this matchup from Minnesota. All right, ten out of ten times. I
would rather be seeing the Oklahoma CityThunder, who I think is the most

(46:15):
dangerous team in the West. I'dbe rather seeing them in the first round.
I would rather be seeing the defendingchamp Denver Nuggets in the first round
than the Phoenix Suns. And thisis based off of the matchup. It's
based off of what I've seen throughthe regular season games. Phoenix is the
lone team in the Western Conference thathad Minnesota's number all year, and they

(46:39):
played them mostly at the end ofthe season. This is not all well,
we played great at the beginning ofthe year, and we're going to
try to bring that in. No. They met up during I think three
times during the final six weeks ofthe season and Phoenix had that number.
It's the shooting ability. It wasplaying zone. You know, Frank Vogel

(47:00):
is a good defensive coach and hedraws good defensive schemes. He's done that
at every stop he's been at.They had an excellent zone that really stymied
the Wolves, and it baited AnthonyEdwards into some of the few young bad
habits that he's still trying to getrid of, which by and large he
mostly has gotten rid of, butthat I'm going to put my head down

(47:22):
and try to beat the defense whenthe team is not playing well, that
still is a bugaboo at times forAnthony Edwards, and he has fallen into
that trap over and over and overas the Suns bait him. And it's
gonna, unfortunately, require Anthony Edwardsto suddenly mature in this in this way
for this series and to keep itthat way. And it's going to take

(47:45):
somebody like Karl Anthony Towns similarly tomove the basketball, knockdown shots, be
in rhythm. Even nas Reed hasstruggled against the Suns. That's what's really
what's really disturbing is that it's notjust oh, Anthony Edwards has had trouble
with their scheme. Oh Towns washurt for part of that. It's that

(48:06):
nobody has played well against Phoenix defensively, and you don't even think of the
Suns as that great of a defensiveteam, although they've been very solid on
that end all year. But thenPhoenix's ability to shoot from every single position
and the star power that they dohave there, They're overqualified to be a
six seed. It's really just theinjuries that have kept them down at that

(48:29):
level to the six. This isa tough, tough matchup for Minnesota and
I would hate to see this reallymagical, you know, the first time
in twenty years that Minnesota has reallybeen relevant and really been a team that
you respect, and that that goesbeyond the Jimmy Butler season or some of
these times that there's been little blips. You know, even two years ago
they were a good team. Theywere kind of a punk team. This

(48:51):
year, Minnesota was good. Theywere a team you really did not want
to play. It would be toughto see this season end in the first
round. But Phoenix is more thancapable of being in Minnesota, and the
Wolves are going to have their handsabsolutely full. They've got to they have
got to show us something that theydid not show us yet during the regular
season against Phoenix. That's the onlyteam in the West you can say that

(49:14):
about. It's crazy. Yeah,I'll say this about Phoenix is that they're
not particularly dominant or great on theroad. They are blow a lot of
leads. They blow a lot ofleads. They're one of the worst teams
in the conference on the road.That's in the playoffs we're talking, obviously,
and that's where obviously they had toplay their first two games. I

(49:37):
I'm I can see sort of ifI was in your position as like thinking
of it more in of a fansstandpoint, which is, hey, I'd
love to be like a one toeight right now, like it, It
be soups nice to possibly be lookingin like New Orleans or something, you
know, or the Kings. Minnesotawould be fine with. But I don't

(50:00):
particularly love this Phoenix team. Ithink they have now. The injuries are
one thing, but I do thinkthey have kind of struggled gelling overall.
And I think when you have aMinnesota team that's been basically essentially together for
the vast majority of the season thathas been not just hot over the last

(50:22):
month and got up to got upto the three seed, even though they
were tied for the first seed.They've been good all year against good teams
and against bad teams all year.And the core was together last year as
well, exactly. That was mynext point. And it's a team that's
been together for a while. Iwould be surprised if Phoenix won the series.

(50:45):
This might be six games, butI think it's probably Minnesota is six
at the most, just because Phoenixhas a lot of top end talent that
if healthy, they stay up,which they've proven literally in the playoffs for
not to be able to be athing. I just I don't trust Phoenix.
I thought that they were going tobe able to get together at the
end of the last year, onceeverybody came back and healthy and sort of

(51:07):
figure it out going into the playoffs. That clearly wasn't the case. I
think you picked them to be inthe finals in our season preview. I'm
pretty sure I picked the Lakers andyou picked the Suns, if I remember
correctly. I don't disagree because Ireally like the roster, but it's just,
you know, what I predicted versuswhat has sort of showed up on
the court. It's been kind ofdifferent. And this West Minnesota's battle test.

(51:29):
This isn't like a cupcake Boston hangingout for like twenty games. Oh
yeah, yeah, they've they've beenThey've been in the trenches all year to
get to this point. That istrue. So yeah, I'm i'm I'm
I'm a ball on that uh thatthat Minnesota rear end to let you know,
to get you to the to thesemis and the one the one thing
that scares me for Phoenix is thatthey have added and we said this at

(51:52):
the beginning of the year, theywere short on defensive guys. They added
Royce O'Neill, they add a FadYoung, They've had Josha Kogi in the
mix. They've got enough of thoseguys in addition to what Kevin Durant does.
Grace and Allen has played so wellfor them that he earned himself a
four year extension. They they've andthen even David Roddy is a guy that
can come in and give you likereally physical minutes. They're tougher and I

(52:17):
think that some of this. Ohthey only finished in six they only had
forty nine wins, they were sevengames behind Minnesota. So much of that
and even the chemistry is just thatinjury base. It's an asterisk, but
I hope you're right. Minnesota's gotto do it now, and this is
it's gonna be a fun matchup.There's got to be some demons exercise here.

(52:37):
Last thing I'll say to me,this is a coaching matchup. This
is a this is a test onChris Finch to go. This is a
team we have not played well at. Finch is getting a lot of accolades
as a guy like a Nick Nurse, like an Eric Spolster, who's good
at adjustments, who's good at findingthe pulse of his team and adjusting around

(52:58):
them. I don't know if he'shad too often to be like the in
game adjustment guy, though that hasexisted. But now he's got to be
able to craft a game plan againsta veteran championship winning coach and Frank Vogel
who clearly had figured something out againstthe Wolves. And now it's Chris Finch's
turn to be able to come backwith adjustments and change the series. And

(53:22):
I do think it's going to beon him to not only make that scheme
change, but then to get inthe ear of Anthony Edwards to go what
you have done so far does notwork against this particular Suns team. We
have to approach this differently. Let'sgo to the New York Knicks hosting the
Philadelphia seventy six series and what isgoing to be a clear sweep by the

(53:42):
New York Nicks. So I guesswe will theoretically talk about it because we
have to. Jalen Brunton has beenphenomenal all season long. The Knicks are
as healthy without the poor Man's MVPJulius Randa, as they have been the
entire season. They've also been playingthe last couple of weeks together, so
they sort of feel like it's goodas they're going to be going into the

(54:04):
year, which is so much whatwe talk about the NBA going into the
playoffs, which is injuries. Whois actually healthy. The Knicks are probably
as good as they're going to be. Joelan Bee came back late. He
has clearly shown signs of being alittle beat up too, but still a
force when he's out there, andif he's healthy enough, I don't think
joelan Bean's the guy that's gonna makeit through seven games. If he has

(54:24):
to get seven games through this NewYork team, I think this is probably
I can't do it. As afan. This will be a tough,
tough series. I still think it'sprobably most six. I like New York
at home, especially getting the fourof those at home. New York's very,

(54:45):
very good at home, and theyhave been all season in Philadelphia.
I'm not riding a ton into thetyres max see Joel embiid at the end
of the game, just because everybodyfights all the time. I mean,
Draymond Green's punching teammates right like stuffjust happens. But I do think New
York the better team here. Andif Joel eb was fully healthy and I
feel like I could trust that guy, and then we'll be jelling. Maybe

(55:08):
I think differently, but I thinkNew York is in a much better position
right now. I'd feel a lotmore confident, as all Knicks fans would,
if you have Julius Randall in thestable there. Oganninobi, though,
is a defensive upgrade over Randall andcan play that power forward spot. It's
really going to come down to foultrouble, you know, can Isaiah Hartenstein

(55:28):
and Mitchell Robinson stay on the flooragainst the foul drawing machine that is Joel
mb because if they can't, nowyou're getting down into precious of Chewall,
who's a little bit undersized to bechecking Joel embiidr. In the past,
a channel will get wrecked by beats, right, and then you're having to
play down Annanobe where Ananobe can holdhis own. But you want Ogananobi defending

(55:51):
on the wings against the Tobias Harris, against a Kelly Uber and maybe even
against Tyrese Maxey, depending on howyou deploy Josh Hart. So, yeah,
New York's got the defensive weapons tomake this interesting. But Philly did
just show, and they've shown allyear that they can play tough. They
can get into one of these dogfight type of games, dogfight type of
series. You're right that everything asalways hinges on Embiid's health. I don't

(56:16):
know. To me, this feelslike seven games. I know you're picking
New York in six. I'm gonnago seven just because if embiid is healthy.
This again is a team that ismassively overqualified to be a seven seed.
This feels like a semifinals matchup,because that's what it should have been.

(56:36):
Is that's what it should have beenbarring those injuries. In the same
way that like Minnesota and Phoenix feelslike a semi finals matchup, not a
first rounder. So this is gonnabe tough. But you're right, New
York being at home, they don'tfear Philly. They've got the tools to
win their type of game. ButPhilly is not like a soft team that
you push around either. They're gonnathey're gonna swing to no that this is

(57:00):
when we talk about uh sweet sweetsweet pumping in the faith action. This
is gonna be that nasty game.This is gonna be the nasty Eastern Conference
basketball. This is the one thatyou're gonna be like, Okay, I'm
gonna have to sit through that oneand they have to watching the game.
Yeah, oh my my face hurts. Oh everything hurts. Uh, But

(57:24):
yeah, this is gonna be atough one. But like this is Tom
Thibodeau one on one, like thisis how he likes to play. He's
got a roster that is complete withplayers that could play like that. He's
finally got an elite scorer on hisroster to be able to score. Like
you said, if it wasn't forthe Julius Randall injury, this team would
be clearly the favorite to be ableto Well, I'll say this, if

(57:46):
Randall was there, I would takethe Knicks and six. Without Randall,
I'm saying it's a seven game seriesand I'm not picking a winner. That's
that's how wow, what a copout. Absolutely take the Knicks. The
money. What is one of theKnicks? The Knicks are two and a
half point favorites. Bro. Bythe way, the total, the betting

(58:09):
total. The Knicks aren't even thelowest betting total right now. It's the
Calves right now, the Calves,Tom, Tom Thibodau. If you're listening,
and I know you are because Iknow you listen to the show every
every single week that we do it, please please don't forget that boy On
Bogdanovich is on your bench and thatthe dude can score thirty points like when

(58:29):
your offense is struggling and it will. Please do not forget that he's there.
This is the time when you needto dust off relief pictures like that
and let them come in and controla game. That's why you got boy
On Bogdanovitch, and it's been reallydisappointing how little he's been deployed. I
know you didn't have much time withhim, but come on, Tom,

(58:51):
come on, you can do it. All right, Let's get to the
Sunday matchups. So right now,the Celtics have no opponent. Will they
get to just automatically go to thesemi finals or will they have to wait
for their opponent. We'll see.We'll see what the NBA w Adam Silver
decided to do. Maybe they'll justgive him a buye into the semis I'm
not sure, so we'll talk aboutthat just a second. But let's get

(59:14):
to the two games that we doknow. MAVs Clippers. Man, I'll
tell you this, I want theMAVs to win so badly if Kyrie doesn't
play, because everything I find Dallasso fun to watch this year, they're
so enjoyable. I was King ofthe I don't think this is gonna work

(59:37):
trained, and at the end oflast year it didn't seem like it was
gonna work. They took forever tobring Kyrie back for this season. So
for this to work and they gotto play, probably got the NBA Play
of the year from this tandem.If you remember the play where Luca's diving
on the ground and he's sliding fora ball and he ends up giving sort
of behind his head to Kyrie,and Kyrie lobs it up like when it

(01:00:00):
looks like it's about to be ablock shoddy lobster Ford, Oh, just
silly. Sauce gets a good team, a really fun team to watch if
it wasn't Kyrie. It's a veryrootable team for me to be able to
watch, to be able to play. And by the way, I think
the best basketball big played in theWest. I get the most fun,
enjoyable overall topped about them. Outsideof the outside of that, I have

(01:00:21):
no love and interest really in theClippers do anything good like they're not as
fun to me. I would rootfor Dallas if it was for that.
So I'm gonna take the the theJoelsey Cordez approach and say I hope they
both lose or at least I'm notrooting for anyone and picking one of them.
But what I do find more enjoyablethan the other, I'm a big

(01:00:42):
Kawhi Leonard stand Despite all the upsand downs, I would love for him
to get this Clippers team just passedthe the history of the Clippers, and
that would mean a Western Conference Finalsappearance, maybe even an NBA Finals appearance,
that would blow some minds. Buthere again, Leonard dinged up at
the end of a season. It'sthe same thing that we see with so

(01:01:04):
many of the guys on that typeof list, Joel Embiid, even Jimmy
Butler. You know, you talkabout playoff Jimmy. We've also seen broken
down Jimmy plenty of times in theplayoffs and we forget about that, you
know. So it's the same thingwith Kawhi Dallas as a team that they've
they've got to win a series,maybe even two, because they keep getting

(01:01:24):
in as a middling team with Lucaand then not advancing. And this group,
along with Kyrie, you've got starpower in addition to Luca, star
power that actually seems to work withLuca. And they did a nice job
of bolstering that supporting cast with acouple of other lob catchers in PJ.
Washington and Daniel Gafford. They've beenreally effective in the starting lineup, and

(01:01:47):
it also moved a couple of guysto the bench that now are more helpful
there. So yeah, Dallas isthe more likable team. The Clippers are
deep. Still, the Clippers areveterans, and still this is not an
easy series to pick. I willtake Dallas and seven because this this has
been that type of series. Thesetwo teams have met like two or three

(01:02:08):
times already over the last couple ofyears, and the Clippers have had their
number. I think Dallas finally doesit this year. But if they don't,
I mean, then you're gonna you'regonna have a lot of shades starting
to go Luca's way too, Like, all right, dude, when are
you gonna win a playoff series?That's a valid question at that point in
his career. It's a one hundredpercent valid right, Like, Like,

(01:02:29):
I don't think you can't avoid thatfor the most part. Yeah, I'm
gonna avoid I really am. Iwant to say doubt, I'm gonna avoid
picking. I'm gonna avoid picking.Uh, this is the only thing I
took that route. You can youget one of those? Yeah, I
just I can't. I can't havea Kyrie lead team being fun. I

(01:02:51):
can't. I can't. I can'thave it happen goes against everything this man
believes in go. Can you imagineif the Knicks and Mavericks were playing in
the That's that's the that's the NIAFinals. I'm rooting for because then I
want to murder them, all right. So the Pacers in the Bucks is
going to be a phenomenal series potentially, but we're not looking very positive for

(01:03:15):
Janisanta Ta Kunpo to be able tobe in this series, or at least
to start it off. So thesetwo teams already don't like each other.
These two teams are clear rivals,and Indiana has made that very clear h
every time that they've gotten under thecourt. And now Milwaukee, maybe without

(01:03:37):
the Yannis, this is this isa scary spot for Doc Rivers. This
is a very scary spot for theDocts. And yes, this is a
what three six matchup, whatever itis. Let's not forget that Milwaukee won

(01:03:58):
forty nine games this year, Indianaone forty seven. They're they're separated by
two games, they're the same.One of these one of these teams is
coached by Doc Rivers, the otheris coached by Rick Carlyle. One of
these teams won't have Giannis and didn'tlook all that great with Giannis and Damian

(01:04:21):
Lillard has been in and out ofthe starting lineup. Granted, Tyrese Halliburton
has been on a major shooting slumpsince the All Star break. Really,
but I'm taking the Pacers in thisone, and I might be taking the
Pacers in five, maybe even saythe Pacers were my team. I mean,
at the beginning of the year,I told you, like, watch

(01:04:43):
out for Indy. This is gonnabe one of those teams that has fun,
fun, fun, and not ateam that you really want to play.
And this is the classic type ofupset special in a first round,
where you have a team that's young, that's fast, that's athletic, that's
well coached, and they're running upagainst a team that is old ish and
has not been on the same page. Those are the veteran now dinged up

(01:05:05):
too. Those are the type ofveteran teams that become roadkill, so really
easy in a first round. Letme figure out I could do the man,
I maybe up on this. Thefirst guy coaching won like thirty games,
the interium guy going like two,right, and then so dots one's
seventeen games with this roster in thisteam, something like that. Yeah,

(01:05:30):
I'm with you, Indiana, andlike, I know, they don't have
the the the experience in this position, but we're not saying we're gonna pick
them to win the East. That'sthat's where the experience comes in. I
can't I can't imagine Milwaukee seeing amatchup that they would hate more. Milwaukee
has already proven over the last fewyears that they have no problem losing first

(01:05:54):
round series right exactly exactly. Ithink Milwaukee would rather play Boston right now
then play Indiana because Indiana wants tocome for the throat Like this is a
very much this is a Sacramento GoldenState kind of thing. This is a
okay, uh, we don't likeyou. Uh we've never liked you.
Now we're good enough to be ableto shove it in your face. Uh,

(01:06:15):
we're gonna take full advantage of this. And Buddy, this is not
a great place for Doc River tobe finding himself up one game to kneel,
or maybe himself down three games toone and sort of blow blowing it
because there is almost zero chance hegets to blow a three games to one
lead in this and are zero chance. Oh my god. Okay, so,

(01:06:42):
uh, the the Celtics, theywill take on the Okay, so
you're taking the Pacers, You're well, sorry, you're taking the Pacers,
but I'm taking the Pacers to theCeltics will take on what we you're gently
leaning and hoping it's Chicago. Uh, And I would like to lean that
way because I'd like to never seeMiami again, the zombie team that deserves

(01:07:03):
to die quickly. So if it'sthat case, that's a sweep. Right.
If it's Chicago, it's a sweep. If it's Miami, I'll take
Boston and five maybe six if youknow Jimmy m Bubby Butler. Yeah,
but he'll he'll come back from thedead and he'll play and five or something

(01:07:25):
like that. Leave nothing with Miami. Right, He'll be on one of
those little like knee carts when youget your a c all done and you
gotta scoot around on the cart.He'll somehow get a waiver to be able
to you know, scoot around andplay that game. All right. I'm
with you, very very easy seriesthere for Billy Donovand who still can't get
all the good players there, can'tcoach his way out of a paper bag

(01:07:45):
to be able to get higher thana play and see, for the most
part, that's the thing, like, well, sometimes you know, it's
not just I'm not blaming just BillyDonovan. Sometimes, you know, franchise
it cursed for a little bit andmaybe he just got to clean out the
coach and be like, all right, let's but we've talked about this for
a couple of years. I meanthey it was a handful of years ago

(01:08:09):
where they were really really good,right, and they were going against uh
was it was it Cleveland? Likewas it Lebron's Cleveland? Uh? And
shoot, I may be wrong onthis. Are you talking to Derek Rose?
Joke him? Noah, years likeway back to that. No,
no, no, no, I'mtalking about just a handful of years ago
where where they had Lonzo Ball,Yeah, where it was yeah yeah,

(01:08:30):
yeah, yeah, it was comingin and it was Simmons, Zack Lavinia
yeah okay, and and Jamario Rosenwas having a career year. They they
had all the pieces that looked likeyeah and they and they and they were
good. They were really good,and then the injuries immediately started happening.
Like I wouldn't say gay one,but yeah, all right, let's talk
about finally this here is the OklahomaCity thunder, which what we think is
gonna be against the Sacramento Kings.You've already alluded to it in your commentary

(01:08:54):
just a moment before. But ifyou want to talk about the very old
veteran matchup versus the young guys,Sacramento is the old dude, the old
heads that have been in it,that have had success in the season,
that know what it's like to comeinto the first round and not perform well,
how to be able to react toit? This is okay? See

(01:09:15):
their first shot around this with thisiteration of the team, do you think
there's a shot that Sacramento would makethings ugly for Oka? See maybe push
them to seven or win it.If Sacramento can beat New Orleans, now
they've got momentum. This is atype of game where you know the Kings
may be able to come in andsteal one. I know OKAC is a

(01:09:39):
really tough place to play, butif you have those early jitters be in
the number one seed, now there'spressure to perform. You've been sitting for
over a week as a young team. You haven't really navigated that type of
downtime before. These are all justnew things. Yes, Oklahoma City was
in the play in last year,but this is a new such for that

(01:10:00):
group. This is how you learn. It's how the Kings had to learn
last year. So it's not thatthe Kings are old heads, it's just
that they're one step further along.Oklahoma City, on the other hand,
is so talented, so good defensively, did add some veteran know how and
a guy like Gordon Hayward and acouple of other guys along the way that
they'll have those voices in the lockerroom of guys who've been down the road

(01:10:23):
before, for whatever that's worth that. No, I'm not picking Sacramento to
upset Oklahoma City in the first round, but to potentially steal two games and
make it interesting, Yes, Ithink is very possible, especially you know
that proverbial like eight seed walks inand steals game one against a one seed
that's been sitting too long. Wesee that all the time, and I

(01:10:45):
think this is the type of scenariowhere that happens. Granted, okac is
a really tough place to play onthe road, but you know what,
Sacramento is a really tough place toplay on the road too. This is
going to be the loudest of allthe series between those two home courts.
I did not even think about it. That is a great point that just
completely skipped my mind. The decibelswill be insane for both these two places.

(01:11:11):
Yeah, and then again, weare assuming so much and now that
we've set all this Murphy's loss asNew Orleans is gonna pull this out and
get into the first round against OklahomaCity and we're all gonna collectively yawn when
that happens. But yeah, ifif it is the Kings, and I
hope that it is, uh,just bring your ear plugs. That is
a absolutely bonkers set of home courtsto play. Man, I can't believe

(01:11:35):
that went past me, like twoof the at worst case three maybe best
that they may be the two besthome court like crowds in the entire Yeah,
I love that, you know what. That's it. That's that's what
they pay attention to the most inthis series, the energy that's going to
be in the buildings, because it'sgonna be bunk bonkers for both these and

(01:12:01):
okay, see, hasn't been thisgood, uh in a long long time.
It's like since durant In and Hardenand Rush. Yeah, so you're
talking that's what a decade ago rightto thirteen twenty fourteen team. Yeah,
they're they're gonna be rowty rowty andlast year. Last year was just a
prelude. They were in the playin and they were like, hey man,

(01:12:23):
what can we be? Well,guess what we're could be the one
seat. We're gouna be the oneseed. We're gonna be the one seed.
Because we were talking like that,I'll agree with you, all right,
Uh okay, that's gonna do itfor us. I cannot wait for
these year playoffs to become real.Uh. I was watching on Sunday with

(01:12:44):
baited breath to see the tie breakerscenarios work out and the Knicks had to
go to overtime to be able toget to that two seed. I was
just like, oh, come on, come on, why are you sucking
to the Bulls right now? Stopit? Anyway, the Bulls have played
that spoiler route a little bit.They've done it all and this year,
which is why I am There area bunch of jerks like that. They
can be good at times and theycan be really dumb at times, like

(01:13:05):
right was it didn't last year theyjust like lay up lay an egg in.
Was the Chicago that lay the eggin the play in? Yeah,
yep, they they did great inthat first game, and we all picked
them over Miami who was dead inthe water with injuries, and then Miami
just came and put them to bedimmediately. And this would be phenomenal if
Chicago looks at what the Kings justdid to the Warriors and go, why

(01:13:29):
not us, Let's exercise some demons, let's get some revenge. It's just
one game. We only have tobeat these guys one time. It would
be phenomenal if they could do that. But you know, killing Freddy Krueger
was supposed to be easy to haand they made a bunch of movies about
that. All right, Joelsey Cordez, that's gonna do it for this yere

(01:13:50):
podcast. I'm excited. Are youexcited? I am excited. This is
the one of those best time timesof the year. How does it feel,
by the way, to be likehied for the best record, but
you're the three seeds, not thematchup. But it's just weird, right,
Like they have such a good seasonto be tied with the at the
top and you're technically the three seed, even though you're tied for the best

(01:14:10):
record. The issue for me comesdown to Towns having been hurt only coming
back with three games to go.Chemistry is a little bit shaky trying to
reacclimate him. Anthony Edwards has beenon a little bit of a slump over
the last ten twelve games. He'sbeen really hit or miss You can tell
that his legs are tired. Hehas had to carry a lot for this

(01:14:33):
team, so they're not clicking onall cylinders like they were around the All
Star break. They've had some ofthose stretches this year where they were really
dialed in and just mowing through people, whether it was good opponents or bad
opponents. Minnesota does not have thattype of momentum right now and it is
it is all dogfight based, andthen you still have the little bugaboos around

(01:14:54):
there. Like okay, Towns hasnever really been in big playoff games saved
the last couple of years. AnthonyEdwards has a lot to learn. Rudy
Gobert is a guy who, likea Donovan Mitchell, has had his share
of playoff flameouts when he was inUtah struggles. There's there's some demons that
have to get exercised for that wholegroup. And then, like we talked

(01:15:15):
about before, it's Phoenix. Soyeah, I feel good. It's nice
to be in this position, butit's not one of those like, hey,
we'll see you in the finals.Like no, no, no,
no, no no, a lotof games left to play before we even
get that route. No. Lastyear, as long as Ginver sort of
was taking things like showed how theywould be, it was their conference basically
to be able to take maybe thingscould have given them, but clearly that

(01:15:38):
never happened. This year. Ithink it's a it's a much deeper West,
many more teams that they could compete. So it's cool. In the
East. Boston is just like showup, somebody, somebody show up,
yep, yeah, and they're gonnathey're gonna keep like a breeze for their
first four games and then by thetime they show but was uh they would

(01:15:58):
the semi finals would be against eitherCleveland Orlando. Doesn't I mean, doesn't
strike fear into you. They're gonnagive you a series, but you better
win that if your Boston, youknow, you'd rather see Orlando for sure
than the Calves. But could youimagine Boston losing the semi finals this year
this team. Stranger things have happened, I mean mainly Milwaukee. But we're

(01:16:25):
gonna see the strange thing with DocRiverard. That's what's gonna be the cool
thing, all right, mister Cordyis that's gonna do it for us.
Say goodbye to the good people,goodbye good people. If you want the
audio only version, Speaker, Spotify, iTunes, wherever you get your podcasts.
If you want the video version,we are on YouTube, like share,
subscribe to all those good things.This has been Basketball by Association.
We'll do it again next week