S11 Ep. 23 "The Mavs win the Lottery and Tatum Gets Injured"

Keith and Dave discuss the controversial (and emotional) lottery results, plus talk about the ramifications of Jayson Tatum's injury and the wide open title race. 

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Episode 798 (S11 Ep. 23)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, and welcome to Fast Break Breakfast NBA podcast.
My name is Keith Parrish and I'm here once again
with my buddy.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Through the miracle of computer phone, with.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Dave four Dave the forty eight minutes Coach Duffer.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
How you doing, man, I'm great, man, Yeah, great. Yeah.
You know my complaints are not worth talking about, so yeah,
I'm great.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, I mean, how did you endure?

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I would say one of the more emotionally grueling nights
of the NBA calendar so far.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
It was a roller coaster.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
I did not know how passionately I cared about the
lottery results until they happened.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I was watching them with my children.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
I kept explaining them to my seven and ten year olds,
and I try to explain the lottery plainly, and then
they were like, I don't get it, and then I
would go back through and but you no, no, So
all right, so you see the here's and I showed
the taketh on table, like, look, these are the percentages
of take. Yeah, I'm showing my seven and ten year
olds the tanketh on table and my look, all right,

(01:17):
if this isn't the Kings right right here, something weird
happened oh, it's the Kings. But then I think by
the end they sort of got it, but they still
didn't get it.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
I normally look if I'm not working, I normally am
not watching the lottery. I normally am just like, i'll
see it after. Yeah, you know what I mean, I'll
see the results after. I do the same with the
draft because I don't cover the draft yep, and this year,
like i'll be off. Yeah, I'll look at the draft
results after. It's I don't need It's not something I'm
into watching.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
That's wild. I'm so passionate about it.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
So, but you watched this, but I did watch this
one well, I had to record last night. But also, uh,
Andrew Select and Alex spears A did a lottery live
stream because they do cover the draft first for the show, right,
and it was fun, man, Like number one, those guys
are great. It's a good hang. It's much better than
watching on TV. But they do care, right, and so
like their enthusiasm kind of got me into it. And

(02:11):
so it's sort of like what you did with your kids,
but they did it for me, right. I didn't have
any notes up. I was just watching the stream and
they you know, when when the first team started to jump.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
There's so many and there were so many jumps.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
That was the thing. It was just kept jumping. It
was like, oh my gosh, the MAVs jumped the first being.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
The mask was like, come on, that's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
So the saddest thing about that, you know, the Bulls
lost the coin flip for those numbers.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
If Josh Giddy hadn't made the half court buzzer beater.
But listen, if Josh Giddy hadn't made the half court
buzzer beater, he wouldn't be my son's favorite player. So,
I mean, there's butterfly wings whatever.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I know. Explaining things to my kids, let me do
a Brie aside on parenting.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, so, growing up in.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
A very Christian atmosphere, one of the things that we
were sort of I don't know how we were taught
this in church, but it came up a lot is
the concept of like, you know what, that doesn't bother me,
But how am I supposed to explain that to my kids?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
And we see this used a lot.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
We're like, oh, you're selling whatever, you could be selling
sex toys at Target? Oh, how do I explain that
to my kid all kinds of weird things. You're like, well,
so I've always heard that. I've always turned that into
a joke. It makes me laugh a lot. The John
Collins's dunk contest or right.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Father's thing.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
My joke to that is how do I explain this
to my gifts? I've always used as a joke because
it cracks.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Me up now.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
But I will say, having children, them asking complex questions
things that I thought were complex, they're actually not complex, Like,
like you know, the one thing that that they always
heard repeated is like, oh, how do you explain like
gay marriage to your kids? It's the easiest thing you
will ever encounter as a parent. It's like, well, you
know how mommy and daddy love each other? Sometimes two

(04:05):
girls love each other, two boys love each other. The
kid says, cool, and that's it. It's the easiest thing
you will ever explain to your kids. It's way easier
to explain like, hey, how do my cuts heal? They're like,
all right, well you good clots? And then these Yeah,
that's the easy thing you ever explained. Hard things to
explain the NBA Draft lottery. Also, here's my ignorance being

(04:26):
raised evangelical. My son says, hey, what's the pope? You know?

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Okay? I I sort of know what the pope is.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
But it turns out when I started explaining to a
ten year old, I sounded like a complete idiot.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
I was like, I don't it's the leader of the
Catholic Church. Beyond that, I don't have much.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
I mean, you know it's handed down from Peter Man,
Like this is uh right.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I was like, you know what, I don't know a
lot about that.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
You didn't get into this great schism of Yeah, I
was like, I know, I know the words schism and catechism.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Uh It's like it is like and I don't know
what to explain this schism.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Do you know that part of what started the Schism
of ten four was whether to use leven or unleaven
bread during the Eucharists.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, now we're talking.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
I mean, most of my background starts with like a
Martin Luther. This is why we're not Catholic, But no,
I don't. Anyways, we hit Catholicism, we hit evangelical hot
issue topics.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Of course we have to talk about.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
I mean, the MAVs winning the lottery was amazing, so
we got to get into that. And then of course
there's the Jason Tatum injury, there's the Celtics falling down
three to one.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
To the movie, they talked about emotions the Cavaliers.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Thank you that that actually gets to be back on track. Yeah,
the emotions of the evening. First of all, I got
really worked up over the lotteries. It turned out, right
then you're watching this intense basketball game that was intense
on its own. Nix and Celtics was intense on its own,
and then the injury happened.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
And now so but the thing is that it was
also we were the Knicks were gonna lose, or excuse me,
the Celtics were gonna lose.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
They were already gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
And so we're already doing the you know, I mean again,
you know how this works. Oh, the Celtics are done,
they're out, it's three to one, it's over. And then that.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Happened, right so then, so then we had that injury.
I legit was kind of stunned. I mean, I sort of.
Sometimes I don't know when the games are scheduled. I
I was assuming we were getting a second game on
the West coast, you know, But it was like during
that Nick Celtics when that's over, I'm like, look there's
another game.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I'm born like I'm worn out.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
And so yeah, it was a big, emotionally devastating, intense
evening for basketball fans. Of course, the Timberwolves take care
of business in the late game. That one wasn't that exciting?
What's happened in games like two through four? Like the
Warriors are in it and you're like, you're not gonna win.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, it's like you're not You're not gonna win. Eventually
the Timberls are gonna turn it on.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
And now we have talk about those games, and you
don't even talk about the comebacks. Yeah right, because it's
just random for them.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
But I guess before we get into everything we have
to hit today, might as well do breakfasts day.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Have you had anything oatmeal?

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (07:16):
All right, I'm telling you, man, this is uh. I
don't know. I've probably done this now for a year straight.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's about a year.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Amazing, so easy. Before you started a breakfast.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Guy, but no, all right, I just need to know this.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Before you started doing the every week fast break breakfast,
were you at least mixing your breakfast up then, or
did you just start eating oatmeal at the start of
that routine and now you're like, you know, this is good.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
I'm not going to change it. I'm not going to
eat oatmeal every every day.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Okay, it's just I just started it and it's perfect.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Okay, I don't I don't know how I feel. I
kind of feel like I got you on a bad
little rut here.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
No, is that a rut? I mean, you know, I'm
it's funny. I'm excited to eat it every day. It's delicious.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
I had my breakfast. I had a small, like roast
beef slider. I'm at work. Apparently it's like faculty and
staff week or something, and in the break room they
had little cut up sandwiches, you know, a little tiny Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
It was on King's Hawaiian bread.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, basically it was. I think it was King's bread.
Where was I could tell you it was roast beef.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
It had a little bit of a green I'm not
sure it wouldn't straight lettuce.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Uh No, I don't know. Yeah, well, I'm not sure
what it was. Honestly, it was only a few bites.
I didn't ponder it long.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
It had some form of the it was a mayonnaise
adjacent We'll go aoli of some sort, but it was
it was delicious.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
Actually, not like a horse radish.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
There.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It was a tanginess, but it was not a straight
horse radish or even a creamy horse readish. Actually, we
should wrap this up quickly so I can go back
and get another one. I'm worried they might be gone
in about an hour anyways. Sorry, so those are our breakfast.
After our breakfast, we move into our breakfast in bed.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Apologies, this is our chance to make We might have
gotten wrong on a previous episode. There is something I
should correct.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Last episode, I muddled through a stat about the Timberwolves
in their close out win against the Lakers.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
I didn't have the exact numbers.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
I threw out the gist of a stat, which is
always the worst way to do it.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
So the specifics.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
In that game five win over the Lakers, the Timberwolves
were seven for forty seven on three pointers. That's fourteen
point nine percent the actual stat.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
We can say this a number of ways.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
The Chimberwolves were the first team ever to win a
playoff game taking at least forty three pointers while making
less than twenty percent of them. You could narrow that
down say that the first team ever to win a
playoff game taking thirty or more three pointers while hitting
less than fifteen percent of them.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Also, Dave, I would say, for purposes of statistical clarity, the.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
More interesting number might be they were only the third
team ever in the playoffs to take thirty three pointers
at least thirty three pointers and shooting a fifteen percent.
So good job Timberwolves winning not making three pointers. Sorry
listener for not totally getting the exact stats right, Dave.

(10:15):
There are a lot of shooting issues.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
It's not just the Timberwolves in a Game five win
over the Lakers. Lots of teams just breaking threes left
and right. Well, we're seeing, I mean, the Thunder had
a historically terrible shooting night.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
You've had the Celtics, of course, struggling to shoot both
the Nuggets and Thunder in Game four, some amazing first
half shooting numbers where no one made anything. We're seeing
teams turned to zone over and over. Uh, is everyone nervous?
What's going on?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I mean there's also some fatigue, Yeah, there is, I
don't know. And the lights are actually brighter in the playoffs.
I mean, you look, Lou Dort misses so many threes,
and it's because they're and they're all wide open. Man.
I just you know, he's just not a guy who
can do it. I don't know, it's it's funny to

(11:12):
just say that it's the playoffs, but it just is
true every single time you say it, right, Like, well,
part of me.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Wonders if the guys who aren't ready for the playoffs
and you look at some of the Thunder supporting cast
and you're like, okay, Lou Dirt, those aren't actually going
in now for you. Then you have like Tie Jerome
more on him in his second but Tie Jerome been
kind of horrible. But also there's like big name guys
just shooting, struggling from the field, not making them shot.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Some of it also is you know, again there's fatigue.
I think like when you look at what the Celtics
are doing that that game where they missed forty five threes,
they weren't even running offense. They just were I mean,
they were just chucking Dave.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Let's actually get into that series a little bit.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
So you you would say in the regular season, yeah,
you're like, don't worry about the Sellics there they're rope
and doping because they don't run anything right.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
You had assumed when they hit the.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Playoffs, they'd go back to the habit.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Maybe they'd run some plays and do some things and
try to generate. They did different actions and like this,
it's not happening. It's just all pull ups. And even
Jason Tatum before he gets hurt and he says that
he has this huge game. Then it's is with over
forty points, all his shots were still pull ups. They
were all step backs. I So I'm watching with my kids.
I got distracted. The Knicks had had this deficit again

(12:35):
in the second half, like they've had in every game
of the series.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
And the Celtics lead is down to seven. It's down
to five.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Oh, Tatum hit a wild step back back up to eight.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Oh, it's down to four. It down to three.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
I legitimately thought it was the end of the game
based on how the Celtics had quit playing offense like
like it was.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
It was like it was four minutes left in the
third quarter.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
I'm just acted watch it with with my kids being like,
oh wow, this is really falling apart, and my son
cheers for the Celtics because they wear green. He's a
simple guy with simple pleasures. Yeah, but like I literally
thought it was like all those four minutes left, that's
why they're stinking. Oh wait, it's the third quarter. They
have a whole other quarter to blow this, and of
course they did. They not it's up running anything. It's

(13:21):
just all step backs. It's all one on one.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
They get into this weird thing where they're trying to
burn clock. They go away from what works, like they
you know, they attack, yeh to start these games. I mean,
Derek White was super aggressive to start the game, but
they always go back to this. I'm gonna just dribble
the air out of the ball and take a step back,
you know. Jalen Brown wasn't wasn't good. Got nothing from

(13:49):
Drew Holliday, got nothing from Al Horford, got nothing from Porzingis.
I mean Porzingis, you know whatever he's dealing with. Look,
he looks like a shell of himself.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Covid.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
I mean, I mean the Perzingis story is probably the
most notable. I mean, outside of course Tatum getting hurt.
Sure you're gonna address that in a second, but like
as far as this series, if you're going to talk
about the Celtics issues and not just talk about the
knicks and the things they've done. Well, I think you
talk about that well. Perzingis isn't Porzingis. He's not himself
and that is a huge issue.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
It's any I mean, he's the reason they won the
title last year. You know that that was the I mean,
the X factor is such an overused term, but he
really was there. You know, they could have gotten it
done like I mean, they got it done for a
game without without Tatum, right, like they could. They could
would stand losing one of those guys. But you could
see even during the regular season when they didn't have them,

(14:45):
they just didn't have the same amount of juice, Like
he really doesn't. He just changes the geometry for him
and and him not being one hundred percent. Yeah, I mean,
this was they were vulnerable coming into the playoffs. You know,
Jalen Brown had the knee, then Tatum picks up the wrists,
you got Porzen Gus, you know, struggling, and then al Horford.
It looked great one night and then you know, does

(15:07):
he have it the next game? Right? Yeah, Drew Holliday
obviously had been hurt and so I don't know. I
wasn't surprised that the Knicks were having success against them, right,
like they weren't the same. But also they didn't do
themselves any favors stop running offense in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
So when we talk about the Knicks, I think the
way Jalen Brunson is so dependable in these comebacks and
in these second halves, where again I can't get over
the fact that the Celtics have been up by I
can't remember was it a fifteen or fourteen point ly
in the second half, but like that was.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
A team, So they've been up.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
The Celtics have been up in the second half by
fourteen or more in every matchup. The Knicks had their
first double digit lead of this series in the final minutes.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
But I can't get over one how.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Everything that Nick's dreamed of when they had the Villanova
reunion and then when they traded for Carl in the Towns.
I mean, maybe you could wish for more from Karl
Anthony Towns. I mean, I know he made his shots,
but he's not He's playing more like a spot up
shooter and just like a random kind of role player
guy as opposed to the don't really.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Use him right, Like, it's not like you get a
ton of Brunson cat like you just don't.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
But the fact that all those other the supporting cast
with Og and McHale and then Brunson is just like
the guy on the ball coming through over and over
and he's able to get the shots.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
He wants over and over and he's making them.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
It's insane.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
It has this inevitable feeling where you're watching the Celtics
and you're like, woll wow, you're really gonna blow this again?

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Huh. It was like, you know, I feel like, I mean,
I know, there's the there's the.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Fan angle where you get nervous, and then you have
this due feeling of doom. Like if you ask Celtics
fans maybe through the third quarter, like how's this gonna go?
I think a lot of them would have said I
didn't think we're gonna lose because the.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Way that the momentum is going.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
But I think even non Celtics fans like me, it
was just like, oh, yeah, this is this is I've
seen this, this is gonna once again. Be like I
trust what the Knicks are doing more and maybe it's
Brunson who argu could be the end view of the
playoffs so far.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Crazy. Yeah, he needs like walk out music like a
wrestler for the fourth quarter, you know, Okay, and he
just whatever, Like he just has this a crazy switch
that he's flipping right now. And you know, we talked
all the time about how small guards can't win, and
I say we as you know, Royal, we I don't know,

(17:38):
man uh is Jalen Brunston gonna just put him on
his back?

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:44):
He's an average shot, is hard right.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
He's averaging nine points in the fourth quarters of this series.
I'm actually curious what he is for the whole, for
the whole playoffs, if it's something weird.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
And play enter Sandman like they used to do for
Mariano Rivera, you know.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, so yeah, he's definitely he's the leading scorer among
all players in the playoffs in just the fourth quarter,
Brunson averaging ten point two, Donovan Mitchell averaging nine, Jalen
Williams seven point eight.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
A little bit of an interesting stat right there.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Jalen bruns has been incredible and the way he keeps
coming through it's just it's really impressive. And now and
the Knicks are on the precipice of making the conference finals,
and it seems like they are most likely going to
meet up with the Pacers, Pacers Knicks Pacers Knicks conference finals. Yeah,

(18:38):
the incredible history of those two franchises. Also, this struck
me just as a general thought just a couple of
days ago, like the way the second round was going
with all the road teams winning for a second there
and the presumed favorites before the playoffs started the thunder
and the Cavs and Celtics them all being down in

(18:59):
their seats. I was just trying to remember, and I'm
horrible at remembering these types of things, but has it
ever happened before We're in the second round, you could
legitimately imagine all eight teams making the finals. We were like, oh,
I guess they could all make it.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Not that I can remember. Yeah, I mean, you know,
for most of the so most of the time that
we've been watching basketball, there's been a great team yep.
And then there's been the team that was like that
they were fighting. You know, think about the Warriors and
the Rockets, right the Rockets had made a finals, you
would be like, yeah, but if the Clippers had made
a finals during that run, you would have been like,

(19:39):
I don't know about that. Yeah, you know, they were
never serious. So I just think, yeah, this is I
mean again, this is the parody era, and it's never
been like this for the NBA. Ever.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Here here's what I'm confused about the parody era.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
I believe the CBA intended to make a parody era,
but I don't feel like it should have happened yet.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
I felt like this is supposed to happen in a
couple more years. And I like how you point out.
I like how you.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Point out previously we had teams break through, but usually
they would break through even to a conference finals, and
you're like, that's not real, you know, like the Trailblazers
or the Grizzlies or like the Hawks. You're like, yeah,
these are good teams, but come on now. And I
would even say last year's Pacers and you're like, sure,
probably now we have to like reassess that. But also

(20:28):
I don't understand anymore. It used to be used to
be there was a there's always a great team, and
then if something weird happened, like of course you always
had there were upsets, but they were more like free standing.
Oh wow, the MAVs won sixty eight games and lost
in the first round of the war or whatever it was.
You know, like we've had these one seeds that flame
out and the maxims don't work out. But it's very

(20:49):
rare where you're like, any of these teams can win
a title right now. That doesn't make sense to me,
Like that doesn't I don't know. Maybe it is just
the parody era. It's a three point shot. Maybe it's
everyone to get nervous shooting.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
And I don't know.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
If you look at look at the best players in
the league right now, you know, like it's Jokic essentially
he has no other All Stars, right, Shay has the
best team around him, right, Like, I just think that
there is the talent is kind of spread out. It's
not divided between East and West, right, so it's not
that balance. But I do think but when you compare

(21:26):
the talent of the Calves, they don't have the individual talent,
but they certainly the talent stacks up to those other teams.
There's more, there's more ways to build a successful team today,
I think than there was ten years ago, right when
you needed the tentpole. Maybe the tent pole guy just
isn't as important.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
So I feel like that's a you could be correct,
you're making a fair and fine argument. I also feel
like we're sort of like making up something to describe
what's happening, as opposed to being like, but why is
that happening? Like, I know that's the because like Donovan
Mitchell to me is supposed to be good enough, and
he's come through most of the time for the Cavilers

(22:07):
this series. You know, obviously the blowout in Game four
not ideal. You talk about Jokicic's supporting cast. I mean,
I think arguably you could say against the Thunder Aaron
Gordon and Jamal Murray have played at the level of
basically any All.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Stars in the playoffs. Sure, they've been awesome.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Guys, are borderline all star guys.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Also, I think it's I just can't.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
I am at a loss with how like a PACER's
Knicks Finals seemed unbelievable, let's playoffs started, We're not there.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
Injury no, no, no, I mean injuries, though let's not
forget that injuries have actually affected quite a bit of this.
I mean even Minnesota, right, they're getting some injury luck
here everyone is kind of being affected. Every single series
has been affected so far by injuries. Include it like
the Cavs, right, if their guys don't get hurt, this
is a different series. That's true. Sing a game in

(23:00):
the playoffs, I mean that that throws everything off for you.
So I wasn't surprised that those guys came back and
it was like, oh, hey, we have this great explosion
and then we have nothing in the following game and
just I don't know. I just think rhythm is too important.
And the Cavs, I mean, they had some weird stuff
going into the playoffs, but I don't know, the injuries
really are the biggest thing. I mean, it's we talk

(23:23):
about this all the time. Man, it's a war of attrition, yep.
But at what point is that a problem to you?
Keith right where it's like, oh, if I know that
every single playoff run, it's kind of a crapshoot. And
it's because you know, like the seasons too long, or
you know, I don't know, the playoffs too physical, whatever
reasoning we want to come up with for the injuries, Like,

(23:46):
at what point does that affect you as like a
guy who's like enjoying.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
It would do you mean, does it a fan the
way like.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Where it feels just like I mean, the injuries, it's
an outsized effect, right.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Compare I think you compare it once again to the
NFL and their goals of parody. And of course you
have teams Tom Brady's teams and Patrick Mahomes's teams that
break through, but everybody else usually it's just it is.
It's a lot of injuries, it's a lot of luck,
and it's just last man standing. It's so weird though,
because it's not that's not the history of the NBA,
because you have these seven game series that's supposed to

(24:21):
relieve that or avoid that, and now I don't know,
it's it's it's weird. Let's talk briefly about Jason Tatum
and what it means for the Celtics and then we'll
get to the other stuff. As of this recording right
now about lunchtime on Tuesday, May thirteenth, they haven't come
out at least that I've seen with the news, but

(24:41):
presumed catastrophic leg injury and good chance, you know, something
like the achilles and he's going to be out for
a while.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
What does this mean for the Celtics going forward, like,
how do they how do they deal with this possibly
losing Tatum for next season and also facing maybe the
most expensive roster in the history the NBA.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Well, they were already kind of putting the word out
that they were going to break things up, right, like
five hundred million dollars pay roll. You just can't do that, Like, you're.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Just not going to I mean I could, but I choose.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, you could float it, but yeah, this is not
going to happen. So they were already putting that out there,
and I can't imagine that they're going to veer off
course from that. You know, the thought crossed my mind, Keith.
I was like, what would it take to get that
number one pick? You know, hey, Like, I don't know,
could Jalen Brown start there? Do you know what I mean?

(25:36):
It feels crazy? No? No, no, I said, start there right, Hey, Nico,
you want to win a title. You want to win
a title. Look, we are our best player is going
to be out next year. We'll take that number one pa,
you know what I mean? Now, I don't like this
is all pie in this guy, but I had that thought,
you know, like the Celtics. Could they just go ahead
and start because you were going to kind of restructure anyway,

(25:58):
it was going to be around. It's going to be
a round Tatum because Tatum is the star player. Uh
And now, I mean, unless your mind has changed that
Tatum is the guy, which I think Tatum probably bounces
back from this fine, Like Tatum doesn't actually get hurt.
This is why this is. I mean, it's beyond devastating
for other reasons, but it's just it's out of character.

(26:18):
It's just not you know, it's kind of crazy to
see him go down. So I don't know, Keith, what
do you think.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
With the Jazz losing the lottery? Could the Jazz trade
their entire roster for like Jason Tatum and Damian Lillard
and just have two guys with like one hundred million
dollars in dead money just not playing next year?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
And then.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
I mean, I think, tell Laurie, hey, we're gonna take
this one more year.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
Let's take it one more year. I'm back.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
No, I don't know, man, because I thought with Tatum healthy,
all right, if they move on from a Porzingis or
maybe this is time to trade a Jalen Brown do
you find, you know, part of me, my Grizzlies fan
brain is like, what would it take for a Desmond Bane,
for Jalen Brown?

Speaker 2 (27:03):
What else would the Grizzlies include. It would save it's.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
A smaller contract for Desimbane and save the Celtics tens
and millions of dollars every season. So that was like, well,
so is Jalen Brown gonna be available? Of course al
Horford is aging, and how much longer is he gonna play?
And so like, the Celtics are gonna look totally different.
But now with Tatum maybe missing the whole year, it's
just it's up in the air. It's also another I

(27:28):
mean not I don't. I'm not making lie of this.
It's another blow just the talent pool of the Eastern Conference. Yeah,
where it's like these distincts, man, yep, all next year yep.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
So I mean that's actually I mean, honestly, it's three
guys that are out next year because Kyrie will be out.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Kyrio for most of the year. Dallas with the a cl.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
The injuries for the next season already stacking up. You know,
we'll see how Lebron does after the you know, the
knee injury, that.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
He had and oh yeah, yeah, well yeah, recovers.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
But yeah, to me, I don't know. I like, Brad
Stevens has been pretty good since he moved into the
front office. Amazing. The Porzingis move was just none of
us saw it coming and it worked out perfectly right,
like they won a title. So I think that I
don't know, man, I feel like this summer is gonna
be insane. I mean what I don't like they can't trade.

Speaker 5 (28:22):
For Yannis, right, yeah, I mean, I just I don't know,
like what I mean, yis Milwaukee could be the team
with one hundred million dollars, I no, just dead money.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Who owns their pick next year? Though?

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Could you rope well, you have to rope in the
New Orleans Pelican. Yeah, oh, man, I mean but right now,
like this, it was already going to be crazy because
like we know Kevin Durant's probably getting moved. We know
that Jannis it looks like he's gonna get moved, which
throws other big players in the mix because of the
size of their contracts. And now this Tatum thing, I.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Mean you think and of course Durant likely available.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Yeahs it opens up the title run for next year,
like in the East, right, Like, so if you're Indie,
if you're Cleveland, if you're Pistons, next Pistons, you were
looking to pick somebody up because like there's a there's
a power vacuum.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Now, yeah, without Tatum in game five, I mean, I
feel like I should invoke the Bill Simmons.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Wing theory potential here.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
I mean, I know it's it's gonna be a lot
of emotion to try to overcome.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
But like, the Celtics team is so good.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
I mean, I don't know if Porzingis is never going
to be even ninety percent, probably doesn't matter, but like
we're talking about Jalen Brown. Yeah, there's still Eastern Conference
Finals MVP and finals MVP from last year.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
They win all the time when Tatum is bad. Yeah,
and we talk about it like as a way to Doctatum.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
So maybe so yeah, I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Celtic Pride, maybe they win game five, but I don't
know how you beat Brunsa two games in a row.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Right with the way he's playing, It's just unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Anyways, let's take a quick break and let's come back
and talk a little bit more about the lottery gods.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
All right, Dave.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
So, of course the Mavericks won the lottery, to the
chagrin of many. I think it rubbed a lot of
people the wrong way that a franchise could be as
dumb as they were and make a very obviously bad trade,
just if you talk about the business decision of it.

(30:48):
They made a flagrant error that harmed their franchise, you
would think, irreparably, and then they get bailed out with
their one point eight percent chance of winning the draft Lottery.
I was outraged. I like to be clear about this.
I was upset. I thought it was terrible. It seemed wrong. However,

(31:14):
on the Patreon only episode that I released on Monday
over at patreon dot com slash Past break Breakfast, I said,
if you ignore that Luka Dach's trade, which of course
is impossible to do, but if you could ignore that,
I felt like the Mavericks were one of the most
just winners of the lottery because with our weird basketball ethics, Dave,

(31:35):
they refused to tank right this year. They said, you
know what, it would be easy now that Kyrie's hurt,
just to shut it down. Trade for anything, Davis, he's hurt,
we should shut it down. They said, no, We're going
to try to make it out of the play in.
They failed, but now so then winning it sort of
seemed okay, but of course that isn't the real world

(31:58):
we live in. It was more just egregiously kind of
felt wrong. How did you feel do you feel that, uh,
this agreed feeling is is just.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
I mean, I get it right because it but it's
not a reward. This is the thing, and this is
why the whole like the lottery, and I guess the
flatten odds are making it so that we see that
tanking isn't really worth it anymore. I mean, god, you
imagine being a Utah jazz.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
It is sometimes sure, I think to.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
A certain degree, like there's that middle, but it seems
to me I would even I wish they would bump
the odds up for the teams, like if you make
the play in, you get a bonus in the lottery.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
If I feel like, honestly the seventh and eighth seeds
should also get a little tiny piece too.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah why not?

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Because I don't mind the middle getting better. This is
why I'm anti lottery, which we talk about all the time.
But yeah, I like the number of people that that
I got text as it just from right over the
MAVs winning, right if the Hornets were when nobody we're
all just probably like okay, cool him and Brandon Miller,

(33:09):
you know what I mean, We're just having normal conversations
with the Mavericks were all. It's like an existential crisis. Yeah,
like it's literally questioning your faith, well also.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Question people literally the integrity of the NBA. I honestly
feel a couple.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Things Ernst and young Man, I mean, I honestly believe one,
this is not rigged.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
However, the people's pushback, I'm gonna say the generalized, the
generalized people's pushback to why it's not rigged, where people
are like, oh, well, Ernst and young is a billion
dollar You think a billion dollar firm hasn't done fraud before?
Get out of town and they're like, oh, I don't know,
Like all of our intrepid NBA reporters who were like,

(33:52):
it's not rigged. I've seen the ping punk balls come out.
Have you never seen a magic show or built him?

Speaker 3 (34:01):
Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Ricky J doing a card trick on YouTube? Like you
you don't think we can rig a ping punk ball machine.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Come on, Yeah, I'm with you on that, but I
don't believe it was rigged, and I don't think so,
and I and I believe honestly the NBA if if you,
if you got some truth saram from Adam Silver, I
think he would wish this would not happen just because
of the narratives.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, I think he's like, yes, you know what, it
is good for Dallas. It's a massive market. It's an
unbelievable gift, not just to the franchise but to like
the podcasters.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Podcasters just keep coming up from gold Cato. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
But it's like, I think, why wouldn't the NBA just
as much? I mean, I can I can hear an
argument that, like the Dallas Mavericks franchise was literally devalued
and the fan base was broken, and this might have
been the one way to rejuvenate the fan base.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
I hear you.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
But also, like, isn't getting Cooper flag and rejuvenating like
the Wizards or the in those massive nets in those
massive markets, maybe that would be also good for the
NBA's bottom line. I mean, maybe the Hornets, you know,
maybe they're a smaller market, but like Charlot's a big.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
City man, like lawyers for the NBA. There's so many
and risk mitigation is like one of the big things.
There's no there's no upside. And the thing is, look
when they did it with envelopes, right, okay, and they're
like closed circuit TV whatever, Like if you wouldn't say
that they rigged the Patrick Ewing one maybe whatever. Here

(35:35):
today there is literally there's too many people involved, and
people love to run their mouth, like do you know
how valuable it would be for the person who was
able to say, oh, I know that the NBA is
fixing this.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Do you know how much money that person would be
able to make off that information? You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Like I mean just the Joe Rogan appearance alone, right, And.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
By the way, I personally would fix the lottery under
certain circumstances like if Victor Women ya Look, if I
had pulled the ping pong ball and it said Victor
Women Yama was going to Charlotte. Absolutely not, Nope, not happening.
Shut it down for numerous reasons. That's funny, shutting it

(36:17):
down not happening. Cooper flag anywhere but Canada, yeah flag.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
So the rest of the lottery.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
It's hard during the Mavericks part of it, but like
I honestly, I like it just fine.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
I like the Jazz losing.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, you lost, just like every other team that had
the worst record was lost in the past several years.
Because the math says you're most likely to end up
with the fifth pick. All of this is good to me.
The little soap box I stand on. I say, you
chose to punt a year like you. You decided to
invest a year of your life, of your fan base's life,
of Lowry Barkin's career. You said, let's trade that year

(36:59):
in for a fifty to fifty shot at having a
top four pick. You had a coin flip, you're gonna
be fifth, and you lost the coin flip. That's the
decision they made. I feel no sympathy there.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
I'm also glad because Cooper Flag. Look, man, I'm I
don't like seeing good players go to bad like awful teams.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
I don't know, is do the Jazz count as that.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
I feel like Cooper Flag plus Farry Mark and plus
Will Hardy being allowed to actually win basketball game seems good.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
I don't know, man, by a lot of talent there.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
The the The Jazz could have let Larry market and
play the whole year. They could have finished with the
ninth best odds, they could have gotten Cooper flag.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Like it's all it's all coin flip.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
The Wizards. People like, oh, the Wizards are actually bad.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Well, the Wizards were actually bad because they made an
organizational decision to be actually bad this year, right, and
like they knew that they flagged for flag, knowing you
have a fourteen percent chance of winning the lottery. If
you're the worst record, you have an eighty six percent chance.
I'm not getting Cooper flag. They made that choice, and
I get it the new CBA and the best way

(38:07):
to read it to the draft, But like, I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna feel bad for teams that lose
on purpose.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Wizards also played their players well sort of.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
But they they they even stopped playing, and they get
like like like not even like you might say, Okay
Middleton and Marcus Smart, it's that they they only played
every few games down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Did they finish with the winning record in Chris Middleton appearances?

Speaker 1 (38:29):
They might have, but like they stopped playing a champagne
you know where it's like, come on, But anyways, they
did a whole season. Same with the Nets. They did
a whole season planning to lose. If you don't end
up with the pick, that's fine. Like the Sixers also
get bailed out. You think the Sixers made the tactical
decision maybe through the year.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Listen, we gotta we gotta close out so like but
gets me.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
I will call Look that for the Sixers, I'm I'm
glad that they get this pick kind of. I mean, now, look,
do they need it, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
But do they deserve?

Speaker 3 (39:00):
But also but it's nobody deserves really anything, right, but
deserve they were trying to win, right period. Also from
a narrative perspective, these picks going to these the top
three picks going to these three teams is very interesting
for us. I mean, I think it just like fans

(39:22):
in general, right, this is why good teams having good
picks is. Actually I think it's okay because guess what
we're talking. Hey, well, Dallas trade that pick for Giannis
and then all of a sudden, oh wow, this team
it moves off that pick and turns it into a
piece that puts them in championship contention. Potentially, you know
what I mean, Like I think that I don't know.

(39:44):
This is why I'm anti lottery because sometimes this this
chaos is good, actually I think.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
I mean, of course, it all comes back to for
you and me, we just want to see a basketball
league where every team tries to win. Yes, that's that's
the pipe dream. But even beyond like saying it's you know,
saying it's rewarding the wrong teams when like you have
actual bad teams like the Nets and the Hornets and
the Jazz, I'm like, no, get out of here. It's

(40:12):
a salary cap league. Like everyone is allowed to sign
players and play they're good players. You guys literally don't
play your good players. It's just it comes down to
a lot of luck. Talking about the Maverick situation now
with their options to maybe consider a trade, even if
they don't do a trade, like with the little I
know about Cooper Flag is not Cooper Flag plus Anthony

(40:33):
Davis the most awesome front court thing, like on paper,
I mean, items amazing.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
It depends it depends who who are we calling the center?

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Well, I mean even still if you play another center,
if you play it Derek Lively and of course this
somethan's they're gonna trade.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Presumably they're gonna trade Gafford or Lively.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Probably Lively probably get you pretty good haul. I mean
maybe like you could get a pretty good draft from
a team.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Lots of people are making the joke that, like what
if Nico goes the uh, like the DeAndre Ayton Marvin
Bagley route of not actually taking the number one guy,
of not going for Luca Doctors. I'm not going for
Like what if the Jazz are like would you like, hey,
you know what defense wins championships?

Speaker 2 (41:20):
What if we give you I don't know what it be.
They don't need another Walker Kestler, but.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Like, like the Jazz have nine first round picks, right,
like going nine first round picks and and uh, Colin Sexton,
you know, like you need a guard.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
You need a guard. You need a guard pretty bad.
I mean honestly, like, there's who knows what they're gonna do.
This is actually we should we should be rooting for
more teams to have chaotic front offices, like because I
do not know what the Mavericks are thinking. I mean,
Giannis is a Nike guy, right he maybe that's maybe

(41:59):
that that's enough to say, hey, we're gonna we can
What could they send to New Orleans to get some
picks back to the Bucks?

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Right?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Like yeah, man, thinking of moving on to the Spurs.
They get lucky, They always get lucky.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
They get the second pick. Of course, it's awesome for
them and their their rebuild or their ascension with Wimbin
Yama and with Castle. Here's here's my here's my one
takeaway from the Spurs jumping to two. Uh, trade Daron
Fox for whatever you can get. Like's really, I don't
love Daron Fox. He's fine. Like you got lucky with

(42:36):
number two. Man, let's see one of the maps give
you for Darren Fox?

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Like, let's just.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Because you like Do you like Castle a lot? Right?

Speaker 2 (42:44):
I do like Castle.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
I don't think I've talked about much on the show.
I do like Castle. I don't know if he's gonna
be an All Star or anything. Sure, my thought was
Darren Fox is okay, he's he's quite good. But in
a healthy conference, I'm not sure how often he's gonna
be an All Star, you know, I mean in the
East orted he bet an All Star.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
But like he's he's quite good.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
I don't know how much is his game is going
to age, and he's not a great shooter. And it's
just like if we're building things that if we're building
the ideal team in a lab and you have wimb
and Yama h. I was I was lukewarm on the trade.
It seemed fine, But now that you get this number
two pick, it's like, all right, maybe we could buy
something even better.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Thought they would like. I mean like, I just don't
see a world in which they do it, like yeah, yeah,
but I do like it. I mean I feel the
same way about the Warriors with Jimmy Butler.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
What do you mean, just like what can they take?

Speaker 3 (43:37):
He should be trying to trade him in the summer.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Yeah, absolutely for Yanness, I mean, Yannis doesn't lot social connections.
It seems like with uh, with Steph Curry and the
Warriors amazing, it's wild.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
But let's you wouldn't you wouldn't. Let's see, so Spurs
have two and they have fourteen. Yep, right, I mean
you do that. I mean maybe you do that, hassle. Yeah,
I mean you got to figure out the salaries, right,
So Harrison Barnes is probably in there, But is that
enough to get Yiannis two? Fourteen. I mean, you know

(44:09):
you're two. You're gonna have to get them now.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
You got to give them something. You got to give them,
you got to give I.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Think you've got to get the their picks back for them.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yeah, it doesn't do That's the only thing with Giannis.
It doesn't do a lot of good if the Bucks
don't get picks back where they.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Can, right at least, I don't know, I don't know,
do the immoral tank.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
Somebody who's really good at the trade machine is gonna
come up with all of these and.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
I'll just let's let's let's fear back away from the lotter.
So lottery is I mean exciting, unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Most exciting lottery I.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Can unbelievable win for the Mavericks. The Pacers have dominated
the Cavs. Like we said, here's the thing I think
is most interesting. Like I was trying to come up
with a like I don't know, like all NBA team
for the second round where it's like, all right, it's
it's Brunson and you know, Anthony Edwards and probably Julius Randall,

(45:04):
but like I'm like, sorry, like a Pacers player beyond
there and it's like their leading scorer in the second
round is Miles Turner. It's seventeen point eight points per game.
They have six guys between thirteen and seventeen points per game.
They're just getting it done in this It's not totally egalitarian,
but it's like they're just ripping the caves.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
The shreds alive.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
It's free wheeling. Yeah, right, the ball you know the
Mike D'Antoni thing where the ball has energy. Yeah, yeah,
this is like a real like I think Rick Carlisle
really has them bought into that man, all these guys.
If you look Aaron Nesmith, he'll attack nem Hart kind
of playing the point guard half the time, right obviously Halliburton,

(45:48):
Halliburton calling his shot, Hey, step up and screen right
in this spot and then pulling for three. I just
think like they've there's something happening there. I mean, Rick
carl really, he coached a He's coached a great playoff
so far. He's pushed every button correctly. But the way
the ball moves for them, they're they're just trying to

(46:09):
get who's open. The ball finds it. It's like so often,
and Miles Turner has been that guy because he comes
up as the trailer a lot. You know, he's like
trailing the play and he gets to that wing three
and it's rare to have a center who can hit
the wing three like that. So I mean he just
benefits so much, right, like because the calves they have
to sink into the paint because the pacers in transition

(46:31):
are so tough to guard, right, And so now here
comes Miles Turner walking right into some threes. It's kind
of it's reminiscent of like the Spurs with Boris dl.
They would do that a lot. We're gonna we're gonna
run on a make and Boris Diaw's coming up, and
then a lot of times he would just play make
from top of the key. But you know, Miles Turner
is just bombing.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Yeah. I can't get over that game. The game four
where it's like.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
All right, the uh, the cab, the Calves, you know,
took care of business of game three. Uh, Donovan Mitchell
outscores Haliburton by forty Yeah, and then it's like we're healthy.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Now, hey, we're healthy. Watch out And then it was.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Just the most humiliating blowout of just like we're going
to destroy you in every single way. Also, it kind
of kicked off with that Benedict Matheren play. I'm still confused.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Have they have they released.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
The whole guy? They look they didn't. They didn't go
to the spy satellite on this one.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
I've never seen the closed fist.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
It is not like he doesn't rear back right, he
doesn't throw a punch. I thought he like poked him
in the chest.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
I thought he gave him a little tweak, a little tweak.
I know, it looks like a tweak.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
It looked like it. He might have.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
He might have gave him a little give a little
nip there.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
Yeah, yeah, but I don't know. But DeAndre Hunter's reaction
to me was it was like he got hit. I thought, right,
because you don't shove a guy like I don't know.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Is I thought, again, this is this goes to actually
how I've been watching most of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
I'm watching with my kids and I'm watching on delay.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
So like Little Life Update, I've been like the basement basically,
so it's back in business.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
We get the basement all cleared out after the flooding.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
I've been spending all of my days basically moving things,
cleaning things.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
It's actually been kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
I don't know, maybe turn over a new leaf in
my life living in not squalor, but like the so like,
I've been cleaning things, carrying stuff up and down steps.
My legs have been super sore. I actually thought my
leg was really sore because of the washing machine incident
I alluded to. We're like it did bruise up where
the washing machine trying to transport it kind of fell
was leaning against my leg. But I think what happened

(48:43):
was I'd walked up like multiple flights of stairs something
like one hundred and fifty times.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
A day for like five days an a row. I
think that was the soreness.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
But anyways, I've been I've been cleaning stuff up, getting
the basement, all all the home, you know, in order,
and then uh, I go to watch the playoff games
at night, usually later, and they're starting at six Central
time and I'm not free at that time, so I've
been watching them. I mean, shout out here. I'm not sponsored,
but here's a plug. I love YouTube TV. How just

(49:13):
DVRs every NBA game amazing, So I watch it. I'm
like I'm always starting from the beginning. The downside is
I'm missing out on some live reactions in the Slack channel,
and so that that's not as good. But I'm watching
the whole games and I'm looking at my phone. I'm
putting my phone on June disturbed, not even looking at it,
just like hanging out, living in the moment, like it's
two thousand and five, watching the game on TVO and

(49:34):
it's been fun. The only downside is, like, you know,
based on the YouTube progress bar, you're like, oh, the
Celtics aren't gonna hit the game time three.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Right here because the recording's over.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
But anyways, I've been watching all these things and I'm
I'm a little bit behind, and I'm watching the Pacers thing,
and of course the best time to catch up when
you're on DVR or you're you know, it's recorded on
the cloud whenever there's a review.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Well, i'p catching up five minutes right here, right.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
So I'm like scrolling ahead and i see the DeAndre
Hunter reaction and I'm like, oh, this must have been
like a low blow. I was just like, this was
like a Dylan Brooks punch to the groin, right, And
so I'm going back and watching it. I'm like, when
are they gonna show the clip. And then I'm like,
I'm like, he hits them in the chest, When are
they gonna show the dirty play? And then it's like
and then there never was one. And then I'm like,

(50:20):
this guy got ejected. And I watched the whole replay
time trying to feel what was going on. I never saw,
like you said, he didn't rare back, and I never
even saw the closed fist. It looks like he just
kind of poked him, shoved him. I mean, listen, like
a two finger jab in the chest hurts, you know,
it hurts real bad. I like, I figure that's probably
what he did or something. Yeah, but I was surprised

(50:42):
that there was no I never saw a smoking gun.
I'm like, oh, yeah, he did suck him really.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Be get it. Yeah, all series, but like I've never
seen DeAndre Hunter be involved in something like that, you
know what I mean. Like it's not like you know,
known hothead DeAndre Hunter, you know what I mean. So
I don't know whatever happened. I would like to see,
you know, we break out this again. The International Space

(51:07):
Station view, Yeah comes out for certain things, but not
for this one.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
But I mean, so anyways, something happened, that play happened.
It was perplex again, Mather again.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
It changed everything.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
And then all of a sudden, it's like, you know,
Jandre Hunters like pointing at his head like I got
you mind, games, got you injected. And then they got
out scored by thirty or ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Over.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
It was just the worst over. It was the worst blowout.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
I don't even know the Pacers. You know, the Pacers
have like some of this like really good like college
program or prep program energy to them, like part of
the way they fly around and.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
And it's really also they end the fact that they press.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Yeah, it's nem Haart and Ni Smith is really what
it is, right, So those guys like they're wearing them out,
picking them up ninety four feet and then it just
feels like a Nie Smith, especially that guy he runs
like a wide receiver, you know, the way he like
angles up the court in transition. I mean that that
put back. People were saying it's a lane violation. Remember

(52:07):
it was cool one of the basketball charter? Is it cool?

Speaker 2 (52:13):
David?

Speaker 1 (52:13):
It was like it was like he was like two
yards off side, you know, it wasn't like he was
just one step past the line of scrimmage. He was
two yards beyond the three point line coming into that dunk.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Like lane violations should just go away.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
It's one of those rules much like traveling.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Yeah, if you actually called it, it would stop.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
But right now there's just so they actually called one.
You saw the.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Okay no no, but it was a double violation because yeah,
that's right, he got okay, see just to go off
sides right like.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
But but briefly before there there was such a blatant,
yokic lane violation on a miss free throw and they
didn't call it. And that's one of those I go
back to my referee memories. My day's doing that where
I'm like, there's times where you miss a call. You're like,
oh man, I wasn't I wasn't prepared to call the
five seconds because I just as soon they throwed it,
you know something like that. You're like, I'm gonna get
him next time. No, I don't know why they don't
call the uh the lane violations. Speaking of Nie Smith,

(53:08):
Nie Smith and Nim Hart, Yeah, those guys are so awesome,
and He's like, they're the type of players I feel
like every fan base you get like you get so
jealous of.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
There's certain guys where you're like, listen, we.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Couldn't have gotten Halliburton, we couldn't have gotten Anthony Edwards,
we couldn't have gotten Cooper Flag.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
The league wasn't gonna rig that for us.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Yeah, there's guys you're like, oh, that's a superstar. I'm
not jealous, Like it'd be great to have Durant, but
let's be real, I'm never having a Durant. But then
there's guys like Nie Smith and nim Hard and you're like,
why can't my team have that? You know, like like
my like, I mean there's something sort of gave away.
I mean they tried to Nie Smith for Malcolm Brogden.
But it's like, those are the players one, Those are

(53:52):
the players that make a difference for good teams to
bad teams. Those are the players, by the way, available
for everyone. All you tanking teams who don't get the
top pick. Guess what, go go get yourself in Andrew
nim Hart, go develop, go sign trade for or develop
in Aaron Smith. But those are the guys where you're like,
Nissa spaking eleven million dollars, that guy's so good, and

(54:13):
it's like those are the guys. I feel like, you
get super envious.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
Up, somebody's gonna pay ty Rome, right, dude, ty Drome
lost all his money. Probably guys who made money to
me in the playoffs so far. I mean, I think
n Smith and them Hart like those guys locked down right,
they're locked down right.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
The the extension that the Pacers gave nim Hard such
a good bit of business. It looked pretty high when
they did it. And now you're like, and now I'm
like as a Christis fan, being like, I wish I
was my starting I mean, could could Jock Jock can
play with him? Yeah, I wish I had, you know, like.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
That was made money. Kaming that the kaminga thing's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Kuminga lost all his money, yep, I mean Minga's weird.
Where not many guys have Like I don't remember here,
here's another I'm going to muddle through another stat didn't
he have a stretch where he had like thirty straight
games with twenty or more points and he like basically
shot fifty percent and everyone it was like that had

(55:21):
a run.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
But he had a run of a.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Bunch of games where he's like this guy just it's
twenty points every night, and it's normally good efficiency because
he's just cut into the basket and like hooping on
any But then he also, regardless of the circumstances, falls
out of the rotation, totally getting DMPs in the playoffs
and you're like, man, this guy was gonna get paid
and now he's not.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Meanwhile, it's Hydroome. You're like, that's not really dark guy.
How the CAFs keep him?

Speaker 1 (55:46):
And then Chi Drume has been awful in this series
and all of a sudden with the Curry injury, Kuminga's back,
Kaminga found all that money Ti Drome lost.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
He's been good Kaminga and he's so young, right, and
it's been such a weird run there, you know for him. Yeah,
I think that he's gonna I think some team and
and maybe it's the smart move.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
I mean, if you're look, if you're utah, why not.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
You gotta you gotta runner. Who's in the next year's
draft is a Boozer?

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Yeah, Cam Boozer, Cam Boozer, I guess right, I mean
you have that connection. You already have Carlos Boozer, who
uh who cheated over it? Gunn he like he like
told he signed that, he said he was gonna opt
out and signed under Calves and then he and then
he cheated him and he signed with the Jazz back
in the day.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
I wonder how that would work out if they got
the number one pick. But yeah, I guess you're right.
They are gonna they are obligated to tank.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Let's uh, let's take it. We gotta take a break
and we got to come back with the awards segment
of the program. Uh.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Just want to tell people, if you want to support
this program to that at patreon dot com slash Past
break Breakfast. I released a bonus episode on Monday of
available to everyone who signs up over there. Also, congratulations
to right now our leaders in these Stone Cold Locks
Playoff challenge. We have Adam Pike leading the way with
thirty eight points, Owen low Pez O'Neill and justingus Pingus

(57:16):
tied for second with thirty six points, Bobby Payton in fourth,
and Keith not me k e e f Is in
fifth place.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
I'm in last place. I have zero points. Dave for
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
For the first round of the playoffs, I picked seven
of the eight series winners correctly, No big deal, lot
of favorites. But hey, I missed Lakers, Timberwolves, but I
got every series linked incorrect.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Do you know how hard that is to do? That's
like the odds of.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
That happening are very, very low. It's lower than Cooper
Flagg inning up on the Mavericks. I impressed myself with
my inaccuracy.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Anyways, support the program, patroon dot com slash Fast Break Breakfast.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
We got a little bit of news, Keith, what's the news.
Portland Trailblazers are now up for sale?

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Wait, weren't they supposed to worth they mandated is supposed
to be for sale?

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Yes, but now okay, it's it's official.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
That's good. That's good breaking news.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Dave, right before the awards segment of the program, Dave,
this is the International Stackhouse of Pancakes Award, given each
week or every twelve days, depending on recording schedules, to
the worst performance in a box score. There have been
lots of notable bad shooting performances over the last twelve days.
I mean credit the whole league with playing zone in

(58:37):
the playoffs, I guess, and people don't know how to
bust that zone.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Honorable mention.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Let's say Brandon Pajimski one for ten, Russell Westbrook two
for twelve, Brannon Pazemski again three for fourteen, Jason Tatum
five for nineteen, rip A Jalen Brunson six for nineteen.
He's not perfect shake Gidris Alexander seven for twenty two.
Yokich also MVP Buddy with a seven for twenty two.
Jason Tatum again seven for twenty three, yok again eight

(59:02):
for twenty five. We gotta have a conversation about Yokich
in a second.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Let's do our three nominees. I'd say there's a clear winner,
but we'll just read these off as they ocurred chronologically.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
TI Jerome in a start one for fourteen in a
one point loss, one for fourteen, two points, three assays,
two rebounds, two.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Turnovers, and four personal fouls. That's tough, man. I hope
he didn't buy a house already.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Next nominee Jalen Williams Game one five for twenty sixteen points,
seven boards, four assists, two steals, two blocks, one turnover,
one personal foul. Next nominee Jalen Williams Game four two
for thirteen, ten points, three rebounds, five assists, three steals,
one block, one turn over, two personal fouls.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Your winner is Ti Jerome?

Speaker 1 (59:53):
I mean, yes, one for fourteen, that's special, following us
the worst one for eight.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
I think?

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
Has he been the worst rotation player in the playoffs,
like high minute rotation player in the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Probably in the second round? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
Awful?

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Man? All right, who do you who.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Do you take Tie Jerome at twenty seven in the
second round or Pajimski at twenty two percent in the
second round?

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Man, I don't know. Probably at least.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
At least different dust other stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
Yeah, like if like Tie Jerome was like a fifty
forty ninety guy right in the regular season.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
And if you're not gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
We're gonna hear a lot this summer about the Calves
being a paper tiger. What would you do if you
were the Calves after this.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Run running back?

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
You would what it was because you're close enough. I mean,
maybe the injury luck works out in your favorite next year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
Donovan Mitchell for the two pick and and and darreon Fox? No,
I would would you do that?

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
If you were San Antonio?

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Would the Mavericks trade you the first pick for Donovan Mitchell.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
And you you start to reboot and it's Garland.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Flag reboot and Garland flag. Mobley is oak.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Awesome?

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
Trade me Jared Allen for Jared Allen for Austin Reeves.
How close are we?

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
Oh? I was just about to say, get Jared Allen
to the Lakers, and you got yourself a stuke.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Got yourself a still working.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
I don't know, man, that's kind of interesting. But like
if you're the Calves and I guess now the Celtics,
like we're waiting on that news, right, but.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Donovan Mitchell for Jared Jackson Junior and Desmond Bane Darius Garland,
Desmond Bane, Jared Evan Mobley.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
God, that's awesome. That's awesome. No, I don't know, I
don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
Let's uh, let's wrap up the show talking a little
bit about the Thunder and the Nuggets. It's been an
awesome series. It has been both teams struggling on offense,
the Nuggets turning up a defensive gear. I know they had,
uh they they win a game four again to a
lot of zone. Maybe that's the I don't know, if
they have something else they can pull out of their hat,

(01:02:16):
you know, like if the Thunder started getting used to that. Jokic,
all right, I understand. I understand he's double teamed dut
all times. Basically, I understand whenever he gets the ball, yeah,
the help comes. I understand he's playing a lot of
times with a Michael Porter junior who is not making shots,
but at least he's being guarded. But like they're leading

(01:02:36):
Russell Westbrook wide open, they're leaving Christian Brown wide open.
Like even despite all that, I'm shocked how many shots
I've seen Yokic miss. I don't know if that's not fair.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Have it held him? It's too high of a standard. Also,
by the way, Yokich is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
Twenty one point four percent on threes against the Thunder,
which is slightly better than Shake Giles Alexander being twenty
one point one threes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
These guys are Yeah, you know, that's the whole thing.
Like with the playoffs, can you knock these guys off
rhythm and keep them off rhythm? And I think Jokic
the shooting is off rhythm. Yeah, he you know, he
does that thing where he's not aggressive to start these games.
I think he's got to get over that. I think
he's just got to come out and try to score
right away. Also, get him in foul trouble, and I

(01:03:26):
just think that that would change the game for Jokic.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Get in trouble. Do you mean, get them in foul trouble.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, get get to the free throw line early.
You see the ball go through the basket a few times,
you know. But also I don't know, man, I think
the thunder just are doing such a good job of
guarding Jokic ye and reduce sitting the Nuggets down to
their weakest link, whoever that is on the on the

(01:03:52):
if you look at them when they're setting up, they've
got five guys shading toward wherever Jokic is at all times,
even when he's on the wing. Because on the on
the weak side, you've got Russ and you've got Christian
Brown and you know, I mean even Aaron Gordon, there's
still like two steps you know, farther toward the paint
when he's out at the three point line than than

(01:04:14):
you would see during the regular season. I mean, they
are willing to let anybody who's not Jokic or Murray
get one of those shots up. And I mean it's
kind of working out for him so far, right, Like,
I mean, it's been a close series, but you know
it's been a I don't think the Thunder look like
they're stressed.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
No, And it's been a close series. And of course
you think if yok shuld played better, Yeah, if the
Nuggets make more free throws and more open threes, like
they could easily or probably they are going to be
up three to one. The Thunder have what they shot,
like they haven't hit forty percent shooting since Game two.

(01:04:55):
But the Thunders defense is so good. And I know
I I said this already on the Bonus episode, repeating
it for me, it's the way that the Thunder take
care of the basketball and never give up a fast
break bucket, Like I'm talking literally never.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
I think, like I got exposed first hand against this
in the Grizzly series. And then like you're seeing the
Nuggets with an eight point first quarter and then I
think they had in the fourth quarter. Maybe it was
the third quarter when they finally built up a little
bit of lead in Game four, like Aaron Gordon drove
the holding to the court in like semi transition and
dropped it off to Yokas for a layup and it

(01:05:32):
was like Yoka just only easy basket. And I'm like,
I think that was their first transition basket of the
whole game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
And I looked it up and it was And.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
It's just like the Thunder not allowing there are we
already know they have the horses of defenders like Lou Dort,
you know, first team all defense.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
Hey, you're shooting too much, get out of here. Case
of Wallace, come on, Alex Caruso, come on on there.
They already had these horses that can defend in the
half court. But the way those guys all so prevent
people from getting anything easy in transition.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
I think that's probably the difference is why I think
the Thunder aren't. They're probably not stressed. I mean Russia
stress the two series best of three.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
Well, they still have buttons to push too, right, I
mean Dort Dort not playing in the fourth quarter is
very interesting. I thought if they lost that game, like,
you don't start Dort in the next game, right, like
you know it probably maybe you don't even play them.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
I mean, maybe some more.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
Aaron Wiggins, Well, it's I think it's it's it's Wallace,
it's Wiggins. I mean it's Caruso, Like, I actually think
there's a there's an argument when you move Caruso out
there for Chet, right, like they've got that button to press.
So because there have been too many times in this
series where Chet just is too small to be in

(01:06:48):
the space that he's in, right, Like, he the spaces
that he operates, he is just not a big enough body.
I mean MPJ and Aaron Gordon are bigger than Chet, right,
Like that's a huge problem when he when he's out there.
So like, I don't know, I think the thunder they
still have a lot of cards. The depth is still
their strong suit, and and obviously they got home court.

(01:07:11):
Yeah it's going seven, though it's got you think something.
It's too tight, it's too tight, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Too technically while I said, you know, the Nuggets could
have been up three to one, like they they could
have been swept too, because their two wins.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
Were sure nail biers. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
I don't I think it's gonna go seven, man.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Like any of we haven't gotten a in a what
happens if we don't. I feel like if we don't
get a huge jokes game, if he goes out with
another like thirty five percent shooting night.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
This frankly changes my opinion of him.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Really, yeah, I've never seen about four straight sub forty
percent shooting game. Like his little thing is his shots
go win no matter what. And that's been like the
magic sire, like, oh like, that's for me, has always
been the why do we talk about other players as
being the player? You?

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Seeing this guy's doing everything.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
He shoots, goes in, he shoots fifty nine percent, double
teamed or whatever. And yes, of course he's getting fourteen
rebounds and ten assists every game.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
But also he's unstoppable.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
If I see him be stopped in a game where
it's I don't care how many people are guarding him,
maybe I've held him, but I'm talking about that's gonna
that's because I held him in my head on this
pedestal of like are you one of the six best
players ever? That that's how that's like the pedestal in
my head where I've been seeing him, And so now
that gets shaken.

Speaker 3 (01:08:27):
So if they come out they win this series, Oh yeah,
I don't change anything, of course. Okay, back in, all right,
all right, just gonna make sure.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
Do any do any of the teams that are current
underdogs win the series.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Do Nuggets, Warriors, Calves or Celtics.

Speaker 3 (01:08:49):
I mean Warriors, like, they're not gonna There's no way
Staff's going to come back for a Game five. I
just they're gonna give us an update Wednesday morning. I
don't It just doesn't seem.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Like Warriors seem least likely.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Yeah, I think, I mean Celtics and Nottatum also seems
very unlikely.

Speaker 3 (01:09:05):
Although I mean again, like we've said, the Celtics are
super deep and they are able to win in spite
of missing guys. I just think three to one, man Like,
it's at this point these teams are all they're they're
all too good. Yeah, you know, to lose three straight,
I just think it would be unrealistic. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Finally, dave.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
A small jelly bean update for all the uh for
the people who listen to the show as a serialized broadcast. Yeah,
the target jellybean order, which I said I had little
faith it would come, just got an update this morning.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
There's been another delay.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
They asked me to that we had to approve a
later delivery. Jelly beans now expected on May twenty seventh.
They're not coming.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
This is a tariff, I don't think situation.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Sure, No, these were already.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
As far as I know, this is an American made product.
I could be wrong, but the the the jelly beans
they sold me where I said. There's no way these
are coming. Very small probability. They keep sending email updates.
The latest update as of this morning, May twenty seventh,
expected delivery.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
I'll keep you updated if they ever show up. Anyways,
thanks for having up Dave. A lot of fun, very
emotional day yesterday. Now we have to.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
I felt like we put it at least in some
good perspective. It's good here in your thoughts on it all. Listeners,
thanks for listening. Of course, you guys are the best.
And remember breakfast is the most important thing.