00:00:04
Speaker 1: You deserve happiness. Order pizza tonight. It's game day. Give yourself a reason to live with Dominoes. You've been smiled in one calendar year. Buy pizza from us. Stop taking your meds and start choosing what you want from our new mix and match deal. Someone out there loves you, and it's Domino CEO Bruce Donner.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: Playoffs are on order some pizza. Welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on the Athletic Network. I'm test metals man in the middle right beside me, it's straight curve. Hey, ay, and the man making the magic happen as he does always, it's Jad. Hello, what's up? Jady? Lots to get to basketball, I guess is the primary focus in the games. Two games happened, Two games happen. They were blowed. So we'll talk about other drama in basketball, like the Sixers stopping Knicks fans from entering their building tonight and get six that's fun. Chris Finch is going to coach for the Timberwolves in Denver. That is interesting where yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that is a great question. And we might get the round ball rock back interesting stuff, But we'll start with the basketball that happened yesterday. Even though it was a spanker, I thought it was an interesting spanker that the Mavericks gave to the Clippers because Luca he had said in the shoot around, you know, I've got a knees brain, I'm feeling a little ill. If this was the regular season, I wouldn't play, and then boom, monstrous game from Luca. He was great, thirty five tennysis, seven rebounds, MAVs win by thirty. What'd you make of that game? Tray?
00:01:40
Speaker 3: Was it a ropodope in this interesting spanker? Was it ape by Luca Dontre saying yeah, my leg hurts, I can barely breathe, and then completely lighting up the Clippers. This was great stuff from Luca. I thought he had it all going basically except for the jumper. You know, by my count, nine of eleven at the rim or near only five of fifteen on jumpers. He only hit a couple of threes two for eight. They came later on in the game, but it didn't really matter because he controlled the pace. He was picking his spots to get downhill, and when he had an opportunity, he was finishing in the lane. Obviously was dishing out for assists as well, got a lot of those on three pointers, and the MAVs just looked incredible in this one. It's kind of similar, like Kyrie Irving had an awesome game for scoring fourteen points and having six assists. Not huge numbers at all for Kyrie, I didn't think, but he moved the ball, he pushed the pace, and he was really competing defensively against James Harden, who had an absolute stinker. The MAVs just got good production from basically everybody. Derek Jones Junior did a really good job on Paul George, as did PJ. Washington. Peter didn't score very well at all, but at least he was out there contributing. On the other end, Maxi Kleba hit a whole bunch of threes when the MAVs blew it open. Derek Lively was great.
00:02:52
Speaker 4: You know.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: Daniel Gafford I thought was struggling at the beginning of this game. Jason Kidd gives him the hook like three minutes in. Yeah, just because he seemed to be losing Zubots inside wasn't really rolling hard to the rim. Lively comes in and as the exact opposite dunks on his first possession. Basically that he was in there, made plays, he was aggressive on the roles, and then Gaffard came back and he looked smooth as well. This is just an awesome win for the MAVs and honestly a big time bummer for the Clippers. This could easily be their last game playing in Crypto dot com arena, and they left no nothing interesting them.
00:03:26
Speaker 5: No.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Paul George and James Harden combined to shoot six of twenty five and they didn't get help elsewhere. While all those MAVs you mentioned you can go up and down the roster, even if they didn't have spectacular lines, were locked in. I think it was because Luca was so locked in himself, especially defensively. He was just up on every single possession. He was willing to guard, hardened. At times, he was stonefaced. I felt like it felt like Lebron stoneface to some degree. Sure, we saw it a little earlier in this series where Luca did that. Usually he's a pretty demonstrative guy. Now he did that a couple of times, but he was attacking the entire game. You said those nine shots from in Tight twelve of eighteen on two pointers. It's just fantastic stuff. Even if he wasn't spectacular from three point line. You saw in the second quarter he went like end to end. At one point he got a rebound and drove it all the way to the rim. When do you see Luca do that? I mean they were playing fast, and maybe a couple of days helped Luca and his knee and his sickness, or maybe it was a ropodope.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: He was less limpy in this game than he was during Game four. Game four, I thought he was limping around. So I was a little concerned coming into this one, especially he's talking beforehand. I probably wouldn't be playing had it been a regular season game. Then you saw like the crazy tape job they did on his leg. It looked like the symbiote from Venom or whatever.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: Right that was that call jd Eddie Brock symbio.
00:04:51
Speaker 5: That is correct.
00:04:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like he gets taken over by the like the black Good and it's all creeping up his body. That's what looked like.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe it works. Pronounce it. Yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: I just read Zendaya and I still honestly don't know which is the right one.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: I know we need he's the.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: Only one who does.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: I saw I saw her in her photo of her and her new show, and I thought, whew, you and you said it because I thought I knew Zendaya pretty sure.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: I think that's it.
00:05:19
Speaker 5: I think that's pretty sure Zenda. I don't know.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Okay, it's like I said, simbaiode because I read it that way, and I never heard people say there's no.
00:05:30
Speaker 3: Way to find out. We need somebody under thirty to let us pronounce Zendia or Zendaya, and same for Cymbia and Symbia. But that's what it looked like on Luca's leg, and apparently it works because he was awesome in this one, and like you mentioned, he was giving it as all defensively, Kyrie Irving was diving on the floor in this one. He had to get called for a file, which maybe he shouldn't have, but at least he's given the effort out there. And really, the MAVs defense I thought was pretty special. And despite some good performances from Luca and the role players and Kyrie doing the winning basketball kind of stuff, it was the defense that won the game for the MAVs. To me, they never allowed more than twenty four points in a quarter, held the Clippers to thirty eight percent from the field, only twenty six percent from three four to thirteen turnovers. They were great at the rim, fourteen of thirty five field goals shooting at the rim for the Clippers. So that's why it was very weird to me that going into the fourth quarter, that's like a twenty point game. Tyler dusts off PJ.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: Tucker.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: You're down by twenty and you brought in PJ Tucker. The guy scored like five points the whole year. That didn't make sense to me, but he was just kind of reaching for anybody who was going to bring some energy in. PJ did. As soon as that guy came in. I think five people fell on the floor.
00:06:35
Speaker 2: As PJ. Tucker does.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: But the MAVs just had persistence from the first minute and they didn't stop. I mean, this wasn't a blow game at the get go by anyways. It was single digits until right before halftime. It was I thought, just the Luka effect. Everybody had to follow in line and literally we can go all the way up and down the roster. Gafford coming back, Derek Lively, that combo was awesome, as you said, preventing shots at the rim. The team had six blocks, the Clippers had zero, and you could just look at Derek Lively that block on PG, recovering on PG. I mean he had to work, he had to work for that, and yet PJ Washington Garden hardened that time he blocked him from behind another persistent block. I love the DJJ, Derek Lively, Derek g Lively, Derek Jones Junior with an awesome block on hard and he starts sprinting and Luca somehow hits him with the beautiful pass. I mean, all those guys were working, and James Harden because of that defense, he didn't look like himself at all. The floater was gone that we saw in Game four. The maps were obviously ready for him, up and down the roster, but it was odd to see all those guys block him. I mean they were like the PJ. Washington and Derek Jones Junior. They're blocking him. Luca took a chance. I mean they didn't stop it again. You're right, Tyler said, seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, that's when he yanked. That's when he yanked in a playoff game. You're seven minutes left. And that's because all those guys we mentioned were ready, and the guys like James Harden and Paul George, they did not look like themselves at all in this game.
00:08:12
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you could say that Harden looked like himself, because when he has a great game, he might be having a stinker.
00:08:19
Speaker 2: That's a very good point.
00:08:21
Speaker 3: Floater, A dropping a stinker thirty three points in the game four win, seven points on two of twelve shooting in game five here, that's just completely disappointing, but it's happened a lot of times. It's basically the exact same script as the Sixers Celtics series last season, when he was awesome in Game one and awesome in Game four and everything else was not there. But I mean, Paul George wasn't much better. Fifteen points on four of thirteen shooting. He did have eleven rebounds, so he was doing other stuff at least, but he just seemed to want to get off the ball. I thought the same a Harden like, they were good, you take away me, I'll just pass it to another guy. They'll figure it out. The other guy's never figured it out, because these are the two guys that are supposed to figure it out. This was an absolute stink fest from the Clippers two best players.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned that the only guys you could really have faith in on that in that starting line up for the Clippers or Terrence Man was pretty good, Zoo Box was pretty good. That's why they yanked Daniel Gafford.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: But yes, and I thought Norman Powell was hooping a little bit last night.
00:09:19
Speaker 2: He was in this super mode.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he made two guys touch mother Earth. As Reggie said, classic stuff.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: The MAVs are just able to find guys up and down this roster, like when you look at the guys, the guys that we mentioned who contributed. Obviously they got PJ. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline. I didn't know that this would work that well. I also didn't know that Derrek Jodes Junior, signed as a minimum contract would work this well. And he had told points three blocks on this. In this game, they were all just ready to scrap around the guys to scrap around. As you said, Kyrie everything, I don't even believe that stat line really because it just felt like he was so good out there. And Lou obviously, and it is it is the team that's up three to two that has taken this pivotal lead here. It feels like they're not going to give it up going back to Dallas, especially when you got Kleba just banging home threes the way he did. MAXI the reason why they got out to that double digit lead was because really Maxy just started shooting and he was on fire four threes in the second quarter. It was five to seven from three. He's sixty percent from three in this series. When they went to the conference finals, he was important. He was forty three percent from three in those three series, so that helps. Even though he doesn't have to play a lot. He just came out and played and the team hit fourteen threes. I don't know what to make of this stat that it wrote down, but it looks important. The teams that hit fourteen threes or more in this postseason are nineteen to zero so far.
00:10:48
Speaker 3: A huge number. I mean, fourteen is not huge. Yeah, I know, like you gotta shoot threes. Simply put, you have to shoot threes in the NBA. Right now, I think the stats are like I don't know that teams are like twenty four and six when they make more threes to the than their opponents in the playoffs so far. But it's also they're like twenty three and seven when they just shoot more threes than your opponent. Even if you can't shoot, just toss them up they might go in.
00:11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it didn't work for the Clippers in this one.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: Obviously they had nothing. They had nothing in this game. It was the first time that they've looked bad without Kawhi playing, because they've got their two wins when Kawhi was off the court, and the MAVs were like, maybe we were game planning for him. Now that he's not there, we're thrown off a little bit. That's certainly what they said after Game one. And then Game four was the weird one up thirty one, blow it all, and then we come back hitting a whole bunch of floaters when Harden hadn't hit floaters all season. Now it looks fluky in retrospect, but maybe they're able to get it back in game six, because the Clippers can obviously play better. They played better a few times this series. They played better when they were in Dallas, just in general, and you know it is game six. You gotta imagine they're going to do their best, but you're rolling the dice with James Harden in an elimination game.
00:11:51
Speaker 2: Yes, and at home, as you said, could be their last game in Crypto Arena. You'd think you'd get more in a game that's supposed to be pivotal. And again, the MAVs just didn't stop. But this was a single digit game in the second quarter, and then they just kept going and going and going and going.
00:12:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, this was the good game last night.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. Yeah, let's get to the game. Unless you have any other random notes from that one.
00:12:12
Speaker 3: I did like Jamal Crawford on the broadcast on this one.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: I agree.
00:12:16
Speaker 3: I don't remember what the move was, but it was some Luka Doncic move where he said you move, I move, I move, you move, just like that. I thought that was nice. They rewracked the same highlight coming back from the thing, and that's what he mentioned that it looked like Luca was playing with his headphones in great line.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, the broadcast was definitely good. Jamal and Regu we were clicking. They were going one to two in that game. In another game that was just a spanker right from the get go. Boston took care of Miami in Game five. They crushed him. It was a thirty four point win. If you told me it was fifty sixty, I would have said, okay, I would have believed it, just because they were in control from the get go in the first quarter. So they advanced a round two. They were awaiting the winner of the Cavs Magic Series. What to make from this Boston game where they clinched it for to one over Miami.
00:13:05
Speaker 3: Not a ton of takeaways in this one, but you gotta tip your cap to the Celtics. They had the advantage in this one with all the injuries for the Heat. No Butler obviously, no Rosier obviously, but even losing Jim Hawks was like a big deal for Miami since he initiates so much offense for them with those other two guys. Mission So the Celtics went out, they saw the writing on the wall. They took care of business. They get to rest a little bit more. It doesn't mean that Christas Porzingis is coming back any quicker, but at least you get to chill out a little bit and get preparing for the next series. Great stuff by the Celtics. I think It just comes down to the Heat hit twenty three threes in their one win. In Game two, they hit twenty three three pointers, a franchise record. In the three games since, they hit a twenty one total, including three for twenty nine last night. You can't win like that. So easy stuff for the Celtics, but they made it easy on themselves, which I think is really cool. The other takeaway, I guess al Horford did fine, and the first center minutes went to Luke Cornett and he did a really good job. I thought on bam Autemaio competing on the defensive end, and I assume maybe it'll be matchup dependent depending on if they played the Calves or the Magic in round two. Yeah, but it seems like Luke will probably get the first chance. It'd be in the backup center.
00:14:15
Speaker 2: And deservedly so. He has been good this year, even though I couldn't stop talking about did you catch that? Yeah?
00:14:19
Speaker 3: There was a little think floating.
00:14:21
Speaker 2: You caught it. It was a quick, quick index to some pinch that was very nice. Yesterday I was talking about Savior Tillman and the acquisition because I loved watching him play and he's just he's better than what people think he is. And same goes for Luke Cornett in all honestly, that block on out of Bio where he just he manned him up, He's stoned him and was able to block him. He was very talented. Is there any other worries after watching Horford and Cornett go at this one that Kristaps will be out could be for the entire series of Round two, no matter who they play.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: It's hard to say. I mean, Bam is the only guy that they the Heat have inside right now, and he's not like a dominating, physical kind of player.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: Always, I think that changes a little bit going forward because both the Calves and the Magic like to play two bigs.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: You know.
00:15:10
Speaker 3: The Magic I think are a little bit more of a physical, hardy, big guys team, whereas the Calves have some tall, slender dudes. So obviously you would like to have Porzingis back. But Horford I think can hang in either one of those matchups as the starter. He'll have to play more than twenty two minutes. Not every game is going to be a blowout in that series. Well, I don't know, maybe they will. One of those teams can really score one hundred points consistently and the Celtics score one hundred and fifteen at the drop of a hat, So maybe they will be blowouts. But I thought Horford acquitted himself pretty well. Eight points, six rebounds, three assists, he hit a three. You know he's going to be in the right place defensively, even if he's not necessarily the rim protector he used to be or has the height of a Porzingis, But at least in round two, I think the Celtics should feel pretty confident that Horford can slap back to the way he was prior to Porzingis coming around. He was the starter, he started a ton of playoff series for the Celtics, so that should be fine, yes.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: And it is well that they literally have four centers that can play now that mister Porzingis is out. You can run Horford, you can run a little Cornett backup, or you can run Xavier Telman. That is a lot of strength there. So they Yes, they gave up the one game where they weren't gritting now to the three point shooters, and obviously the heat were just banging him home. So I was expecting a little more from Tyler Hero yesterday, considering they don't have Butler Rosier or Himan Hawkes. Unfortunately, he had a bad one in this one. The Celtics going directly at Tyler. Herroll. Possession after possession after possession was pretty clear, and they were doing a good job of that, whether it was Jalen Brown or sometimes you get a big switch and having Hero on him. Anybody, anybody was going at him, and I guess that's what Tyler heroes got to do in the off seasons. Go get stronger if he can, because teams are going to do that.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Or go get traded. Why do you say that, because what are the Heat doing here?
00:17:05
Speaker 2: Yeh? WHOA?
00:17:06
Speaker 3: Well, they've been the eighth seed back to back years. That's not a way to live. Sometimes you get out of the playing tournament and go to the finals. Sometimes you lose Jimmy Butler in the game, in the playing game, and that's why they couldn't compete in this series. The Heat is such a weird team too, because they got a high payroll, but they're not top heavy, like they lost Butler and they lost the series. It was that easy because Hero is not consistent enough to be a takeover guy. He had an awesome Game two set his career high for assists while was at fourteen. Yeah, he was looking incredible, and then the Celtics decided to really play defense going forward in Games three, four, and five. Bam a great second player, an awesome defensive player, but not a takeover guy either. This is not what the Heat want to do. They don't want to be scrapping to even get into the playoffs and then have to win on the road, win on the road, win on the road. They need to upgrade, especially Jimmy Butler is getting older. He's gonna be a free agent after next season. He's extension eligible. This season, they did make the finals TWI, but they weren't close to winning the finals either time. So I'm thinking something's got to change with Miami, and you have to wonder if that means Hero will be in trade talks once again. Hawk has had a good season, so people will be interested in him and Nicole Yovich, I think seems like he belongs at least he was able to stay on the court in this playoff series, So maybe that's another guy that people around the league could be interested in as well. Because the Trailblazers weren't last year, right They didn't want him back. They didn't want Hero and Yovich in the trade for Dame Lillard. So I don't know who it is, but Miami needs to get somebody else, like they're playing Kevin Love big minutes. Yeah, playing Patty Mills. They started Delon right. Doesn't make sense.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: No, they are an expensive team and pat Riley always goes forward with the Miami Heat front office, so it's difficult for the to see a world where they say, eh, Jimmy, I think it's time we're done. They just went after Terry Rozier, who unfortunately didn't play in this one. But yeah, this season was a roller coaster. They thought that they could get Damian Lillard preseason and ended up being Terry Rozier. Jimmy Butler, as you said, he's gonna be thirty five in a few months. He only has one year left on the contract. Thirty five, being a TIBs guy, seems even older. He isn't able to play the entire season the last couple of years, so he is getting older. So it is interesting. You know, when they were in Game three and they had just tied up the series, and he was interviewed by Chris Haynes. He basically said, look, if this was in the first quarter. First quarter, he said, we're going up to one. We're going up to one tonight. So I wonder if he knows, if he knows that this is his last season with them. I mean, he basically is like, we gotta win, but something, something, yes, needs to be done. I just wonder if pat Ryley even is the kind of guy to say we're changing it, or if they're gonna roll it back one more time. But yes, they have changed. Yeah, no Heimahawk is in this one. That'd hurt obviously delon Wright starting. So they needed something from Hero, a lot from Hero, and that didn't happen.
00:19:58
Speaker 3: Do you think Boston cares they play in the next round? Calves are magic?
00:20:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, good question. I doubt it. I doubt that they really care. I guess there's the challenge of the Calves that Mitchell can go off, but they have Like I was looking at True Holiday, who had a bad series shooting the ball. He was literally, I think their sixth leading score. He will probably guard Donovan Mitchell at all times, and that's why they got him. So I don't think that would be a problem. But I bring that up because it seems like the Calves have more offensive options because to match this Boston team, you just gotta have guys that can score, and Drew can probably do a good job on Donovan Mitchell. And you're beside Derek White, who is probably the most consistent Boston Celtic in this series. You can call him the best player. A stan Ban did it on the broadcast this day. Maybe so their Roland. I don't think they really care all that much, is what I'm getting at.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: I guess I'm with you. I think they will be massive favorites in both of them. But the Magic have played the Celtics pretty well the past couple of seasons. I think they took one win off him this year in three games, but they beat him three times last season. Obviously, the Celtics have changed since then, and the Magic last year were like a thirty five win team. Would have been easy for the Celtics to overlook them. But Celtics should be favorites, I do believe in round two, regardless of who makes it up.
00:21:20
Speaker 2: All right, before we move on to other things going on in the league, any random notes from this game that you want to get to.
00:21:28
Speaker 3: I saw that the Celtics got dunks from Sam Hauser and Luke Cornett in this one. That's how you know it's a blowout. Sam Hauser got a dunk in a half court set, Pump faked in the left corner and finished at the rim. He had more dunks than I was expecting this NBA season. I think he had nine this season. But the Celtics have had a lot of blowouts and a lot of space on the court, so it makes sense.
00:21:47
Speaker 2: That's a nice note. That's a nice random note.
00:21:50
Speaker 3: So a nice little note for you.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: Derek White hitting a basket and then almost doing like a John Cena sort of thing, looking at his right hand, right hand. He is right handed, so I found that funny.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: Like, and he was after a dunk, I think right like when he went down the lane. Oh, he was definitely looking at his hand and all the like. All the bench was doing it as well.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Must be their thing, Must be their thing. Derek White was awesome in this series. Spectacular stuff from the Boston Celtics. All right, moving on, we got some news. I'm already calling it. The segment is is this news? But I'm calling it's news. Let's get to it. Multiple topics. First one is from ESPN because Timberwlves head coach Chris Finch he was hit by Mike Conley at the end of the Timberwols series. There Booker hit him. Conley hit him. He went down, He was hurt. He had to have surgery on his knee. But potential good news here. He plans on traveling to Denver to be there for Game one and likely be on the sideline if he can be in some sort of wheelchair where he can have a straightened leg because the leg has to be straightened. So interesting stuff. So is this news, Trey.
00:23:03
Speaker 3: You told me it's news, He said this segment, these are all news, And I agree with you. This has gotta have a little bit of impact, right, having your coach be questionable for the game, not knowing really where he's gonna sit. I think Mike and Nory is a good coach. He's got the greatest one liners inside by an interview history like, there's compilations floating around on YouTube. They're very funny. He seems to be a good coach. I didn't know he was a baseball guy to begin with. There's a great article by John Krasinski up on the Athletic explaining like how he came up as a baseball guy and then he Butch Carter was like a family friend and hired him to the Raptors. He coached with the Raptors for a little bit, that went back to be a hitting coach in college, then back to the NBA. A crazy stuff. But this team has been together two years. The Timberwolves have basically, you know, with the in the go bet era, the staff, Chris Finch's staff, Mike and Nory a part of it, has basically been together three years. So I think they will be able to figure things out. But between the surgery, the recovery, figuring out where he's gonna sit, things are a little up in the air. I think for the Timberwolves, you would obviously rather have your coach sidelines being able to talk normally, because they're saying they're considering seating configurations that would allow him to safely be on the bench, like you're saying needs to have his leg extended, because it's not always safe on the sidelines, as Chris Finch found out. But if they can't make that setup work, Finch would likely join the team in the locker room for pregame and halftime meetings and watch the action from above in a suite. He said he didn't want to be texting thoughts. Yeah, down from above, down to below to the sideline, So you're not getting your coach's insights except for at the beginning of the game and at the middle of the game. Yeah, that could be tough in a series that's obviously going to be pretty close with the Nuggets.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you say it that way, sounds like an NFL game where you've got the defensive coordinator up in the press room talking to the head coach or talking to the QB. I wonder if that happens in the NBA. Probably not, not in this instance, But I did like seeing what Mike Conley said. He said, you know, if Mike and Norrey has to take over, he's different than Chris Finch's a little bit more funny and a different personality. So they would definitely respect Mike and Norry as we all do. If we watch a Timberwolves game and see him do the halftime interview. Quite often you get the assistant coach being interviewed by the sideline reporter, and he's a funny guy. Butch Carter. I didn't realize that it was Butch Carter who brought him in. Maybe Mike Andry will bring back Butch Carter from his rap stays he gets to bring a coach with him, Yeah, because he like that. He hasn't coached since the Raptors for like twenty years. I think. All right, next topic from CNBC. This is interesting. NBC Sports could buy back rights to the theme song we all know, round Ball Rock if it airs NBA games again. According to composer John ten John Tasha himself, yes he is pumped. Oh yeah, yes, oh yeah he is. So this has got to be news, I imagine. I mean, it's not news because it's not news. I don't know. Yah, that's what might not be news, but it could be.
00:26:12
Speaker 3: This is two steps removed from news because first NBC has to get the contract and then they have to pay for round Ball Rock. And if NBC were to get it, they absolutely have to do this right like nobody wants. That's like one of the things people are most excited about NBC getting back into the rights game for the NBA is possibly playing round Ball Rock. But it made me think, why does some Warner Brothers just buy it. He's obviously willing to sell the rights to it to anybody. Fox has it for college basketball. You see it in Kevin Hart commercial right now. Yeah, I know they have their own music. I know him man, he's a very nice man. That's the Turner one or the Warner Brothers one.
00:26:50
Speaker 2: Well, there's one better, the one you just said, round Ball Rock, Like, why wouldn't you get round Ball Rock?
00:26:54
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't you get round Ball Rock?
00:26:56
Speaker 2: He's gotta sell it. Yes, I'm looking forward to hearing it again. You're right. It would be like Hockey Night in Canada. They sold their rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. As soon as sports Nut took over, they went and got the rights. That's the move here, that's the move. Yeah. And John Tush, I'm sure would sell it. I imagine I think he's in Yeah. You why I wouldn't the Yeah, I guess that's why he brought it up that he said, if NBC comes back and gets it all, sell it to them or does he selling it or he's just getting their license it?
00:27:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, he does what the deal is?
00:27:31
Speaker 5: Well, if NBC, I can't believe that NBC don't hold the rights for it, like, yeah, no, hey, here's five hundred bucks unknown John tesh Well, well, he's hosting entertainment tonight. At the time, it wasn't really known for being a new age composer. So I can't believe that they don't already own the rights.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: That's crazy that you're saying they can just go to any musician and just copy the round Ball Rock. Can't do that.
00:27:58
Speaker 5: You can't copy it. But they should have bought it out right at the beginning. Yes, absolutely, but hey, good for good for Teshie.
00:28:06
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, that's a big win for tesh here, big win. I agree.
00:28:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the theme song that I remember over all these other ones that have been playing forever. So good stuff, tes all right.
00:28:18
Speaker 3: I also think that we're NBC to get it. Another cool part of their broadcast was Bob Costas like giving you a trailer for the game. You know, it's like, okay, we got the Knicks playing the Bulls. Little kids when they go outside they play basketball, they pretend to be Michael Jordan. Beautiful twinkling pianos in the background.
00:28:35
Speaker 2: Bring that back.
00:28:36
Speaker 3: I guess you're fired up for a game.
00:28:38
Speaker 2: Nice stuff. You're making news here. Yeah, that would be a good way to start broadcasting.
00:28:42
Speaker 3: It's a few notes here.
00:28:44
Speaker 2: Matt Ishbia had some notes. Our next topic is from the Athletic about Sun's owner Matt Ishbia, who met with the media. He said, we're not in a good position. We're in a great position, even though they just got swept in the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He said twenty sixteen would trade for our situation. And the interesting part he said he'll meet with Frank Vogel next week. He didn't ensure that Frank Vogel would be back. He also didn't say he would be fired. So is this meeting news?
00:29:13
Speaker 3: I think this is news. The twenty six teams definitely caught me off guard because there's after this round, there will be eight teams left in the playoffs, so like math wise, to me, twenty two would be the maximum. You know, yeah, personally, I don't know. But the Suns they did win forty nine games, they finished ninth and net rating.
00:29:33
Speaker 2: It's just the.
00:29:34
Speaker 3: Fact that they have all stars at the top of their roster that this looks like a disappointment, and of course getting swept in the playoffs, it's hard to be encouraged after that season, even if you had an okay regular season where you can make some excuses about health. Though I ran down how everybody's have basically their healthiest season in five years on Yesterday or a couple of days shows.
00:29:52
Speaker 2: But that's your point.
00:29:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess I don't know. The vocal question is is the first question I imagine will be addressed for the so after they do all these exit interviews and stuff, and maybe they're probably they're waiting to see how things go in the Clippers Mavericks series, because when I'm looking at coaches who are available, Tylu is going to be the guy that everybody wants if he actually becomes available during the summer. I think that could include the Lakers if they move on from Darvin Ham because he's got that relationship with Lebron from the Cleveland days. It could certainly be the Suns as well, because Lou is known as an adjustments guy and as a relationships guy, which is two things that the Sons would absolutely need. After that, it's like Mike Budenholzer. Maybe maybe that could be somebody that entices the Sons, though he's not necessarily known as a creative offensive coach was I think they certainly needed because the defense showed up after Frank Vogel took over here. Other than that, it's like assistance, though the Sons are losing one of their assistants to Brigham Young. Mike D'Antoni is like a name that I always think of as a coach who's available. That guys seventy two years old right now. Can't imagine Kevin Durant playing in a seven seconds or less system, really, So I don't know that there are a lot better coaches out there than Frank Vogel for a team that's trying to win a championship, and when your payroll is this high, you're obviously trying to win a championship. So maybe Vogel sticks around. But the team is hard to change because of the payroll. Because of the second apron coming into effect, the team building just becomes a lot harder. So the Suns have a lot of decisions to make here, and their owner is saying they're pretty confident and where they're at. You do have three stars at the top. That's a good place to start. It'd be nice if they fit better, if you could add pieces to it.
00:31:30
Speaker 2: Though, yeah, and he was saying as as you mentioned that twenty six teams would want their position. He also was very clear as to what they have to trade. He said they have five trades excuse me, five draft picks over the next eight seasons that we could trade that could enhance their ability to help out their entire roster. But he basically said we're coming back with the same team in a way. But he also said, do we have enough continuity? There's a lot of things we can look at. Do we have the right leadership in place? Is that a coach reference? I'm not sure, or are they trying to go get somebody else in the locker room, which kind of contradicts him saying we're running with the same starting five again. Now these are all just words. Maybe he wants to break up the starting five or trade somebody, like, you know, one of the fourth or fifth guys rather than beal Booker and Durant. Maybe trading Grayson Allen for a guy who's incredible on the defense, can handle the ball a little bit more, just to give him a different attitude. Because he did say do we have the right leadership in place? I did find not only his interview interesting as far as what he was saying, but also James Jones, who's in their front office. He said, quote, I actually think chemistry is built through fire, so maybe the fire of them getting swept helps, you know. Bradley Beal was the only guy who's really talked so far, although is going to talk to a bunch of them next week. He said, you know, we just haven't played enough together, basically is what he says. So maybe they come back for next season.
00:33:03
Speaker 3: And maybe they're able to get better guys on veteran minimums this year. You know, that kind of happens when teams get thrown together super team style and the first year it's like, we've got the guys that are here. We've got the guys we can scramble and get. After the first year, maybe you look at the Suns and you're like, okay, I can talk myself into trying to chase the championship there, and you get some better veteran minimum players, yeah, rather than guys who are like the tenth man for the Kings.
00:33:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, who they're trying to put around. You know, the big three in Nurkic was a guy like Josha Kogi, a guy who can play defense. But we just talked about Derek Jones junior with the Dallas Mavericks, who was signed on a minimum and you know, a decent three point shooter this season, not great, but decent three point shooter and can play defense. So you're right, somebody a little bit better on the on the minimum contract side. All right, last topic here, The seventy six ers are stopping Knicks fans from controlling their building, if you want to put it that way. Michael Rubin tweeted, Josh Air, David Blitzer, David Adelman, and I just bought more than two thousand tickets for six Ers Game six. We absolutely cannot let Knicks fans take over our arena again. Is this news? This is news.
00:34:13
Speaker 3: This is good news and funny news that they've had to go out and get two thousand tickets. That's ten percent basically of the Wells Fargo Arena. I guess they have twenty one thousand seats, so ten percent of those tickets basically are going to working class Philadelphians. That's all right, gonna tip the scales a little bit. Maybe it'll only be sixty forty Philly fans to Nick fans because obviously Knicks fans are still gonna go to the game. They're still gonna be able to get some of these tickets on the secondary market because they're much cheaper than they are to go to a Game seven at Madison Square Garden. I think this is smart of the Philly leadership to do this after Joel Embiid called them out, and you know, you do want to have a home court advantage when you're playing at home. You don't want to have the other team be dissing your MVP and bigging up their own MVPs celebrating in your concourse. There still will be a lot of Nick fans there though, but at least this should be it should be more Philly focused. I would have to imagine.
00:35:07
Speaker 2: I guess when you look at it, it's slightly disappointing that he has to go by two thousand seats from.
00:35:13
Speaker 3: Okay, fair point, there was two thousand tickets available exactly.
00:35:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a little scary. It's weird. That is weird, And Knicks fans will be there still tonight. It's a late start for everybody going into that building, a nine local start, but it is a good sign. It is a good move for them, DBD if they actually see a game wing a game where the Sixers are able to survive here, because they almost didn't. It was super close, and I believe the Knicks will be fighting in Philadelphia after kind of giving that game away in game five.
00:35:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a wild ending. I've got my eyes on you. Joel Embiid needs to have a good game tonight. I give him a lot of props. This dude is playing through an injury. He obviously came back. Six Ers went eight no to and the season he even got him into the play in tournament, got him in a nice spot to get to the seventh seed here, had a fifty point game after some flagrant fouling out there, but he basically got saved by Tyrese Maxi in game five. Because if Embiid had the stinker a nine turnover game that he did and the Sixers got eliminated, you're not looking as favorably on the way he's been a warrior playing through these injuries, the bells, palsy, the symptoms from that, including the migrant that he had prior to game five. So I think after calling out the fans in game four and then not having a great game in Game five. It's a big one for Joel Embiid and they need him to be good to win, to win this and maybe force a game seven.
00:36:40
Speaker 2: You're right when you look at the stats, and yes, he put up a fifty spot when he had not only the free throws come in, but also the three pointers were banging home. Otherwise, he hasn't shot the ball all that well. He did have pretty decent shooting night in Game two, but as far as three balls go, that was the only game where he shot it well. And yeah, he has to overcome, you know, a decent amount as you said, everything that he is overcoming, but he needs to play better. Tyres Maxie definitely bailed him out. And maybe we see Tobias Harris shoot beyond the first few minutes of the game like he like, like he likes to do.
00:37:17
Speaker 3: He's a first quarter killer right now.
00:37:19
Speaker 2: And they need something and we need something for this show because it was a light show in the NBA. I'm just trying to make a transition to your great questions you sent in. Let's get to one of them. Let's hit that beach.
00:37:32
Speaker 3: Bucket count.
00:37:36
Speaker 2: You got that shit shut down, got that special well, let's hit that beach before we get to tweet of the night. We'll get to one of them, even though you guys sent in a bunch, because I'm interested to hear your take on this one. What your answer is for this one? Knicks fan here, what is the worst loss you've all suffered as a fan? That comes from b Ball God's block blog another block, b Ball God's blog.
00:38:08
Speaker 3: That's hard to say, blah blohs long blog. B Ball God's blog. A man, you can tell it's a light night in the NBA because we're playing every intro we got. Yeah, definitely a lot of segments going on here.
00:38:20
Speaker 2: And we got some more clips coming.
00:38:21
Speaker 3: One question, I got two answers for you because my worst loss was a win. April twenty eight to twenty twelve, the Bulls beat the Philadelphia seventy six ers in Game one of the first round. Right, but with a minute and twenty two left the Bulls up twelve, Derek Rose blew out his knee. I was watching a six to eight Fleet Street. I'll never forget it. Bulls had the best record in the NBA that season and the season prior. This was Jimmy Butler's rookie year. Instead, Derek Rose blows out his knee. The Bulls lose that eight to one series to the Sixers. Rose sat out the whole next season, played ten games in the twenty thirteen to fourteen season, then Torres Meniscus, who was out for the year. Like April twenty eighth, twenty twelve was when the Bulls championship chances really ended after the dynasty era, and that's the only time they've really been in the mix at all since nineteen ninety eight. So yeah, that was a huge loss for me, even the Bulls, though the Bulls did go on to win that year. Can you imagine if Dereck Rose and Jimmy Butler actually got to grow together and play together that backcourt would have been incredible Because the way it happened was Rose was the youngest MVP in league history. He was obviously the face of the franchise, being a Chicago guy there great player, but when when he hurt, When he got hurt, Jimmy Butler really ascended. He became a great player for the Chicago Bulls. When Rose came back, he wanted to be the same old Rose that he always was. The Jimmy Butler's like, no, I'm the man now. It didn't work out between the two of them, But what if they were actually able to be on a path together. Bumber stuff, bumber stuff. My worst actual loss the game that was lost. April twenty second, twenty twenty two. I flew home to see the Bulls first home playoff game in five years, and they lost by thirty to the Milwaukee Bucks. Worst Bulls home playoff loss ever, literally their worst playoff game, and it cost me several hundred dollars to even watch it. But I'll never forget you. Tony Bradley ten points, five for five from the field, plus five in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter. Yeah, we stayed the whole time.
00:40:20
Speaker 2: Test is garbage time.
00:40:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, garbage time, Tony, Tony Bradley. He should have started.
00:40:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, they couldn't handle him. That was That was a series of first round series where he gets spanked by thirty.
00:40:32
Speaker 3: It was bad too, because like the Bulls won Game two in Milwaukee, they hadn't won a game in Milwaukee. I think since Yiannis had like become Giannis, they actually knocked him off in Game two. I think de Rozan had forty one points. Chris Middleton got hurt in that game too, so people are like, ooh, the Bulls have a chance here. They didn't have a chance. I lost by thirty. It was bad.
00:40:54
Speaker 2: It was bad.
00:40:54
Speaker 3: I got on the Jumbo tront though. That was pretty cool.
00:40:56
Speaker 2: Well, that was cool.
00:40:57
Speaker 3: That was awesome. We're all like, so, yeah, look there we are. And then we looked down at this The balls were down by nine in the first like three minutes. Uh oh, this could get bad. It got worse.
00:41:05
Speaker 2: I thought you might turn it around there.
00:41:07
Speaker 3: And now the peak getting to the game, seeing us on the jumbo Tron, the final forty minutes were tough.
00:41:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, mine's sort of related in that it's completely biased as well. We were all at Game five, the Toronto Raptors hosting the Golden State Wars in the twenty nineteen finals. They're up three to one and they were up late in this game. Nick Nurse calls the timeout and then things just fall apart. Golden State wins. Now the Toronto Raptors go on to win Game six. So it seems it seems like I'm being totally biased here because we were at a game where NBA TV sent us all there, all of us there as they were, well all of us tests well start excuse me, yeah, still salty, still salty. I apologize. This is the worst loss for JD as well. No that they won the championship obviously, and that was there. I guess for some of us, their their package to go, as we also lost our jobs very talk about bittersweet very shortly after Raptors win the next day where shit canned.
00:42:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys could work here until the Raptors win the championships.
00:42:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a wild one.
00:42:21
Speaker 5: That that was a weird thing to write into our contracts on in retrospect. Yeah, if the Raptors win the championship, you can't work here anymore.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: We thought it would never happen. Yeah, it was all me totally being subjective here because the week prior, I was supposed to go watch the last game of the Eastern Conference Final Toronto at home to Milwaukee. I'd never seen a freaking Raptors win in the playoffs, I mean an actual good one. I was supposed to fly home. I made the dumb move of getting on standby list, because why would you do that?
00:42:57
Speaker 3: So I wanted to go earlier or he didn't want to pay.
00:43:01
Speaker 2: He didn't want to pay. Well, yeah, I just I just had a friend who had got me on a stand by list of a flight like six months prior, and I thought, well, that was easy, I'll do it again. So I had paid for a flight and then I said, you know what, I'm going to rescind, going to get the refund and say, yeah, I'll go on stand by list. But unfortunately, there was some atl airport problems the night before, so everybody carried over until the next day. So I was just sitting there. But then I bought because I was sitting there and I waited for four flights that didn't happen. I bought a flight at three pm that day, and because I was already in the airport, I just stayed there and I didn't actually go up to the kiosk desk for sixty minutes, like there is a limit you have to be there at least sixty minutes prior, and they didn't know I had been because.
00:43:47
Speaker 5: You didn't pass through security.
00:43:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I didn't pass through security again, so I didn't go up to the kiosk, so they didn't they put all the stand bys for that for that stand by person after you missed.
00:44:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:44:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I really should have just gone up to people. I should have approached people and said, this is the story. Maybe maybe you can get on the standby for the next flight. Can I take your seat if that's possible. I mean I literally you couldn't do that by changing names or actually through the ticket, but I could have literally just said, let me just take your seat, let me just walk in free, sir. But how the hell would you do that actually take their passport? Yeah, that would be really weird. Anyway, all that to say, I didn't see any games. I drove home after being at the airport for ten hours and watched them win. So that was bittersweet. Yeah. And then you know Game six of the finals where they went on to win as well, also kind of bittersweet as we watched that at home. Wasn't the same as being in Toronto where we could have gone buck nutty, but we would have produced some not you, JD, but everybody else would have produced some stuff for TV as well that night. It would have been fun.
00:44:54
Speaker 3: Would have been hanging with now bought you all night.
00:44:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it would have been a great night. Anyway. From there, treated ant threed overnight. Wow, three of the night.
00:45:14
Speaker 3: It's from baseball. That's when it comes to us from at MLB Major League Baseball. It's a video clip. You're not gonna believe it flights on the dirt or is able to. That's a different, different play bill down the right field line.
00:45:28
Speaker 5: That ball is fair while look at it, it's stuck in the grating.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: There's the proof.
00:45:37
Speaker 5: You've never seen a Weggie home run like that.
00:45:38
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm seeing it in the NBA.
00:45:40
Speaker 3: Where the ball gets stuck in the hoop. But that was a Weggie. Yes, that was Aggie. There's a Weggie.
00:45:47
Speaker 2: Take all things Weggies and baseball.
00:45:49
Speaker 3: The full NBA shout out too. I thought that was incredible. Oswaldo Cabrera with the big dinger. Fred Katz was messaging me. I said, as wada Cabrera any good? He said, he's an okay, hard playing young player who might stick but also might not. He's like Miles McBride. But three months ago. I don't know if that's true. But he got a wedgie. It's been a long time since we've had one in actual basketball.
00:46:10
Speaker 2: This is true.
00:46:11
Speaker 3: Maybe we should count it.
00:46:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. But people are starting to know this in baseball, that there are wedges in basketball. This as another clip that we have from a couple of years ago in a baseball game.
00:46:26
Speaker 4: My buddy, I am Eagle, who does basketball in the NBA college basketball when a ball, when a basketball is stunt between the rim and the backboard, he calls it a wedgie.
00:46:38
Speaker 3: Let me see that.
00:46:39
Speaker 4: I think we got our baseball version of it here, but he got its everywhere.
00:46:47
Speaker 3: Got it.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: They gave the credit to Eagle, who deserves the credit.
00:46:51
Speaker 3: He's a big weggie caller. Yes, I didn't know who the broadcaster was, Amazon Prime Baseball. I didn't know that.
00:46:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're at everything. The Phillies broadcast there. Yes it's happening, but wedgies are happening in baseball everywhere. Sometimes, as we've kind of covered over the last couple of years, baseballs will get wedged in a wall, occasionally padding between the wall, padding exactly, so what happens. Just nice to hear Eagle get some props as we sometimes do as well.
00:47:20
Speaker 3: And I'll say, look, we haven't had a wedgie since we hit number sixty. That home run would be number sixty one. Roger Marris New York Yankee sixty one homers, the Yankee record for a long time.
00:47:32
Speaker 2: Very nice, very nice.
00:47:34
Speaker 3: Should we count it only if we don't get another one for the retroactively count it?
00:47:39
Speaker 5: We are at our all time record, Yeah we are.
00:47:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're living we're living large. They're happening in other sports now.
00:47:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's true.
00:47:46
Speaker 3: A lot of wedges hoping eight days though it's been maybe this weekend or.
00:47:51
Speaker 2: Tonight where we have Bucks, Pacers and Nick's seventy six ers. As we said there, get there earlier there late because the Pacers game locally it's five point thirty. The seventy six Ers game locally nine o'clock. That's the schedule. Also, the Maple Leafs are hosting the Bruins tonight. Wo it'll be a nutty there in not Jurassic Park Leaf Square as they call it there because they're down three to two.
00:48:21
Speaker 3: Must win, must win, yeah, must win.
00:48:23
Speaker 2: They want it to make it three to two. I don't know if Austin Matthews is playing tonight, but he didn't play when they made it three to two.
00:48:32
Speaker 3: See like he's like the Joel Embiid of the Leafs.
00:48:35
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no no he plays hard. He plays every game except for Alaska. Yeah, except for last game. You got. He did get hurt, but not in the same way as Embiid. He scored sixty nine goals.
00:48:49
Speaker 3: This year by Joel Embid was the leading scorer when he went out.
00:48:51
Speaker 2: That's true. That's true.
00:48:53
Speaker 3: Wow, wow, parallel. Let us know hockey fans, no idea, all right, no idea.
00:49:02
Speaker 2: Austin Matthews great, dude, great, you know, scored seventy I hear lots of good things from the people who love hockey in Toronto. Apparently he's incredible. Austin with an O. Okay, anything else said?
00:49:17
Speaker 5: Wait, it's Austin with an O.
00:49:19
Speaker 2: Yeah no, I didn't know that.
00:49:20
Speaker 5: Oh no, no au oh okay, yeah.
00:49:27
Speaker 3: But Matt Austin spelling O S T.
00:49:29
Speaker 2: And that's his first name.
00:49:31
Speaker 3: I think there was, yeah, way back when. Interesting.
00:49:35
Speaker 2: All right, well, I don't know if that's your quote, but clip of Rose.
00:49:40
Speaker 3: You heard it here first. Have a great time, turn up, love you guys, awesome, thanks for joining us. And for clarification, it's symbiote and Zendia.
00:49:50
Speaker 2: Okay, locked in forever. I think I'll forget that.
00:49:55
Speaker 3: Probably me too.
00:49:56
Speaker 2: Symbiote and zendia.
00:49:58
Speaker 3: You nailed it.
00:49:59
Speaker 2: See mind res
Speaker 1: You deserve happiness. Order pizza tonight. It's game day. Give yourself a reason to live with Dominoes. You've been smiled in one calendar year. Buy pizza from us. Stop taking your meds and start choosing what you want from our new mix and match deal. Someone out there loves you, and it's Domino CEO Bruce Donner.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: Playoffs are on order some pizza. Welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on the Athletic Network. I'm test metals man in the middle right beside me, it's straight curve. Hey, ay, and the man making the magic happen as he does always, it's Jad. Hello, what's up? Jady? Lots to get to basketball, I guess is the primary focus in the games. Two games happened, Two games happen. They were blowed. So we'll talk about other drama in basketball, like the Sixers stopping Knicks fans from entering their building tonight and get six that's fun. Chris Finch is going to coach for the Timberwolves in Denver. That is interesting where yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that is a great question. And we might get the round ball rock back interesting stuff, But we'll start with the basketball that happened yesterday. Even though it was a spanker, I thought it was an interesting spanker that the Mavericks gave to the Clippers because Luca he had said in the shoot around, you know, I've got a knees brain, I'm feeling a little ill. If this was the regular season, I wouldn't play, and then boom, monstrous game from Luca. He was great, thirty five tennysis, seven rebounds, MAVs win by thirty. What'd you make of that game? Tray?
00:01:40
Speaker 3: Was it a ropodope in this interesting spanker? Was it ape by Luca Dontre saying yeah, my leg hurts, I can barely breathe, and then completely lighting up the Clippers. This was great stuff from Luca. I thought he had it all going basically except for the jumper. You know, by my count, nine of eleven at the rim or near only five of fifteen on jumpers. He only hit a couple of threes two for eight. They came later on in the game, but it didn't really matter because he controlled the pace. He was picking his spots to get downhill, and when he had an opportunity, he was finishing in the lane. Obviously was dishing out for assists as well, got a lot of those on three pointers, and the MAVs just looked incredible in this one. It's kind of similar, like Kyrie Irving had an awesome game for scoring fourteen points and having six assists. Not huge numbers at all for Kyrie, I didn't think, but he moved the ball, he pushed the pace, and he was really competing defensively against James Harden, who had an absolute stinker. The MAVs just got good production from basically everybody. Derek Jones Junior did a really good job on Paul George, as did PJ. Washington. Peter didn't score very well at all, but at least he was out there contributing. On the other end, Maxi Kleba hit a whole bunch of threes when the MAVs blew it open. Derek Lively was great.
00:02:52
Speaker 4: You know.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: Daniel Gafford I thought was struggling at the beginning of this game. Jason Kidd gives him the hook like three minutes in. Yeah, just because he seemed to be losing Zubots inside wasn't really rolling hard to the rim. Lively comes in and as the exact opposite dunks on his first possession. Basically that he was in there, made plays, he was aggressive on the roles, and then Gaffard came back and he looked smooth as well. This is just an awesome win for the MAVs and honestly a big time bummer for the Clippers. This could easily be their last game playing in Crypto dot com arena, and they left no nothing interesting them.
00:03:26
Speaker 5: No.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Paul George and James Harden combined to shoot six of twenty five and they didn't get help elsewhere. While all those MAVs you mentioned you can go up and down the roster, even if they didn't have spectacular lines, were locked in. I think it was because Luca was so locked in himself, especially defensively. He was just up on every single possession. He was willing to guard, hardened. At times, he was stonefaced. I felt like it felt like Lebron stoneface to some degree. Sure, we saw it a little earlier in this series where Luca did that. Usually he's a pretty demonstrative guy. Now he did that a couple of times, but he was attacking the entire game. You said those nine shots from in Tight twelve of eighteen on two pointers. It's just fantastic stuff. Even if he wasn't spectacular from three point line. You saw in the second quarter he went like end to end. At one point he got a rebound and drove it all the way to the rim. When do you see Luca do that? I mean they were playing fast, and maybe a couple of days helped Luca and his knee and his sickness, or maybe it was a ropodope.
00:04:29
Speaker 3: He was less limpy in this game than he was during Game four. Game four, I thought he was limping around. So I was a little concerned coming into this one, especially he's talking beforehand. I probably wouldn't be playing had it been a regular season game. Then you saw like the crazy tape job they did on his leg. It looked like the symbiote from Venom or whatever.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: Right that was that call jd Eddie Brock symbio.
00:04:51
Speaker 5: That is correct.
00:04:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like he gets taken over by the like the black Good and it's all creeping up his body. That's what looked like.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe it works. Pronounce it. Yeah.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: I just read Zendaya and I still honestly don't know which is the right one.
00:05:05
Speaker 2: I know we need he's the.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: Only one who does.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: I saw I saw her in her photo of her and her new show, and I thought, whew, you and you said it because I thought I knew Zendaya pretty sure.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: I think that's it.
00:05:19
Speaker 5: I think that's pretty sure Zenda. I don't know.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Okay, it's like I said, simbaiode because I read it that way, and I never heard people say there's no.
00:05:30
Speaker 3: Way to find out. We need somebody under thirty to let us pronounce Zendia or Zendaya, and same for Cymbia and Symbia. But that's what it looked like on Luca's leg, and apparently it works because he was awesome in this one, and like you mentioned, he was giving it as all defensively, Kyrie Irving was diving on the floor in this one. He had to get called for a file, which maybe he shouldn't have, but at least he's given the effort out there. And really, the MAVs defense I thought was pretty special. And despite some good performances from Luca and the role players and Kyrie doing the winning basketball kind of stuff, it was the defense that won the game for the MAVs. To me, they never allowed more than twenty four points in a quarter, held the Clippers to thirty eight percent from the field, only twenty six percent from three four to thirteen turnovers. They were great at the rim, fourteen of thirty five field goals shooting at the rim for the Clippers. So that's why it was very weird to me that going into the fourth quarter, that's like a twenty point game. Tyler dusts off PJ.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: Tucker.
00:06:22
Speaker 3: You're down by twenty and you brought in PJ Tucker. The guy scored like five points the whole year. That didn't make sense to me, but he was just kind of reaching for anybody who was going to bring some energy in. PJ did. As soon as that guy came in. I think five people fell on the floor.
00:06:35
Speaker 2: As PJ. Tucker does.
00:06:36
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:06:37
Speaker 2: But the MAVs just had persistence from the first minute and they didn't stop. I mean, this wasn't a blow game at the get go by anyways. It was single digits until right before halftime. It was I thought, just the Luka effect. Everybody had to follow in line and literally we can go all the way up and down the roster. Gafford coming back, Derek Lively, that combo was awesome, as you said, preventing shots at the rim. The team had six blocks, the Clippers had zero, and you could just look at Derek Lively that block on PG, recovering on PG. I mean he had to work, he had to work for that, and yet PJ Washington Garden hardened that time he blocked him from behind another persistent block. I love the DJJ, Derek Lively, Derek g Lively, Derek Jones Junior with an awesome block on hard and he starts sprinting and Luca somehow hits him with the beautiful pass. I mean, all those guys were working, and James Harden because of that defense, he didn't look like himself at all. The floater was gone that we saw in Game four. The maps were obviously ready for him, up and down the roster, but it was odd to see all those guys block him. I mean they were like the PJ. Washington and Derek Jones Junior. They're blocking him. Luca took a chance. I mean they didn't stop it again. You're right, Tyler said, seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, that's when he yanked. That's when he yanked in a playoff game. You're seven minutes left. And that's because all those guys we mentioned were ready, and the guys like James Harden and Paul George, they did not look like themselves at all in this game.
00:08:12
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you could say that Harden looked like himself, because when he has a great game, he might be having a stinker.
00:08:19
Speaker 2: That's a very good point.
00:08:21
Speaker 3: Floater, A dropping a stinker thirty three points in the game four win, seven points on two of twelve shooting in game five here, that's just completely disappointing, but it's happened a lot of times. It's basically the exact same script as the Sixers Celtics series last season, when he was awesome in Game one and awesome in Game four and everything else was not there. But I mean, Paul George wasn't much better. Fifteen points on four of thirteen shooting. He did have eleven rebounds, so he was doing other stuff at least, but he just seemed to want to get off the ball. I thought the same a Harden like, they were good, you take away me, I'll just pass it to another guy. They'll figure it out. The other guy's never figured it out, because these are the two guys that are supposed to figure it out. This was an absolute stink fest from the Clippers two best players.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned that the only guys you could really have faith in on that in that starting line up for the Clippers or Terrence Man was pretty good, Zoo Box was pretty good. That's why they yanked Daniel Gafford.
00:09:15
Speaker 3: But yes, and I thought Norman Powell was hooping a little bit last night.
00:09:19
Speaker 2: He was in this super mode.
00:09:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he made two guys touch mother Earth. As Reggie said, classic stuff.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: The MAVs are just able to find guys up and down this roster, like when you look at the guys, the guys that we mentioned who contributed. Obviously they got PJ. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline. I didn't know that this would work that well. I also didn't know that Derrek Jodes Junior, signed as a minimum contract would work this well. And he had told points three blocks on this. In this game, they were all just ready to scrap around the guys to scrap around. As you said, Kyrie everything, I don't even believe that stat line really because it just felt like he was so good out there. And Lou obviously, and it is it is the team that's up three to two that has taken this pivotal lead here. It feels like they're not going to give it up going back to Dallas, especially when you got Kleba just banging home threes the way he did. MAXI the reason why they got out to that double digit lead was because really Maxy just started shooting and he was on fire four threes in the second quarter. It was five to seven from three. He's sixty percent from three in this series. When they went to the conference finals, he was important. He was forty three percent from three in those three series, so that helps. Even though he doesn't have to play a lot. He just came out and played and the team hit fourteen threes. I don't know what to make of this stat that it wrote down, but it looks important. The teams that hit fourteen threes or more in this postseason are nineteen to zero so far.
00:10:48
Speaker 3: A huge number. I mean, fourteen is not huge. Yeah, I know, like you gotta shoot threes. Simply put, you have to shoot threes in the NBA. Right now, I think the stats are like I don't know that teams are like twenty four and six when they make more threes to the than their opponents in the playoffs so far. But it's also they're like twenty three and seven when they just shoot more threes than your opponent. Even if you can't shoot, just toss them up they might go in.
00:11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it didn't work for the Clippers in this one.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: Obviously they had nothing. They had nothing in this game. It was the first time that they've looked bad without Kawhi playing, because they've got their two wins when Kawhi was off the court, and the MAVs were like, maybe we were game planning for him. Now that he's not there, we're thrown off a little bit. That's certainly what they said after Game one. And then Game four was the weird one up thirty one, blow it all, and then we come back hitting a whole bunch of floaters when Harden hadn't hit floaters all season. Now it looks fluky in retrospect, but maybe they're able to get it back in game six, because the Clippers can obviously play better. They played better a few times this series. They played better when they were in Dallas, just in general, and you know it is game six. You gotta imagine they're going to do their best, but you're rolling the dice with James Harden in an elimination game.
00:11:51
Speaker 2: Yes, and at home, as you said, could be their last game in Crypto Arena. You'd think you'd get more in a game that's supposed to be pivotal. And again, the MAVs just didn't stop. But this was a single digit game in the second quarter, and then they just kept going and going and going and going.
00:12:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, this was the good game last night.
00:12:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. Yeah, let's get to the game. Unless you have any other random notes from that one.
00:12:12
Speaker 3: I did like Jamal Crawford on the broadcast on this one.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: I agree.
00:12:16
Speaker 3: I don't remember what the move was, but it was some Luka Doncic move where he said you move, I move, I move, you move, just like that. I thought that was nice. They rewracked the same highlight coming back from the thing, and that's what he mentioned that it looked like Luca was playing with his headphones in great line.
00:12:31
Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, the broadcast was definitely good. Jamal and Regu we were clicking. They were going one to two in that game. In another game that was just a spanker right from the get go. Boston took care of Miami in Game five. They crushed him. It was a thirty four point win. If you told me it was fifty sixty, I would have said, okay, I would have believed it, just because they were in control from the get go in the first quarter. So they advanced a round two. They were awaiting the winner of the Cavs Magic Series. What to make from this Boston game where they clinched it for to one over Miami.
00:13:05
Speaker 3: Not a ton of takeaways in this one, but you gotta tip your cap to the Celtics. They had the advantage in this one with all the injuries for the Heat. No Butler obviously, no Rosier obviously, but even losing Jim Hawks was like a big deal for Miami since he initiates so much offense for them with those other two guys. Mission So the Celtics went out, they saw the writing on the wall. They took care of business. They get to rest a little bit more. It doesn't mean that Christas Porzingis is coming back any quicker, but at least you get to chill out a little bit and get preparing for the next series. Great stuff by the Celtics. I think It just comes down to the Heat hit twenty three threes in their one win. In Game two, they hit twenty three three pointers, a franchise record. In the three games since, they hit a twenty one total, including three for twenty nine last night. You can't win like that. So easy stuff for the Celtics, but they made it easy on themselves, which I think is really cool. The other takeaway, I guess al Horford did fine, and the first center minutes went to Luke Cornett and he did a really good job. I thought on bam Autemaio competing on the defensive end, and I assume maybe it'll be matchup dependent depending on if they played the Calves or the Magic in round two. Yeah, but it seems like Luke will probably get the first chance. It'd be in the backup center.
00:14:15
Speaker 2: And deservedly so. He has been good this year, even though I couldn't stop talking about did you catch that? Yeah?
00:14:19
Speaker 3: There was a little think floating.
00:14:21
Speaker 2: You caught it. It was a quick, quick index to some pinch that was very nice. Yesterday I was talking about Savior Tillman and the acquisition because I loved watching him play and he's just he's better than what people think he is. And same goes for Luke Cornett in all honestly, that block on out of Bio where he just he manned him up, He's stoned him and was able to block him. He was very talented. Is there any other worries after watching Horford and Cornett go at this one that Kristaps will be out could be for the entire series of Round two, no matter who they play.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: It's hard to say. I mean, Bam is the only guy that they the Heat have inside right now, and he's not like a dominating, physical kind of player.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: Always, I think that changes a little bit going forward because both the Calves and the Magic like to play two bigs.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: You know.
00:15:10
Speaker 3: The Magic I think are a little bit more of a physical, hardy, big guys team, whereas the Calves have some tall, slender dudes. So obviously you would like to have Porzingis back. But Horford I think can hang in either one of those matchups as the starter. He'll have to play more than twenty two minutes. Not every game is going to be a blowout in that series. Well, I don't know, maybe they will. One of those teams can really score one hundred points consistently and the Celtics score one hundred and fifteen at the drop of a hat, So maybe they will be blowouts. But I thought Horford acquitted himself pretty well. Eight points, six rebounds, three assists, he hit a three. You know he's going to be in the right place defensively, even if he's not necessarily the rim protector he used to be or has the height of a Porzingis, But at least in round two, I think the Celtics should feel pretty confident that Horford can slap back to the way he was prior to Porzingis coming around. He was the starter, he started a ton of playoff series for the Celtics, so that should be fine, yes.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: And it is well that they literally have four centers that can play now that mister Porzingis is out. You can run Horford, you can run a little Cornett backup, or you can run Xavier Telman. That is a lot of strength there. So they Yes, they gave up the one game where they weren't gritting now to the three point shooters, and obviously the heat were just banging him home. So I was expecting a little more from Tyler Hero yesterday, considering they don't have Butler Rosier or Himan Hawkes. Unfortunately, he had a bad one in this one. The Celtics going directly at Tyler. Herroll. Possession after possession after possession was pretty clear, and they were doing a good job of that, whether it was Jalen Brown or sometimes you get a big switch and having Hero on him. Anybody, anybody was going at him, and I guess that's what Tyler heroes got to do in the off seasons. Go get stronger if he can, because teams are going to do that.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Or go get traded. Why do you say that, because what are the Heat doing here?
00:17:05
Speaker 2: Yeh? WHOA?
00:17:06
Speaker 3: Well, they've been the eighth seed back to back years. That's not a way to live. Sometimes you get out of the playing tournament and go to the finals. Sometimes you lose Jimmy Butler in the game, in the playing game, and that's why they couldn't compete in this series. The Heat is such a weird team too, because they got a high payroll, but they're not top heavy, like they lost Butler and they lost the series. It was that easy because Hero is not consistent enough to be a takeover guy. He had an awesome Game two set his career high for assists while was at fourteen. Yeah, he was looking incredible, and then the Celtics decided to really play defense going forward in Games three, four, and five. Bam a great second player, an awesome defensive player, but not a takeover guy either. This is not what the Heat want to do. They don't want to be scrapping to even get into the playoffs and then have to win on the road, win on the road, win on the road. They need to upgrade, especially Jimmy Butler is getting older. He's gonna be a free agent after next season. He's extension eligible. This season, they did make the finals TWI, but they weren't close to winning the finals either time. So I'm thinking something's got to change with Miami, and you have to wonder if that means Hero will be in trade talks once again. Hawk has had a good season, so people will be interested in him and Nicole Yovich, I think seems like he belongs at least he was able to stay on the court in this playoff series, So maybe that's another guy that people around the league could be interested in as well. Because the Trailblazers weren't last year, right They didn't want him back. They didn't want Hero and Yovich in the trade for Dame Lillard. So I don't know who it is, but Miami needs to get somebody else, like they're playing Kevin Love big minutes. Yeah, playing Patty Mills. They started Delon right. Doesn't make sense.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: No, they are an expensive team and pat Riley always goes forward with the Miami Heat front office, so it's difficult for the to see a world where they say, eh, Jimmy, I think it's time we're done. They just went after Terry Rozier, who unfortunately didn't play in this one. But yeah, this season was a roller coaster. They thought that they could get Damian Lillard preseason and ended up being Terry Rozier. Jimmy Butler, as you said, he's gonna be thirty five in a few months. He only has one year left on the contract. Thirty five, being a TIBs guy, seems even older. He isn't able to play the entire season the last couple of years, so he is getting older. So it is interesting. You know, when they were in Game three and they had just tied up the series, and he was interviewed by Chris Haynes. He basically said, look, if this was in the first quarter. First quarter, he said, we're going up to one. We're going up to one tonight. So I wonder if he knows, if he knows that this is his last season with them. I mean, he basically is like, we gotta win, but something, something, yes, needs to be done. I just wonder if pat Ryley even is the kind of guy to say we're changing it, or if they're gonna roll it back one more time. But yes, they have changed. Yeah, no Heimahawk is in this one. That'd hurt obviously delon Wright starting. So they needed something from Hero, a lot from Hero, and that didn't happen.
00:19:58
Speaker 3: Do you think Boston cares they play in the next round? Calves are magic?
00:20:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, good question. I doubt it. I doubt that they really care. I guess there's the challenge of the Calves that Mitchell can go off, but they have Like I was looking at True Holiday, who had a bad series shooting the ball. He was literally, I think their sixth leading score. He will probably guard Donovan Mitchell at all times, and that's why they got him. So I don't think that would be a problem. But I bring that up because it seems like the Calves have more offensive options because to match this Boston team, you just gotta have guys that can score, and Drew can probably do a good job on Donovan Mitchell. And you're beside Derek White, who is probably the most consistent Boston Celtic in this series. You can call him the best player. A stan Ban did it on the broadcast this day. Maybe so their Roland. I don't think they really care all that much, is what I'm getting at.
00:20:56
Speaker 3: I guess I'm with you. I think they will be massive favorites in both of them. But the Magic have played the Celtics pretty well the past couple of seasons. I think they took one win off him this year in three games, but they beat him three times last season. Obviously, the Celtics have changed since then, and the Magic last year were like a thirty five win team. Would have been easy for the Celtics to overlook them. But Celtics should be favorites, I do believe in round two, regardless of who makes it up.
00:21:20
Speaker 2: All right, before we move on to other things going on in the league, any random notes from this game that you want to get to.
00:21:28
Speaker 3: I saw that the Celtics got dunks from Sam Hauser and Luke Cornett in this one. That's how you know it's a blowout. Sam Hauser got a dunk in a half court set, Pump faked in the left corner and finished at the rim. He had more dunks than I was expecting this NBA season. I think he had nine this season. But the Celtics have had a lot of blowouts and a lot of space on the court, so it makes sense.
00:21:47
Speaker 2: That's a nice note. That's a nice random note.
00:21:50
Speaker 3: So a nice little note for you.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: Derek White hitting a basket and then almost doing like a John Cena sort of thing, looking at his right hand, right hand. He is right handed, so I found that funny.
00:22:02
Speaker 3: Like, and he was after a dunk, I think right like when he went down the lane. Oh, he was definitely looking at his hand and all the like. All the bench was doing it as well.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Must be their thing, Must be their thing. Derek White was awesome in this series. Spectacular stuff from the Boston Celtics. All right, moving on, we got some news. I'm already calling it. The segment is is this news? But I'm calling it's news. Let's get to it. Multiple topics. First one is from ESPN because Timberwlves head coach Chris Finch he was hit by Mike Conley at the end of the Timberwols series. There Booker hit him. Conley hit him. He went down, He was hurt. He had to have surgery on his knee. But potential good news here. He plans on traveling to Denver to be there for Game one and likely be on the sideline if he can be in some sort of wheelchair where he can have a straightened leg because the leg has to be straightened. So interesting stuff. So is this news, Trey.
00:23:03
Speaker 3: You told me it's news, He said this segment, these are all news, And I agree with you. This has gotta have a little bit of impact, right, having your coach be questionable for the game, not knowing really where he's gonna sit. I think Mike and Nory is a good coach. He's got the greatest one liners inside by an interview history like, there's compilations floating around on YouTube. They're very funny. He seems to be a good coach. I didn't know he was a baseball guy to begin with. There's a great article by John Krasinski up on the Athletic explaining like how he came up as a baseball guy and then he Butch Carter was like a family friend and hired him to the Raptors. He coached with the Raptors for a little bit, that went back to be a hitting coach in college, then back to the NBA. A crazy stuff. But this team has been together two years. The Timberwolves have basically, you know, with the in the go bet era, the staff, Chris Finch's staff, Mike and Nory a part of it, has basically been together three years. So I think they will be able to figure things out. But between the surgery, the recovery, figuring out where he's gonna sit, things are a little up in the air. I think for the Timberwolves, you would obviously rather have your coach sidelines being able to talk normally, because they're saying they're considering seating configurations that would allow him to safely be on the bench, like you're saying needs to have his leg extended, because it's not always safe on the sidelines, as Chris Finch found out. But if they can't make that setup work, Finch would likely join the team in the locker room for pregame and halftime meetings and watch the action from above in a suite. He said he didn't want to be texting thoughts. Yeah, down from above, down to below to the sideline, So you're not getting your coach's insights except for at the beginning of the game and at the middle of the game. Yeah, that could be tough in a series that's obviously going to be pretty close with the Nuggets.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you say it that way, sounds like an NFL game where you've got the defensive coordinator up in the press room talking to the head coach or talking to the QB. I wonder if that happens in the NBA. Probably not, not in this instance, But I did like seeing what Mike Conley said. He said, you know, if Mike and Norrey has to take over, he's different than Chris Finch's a little bit more funny and a different personality. So they would definitely respect Mike and Norry as we all do. If we watch a Timberwolves game and see him do the halftime interview. Quite often you get the assistant coach being interviewed by the sideline reporter, and he's a funny guy. Butch Carter. I didn't realize that it was Butch Carter who brought him in. Maybe Mike Andry will bring back Butch Carter from his rap stays he gets to bring a coach with him, Yeah, because he like that. He hasn't coached since the Raptors for like twenty years. I think. All right, next topic from CNBC. This is interesting. NBC Sports could buy back rights to the theme song we all know, round Ball Rock if it airs NBA games again. According to composer John ten John Tasha himself, yes he is pumped. Oh yeah, yes, oh yeah he is. So this has got to be news, I imagine. I mean, it's not news because it's not news. I don't know. Yah, that's what might not be news, but it could be.
00:26:12
Speaker 3: This is two steps removed from news because first NBC has to get the contract and then they have to pay for round Ball Rock. And if NBC were to get it, they absolutely have to do this right like nobody wants. That's like one of the things people are most excited about NBC getting back into the rights game for the NBA is possibly playing round Ball Rock. But it made me think, why does some Warner Brothers just buy it. He's obviously willing to sell the rights to it to anybody. Fox has it for college basketball. You see it in Kevin Hart commercial right now. Yeah, I know they have their own music. I know him man, he's a very nice man. That's the Turner one or the Warner Brothers one.
00:26:50
Speaker 2: Well, there's one better, the one you just said, round Ball Rock, Like, why wouldn't you get round Ball Rock?
00:26:54
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't you get round Ball Rock?
00:26:56
Speaker 2: He's gotta sell it. Yes, I'm looking forward to hearing it again. You're right. It would be like Hockey Night in Canada. They sold their rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. As soon as sports Nut took over, they went and got the rights. That's the move here, that's the move. Yeah. And John Tush, I'm sure would sell it. I imagine I think he's in Yeah. You why I wouldn't the Yeah, I guess that's why he brought it up that he said, if NBC comes back and gets it all, sell it to them or does he selling it or he's just getting their license it?
00:27:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, he does what the deal is?
00:27:31
Speaker 5: Well, if NBC, I can't believe that NBC don't hold the rights for it, like, yeah, no, hey, here's five hundred bucks unknown John tesh Well, well, he's hosting entertainment tonight. At the time, it wasn't really known for being a new age composer. So I can't believe that they don't already own the rights.
00:27:51
Speaker 2: That's crazy that you're saying they can just go to any musician and just copy the round Ball Rock. Can't do that.
00:27:58
Speaker 5: You can't copy it. But they should have bought it out right at the beginning. Yes, absolutely, but hey, good for good for Teshie.
00:28:06
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, that's a big win for tesh here, big win. I agree.
00:28:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the theme song that I remember over all these other ones that have been playing forever. So good stuff, tes all right.
00:28:18
Speaker 3: I also think that we're NBC to get it. Another cool part of their broadcast was Bob Costas like giving you a trailer for the game. You know, it's like, okay, we got the Knicks playing the Bulls. Little kids when they go outside they play basketball, they pretend to be Michael Jordan. Beautiful twinkling pianos in the background.
00:28:35
Speaker 2: Bring that back.
00:28:36
Speaker 3: I guess you're fired up for a game.
00:28:38
Speaker 2: Nice stuff. You're making news here. Yeah, that would be a good way to start broadcasting.
00:28:42
Speaker 3: It's a few notes here.
00:28:44
Speaker 2: Matt Ishbia had some notes. Our next topic is from the Athletic about Sun's owner Matt Ishbia, who met with the media. He said, we're not in a good position. We're in a great position, even though they just got swept in the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He said twenty sixteen would trade for our situation. And the interesting part he said he'll meet with Frank Vogel next week. He didn't ensure that Frank Vogel would be back. He also didn't say he would be fired. So is this meeting news?
00:29:13
Speaker 3: I think this is news. The twenty six teams definitely caught me off guard because there's after this round, there will be eight teams left in the playoffs, so like math wise, to me, twenty two would be the maximum. You know, yeah, personally, I don't know. But the Suns they did win forty nine games, they finished ninth and net rating.
00:29:33
Speaker 2: It's just the.
00:29:34
Speaker 3: Fact that they have all stars at the top of their roster that this looks like a disappointment, and of course getting swept in the playoffs, it's hard to be encouraged after that season, even if you had an okay regular season where you can make some excuses about health. Though I ran down how everybody's have basically their healthiest season in five years on Yesterday or a couple of days shows.
00:29:52
Speaker 2: But that's your point.
00:29:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess I don't know. The vocal question is is the first question I imagine will be addressed for the so after they do all these exit interviews and stuff, and maybe they're probably they're waiting to see how things go in the Clippers Mavericks series, because when I'm looking at coaches who are available, Tylu is going to be the guy that everybody wants if he actually becomes available during the summer. I think that could include the Lakers if they move on from Darvin Ham because he's got that relationship with Lebron from the Cleveland days. It could certainly be the Suns as well, because Lou is known as an adjustments guy and as a relationships guy, which is two things that the Sons would absolutely need. After that, it's like Mike Budenholzer. Maybe maybe that could be somebody that entices the Sons, though he's not necessarily known as a creative offensive coach was I think they certainly needed because the defense showed up after Frank Vogel took over here. Other than that, it's like assistance, though the Sons are losing one of their assistants to Brigham Young. Mike D'Antoni is like a name that I always think of as a coach who's available. That guys seventy two years old right now. Can't imagine Kevin Durant playing in a seven seconds or less system, really, So I don't know that there are a lot better coaches out there than Frank Vogel for a team that's trying to win a championship, and when your payroll is this high, you're obviously trying to win a championship. So maybe Vogel sticks around. But the team is hard to change because of the payroll. Because of the second apron coming into effect, the team building just becomes a lot harder. So the Suns have a lot of decisions to make here, and their owner is saying they're pretty confident and where they're at. You do have three stars at the top. That's a good place to start. It'd be nice if they fit better, if you could add pieces to it.
00:31:30
Speaker 2: Though, yeah, and he was saying as as you mentioned that twenty six teams would want their position. He also was very clear as to what they have to trade. He said they have five trades excuse me, five draft picks over the next eight seasons that we could trade that could enhance their ability to help out their entire roster. But he basically said we're coming back with the same team in a way. But he also said, do we have enough continuity? There's a lot of things we can look at. Do we have the right leadership in place? Is that a coach reference? I'm not sure, or are they trying to go get somebody else in the locker room, which kind of contradicts him saying we're running with the same starting five again. Now these are all just words. Maybe he wants to break up the starting five or trade somebody, like, you know, one of the fourth or fifth guys rather than beal Booker and Durant. Maybe trading Grayson Allen for a guy who's incredible on the defense, can handle the ball a little bit more, just to give him a different attitude. Because he did say do we have the right leadership in place? I did find not only his interview interesting as far as what he was saying, but also James Jones, who's in their front office. He said, quote, I actually think chemistry is built through fire, so maybe the fire of them getting swept helps, you know. Bradley Beal was the only guy who's really talked so far, although is going to talk to a bunch of them next week. He said, you know, we just haven't played enough together, basically is what he says. So maybe they come back for next season.
00:33:03
Speaker 3: And maybe they're able to get better guys on veteran minimums this year. You know, that kind of happens when teams get thrown together super team style and the first year it's like, we've got the guys that are here. We've got the guys we can scramble and get. After the first year, maybe you look at the Suns and you're like, okay, I can talk myself into trying to chase the championship there, and you get some better veteran minimum players, yeah, rather than guys who are like the tenth man for the Kings.
00:33:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, who they're trying to put around. You know, the big three in Nurkic was a guy like Josha Kogi, a guy who can play defense. But we just talked about Derek Jones junior with the Dallas Mavericks, who was signed on a minimum and you know, a decent three point shooter this season, not great, but decent three point shooter and can play defense. So you're right, somebody a little bit better on the on the minimum contract side. All right, last topic here, The seventy six ers are stopping Knicks fans from controlling their building, if you want to put it that way. Michael Rubin tweeted, Josh Air, David Blitzer, David Adelman, and I just bought more than two thousand tickets for six Ers Game six. We absolutely cannot let Knicks fans take over our arena again. Is this news? This is news.
00:34:13
Speaker 3: This is good news and funny news that they've had to go out and get two thousand tickets. That's ten percent basically of the Wells Fargo Arena. I guess they have twenty one thousand seats, so ten percent of those tickets basically are going to working class Philadelphians. That's all right, gonna tip the scales a little bit. Maybe it'll only be sixty forty Philly fans to Nick fans because obviously Knicks fans are still gonna go to the game. They're still gonna be able to get some of these tickets on the secondary market because they're much cheaper than they are to go to a Game seven at Madison Square Garden. I think this is smart of the Philly leadership to do this after Joel Embiid called them out, and you know, you do want to have a home court advantage when you're playing at home. You don't want to have the other team be dissing your MVP and bigging up their own MVPs celebrating in your concourse. There still will be a lot of Nick fans there though, but at least this should be it should be more Philly focused. I would have to imagine.
00:35:07
Speaker 2: I guess when you look at it, it's slightly disappointing that he has to go by two thousand seats from.
00:35:13
Speaker 3: Okay, fair point, there was two thousand tickets available exactly.
00:35:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a little scary. It's weird. That is weird, And Knicks fans will be there still tonight. It's a late start for everybody going into that building, a nine local start, but it is a good sign. It is a good move for them, DBD if they actually see a game wing a game where the Sixers are able to survive here, because they almost didn't. It was super close, and I believe the Knicks will be fighting in Philadelphia after kind of giving that game away in game five.
00:35:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a wild ending. I've got my eyes on you. Joel Embiid needs to have a good game tonight. I give him a lot of props. This dude is playing through an injury. He obviously came back. Six Ers went eight no to and the season he even got him into the play in tournament, got him in a nice spot to get to the seventh seed here, had a fifty point game after some flagrant fouling out there, but he basically got saved by Tyrese Maxi in game five. Because if Embiid had the stinker a nine turnover game that he did and the Sixers got eliminated, you're not looking as favorably on the way he's been a warrior playing through these injuries, the bells, palsy, the symptoms from that, including the migrant that he had prior to game five. So I think after calling out the fans in game four and then not having a great game in Game five. It's a big one for Joel Embiid and they need him to be good to win, to win this and maybe force a game seven.
00:36:40
Speaker 2: You're right when you look at the stats, and yes, he put up a fifty spot when he had not only the free throws come in, but also the three pointers were banging home. Otherwise, he hasn't shot the ball all that well. He did have pretty decent shooting night in Game two, but as far as three balls go, that was the only game where he shot it well. And yeah, he has to overcome, you know, a decent amount as you said, everything that he is overcoming, but he needs to play better. Tyres Maxie definitely bailed him out. And maybe we see Tobias Harris shoot beyond the first few minutes of the game like he like, like he likes to do.
00:37:17
Speaker 3: He's a first quarter killer right now.
00:37:19
Speaker 2: And they need something and we need something for this show because it was a light show in the NBA. I'm just trying to make a transition to your great questions you sent in. Let's get to one of them. Let's hit that beach.
00:37:32
Speaker 3: Bucket count.
00:37:36
Speaker 2: You got that shit shut down, got that special well, let's hit that beach before we get to tweet of the night. We'll get to one of them, even though you guys sent in a bunch, because I'm interested to hear your take on this one. What your answer is for this one? Knicks fan here, what is the worst loss you've all suffered as a fan? That comes from b Ball God's block blog another block, b Ball God's blog.
00:38:08
Speaker 3: That's hard to say, blah blohs long blog. B Ball God's blog. A man, you can tell it's a light night in the NBA because we're playing every intro we got. Yeah, definitely a lot of segments going on here.
00:38:20
Speaker 2: And we got some more clips coming.
00:38:21
Speaker 3: One question, I got two answers for you because my worst loss was a win. April twenty eight to twenty twelve, the Bulls beat the Philadelphia seventy six ers in Game one of the first round. Right, but with a minute and twenty two left the Bulls up twelve, Derek Rose blew out his knee. I was watching a six to eight Fleet Street. I'll never forget it. Bulls had the best record in the NBA that season and the season prior. This was Jimmy Butler's rookie year. Instead, Derek Rose blows out his knee. The Bulls lose that eight to one series to the Sixers. Rose sat out the whole next season, played ten games in the twenty thirteen to fourteen season, then Torres Meniscus, who was out for the year. Like April twenty eighth, twenty twelve was when the Bulls championship chances really ended after the dynasty era, and that's the only time they've really been in the mix at all since nineteen ninety eight. So yeah, that was a huge loss for me, even the Bulls, though the Bulls did go on to win that year. Can you imagine if Dereck Rose and Jimmy Butler actually got to grow together and play together that backcourt would have been incredible Because the way it happened was Rose was the youngest MVP in league history. He was obviously the face of the franchise, being a Chicago guy there great player, but when when he hurt, When he got hurt, Jimmy Butler really ascended. He became a great player for the Chicago Bulls. When Rose came back, he wanted to be the same old Rose that he always was. The Jimmy Butler's like, no, I'm the man now. It didn't work out between the two of them, But what if they were actually able to be on a path together. Bumber stuff, bumber stuff. My worst actual loss the game that was lost. April twenty second, twenty twenty two. I flew home to see the Bulls first home playoff game in five years, and they lost by thirty to the Milwaukee Bucks. Worst Bulls home playoff loss ever, literally their worst playoff game, and it cost me several hundred dollars to even watch it. But I'll never forget you. Tony Bradley ten points, five for five from the field, plus five in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter. Yeah, we stayed the whole time.
00:40:20
Speaker 2: Test is garbage time.
00:40:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, garbage time, Tony, Tony Bradley. He should have started.
00:40:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, they couldn't handle him. That was That was a series of first round series where he gets spanked by thirty.
00:40:32
Speaker 3: It was bad too, because like the Bulls won Game two in Milwaukee, they hadn't won a game in Milwaukee. I think since Yiannis had like become Giannis, they actually knocked him off in Game two. I think de Rozan had forty one points. Chris Middleton got hurt in that game too, so people are like, ooh, the Bulls have a chance here. They didn't have a chance. I lost by thirty. It was bad.
00:40:54
Speaker 2: It was bad.
00:40:54
Speaker 3: I got on the Jumbo tront though. That was pretty cool.
00:40:56
Speaker 2: Well, that was cool.
00:40:57
Speaker 3: That was awesome. We're all like, so, yeah, look there we are. And then we looked down at this The balls were down by nine in the first like three minutes. Uh oh, this could get bad. It got worse.
00:41:05
Speaker 2: I thought you might turn it around there.
00:41:07
Speaker 3: And now the peak getting to the game, seeing us on the jumbo Tron, the final forty minutes were tough.
00:41:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, mine's sort of related in that it's completely biased as well. We were all at Game five, the Toronto Raptors hosting the Golden State Wars in the twenty nineteen finals. They're up three to one and they were up late in this game. Nick Nurse calls the timeout and then things just fall apart. Golden State wins. Now the Toronto Raptors go on to win Game six. So it seems it seems like I'm being totally biased here because we were at a game where NBA TV sent us all there, all of us there as they were, well all of us tests well start excuse me, yeah, still salty, still salty. I apologize. This is the worst loss for JD as well. No that they won the championship obviously, and that was there. I guess for some of us, their their package to go, as we also lost our jobs very talk about bittersweet very shortly after Raptors win the next day where shit canned.
00:42:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys could work here until the Raptors win the championships.
00:42:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a wild one.
00:42:21
Speaker 5: That that was a weird thing to write into our contracts on in retrospect. Yeah, if the Raptors win the championship, you can't work here anymore.
00:42:30
Speaker 2: We thought it would never happen. Yeah, it was all me totally being subjective here because the week prior, I was supposed to go watch the last game of the Eastern Conference Final Toronto at home to Milwaukee. I'd never seen a freaking Raptors win in the playoffs, I mean an actual good one. I was supposed to fly home. I made the dumb move of getting on standby list, because why would you do that?
00:42:57
Speaker 3: So I wanted to go earlier or he didn't want to pay.
00:43:01
Speaker 2: He didn't want to pay. Well, yeah, I just I just had a friend who had got me on a stand by list of a flight like six months prior, and I thought, well, that was easy, I'll do it again. So I had paid for a flight and then I said, you know what, I'm going to rescind, going to get the refund and say, yeah, I'll go on stand by list. But unfortunately, there was some atl airport problems the night before, so everybody carried over until the next day. So I was just sitting there. But then I bought because I was sitting there and I waited for four flights that didn't happen. I bought a flight at three pm that day, and because I was already in the airport, I just stayed there and I didn't actually go up to the kiosk desk for sixty minutes, like there is a limit you have to be there at least sixty minutes prior, and they didn't know I had been because.
00:43:47
Speaker 5: You didn't pass through security.
00:43:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I didn't pass through security again, so I didn't go up to the kiosk, so they didn't they put all the stand bys for that for that stand by person after you missed.
00:44:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:44:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I really should have just gone up to people. I should have approached people and said, this is the story. Maybe maybe you can get on the standby for the next flight. Can I take your seat if that's possible. I mean I literally you couldn't do that by changing names or actually through the ticket, but I could have literally just said, let me just take your seat, let me just walk in free, sir. But how the hell would you do that actually take their passport? Yeah, that would be really weird. Anyway, all that to say, I didn't see any games. I drove home after being at the airport for ten hours and watched them win. So that was bittersweet. Yeah. And then you know Game six of the finals where they went on to win as well, also kind of bittersweet as we watched that at home. Wasn't the same as being in Toronto where we could have gone buck nutty, but we would have produced some not you, JD, but everybody else would have produced some stuff for TV as well that night. It would have been fun.
00:44:54
Speaker 3: Would have been hanging with now bought you all night.
00:44:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it would have been a great night. Anyway. From there, treated ant threed overnight. Wow, three of the night.
00:45:14
Speaker 3: It's from baseball. That's when it comes to us from at MLB Major League Baseball. It's a video clip. You're not gonna believe it flights on the dirt or is able to. That's a different, different play bill down the right field line.
00:45:28
Speaker 5: That ball is fair while look at it, it's stuck in the grating.
00:45:34
Speaker 3: There's the proof.
00:45:37
Speaker 5: You've never seen a Weggie home run like that.
00:45:38
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm seeing it in the NBA.
00:45:40
Speaker 3: Where the ball gets stuck in the hoop. But that was a Weggie. Yes, that was Aggie. There's a Weggie.
00:45:47
Speaker 2: Take all things Weggies and baseball.
00:45:49
Speaker 3: The full NBA shout out too. I thought that was incredible. Oswaldo Cabrera with the big dinger. Fred Katz was messaging me. I said, as wada Cabrera any good? He said, he's an okay, hard playing young player who might stick but also might not. He's like Miles McBride. But three months ago. I don't know if that's true. But he got a wedgie. It's been a long time since we've had one in actual basketball.
00:46:10
Speaker 2: This is true.
00:46:11
Speaker 3: Maybe we should count it.
00:46:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. But people are starting to know this in baseball, that there are wedges in basketball. This as another clip that we have from a couple of years ago in a baseball game.
00:46:26
Speaker 4: My buddy, I am Eagle, who does basketball in the NBA college basketball when a ball, when a basketball is stunt between the rim and the backboard, he calls it a wedgie.
00:46:38
Speaker 3: Let me see that.
00:46:39
Speaker 4: I think we got our baseball version of it here, but he got its everywhere.
00:46:47
Speaker 3: Got it.
00:46:48
Speaker 2: They gave the credit to Eagle, who deserves the credit.
00:46:51
Speaker 3: He's a big weggie caller. Yes, I didn't know who the broadcaster was, Amazon Prime Baseball. I didn't know that.
00:46:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're at everything. The Phillies broadcast there. Yes it's happening, but wedgies are happening in baseball everywhere. Sometimes, as we've kind of covered over the last couple of years, baseballs will get wedged in a wall, occasionally padding between the wall, padding exactly, so what happens. Just nice to hear Eagle get some props as we sometimes do as well.
00:47:20
Speaker 3: And I'll say, look, we haven't had a wedgie since we hit number sixty. That home run would be number sixty one. Roger Marris New York Yankee sixty one homers, the Yankee record for a long time.
00:47:32
Speaker 2: Very nice, very nice.
00:47:34
Speaker 3: Should we count it only if we don't get another one for the retroactively count it?
00:47:39
Speaker 5: We are at our all time record, Yeah we are.
00:47:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're living we're living large. They're happening in other sports now.
00:47:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's true.
00:47:46
Speaker 3: A lot of wedges hoping eight days though it's been maybe this weekend or.
00:47:51
Speaker 2: Tonight where we have Bucks, Pacers and Nick's seventy six ers. As we said there, get there earlier there late because the Pacers game locally it's five point thirty. The seventy six Ers game locally nine o'clock. That's the schedule. Also, the Maple Leafs are hosting the Bruins tonight. Wo it'll be a nutty there in not Jurassic Park Leaf Square as they call it there because they're down three to two.
00:48:21
Speaker 3: Must win, must win, yeah, must win.
00:48:23
Speaker 2: They want it to make it three to two. I don't know if Austin Matthews is playing tonight, but he didn't play when they made it three to two.
00:48:32
Speaker 3: See like he's like the Joel Embiid of the Leafs.
00:48:35
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no no he plays hard. He plays every game except for Alaska. Yeah, except for last game. You got. He did get hurt, but not in the same way as Embiid. He scored sixty nine goals.
00:48:49
Speaker 3: This year by Joel Embid was the leading scorer when he went out.
00:48:51
Speaker 2: That's true. That's true.
00:48:53
Speaker 3: Wow, wow, parallel. Let us know hockey fans, no idea, all right, no idea.
00:49:02
Speaker 2: Austin Matthews great, dude, great, you know, scored seventy I hear lots of good things from the people who love hockey in Toronto. Apparently he's incredible. Austin with an O. Okay, anything else said?
00:49:17
Speaker 5: Wait, it's Austin with an O.
00:49:19
Speaker 2: Yeah no, I didn't know that.
00:49:20
Speaker 5: Oh no, no au oh okay, yeah.
00:49:27
Speaker 3: But Matt Austin spelling O S T.
00:49:29
Speaker 2: And that's his first name.
00:49:31
Speaker 3: I think there was, yeah, way back when. Interesting.
00:49:35
Speaker 2: All right, well, I don't know if that's your quote, but clip of Rose.
00:49:40
Speaker 3: You heard it here first. Have a great time, turn up, love you guys, awesome, thanks for joining us. And for clarification, it's symbiote and Zendia.
00:49:50
Speaker 2: Okay, locked in forever. I think I'll forget that.
00:49:55
Speaker 3: Probably me too.
00:49:56
Speaker 2: Symbiote and zendia.
00:49:58
Speaker 3: You nailed it.
00:49:59
Speaker 2: See mind res
