Speaker 1: Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show. Enjoy, Demanda, I was pulling for
Speaker 1: Houston because of our ties to Houston. I also like
Speaker 1: Kelvin Sampson, tell us what happened?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean Houston went from winning that crazy
Speaker 2: one against Duke on Saturday. I mean we have I've
Speaker 2: been pulling them for Houston, but that rev should be
Speaker 2: investigated from that game on Saturday. Okay, but yeah, so
Speaker 2: they lost the crazy one to Florida yesterday off of
Speaker 2: the potential double dribb or whatever. What are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on the tournament and how it ended?
Speaker 1: I mean, I have a lot of thoughts here. Houston
Speaker 1: did not get a shot up, not on the final possession,
Speaker 1: on their final four possessions. They didn't hit the rim
Speaker 1: seemingly for the last two minutes of that game. And
Speaker 1: somebody had a tweet that I wish I could give
Speaker 1: them credit because I thought it was really funny and
Speaker 1: actually pretty kind of profound, almost talking about Houston's style
Speaker 1: because they're just such a ferocious, relentless, tough defensive team,
Speaker 1: where they said I imagine Houston's practices are just three
Speaker 1: hours of suicides and punching each other in the face,
Speaker 1: and that kind of is how they played. But there's
Speaker 1: downside to that, which is they never you never felt
Speaker 1: like they were against a great team going to be
Speaker 1: able to definitively put them away. And they had opportunities
Speaker 1: against Florida to put them away when that defense was
Speaker 1: just giving Florida fits, and Florida's stuck around just like
Speaker 1: Houston did against Duke, just long enough to where you
Speaker 1: see the college kids tighten up and Houston's kids tightened up.
Speaker 1: Walter Clayton junior, you know, had a great final flourish
Speaker 1: in this game after you know, with five minutes left
Speaker 1: in this game, it looked like this was gonna be
Speaker 1: the first game in two years he had a sixty
Speaker 1: one game streak of hitting a three. He didn't hit
Speaker 1: one until late in the game. He obviously didn't score
Speaker 1: his first basket until late late in the first half
Speaker 1: or was it early second half, I don't even remember,
Speaker 1: but Florida was able to stick around and then steal
Speaker 1: it at the end. Not getting a shot off in
Speaker 1: that spot is just the stuff of absolute nightmares for
Speaker 1: a coach, but they didn't get a shot off like
Speaker 1: it was if you just look at what Houston did
Speaker 1: over the final two minutes, because one of the possessions
Speaker 1: they did get a shot up, it was essentially an
Speaker 1: air balled layup. They were getting no good looks. And
Speaker 1: when you go to the waning moments of the game,
Speaker 1: after LJ. Cryer made missed a layup and then tipped
Speaker 1: in his own miss with two thirty left, here were
Speaker 1: Houston's possessions. Made a free throw, then missed a free throw,
Speaker 1: badly missed a three, offensive rebound miss jumper, offensive rebound, turnover, turnover, turnover, turnover.
Speaker 1: To not get a shot on the rim in the
Speaker 1: final two minutes of the ninety seconds of the game
Speaker 1: is just so crushing, and you feel so sick for
Speaker 1: Kelvin Sampson. And yeah, but might I mean because again
Speaker 1: he's aultist seventy say it again that, oh yeah, well
Speaker 1: about the coach you're talking about LJ. Cryer Now LJ.
Speaker 1: Cryer at the back to back turnovers and then Emmanuel
Speaker 1: Sharp had the back to back turnovers late, I mean
Speaker 1: both there, But for Kelvin, who was a great coach,
Speaker 1: got a show cause penalty and got run out of
Speaker 1: college basketball for a while, came back, and what he's
Speaker 1: done at Houston is remarkable since he's been there. It's
Speaker 1: our buddy. Buddy's probably too strong. But the kid we
Speaker 1: root for, Quinton Grimes, you know, was there and they
Speaker 1: were a legitimate contender since he's been there. So Kelvin
Speaker 1: Sampson took over a mediocre team. His first year, they're
Speaker 1: thirteen and nineteen. His next two years they're in the
Speaker 1: n and then since then, this is what they've done.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven wins, and they won a tournament game, thirty
Speaker 1: three wins, and get popped in the Sweet sixteen. Then
Speaker 1: COVID year, then twenty eight wins, Final four, thirty two wins,
Speaker 1: Elite eight, thirty three wins, Sweet sixteen, thirty two wins,
Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen, thirty five wins, lose the championship game by two,
Speaker 1: and you know, you you hope he has another great shot.
Speaker 1: You don't know if he's gonna have another great shot.
Speaker 1: He turned seventy next season. You'll keep coaching, but man,
Speaker 1: oh man, it as much as they stole one from Duke,
Speaker 1: they absolutely let one get away. And so I had
Speaker 1: two recurring thoughts in that game. One was Duke had
Speaker 1: to be watching this game, like you gotta be kidding me,
Speaker 1: like that we we should be in this game. And
Speaker 1: you know they they their collapse was different than Houston's. There.
Speaker 1: I know you put it on that you hated the
Speaker 1: ref for the car. I mean, it's a bad call.
Speaker 1: Bad college refs are bad, and the review process in
Speaker 1: college basketball is truly truly awful. And what nobody ever
Speaker 1: acknowledges when they're like, oh, they have to get it right,
Speaker 1: and oh, we've got the tenths of a second could matter.
Speaker 1: And I bring up every time, you know what also matters,
Speaker 1: fatigue and these this idea that being the better conditioned
Speaker 1: team should you should lose all edge from that in
Speaker 1: the final two minutes of these games because every out
Speaker 1: of bounds call there's gonna be a one to four
Speaker 1: minute break to review it. I hate it so much,
Speaker 1: But set that aside. My other takeaway from really this
Speaker 1: entire tournament, but certainly the final four. We had four
Speaker 1: number one seeds. We had by kin Palm rankings, four
Speaker 1: of the best college basketball teams of the last decade
Speaker 1: all playing, and despite that, you've never seen a better
Speaker 1: illustration for the glaring and massive gap between the talent
Speaker 1: and skill level between guys who are good enough to
Speaker 1: be starters and big time players for the best college
Speaker 1: basketball teams in the country and guys who are good
Speaker 1: enough to play in the NBA. College basketball in the
Speaker 1: modern era, where guys don't stick around typically for that long,
Speaker 1: the best players never do, and teams don't stick together.
Speaker 1: The gap between that and the skill and talent and
Speaker 1: nobility it takes to play in the NBA is the
Speaker 1: widest it's ever been, and it's why a guy like
Speaker 1: Walter Clayton junior who is going to be goes into
Speaker 1: the tournament a fringe first round pick, can just dominate
Speaker 1: and when most outstanding player like is I know there
Speaker 1: are some people, particularly where I'm from in the Midwest,
Speaker 1: that swear, and I always thought this was an odd
Speaker 1: stance to hold love college basketball hate the NBA. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you have to like the NBA more
Speaker 1: than college basketball. Again, they're different sports to teach their own,
Speaker 1: but that was all always felt to me a more
Speaker 1: than a little racially charged opinion. The love college basketball
Speaker 1: hate the NBA take because you simply never hear that
Speaker 1: in college football, certainly have people that like college football
Speaker 1: more than the NFL. But I've never once met a
Speaker 1: single person who's, like, I love college football, can't stand
Speaker 1: the NFL. But you do hear that sometimes college basketball,
Speaker 1: at least where I grew up, used to all the time,
Speaker 1: and I always thought that was a little quizzical. But
Speaker 1: they're they're just so vastly different products. Throughout this tournament,
Speaker 1: when guys made open shots, you were impressed. In the NBA,
Speaker 1: if a guy misses an open shot, you are shocked.
Speaker 1: And this game, being stuck in the forties late into
Speaker 1: the second half, just a vivid reminder of how incredibly
Speaker 1: difficult it is for the guys who actually can make
Speaker 1: it to the league. But congrats of Florida Walter Clayton junior.
Speaker 1: Going into this year Demonse on most mock drafts was
Speaker 1: not even a second rounder going into this tournament. In
Speaker 1: most mock drafts, was a fringe first second rounder. And
Speaker 1: now he's probably going to be a late lottery pick.
Speaker 1: He's a little older, he's not that athletic man. Oh
Speaker 1: man that say it again.
Speaker 2: Late lottery pick.
Speaker 1: No, it's awesome, it's great what he has working against
Speaker 1: him is he doesn't have the great athleticism and he's
Speaker 1: played for five years and so four years, so people
Speaker 1: are always, you know, twenty two to twenty three, how
Speaker 1: high is the ceiling? But I wonder if he could
Speaker 1: have a Dulton Connects style draft day where when he
Speaker 1: gets he gets drafted by a team or a good
Speaker 1: team and people are like, oh man, he can maybe
Speaker 1: help you immediately, even if he doesn't have like all
Speaker 1: star potential.
Speaker 2: So things are gonna come down to the wire. On
Speaker 2: the west side, everyone from the three to eight seed
Speaker 2: are separated by max of two games, and then everybody
Speaker 2: from the four to eight are basically tied in losses. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so do you how do you think it's gonna go?
Speaker 1: So, first of all, credit to the Rockets for removing
Speaker 1: themselves from this group. The Rockets are I I thought
Speaker 1: the Rockets were about to get punched in the face
Speaker 1: by the schedule because and I think we talked about
Speaker 1: it last week. Their their final five games were Thunder Warriors,
Speaker 1: and then and they played those two already and won them.
Speaker 1: And then it goes Clippers Lakers' nuggets. But it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter now because and this actually could work in the
Speaker 1: Lakers favor. I don't know if what the Rockets will do,
Speaker 1: but the Rockets just need to either win one or
Speaker 1: have the Lakers lose one and they lock up the
Speaker 1: two seed. So, because the Lakers max out at fifty
Speaker 1: two wins, the Rockets already at fifty two wins. So
Speaker 1: if the Lakers so, here's why I say this could
Speaker 1: work out in the Lakers' favor. If the Lakers lose
Speaker 1: tonight to the Thunder, which they will, the Rockets lock
Speaker 1: the two seed. No matter what. Will that make the
Speaker 1: Rockets in Game eighty one against the Lakers rest some people?
Speaker 1: I don't know now, maybe they would feel like they
Speaker 1: don't need to. But set that aside. Credit to the
Speaker 1: Rockets for handling their business. Now to the three through
Speaker 1: eight and we can throw it on the screen the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The reason that Lakers two game lead is actually a
Speaker 1: three game lead is this they have the tiebreaker over
Speaker 1: literally every single team on the screen.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: Nuggets are the four Clippers, of the five Warriors, of
Speaker 1: the six Timbrelves of the seven Grizzlies, of the eight
Speaker 1: Lakers forty eight and thirty Nuggets forty seven and thirty
Speaker 1: two and then Clippers, Warriors, Timberlves Grizzlies all forty six
Speaker 1: and thirty two. The Lakers have the tiebreaker with every
Speaker 1: one of those teams. That is a symptom of the fact.
Speaker 1: In one of the craziest stats of the season, the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder this year against the Western Conference are
Speaker 1: thirty five and thirteen. The Los Angeles Lakers against the
Speaker 1: Western Conference are thirty four and fourteen. So why are
Speaker 1: the Thunder gonna win six sixty seven and the Lakers
Speaker 1: are right now sitting at forty eight. Well, the Thunder
Speaker 1: are twenty nine and one against the East and the
Speaker 1: Lakers are They are fourteen and sixteen against the East.
Speaker 1: So I mean that's the difference in the standings. But
Speaker 1: that is giving the Lakers the tiebreaker over everyone. So
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna go like this. The Lakers lose tonight,
Speaker 1: they beat Dallas and then maybe they beat Houston. If
Speaker 1: they don't beat Houston, they certainly beat Portland and they
Speaker 1: are the three. And now the interesting piece of it, Denver,
Speaker 1: which is falling apart, has not recovered from the Westbrook debacle.
Speaker 1: Joker can just put up forty five, fifteen and fifteen
Speaker 1: every night. It doesn't matter. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: you heard what Michael Malone said the other day, when
Speaker 1: Michael Malone said, yeah, Jamal Murray, we hope he's ready
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. That's concerning. I think Denver is going
Speaker 1: to lose to Memphis. Let's assume they beat Houston, because
Speaker 1: that'll be Game eighty two for Houston, and Houston likely
Speaker 1: is not gonna, you know, be playing their people. Whether
Speaker 1: or not Denver falls to the play in will likely
Speaker 1: be determined by how they do against Sacramento in Denver
Speaker 1: when they play on what do they play tonight or Wednesday?
Speaker 1: I should have had that up in front of me.
Speaker 1: I apologize Denver plays tomorrow when they play Sacramento tomorrow
Speaker 1: the Clippers again, so much of this is predicated by
Speaker 1: what the Rockets do as far as resting guys, because
Speaker 1: the Clippers play the Spurs tonight, so the Clippers will
Speaker 1: win tonight, and then the Clippers play Houston next. But
Speaker 1: the question is, is Houston, assuming the Lakers lose tonight,
Speaker 1: gonna be playing their guys. If they are, then that
Speaker 1: should be a great game. The Clippers after that are
Speaker 1: at Sacramento at Golden State Golden State has an absolute
Speaker 1: three consecutive layups at Phoenix. I saw Phoenix in person
Speaker 1: at the garden Friday night that they are cooked, so
Speaker 1: pix Golden State will beat Phoenix, then the Spurs, who
Speaker 1: don't want to win, then the Blazers. So Golden State
Speaker 1: is going to be forty nine and thirty two going
Speaker 1: into the final game against the Clippers, which the Clippers
Speaker 1: are going to need to win potentially to avoid the
Speaker 1: play in potentially for seating. So Warriors Clippers game eighty
Speaker 1: two two massive. Right, The Grizzlies are at Milwaukee, at Memphis,
Speaker 1: and then home for Brooklyn in Utah. So Minnesota, Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and Utah are auto wins. Those teams are not trying.
Speaker 1: If they beat Milwaukee tonight, then Minnesota has a real
Speaker 1: chance of not only climbing out of the plan, but
Speaker 1: climbing all the way to the four or five line.
Speaker 1: And then Memphis it likely comes they're at Charlotte that
Speaker 1: to win. Home for Minnesota at Denver, home for Dallas.
Speaker 1: So let's let's do it like this. What are the
Speaker 1: guaranteed victories on teams schedule for the Lakers just one
Speaker 1: game eighty two against Portland, The Lakers will then need
Speaker 1: to win one other game to lock up the three
Speaker 1: Oka se Dallas, Houston. They're gonna lose Okay sees. They've
Speaker 1: beat Dallas or Houston for Denver, zero guaranteed victories, Sacramento, Memphis, Houston,
Speaker 1: so no guaranteed victories for the Clippers. One game the
Speaker 1: Clippers put them at forty seven wins. They have the
Speaker 1: Spurs game, then Houston, Sacramento, Golden State for Golden State
Speaker 1: three guaranteed victories, Phoenix Spurs, Portland, and then that Clipper
Speaker 1: game for Minnesota. So put Golden State at forty nine wins.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this in the dock so I can
Speaker 1: just see it. So Denver forty seven with three questions,
Speaker 1: the Clippers forty seven with three questions. As far as
Speaker 1: the games, the Warriors forty nine, one question game, Minnesota
Speaker 1: at Milwaukee, at Memphis tough home for Brooklyn and Utah,
Speaker 1: they're at forty eight with two questions, and then Memphis
Speaker 1: at Charlotte three questions. Yeah, forty exactly forty seven. So
Speaker 1: the games that are going to determine the Western Conference
Speaker 1: playoff bracket is all of Denver's games against Sacramento, Memphis,
Speaker 1: and Houston. The Clippers games against Houston, Sacramento, and Golden State.
Speaker 1: For the Golden State that one game against the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and for Minnesota, they're games at Milwaukee and at Memphis.
Speaker 1: That's it. And so right now, I would think the
Speaker 1: most likely seating is as follows. One Oklahoma City locked,
Speaker 1: two Houston essentially locked, three Lakers close to essentially locked,
Speaker 1: four Golden State, five, Minnesota six the Clippers, Lakers Clippers
Speaker 1: around won't be fun. Seven Denver eight Memphis. That's how
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna fall out.
Speaker 2: Is that ideal for you?
Speaker 1: Are?
Speaker 2: Are there any matchups the well?
Speaker 1: The ideal for the Lakers well, and by the way,
Speaker 1: that's set the seven eight obviously, then there's a play
Speaker 1: in situation. The ideal for the Lakers. Everybody wants Memphis.
Speaker 1: The idea for the Lakers is Memphis getting to the
Speaker 1: three line. I don't think that's happening. I would would
Speaker 1: I rather play Minnesota or would I rather play the Clippers.
Speaker 1: I would rather play I Clippers been really tough since
Speaker 1: Kawhi came back, since Kawai has been playing like this,
Speaker 1: I'd probably rather play Minnesota now later in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I'd take my chances with sadly Kawhi not holding up,
Speaker 1: but in round one with him playing like this, they're dangerous.
Speaker 1: Thing is everybody's dangerous. But if you're the Lakers, you
Speaker 1: can't worry about round one. If it were to play
Speaker 1: out to where you are on the opposite side of
Speaker 1: the bracket of OKC and round two looks like it's
Speaker 1: Golden State OKC, you sign up for that if you,
Speaker 1: you know, if you if you're the Lakers, and you're
Speaker 1: only gonna have to be one of Golden State or
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City and they have to they play each other
Speaker 1: in a war in round two, while with respect, you're
Speaker 1: probably playing the Rockets. That is the ideal situation, and
Speaker 1: I think it's what they've set themselves up.
Speaker 2: I think the Rockets are going to be dangerous in
Speaker 2: the playoffs. I know you say when they're young and
Speaker 2: all that.
Speaker 1: I think they have a great team championships that's fair
Speaker 1: they have, and they have a great coach. Dylan Brook's
Speaker 1: gonna see Lebron in a playoff series and once again
Speaker 1: be like, it's Dylan Brook's time, and I don't trust
Speaker 1: Jalen Green. Now Amen Thompson is a monster as a
Speaker 1: young player, and Shingoon's great. Shingon's great. But I again,
Speaker 1: the West is brutal. None of these are easy. But
Speaker 1: it's you know it easy.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying like they can win, Okay, I said,
Speaker 2: I know, I said defense wins championships. But I think
Speaker 2: they can mess somebody's road up. I think knock a
Speaker 2: team out early.
Speaker 1: But you but you're kind of treating them demnse like
Speaker 1: they're not the two seed. They're like the two seed
Speaker 1: playing to their seed means they're in the conference finals.
Speaker 1: I don't see that happening. Like now, listen, maybe they
Speaker 1: maybe somebody clips clips the Lakers and they beat them,
Speaker 1: or maybe they can beat the Lakers. But I I
Speaker 1: think Houston, Houston has earned enough for me to where
Speaker 1: at this point I will almost assuredly be picking them
Speaker 1: in their Round one series. I don't know, you know
Speaker 1: what I say that, I don't know if i'd pick
Speaker 1: them against Minnesota. I think Minnesota could be tough.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I could see, yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, they could win, but I think i'd probably
Speaker 1: pick Minnesota. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season.
Speaker 1: You are with all the new ways to get in
Speaker 1: on the action at DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the NBA for Monster Slams, Dish in the Rock,
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the Glass, get behind your favorite players and
Speaker 1: the prop bets you can make on DraftKings, the home
Speaker 1: of NBA player props. Ready to play your first bet?
Speaker 1: Try betting on something simple like picking how many points
Speaker 1: your favorite player will have. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook
Speaker 1: app and make your pick. Tuesday went one on one,
Speaker 1: Tatum hit the over. Jimmy Butler, however, went under. I
Speaker 1: was man. That's a frustrating one, but doesn't matter. We
Speaker 1: move forward today. Caid Cunningham, how about over twenty five
Speaker 1: and a half points? Josh hard Og and Nobi Mitchell
Speaker 1: Robinson not expected to play Caid. You know there's a
Speaker 1: potential first round playoff matchup. Caid also trying to push
Speaker 1: for maybe second team All NBA and then Tyrese Haliburton
Speaker 1: over seventeen and a half points. Calves A arresting some
Speaker 1: people and Halliburton's been a twenty point per game guy
Speaker 1: at Home. Lines and odds subject to change, as always.
Speaker 1: First time, here's something special just for you new DraftKings customers.
Speaker 1: Some of you guys watching right now, bet five dollars,
Speaker 1: get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets instantly.
Speaker 1: Here's what you do. Take it to the rack with
Speaker 1: DraftKings Sportsbook. Every point counts. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
Speaker 1: Use code right. That's code right for new customers to
Speaker 1: get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets when
Speaker 1: you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown
Speaker 1: is yours. Gambling problem call one eight hundred gambler In
Speaker 1: New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why
Speaker 1: or text hope n why, which is four six seven
Speaker 1: three six nine. In Connecticut. Help is available for problem
Speaker 1: gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven
Speaker 1: seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly
Speaker 1: on behalf of Boothill Casino and resort in Kansas twenty
Speaker 1: one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario.
Speaker 1: Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance.
Speaker 1: For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co.
Speaker 1: Slash b Ball.
Speaker 2: Very emotional game Last Night It was Lucas first time
Speaker 2: returning to Dallas since being traded. Originally, the fans are
Speaker 2: super high to seem it seems like a lot of
Speaker 2: fans are wearing the thank you for everything in Slovenian shirts.
Speaker 1: Yep, good cheering for him.
Speaker 2: I basically after every bucket, you know, they still got
Speaker 2: the love for Luca. And then he torched them score
Speaker 2: forty five points. What did you think of this whole game,
Speaker 2: this whole situation, right?
Speaker 1: I was amazed by what Luca did. And one of
Speaker 1: my go to beliefs in sports is a very simple phrase,
Speaker 1: but it explains a lot, and that is legendary players
Speaker 1: do legendary things. And Luca watching what I thought was
Speaker 1: almost a too well produced pregame video, I thought that
Speaker 1: was almost too well done because it really hit home
Speaker 1: if it hadn't all ready, how outrageous the trade was,
Speaker 1: and how blind sighted Luca was by it, and how
Speaker 1: great he was. I was wondering how they would approach it,
Speaker 1: how they would approach this video. Would they include the
Speaker 1: step back three over Rudy Gobert in the conference finals
Speaker 1: to give them a stranglehold on making their first NBA
Speaker 1: finals since Dirk was there since their championship and eleven
Speaker 1: and the answer was, Yeah, we're gonna do a real
Speaker 1: tribute to Luca. As if this franchise didn't spend the
Speaker 1: last six weeks calling him an out of shape alcoholic
Speaker 1: that we couldn't trust With three hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 1: They did, and it really affected Luca. He's crying. He
Speaker 1: so again. Up for those of us I know, I'm
Speaker 1: sure there's some people listening or watching that cry all
Speaker 1: the time, and there's some people listening or watching who
Speaker 1: never cry. I think most of us are probably in
Speaker 1: the middle part of that bell curve where we're not
Speaker 1: never ever criers, but we are incredibly rare criers. Think
Speaker 1: back to the last time something affected you so much
Speaker 1: that you were brought to tears in public, and then
Speaker 1: think would you have been at your best professionally ninety
Speaker 1: seconds later? I wouldn't have been. He was. He lit
Speaker 1: them on fire from start to finish while dealing with
Speaker 1: the unbelievable and indescribable emotion that honestly, almost no athlete
Speaker 1: in modern sports history has had to deal with quite that.
Speaker 1: A guy that good, that young, in that sport, who
Speaker 1: didn't want to be traded, Who thought I'm going to
Speaker 1: be here forever, Who gets the rug pulled out from
Speaker 1: under him in the middle of the night, and then
Speaker 1: has to deal with learning second hand that, oh, evidently
Speaker 1: a lot of these people that I worked for didn't
Speaker 1: believe in me, didn't like me, didn't trust me, are
Speaker 1: totally fine with trashing me anonymously or on the record.
Speaker 1: Dealing with all of that, and then he scores forty five,
Speaker 1: is the best player on the court, thirty one in
Speaker 1: the first half, channels it all into his individual greatness
Speaker 1: that is as legendary as it as you will ever see.
Speaker 1: And I saw the stat and it's a great one
Speaker 1: that Luca becomes the first player you'll like this demanse,
Speaker 1: the first player in more than fifty years to score
Speaker 1: forty five plus points for a team and then forty
Speaker 1: five plus points against that team in the same season.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you who the guy was who did
Speaker 1: it before. But think about what the needle you have
Speaker 1: to thread for that to happen. You have to be
Speaker 1: good enough to where you have multiple forty five point games.
Speaker 1: You also have to be traded during the year. The
Speaker 1: last guy that did that, the only guy to do
Speaker 1: that was Wilt. But Wilt was a bit of a
Speaker 1: no Mad's too strong, but he moved around. He also was,
Speaker 1: similarly to Luca, I think, unfairly maligned or not fully
Speaker 1: appreciated for how great he truly was. But Wilt didn't
Speaker 1: get traded against his will. Wilt didn't get blindsided by it.
Speaker 1: And for Luca to be able to do that, and
Speaker 1: for the Lakers to embrace him the way they have
Speaker 1: Lebron is, you know, cheering on the crowd when they're
Speaker 1: chanting Luca. Luca the embrace with his teammates right after
Speaker 1: the introductions, everybody kind of taking a step back and saying,
Speaker 1: this is Luca's moment. If you're a vibes reader, the
Speaker 1: Lakers vibes are absolutely off the charts right now. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go to the other side of this game for
Speaker 1: a moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw on the other side of it Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis was playing his ex team as well. That doesn't
Speaker 2: really seem to be making noise.
Speaker 1: Well, so here's why I think, because it wasn't in
Speaker 1: LA I think because nobody felt like I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody felt like the Lakers betrayed Ad because it's just
Speaker 1: a trade you have to make. I also think this
Speaker 1: last night was a great example of why AD is
Speaker 1: such a frustrating great player. And last night was also
Speaker 1: a good example of the gap between all time great
Speaker 1: and legend because Anthony Davis in that game, with the
Speaker 1: Lakers not having a real sinner and him fully healthy,
Speaker 1: you would have liked to see him be like, listen,
Speaker 1: one way or another, I'm getting my thirty or at
Speaker 1: least twenty five and putting my imprint on the game. Instead. Listen,
Speaker 1: he was good defensively, and he had thirteen points. And
Speaker 1: it's why AD is, again as great as he is,
Speaker 1: a frustrating guy at times because he doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: always have that extra gear that you would want and
Speaker 1: the right He is not a guy that you can
Speaker 1: just say, oh, the moment calls for it. Therefore, he's
Speaker 1: going to be brilliant, at least on the offensive end. Now, defensively,
Speaker 1: everybody still brings up the Lakers free throw edge over
Speaker 1: the last few years and all of these things. That's
Speaker 1: an Anthony Davis stat not because he's drawing so many fouls,
Speaker 1: but because he is and has been, and it's criminal.
Speaker 1: This guy's going to go his whole career without winning
Speaker 1: a Defensive Player of the Year. But he has been
Speaker 1: the best rim protector in the league for a half
Speaker 1: decade plus now, and he can protect the rim without fouling,
Speaker 1: which is what led to those free throw discrepancies, and
Speaker 1: he was able to do a lot of that live
Speaker 1: last night, But thirteen points in that moment is just
Speaker 1: a just a bummer.