Speaker 1: From the King of Sports Books. Who comes the Key
Speaker 1: sports podcast Unleashed presented by bet MGM. You're your host,
Speaker 1: Speedy Mormon and Olivia armand Decker Yo. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: Unleashed from the King of Sports Books bet MGM. We
Speaker 1: have from Bleacher Report and TBS Adam Left go on
Speaker 1: the show to talk about the NBA trade deadline and
Speaker 1: to share an experience that he had with jar Rule
Speaker 1: and it was definitely an interesting one. Plus, we have
Speaker 1: Olivia taking us around the country to share with us
Speaker 1: her favorite bites in her segment Olivia Eats, and this
Speaker 1: week it's from the home of the tournament, Indianapolis. Olivia,
Speaker 1: You've got some good food spots in India, I sure do.
Speaker 1: I had so much fun eating my way through Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: and that was kind of the best way to preview
Speaker 1: the n C Double A Tournament in my eyes, in
Speaker 1: your eyes, and you'll put it through our stomachs hopefully
Speaker 1: and we'll be able to consume it in a way
Speaker 1: that I wish we could in person, but we can't.
Speaker 1: And finally, here on this week's Lions Lock, Peter Andrew
Speaker 1: from bit MGM will talk about what Vegas got wrong
Speaker 1: and right and his locks for the Sweet sixteen. But
Speaker 1: first and foremost, Olivia, I know you and I are
Speaker 1: both chomping at the bit to speak about the n
Speaker 1: C Double A Tournament. It's truly madness in March. What
Speaker 1: do you make of everything that's been going on? Well, speedy,
Speaker 1: I I just gotta say, I'm feeling a little sick.
Speaker 1: But if I wasn't, I wanted to sing you a
Speaker 1: song and it was going to be a dream, as
Speaker 1: a wish your heart makes, because this is the Cinderella story.
Speaker 1: This is the best March I think I've ever witnessed.
Speaker 1: And did I tell you or did I tell you
Speaker 1: last week? This is the year to pick the randoms.
Speaker 1: This is the year to go off of your favorite colors,
Speaker 1: your favorite mascots. And I was so right. Nine digit
Speaker 1: seeds advance, My man, I mean this is wild. You're lucky.
Speaker 1: I'm not singing to you this week. Maybe next week
Speaker 1: if some of these teams keep making a run. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I I've got a little head cold or allergies or something,
Speaker 1: so bear with me on my voice. But okay, this
Speaker 1: first weekend was absolutely crazy. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I was glued to not one TV, multiple TVs
Speaker 1: in my town. I had. Oh yeah, I've printed out
Speaker 1: three brackets. I'm walking around from the kitchen to the
Speaker 1: living room to the basement making sure I'm not missing
Speaker 1: a single game, and I don't feel like I did.
Speaker 1: I honestly think I had eyeballs on just about every game.
Speaker 1: This is as seriously as I've ever taken my bracket,
Speaker 1: and I don't know why, because it looks like it
Speaker 1: is it like a Frankenstein uh image there. I imagine
Speaker 1: a lot of your picks are already on their way
Speaker 1: home back to their listen to this. This is garb.
Speaker 1: It just my trash days Friday. But I should just
Speaker 1: go ahead and speed this one up. I had Ohio
Speaker 1: State going to the final four. Wow, they're out of there.
Speaker 1: I had Illinois going into the national championship there and
Speaker 1: they're gone. Well, let's let's kind of break this down
Speaker 1: a little bit, because, like I said, nine double digit
Speaker 1: seeds advanced to the second round. So you look at
Speaker 1: like Drake. They were in eleven seed, they won their
Speaker 1: first tournament game in fifty years. No one picked Drake.
Speaker 1: You're Syracuse Orange. They were in eleven seed. They beat
Speaker 1: six seed San Diego State, and then our producer, Maddie's
Speaker 1: very sad. Three seed West Virginia picked them up to
Speaker 1: they face one seed Houston. Yeah, I know, Maddie's upset.
Speaker 1: And then the story I'm loving. There's like four stories
Speaker 1: I'm loving, but eight seed loyal in Chicago. They've got
Speaker 1: that hundred one year old nun sister Jean. Everyone loved
Speaker 1: Mr Geane in the house. She's doing Hail Mary, she's
Speaker 1: doing the Rosary. She's she was you don't want to
Speaker 1: bet against Mr Geane a prayer, she's she she's got it.
Speaker 1: She's anointed with the prayer. They beat Georgia Tech. Then
Speaker 1: they beat one seed in state rival. In fact, I
Speaker 1: don't even know if you can call him an in
Speaker 1: state rival. They're not even on the same playing field.
Speaker 1: They beat the in state giant Illinois first one seed
Speaker 1: to go down. That was Sunday, and they'll advance to
Speaker 1: play twelve seed Oregon State. That's Saturday. Organ State is
Speaker 1: cooking their head. Coach is feisty. I kind of like
Speaker 1: this Oregan State team. I gotta say. They just beat
Speaker 1: Oklahoma State and that projected number one seed or projected
Speaker 1: number one pick in the NBA draft Kate Undingham. So, man,
Speaker 1: my first question us Speedy with Loyal in Chicago. Their
Speaker 1: mascot is the Ramblers. What is a rambler? Do you
Speaker 1: know what a rambler? Is? A rambler? I think it's
Speaker 1: a um. You know, it's a toss up here. It
Speaker 1: could be a I'm assuming it's an animal, right, So
Speaker 1: their mascot is like a wolf looking thing, like a
Speaker 1: kusky ash wolf. But their name is the Ramblers. Googled it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I googled it. A rambler is a
Speaker 1: person who enjoys going on long walks, often as an
Speaker 1: organized group, and often in the countryside. Uh makee look.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's some sort of metaphor like, look, we walk
Speaker 1: together on these long journeys as one, like, as a unit,
Speaker 1: and that's why together where the Ramblers? Or is that
Speaker 1: a reach? I don't know. Is that a reach? It's
Speaker 1: a thought? It is a thought. Um, But a lot
Speaker 1: of people think that they are going to go far.
Speaker 1: Sister Jean has him in her final four. I don't
Speaker 1: know if she's picked him to win it all. I
Speaker 1: would think she would, but they went to the final four,
Speaker 1: so it's not impossible. It can't be done again. It
Speaker 1: can be done. It can And I like what she
Speaker 1: said after They interviewed sister Jean after and she said,
Speaker 1: if we can be Illinois, we can be anyone on
Speaker 1: this piece of paper. So I love that. And they can.
Speaker 1: They truly can. One seed goes down. I like them.
Speaker 1: Did you also see their star player? I cannot think
Speaker 1: of the guy's name, but he's got a very memorable mustache. Yes,
Speaker 1: he looks like that one actor from Remember the Titans
Speaker 1: who's gotten shape. I don't know his name, but you'd
Speaker 1: know him if you see him. The best player on
Speaker 1: Loyola looks like the guy from Remember the Titans. Well,
Speaker 1: I was I was watching this game. I was out
Speaker 1: with my sisters. We were getting some Mexican food, and
Speaker 1: we were really wanting to hunker down and watch the
Speaker 1: Wisconsin game my husband played. There were huge Badger fans.
Speaker 1: My dad was calling the game on CBS, so we
Speaker 1: were all buckled him for that. On one of the
Speaker 1: side TVs, we start seeing this Loyola Illinois beat down
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys look look,
Speaker 1: and then you know they're not huge basketball fans. I
Speaker 1: would say they you know, I have all my brackets
Speaker 1: printed out on the table, moving over my Margarita's to
Speaker 1: make room and Margarita's plural, and my sisters are sitting
Speaker 1: there saying, Oh my god, is that kid in college?
Speaker 1: He looks like a grown man, like a corown adult. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's too funny. So yeah, Cameron Kripwig, we are learning
Speaker 1: is his name for the Ramblers? Okay, so that was gold.
Speaker 1: So I think the coolest thing about what you had
Speaker 1: to know from the first couple of days of games
Speaker 1: was that four teams, four speedy seeded thirteen or worst
Speaker 1: advanced to the round of thirty two. That's the most
Speaker 1: ever in the tournament. That is absolutely incredible. So my
Speaker 1: next question for you thirteen seed North Texas, four seed Perdue.
Speaker 1: It's their first ever tournament win. Do you know where
Speaker 1: North Texas is in The answer is not North Texas.
Speaker 1: You can't say that that's off limits. I was gonna
Speaker 1: say Northern Texas, but I'm assuming that you won't accept
Speaker 1: that either. Nope, do I know where North Texas is?
Speaker 1: The short answer is no. But I'm going to give
Speaker 1: you a guess, because what am I here for if
Speaker 1: not to guess? I'm going to say that North Texas
Speaker 1: is somewhere like above Dallas, like maybe somewhere north of
Speaker 1: Fort Worth. I don't I'm really reaching here though, I
Speaker 1: really don't know. No, you're not, You're not wrong. It's
Speaker 1: it's a little bit north east of Dallas. Sorry, northwest
Speaker 1: of Dallas. I had to do my never eat Saggy
Speaker 1: Waffles analogy. But yeah, there it's in Denton, Texas. Okay,
Speaker 1: do you know their team name, like their nickname? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I was, I was reaching, but no, I
Speaker 1: don't mean green. Well I knew that their jerseys are green,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you're still at zero. Okay. I like the
Speaker 1: mean Green better than the Ramblers, though I might say
Speaker 1: I'd prefer to be the mean Green. Okay, well, okay,
Speaker 1: moving forward. So then fourteen seed Abilene Christian they beat
Speaker 1: in State Giant. Also three seed Texas Chaka smash in
Speaker 1: three in the n C Double A tournament. They cannot
Speaker 1: win in March. It's just absolutely crazy. But let me
Speaker 1: tell you this about Abilene Christian. I've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of Texas relatives. A lot of them went to Abilene Christian.
Speaker 1: One of them played football at Abilene Christian. I never
Speaker 1: thought I'd be talking about them in March again, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you this as well. So there's
Speaker 1: five thousand students who go to Abilene Christian It's out,
Speaker 1: like I said, in rural West Texas. They have daily chapel.
Speaker 1: And this little team from out in Abilene, Texas has
Speaker 1: made this an impressive statement. In just two years ago,
Speaker 1: Speedy was their first ever tournament appearance. So I mean
Speaker 1: just getting there is impressive enough. And here they are
Speaker 1: beating Texas. Yes, and did you see one of the
Speaker 1: players on the team. I don't know his name, but
Speaker 1: threw up the longhorn on both hands in a photo
Speaker 1: and that photo was trending on Twitter this past weekend.
Speaker 1: It was quite the ballsy move. But he earned the
Speaker 1: right to do so. He threw up the longhorn because
Speaker 1: he's sent them pecking. I love it. Okay, Well, here's
Speaker 1: another one, and this is probably I think the story
Speaker 1: of the tournament so far. It's fifteen seed Oral Roberts.
Speaker 1: They win their first tournament game in forty seven years.
Speaker 1: They beat two seed Ohio State. They won by three
Speaker 1: in overtime. That was one of many overtime games they
Speaker 1: were a sixteen point underdog. I mean, it's it's absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: But to think it's been what five years since a
Speaker 1: fifteen seed as advanced past the first round? That was
Speaker 1: Middle Tennessee. That was that was a huge story. But
Speaker 1: here's my next question for you. Speed pronounced the following
Speaker 1: word A B M A S SMIs Okay, you watched
Speaker 1: and you probably ready for that. Yes, listen is the
Speaker 1: last name Max. That's the last name of the nation's
Speaker 1: leading score whom I was unfamiliar with. I mean, I
Speaker 1: was familiar with him, but I was not familiar with
Speaker 1: the pronunciation of his last name until I think was
Speaker 1: Ja Billis who brought it to my attention that you
Speaker 1: don't pronounce the be there and I would have been
Speaker 1: butchering this young man's name, but shout out to him
Speaker 1: because he had a very impressive first two rounds. He
Speaker 1: absolutely did. Yeah, it's a German last name. I was
Speaker 1: curious as well. The B is silent. Okay. Pronounced the
Speaker 1: following word oh, B A and O R O B
Speaker 1: A N O R m hm. Oh that's a banner,
Speaker 1: close o banner I kept every time I read it.
Speaker 1: You know how you kind of pronounce things in your
Speaker 1: head as you're reading. Every time I would read that
Speaker 1: name because he's he had thirty points in one of
Speaker 1: their games and he was killing, killing, killing it. I
Speaker 1: kept saying, Oben or m Anyways, do you know where
Speaker 1: Oral Roberts is? Not a clue? I couldn't tell you. Tulsa, Oklahoma?
Speaker 1: Is it okay? Have you been to Oklahoma before? My
Speaker 1: mom is Tulsa and went to Oh you a lot
Speaker 1: of I'm telling you what. I don't know who out
Speaker 1: there believes in a higher power. But if you don't,
Speaker 1: you should check out your bracket because we got Oral Roberts,
Speaker 1: Small Christian School, Loyal Chicago, and Sister jean An Avelen Christian.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's a higher power at play in
Speaker 1: the March Madness bracket. But Oral Robert is just an
Speaker 1: absolutely incredible story. Just the second fifteen seed ever to
Speaker 1: advance to the Sweet sixteen. They are truly making history.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite sportswriters, Pete Damil, he described them
Speaker 1: like this, They're well coached, under recruited, overachievers. I just
Speaker 1: absolutely love that their head coach was under Scott Drew
Speaker 1: at Baylor and and just to kind of wrap up
Speaker 1: of this March Madness run. And when you were a
Speaker 1: team that wasn't expected to go far and you do,
Speaker 1: their head coach said, you know, I'm just glad we
Speaker 1: have a chance to do laundry. I'm glad that tomorrow
Speaker 1: I run out of clothes that I packed. I thought
Speaker 1: that was amazing. That's the goal, the goal to have
Speaker 1: to do laundry, you know, and earn another forty minutes
Speaker 1: out there on the hardwood. That is the goal. But
Speaker 1: what an exciting first couple rounds from the tournament. I
Speaker 1: know that on our next episode in a week from now,
Speaker 1: there will be very likely another upset and more brackets
Speaker 1: busted and more stuff for us to talk about, So
Speaker 1: I can't wait now. In the meantime, coming up next,
Speaker 1: we've got Adam left Go from the Bleacher Report you're
Speaker 1: listening to Unleased Well Olivia joining us now is a
Speaker 1: guy that you've definitely seen on the NBA on T
Speaker 1: n T. You've seen him on Bleacher Report, and as
Speaker 1: you pointed out to me, he is an Emmy Award
Speaker 1: winning sportscaster. His name is Adam left Go, and I'm
Speaker 1: excited for him to talk about some NBA trade deadline
Speaker 1: stuff with us. Adam Left go, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: We're so glad to have you with us. And this
Speaker 1: week it's a big week, ma Man NBA trade deadline. Thursday,
Speaker 1: three Eastern. This air's Thursday morning. If you can give
Speaker 1: us a little run through, and let's start with the East,
Speaker 1: because I feel like that's where you were wanting to go.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the East. What are the names, what
Speaker 1: are the teams? Where does everyone need to focus today? Okay,
Speaker 1: so my Thursday is gonna be crazy because for the
Speaker 1: first time, our Tuesday crew is hosting the Thursday show.
Speaker 1: So if anything breaks, we're gonna have to cover it
Speaker 1: live as we record this. It sure does seem like
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon is going to be on the move. He
Speaker 1: came out and requested a trade. Formally, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people know Aaron Gordon for his dunks, but
Speaker 1: analytically his defense has been really impressive this season. It's
Speaker 1: hard because you're in Orlando and people aren't really watching
Speaker 1: the Magic, whether it's the Celtics, whether it's the Sixers.
Speaker 1: The moves could be very interesting if we're sticking in
Speaker 1: the East. Could Kyle Lowry some call the greatest raptor
Speaker 1: of all time? Is he on the move as someone
Speaker 1: that is from Philadelphia, as someone that got his can
Speaker 1: I curse on this podcast. Yeah, as someone who got
Speaker 1: their ass kicked by Kyle Lowry and a au growing up.
Speaker 1: I would love to see him on the Sixers, just
Speaker 1: to be the point guard that balances out Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: would be amazing. But Philadelphia and the Clippers seem to
Speaker 1: be the favorites for Kyle Lowry, And the question is
Speaker 1: do the Sixers want to give up young pieces, whether
Speaker 1: it's thy Bal and Maxie in addition to draft picks.
Speaker 1: And then for the Clippers, what do they give up.
Speaker 1: They don't really have any assets because they gave so
Speaker 1: much for Paul George and Kauai before, so that'll be
Speaker 1: the question there. Do the Celtics make a move, do
Speaker 1: they try and add a piece? It's it's a lot
Speaker 1: more questions than answers right now. Utah Jazz fans are
Speaker 1: going do we want to add a piece? Are we
Speaker 1: comfortable the Lakers, whether it's the buy out of Andre
Speaker 1: Drummond with the Calves, do the Nets go after Andre
Speaker 1: drum And to add to what looks like a great
Speaker 1: addition in Blake Griffin. So I don't think it's going
Speaker 1: to be a superstar being moved. I don't think we're
Speaker 1: gonna see a Bradley Beal. I don't know if we're
Speaker 1: gonna see a Vucevic. But right now, it's those little pieces,
Speaker 1: And I think for me, the one that's most intriguing
Speaker 1: is Kyle Lowry, just because of his experience in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and if he goes to a Clippers, and if he
Speaker 1: goes to a Sixers, they're the odds of them making
Speaker 1: the championship run definitely get improved. Do you think the
Speaker 1: Lebron James injury with the Lakers is significant enough that
Speaker 1: they're going to have to make a move and get
Speaker 1: some peace to fill in, get a scorer. I know
Speaker 1: it's a high ankle sprain. There's no timetable on how
Speaker 1: long he's out. But with no a D, no Lebron,
Speaker 1: are they in need of size or what are the
Speaker 1: Lakers in need of and do they do they make
Speaker 1: a move here? I think that they were in the
Speaker 1: need before Lebron got hurt. I just think we all
Speaker 1: watched them in the bubble last year and saw how
Speaker 1: dominant to have beyond a D A JaVale McGee and
Speaker 1: a Dwight Howard and it seems like a big loss.
Speaker 1: Apparently was reported the morning of our recording that they
Speaker 1: are listening to deals for Montrez Harrold, which I think
Speaker 1: would be unlikely. But I don't think they need to
Speaker 1: make a move to stay where they are. The question
Speaker 1: is does Lebron the facto GM, look at his team
Speaker 1: and go I need more pieces with Lowry potentially on
Speaker 1: the move, Adam, who do you think is a better
Speaker 1: suitor for him between the possible options there? I mean
Speaker 1: with Philly you got and beat out for a little bit,
Speaker 1: and many people thought he could win m VP. Maybe
Speaker 1: they could use some more offensive power there. What what?
Speaker 1: What do you think is the best fit for him?
Speaker 1: It sounds like the two biggest suitors are the Clippers
Speaker 1: and the Sixers. The Clippers mainly because they've been very
Speaker 1: reliant on the three point shot. Patrick Beverley is more
Speaker 1: of an idea than a reality right now. When people
Speaker 1: talk about Patrick Beverley, I think they're thinking about like
Speaker 1: the Houston Beverly like four or five years ago, and
Speaker 1: they would really love that experienced point guard to set
Speaker 1: up Paul George and Kauai, and that experience with Kauai
Speaker 1: in Toronto is very intriguing. But as I said earlier,
Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of pieces, and so it's
Speaker 1: what Toronto doesn't want to give away arguably the best
Speaker 1: player in their franchise just because they can. And so
Speaker 1: for the Sixers, they have a number of first round picks,
Speaker 1: some that aren't even theirs, and they have those young pieces,
Speaker 1: and they have a number of expiring contracts, whether they're
Speaker 1: restricted free agents. They have guys like Danny Green. They
Speaker 1: have guys like Maxie, which is at least a young
Speaker 1: piece you can get back the other piece for the
Speaker 1: Raptors that they may trade, don't forget. I feel bad
Speaker 1: for the Raptors. They've been down in Tampa Bay. They've
Speaker 1: been living in a hotel, so they've been quarantining more
Speaker 1: than anybody. And I think they've lost I don't have
Speaker 1: it right. They've lost like ten or something in a row.
Speaker 1: Like it's been rough for this Raptors team. So it
Speaker 1: would make sense for Massai to to maybe move on
Speaker 1: from some of these older players. But Norman pal is
Speaker 1: someone that has been killing it lately, and I think
Speaker 1: he had like a forty point game the other day.
Speaker 1: He's someone though that if you're the Raptors, you're going
Speaker 1: do we extend him and make him a piece of
Speaker 1: our core? Do we want the future of our team
Speaker 1: to be him Pascal Siakam, Is that our future? Or
Speaker 1: do we move him and get a lot of pieces
Speaker 1: and kind of start rebuilding. But I know the market
Speaker 1: is really exciting if he became available. I'm selfishly a
Speaker 1: little bummed because there was talk a couple of months
Speaker 1: ago in the off season that Toronto was going to
Speaker 1: play in Kansas City. I live here in Kansas City,
Speaker 1: and Patrick Mahomes was making a big case for that,
Speaker 1: and I gotta say, Kansas City with an NBA team
Speaker 1: would be fire. We have such a good basketball blueprint
Speaker 1: here because we just love you know, okay, you basketball
Speaker 1: is so huge here and I think if Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: touches that thing, it turns to gold. But that's a whole,
Speaker 1: whole other story. As we were continuing to talk about
Speaker 1: the East, what about it? I covered the Atlanta Hawks
Speaker 1: for years, and you know, we always played second fiddle,
Speaker 1: even when we played in the Eastern Conference finals. You know,
Speaker 1: he's like, well, he's just gonna get gobbled at by
Speaker 1: Golden State. It's it's, you know, a prize to win second.
Speaker 1: But what do you think is so different this year
Speaker 1: about the Eastern Conference? Well, we haven't talked about the
Speaker 1: team that. Look, I grew up a Sixers fan, but
Speaker 1: I cannot stop watching the Brooklyn Nets when they come
Speaker 1: on television. Thank you. That's because you know, Speedy mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier the injury with Lebron. We have injuries right now
Speaker 1: to Lebron Joel Mba. So two of the top m
Speaker 1: v P vote gun. We we have Yokich that has
Speaker 1: been unbelievable. But the success of the Nuggets hasn't been
Speaker 1: as consistent as other teams. Dame Lillard has made a case.
Speaker 1: But how we are not talking about James Harden is
Speaker 1: more of a act that people don't like him and
Speaker 1: they can't look past it. Don't forget that the media
Speaker 1: votes for m v P, and the media really didn't
Speaker 1: like that James Harden was seen at a birthday party
Speaker 1: at a strip club, and that he seemed to be
Speaker 1: not be following quarantine rituals and and and all that,
Speaker 1: and he forced a trade. But if we're talking about
Speaker 1: m v P. This is a man that, with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant and Kyrie Irving missing weeks on end, carry this
Speaker 1: team to within a half a game of first place
Speaker 1: in the East, still within striking distance. And the team
Speaker 1: that he left has now lost twenty games in a row.
Speaker 1: So if we're talking about valuable, I think he's really
Speaker 1: shown it. So I look at the East right now,
Speaker 1: and I think there's four teams and then there's a
Speaker 1: drop off, but I think there's a gap between the
Speaker 1: top two. I think it's and maybe three. I just
Speaker 1: have a lot of Bucks fatigue because they remind me
Speaker 1: of like the Cincinnati Bengals back when it was Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton and Chad Johnson and all those guys, because it's
Speaker 1: like I need to see in the playoffs. But it's
Speaker 1: Nets sixers. Then you have the Bucks and the the
Speaker 1: whole yanna should be the m v P race is
Speaker 1: starting up again, and then it's like the Heat have
Speaker 1: made a run. You know, the Hawks can be good,
Speaker 1: and I just I just think there's so really I
Speaker 1: think it's like three teams. But for me, the Nets,
Speaker 1: I feel like the Nets are going to the finals.
Speaker 1: I hope my sixers compete, but it feels like the Nuts.
Speaker 1: With the addition of Blake Griffin, who we just discovered
Speaker 1: can dunk the basketball again, how do you think that
Speaker 1: changes things for the Nets? Does it make it better?
Speaker 1: Does it make it worse? And did you know that
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin could still dunk? Yeah? Like I think this
Speaker 1: is this is It reminds me a lot of James Harden,
Speaker 1: where remember James Harden was grossly overweight before he came
Speaker 1: to the Nets and then all of a sudden he
Speaker 1: was great again. And I think talking to to d
Speaker 1: Wade on set and just talking about something that a
Speaker 1: lot of people don't talk about in sports, motivation and happiness.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a lot about statistics, we talk a lot
Speaker 1: about potential, But when a player feels motivated and they
Speaker 1: are surrounded by people that make them happy, it's unbelievable
Speaker 1: how much better they are on the court. And I
Speaker 1: think that if you were Blake Griffin and you were
Speaker 1: signed a five year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers
Speaker 1: in a top three NBA market, and and you were
Speaker 1: there on the bottom and now we're at the top,
Speaker 1: and then you get traded to the Pistons and you
Speaker 1: can't talk trash because you don't want to insult your
Speaker 1: new owner and your new teammates. And now you get
Speaker 1: to go to Brooklyn like with Durrant and Kyrie, and
Speaker 1: there's no pressure on you. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people make too much of oh, is you're gonna be
Speaker 1: upset not starting. He's excited to be winning, he's excited
Speaker 1: to be in a culture of accountability. His coach is
Speaker 1: Steve Nash with Dan Tony like he's probably looking at
Speaker 1: the old Phoenix suns and go and I can do
Speaker 1: it a Mari Stotomyer did. I can set a screen
Speaker 1: and roll and so I don't think it completely moved
Speaker 1: the needle to where it's like whoa, Just like I
Speaker 1: don't think p J. Tucker going to the Bucks is
Speaker 1: that huge. But could Blake Griffin and p J Tucker
Speaker 1: give you a surprise twenty in game four of a
Speaker 1: playoff series? Absolutely. The thing that scared me about Blake
Speaker 1: Speedy was him and DeMarcus Cousins have only shot threes
Speaker 1: this season. Like it was weird. It was like, I
Speaker 1: want to prove to people that I can shoot threes.
Speaker 1: But I also think that when you go to a
Speaker 1: team like this now, it's let me, let me hustle.
Speaker 1: You know he was. I watched that game on Sunday,
Speaker 1: and he's making defensive stops and all that and and
Speaker 1: that's what they need. So I don't think it it's
Speaker 1: a guarantee because I don't think he can cover and beat.
Speaker 1: I still think they could be in the running for
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond. But getting guys that are great teammates and
Speaker 1: and can be successful, he can't go wrong with them,
Speaker 1: he said. He mentioned the Brooklyn Nets probably being in
Speaker 1: the finals. You like them. They're obviously putting together quite
Speaker 1: the roster. Who do they face in the finals if
Speaker 1: you have a guest right now in March mid March, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Net sixers is what I would predict for
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference finals, and then for the West. I
Speaker 1: still I'll just do the finals because I don't know
Speaker 1: exactly who's gonna win the playoffs and all that. But
Speaker 1: the Lakers are still in there, you know, Like I'm
Speaker 1: not betting against Lebron, Like, how like how many times
Speaker 1: do we need to see this guy carrying his team
Speaker 1: to the finals until we realize it's him? So he'll
Speaker 1: get arrest right now, as hopefully a d comes back sooner.
Speaker 1: I think a sleeper team if we're looking down the
Speaker 1: odds board there at MGM. I do think the Nuggets
Speaker 1: are a sleeper team. I could see them being active
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline. I just think that as I've
Speaker 1: had to do all these Tuesday shows, I look at
Speaker 1: all the injuries, and the Nuggets have just been decimated.
Speaker 1: And so now that they're getting healthy and Yokich has
Speaker 1: kind of kept them in striking distance, I think they're
Speaker 1: very interesting. I have a lot of hope for the Suns,
Speaker 1: but I don't think I'm ready to put them in
Speaker 1: the finals just yet. I feel the same way about
Speaker 1: the Clippers, and I don't know like I feel the
Speaker 1: same way about the Clippers I do about the Bucks,
Speaker 1: where I just got a lot of doubt when it
Speaker 1: comes to the playoffs, you know. And I don't want
Speaker 1: to start talking about playoff p and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: but it's definitely why why are you so down on
Speaker 1: the Bucks? Why do you have Bucks fatigue? He didn't
Speaker 1: really explain that to me. Will you tell me if
Speaker 1: this scares you? We have now seen the last few
Speaker 1: playoffs a team that has been dominant in the regular
Speaker 1: season get absolutely figured out in the playoffs, and their coach,
Speaker 1: Budenholz or who I like, not adapt at all. They
Speaker 1: throw up the wall on Janice and he's been relegated
Speaker 1: to a rebound er outlet passer, and we haven't seen
Speaker 1: consistent shooting. And so I think regular season Chris Middleton
Speaker 1: has not translated into playoff Chris Middleton. Drew Holiday gives
Speaker 1: me a lot of hope, But I look at the
Speaker 1: rest of the roster and I go, look, could Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday and p J. Tucker be the magic elixir to
Speaker 1: get them past the problems in the past. Sure. I
Speaker 1: think for me, though, my issues are more with Bodenholzer
Speaker 1: than anything because the spoilstras of the world in Miami
Speaker 1: heat who I left out earlier, When that turns into
Speaker 1: a half court game, and you can't be reliant on
Speaker 1: transition as much as the Bucks usually are during the
Speaker 1: regular season, the way that they defend the Bucks has
Speaker 1: been a huge issue, and so that's really my concern is.
Speaker 1: I think that if the Bucks don't make it this year,
Speaker 1: I think he might be in trouble. I don't wish
Speaker 1: that on any anybody, but I think you have to
Speaker 1: start asking questions of the adapting, which Olivia, as you
Speaker 1: mentioned those Hawks teams that were winning sixty games, it
Speaker 1: was the same question, This is fine right now, but
Speaker 1: when we get into the playoffs, you don't adapt. And
Speaker 1: so that's really my issue, and that goes back to Budenholzer.
Speaker 1: That's the problems personal It definitely seems personally. I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest, but you know, you said that you were
Speaker 1: excited about Brooklyn, and I want to take it to
Speaker 1: Queen's for a second and away from basketball for a
Speaker 1: second as well. And I want to speak about jaw
Speaker 1: Rule because if I rewind a year ago to Super
Speaker 1: Bowl weekend in Miami, I watched you host a lip
Speaker 1: sync contest and do a rendition of jaw Rule in
Speaker 1: in some sort of duet. Can you tell Olivia here
Speaker 1: about what I was able to see that day and
Speaker 1: and and why that was so special. So I wasn't hosting,
Speaker 1: I was participating in Olivia. It was with our mutual
Speaker 1: friend Taylor Rooks. We were doing a jaw Rule j
Speaker 1: Lo duet and I thought speedy. It was like one
Speaker 1: of those like influencer events that was like really chill,
Speaker 1: like I like we walked into this hotel and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, there's like these little lounges. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be real, low key and we'll have fun. And
Speaker 1: then I walked into the back and it's like Venus Williams,
Speaker 1: C C Sabathia Wade, Carrie Champion, like Gabby like and
Speaker 1: there were so many people that didn't perform that we're
Speaker 1: like Bozoma like. I was like, this is nuts, and
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, so you're ready to go to the
Speaker 1: stage and I was like the stage, what are you
Speaker 1: talking about? They take us out back and there's like
Speaker 1: five hundred people in front of a stage, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna perform there. We're gonna do like Mike check.
Speaker 1: And I was like this is crazy. And we changed
Speaker 1: our song to Jaw Rule and and j Lo and
Speaker 1: the lady I'm real and the lady tells me, you
Speaker 1: know that jaw rules here, and I was like, you've
Speaker 1: got to be getting me. This is my dream. And
Speaker 1: so we went out there. We did it. I got
Speaker 1: a nine from Gary Vaynerchuk, which I appreciate it, and
Speaker 1: then we became friends after that. But I thought I
Speaker 1: killed it. I was able to get my jaw Rule
Speaker 1: voice Hello, Hello. You know I I think I can
Speaker 1: hit those that it kind of oh you Rellie, that's
Speaker 1: more it when I tell you he did the voice
Speaker 1: for the whole song, bro, like the entire song. It
Speaker 1: was impressive that he was able to sustain it for
Speaker 1: that look that was Rule d m me and was like,
Speaker 1: I heard you in the back. That was amazing, and
Speaker 1: I was like, this is great. Wow. The one thing though,
Speaker 1: that I haven't shared with anybody is and I totally
Speaker 1: forgotten till this moment. At one point, I sat down
Speaker 1: and I was like singing when I was sitting down
Speaker 1: that stay because it rained was so wet that my
Speaker 1: entire ass it looked like I had shipped my pants.
Speaker 1: And so the whole time I'm trying to like rap,
Speaker 1: but I'm also trying not to show anybody like that.
Speaker 1: I looked like, Okay, do you remember what the three
Speaker 1: judges were? By the way, it was Tianna Taylor, Gary Vaynerchuk,
Speaker 1: and it was like an influencer that you've definitely seen
Speaker 1: like Vine and Instagram with like twenty million followers, but
Speaker 1: I didn't know who they. Yeah, so I also was
Speaker 1: like Gary Vaynerchuk the Blood Tiana Taylor, her new album
Speaker 1: just dropped. She's great, and then I went and then
Speaker 1: I went. I was like, oh, ship, I have no
Speaker 1: idea who this is. And I was like, and I
Speaker 1: don't even need to say her name because she's killing it,
Speaker 1: But like, I had no idea who she was. Imber
Speaker 1: that that's a good remember that, and she looked like
Speaker 1: Lanta del Rey, But I was like, that's not There
Speaker 1: were stars in the there was a whole like celebrity
Speaker 1: row on the right side. Quavo was there, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm like, I'm about to do rule in
Speaker 1: front of quav scarier than doing it in front of
Speaker 1: Ja Rule. Yeah, that's so funny, big vibe. Where does
Speaker 1: that rank amongst career accomplishments? Is that? Is that somewhere
Speaker 1: near the top. Okay, so I've now beat Shock the
Speaker 1: last two weeks in knockout and three point contest, so
Speaker 1: that's up there. In college, I want a sixty one
Speaker 1: team beer pong tournament, that's up there. But performing Jaw
Speaker 1: Rule for Jaw Rule and getting his approval is a
Speaker 1: top seven moment. I have to work on the other
Speaker 1: four top seven. Fair enough, Adam, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for toking hoops with us and to rule a little bit.
Speaker 1: You are more than welcome to come back and kicking
Speaker 1: with us whenever you'd like. In if you'd ever like
Speaker 1: to bring the jaw Rule voice back, You're more than
Speaker 1: welcome to do so right here. If you guys ever
Speaker 1: need a bump or like a fake jaw rule support
Speaker 1: of the pod, you know what I mean, like if
Speaker 1: you go like a fake coast coastign Yeah, I got it. No,
Speaker 1: I mean just now I'm getting into d MX. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Yeah, that got that got out there. Good buddy,
Speaker 1: Thank you, Adam. Awesome, Thank you guys. Olivia eats well
Speaker 1: Olivia before the n C Double A tournament and March
Speaker 1: Madness was breaking all of our brackets. What the big
Speaker 1: tent tournament was in Indianapolis. And obviously you were there
Speaker 1: to cover the whole thing, but not only cover it
Speaker 1: from a basketball per sspective, because we put you on
Speaker 1: assignment to cover things from a food perspective as well.
Speaker 1: How was that food tour that you went on? And
Speaker 1: what can you tell us? Well, Speedy, I am nothing
Speaker 1: if not a serious, hard hitting journalist. And when I
Speaker 1: get an assignment I give it my all. And I've
Speaker 1: got to tell you I was in Inde covering the
Speaker 1: Big Ten men's and women's basketball tournaments, so you know,
Speaker 1: some days I'd have four games a day, super busy,
Speaker 1: but I still was committed to the cause, and so
Speaker 1: I'd leave the arena, walk across the street, try to
Speaker 1: knock off some of these places. Because I tweeted out,
Speaker 1: you know, y'all give me your best Indie food recommendations,
Speaker 1: and my Twitter was flooded, so I had to pick,
Speaker 1: you know, what was closest, what was walkable or whatever.
Speaker 1: So let me start with just the spot. And the
Speaker 1: reason we're doing this whole rundown is because as you
Speaker 1: picture all these teams in Indie now for the n
Speaker 1: C Double A tournament, You've got a picture where are
Speaker 1: all the big wigs going to eat? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? I like to picture where the coaches are
Speaker 1: go in, the university presidents, athletic directors, all the all
Speaker 1: the famous sports writers and reporters. So the the spot
Speaker 1: is saying, almost it's a steakhouse. It's incredible. They're famous
Speaker 1: for their shrimp cocktail. It comes in this ridiculously spicy
Speaker 1: horse radish sauce and it's amazing. I have posted videos
Speaker 1: of all of this on my Instagram if you want
Speaker 1: to go see it. O Olivia Harland Decker shameless plug.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. And the bar is you know, it's one
Speaker 1: of those steakhouses that's like dark and sexy and kind
Speaker 1: of old fashion and you know a lot of dark
Speaker 1: wood and but big TVs. You can watch all the games.
Speaker 1: So I had an amazing vodka gimlet that is my drink,
Speaker 1: you know, the crushed ice floating at the top. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just perfection. Absolutely loved it. And you look around.
Speaker 1: I mean the Nebraska men's basketball coaching staff was there.
Speaker 1: They were all enjoying, and they were watching my table
Speaker 1: of my coworkers and myself as we ate the shrimp
Speaker 1: cocktail to see how much our eyes were going to waters.
Speaker 1: That was such a blast. Be how spicy are we
Speaker 1: talking on the shrimp cocktail? Because cocktail sauce can be
Speaker 1: spicy depending upon how much horse rad as you put.
Speaker 1: Is it like nose running, don't touch your eyes spicy
Speaker 1: or or help me out here. Yes, Like you know
Speaker 1: when you have sushi and you accidentally put too much
Speaker 1: of a sabby in the soy sauce. Yes, that's what
Speaker 1: we're talking here. In fact, I could use it right now.
Speaker 1: That's probably clear at my sinuses. I feel like that
Speaker 1: would be a really good thing I should have right now. Okay,
Speaker 1: So next door to St. Almos, if you can't get
Speaker 1: a reservation because it's really hard to I I did
Speaker 1: it like two weeks in advance. They also own Harry
Speaker 1: and Izzy's. It's next door. It's a little bit more
Speaker 1: casual sports bars. So that's another hot spot in Indie.
Speaker 1: And then if you really want something authentic to Indiana,
Speaker 1: because I know this is in Bloomington's is I think
Speaker 1: the original. And there are a couple in downtown Indianapolis
Speaker 1: called kill Roy's. It's like their version their local Buffalo
Speaker 1: Wild Wings, you know what I mean. A million TVs,
Speaker 1: really good food, really good service, and they're famous for
Speaker 1: these breadsticks speedy. Oh my gosh. So I sit down
Speaker 1: at the bar. I'm in between games. I ordered my
Speaker 1: iced tea, you know, just I only have like thirty
Speaker 1: minutes before I got to get back to work. And
Speaker 1: I say I'll take the breadsticks. And they say, they
Speaker 1: say which ones? I say, I don't know the famous ones.
Speaker 1: And they say, well, we have a bread stick at
Speaker 1: the month and I said, great, what's that. It's buffalo chicken,
Speaker 1: so I ordered that. Obviously, I rip them apart, melty
Speaker 1: cheese and just spicy, like really good thick pieces of chicken.
Speaker 1: It's delicious. So kill Roy's breadsticks too. Thumbs up. Food
Speaker 1: in Indy is incredible. I think my next assignment needs
Speaker 1: to be like intermitute fasting or interval training segment because
Speaker 1: I definitely went a little crazy with the food in Indy.
Speaker 1: Is there a such thing as going too crazy on
Speaker 1: food when you're not home, when you're on the road,
Speaker 1: it's like all bets are off, you know, you can
Speaker 1: kind of get away with anything. Yes, but I basically
Speaker 1: live on the road, so there's no excuse I can't
Speaker 1: do that. Fair enough. You make a good point. You
Speaker 1: make a good point. All right. Well, I'm excited if
Speaker 1: I ever have a trip to Indie on my itinerary.
Speaker 1: I've got all of these spots written down and I
Speaker 1: can't wait to try that shrimp cocktail from St. Almos.
Speaker 1: That's what it was. St Elmo's, Saint Almos locked in
Speaker 1: all right. Now, coming up, we've got this week's Lions Lock,
Speaker 1: where our guru from bet MGM, Peter Andrew, gives you
Speaker 1: all of the insider knowledge about which picks are worth
Speaker 1: your money and which ones you may want to hold
Speaker 1: off one Welcome back, Peter Andrew. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming back. I know you were a little hesitant
Speaker 1: to come back because you know I'm not going to
Speaker 1: hold this against you, but you, like everyone else, had
Speaker 1: a lot of inaccurate picks from the first two rounds
Speaker 1: and everyone's looking at their bracket like, what the hell happened?
Speaker 1: And I need you to explain yourself, Peter, what happened?
Speaker 1: First off, I'm expecting a couple of nimal requests because
Speaker 1: I probably lost some people, some money, ruined some brackets.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was a crazy obviously a crazy first
Speaker 1: couple of days of the tournament. A lot of things
Speaker 1: that we didn't expect to see. Obviously, Teams like Oral
Speaker 1: Roberts just amazing. I don't think we've had something quite
Speaker 1: like this where so many double digit seeds have advanced, so,
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunate for some, but super exciting throughout the
Speaker 1: entire weekend. So now we're coming into the sweet sixth
Speaker 1: team weekend. Let's start with the Wild Roberts since he
Speaker 1: talked about them. They're a fifteen seed. They play three
Speaker 1: seed Arkansas. Can they keep this magic going or is
Speaker 1: this the better team's gonna win out? Yeah? I think
Speaker 1: ultimately the better team will win out. Every Cinderella story
Speaker 1: has the the end of their historic run. But they're
Speaker 1: eleven and a half point underdogs. I love them to
Speaker 1: keep it close. I mean, they're riding so much momentum.
Speaker 1: They may not win out right, but I think for
Speaker 1: for the betting world, I think you'd take him and
Speaker 1: make cover. Well, we know one seed Illinois is out,
Speaker 1: so one seed Baylor playing five seed Villanova. Now Villanova
Speaker 1: you told us wasn't gonna even make it past Winthrop.
Speaker 1: So what's the deal with Baylor Villanova? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: without Gillespie, I for sure thought that there'd be an
Speaker 1: opportunity for Winthrop to come in, sneak in, grab a wind.
Speaker 1: But Robinson Earl, I mean, he was co Biggies Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. He proved it. I believe he had
Speaker 1: twenty two in his first game against Winthrop. As long
Speaker 1: as they're playing a team game like that, and I
Speaker 1: guess as long as they have Jay Wright on the bench.
Speaker 1: They look to be in good shape. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a great one against Baylor. Expected to be really close,
Speaker 1: but ultimately I think Baylor will end up taking it. Well, Peter,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a I'm a Syracuse guy, and many
Speaker 1: did not expect a Cues to make it this far,
Speaker 1: including our very own producer and you what's going on there? Man?
Speaker 1: How far do you think Syracuse can go in this tournament?
Speaker 1: And and would you bet your any on them against
Speaker 1: a two seed Houston? So I think it's two words
Speaker 1: right there, Buddy Beheim. I mean the way he was
Speaker 1: shooting the ball, it was honestly unbelievable. Between that and
Speaker 1: the way they played that own defense, I mean, they're
Speaker 1: so big. I think if they can rebound the basketball
Speaker 1: well against Houston, I think they went out right. That's
Speaker 1: one of my picks for Sweet sixteen. Wow, leven seed
Speaker 1: Ques beating to seed Houston. I would love it. Yeah, Peter,
Speaker 1: do any of these Cinderella's keep dancing past the Sweet sixteen? Well,
Speaker 1: it depends if you want to call loyal Chicago a Cinderella.
Speaker 1: I think they're probably the favorite in their region right now.
Speaker 1: I mean Cameron Crutwig played unbelievable and what he did
Speaker 1: to Kofe Cockburn and you saw the last the stash,
Speaker 1: love the stash the last five seven minutes. Kofe was
Speaker 1: absolutely exhausted. It wasn't just the point production from Loyala,
Speaker 1: but it was just the second chances, the opportunities, the doubling,
Speaker 1: I mean, everything they did just completely wipe them out.
Speaker 1: So if they play with that kind of energy and
Speaker 1: they got Jesus on their side, let's usr gene. I
Speaker 1: see them coming out of their region. They look really
Speaker 1: really good and I think certainly they'll cover on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So I have Gonzaga winning it all. Is that still
Speaker 1: looking the most favorable? Yeah. Anytime you come out of
Speaker 1: the first round with almost a fifty point when, I
Speaker 1: think you gotta feel pretty good about it. Jillen Suggs
Speaker 1: didn't even look that great in his first game, but
Speaker 1: you've got guys like Drew Timmy got Corey Kisper. They
Speaker 1: looked really really good. I think Kissper ended up shooting
Speaker 1: five or five or six or six to start the
Speaker 1: game from three, and that's really what separated them to
Speaker 1: to getting them kind of to that next level and
Speaker 1: end up eventually blowing out Norfolk. Peter, you gave us
Speaker 1: a bad bet last week with Winthrop over Villanova. I
Speaker 1: want to give you the opportunity at redemption here. What
Speaker 1: would you say is the best bet or or maybe
Speaker 1: the most enticing bit that you see coming out of
Speaker 1: Vegas this week? Yeah, I think it's Loyal or Chicago.
Speaker 1: I think, given what they did last week, only a
Speaker 1: six and a half point favorite against Oregon State, something
Speaker 1: fishy about that line. I think they can end up
Speaker 1: winning by double digits. So that's ultimately my lock. But
Speaker 1: right behind is probably accused money line where you sprinkle
Speaker 1: a bit of money there and you could end up
Speaker 1: being a happy man. I love that, Peter. We're hoping
Speaker 1: that you don't have to get many more Venmo requests
Speaker 1: after this week, but I'm I'm riding with you dog.
Speaker 1: I think my dog Buddy Beheim in the Syracuse Orange
Speaker 1: led by Jim Beheim have a good chance at that
Speaker 1: number to Houston. So we'll see, we will see what happens.
Speaker 1: Absolutely gonna be fun weekend again. Can't wait. Peter. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. Thank you, Peter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my pleasure. Guys, thanks a lot, well, Olivia. That's it.
Speaker 1: Episode one and two are in the books and today
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. It was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun, such a great time of the year for sports.
Speaker 1: I had so much fun eating my way through Indie,
Speaker 1: watching the first couple of rounds of the tournament, and
Speaker 1: getting great picks from Peter for this week six team exactly.
Speaker 1: There was so much action and you can continue to
Speaker 1: catch all of the action from bt MGM by following
Speaker 1: them on all social media platforms at bit mgm, and
Speaker 1: please leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: and follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. Hill see
Speaker 1: you next week.