Speaker 1: Hey, the playoff action has really been fantastic.
Speaker 2: I mean, you hate yourself.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, gosh, and good to see him great, just
Speaker 1: having a good old time.
Speaker 3: With the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Also, Jalen Brunson, because now I'm a Knicks fan. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna yeah, we're all hard fans.
Speaker 3: To another thing. I'm not sure we'll actually end up.
Speaker 1: It's like the days after nine to eleven. We're all
Speaker 1: New York City right now.
Speaker 3: It is Nick stunned.
Speaker 1: They stunned with that game one win in losted on Jokic.
Speaker 3: Whatever, man, this guy, he's he's one of theirs.
Speaker 2: He's one of the just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Just you're like, like when they fired their coats, what
Speaker 1: are they gonna do? And speaking of oh, the Calves
Speaker 1: may be also in a bit of gloomy be old.
Speaker 2: Trouble if Garland remains unavailable.
Speaker 1: And we'll get into all of that and more with
Speaker 1: Calves Podcast or justin rolling on today's episode. I'm Miles
Speaker 1: Gray and I'm Jack O'Brien and this is my Jack
Speaker 1: boost Let.
Speaker 2: The chich three, got it, Luca chist O, K.
Speaker 4: You go and be driving spinning.
Speaker 2: Batter number Jane. That's been secured the self sor NBA Champions.
Speaker 1: O, the Double Ta.
Speaker 3: Yes look shot you go?
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh, Justin rowand co hosts of the Chase Down Pod,
Speaker 1: which is a Calves you know, org and NBA production.
Speaker 3: You're in there officially. Great to have you on the show.
Speaker 1: Especially great to have somebody who's still got some skin
Speaker 1: in the game in this postseason hope. Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1: I took an early exit. I just figured, yeah, I
Speaker 1: let the kids. You guys have fun tonight. You guys
Speaker 1: have fun with this one.
Speaker 2: Cxl out making it quick.
Speaker 3: Please make it quick. But yeah, good as.
Speaker 5: You It's great to be back, guys, Thank you so
Speaker 5: much for having me. A a lot of fun. As
Speaker 5: he said, still got some skin of the game, little
Speaker 5: little shaky.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 5: I don't want to date this podcast too much, but
Speaker 5: it does look like Garland Mobley and DeAndre Hunter are
Speaker 5: unlikely to play tonight.
Speaker 3: So that's good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're recording this. That's good.
Speaker 1: And that's we're recording this before game two. That feels
Speaker 1: bad to me.
Speaker 5: But you never know, right, Like Donovan, Mitchell is certainly
Speaker 5: capable of putting the team on his back. The team
Speaker 5: found ways to win last season with Garland and Mobley out.
Speaker 5: So maybe this is a Donovan Mitchell and Jared Allen masterclass.
Speaker 5: You know, get the series to one one, have a
Speaker 5: couple of days off before Game five or not game five,
Speaker 5: but before Friday's game, and then just kind of take
Speaker 5: it from there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Look, look he's good for seventy points,
Speaker 3: you know, every now and then scored.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you scored seventy one, you can score seventy
Speaker 1: or sixty eight, you know, why not?
Speaker 3: Why?
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's a bummer if they're all three out anyways, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll get to that later. I guess not as much
Speaker 1: as a bummer is not having your team in the postseason,
Speaker 1: although it is. I wouldn't know anything about that. Miles,
Speaker 1: Well you did. You have always said it is nice
Speaker 1: to watch as a neutral. And then Jabiri and I
Speaker 1: we you welcomed us into the light.
Speaker 3: Oh, I get like, I guess.
Speaker 1: Well, let's just run everything down that happened after last
Speaker 1: week's episode. Obviously, the Wolves just put the Lakers too bad.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall absolutely haunted us. That's totally fine, but yeah,
Speaker 1: we will see. Look, now, the next part of what
Speaker 1: could be happening because now the Wolves will be playing
Speaker 1: the Warriors. But now the next phase for us Lakers
Speaker 1: fans we are unwell is for us to begin living
Speaker 1: in a fantasy world where we might sign some other
Speaker 1: dynastic talent to pair with Luka, Doncic.
Speaker 3: Or Lebron or one of them goes and we cash
Speaker 3: out Austin Reeves for maybe Janni's I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's just some Reeves for Yanna's. Straight up. That feels
Speaker 1: it feels fair. Another weird trade like that.
Speaker 2: They're like what they what are they doing?
Speaker 3: Just were there any picks or anything?
Speaker 2: Nah?
Speaker 1: Straight trade, straight swap reeves for Gianni's. But yeah, Also,
Speaker 1: then Anthony.
Speaker 3: Edwards did a victory lap around Crypto after that game.
Speaker 2: That was the best thing I've seen in the NBA
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 1: I look, I was even saying, like some of my
Speaker 1: other Laker fans, I'm like, I'm not mad. I actually
Speaker 1: love Anthony. He's like one of those guys I love.
Speaker 1: I just hate playing him. But even when he goes
Speaker 1: and literally dances on our grave after the elimination, even
Speaker 1: the fans.
Speaker 3: Were like, what's up? And he's like, wait, y'all aren't mad?
Speaker 4: At he was confused. He was like, what, oh, hey, no, you.
Speaker 3: Guys were talking all this trash. Okay, well, great, good
Speaker 3: to see.
Speaker 1: It revealed that his favorite movies Matilda again still because
Speaker 1: he had revealed that in a like pre draft interview,
Speaker 1: and then he was talking about how the good guys
Speaker 1: die in this one was what you send the Lakers fans.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, you guys thought you were gonna come back.
Speaker 1: Now the good guys die in this one. You're gonna
Speaker 1: be like Morris Chestnutt. He was like, oh, his Boys
Speaker 1: in the Hood your favorite movie, and he's like, nah, what, no, man, Matilda.
Speaker 5: Well, it's it's important to re establish that, right, like,
Speaker 5: because you know, these are still formative years. You're talking
Speaker 5: about your early twenties, and age can change, right your
Speaker 5: your opinion can change. He's still standing strong with Matilda,
Speaker 5: and Matilda is very important for us to know.
Speaker 1: Will that be a moment when he discovers a new
Speaker 1: film and it's like, it's no longer Matilda.
Speaker 3: Actually, I mean he's.
Speaker 1: Seen Doc Saints, he's seen Boys in the Hood, so
Speaker 1: he's seen other more grown up movies. I like that
Speaker 1: because that the early twenties is when a lot of
Speaker 1: people are just trying to seem smart with their film choices,
Speaker 1: and you know, like Jaws was always my favorite movie,
Speaker 1: but I had to I had to start dabbling with like,
Speaker 1: you know, foreign films and ship to try and act
Speaker 1: like I was better than I actually was.
Speaker 3: But did you also embrace Donny Darko?
Speaker 2: Did you have a Donnie Darko? For sure?
Speaker 1: Many everything I know about physics I learned from Donnie Darko.
Speaker 5: I really hope that his review of all these movies
Speaker 5: are it kind of gives off a Matilda vibe, Like.
Speaker 2: You know what.
Speaker 1: I just saw Meg gotta say big Matilda vibes. A
Speaker 1: couple is a Matilda fan. I guess I'm not the
Speaker 1: only Matilda fan, but yeah, I don't know it was.
Speaker 1: There's a story about my grandfather who used to be
Speaker 1: a basketball coach, and there's a book written about his
Speaker 1: team called The Breaks of the Game, And at one
Speaker 1: point it's revealed that he would after a loss just
Speaker 1: like go walking the streets around the arena looking to
Speaker 1: fight someone, Which is I was good at therapy back then,
Speaker 1: yet exactly that was men would rather do this than
Speaker 1: knock around therapy was had been invented. His name is
Speaker 1: Jack Ramsey, doctor Jack. He was an intense man, very
Speaker 1: very lovely man by the time I got to meet him,
Speaker 1: but very very intense basketball coach and uh and yeah,
Speaker 1: this was like the joyful version of that. He was
Speaker 1: just like, I mean, it could have gone a lot
Speaker 1: of different directions.
Speaker 2: He was looking for. Thank god, Yeah, thank god.
Speaker 1: La r is a city of uh, you know, celebrity
Speaker 1: worship where they were like.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's aunt Hey, can I flick it up?
Speaker 1: But also I think just the way as fans we
Speaker 1: looked at the series, We're like.
Speaker 2: Man if Anthony Edwards did.
Speaker 3: This to us, now, I think we looked at it
Speaker 3: as like, you.
Speaker 2: Guys were right, you guys were right.
Speaker 5: It probably helped that it didn't go like seven games too,
Speaker 5: because you know, the emotions are are raw when when
Speaker 5: it goes that far into a series. The fact that
Speaker 5: you know, kind of wrapped up in a tidy manner
Speaker 5: there and exactly as Lebron said, he wasn't able to
Speaker 5: play if the series continued anyway, so the thing.
Speaker 3: Was over one way or another.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it would have gone a little bit different
Speaker 1: if there would have been some rhetoric.
Speaker 2: If JJ Reddick was.
Speaker 1: Walk out walking the streets, I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: it might it might not have been as popular. And
Speaker 1: I think again, I think probably also half the Lakers
Speaker 1: fans like and one day, Anthony, you will be playing
Speaker 1: for us. Well, this is just a recruiting visit. He
Speaker 1: thought he was going out there. They knew a hostile
Speaker 1: fan base. Everyone knew how to fan base as Lakers
Speaker 1: fans all know.
Speaker 3: Fan base right there.
Speaker 5: You know whether it's doing, whether it's the honest, whether
Speaker 5: it's whoever. You know, you can't rule it out, especially
Speaker 5: some Luca thing.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: That's why I joke after every every room wor I've
Speaker 1: just been now saying oh, come home, come home, because.
Speaker 2: It's because you said that about Luca last year.
Speaker 4: And look, guys, it's all about manifesting.
Speaker 1: And you're not joking when you say it. By the way,
Speaker 1: as a Lakers fan, you're not your only half. Yeah yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I'm saying could say it, and it's
Speaker 1: it's absurd. My desire, My desire is sincere. I am
Speaker 1: joking in that I think it's attainable, But in a
Speaker 1: way it is attainable if I can even express the desire,
Speaker 1: and that's what all manifesting is about, you know.
Speaker 3: What I mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Giannis, by the way, has announced that if
Speaker 1: you ask for a trade, it's going to be to
Speaker 1: New York, LA or Miami. And I can't imagine anyone
Speaker 1: really making sense because I mean, who's going to look
Speaker 1: at the Clippers and be like, yep, that's where I
Speaker 1: want to be. That team that had the better team
Speaker 1: this like what the second best team in the West
Speaker 1: heading in the playoffs and couldn't make it out of
Speaker 1: the first round. That's that's the type of team that
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of. The NETS. I
Speaker 1: feel like everybody includes the netsay is like, well, they've
Speaker 1: got the most assets, they make the most sense. But
Speaker 1: I feel like after the KD yeah tenure there, Like
Speaker 1: I just I feel like it's going to be hard
Speaker 1: to get people on board. I feel like it's the
Speaker 1: Knicks or the Lakers if those were the heat I guess,
Speaker 1: but also like that they don't look great either.
Speaker 3: We can offer you one, Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, like the Lakers don't make sense.
Speaker 3: We have nothing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Knicks I'm trying to figure out, like I
Speaker 1: feel like the Knicks also gave away all their picks,
Speaker 1: so I don't know who it's.
Speaker 2: Going to be. Maybe he just stays in Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll see. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like then if he wants to
Speaker 1: go somewhere, do you think Milwaukee's like, hey, man, all right,
Speaker 1: we definitely we made the best of this.
Speaker 3: Now let's facilitate.
Speaker 1: Let's honor your wishes and get you to the team
Speaker 1: you want to or do you think they'll really try
Speaker 1: and like make an issue of them?
Speaker 5: Sure, Miami's going to hope that they do that, right, Like,
Speaker 5: wasn't that the whole thing with Dame, Like, hey, we don't.
Speaker 3: Have the best offer, but he'd really like to be here.
Speaker 5: And yeah, like I feel like there's going to be enough,
Speaker 5: you know, really good teams that are going to be
Speaker 5: interested in him that you know, whether it might need
Speaker 5: to be something like hey, we're we're getting you to
Speaker 5: Brooklyn because Brooklyn has a lot of picks, but Brooklyn
Speaker 5: has these big plans to bring someone else in kind
Speaker 5: of thing.
Speaker 3: Like that, we we can make this into situation.
Speaker 4: Chick fil A in the locker room.
Speaker 5: Yeah you got you got a weigh every single factor, right,
Speaker 5: It's not just about what what the roster looks like now,
Speaker 5: it's also what the concessions.
Speaker 3: Are exactly, or the viability of winning a championship within
Speaker 3: a few years. It's what's the what the food do?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Elsewhere, the Warriors, uh yeah, I mean they.
Speaker 2: Took out the bluddy heeled game.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: The Rockets straight up face guard, double team staph the
Speaker 1: whole game. Like it was like it was like the
Speaker 1: thing you see in like middle school when a player
Speaker 1: is like really good and they're just like, all right,
Speaker 1: everybody guard him the whole way.
Speaker 2: We're just gonna put the whole around him.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think it probably would have worked if
Speaker 1: Gary Payton Junior wasn't hurt, but he was. I think
Speaker 1: he was out and Buddy Heald was playing, and Buddy
Speaker 1: Heald can shoot really well when he's not in a
Speaker 1: sixers uniform, and uh yeah, shout out to him for
Speaker 1: stepping up in a big moment. But I mean they
Speaker 1: were they were just like, Steph's not going to beat us?
Speaker 1: Who is And it was like I guess buddy, Buddy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Thirty three points nine threes. Unbelievable unbelievable game. Did not
Speaker 1: see that one coming. I thought the Rockets had a
Speaker 1: shot in that series. They obviously did, but they probably
Speaker 1: need to make a move. Although I don't love them
Speaker 1: for Giannis either, because they just like again like the
Speaker 1: no shooting no you know, so we're just going to
Speaker 1: keep doubling down on no shooting and hope the league
Speaker 1: changes it. Just might you know, going to be that
Speaker 1: one contrarian that that really changed is at all?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: So maybe should we get take a break and then
Speaker 1: come back and actually discuss the teams that are playing currently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do us do that.
Speaker 3: We'll be right back and we are back.
Speaker 1: So we did, I think, I mean, we alluded to
Speaker 1: the fact that why would you want to play for
Speaker 1: the Clippers, but that's because Denver took care of them.
Speaker 3: In Game seven.
Speaker 1: I went to a bar in LA because I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, let's see how this goes. I was
Speaker 1: so disappointed that I left, just like so early in
Speaker 1: the third I mean maybe middle of the third quarter
Speaker 1: was not really a competitive game, but now we've got
Speaker 1: the Nuggets and Thunder and that game one was frightening.
Speaker 1: I thought, I really did. I was kind of like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: look at the Nuggets and now that game, that game
Speaker 1: one that was really coming back from what was it
Speaker 1: down fourteen was.
Speaker 3: Really really impressive. And yeah, I'm I'm I think I
Speaker 3: think that I was a premium.
Speaker 1: It was premature for me to completely write off the
Speaker 1: Nuggets at least on the back of that win. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're tough part of a champion. I'm officially never picking
Speaker 1: the Clippers to win a playoff series. Again, that's just
Speaker 1: where where I'm at. I always make fun of ESPN
Speaker 1: for being, you know, putting up the stats where it's like,
Speaker 1: in the history of this franchise, they're you know, seventy
Speaker 1: three and eighty one against you know, when trailing by
Speaker 1: two games, and it's like, what that doesn't mean anything,
Speaker 1: except with the Clippers, the Clippers, it does mean something,
Speaker 1: because Yeah, that's that's what I should have I should
Speaker 1: have paid attention to the fact that they're the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and I should have paid attention to the fact that
Speaker 1: they have.
Speaker 5: James Harden Clippers ones and Doc Rivers ones are very
Speaker 5: important to Yeah, those ones definitely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Doc Rivers is no like that is for some
Speaker 1: of those stats about like you know, records like coming
Speaker 1: back having other teams come back against them from three
Speaker 1: to one down, and it's like he had like half
Speaker 1: of the six two thousand NBA teams are nine to
Speaker 1: forty three and nineteen in the playoffs when leading by
Speaker 1: seven plus points with under thirty five seconds left. Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers is thirty four and seventeen in these situations. So
Speaker 1: that means he has seventeen of the nineteen losses in this.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's right. I think that's I think
Speaker 1: that's a fake stat. But there were there were some
Speaker 1: real I don't I don't think that's possibly right, but
Speaker 1: there were some.
Speaker 3: Real three Yeah, I look, I have to believe it.
Speaker 1: I have at this point because these are all it's
Speaker 1: the confirmation bias.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the yeah Nuggets, Wow you.
Speaker 1: Got our final four in the East, our final four
Speaker 1: in the West. Man as somebody who is Celtics, you know,
Speaker 1: cheering for the field versus the Celtics, anybody but the Celtics,
Speaker 1: I feel even though they lost Game one, I feel
Speaker 1: worse because I think they lost game one. I think
Speaker 1: this is as good as it gets for you know,
Speaker 1: Knicks fans or Celtics haters, because I just don't think
Speaker 1: the Celtics are going to miss all their threes. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're going to miss a record setting number
Speaker 1: of threes again and again and again. And you know,
Speaker 1: the team that it has the best chance at beating
Speaker 1: them as of right now, again we're recording this before
Speaker 1: Game two, but are down one with three of their
Speaker 1: best through their you know four five through their five
Speaker 1: best offensive players injured or you.
Speaker 2: Know out that just does it. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I will say the Pacers are giving me
Speaker 1: a little bit of hope. The Pacers are tough as hell,
Speaker 1: Like they look awesome.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they play basketball, man, like you know that Game
Speaker 5: one loss obviously, no Garland hurt and game kind of
Speaker 5: changed a little bit in the fourth quarter when when
Speaker 5: Mobilei got hurt and then Hunter as well. But like
Speaker 5: they came out, they were more prepared than the Calves.
Speaker 5: They got terrific shock quality. I thought the perimeter defense
Speaker 5: was great. You know, they got killed on the inside
Speaker 5: a little bit, and I think that's going to be
Speaker 5: one of those things that you know, we in a
Speaker 5: series against Boston, you'll you'll have to figure out, hey,
Speaker 5: can can they defend both the paint and the three
Speaker 5: point line or is it really going to be a
Speaker 5: one or the other. But that's that's a really good team, man,
Speaker 5: Like I think there was a reason they were the
Speaker 5: best playoff offense last year, and you know they'll probably
Speaker 5: be more equipped to challenge Boston this year than they
Speaker 5: were last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm also not giving up on your calves,
Speaker 1: are you?
Speaker 3: I'm not either. I'm not either.
Speaker 5: You know, obviously shorthanded tonight, no Garland, Mobley or Hunter,
Speaker 5: but you know they just, in my eyes, you just
Speaker 5: got to win the one game, right, Like Darius Garland
Speaker 5: dealing with what Brian Windhors described as turf toe, you know,
Speaker 5: trying to make it back early if they can just
Speaker 5: buy him a little bit more time. He's been trying
Speaker 5: to give it a go, trying to battle through that.
Speaker 5: In practice, it just hasn't been you know, responding. Well,
Speaker 5: maybe he can be available for Friday. DeAndre Hunter dislocated
Speaker 5: thumb on his shooting hand, and Evan Mobley didn't apparently
Speaker 5: wasn't able to put weight on his ankle or on
Speaker 5: his ankle all sound.
Speaker 4: Bad, Yeah, on your shooting hand, it's like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, not not not ideal. But you know, maybe some
Speaker 5: of those start to turn around it and at least
Speaker 5: get to the place where you know, you can play
Speaker 5: through it. But when you're playing against the team that
Speaker 5: moves the ball like Indiana, that plays at the highest pace,
Speaker 5: if you're a shifting guard like Darius Garland, playing with
Speaker 5: turf toe is probably not going to help you, you know,
Speaker 5: on either end of the floor. It's gonna you know,
Speaker 5: prevent you from planting and whatnot. So they just got to,
Speaker 5: you know, find a way to get this one game.
Speaker 5: It will be interesting to see, you know, what approach
Speaker 5: they take. But I definitely feel like trying to once
Speaker 5: again win that possession battle is going to be a
Speaker 5: big part of it. And for some shooting regression because
Speaker 5: they shot like crap on their looks and Indy shot,
Speaker 5: you know, had their best shooting the end of the year.
Speaker 5: They're probably hoping for a little bit of that swing,
Speaker 5: similar to what Boston's hoping for against the Knicks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the last two seasons, I feel like
Speaker 1: we've seen you guys have some pretty different lineups due
Speaker 1: to injury and stuff like that and managing through that.
Speaker 1: But whose absence are you most concerned about? Going forward
Speaker 1: of everybody that you're.
Speaker 3: Like, oh boy, this is gonna make it a real
Speaker 3: tall order.
Speaker 5: God probably mobile, just because you know, not being able
Speaker 5: to put weight on your ankle is concerning. And he's
Speaker 5: the anchor of the defense, right Like he's that guy
Speaker 5: that's that release valve when teams pressure the guards. He's
Speaker 5: the one that provides that front court initiation. So it's
Speaker 5: not just the defensive thing, it's offensive as well. But
Speaker 5: the tough thing is you're missing your most impactful offensive
Speaker 5: and defensive player. Mitchell is their best score. He's their
Speaker 5: best you know, he's their best player. He's that guy
Speaker 5: that you trust in closing situations. If you look at
Speaker 5: the last three years, like Darius, is the difference between
Speaker 5: them being great offensively and not. This year, they had
Speaker 5: the best offense in NBA history with Garland on the court.
Speaker 5: In the minutes where Garland was out there without Mitchell,
Speaker 5: it actually even got better. When Garland's off the court,
Speaker 5: they have the thirteen best offense. You look two years
Speaker 5: ago when Mitchell first came there, they had a top
Speaker 5: five offense with Garland on the court, twenty ninth with
Speaker 5: him off. Last year when he wasn't himself. They didn't
Speaker 5: manage to have a top ten offense. So when you're
Speaker 5: playing against the team as good as Indiana offensively, you're
Speaker 5: going to have to find other ways to win, right,
Speaker 5: rather than your strength, which had been offense all season.
Speaker 5: So I'm probably most concerned about Mobiley. But you know,
Speaker 5: this is about as tough of a blow as you
Speaker 5: can have in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Is Garland? What was going on with Garland last year?
Speaker 1: Was was there like a lingering injury or do we know.
Speaker 5: Garland broke his jaw, He had a wired shot for
Speaker 5: six weeks, I wasn't able to eat, was drinking through
Speaker 5: a straw, he had a death in the family.
Speaker 3: To as he got out of that situation, it seems.
Speaker 2: Just like a bad year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you really really tough year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I think he lost like seventeen eighteen
Speaker 5: pounds and you just aren't going to regain that in
Speaker 5: you know, in the middle of a regular season.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I think we're all pulling for the Calves to
Speaker 1: even this up, make it, make it a really good series,
Speaker 1: which we think it can. It's interesting the Calves, well,
Speaker 1: I think went into the series as the favorites and
Speaker 1: now the Pacers even heading into Game two after that
Speaker 1: Game one or the favorites probably having you to do
Speaker 1: with injuries. Boston lost Game one at home and are
Speaker 1: still the favorites against the Knicks. I will, I do
Speaker 1: just want to because I kind of brushed past it
Speaker 1: pretty quickly and was like, the as good as it's
Speaker 1: gonna get.
Speaker 2: What a glorious game one.
Speaker 1: I think the Knicks for giving it to us, It
Speaker 1: did give me a little glimmer of hope, just a
Speaker 1: little tiny is Boston not quite where they were last
Speaker 1: year because obviously Tatum was just not shooting well last night,
Speaker 1: but Boston, like my whole hope with Boston has always
Speaker 1: been Tatum doesn't have that like down the stretch, super
Speaker 1: clutch energy to him, Like he just like hasn't always
Speaker 1: done as well as you want your leader to do
Speaker 1: in those situations. Last year, they won it, but they
Speaker 1: won it because Brown was that guy, Like Brown stepped
Speaker 1: in and was playing out of his mind and he
Speaker 1: you know, won the finals MVP. And so this year
Speaker 1: I think all the Celtics fans are talking a lot
Speaker 1: about like Tatum's actually stepped up, He's that dude now.
Speaker 1: But they're like those moments where you're still like, I
Speaker 1: don't know is he like and and if he's not
Speaker 1: and Brown is not playing out of his mind like
Speaker 1: he did last year, then you have to rely on
Speaker 1: like Derek White and Holiday and it's just a it's
Speaker 1: a little it's a little different. It's a little harder
Speaker 1: to see where they're gonna like get all the like
Speaker 1: big buckets they need down the stretch against whoever they
Speaker 1: end up playing against. It again, I don't know that
Speaker 1: it's the next but they're they're giving me a little
Speaker 1: bit of hope.
Speaker 5: I think whoever comes out of the West is going
Speaker 5: to win, Honestly, do you really?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I just think this isn't as good of a Boston
Speaker 5: team as it was last year. You know, Drew Holiday's
Speaker 5: taking a bit of a step backwards. Ingis doesn't look
Speaker 5: like himself either. You know, I still probably think it's
Speaker 5: going to be okay. See, but I just feel like
Speaker 5: whoever's coming out on the West is probably going to
Speaker 5: be the champion this season.
Speaker 2: That uh so, who do you like?
Speaker 3: Wolves?
Speaker 2: Warriors?
Speaker 1: Because the Warriors definitely showed me something in Game seven,
Speaker 1: But man, the Wolves just look strong.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's going to be the tough Ye. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the Wolves.
Speaker 5: You know, Warriors do have that experience advantage, right, Like
Speaker 5: there is so much championship in NBA Finals experience when
Speaker 5: you talk about those top guys. But I just feel
Speaker 5: like the Wolves are a more complete team. I think
Speaker 5: they were able to, you know, overcome some demons and
Speaker 5: have a lot of confidence taking down Lebron and Luca
Speaker 5: and layoffs are all about momentum, and I feel like
Speaker 5: they have a lot of momentum there, whereas what the
Speaker 5: Warriors went through against Houston, Like, yes, they did a
Speaker 5: great job in Game seven, but that that's that's a
Speaker 5: very tough series against a team that's very, very inexperienced.
Speaker 2: And very limited.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think the Wolves are ready to take that next
Speaker 5: step and are going to be in the conference finals again.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They're just hearing like the narratives like with Ant like
Speaker 1: wanting to play Luca, like a Luca team again, and
Speaker 1: then he's like I want Draymond, like I want to
Speaker 1: play I want.
Speaker 3: To play the Warriors. There's just the excitement on that
Speaker 3: side of him. It makes me feel like, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Don't I don't know what they how they'll counter all
Speaker 1: of that, but just with like the Knicks though, I'm
Speaker 1: I just love this. I just love the rivalry between
Speaker 1: Boston and New York fans, and that's giving me another
Speaker 1: layer that I'm really really enjoying this. But I think,
Speaker 1: like to your point, Jack, like Tatum was so cold
Speaker 1: in the second half, like until like maybe like that
Speaker 1: towards the end of the third quarter, like he hit
Speaker 1: a three and then hit a couple more, but like
Speaker 1: to your point, like every now and then, like Derek
Speaker 1: White would bail them out or Drew Holliday with like
Speaker 1: a random three that they were just able to sort
Speaker 1: of stay in it, but it just wasn't really enough
Speaker 1: to get over. I'm I'm hoping that this is still
Speaker 1: a possibility for New York, but I also see like
Speaker 1: this can also be one of those things for a
Speaker 1: team that's just one they need like a smack in
Speaker 1: the mouth really quick and then they're like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's that this is an anomalous let's let's just let's
Speaker 1: just do what we came here to do. But I'm
Speaker 1: still off feels like what we're what we're gonna see,
Speaker 1: but well we will seem Yeah, I'm holding out hope,
Speaker 1: and I do feel like Indiana or a healthy Cleveland
Speaker 1: is probably a more complete team that could give them trouble.
Speaker 1: But uh, we shall see.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: I'm very happy with how the playoffs have gone and
Speaker 1: so the NBA. But by the way, like all hot,
Speaker 1: they're like breaking ratings records, so that that's cool to
Speaker 1: see after a year where everyone was like, what what's
Speaker 1: wrong with the NBA? Like people are, you know, excited
Speaker 1: about the playoffs as as well?
Speaker 2: They should be.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna love it when Giannis is in
Speaker 1: the Lakers uniform too, so you know, let's keep.
Speaker 3: That momentum going the NBA.
Speaker 1: All right, let's, uh, should we take a break and
Speaker 1: come back and do the fastest round in basketball podcasting?
Speaker 2: We might have to, we might have to. All right,
Speaker 2: take a quick break and we'll be back.
Speaker 3: And we are back.
Speaker 5: Oh, j R.
Speaker 3: Do you mind if I call you j R? Justin Rowland.
Speaker 3: That's why I was called in high school. I'm fine
Speaker 3: with it. Great, R. J.
Speaker 1: You're gonna love this next segment. The fourth quarter rapid
Speaker 1: fires my dyslexia.
Speaker 3: Jr. You're gonna love this this next segment.
Speaker 4: It is the fourth quarter rapid fire round questioning.
Speaker 1: You already know what is the fastest question answer segment
Speaker 1: in all sports podcasting history.
Speaker 3: We're gonna ask you a question.
Speaker 1: You don't don't ruminate, don't process, just react instantly, chess
Speaker 1: passer right back to us.
Speaker 3: Don't think, keep it quick or we will be rude
Speaker 3: to you. Okay, now you know what.
Speaker 1: PJ Tucker stands for. What his name is Anthony Leon
Speaker 1: Tucker Junior. PJ is poor because his dad Anthony Leon
Speaker 1: tun That cute. Wow, Yeah, I thought you were. I
Speaker 1: thought this is gonna be a really weird joke. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh no, you just know so yeah, but anybody, So,
Speaker 1: anybody could be a PJ is what it comes because
Speaker 1: you're just.
Speaker 2: Your dad's kid. You know, we're all PJ Tucker.
Speaker 3: But wait, but is he a junior? Did you say? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, but I guess maybe that helps because he is
Speaker 1: a If you're not a junior, does it still work?
Speaker 2: It works for me? All right, I'll allow it.
Speaker 1: But because his sneaker game is intense, and I will
Speaker 1: approve allow. I want to see where you're going, but
Speaker 1: get there fast, mister gray Boost's approved.
Speaker 4: Okay, shall we begin, Let's go.
Speaker 3: It was gonna go.
Speaker 2: First you ar me.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you inhaled that whole
Speaker 1: reverse Yeah, the reverse symbol is that what the kids
Speaker 1: are calling it.
Speaker 3: That's what the dean at my high school called it.
Speaker 1: Pull reverse symbol on that glass water pipe, Tobacca. Justin,
Speaker 1: you have the ability to waive your magic wand and
Speaker 1: create your Justin Rowans preferred finals matchup for the end
Speaker 1: of this postseason.
Speaker 3: What's your matchup?
Speaker 5: And what do you think I'm a homer like, yeah,
Speaker 5: let's be real, I would love for that to be
Speaker 5: the case.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, look, let me finish the question before you answer,
Speaker 1: else you just come off rouge.
Speaker 3: I'm going quicker.
Speaker 1: I know, I get it, and in your enthusiasm you've
Speaker 1: actually disrespected the host, and so I just do I
Speaker 1: just do want to put that out there.
Speaker 2: However, to finish that disrespect.
Speaker 3: Me, I tak that is disrespect.
Speaker 1: And with your matchup calves thunder, what will the eventual outcome?
Speaker 2: Oh man, I have.
Speaker 5: So I'll say kats and six because you know, it
Speaker 5: seems like it if it would happen, maybe it goes
Speaker 5: that way.
Speaker 3: Who knows. Okay, now, Reality check.
Speaker 1: What do you I think the Actuality Reality Finals matchup?
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be Thunder Celtics and Thunder
Speaker 5: will win in six games.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, that's the right answer.
Speaker 1: That is the right answer either of those scenarios. Love them,
Speaker 1: both of them both. Yeah, all right, I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask you to pick one of these players. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: a time travel scenario. So the player from the past
Speaker 1: is coming to the future with the game that they
Speaker 1: had in the past. The player from the present is
Speaker 1: going back to the past with the game and knowing
Speaker 1: what they know of basketball. You got Donovan Mitchell to
Speaker 1: the late eighties or Mark Price.
Speaker 2: To right now?
Speaker 3: I want to Mitchell in the eighties?
Speaker 5: Yeah, up and down games.
Speaker 1: Also, Mark Price's immune system wouldn't be able to handle
Speaker 1: the more advanced germs in COVID nineteen of the modern world, so.
Speaker 2: He would die pretty quickly.
Speaker 3: A world is scared, replace my friend?
Speaker 1: All right, next question, justin to add to this team
Speaker 1: to replace Garland.
Speaker 3: You're your selections.
Speaker 1: Lebron's first run with the Calves or Lebron's second run
Speaker 1: with the Calves.
Speaker 5: Oh, I'm gonna go second, just because they need the
Speaker 5: shooting around the two pigs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all the right answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that felt like I.
Speaker 2: Do this, okay, all right.
Speaker 1: Would you take being in the lottery for the next
Speaker 1: five seasons for a single title for Cleveland next year?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Yeah, give me a title.
Speaker 1: This is only a question that makes sense to Lakers
Speaker 1: fans because to me, I'm like this last week, what
Speaker 1: are you talking about? But I just want I want
Speaker 1: to keep asking it because Jabbari insists that this makes
Speaker 1: total sense. Jabari is a Lakers fan, Miles is a
Speaker 1: Lakers fan. They would trade being in the lottery for
Speaker 1: five years, like having a lottery pick for the next
Speaker 1: five years, for a title, because Lakers are just like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we just we need chips.
Speaker 2: We need more chips, more chips.
Speaker 3: It's an addiction. It's dangerous. You know, I've lost I've
Speaker 3: lost family over it, you know, and friends.
Speaker 1: He says, how many years until that answer is no?
Speaker 1: And like, how many lottery picks for a title?
Speaker 2: Is the question?
Speaker 5: Oh boy, I think a decade's worth, you know. Nine
Speaker 5: nine nine is where I start to flinch a little bit,
Speaker 5: like it's got to be a real title. It can't
Speaker 5: be like a twenty fifteen Warriors here. I want to,
Speaker 5: you know, go out and earn it.
Speaker 3: Thank you for not saying bubble.
Speaker 1: So you guys are you know, you guys have won
Speaker 1: a title recently, so you're in that world where there
Speaker 1: is an answer to this. Whereas for the Sixers, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't care.
Speaker 2: Just get one.
Speaker 1: Title for all the we don't we don't ever have
Speaker 1: to play basketball again.
Speaker 3: Can I have it?
Speaker 5: Can I We're ten years away from you know, when
Speaker 5: the Kavs won a title. You know, if you give
Speaker 5: me one now, another nine years off and then we
Speaker 5: can keep it moving I make I think I can
Speaker 5: handle that.
Speaker 1: Oh man, what a title too. That's that's so I
Speaker 1: have like, that's that's the best one. I think it's
Speaker 1: the best one. That's like the you know, everybody was
Speaker 1: rooting for the Calves.
Speaker 3: Were I trade two of ours for that one? It
Speaker 3: was a good one. I got to say it was.
Speaker 3: It was brilliant. Last question, justin if the.
Speaker 1: Calves fall short again this year, would you want back
Speaker 1: on the Lebron James train for that final season, the
Speaker 1: farewell tour and perhaps the.
Speaker 2: Chance at one more just a bit of gold at
Speaker 2: the end of the rainbow.
Speaker 5: If it was him opting out and coming on like
Speaker 5: a minimum more mid level exception type thing. Sure, I'm
Speaker 5: not blowing up the core to the trade for old Lebron.
Speaker 3: Because he was looking pretty old in the playoffs. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, look, we're looking for people who might be interested.
Speaker 3: I get, I get what's happening here. I understand case.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it'd be great. I think it'd
Speaker 1: be great. I think it'd be great. I think it's
Speaker 1: a great story, great way to end it. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's tough to hear about that MCO.
Speaker 3: Tough to hear about the MC.
Speaker 2: Does Bronny go? Is Bronnie welcome?
Speaker 5: I think he's welcome. I was at the game in
Speaker 5: Cleveland where he played. That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: That's cool. All right.
Speaker 1: Uh well, we're all pulling for you justin Rome. What
Speaker 1: a pleasure having you back on the show. Yes, where
Speaker 1: can people find you? Follow you all that good stuff?
Speaker 5: Yeah, wherever you guys found this podcast, you can. You
Speaker 5: can find the Chase Down We go live on the
Speaker 5: Cavs YouTube channel as well after games throughout the playoffs.
Speaker 5: You can find me on Twitter at calves down at
Speaker 5: us Slappy Caves in Canada.
Speaker 3: You'll five amazing.
Speaker 2: Hey Miles, where can people find you?
Speaker 1: Oh? Follow me on Twitter and the b sky at
Speaker 1: Miles of Gray, Jack howbou Sky. You can find me
Speaker 1: on Twitter, Jack Underscore Brin on the sky at jack
Speaker 1: Obi the number one Bisky Sky and look follow the
Speaker 1: hashtag bad Booties BA sd I E S. That's where
Speaker 1: you find the show links updates, and that's how you
Speaker 1: can get in on the discord server. So again, sturt
Speaker 1: hashtag bad Booties for all that and join the convo,
Speaker 1: you know, just just come.
Speaker 3: Chat it up on this in the Discord server. And
Speaker 3: with that we will let the playoffs do what they do.
Speaker 1: We'll be back once more next week with another update
Speaker 1: as we get closer to the thrilling conclusion.
Speaker 3: Of this season. We will talk to you then.
Speaker 1: Bye bye bye