Speaker 1: Finals are here, and the only thing for sure is
Speaker 1: it's the last time you're gonna have a chance to
Speaker 1: bet on college basketball this season.
Speaker 2: It's been an.
Speaker 1: Amazing ride to get here, an unprecedented run to this point,
Speaker 1: with four of the four best teams, including four of
Speaker 1: the best teams in recent college basketball history, getting there.
Speaker 1: Maybe there will finally be a shocking outcome, or maybe
Speaker 1: we're just going to keep seeing the best show you
Speaker 1: why they're the best.
Speaker 2: More on that in a second.
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Speaker 2: What's Right with Nick Wright?
Speaker 1: A quick reaction show to Lakers war last night. As promised,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a show Tuesday. I was traveling, wanted
Speaker 1: to do a second episode this week. Lakers Warriors, a
Speaker 1: potential Round one preview, a potential Round two preview, a
Speaker 1: potential Round three preview.
Speaker 2: It delivered because.
Speaker 1: The two guys who have been delivering for this league
Speaker 1: for a decade continued to deliver.
Speaker 2: And we will get to the actual game itself.
Speaker 1: Long short of it, Luca's got to be better if
Speaker 1: the Lakers are going to have a chance to reach
Speaker 1: their full potential, if they're gonna have a chance to
Speaker 1: win the Western Conference, to give Boston a real run
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals, which I think they can do.
Speaker 1: But Luca's got to play better. And we'll talk about
Speaker 1: the actual ins and outs of the game in a moment,
Speaker 1: but that's not actually where I'm focused. I'm focused on
Speaker 1: an appreciation for Lebron James and Steph Curry and what
Speaker 1: they have given us as sports fans for the last decade,
Speaker 1: because it should be impossible. Lebron James and Steph Curry
Speaker 1: first met in the NBA Finals nine years and ten
Speaker 1: months ago. June of twenty fifteen was our first Steph
Speaker 1: Lebron Cavs Warriors, and Steph had already had obviously a
Speaker 1: nice career up to that point. That year, he had
Speaker 1: already won his first MVP, He had had some unbelievable
Speaker 1: moments becoming a superstar and becoming one of and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, catapulting himself into the discussion for
Speaker 1: not just one of the best players in the league,
Speaker 1: but a top three player, a top two player, fully
Speaker 1: flirted with top one player in some quarters, and Lebron
Speaker 1: already had built a top ten all time player resume.
Speaker 1: When these two guys first played in the finals, which
Speaker 1: was again ten years ago, Lebron had already played seven
Speaker 1: years with the Cavs. Took him to a finals left
Speaker 1: his entire heat career had come and gone, not five,
Speaker 1: not six, not seven. The press conference of the Decision
Speaker 1: four League MVPs five finals appearances, two championships, Lebron had
Speaker 1: already done all of that before he and Steph started
Speaker 1: this last decade of professional basketball being the face of
Speaker 1: the league and the other face of the league being
Speaker 1: the two guys who set the standard for what not
Speaker 1: only being a superstar in the NBA ideally would look like,
Speaker 1: but what being a professional would look like, what being
Speaker 1: a titan of industry almost would look like. Zero off
Speaker 1: court mistakes, zero controversy. The worst thing Steph ever did
Speaker 1: his entire career was throw his mouth guard into the
Speaker 1: front row. The worst thing Lebron ever did his entire
Speaker 1: career was a maybe preemptive celebratory press conference.
Speaker 2: The not five, not six, not seven. That's it. And
Speaker 2: for those guys to have delivered.
Speaker 1: For the last ten years and last night no different.
Speaker 1: It's a big day, It's national TV. All eyes are
Speaker 1: on us. Our co stars may or may not be
Speaker 1: available for US. Steph didn't get much from Jimmy, Lebron
Speaker 1: didn't get much from Luca. It doesn't matter. Steph drops
Speaker 1: thirty seven some very just only Steph shots. Lebron drops
Speaker 1: thirty three on just fifteen field goal attempts. After not
Speaker 1: looking quite like Lebron since coming back from the groin injury,
Speaker 1: but he did last night, because these guys deliver and
Speaker 1: they answer the bell unlike any duo we have seen
Speaker 1: since Magic and Bird. But here's the thing, this is
Speaker 1: so much, so different than Magic and Bird. Here's why
Speaker 1: Magic and Bird we got them for the first decade
Speaker 1: of their career.
Speaker 2: And then it was over.
Speaker 1: We got them Stephan Lebron got going when Steph was
Speaker 1: half a decade in, and when Lebron was a dozen
Speaker 1: years in, and they're still going. Magic and Bird, as
Speaker 1: great as they are were, are not cumulatively really close
Speaker 1: to the duo that Lebron and Steph have been. Some
Speaker 1: people argue Steps better than Magic.
Speaker 2: I won't go that far.
Speaker 1: But he's at least within shouting distance of him. So
Speaker 1: if some argue steps better than Magic, I think magic's
Speaker 1: better than Steph.
Speaker 2: But call that a wash.
Speaker 1: Lebron versus Bird is a bunch of ten eight rounds.
Speaker 1: And for us to be getting these guys doing this
Speaker 1: when for Lebron the entirety of the rivalry should have
Speaker 1: been when he's passed his prime. For Steph, the last
Speaker 1: half of the rivalry should have been when he's passed
Speaker 1: his prime. It's just remarkable. And I think because of
Speaker 1: Lebron and Steph and also to his credit, Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: People don't people have forgotten that this has never happened
Speaker 1: in NBA history. Guys, this age. Forget Lebron being forty.
Speaker 1: Let's pretend Lebron's thirty seven, like Steph, is this age
Speaker 1: playing at this level. Complete list NBA history of people
Speaker 1: who after their age thirty five season has have averaged
Speaker 1: twenty three plus a game. That list is five people long,
Speaker 1: and two of those people joined that group this year.
Speaker 1: It is Karl Malone, Kareem in eighty six, Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: this year, Steph Curry this year, and Lebron James each
Speaker 1: of the last five years. That's the list. Steph Curry's
Speaker 1: thirty seven years old. Lebron is forty years old. The
Speaker 1: late great Kobe Bryant played in his final career playoff
Speaker 1: game at age thirty three. Michael Jordan played his final
Speaker 1: game with the Bulls at age thirty six. Larry Bird
Speaker 1: won one playoff series one after age thirty one. Think
Speaker 1: about that, and now you have Stepped at thirty seven
Speaker 1: and Lebron at forty as right now the most reliable
Speaker 1: players in STEP's case, undeniably the best player on his team.
Speaker 1: In Lebron's case, Lucas should be the best for Lebron's
Speaker 1: right now, the most reliable on legitimate contenders on the
Speaker 1: teams with what the third and fifth or fourth and
Speaker 1: fifth or fourth and third best odds to win the championship.
Speaker 1: It was utterly remarkable when Kareem in nineteen eighty six
Speaker 1: gave us one more all time year. And it was
Speaker 1: really really special when Carl Malone in the lockout shortened
Speaker 1: season in ninety nine two thousand, at age thirty six,
Speaker 1: gave us one more great year. Steph, at the beginning
Speaker 1: of this season, it looked like, Okay, most guys remember
Speaker 1: they peak at twenty seven, hold on to that peak
Speaker 1: for a few years, and then slowly slowed downward tick.
Speaker 1: And at the beginning of this year, when he was
Speaker 1: averaging twenty to a game, when he had a couple
Speaker 1: single digit point games, you were, Okay, he's to a
Speaker 1: different place, which he should be. They had that amazing
Speaker 1: These two guys had that amazing Olympic moment together, Lebron
Speaker 1: carrying the team through the first few rounds, Steph having
Speaker 1: the brilliant gold medal game, performance like that that maybe
Speaker 1: was for Steph and Lebron their final time playing for
Speaker 1: real stakes, championship stakes, and they got to do it together.
Speaker 1: And then we now there's the Jimmy trade, there's the
Speaker 1: Luca trade. Steph post Jimmy trade has been almost vintage.
Speaker 1: Steph Lebron just came off pre groin injury, winning Western
Speaker 1: Conference Player of the Month. There's still not three guys
Speaker 1: in the league that you could say you definitively would
Speaker 1: rather have than either of these two guys.
Speaker 2: And it gotta have its spot.
Speaker 1: And them doing this now twenty fifteen is when it started.
Speaker 1: It's twenty twenty five. For this to be going on
Speaker 1: it's eleventh season is incomprehensible for the seventy three win Warriors,
Speaker 1: and then the greatest three game stretch in the history
Speaker 1: of the sport by Lebron. For these finals to be
Speaker 1: the tenth finals we've had since then is and these
Speaker 1: guys are fighting to play in that one. It's just
Speaker 1: an impossibility. And so I just have a deep and
Speaker 1: profound appreciation for these guys. And it also not joh
Speaker 1: last night hit a game winner, and then he did
Speaker 1: the postgame interview and called someone a pigeon, And it
Speaker 1: is very very hard for me not to juxtapose how
Speaker 1: Lebron and Steph have carried this torch and have had
Speaker 1: more scrutiny, in Lebron's case, more pressure than anyone could
Speaker 1: possibly imagine, and never stepped out of line and never
Speaker 1: embarrassed the league and never had an incident and not
Speaker 1: be frustrated.
Speaker 2: By some of them.
Speaker 1: And I know I sound like an old guy, and
Speaker 1: it's because I'm older than Stephan, I'm the exact same
Speaker 1: age as Lebron. I guess I am an old guy
Speaker 1: and not be frustrated by some of the nonsense by
Speaker 1: the guys, not all, but a lot of the guys who
Speaker 1: have come after them, because you had the blueprint. And
Speaker 1: not only did you have the blueprint, you are getting
Speaker 1: to see it in real time because these guys won't
Speaker 1: stop being great. And it was just awesome to watch
Speaker 1: last night for the seemingly seventy fifth time, these two
Speaker 1: legends trading haymakers. Now to the actual game itself, it's
Speaker 1: not all that complex on the Lakers end, really interesting,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves game awesome, the first three minutes, unbelievable, the
Speaker 1: final quarter and not much else. But with thirty one
Speaker 1: on sixteen shots, Lebron was I think hoping Luca would
Speaker 1: get going early. Lebron's zero first quarter points saw Luca
Speaker 1: didn't have it. Finishes with thirty three.
Speaker 2: Five and nine, but.
Speaker 1: It wasn't going to matter, even though Jimmy didn't really
Speaker 1: do much of anything offensively, because you are not going
Speaker 1: to beat the Warriors on a night Pods and Draymond
Speaker 1: combine for ten threes on fourteen attempts that you're not
Speaker 1: beating them, and Draymond was doing all types of Draymond
Speaker 1: stuff for Guder for Baddie had the wonderful strip on
Speaker 1: Luca late, and Pods was just out of his mind
Speaker 1: the first half of the game. When that happens and
Speaker 1: Luca's not Luca, You're gonna lose. It was insane. The
Speaker 1: Lakers had not really a chance to steal it, but
Speaker 1: a chance to have a chance at stealing it late.
Speaker 1: I am fully and entirely confident that Luca come the postseason,
Speaker 1: will be playoff Luca, because that's all he's ever been.
Speaker 1: But last night was a game that I thought because
Speaker 1: of the stakes of it, because they had had a
Speaker 1: couple days off that we'd see great Luca and we
Speaker 1: saw far from it. And so Lakers win the season
Speaker 1: series on the Warriors three to one, so they do
Speaker 1: still have that tiebreaker, and that could really matter because
Speaker 1: it's now forty five and thirty one for the Warriors,
Speaker 1: forty six and thirty for the Lakers. You won wonder
Speaker 1: what the Warriors will look like tonight as they host Denver.
Speaker 1: Denver having had a night off after a couple brutal losses,
Speaker 1: and the Warriors the rest of the way they've got
Speaker 1: the next two are tough and then a nice soft
Speaker 1: landing until the final game of the year. So the
Speaker 1: Warriors home for Denver, home for the Rockets, at Phoenix,
Speaker 1: home for San Antonio, at Portland home for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: You would think in those six games that four and
Speaker 1: two is a fair result for them, So that would
Speaker 1: put them at forty nine wins. The Lakers, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, they're a tough one to figure because they
Speaker 1: seemingly play their worst against bad teams. But the Lakers
Speaker 1: New Orleans, then at OKC, at OKC at Dallas in
Speaker 1: what should be absolute theater. It is a shame that
Speaker 1: game is the second night of a back to back.
Speaker 1: But if I were, if I were running the Lakers rotations,
Speaker 1: just me personally, you gotta win tonight against New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I would go for it Sunday against the Thunder, and
Speaker 1: then I would give everybody the night off on the
Speaker 1: front end of a back to back Tuesday against the Thunder.
Speaker 1: Punt that one, because that Dallas game is gonna mean
Speaker 1: a lot to Luca and it's also obviously the far
Speaker 1: more winnable spot of your two of your back to back,
Speaker 1: and then after that home for Houston, which is a
Speaker 1: huge one, and then at Portland the final game of
Speaker 1: the year. If they win tonight, it is very, very
Speaker 1: difficult for me to see how the Warriors could possibly
Speaker 1: catch them. They win tonight, they get to forty seven.
Speaker 1: The Portland win has to be a win the Portland game,
Speaker 1: I should say, because Portland's not even gonna it's the
Speaker 1: game eighty two. They're not even gonna want to win.
Speaker 1: Portland's gonna play. You know, Portland's gonna want the draft position.
Speaker 1: So that puts you at forty eight wins, and then
Speaker 1: you just need one. If I'm right that the Warriors
Speaker 1: are gonna go four and two now, that could I
Speaker 1: could be wrong. You would just need one of Oka
Speaker 1: see OKAC Dallas Houston so Western conference standings. If the
Speaker 1: playoffs were to start today, we'd get Warriors Lakers in
Speaker 1: round one. Gosh, that's a series that would be a
Speaker 1: bummer to have in round one. If I could set
Speaker 1: the bracket, I would. It's very, very difficult to get
Speaker 1: them to where they could play in round two, is
Speaker 1: I guess the problem?
Speaker 2: It would have to.
Speaker 1: Be, Well, you know what, there's no way to do
Speaker 1: this because the Rockets are at twenty seven losses. They're
Speaker 1: in good shape. But Man oh Man Rockets final five
Speaker 1: games OKCE, Golden State, Clippers, Lakers Denver. So we'll see
Speaker 1: what the Rockets do over their final five. But the
Speaker 1: Rockets have obviously a big cushion. They're at twenty seven,
Speaker 1: Nuggets and Lakers at thirty losses. This is Warriors at
Speaker 1: thirty one, and then Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Clippers at thirty two.
Speaker 1: So Lakers, Warriors, Nuggets, they're all just starting from right now,
Speaker 1: a two game losing streak from potentially being right in
Speaker 1: the play in and so for the Lakers purposes, you
Speaker 1: would love a bracket that goes OKC one, Houston two,
Speaker 1: Lakers three, Denver, Golden State four five, Memphis six, Timberwolves, seven,
Speaker 1: Clippers eight, or vice versa. That's the ideal bracket for
Speaker 1: the Lakers. The ideal bracket for the Warriors is the
Speaker 1: exact one I just said. You just flipped the Lakers
Speaker 1: and the Warriors. I think it's gonna be really hard
Speaker 1: for the Warriors though, to catch the Lakers unless they
Speaker 1: can go five and one are better in their last six.
Speaker 1: And with the fact that I would, I would be
Speaker 1: surprised if Steph plays tonight. I think this, well, maybe
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be surprised. I wonder what the line is
Speaker 1: for that game.
Speaker 2: What is what do.
Speaker 1: Our friends at DraftKings. DraftKings has Denver favored by one
Speaker 1: and a half in Golden State. I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: double check that. If that's the case, then DraftKings is
Speaker 1: telling us they're not sure Steph is playing either. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure Steph is playing, and obviously that's kind of
Speaker 1: in the middle of Steph doesn't play, it'd be Denver
Speaker 1: by more than that. But if Steph does play and
Speaker 1: the Warriors are fully healthy, I don't think they would
Speaker 1: be dogs at home, so it should be a wild
Speaker 1: final ten days.
Speaker 2: But I am just.
Speaker 1: So incredibly appreciative that if Stephen Lebron were done as
Speaker 1: top of the league competitors fighting for championships after the
Speaker 1: four straight finals, that would have been totally reasonable. Instead
Speaker 1: of that, we're now going on seven more seasons of it.
Speaker 1: They've both they want a championship since and they're fighting
Speaker 1: for one this year. Never see anything like it. See
Speaker 1: you guys on Tuesday for the next episode of What's Right.
Speaker 1: It will be a regular episode. Demons will be back.
Speaker 2: All of that.
Speaker 1: See you guys later today depending on when you watch
Speaker 1: this on First Things First, have a great weekend.
Speaker 2: We'll trade