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 Arland Decker. Welcome back to Unleashed
Speaker 1: from the King of Sports Books bet MGM. Now on
Speaker 1: this episode, it's time to talk coops and we've got
Speaker 1: an NBA legend on the show. Richard Jefferson will be
Speaker 1: joining us to talk about his amazing NBA career and
Speaker 1: life on and off the court. But right now, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the current NBA landscape and the playoffs. Olivia,
Speaker 1: what are the big storylines at the moment? Yeah, and Speedy,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to have Richard Jefferson on to tell
Speaker 1: us his thoughts as well. No one knows all these players,
Speaker 1: all these teams in the landscape better than him. He
Speaker 1: played seventeen years. He's going to be a fantastic guest.
Speaker 1: But it's so weird right now with the regular season over,
Speaker 1: there are twenty NBA teams buying for a title. It's
Speaker 1: the first year of this play in system started Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: and four teams from each conference are competing to secure
Speaker 1: the final two spots. And there are conference so two
Speaker 1: teams will survive seven, Plane eight, nine Plane ten in
Speaker 1: team seven and eight. Whoever wins locks up that seventh
Speaker 1: seed and it is safe. But the loser gets to
Speaker 1: play the winner of nine verse ten. So the nine
Speaker 1: ten teams have to win two straight games to get in.
Speaker 1: It's kind of confusing. I think it took everyone a
Speaker 1: second to get used to the vernacular and looking at
Speaker 1: it differently. But it share has provided a great end
Speaker 1: to the regular season. It definitely did. And and I'm
Speaker 1: one of those people who it took an extra second
Speaker 1: to get a just oh me too, me too, you know,
Speaker 1: I need you know, it's the first time I've been
Speaker 1: watching hoops my whole life, and this is the first time,
Speaker 1: you know, we're seeing something like this. But talked to
Speaker 1: us about the Eastern Conference specifically what teams are locked
Speaker 1: in right now? So again, six teams are locked in.
Speaker 1: I'll walk you through the matchups, but the top two
Speaker 1: teams don't know their matchup yet. Obviously they'll play the
Speaker 1: winner of the play in. So the seventies sixers in
Speaker 1: the East, they clinched the conference. Such an exciting turnaround.
Speaker 1: They have a new president, a new coach, to new
Speaker 1: starters and Joel em bead is having the best season
Speaker 1: of his career. They've been sitting pretty comfortable at the
Speaker 1: top most of this season, and they're really a heavy
Speaker 1: favorite to make the Eastern Conference Finals behind their great defense,
Speaker 1: especially and then in the number two spots, Speedy, it's
Speaker 1: your team, the Brooklyn Nets you talked about of all season.
Speaker 1: You love them. They've won five straight to finish the
Speaker 1: regular season, so they're the hottest team right now in
Speaker 1: the conference. They obviously made all those big additions to
Speaker 1: their roster, and we've documented that at the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: You know, overall, they've struggled to stay healthy. Harden and
Speaker 1: kd with hamstring injuries, Kyrie Irving with some personal reasons,
Speaker 1: and small injuries, so that big three that we've been
Speaker 1: so intossipating, they need to stay healthy. They've only played
Speaker 1: eight games together, so when they're together, they're one of
Speaker 1: the most potent offenses in the league. So that's exciting
Speaker 1: to watch their health. Number three Milwaukee Bucks. Now we
Speaker 1: start knowing who they're playing. So three Milwaukee Bucks take
Speaker 1: on six Miami Heat. The Bucks clinched the Central Division
Speaker 1: and they upgraded from Eric Bledsoe to Drew Holiday that
Speaker 1: was a big trade. They added p J. Tucker as
Speaker 1: well for some versatility, and of course their headlined by
Speaker 1: the name everyone loves to say. Janis at Takumpo, the
Speaker 1: reigning m v P, and everyone's just looking at the
Speaker 1: Bucks with the side I because their last two playoffs
Speaker 1: they've really disappointed. They've had an inability to adjust with
Speaker 1: Mike Budenholzer, so everyone's kind of seen if they can
Speaker 1: pull off what they haven't been able to with a
Speaker 1: great roster. I mentioned they're playing the heat. They've had
Speaker 1: a ton of injuries and COVID issues and inconsistency across
Speaker 1: the board, and they have tough matchups across the board.
Speaker 1: With Milwaukee, they're much better defensively with Jimmy Butler in
Speaker 1: the lineup. So I think really that it will be
Speaker 1: a great series. The next matchup the Knicks first the Hawks.
Speaker 1: This would be a great story for the Knicks if
Speaker 1: they can advance after all the drama, all the coaching changes,
Speaker 1: the consistent lack of success in general the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. But now they've got Julius Randall who was
Speaker 1: on an absolute tear earning his first All Star appearance,
Speaker 1: and now he's playing in his first postseason. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize that when I read that speedy,
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe Julius Randall is just now playing in
Speaker 1: his first postseason. But in general him and his teammates,
Speaker 1: there's not much playoff experience on that Knick's roster. As
Speaker 1: for the Hawks, you know, Clint Capella will have his
Speaker 1: hands full with Julius Randall in that first round. And
Speaker 1: the Hawks have kind of been up and down. It's
Speaker 1: almost like they've had two seasons. They fired their coach
Speaker 1: mid season and then they went twenty seven and eleven
Speaker 1: under Nate McMillan. Their in room and they climbed their
Speaker 1: way up the standing. So here they sit now at
Speaker 1: number five. And as I mentioned, the play in start
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, so it's Boston versus Washington. That winner is safe.
Speaker 1: The loser plays the winner of Indiana Charlotte, so it's
Speaker 1: gonna be good in the East. Olivia, honestly, I'm excited
Speaker 1: that you are so liberal when describing the knicks lack
Speaker 1: of success As the last couple of years, it's being
Speaker 1: quite a few, but let's just roll with a couple
Speaker 1: that makes me feel better. About. Yeah, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: be nice. I know you love them too. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you listen, You're making me feel a lot better. But
Speaker 1: you know, let's shift over to the Western Conference. What
Speaker 1: do we need to know about these top six teams
Speaker 1: that are already locked Well, like is the case so
Speaker 1: many years, the West truly earns the nickname the Wild
Speaker 1: Wild West. I have no idea what to expect out
Speaker 1: of this side of the NBA. It all is around
Speaker 1: Utah though they have the best record in the NBA.
Speaker 1: They're sitting at number one in the West, and they've
Speaker 1: been so consistently good. They have put together win streaks
Speaker 1: of eleven games, two different streaks of nine games, and
Speaker 1: what I love is they've won thirty nine games by
Speaker 1: double digits. That is absolutely insane. It's mostly revolving around
Speaker 1: All star center Rudy Bear. He's been absolutely incredible for them.
Speaker 1: They're fun to watch those speed either big three point
Speaker 1: shooting team. They're high flying, they're fast. But we're not
Speaker 1: sure when Donovan Mitchell's returning. He sprained his right ankle.
Speaker 1: He is out for the foreseeable future, so that is
Speaker 1: going to be a huge for them. Um One thing though,
Speaker 1: with Utah, you need to know they have one of
Speaker 1: the highest attendance rates in the country right now in
Speaker 1: terms of COVID and what's allowed. They're allowing seventy percent capacity.
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be as big a factor
Speaker 1: as anything in these playoffs and what games they're able
Speaker 1: to host. It definitely can. The number two team in
Speaker 1: the West are the Phoenix Suns. They won their division
Speaker 1: behind Chris Paul, first playoff birth for the Suns in
Speaker 1: eleven years. They've been pretty healthy to ill season. Devin
Speaker 1: Booker DeAndre Ayton bridges they could meet the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the first round, which would be really tough. I think
Speaker 1: all the West kind of goes as the Lakers go,
Speaker 1: so that'll be so interesting. So now we start getting
Speaker 1: into matchups. So first we know Denver is playing Portland.
Speaker 1: The last time the teams met in the playoffs, it
Speaker 1: was just nineteen It went to seven games, including a
Speaker 1: four overtime Game three, So this is going to be
Speaker 1: a heated rivalry, almost for the fan base more than anyone.
Speaker 1: The Blazers ended up winning that one, but Denver's just
Speaker 1: on a tear right now. Nicola Yokich is playing great
Speaker 1: he's a favorite from VP right now. But a big
Speaker 1: injury for the Nuggets is Jamal Murray. He is out indefinitely,
Speaker 1: so that's going to be a good storyline. As for
Speaker 1: Portland's they've just been all over the place this season.
Speaker 1: They've gone months without Yusuf Nurkic and friend of the
Speaker 1: podcast c J McCullum. But of course, as always, Dame
Speaker 1: Lillard has put the team on his back and he'll
Speaker 1: be going against Aaron Gordon. They'll match up in round one,
Speaker 1: so this is gonna be really good. But the Blazers
Speaker 1: round out that locked in Group six. In the West,
Speaker 1: the next matchup is Clippers versus Dallas. The Clippers fell
Speaker 1: in the second round in last year's Bubble and they've
Speaker 1: had a chip on their shoulder ever since. That has
Speaker 1: been their theme. You know what's interesting those speedy about
Speaker 1: this matchup is that they us to Dallas earlier this
Speaker 1: season by fifty one points, and their meetings have really
Speaker 1: gotten chippy, especially with Marcus Morris and Luca don Chech.
Speaker 1: So to me, the most unpredictable series, at least in
Speaker 1: the West is this Clippers Dallas series. It's going to
Speaker 1: be really good and of course Wednesday Night Lakers Warriors,
Speaker 1: that game is going to be huge. By the time
Speaker 1: this airs Thursday, we will know the winner of that.
Speaker 1: But the Lakers are such a major storyline in the
Speaker 1: West this season. This new format was going to leave
Speaker 1: some teams out of that safe six and that's exactly
Speaker 1: what Lebron James was worried about. He missed time with
Speaker 1: an injury, a d suffered a calf and achilles strain
Speaker 1: and his right legs of both have missed time with injury,
Speaker 1: and they fell to that number seven spot. So if
Speaker 1: their full strength, that is going to be huge on
Speaker 1: deciding who's going to be a first round early exit. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for that, Olivia. Let me just get your
Speaker 1: quick opinion. Who well win it all when it's all
Speaker 1: said and done, Lock it in? Who's Olivia's Lions? Lock?
Speaker 1: Who do you? Who do you think? I gotta say
Speaker 1: I really like Utah. I feel like the way they
Speaker 1: play is the way the NBA operates right now. And
Speaker 1: we're going to talk later with Richard Jefferson about this
Speaker 1: of you know, defense wins championships, sure, but how do
Speaker 1: you keep up with their scoring? I think they're too
Speaker 1: big of a threat. I think they've been too consistently
Speaker 1: good all season that they're not going to let their
Speaker 1: foot off the pedal. So I really like Utah. You
Speaker 1: already know who I'm rocking it. I know, all right. Well,
Speaker 1: with that, let us please welcome in NBA veteran Richard Jefferson.
Speaker 1: Richard Jefferson joins us now. He's a seventeen year NBA vet.
Speaker 1: He's an NBA champion in a current analyst for ESPN,
Speaker 1: YES Network and Pact twelve Network. You've also seen him
Speaker 1: on YouTube and in the podcast Space. Man. What a
Speaker 1: busy guy. Thanks for many good time to guys. Richard. Honestly,
Speaker 1: thank you guys for having me. Man, I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to chop it up and you know, talk a little hoop,
Speaker 1: talk a little life. Yeah, yeah, this is great. Let's
Speaker 1: get into it. I had to refresh myself on your
Speaker 1: transition from Arizona to the league, and I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that it was back to back to back. You play
Speaker 1: in a national championship two thousand one and then go
Speaker 1: to back to back finals. That doesn't happen to anyone.
Speaker 1: Can you describe what that three year trajectory was like? Well,
Speaker 1: let me say it might have happened to people, but
Speaker 1: at least most of the people win. One of them.
Speaker 1: I went a nice little over out the gates. Yeah clean,
Speaker 1: you know what it was. And it's like, you don't.
Speaker 1: We're still in a very pivotal time in your life.
Speaker 1: When you're two, you're still kind of learning things. And
Speaker 1: I think that really kind of set me up from
Speaker 1: a person that like the only thing I cared about
Speaker 1: was winning. It wasn't like money and accolades and all
Speaker 1: those things are like exciting and like those are a
Speaker 1: part of the journey, but at the forefront, like I
Speaker 1: go from so part of the Arizona go back half
Speaker 1: a step. Arizona wins a national championship in nine seven.
Speaker 1: I'm a recruit in so like part of the reason
Speaker 1: why I go to Arizona is like I just want
Speaker 1: to win a national championship. If this is what it's about,
Speaker 1: and I can do it here, this is my goal.
Speaker 1: Fast forward, were losing the national Championship game, but ultimately,
Speaker 1: like you came very very close to accomplishing a once
Speaker 1: in a lifetime goal. And then I fast forward. I
Speaker 1: go to a couple of NBA finals and now it's
Speaker 1: like my brain it's at that point is triggered. Only
Speaker 1: that that matters is winning, Like I don't care about
Speaker 1: anything else winning. So no, it was. It was great
Speaker 1: and I got to, you know, I got to later
Speaker 1: on in my career kind of use those experiences and
Speaker 1: that definitely helped me later in my career. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you this, dude, Duke fans still heckle you, like
Speaker 1: if you're in the airport or something. I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: heckle me because I you know, I've at an age
Speaker 1: now we're like only like an older generation understands that
Speaker 1: and remember that, and like grown older men aren't coming
Speaker 1: up to me and like hackling me. But I will
Speaker 1: say this. I will say this. I don't take pictures
Speaker 1: with anybody wearing Duke paraphernalia, like a guy I can
Speaker 1: be wearing a Duke cat, like hell, who you ever?
Speaker 1: So I'd a big fan love the nets, like oh
Speaker 1: that's cool, we can have a picture, but like, not
Speaker 1: with a Duke cat. I make kids take off sweatshirts
Speaker 1: or jersey anything. I will not take a picture with
Speaker 1: anybody and they don't even know. A twenty two year
Speaker 1: old kid can walk up to me like, I'm a
Speaker 1: huge fan. He's wearing a Duke jersey, has no idea.
Speaker 1: I M like, dude, I don't like Duke. I don't
Speaker 1: need to get into why I don't, but I just
Speaker 1: don't like Dukes. So if you want a picture, you've
Speaker 1: got to take off the jersey. So that's kind of
Speaker 1: fun to watch people like disrobe their Duke paraphernalia and
Speaker 1: like eliminate that just so they can get a picture,
Speaker 1: which I don't know why they never do that. Have
Speaker 1: you ever had the person who took the low road
Speaker 1: and was like, man, I'm not taking this off so
Speaker 1: it's a picture with Duke or nothing. I feel like
Speaker 1: we used to do it at my basketball camp. We
Speaker 1: used to do it like kids with a stuff. So
Speaker 1: I think I would. I think that's actually, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: that's kind of the high road, right. It's like you're
Speaker 1: making somebody make a decision. Is it more important to
Speaker 1: you to wrap Duke or is it more important to
Speaker 1: you to get the picture. And if you tell me, like, dude,
Speaker 1: I'm a lifelong Dukie, like I love you and I
Speaker 1: would love a picture, but I'm not going to like
Speaker 1: take off something of my favorite team to get a
Speaker 1: picture with you. I would respect that you respect that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I've had kids, they're like, no, I'm not taking
Speaker 1: it off. It's like, dude, that's fine, I respect it,
Speaker 1: but I'm not taking a picture with you in it.
Speaker 1: And like, you can call me a bad guy. I
Speaker 1: don't like. It's all. It's all in good fun. But
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way it goes. The only reason
Speaker 1: I asked is because my husband also lost a duke
Speaker 1: in the National Championship. And understand ever we go duke
Speaker 1: fans and this more recent, but oh, they're the worst.
Speaker 1: They are. They are the worst. And like I say
Speaker 1: this knowing that you know the history. It's like, I
Speaker 1: don't really give a damn about Wisconsin after what they
Speaker 1: did to my Arizona Wildcats two different times stopping us.
Speaker 1: We're going to the final four. Haven't been to the
Speaker 1: Final four since that, oh one year, but we have
Speaker 1: like four elite eights. So look, I don't have the
Speaker 1: same like hatred towards Wisconsin as I do du but
Speaker 1: I'm glad that me and him can at least, you know,
Speaker 1: relate on our mutual hatred of dude. But that love
Speaker 1: for your college team, though I find most athletes it
Speaker 1: seems like it gets stronger almost the further removed you are.
Speaker 1: And you've given so much money to the program. I
Speaker 1: think you're the highest owner of former athletes in Arizona history,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken. Why does that matter so much
Speaker 1: to you? I think it's it's just why does it
Speaker 1: matter so much? One, Because once you get to the
Speaker 1: other league, you start to see their fraternities even closer. Right,
Speaker 1: So once you make it, and then it's just like
Speaker 1: you see the like for me again, I'm older, but
Speaker 1: you would see the Sean Elliott's to Steve Kerrs like
Speaker 1: coming up to me, it's like, hey, man, congratulations, how's
Speaker 1: it going, And hey, here's this guy. You know, there's
Speaker 1: such a like oh wow, these guys are like looking
Speaker 1: out for me, Like, yeah, they would look out for
Speaker 1: you when in college, but when you're on the same
Speaker 1: court with them and they would kind of say some
Speaker 1: things to you. Even Steve Kerr, who's a great broadcaster,
Speaker 1: Seawan Elliott. When I got into broadcasting, these are the
Speaker 1: same guys giving me advice. So you look at like
Speaker 1: your connection to certain schools can be a lifelong like hey,
Speaker 1: they help recruit me. Then when I got to the
Speaker 1: league and they were gone, they encourage Meanwhile I was there.
Speaker 1: Then I get into you know, the NBA, and they're
Speaker 1: encouraging me. Then I'm playing and they're retired doing basketball?
Speaker 1: Are there retired? Whether it's coaching. You look at Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr brought in Luke Walton as one of his top assistance,
Speaker 1: which helped Luke Walton get the Laker job in the
Speaker 1: Sacramento CA job, And so you see how there is
Speaker 1: an unspoken like respect, like, hey, you come from the
Speaker 1: same thing, we committed, We did all these things, so
Speaker 1: if I can help you out or encourage you, and
Speaker 1: I just think that makes your connection to the younger group.
Speaker 1: And I was like, hey, guys, I'm here for you.
Speaker 1: Anything that I can do, anything that I and help
Speaker 1: you guys with, please like use me because I'm just
Speaker 1: paying it forward. I love that. Well, you mentioned this
Speaker 1: younger generation and obviously now they're going to be kids
Speaker 1: who just see you on their TV, you know, being
Speaker 1: an analyst, and that's such a different realm. But I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people still associate you with that
Speaker 1: Calves team. What was the mentality at the age you're
Speaker 1: at it. I did not roll my eyes. I just
Speaker 1: kind of listen. I just like rolled my eyes from
Speaker 1: like a moment of like, oh, this is just such
Speaker 1: a great time, not like I roll my eyes of
Speaker 1: like oh here we go. Different when you kind of
Speaker 1: like have that flashback moment of like you're rolling your eyes,
Speaker 1: like oh man, this is gonna be I'm glad you
Speaker 1: clarify positive. There's two teams that I associate with three
Speaker 1: there's legitimately it's the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Brooklyn Nets, and
Speaker 1: Arizona Wildcats. These are my that that's my mouth rushmore
Speaker 1: totally fair. And I know Speedy stopping me just because
Speaker 1: he's such a Nets fan. So he's like, no, that's
Speaker 1: not come on, Speedy, come on, come on, come on.
Speaker 1: I will say I am, I'm a new found Nets fan.
Speaker 1: But but when I see so, I've covered the NBA
Speaker 1: Finals for a few years now, and when I watched
Speaker 1: the playoffs and finals, it seemed like you were having
Speaker 1: so much fun because you were kind of in a
Speaker 1: different place in your career than you were maybe back
Speaker 1: in you know, two thousand one, two thousand two. Where
Speaker 1: did that year rank for you when it came to
Speaker 1: kind of having fun and is that why you rolled
Speaker 1: your eyes in that way. Well, I will say this
Speaker 1: anybody that has like you know again, I guess it's
Speaker 1: been the last couple of years, but have kind of
Speaker 1: followed what I do from the broadcasting standpoint, I like
Speaker 1: to have fun. My sense of humor, how I approach
Speaker 1: things is from a very lighthearted stands and so for me,
Speaker 1: like cracking jokes and humor is like a it's a crutch.
Speaker 1: And I mean this in a positive way. It's like
Speaker 1: I do these things whenever, Like it's like when everything's
Speaker 1: get awkward or when everything's like I'm the person that
Speaker 1: immediately goes to humor, whether it's in a sad moment
Speaker 1: a serious moment. My brain is always looking for humor
Speaker 1: and things. And so part of me having so much
Speaker 1: fun was so I didn't think about the seriousness and
Speaker 1: the weight of what was at hand. Because I have
Speaker 1: the longest gap between NBA finals. So I started in
Speaker 1: the NBA finals in my second year and in my
Speaker 1: fifteenth year, so there was a thirteen year gap. So
Speaker 1: when I get there, I'm like, this might never happen again.
Speaker 1: And I go from all these finals and going to
Speaker 1: the Olympics and getting a bronze, and and it's like again,
Speaker 1: because this is my history, I don't expect other people
Speaker 1: to know this. But we lost to Detroit in seven games,
Speaker 1: and we were up three to Detroit goes on to
Speaker 1: win the championship. We lose to Miami and we were
Speaker 1: tied to two. Miami goes on to win the championship.
Speaker 1: So it was like I lost to the champion about
Speaker 1: seven times over the course of my life's career. So
Speaker 1: I was always on very very good teams and ran
Speaker 1: into some teams that were better or we're playing better
Speaker 1: at the moment. But so for me when it was
Speaker 1: at that moment in two thousand and sixteen, like yes,
Speaker 1: I was there to have fun, but I was also like, hey,
Speaker 1: the more fun I have, like off the court and
Speaker 1: away from it, the less I'm going to think about
Speaker 1: like this might be my last chance to win a championship,
Speaker 1: considering the last time was a state championship. So I
Speaker 1: was I was locked in. See that's what I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask. Was the change in mentality from really just
Speaker 1: an age standpoint of did the weight sink in of
Speaker 1: this is kind of my last shot, and but you
Speaker 1: said you were so lighthearted and having so much fun
Speaker 1: and approached it with levity. Yeah, well, I tried not
Speaker 1: to think about it. That was my thing, that was
Speaker 1: my I tried not to think about it because it
Speaker 1: was it was I was a ball of stress that
Speaker 1: who time, Like, there's a reason why I retired when
Speaker 1: I when I was like in that last game, becuse
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't do this anymore. I'm tired,
Speaker 1: I'm old, I'm exhausted. You play until there's nothing left.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't in my prime obviously, I was thirty five,
Speaker 1: but I was given everything that I had at that
Speaker 1: point in time. And it's like my default is humor.
Speaker 1: So like when everyone looked like I was having fun,
Speaker 1: it's really because I was really really stressed out, and
Speaker 1: so all of a sudden, I channeled that energy into like, well,
Speaker 1: let's go have some fun and not think about it, sir.
Speaker 1: And it looked like you were having fun, I will say,
Speaker 1: and I think back to one of my favorite moments
Speaker 1: from this era of you having fun, and and so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you, can you paint a picture of
Speaker 1: the time where you and Channing Fry dropped a bag
Speaker 1: on a jukebox to play the Thong song like fifteen
Speaker 1: times in a row. Oh yeah, okay, So let me
Speaker 1: first say this. I always like to give credit because
Speaker 1: I do this often. Like my favorite thing is listened
Speaker 1: to the comedy stations, and so I just hear stuff
Speaker 1: all the time, so like, yes, I might regurgitate it,
Speaker 1: but I'm not, you know, stealing jokes. The big thing
Speaker 1: in comedy. It was from Oh my god, what's his name?
Speaker 1: Mullaney Mullaney. He's on s n L. John Mullaney, John Mullaney,
Speaker 1: So John Mulaney. He does this bit where he talks
Speaker 1: about he goes into a diner and they put in
Speaker 1: a bunch of money and they play something from Tom
Speaker 1: Jones like What's Up pussy Cat or something like that,
Speaker 1: And so he tells the whole story about how the
Speaker 1: first couple of times him and his buddy are just
Speaker 1: in the diner like eating a sandwich, kind of looking
Speaker 1: around seeing if anybody's gonna notice it, and then he says,
Speaker 1: by like the fourth or fifth time, like all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, like they just hear guys like screaming back
Speaker 1: like who the hell you know? Going nuts? So I
Speaker 1: think that's hilarious. So me and Channing, I was like,
Speaker 1: Channing like, let's just play the Thong song a bunch
Speaker 1: of times. I don't know why we came up with
Speaker 1: that song, just something that was random. So we were
Speaker 1: in Ohio at Ohio State and we put a ton
Speaker 1: of money. You now, most of these places have like
Speaker 1: a default button or they have like a reset button
Speaker 1: in case someone plays terrible like music. But that song
Speaker 1: is so like subtle and it's just kind of flowing
Speaker 1: that it takes it like three or four times before
Speaker 1: you realize that this song is on repeat and then sadly,
Speaker 1: I think the worst part about it is that like
Speaker 1: people started doing it and then tagging us in it,
Speaker 1: and it that just being made it that made it
Speaker 1: a lot more fun. I feel bad for all the
Speaker 1: jukebox owners out there, but it's a great bit. But
Speaker 1: I gotta give John Mulaney the credit for that, Like
Speaker 1: how much money are we talking enough? Until we well again,
Speaker 1: you don't want to put too much in because they
Speaker 1: can they can reset it right, and then you lose
Speaker 1: your bread, then you lose your breath. But is any
Speaker 1: amount of money too much for that type of body joke,
Speaker 1: Like how much would you think I would say it hard? Yes,
Speaker 1: But just if you can sit in a place like
Speaker 1: how often can you just go like we see practical
Speaker 1: joking shows, we see all this stuff. How often can
Speaker 1: you go into a place with another person and just
Speaker 1: be like, let's see what's about to happen? So you
Speaker 1: didn't put this on and you just get to sit back.
Speaker 1: People like to people watch, but how often do you
Speaker 1: get to create the environment that you get to people watch?
Speaker 1: So it's like all of a sudden, you sit back
Speaker 1: and you're just like looking at the bartender, You're looking
Speaker 1: at like the chefs in the back, you're looking at
Speaker 1: the patroons, you're looking at the mom with the kids
Speaker 1: and the dad, and you're just like, I wonder how
Speaker 1: long to anyone notices it? And so that that to
Speaker 1: me is like the ultimate joy, where like you're really
Speaker 1: the only person that understands a joke. So anybody that
Speaker 1: wants to do a practical television joke show, you could
Speaker 1: just go to your local bar and just play like
Speaker 1: times and do it yourself, and it only costs you
Speaker 1: a couple of bucks. And I'll tell you what here
Speaker 1: I am talking to you guys about it. So these
Speaker 1: stories the last bread get paid for itself, paid for
Speaker 1: itself in spades easily. I do it again. So we've
Speaker 1: talked so much about your different stops in NBA and
Speaker 1: your different triumphs in the NBA. But there's one story
Speaker 1: I really love from your rookie year. And I know
Speaker 1: you've told it a ton, but I'd love you to
Speaker 1: tell our audience this because this is interesting to everyone
Speaker 1: across the board. It's Michael Jordan. He's forty years old.
Speaker 1: You're a rookie. Yeah, y'all had just given him the
Speaker 1: worst loss of his career, and he did sit the
Speaker 1: second half. Yes, you play again. When he's in Washington,
Speaker 1: you play again. And how much did you drop on you?
Speaker 1: Like fifty years So he dropped boardy on us. He
Speaker 1: dropped fifty on somebody else. So he was the first
Speaker 1: forty year old to go for forty. Luckily he went
Speaker 1: for fifty on somebody else shortly there after. I don't remember,
Speaker 1: but you know what, it was weird because we were
Speaker 1: still in the era of like the Michael Jordan's era.
Speaker 1: Like just understand, all the best players in the league
Speaker 1: had played against Michael Jordan's in the highest level. There
Speaker 1: wasn't a great player in the league that hadn't been
Speaker 1: dominated by Michael Jordan at some point in time. So
Speaker 1: like my rookie year, we lose to the Shack and
Speaker 1: Kobe Lakers, but Shack had lost to MJ in in
Speaker 1: the postseason, so like this was still a MJ dominant league.
Speaker 1: And so you go back. He all had his Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan basketball camp in Santa Barbara where all the young
Speaker 1: players like myself and and Gilbert Arenas and Michael Dunlevy,
Speaker 1: Jay Williams, all of these guys, Marice Dottomeyer, we would
Speaker 1: go and be counselors at that basketball camp. So when
Speaker 1: I get to the league, I kind of like grew
Speaker 1: up watching Michael, but I had worked as basketball camp,
Speaker 1: I had done different things with them, so like I
Speaker 1: wasn't like a starry eyed against him like as you
Speaker 1: would say most players, but you still understand that this
Speaker 1: is MJ. Like you just never got a chance to
Speaker 1: see it and like feel it for yourself. So the
Speaker 1: funniest thing for it is that we were playing against
Speaker 1: m J, and m J was one of those guys.
Speaker 1: He remembers he remembers like, I know you see this
Speaker 1: in like the last dance you see us. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, here's another random example, we
Speaker 1: go give him the worst loss. Now, I don't want
Speaker 1: to put Michael Jordan's business out there, but once he
Speaker 1: started retiring, he was a very social guy. So you know,
Speaker 1: he was in New York. He was in New York,
Speaker 1: maybe he was out, you know, smoking too many cigars,
Speaker 1: having to tequila's, and was just, oh, we'll be fine.
Speaker 1: And then he realized like, oh geez, like these nets
Speaker 1: guys run and jump and I'm forty years old, like
Speaker 1: I needed to get my rest. Well, he got his rest,
Speaker 1: and he remembered, and in Michael Jordan's fashion, give him
Speaker 1: a beat down or something doesn't go his way. He
Speaker 1: has an ability, probably like not many we've ever seen
Speaker 1: on this planet before, to show up and set the
Speaker 1: record straight. And we had a ton of defenders that
Speaker 1: year with me, Jason Kidd, Kenny Martin carry kittles and
Speaker 1: he was giving me buckets. And I remember looking over
Speaker 1: at these guys, mainly Jay Kidd, like hey, are we
Speaker 1: gonna switch, because that's what we do when anyone got hot.
Speaker 1: We would just give him a different look, and Jay
Speaker 1: Kidd looked at me like, man, you're doing as good
Speaker 1: as anybody. Just keep it going. And I was like,
Speaker 1: damn guys. Yeah, so it made it fun. But do
Speaker 1: you remember like a look in his eye or thinks
Speaker 1: he would be saying because he was just a notorious talker,
Speaker 1: he wasn't you know what I remembered the most about
Speaker 1: it about that game, And I'm gonna like, not really,
Speaker 1: I think I'm in a butcher and all the fact
Speaker 1: checkers will get me, but I feel like they only
Speaker 1: scored like nineties something points, right, because this was back
Speaker 1: in the day when like this wasn't oh you scored
Speaker 1: you know, fifty and your team scored one twenty, or
Speaker 1: you scored forty five and your team scored one oh eight. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: this man had forty and it's in the in like
Speaker 1: the score was like eighty eight to ninety four. So
Speaker 1: it was like this dude had handles points, teams points,
Speaker 1: half the team points, right, which now when you look
Speaker 1: at the average scoring of one tint I did a
Speaker 1: game that was one forty eight to one fifty in regulation, right,
Speaker 1: So you're like, in that moment, you know, but that's
Speaker 1: what I remember most is that this dude had half
Speaker 1: of their team's points and was giving it to every
Speaker 1: single defender. That this just stopped that it was so smooth,
Speaker 1: so effortless, and there was just it was just one
Speaker 1: of those days. It was like everyone just kind of
Speaker 1: tipped their hat. It's like yo Ambius having one of
Speaker 1: those rare nights. Yeah, that sounds like one of those
Speaker 1: rare nights that we've heard of. And we can glance
Speaker 1: over this lightly because we know we're not supposed to
Speaker 1: go here. But when you speak about a lot this
Speaker 1: high scoring that we're seeing these days, with the NBA
Speaker 1: playoffs here right before us, who do you anticipate to
Speaker 1: continue doing well and maybe who do you anticipate to
Speaker 1: kind of not do so welcome playoff time. Well, it's
Speaker 1: tough because, like we look at so many of the
Speaker 1: top teams right, pretty much every single team if I'm
Speaker 1: looking at you know, there's no team that doesn't have
Speaker 1: some injury component that you're worried. Right, So let's talk
Speaker 1: about the Utah Jazz. You got Donovan Mitchell who is
Speaker 1: not back yet and they're not sure like he'll be back,
Speaker 1: but they're not sure what he like. He hasn't played
Speaker 1: in weeks, so you know he's not gonna be in
Speaker 1: his best version. The Phoenix Suns, like Chris Paul, has
Speaker 1: had some playoff injuries. You go and look at the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets. They haven't played many with all of their three.
Speaker 1: You look at Philadelphia last year or this year. Some
Speaker 1: Joel Embide last year, Ben Simmons, you know, got hurt
Speaker 1: in the postseason. So Lakers have you know, Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d situation. So you look across the league and
Speaker 1: it's hard to pick this year because there's no team
Speaker 1: to Roland. There's no team mess this and a lot
Speaker 1: of it is because of the schedule and guys are
Speaker 1: broken down and beaten down. But I think it's the
Speaker 1: same thing that goes on every single time. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if the scoring is at one, forty, one fifty.
Speaker 1: The teams that play the best defense in the postseason
Speaker 1: are typically going to be the team to succeed. Now,
Speaker 1: where your defense can fluctuate is on how great your
Speaker 1: offense is. So if you have the best offense, like
Speaker 1: let's say the Brooklyn Nets, you can be the twelveth
Speaker 1: ranked defense, the third teenth ranked defense, and overcome. But
Speaker 1: if you're the twenty second defense you have the number
Speaker 1: one offense, that's just not going to sustain because it's
Speaker 1: going to be a team that has the fifth best
Speaker 1: offense but the eighth best defense. Those things catch up
Speaker 1: to you. So I don't know. I just feel like,
Speaker 1: of all, the team's health is number one, and we
Speaker 1: see it with so many teams. I would say Milwaukee's
Speaker 1: the one team that like, they don't really have an
Speaker 1: injury question. Most of their guys are kind of healthy
Speaker 1: and ready to go. And even them, they haven't had
Speaker 1: a ton of playoffs success, so you can't really point
Speaker 1: to them and be like, oh, they're going to be it. Well,
Speaker 1: this season finished in such exciting fashion because every game mattered,
Speaker 1: and now the Lakers have found themselves in the play
Speaker 1: in Lebron was worried about it. Now this is where
Speaker 1: they're at with a healthy Lebron and a d Are
Speaker 1: they I mean, because it seems like they shouldn't have
Speaker 1: ever fallen to seven, But is this the biggest threat
Speaker 1: in the West to kind of come up and upset
Speaker 1: first round? Well, again, you don't know who they're playing.
Speaker 1: You don't know who they're playing and they're again with
Speaker 1: the injury thing. That makes it very very difficult. And
Speaker 1: I think if you want, if anything, that you could
Speaker 1: do to point to the Lakers and where they are
Speaker 1: viewed and respected, Like the Clippers lost their last three
Speaker 1: games just to not be on the same side as
Speaker 1: the Lakers, right the Clippers were like, now we'd rather
Speaker 1: get to the four five, so that like we're going
Speaker 1: to end up in some other spots. So ultimately, I
Speaker 1: think like the Lakers are gonna be They're going to
Speaker 1: be right there. You don't know who they're gonna play
Speaker 1: in the first round, and either way, are gonna play
Speaker 1: a great team. They're like, if they're gonna get the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Sounds of the Utah Jazz, you're still playing the
Speaker 1: teams that have had the best records in the league.
Speaker 1: So I know that the Lakers will be good, but
Speaker 1: it's like, yo, your reward is playing one of the
Speaker 1: better teams in the league and you admittedly on a
Speaker 1: percent because of health. Now, you know, we we've seen
Speaker 1: how you know, basketball and culture have kind of overlapped
Speaker 1: a lot, particularly basketball and hip hop music, but now
Speaker 1: we're seeing it overlap more than we've maybe ever seen
Speaker 1: and with that, you've got a guy like Jake Cole
Speaker 1: who has decided to play basketball professionally. He's now playing
Speaker 1: in the Basketball Africa League. I'm just wondering, have you
Speaker 1: gotten a chance to check out his skills over there?
Speaker 1: And you know what, do you think the ceiling? Maybe
Speaker 1: for him? No, you've not seen him play? No? Okay, okay, guys, okay,
Speaker 1: we don't like it, you know like it. I love
Speaker 1: it for j Cole, for Jake Cole, I love it
Speaker 1: that this is where it's It's so tough because I
Speaker 1: definitely have a reputation for being a bit of a
Speaker 1: troll and this is the thing I posed. But again,
Speaker 1: but it's all just in fun, right, like your best friends,
Speaker 1: may I don't know, females are a little different. You're
Speaker 1: best friends do all you do is just crack jokes
Speaker 1: and talk ship to them? Yeah, of course, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: We're just like, oh you were trash, Like dude, my my,
Speaker 1: my best ranto order like extra large fries. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: you're so fat. What do you do it? Just like dude,
Speaker 1: It dude is a professional effort. Like we're just if
Speaker 1: there's a level of friendship that comes, and that's always
Speaker 1: been my approach that now to say that I respect
Speaker 1: everyone chasing their dream. I respect all of that. I
Speaker 1: don't mind what J Cole is doing. I love the
Speaker 1: journey that he's on, Like, go and do whatever it
Speaker 1: is that you want to do with your life. That
Speaker 1: being said, no person can ever be successful if every
Speaker 1: step of the way they are being scrutinized, right, and
Speaker 1: they are being dissected like look, J Coles first game,
Speaker 1: four points to assist, one rebound in seventeen minutes. It's like,
Speaker 1: we should not be reporting on this if you truly
Speaker 1: want this man to be successful. And I understand who
Speaker 1: he is. I understand that's the only reason why he
Speaker 1: got the opportunity. I understand all the things that go
Speaker 1: into this, but ultimately it's like, guys, like, come on,
Speaker 1: I'd rather then focus on like like how the women played, right,
Speaker 1: I'd rather than focus on the w n B A.
Speaker 1: I'd rather than focus on finding the next high school
Speaker 1: star and giving her some PUBM. I know J Cole
Speaker 1: is gonna get some clicks, but ultimately, like, what is
Speaker 1: that really doing for bigging up the game of basketball? Like,
Speaker 1: then this is not a knock on J Cole. The
Speaker 1: man's got a billion fans, He's made a hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars streaming. He's one of the greatest artists of all time. Right, No, not,
Speaker 1: But like, does the basketball community need to be bigging
Speaker 1: him up? Or should we be bigging up the w
Speaker 1: n b A, should we be bigging up these people?
Speaker 1: And you can do both. But understand, we all know,
Speaker 1: because we're all in media, that we're going to see
Speaker 1: more things about J Cole playing basketball and the memes
Speaker 1: then we will about the defending national champions in Stanford,
Speaker 1: you know, women's basketball and NC double. We're gonna see
Speaker 1: more about that. And I'm just like, I don't care
Speaker 1: if it drives clicks. That's not what we should be
Speaker 1: talking about. I think that's really well said. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's fair. That's that's very fair. Now, No, you know
Speaker 1: r J, we all know you to be. Now you're
Speaker 1: gonna ask me another question. You'renna ask me another question
Speaker 1: about Jacob not as I love J Cole is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite. Doesn't can't express that enough, but like
Speaker 1: this is not why it's like Tim Tebow playing tight
Speaker 1: end like guys like, yeah, no, I was going to
Speaker 1: bring up that comparison because it's there. It's but hey,
Speaker 1: at least he was, I mean, a former NFL player.
Speaker 1: I don't buy it, and I don't and I don't
Speaker 1: buy the whole Oh, you're taking an opportunity away. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. If Tim Tebow is the reason why you
Speaker 1: didn't make the NFL at this point in time you're life,
Speaker 1: you weren't gonna make it anything, right, like you weren't
Speaker 1: gonna make J Cole is the reason why you didn't
Speaker 1: make it to the NBA. You weren't gonna make it anybody.
Speaker 1: So I don't buy that narrative of you're taking an
Speaker 1: opportunity from somebody. That's bs. But should that amount of
Speaker 1: attention be given to somebody because of what they've done
Speaker 1: in other spaces? I don't know if that's best that's necessary? No,
Speaker 1: no, no no, completely fair, And we can move on from
Speaker 1: J Cole. This is just my last thing. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone knows you to be very trolly, uh, and so
Speaker 1: I just I have a question back to you. You know,
Speaker 1: we've seen NBA and culture, like I said, kind of
Speaker 1: become intertwined. There are entire Instagram pages that have become
Speaker 1: dedicated to like NBA players and tattoos, and I'm just
Speaker 1: wondering why you think you're r J. Tat hasn't gotten
Speaker 1: much love over the course of the years, particularly on
Speaker 1: some of these Instagram pages. Well because mine is the
Speaker 1: most famous, Like mine is the most famous, Like it's
Speaker 1: without a doubt, like like, don't get me wrong, some
Speaker 1: other people got some really you know, notable ink but
Speaker 1: like I don't know if there's more. And let's looked
Speaker 1: good and bad, white famous. But I will say give
Speaker 1: it a world, fire over the world, enjoy it. There
Speaker 1: are people that have gotten my tattoo in a mocking manner.
Speaker 1: Look my tattoo is like look, look my head tattoo
Speaker 1: is not the best tattoo. It is a trash tattoo.
Speaker 1: I got him when I was seventeen. But I will
Speaker 1: say this maybe because I'm up close, I know people,
Speaker 1: and I've actually seen people right, and this one left
Speaker 1: Tracy McGrady, Carmelo Anthony, they literally have the same tattoo
Speaker 1: where like they got that same tattoo like a basketball
Speaker 1: with their letters come numbers, names coming out. But the
Speaker 1: differences they got full sleeves around it. So it looks
Speaker 1: like but the skies is it where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, he's got the basketball with this, and
Speaker 1: then he's got the hawk and he's got all in
Speaker 1: your list, Like wait a second, go back. I just
Speaker 1: didn't finish it with a full sleep because I was
Speaker 1: just being lazy as But that's why. That's the thing.
Speaker 1: Don't let them fool you and make you say like, oh,
Speaker 1: Richard has the worst tattoo. No, he had lots of
Speaker 1: them tattoos like me that are that are bad. I
Speaker 1: just didn't hide it with a full sleep. That's that
Speaker 1: makes sense, makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: had to google it, and once I did, I realized
Speaker 1: I very was very much knew it. It's it's beautiful
Speaker 1: look work of our love. It was, honestly it was.
Speaker 1: It was done by a person with like four teeth
Speaker 1: in a back of somebody's basement, like they boughted off. Look,
Speaker 1: my brother had some jail house tattoos. My brother was
Speaker 1: the first person to teach me how to do a
Speaker 1: jail house tattoo where you could get like a hand
Speaker 1: in the motor and you could dip it into some
Speaker 1: ink and you're just like yeah, what on earth was
Speaker 1: I thinking? But I love the story. I don't give
Speaker 1: a damn so it makes it fun. I love it. Well,
Speaker 1: just to wrap up, because we've we've talked so much
Speaker 1: about your history and people you've played against and experiences
Speaker 1: you've had, and I so appreciate all the on the
Speaker 1: court stuff. But off the court, I was texting with
Speaker 1: your coworker, someone I've also had the opportunity to work with.
Speaker 1: I an eagle, fantastic man, fantastic broadcaster, And I asked him,
Speaker 1: what's something I should ask r J about? What's something
Speaker 1: kind of off the court? You know what he told me?
Speaker 1: What he said, the sport your best at is beach
Speaker 1: volleyball and you still play in a league, and that
Speaker 1: you own a yoga studio. So I don't think yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so again you don't know. One of the beautiful things
Speaker 1: about life in general is you don't know where it's
Speaker 1: gonna take you. You You don't know how you can get places.
Speaker 1: Rewind to the lockout. I go to the lockout and
Speaker 1: I'm getting out of shape. It's tough. We don't know
Speaker 1: when it's coming. One of my best friends moves down.
Speaker 1: We start working out, we start training and we start
Speaker 1: doing hot yoga and I'm like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1: Next year, I moved up to l A. I moved
Speaker 1: up to Santa Monica, and I'm doing a ton of
Speaker 1: yoga because look, I'm thirty four at thirty three at
Speaker 1: the time, and your body is I got a lot
Speaker 1: of miles at that point in time. So I find yoga.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm just like, wow, this is my
Speaker 1: body feels better. Everyone needs to stretch and that's an
Speaker 1: hour of stretching and it's a workout your gas. You
Speaker 1: feel great. So I had a bunch of friends that
Speaker 1: were coming up, like driving twenty five minutes to h
Speaker 1: come do yoga and Santa Monica because there wasn't a
Speaker 1: yoga studio and her most of beach it wasn't a
Speaker 1: really nice one. So me and my buddy that I've
Speaker 1: been training with, I'm like, dude, like so many people
Speaker 1: are coming up here, why don't we just open up
Speaker 1: a ton of like a really nice yoga studio there.
Speaker 1: And so I moved to Hermosa Beach and we want
Speaker 1: we opened up one and and we want a ton
Speaker 1: of local awards and we're a big part of the community.
Speaker 1: That's probably my favorite things. So hoo yoga. If you
Speaker 1: guys want to check out, it's right on the pier
Speaker 1: in Hermosa Beach. And I try and tell people as
Speaker 1: much as possible, if you're gonna play professional sports, college sports,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna do that and you're not doing yoga,
Speaker 1: you're short changing your career. You're short changing what you
Speaker 1: can do, what you're capable of doing, because it's like
Speaker 1: I'll go lift weights for an hour then go do yoga.
Speaker 1: You're like stretching out these muscles. You're strengthening muscles you
Speaker 1: didn't know you needed and know that you had. And
Speaker 1: it's part of the reason why I truly believe that
Speaker 1: one I played for seventeen years and to so many
Speaker 1: more athletes are getting into it. So many more athletes
Speaker 1: are open minded than they were five ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Now it's like yo the is a part of like Rondo,
Speaker 1: Joe Johnson, all of these guys will go in on
Speaker 1: road trips and do yoga. Teams are bringing in yoga
Speaker 1: teachers and so I was just fortunate to be a
Speaker 1: little bit ahead of the curve. That's really cool. I
Speaker 1: would even argue, regardless of profession. You're short changing yourself
Speaker 1: if you don't have some kind of yoga or meditation practice.
Speaker 1: I think it's life changing thousand per cent. I know
Speaker 1: I was just speaking to the athletes, but everyone in general, Like,
Speaker 1: if that's not a part of what you're doing, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you're a cross bitter, if you're a
Speaker 1: you know, whatever it is, whatever sport that you're playing,
Speaker 1: whatever activity, even if you're older and you're like you
Speaker 1: just want to do a very like slow like it
Speaker 1: has it for everybody, Like there is no I'm not
Speaker 1: good at stretching. That's why it's like, dude, that's why
Speaker 1: you go. That's the purpose of it. Yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: don't go and like lift weights. You don't say like,
Speaker 1: oh I can't lift weights because I'm not strong. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: how then do you think you get strong? Like it's
Speaker 1: like like everyone's got to start somewhere. So yeah, now
Speaker 1: that I try and tell so many young athletes that
Speaker 1: just get involved in it, because even if you're doing
Speaker 1: it twenty two, it will make your body feel better
Speaker 1: when you're thirty because these things and these injuries, they
Speaker 1: stay with you for a lifetime. I think yoga is
Speaker 1: especially effective if you're doing it to the Thong song
Speaker 1: on repeat just for hours, so all the time, all
Speaker 1: the time at Ohio State. I'd love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: That might be our next class with that. Richard, thank you,
Speaker 1: and I mistay, thank you for we appreciate hey, man, guys,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys having me so much. Man. So
Speaker 1: you guys have a great day. And if you guys
Speaker 1: ever need anything, just let me know. We'll do it too.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you. All right, guys, Now it is
Speaker 1: time for this week's Lion's Luck, where our dog Peter Andrew.
Speaker 1: He's also our honorary co host at this point, but
Speaker 1: he's here to tell us maybe where we should put
Speaker 1: our bread. And Peter, this is a relatively big week.
Speaker 1: What do you got for us? Yeah? So playing tournament done?
Speaker 1: Now we know who's playing this weekend. I may have
Speaker 1: told you guys a couple of weeks ago I was
Speaker 1: on the Sixers bandwagon. I'm gonna kind of stick that route.
Speaker 1: I love Sixers in some sort of variation to be
Speaker 1: in the finals. Two bets that I really like Sixers
Speaker 1: Clippers to both reach the finals plus fourteen hundred and
Speaker 1: I know the Lakers are on the downtrend a little bit,
Speaker 1: but but Sixers Lakers to both reach the finals. At
Speaker 1: plus twelve hundred, I really think they can upset the
Speaker 1: Nets come conference finals. So I'm leaning that route. And
Speaker 1: then maybe a little bit just on the other side,
Speaker 1: just in case the Sixers don't win, the state of
Speaker 1: the winning team to be California plus five, So just
Speaker 1: a little mini hedge. I think you feel pretty comfortable
Speaker 1: about one of those three teams winning. And is that
Speaker 1: for winning at all, Peter, or just winning the web? Yeah,
Speaker 1: winning it all for California, So plus is to actually
Speaker 1: win the NBA title. So I'm just hard against the
Speaker 1: Nets right now. And why is that? Peter just asking
Speaker 1: that a curiosity? Yeah, there's probably two parts through it.
Speaker 1: I think from a sports betting perspective, the value is
Speaker 1: just not there, so I don't think it's worth putting
Speaker 1: your money on it. But the other side of it,
Speaker 1: I think while they have three of arguably the top
Speaker 1: ten players in the league, I think anything can happen.
Speaker 1: We've seen injuries a lot this year to the core three,
Speaker 1: but to some of the other components on the team
Speaker 1: as well, so I think anything can happen, especially finals,
Speaker 1: it gets a bit gritty, hard fouls. You never know
Speaker 1: if Katie Katie can go down, if Kyrie could go down,
Speaker 1: James Harden. So I think putting your money elsewhere with
Speaker 1: the more value makes a ton of sense. What are
Speaker 1: the best bets in each conference? I mean, is there
Speaker 1: is there something confidence specific? You know? I think I've
Speaker 1: started taking it series by series to start. I love
Speaker 1: So there's the Knicks Hawks series, which is the four
Speaker 1: five matchup. Nicks are obviously on fire right now, Dually
Speaker 1: s Randall most improved player, de Rose looks like the
Speaker 1: Rose from ten years ago. Nicks to win the series
Speaker 1: is minus one to me, that's a surefire bet. You're
Speaker 1: not laying too much to get a nice junk of change.
Speaker 1: And then I've put a little bit on Nicks to
Speaker 1: win the series four one. So I think the Hawks
Speaker 1: squeak went out on at home. But I think the
Speaker 1: Knicks just clearly the better team. They've showed that the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks they've gone out West, had some
Speaker 1: impressive games conference games, really really good. And then as
Speaker 1: you go to the West, you know the Nuggets were worthy,
Speaker 1: were one of the best teams in the West all year,
Speaker 1: but lusing Tomal Murray will be really noticeable against the Trailblazers.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have Lillard, McCollum, Covingtons, all can hit threes.
Speaker 1: I think they were second in the league in terms
Speaker 1: of volume of threes they they shot, and I think
Speaker 1: sixth in efficiency. And you compare that against the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: who are twenty sewo and three point defense. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough series. I think the Nuggets pulled out
Speaker 1: in seven, but it's gonna go seven. I think that,
Speaker 1: so for sure, I like Nuggets to win four three
Speaker 1: and in the the series plus four hundred and then Buck's
Speaker 1: Heat you mentioned as well over five and a half
Speaker 1: games at minus one twenty. What do you like there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: how confident are you? I think the Heat can steal
Speaker 1: a couple of games. Bucks are are clearly the better team,
Speaker 1: They're just not a great shooting team at certain times.
Speaker 1: I like that game to just get a little scary
Speaker 1: for them. I think they win in six. But at
Speaker 1: minus one twenty, again, you're not laying too much, and
Speaker 1: I think there's some value there. You're not asking the
Speaker 1: Heat to win the series. You're just asking them to
Speaker 1: stretch it along a little bit, so I think that
Speaker 1: to go over five and a half is a good
Speaker 1: bet as well. Are there any bets on potential overtime
Speaker 1: games or just reaching seven games? Yep, there is reaching
Speaker 1: seven games for every single series on bet MGM. And then,
Speaker 1: funny enough, you're kind of stealing my segue of our promotion.
Speaker 1: We have an overtime insurance promotion going live. So if
Speaker 1: you get your team and they end up losing, the
Speaker 1: game goes overtime and you're losing over time, you actually
Speaker 1: get your steak back. So something we're doing a little
Speaker 1: bit on top of the sports betting markets. So make
Speaker 1: sure that we cover both NBA and an NHL fans
Speaker 1: NHL games of all kind of tourd time this playoff too,
Speaker 1: So making sure we cover you if your team gets
Speaker 1: out TENNA end up losing and before we get you
Speaker 1: out of here, Peter, there was a story that I'm
Speaker 1: just curious if you heard about. It was this guy
Speaker 1: who apparently bet the proverbial house on the Blazers winning
Speaker 1: over forty one and a half games. Did you hear
Speaker 1: about that story? I don't think so, what is it? No? Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: this guy bet that basically that the Blazers were gonna
Speaker 1: win over forty one and a half games, and it
Speaker 1: came down to the last game in the season. He
Speaker 1: tweeted at Damian Lillard at the start of the season like, man,
Speaker 1: I need you to win forty two games or I
Speaker 1: will lose my home. And the Blazers did exactly that
Speaker 1: they want exactly forty two games and saved this guy
Speaker 1: from being homeless. So I does you would have heard
Speaker 1: about the story, but it was it was nuts. I
Speaker 1: heard about one in the opposite direction for Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: I want to say their total was twenty two and
Speaker 1: a half in terms of games one and uh, and
Speaker 1: they finished a half game behind. So it happens to
Speaker 1: the best of them and to the worst of them.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I guess probably the best feeling in
Speaker 1: the world when you when you squeeze out that win,
Speaker 1: but coming a half game short as well as not pretty. Hey,
Speaker 1: this is why we're all here. This is why we're
Speaker 1: also hooked, right you love it? Exactly? Love the game? Yep,
Speaker 1: exactly all right, Peter, We thank you has always been
Speaker 1: joining as Bobbie will. Thanks Peter, Thanks guys all right, guys, Well,
Speaker 1: that's a rap for Olivia and I. Now make sure
Speaker 1: to check out all of the action from bet MGM.
Speaker 1: You can follow them everywhere on social media at bet mgm,
Speaker 1: and please, as always, leave a review of the show
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts and follow us wherever you listen to podcasts.