Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. This
Speaker 1: is Fanatic About the Playoffs from the seventy Sixers podcast Network,
Speaker 1: presented by Draft Games and ninety seven by The Fanatic,
Speaker 1: with new episodes premiering the day after every seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: playoff game. This is the Fanatic About the Playoffs podcast,
Speaker 1: and on this episode we recap Round one, Game two,
Speaker 1: and look ahead to Game three. What is Fanatic about
Speaker 1: the Playoffs? You ask? It is our brand new postseason
Speaker 1: podcast series with us here at the seventy Sixers podcast network,
Speaker 1: presented by DraftKings and our pals at ninety seventy five
Speaker 1: of The Fanatic, the radio home of the seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: in the Delaware Valley, with new episodes dropping the day
Speaker 1: after every single Sixers playoff game. I'm Brian Seltzer. It
Speaker 1: is a true privilege to be joined on this episode
Speaker 1: by a pair of dignitaries in the audio content space.
Speaker 1: One is the radio voice of the Philadelphia seventy six
Speaker 1: or twenty five years in running, the one and only
Speaker 1: Tom McGinnis, and the other is from ninety seven to five,
Speaker 1: host of The John Kincaid Show Morning six to ten,
Speaker 1: John Kincaid himself, John, Welcome home, Welcome to the pod.
Speaker 1: How are you. Thank you very much. Great to see
Speaker 1: Tom too, I said, I've I've been wanting to meet
Speaker 1: Tom McGinnis since I came home. So I'm very excited
Speaker 1: and Brian, good chance to see you. We're getting out
Speaker 1: of the pandemic and we've got a six Ers run
Speaker 1: to unite the whole city and to get everybody excited about.
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I don't usually I think TEMC knows this.
Speaker 1: I don't usually make declarative statements, bold statements, anything like that.
Speaker 1: It is hard for me not to feel very confident
Speaker 1: after what we saw in Game two. Now, I know
Speaker 1: that going on the road is a different thing, but
Speaker 1: to me right now, this is almost not so much
Speaker 1: about the adjustment conversation with the Wizards. I think the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers, they've got the talent like Washington. If they're
Speaker 1: gonna have a shot, they got to play better. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a great win by the Sixers to
Speaker 1: really psychologically take an advantage in the series on Wednesday night.
Speaker 1: I would say so only because they don't have the
Speaker 1: answers right, Like they're trying to double Joel and Alex
Speaker 1: Lennold certainly would have the size, but in general they
Speaker 1: don't really have the size, not just within bead Or.
Speaker 1: The schemes for them aren't working. The double teaming's not working.
Speaker 1: And then you know relative to the size as well.
Speaker 1: You know, like Ben was so aggressive even over Westbrook,
Speaker 1: you know, who's an incredible athlete. But then you know,
Speaker 1: I can still in my mind see Bradley Bill, you know,
Speaker 1: like putting his arm bar on Ben's hips, and Simmons
Speaker 1: has got like seven or eight inches on him. He's
Speaker 1: just going over the top of him and powering in.
Speaker 1: So you know, the talent of the Sixers trumps that
Speaker 1: of the Wizards. And you know, Bill's had thirty three
Speaker 1: points in both games. And you know, as you said
Speaker 1: last night on the radio, Brian, you know, anybody butt
Speaker 1: theory in terms of, you know, let Bill get his baskets,
Speaker 1: which oh, by the way, I think he's going to
Speaker 1: get him anyway, But here he was with thirty three
Speaker 1: points and he was minus twenty eight. So their best
Speaker 1: player had a tremendous offensive game, but was in there
Speaker 1: in the guts of the game when the Sixers dominated Washington.
Speaker 1: So to your point about going down there. As much
Speaker 1: as the Sixers have dominated Washington here in Philadelphia, which
Speaker 1: I believe numbers now eleven consecutive wins and five straight
Speaker 1: this season overall, including the one win there, the Sixers
Speaker 1: have not excelled there and going on the road in
Speaker 1: the playoffs is a whole different animal, but a good
Speaker 1: test because if the Sixers are going to get where
Speaker 1: they need to go, they're obviously going to have to
Speaker 1: win at home. Now you would say, well, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: the formula says they could just win all their home
Speaker 1: games in the East and get to the finals. But
Speaker 1: you got to steal some wins and you want to
Speaker 1: take care of business when you have a team on
Speaker 1: the ropes, and that's what lies ahead. But the first
Speaker 1: two games, particularly last night, I thought the Sixers played
Speaker 1: well well and when these guys played twenty five, twenty nine,
Speaker 1: twenty seven minutes, they put the game away, which is
Speaker 1: great to see, Brian. I think though the team act
Speaker 1: did not address the elephant in the room, the selfish
Speaker 1: play last night of Ben Simmons. That's selfish guy scoring
Speaker 1: what I mean, I mean, how when can we see
Speaker 1: this guy stop shooting so much? I'm tired of it.
Speaker 1: He's a selfish guy. He's all about his points, all
Speaker 1: about Wait a minute, that's the argument people were calling
Speaker 1: me with the other day, that he didn't do that.
Speaker 1: I was shocked last night because I loved seeing that
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, the aggressive Ben Simmons. But I marvel since
Speaker 1: i've been home that in any way, this young man
Speaker 1: is a polarizing figure because I guess watching him most
Speaker 1: of his career from Afar before I returned home, I
Speaker 1: just tend to marvel at his skill set and what
Speaker 1: he brings. And I love watching great defense. But last
Speaker 1: night was the complete game out of Ben Simmons. That
Speaker 1: was a fun, fun performance last night. Let's get right
Speaker 1: into that. The main difference maker X factor, Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: right off the bat sets the tone. He equals his
Speaker 1: point total on a perfect three for three less than
Speaker 1: halfway through the first quarter. John I thought it was
Speaker 1: totally poetic. It was like, yes, he can make a basket,
Speaker 1: and it just it totally set the tone for the game.
Speaker 1: I love the fact, though, that the young man has
Speaker 1: a game where he makes other players better and on
Speaker 1: the defensive end. I always say, is there a night
Speaker 1: that I don't see Ben Simmons bring it? I always
Speaker 1: see a strong His B game defensively is better than
Speaker 1: most players a game. So to me, again, I'm confounded
Speaker 1: by the fact that people will in call sports radio.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons we maybe don't take as
Speaker 1: many calls is to hear people talk about what he's
Speaker 1: deficient at. I'd rather talk about what he's really really
Speaker 1: good at. And he is a difference maker. And I
Speaker 1: believe defense travels team mac, you know, I mean, and
Speaker 1: going on the road. If I know that my team
Speaker 1: can clamp down on people defensively, I think I feel
Speaker 1: better about their chances on the road. Yeah, what's really
Speaker 1: impressed me certainly this year and last year too, and
Speaker 1: you know, even going back further, he guarded Leonard in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But he really gets into people. You know,
Speaker 1: one of our assistant coaches in years past who ended
Speaker 1: up coaching the Hawks, Lloyd Pierce, used to say, make
Speaker 1: him feel you, And that's what like Simmons like he's
Speaker 1: getting up on people. It reminds me of like how
Speaker 1: Gary Payton guarded where he's taken away your space. And
Speaker 1: yet he's so athletic that he's able to be up
Speaker 1: there and be physical and make him feel him but
Speaker 1: at the same time able to move latterly and back
Speaker 1: up and so that he's not filing and it's just
Speaker 1: and then denying. There's a lot to it, but his
Speaker 1: athletic gifts and his want right, his fight, his desire,
Speaker 1: his grit. Not a lot of guys want that. It's
Speaker 1: like in basketball teams like, oh, yeah, we want to run, Yeah,
Speaker 1: coach's let's be that stut. What coach doesn't say, we're
Speaker 1: gonna run, right when a guy gets a job, you
Speaker 1: hear is at any level college, we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: run and we're gonna play defense. Oh, there's a novel cunt,
Speaker 1: but when you really get into it, you gotta run.
Speaker 1: It takes a lot of effort to fill the wings
Speaker 1: and get out and run, and Simmons well does that.
Speaker 1: On offense, he leads to break. That's not my point.
Speaker 1: To point is defensively, he's getting after it. And as
Speaker 1: you say, on nights, when you're not scoring or the
Speaker 1: team's lackluster defense matters. In defense, you can show up
Speaker 1: and put forth the effort that makes a huge impact
Speaker 1: at that end of the floor. Listen, there's things about
Speaker 1: the sport that, no matter how much I watch it,
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna understand. And I think one of the
Speaker 1: great things that Doc Rivers has brought this season is
Speaker 1: even when he's communicame to the public, he makes things
Speaker 1: sound so simple. And when he was talking about Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons game after Game two on when day night, he
Speaker 1: was talking about, Listen, we scored one hundred twenty five
Speaker 1: points game one. We dropped one hundred twenty in Game two.
Speaker 1: That's two hundred forty five points of the first two games.
Speaker 1: He's like, we're scoring points, That's all I care about.
Speaker 1: That means that Ben is doing something to promote that
Speaker 1: just by virtue of Ben's game, whether he's putting the
Speaker 1: ball in the basket directly himself like he did in
Speaker 1: Game two, or facilitating like he did in Game one.
Speaker 1: Two hundred forty five points the first two games of
Speaker 1: playoff series. That's great, absolutely awesome. And isn't that what
Speaker 1: we're expecting in this series? That this was not going
Speaker 1: to be a high stress series. Now, Look, I don't
Speaker 1: expect sweeps in every series is as Tom talks about,
Speaker 1: this is a team that doesn't have a great run
Speaker 1: in DC playing down there, and you find that with teams.
Speaker 1: But to me, if you could just be efficient, win
Speaker 1: the first series in five, win a second series in five.
Speaker 1: We did a little study on our show about how
Speaker 1: the average champion in the NBA plays eleven games in
Speaker 1: their first two series. So in the modern era of us,
Speaker 1: since the playoffs have expanded to what they are, if
Speaker 1: you play eleven games, the average champions what they play
Speaker 1: in the first two rounds. So just be efficient, get
Speaker 1: three your series, do all the things. And I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see the Sixers team on the road and
Speaker 1: how they answer it because when a team that has
Speaker 1: a really, really good offensive game gets home, sometimes the
Speaker 1: crowd can helped elevate that. That's what we call a
Speaker 1: deep dive. Yes, yes, every once in a while, I
Speaker 1: gotta keep up with Bob Cooney, you see, I'm constantly
Speaker 1: trying to Cooney helps my basketball. I Q so much
Speaker 1: on a daily basis, so I'm always trying to say
Speaker 1: if I can get Bob Cooney to say, wow, I
Speaker 1: didn't know that about basketball, I always feel like it's
Speaker 1: a win that sounds like me after three hall holes
Speaker 1: in golf, Like I've been golfing since I was eight.
Speaker 1: I'm like, huh, I lie fifteen again nothing's changed. And
Speaker 1: then Brian, to your point about the two forty five,
Speaker 1: that sounds like the over under which we seem to
Speaker 1: get fast every quarter of sports and the like if
Speaker 1: you will you know what I mean. But now I
Speaker 1: love that about what coaches said, And that's basically been
Speaker 1: like the mantra for the year, and that is whether
Speaker 1: it should be we should make fourteen threes or whatever,
Speaker 1: and that is just win and and get better and
Speaker 1: improve and move the needle and develop to your potential
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the year. And I think one
Speaker 1: element to that during this there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: breathing room, right. I mean, the Sixers played their second
Speaker 1: game in eleven days, and that first week was different
Speaker 1: because of the whole play in but even the Sunday,
Speaker 1: Wednesday and now Saturday thing, and like by way of example,
Speaker 1: as we speak, today's a film session and rest and recovery.
Speaker 1: Guys are going to probably get shots at. But I
Speaker 1: think the team can actually get better during this time.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's like somebody a college basketball team
Speaker 1: who plays in the n I t well, the coach
Speaker 1: isn't loving it because they get to still practice, right,
Speaker 1: I mean it's not rather. You know, obviously you want
Speaker 1: to get to the final and whatever, the NC Double,
Speaker 1: but you get the practice time for your young players.
Speaker 1: You still get to develop and work on things. And
Speaker 1: to that end, I think the Sixers, you know, rest, recovery,
Speaker 1: film study, practice, a little bit of practice, all of
Speaker 1: this as you try to get to the ceiling that'll
Speaker 1: give yourselves the best team and the best opportunity to
Speaker 1: actually compete for a championship. One more thing about Ben
Speaker 1: before we move on. I feel like he's handled all
Speaker 1: the outside noise great. And it hasn't just been the
Speaker 1: last forty eight seventy two hours. I mean, remember earlier
Speaker 1: in the season there was chatter about the president of
Speaker 1: basketball operations, former franchise and where a certain player might
Speaker 1: go and all that, and I think Ben has stood
Speaker 1: up there handled things really professionally. I loved this quote
Speaker 1: after last night. He's not trying to stick it to anybody,
Speaker 1: just wants to go out there and try and win
Speaker 1: a championship. I think that on the surface, who knows
Speaker 1: what's happening behind the scenes, but I think he's put
Speaker 1: out a really good public tone. I love the when athletes,
Speaker 1: you know, embraced their community. This is going to be
Speaker 1: the strangest thing you ever hear from a radio host.
Speaker 1: I hope none of them are listening to sports talk
Speaker 1: radio till the day of the parade, because I hear
Speaker 1: the most nonsensical things on a daily basis, and many,
Speaker 1: many times sometimes they've been known to slip out of
Speaker 1: my mouth. So just steer clear of it. Guys, get
Speaker 1: in your bubble this time, free to move around and
Speaker 1: just stay focused on it. It's exciting. Well, I would
Speaker 1: think so, and you know, you've definitely heard of stories.
Speaker 1: I know, Chris Paul, I think Lebron, you know, get
Speaker 1: off social media this time. But I would think, certainly
Speaker 1: in this era, not just this year or this month,
Speaker 1: this week with Ben Simmons, but just in general, you've
Speaker 1: got to block out the noise, and you know, with
Speaker 1: the WMI, you gotta keep what's most important. And you know,
Speaker 1: athletes a lot of their time, and especially now where
Speaker 1: they're precluded from going certain places because of the guidelines
Speaker 1: and whatnot, you got to stay with your loved ones
Speaker 1: and your friends and your family, and hopefully those people
Speaker 1: can help keep it real for you also. But boy,
Speaker 1: there there's just too much out there. And I don't
Speaker 1: even really go there, but I just know because you
Speaker 1: have to remain confident. Like you think back to Iverson,
Speaker 1: what did he call himself? He called him the greatest
Speaker 1: player there was And you can start to quibble, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't matter. That was the athlete's mindset. That's the
Speaker 1: psyche of an athlete. There's nobody does it better. And
Speaker 1: if you know, these guys got to trick themselves a
Speaker 1: little bit. It's a you know, it's a mental thing
Speaker 1: where you have to be a conquer or. You can't.
Speaker 1: I try to say the word pessivity when you're asking
Speaker 1: me prior to the game last night, Brian, would Joel
Speaker 1: be aggressive? You have to be aggressive because if you're not,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get swarm. So you have to have an
Speaker 1: athlete a mindset of I am gonna I'm a monster
Speaker 1: truck and I'm gonna squish everybody in my path. Well,
Speaker 1: continue the conversation about Joel Embiid. In a moment, we
Speaker 1: have to tell you about DraftKings first and foremost, they
Speaker 1: are the official betting partner of your seventy sixers. They're
Speaker 1: gonna have free to play pools every day of the
Speaker 1: basketball playoffs, offering players a free shot at up to
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars in cash prizes. That sounds outstanding. Download
Speaker 1: the top rated Draft Kings Sportsbook app now and use
Speaker 1: the promo code sixers when you sign up to get
Speaker 1: your free shot at up to ten thousand bucks in
Speaker 1: cash prizes every day of the basketball playoffs. Outstanding At
Speaker 1: a Draftking sports Book pools page to get your shot
Speaker 1: at huge cash prizes. That promo code once again, sixers,
Speaker 1: Easy to remember, easy to do, an easy way to
Speaker 1: try and win ten thousand dollars in very nice cash
Speaker 1: for limited time only at DraftKings Sportsbook. You gotta be
Speaker 1: twenty one or older Pennsylvania only in partnership with Meadows
Speaker 1: Racetrack and Casino. Restrictions supply. See DraftKings dot com Slash
Speaker 1: sports Book for details. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler.
Speaker 1: So speaking of the big fella, the MVP candidates, they
Speaker 1: said it the game. This shirt as a completely slowed
Speaker 1: down from me. You know, I'm just thinking my towel,
Speaker 1: just letting it comes from me by tonight. You know
Speaker 1: that you knows be sending three guys on me. You
Speaker 1: know I'm making the vocy. He said after the game.
Speaker 1: He feels like things are slowing down. It's looking like it.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he put up some really nice scoring numbers
Speaker 1: twenty two and under twenty seven minutes. But even though
Speaker 1: only only three assists, I thought he really helped promote
Speaker 1: some great ball movement that Doc Rivers talked about after
Speaker 1: the games. Him making the right reads is I think
Speaker 1: just as imperative at times as him scoring the basketball.
Speaker 1: And he was great and he saw a lot of
Speaker 1: multi wizard Man coverage last night. Yeah, I'm it's I
Speaker 1: wonder whether Doc wants it to be more like Game
Speaker 1: one or Game two. I love the idea that I
Speaker 1: like it when things run through Joel Embiid. I mean
Speaker 1: to me, I see him as the cheap code that
Speaker 1: no other team has an answer for. So I always
Speaker 1: want to see it run through Embiid. But then Sunday afternoon,
Speaker 1: what do the officials do? They took him out of
Speaker 1: a game, And Tom, I heard some of your calls
Speaker 1: in post game, but I was I was shocked that
Speaker 1: that first game was officiated like that, because that would
Speaker 1: intimidate me as an NBA head coach to wondering, am
Speaker 1: I gonna get that in a big critical game on
Speaker 1: the road, like Doc's gotta be wondering, are they gonna
Speaker 1: during Game three and Game four in the road? Are
Speaker 1: they gonna officiate like that? Am I gonna be caught
Speaker 1: shorthanded early on? It's a very difficult navigation game that
Speaker 1: these coaches got to work as far as who's working
Speaker 1: the games. And I'm saying that as an O'Hara grad
Speaker 1: where almost every single referee in the NBA is from
Speaker 1: my high school, So I believe, No, it's tough, but
Speaker 1: I think it still holds true today. Like it wasn't
Speaker 1: just fouls in that game. There were a lot of
Speaker 1: travel calls at world, so you have to navigate above that.
Speaker 1: You know, you almost have to account for that. And look,
Speaker 1: these guys, this is such a difficult job and we're
Speaker 1: all I always remember and John you would probably but
Speaker 1: the flyers the referee, I don't know. In some Montreal
Speaker 1: series in the seventy Leon Steckel or whatever that was,
Speaker 1: the eighty Stanley Cup Finals Game six, not that we
Speaker 1: remember the offside goal that he wasn't even here, but
Speaker 1: that guy's name is stuck a still mud as fans,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure football fans could say this head or
Speaker 1: the other about some NFL referee, But look our guys
Speaker 1: in the training and the everything that's gone through with
Speaker 1: the NBA referees and the program and then the everything
Speaker 1: they've implemented. It's trying. They're trying to get better and better.
Speaker 1: But obviously it's part of it whether they're good or bad,
Speaker 1: or this or that. Look the foul on Joel and
Speaker 1: Doc said it last night pregame. It was a foul.
Speaker 1: It was this, It was a tickie tech foul. It
Speaker 1: was this very the first file that he had against
Speaker 1: Alex Lm and that started things going. But that's what happens.
Speaker 1: You had two players last night spraining their ankles, Westbrook
Speaker 1: for them, and Curry and Harris for the sixers. I'll trouble.
Speaker 1: You just never know, and that's why you kind of
Speaker 1: have to block back to that block it out thing
Speaker 1: and just do what you do well. And going on
Speaker 1: the road is tough. I mean, like, here's another thing,
Speaker 1: and I used to say this like in other ways,
Speaker 1: if you win the first game in a playoff series
Speaker 1: on the road, you are not winning that second game.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of there's almost like, and I say
Speaker 1: this somewhat facetiously, there's like an unwritten memo, but it's
Speaker 1: it's just that difficult, right, So it's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: to be sure, but just back to and beat a
Speaker 1: little bit. And he's the last guy out there that
Speaker 1: shoots around prior to going into the locker room. So
Speaker 1: he's got Chris Babcock, he's got Dwayne Jones, Andrew's working
Speaker 1: with them, and they were showing him a lot of
Speaker 1: faces jumping out at him, giving him the looks. It's
Speaker 1: like a steady diet of preparation for him to handle things.
Speaker 1: He's watching a lot of the video and learning and
Speaker 1: certainly all the hours that we don't see where he's
Speaker 1: sitting with coaches and in practice and whatnot in terms
Speaker 1: of handling traps, where it's coming from and whatnot. So
Speaker 1: it is constantly going to it's they work on it
Speaker 1: all the time, and it's still an evolution. He's not perfect,
Speaker 1: he still has turnovers and whatnot, but it's getting that
Speaker 1: ball out of the traps or being decisive or facing up.
Speaker 1: All the things that we've seen him do, he's going
Speaker 1: to continue to do. And the different devices or the
Speaker 1: way that the Sixers play him, whether they put him
Speaker 1: in the middle or face him up on the wing
Speaker 1: or put him on the block, and then also how
Speaker 1: teams play him is going to be something that will
Speaker 1: change on a game by game, series by series basis.
Speaker 1: And he's got the talent and now he's just got
Speaker 1: to solve the puzzle to help the Sixers play the
Speaker 1: best that they can play. There maybe some people out
Speaker 1: there that aren't just getting acquainted with the podcasting space.
Speaker 1: But one of the reasons that I knew of John
Speaker 1: Kincaid before he came to Philadelphia was he's been doing
Speaker 1: podcasting for years with a gentleman by the name of Shack.
Speaker 1: Who this guy Shack, I don't know. To raise his visibility,
Speaker 1: I've done a lot to He was hardly known. I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody had ever heard of him before we
Speaker 1: work together from obscure talent to megastar. You know, I
Speaker 1: was just I'm glad to share my stage with him
Speaker 1: a little bit over the years. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: just just to give him some exposure. I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: the guy. You never see him anywhere. Literally, he's like
Speaker 1: a hermit. The best part about it, though, is I
Speaker 1: believe we've gotten word that the TNT crew will travel
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference playoffs Shack and Shack will come
Speaker 1: and do a live edition of The John Kinkade Show.
Speaker 1: That's incredible. We announced that the other day in the show.
Speaker 1: So as long as TANT travels, Shaquille O'Neal will co
Speaker 1: host on The John Kinkade Show with the crew live
Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia. We just have to find the venue
Speaker 1: to put it in. We're thinking about the parking lot.
Speaker 1: I like that actually having a stage set up in
Speaker 1: the parking lot week and more control the space. But
Speaker 1: he's yeah, Shaq is a amazing individual, and I tell
Speaker 1: everybody that a great blessing to have come into life.
Speaker 1: Thank for Ernie Johnson Junior who pointed Shaquille in my
Speaker 1: direction because we did not know each other, and he
Speaker 1: did not know that I lived in Atlanta at the time,
Speaker 1: because he didn't listen to sports talk radio locally, and
Speaker 1: Ernie Johnson Junior pointed him in my direction, and and
Speaker 1: the rest is my seventeen year old as a uncle Shack.
Speaker 1: So I'd say that always makes you one of the
Speaker 1: most popular kids. When Shaq will face time you or
Speaker 1: something like that, it's it's big points, big points, big
Speaker 1: dad points scored. There is that with that that is
Speaker 1: so cool. Um, you know, it's interesting. He loves the
Speaker 1: Sixers by the way. He loves the Sixers. He loves
Speaker 1: what he's seen. He thinks Joel em beat and he's
Speaker 1: told us many times. Joel Embiad has answered the has
Speaker 1: answered the bell, has has taken his game to an
Speaker 1: entirely different level, taking his preparation to a new level,
Speaker 1: taking his attitude to a new level. The snarky, the
Speaker 1: you know, the fierceness that he attacks things with. And
Speaker 1: when Shaquille's getting on younger players, people always say, always
Speaker 1: hating on the young guys. No, he wants to see
Speaker 1: them all be great. He doesn't care about one of
Speaker 1: his records being broken or anything later. He wants to
Speaker 1: see the young players be great and make their money
Speaker 1: the way he makes money still today. So it's it's
Speaker 1: and he believes Joel Embiad has done just that. That's
Speaker 1: that's what I was gonna ask you a bat because
Speaker 1: in listening to him on your show earlier this week,
Speaker 1: you can tell when you listen to him, and he's
Speaker 1: talked about this stuff on inside the NBA on TNT
Speaker 1: as well. It's almost like a big brother thing where
Speaker 1: the expectation is set at such a high level because
Speaker 1: he has that much belief in what Joel can be.
Speaker 1: And this season, based on what Shacks been saying to
Speaker 1: what you just mentioned, John, it sounds like he really
Speaker 1: feels like it's all coming together for Joe. He does.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got to I got to sit down
Speaker 1: with Shack and Kobe to do their first interview that
Speaker 1: they ever did together after they had been not united,
Speaker 1: before they ever did the one for the NBA. I
Speaker 1: got to sit with both of them do a long
Speaker 1: form podcast and people can still find it out their
Speaker 1: big podcast with Shack, and it's Shack understands the game.
Speaker 1: Like I said to them both, I said, who's to
Speaker 1: blame for your relationship being poor when you guys had
Speaker 1: a working relationship, And Shack took seventy percent of the
Speaker 1: blame and Kobe agreed with them, which I thought was funny,
Speaker 1: and he said, but he took his ownership of it.
Speaker 1: He wants to see the next generation do well like
Speaker 1: they're not. He's not hating on anybody, but he's going
Speaker 1: to push, and he's gonna prod, and he's gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: get guys to to you know, to try to be better.
Speaker 1: He has the utmost respect for Joel Embiad's game, though,
Speaker 1: and he thinks there's a whole nother tier to it. Wow,
Speaker 1: my eyes aren't good enough Team AC to say, like
Speaker 1: you've you've seen the greatest up close and personal and
Speaker 1: different generations go through. I can't imagine that there's a
Speaker 1: whole nother level to Jowell Embiad's game, because that is
Speaker 1: a frightening fact. And we're going to need multiple purchase
Speaker 1: for multiple parades if that ever happened. That's great. No,
Speaker 1: he does, I mean, think about it. He hasn't played
Speaker 1: as much basketball as some of these guys, right that
Speaker 1: started playing AU when they were ten eleven years old. Look,
Speaker 1: Joe and Brian. You talked to Bill self, it's just
Speaker 1: ten years a little bit more maybe, and then with
Speaker 1: that athletic skill set, he's right, you know, and all
Speaker 1: those things that you talked about in terms of being
Speaker 1: in shape the basketball IQ and the physical gifts and
Speaker 1: the desire to be great and to push your franchise
Speaker 1: toward the expectations of both yourself, the team, your teammates,
Speaker 1: the franchise itself, the community, the city and so and
Speaker 1: that's and then when guys get a taste of that,
Speaker 1: they want more, you know, And so let's hope and
Speaker 1: I would not disagree. I agree, high ceiling. That's a
Speaker 1: great high ceiling. Brian. I don't know about you, but
Speaker 1: that's that's scary for the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: We asked Doc Rivers that same question recently, like do
Speaker 1: you think this is it? Or there's another notch? He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's another notch. And when it gets to that point,
Speaker 1: goodbye league. Will that notch ever, be guys where we
Speaker 1: see him play more frequently? Because it is something that
Speaker 1: I I wonder about, the bubble wrap, the load management.
Speaker 1: It's something that honestly, it annoys me as a fan
Speaker 1: because I always think of the consumer and the guys
Speaker 1: who want to see the best players in a certain
Speaker 1: amount of games, and and then teams just shut it down.
Speaker 1: And it's not just jo Ellenbeid. So I'm not just
Speaker 1: making it that is it is something about the NBA
Speaker 1: product I think that they need to address. There's too
Speaker 1: many nights were I'm fired up to see something on
Speaker 1: my couch or whatever, and then the product I get is, well,
Speaker 1: they're resting everybody tonight. That definitely happened down the stretch
Speaker 1: of the regular season across the board in the league,
Speaker 1: which was for me and listen, I'm not digging ditches,
Speaker 1: but it was the last two weeks of the regular season.
Speaker 1: It was hard because so many teams rested guys. I
Speaker 1: don't know what you're gonna say, Team Mac. I felt
Speaker 1: like it was encouraging to John what you brought up
Speaker 1: that Joe was available in back to backs this year,
Speaker 1: and we saw him in back to backs, and I
Speaker 1: think the ironic thing is that ten games stretch that
Speaker 1: he missed. The more I think about it, I wonder
Speaker 1: if that was not one of the best things that
Speaker 1: could have happened to this team, because they gained confidence
Speaker 1: that at least in years past I don't think they
Speaker 1: had that they figured out and how to win without
Speaker 1: him out there. I would say yes, and yes, clearly,
Speaker 1: and this year was different, right because the league has
Speaker 1: made strides and made efforts to spread out the schedule.
Speaker 1: We used to play four games and five nights routinely,
Speaker 1: particularly for the Sixers. Their second West coast trip was
Speaker 1: almost always that. And obviously, you know, it came to
Speaker 1: a head like a couple three years ago when all
Speaker 1: of a sudden the network games didn't have the top stars,
Speaker 1: and the league heard about it, I would think from
Speaker 1: the sponsors and from those those networks, and they weren't
Speaker 1: delivering the top players, and so they have spaced out
Speaker 1: the schedule. But again this year was an anomaly because
Speaker 1: it was shrunk into five months, even though they reduced
Speaker 1: it by ten games. And to Brian, to your point,
Speaker 1: like for Joel, he's been hurt a lot of these times. Now,
Speaker 1: load management is not going away, right, Sports science teams
Speaker 1: that you know, all whatever the whole numbers and whatnot,
Speaker 1: they go into all that. That part's not going away.
Speaker 1: And so and these guys are unbelievable cornerstone pieces to franchises.
Speaker 1: So they're going to protect their athletes and health and
Speaker 1: safety of the players is always going to be paramone
Speaker 1: and it should be. But to your point, everybody I
Speaker 1: think would concur John and that you want to see,
Speaker 1: you know, when you tune in on Saturday night, the
Speaker 1: prime time on ABC, you want to see the combatants
Speaker 1: in the competition you you hope to see and that's
Speaker 1: what But what's been build and whatnot? But I would
Speaker 1: think so, but you know the days of Carl Malone
Speaker 1: eighty two, eighty one, eighty, Michael Jordan eighty eight eighty,
Speaker 1: Ron James, though does it Yeah, I don't know that
Speaker 1: you're going to see that as much, and we're not, frankly,
Speaker 1: but it's certainly a legitimate, you know, concern that you
Speaker 1: have because, like you said, you want to see the
Speaker 1: best of the best compete against each other whenever they're
Speaker 1: going head to head. You know, Brian, we had Mark
Speaker 1: Cuban on the Shack podcast and I was pressing him
Speaker 1: for things. I said, I make you commissioner and he goes, well,
Speaker 1: that'll never happen. But he was along the lines of
Speaker 1: me and he said, first of all, he said, I've
Speaker 1: been pushing forever. He said, I want the league to
Speaker 1: start on Christmas, and I want to own the summer,
Speaker 1: and I want to have our championship be in August
Speaker 1: before football season ends. And he said he wanted the
Speaker 1: whole stage to himself, but he wanted them to start
Speaker 1: a Christmas so it would be like Christmas Week is
Speaker 1: when the NBA kicks off. I wonder if we're I
Speaker 1: wonder what we're going to see as a season next year,
Speaker 1: like when they are going to if they push this
Speaker 1: thing back, and I hope they do. The players need
Speaker 1: more rest. This last offseason honestly was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a joke, the amount of time that they gave
Speaker 1: them to bounce back. But the players wanted the money,
Speaker 1: the owners wanted the money, and so this is what
Speaker 1: we got. Well, I could tell you right now the Yeah,
Speaker 1: the schedule is going to be the same. I mean,
Speaker 1: Adam Silver said he wants to get back to a
Speaker 1: normal schedule, so they're gonna start like Halloween. Well that's
Speaker 1: that's typically what's happened. Everything this year was predicated on
Speaker 1: the Olympics. That's why there was a hard out for
Speaker 1: July twenties. The first thing the NBA does every year
Speaker 1: is set the schedule and everything falls off that. And
Speaker 1: so to your point, and like I said, I interrupted,
Speaker 1: I apologize, but like Mark Cuban got his win the
Speaker 1: last two years, it is going into this summer, and
Speaker 1: obviously with the restart last year, I think with the NBA,
Speaker 1: and this is not a novel concept, but they don't
Speaker 1: want to go head to head with the National Football League,
Speaker 1: and so in summer. I mean, I think traditionally we've
Speaker 1: all basketball's a winter sport. So we'll see. But you know, look,
Speaker 1: the eyeballs are going to be on for the next
Speaker 1: six weeks, seven weeks, and you know the NBA that
Speaker 1: there's so many great storylines and it's going to be
Speaker 1: must CTV and the Sixers are right at the center
Speaker 1: of that. That's awesome. That's just awesome. I'm a selfish guy.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to come to work every
Speaker 1: day and talk about a championship run. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about drama than the night before. What are we
Speaker 1: complaining about? What are we excited about? So I am
Speaker 1: a selfish guy. Just get get me all through the
Speaker 1: summer with a great storyline. All right, guys, as we
Speaker 1: wrap this up, what can change the adjustment? What changes
Speaker 1: for Game three? I don't know. If you're the Sixersn's
Speaker 1: not just wizard's question. We can go around the horn.
Speaker 1: What what could change? What could the Sixers do better
Speaker 1: and what's you know, got to happen for the Wizards
Speaker 1: if they want a shot at this thing. I love
Speaker 1: the I love the defensive approach the Sixers have taken
Speaker 1: in this series. And I think Team Max said it
Speaker 1: earlier about sort of like the Bradley Beale's going to
Speaker 1: get his I'm totally fine with that. And they've frustrated
Speaker 1: the hell out of Brian Westbrook. That Russell Westbrook, they
Speaker 1: frustrated him in a big way. I hope that frustration
Speaker 1: continues because I wonder about the fight in him, if
Speaker 1: the Sixers can get up big in Game three, if
Speaker 1: that team has it in them, or whether they start
Speaker 1: thinking about where their vacations are the week after. I
Speaker 1: think Game threes it put the put the foot on
Speaker 1: the throat, come away with the victory, and I'm I
Speaker 1: would almost guarantee it'll be a sweep. Well, for one thing,
Speaker 1: what could change is they're gonna They're not going out.
Speaker 1: I don't ever question them. The competitive drive of Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook like, and he could play better. I mean he
Speaker 1: was two of ten last night. Now as a frustration
Speaker 1: is more as what I'm saying now, I hear you
Speaker 1: and it hinges on his health too, right, he's got
Speaker 1: to have his game is based on explosiveness and if
Speaker 1: his ankle is less than one hundred percent, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: But at Berton's fouls out no threes. I mean, the
Speaker 1: guy had eight threes against US a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: so he's totally capable. And they're gonna come out with
Speaker 1: a fire and then you know, I think it's to
Speaker 1: the sixers too. We talked about jump on him, but
Speaker 1: match match that energy and at some point Washington's going
Speaker 1: to make a run. And the thing about it, you know,
Speaker 1: like Doc Rivers talks about, there are no accidental champions.
Speaker 1: You're not going to back into a title and that's
Speaker 1: for who you play down the road. But it could
Speaker 1: be boiled down, you know, into a micro thing where
Speaker 1: you know, in a given game, you're going to meet
Speaker 1: a challenge. It's not gonna be given to You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to earn it. And winning on the road in
Speaker 1: the playoffs is that you have to meet that challenge
Speaker 1: and overtake them. This game might come down to the
Speaker 1: wire and it all gets down to execution and doing
Speaker 1: what's necessary to a maximizer possessions and score when it
Speaker 1: matters and get stops and so we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's one thing that I liked, and I talked
Speaker 1: about the gap and the schedule. It's now, you know,
Speaker 1: you decelerate again a day of film today and then
Speaker 1: you get down there tomorrow and then you build back
Speaker 1: up a crescendo. It's almost like a mini version of
Speaker 1: an NFL schedule with the way these days in between.
Speaker 1: And that'll change a little bit as the series goes on.
Speaker 1: Before I think for the Sixers that bodes well. And
Speaker 1: for Washington they got to steal a little bit with
Speaker 1: kind of a lot of the elements that we talked
Speaker 1: about where they've been deficient. So it's going to be exciting.
Speaker 1: But I obviously by Memorial as the clock turns on
Speaker 1: the holiday weekend, we'll know where this thing is going. Brian,
Speaker 1: I want to know though, before we get out of here,
Speaker 1: what about the wine? And is that champagne on over
Speaker 1: Tom's right shoulder? Does he keep the good stuff out
Speaker 1: public so his guests see it? Or is that office?
Speaker 1: Is that office booze? I'm just it's like I'm trying
Speaker 1: to figure this out. I don't even drink. So the
Speaker 1: one that the Sixers, uh, the nineteen eighty three vintage, right,
Speaker 1: Bran Huh. And then even funnier part is there's like
Speaker 1: one of those cocktails shakers that's never had liquid in it.
Speaker 1: So wow, the built ins have to have something built
Speaker 1: into them that Brian, we can we can come on
Speaker 1: over and help them clear off his shelves. That yeah,
Speaker 1: very true. I'll show you what I have stashed. What
Speaker 1: I've stashed on my cabinet next to my position is
Speaker 1: my wife's a speech language therapist, and I have a
Speaker 1: tub full of animal puppets. So I think Team Max
Speaker 1: back from all puppets far more interests ipa, so selfish,
Speaker 1: I have a bunch of different beer craft right. What
Speaker 1: I think we need is if the Sixers have a
Speaker 1: big gap, like if I saw today worth the if
Speaker 1: the Hawks and the Knicks go seven games, the Sixers
Speaker 1: next games wouldn't begin till June eighth. I think we
Speaker 1: need to have a special day after puppet show like
Speaker 1: where the you know, the puppets, I mean, just think
Speaker 1: about it. Not the program for you, but I just
Speaker 1: think about it. Fanatic about the playoffs puppet edition, right, here,
Speaker 1: we'll rerack this panel and we'll do don't write it off.
Speaker 1: It's it's there's no stupid ideas, just stupid people that
Speaker 1: offer them. Uh. This is great John Pleasure virtually speaking
Speaker 1: with you for the first time. Everyone. You can check
Speaker 1: out his show Mornings on ninety seven five, six to ten.
Speaker 1: Not just saying this because he joined us. It is
Speaker 1: authentic quality radio. It's not forced. I really I've enjoyed
Speaker 1: listening great crew to great crew. Ye, it's fun. T
Speaker 1: Max just he's get it get excited evening. We play
Speaker 1: that every morning. I'm evenings on ninety seven five. There
Speaker 1: he is. We play it every bookends. Get excited because
Speaker 1: we are. We're excited about this run. Thanks Brian, Thanks
Speaker 1: their team Mac awesome great stuff fellas. Thank you very
Speaker 1: much to Tom McGuinness and John Kincaid. Thank you out
Speaker 1: there for listening. One programming reminder before we sign off,
Speaker 1: The Scoop. It's the daily five minute Update podcast from
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers Podcast Network. Search seventy six Ers Scoop
Speaker 1: wherever you get your pods and follow along today. We
Speaker 1: used to run that show also on this feed the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers Podcast Network main feed for the playoffs,
Speaker 1: we're putting on its own feed, so search seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: Scoop and the next episode of Fanatic About the Playoffs
Speaker 1: will drop on Sunday, following what is hopefully a third
Speaker 1: straight victory for the seventy Sixers. To open up this series,
Speaker 1: talked to next time see Him. You've been listening to
Speaker 1: Fanatic About the Playoffs from the seventy Sixers podcast network,
Speaker 1: presented by DraftKings and ninety seven five to Fanatic look
Speaker 1: for new episodes the day after every seventy Sixers playoff game,
Speaker 1: and follow the seventy Sixers podcast network by searching seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers podcasts wherever you listen to podcast