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Speaker 1: Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright the rare emergency pod.

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Speaker 1: We might do more of these come NBA playoffs as

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Speaker 1: the home set up allows for a little more flexibility

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Speaker 1: here and Lakers one thirteen Knicks one oh nine. As

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Speaker 1: the Lakers right now flatley look like not a contender,

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Speaker 1: but the contender. I understand that Charles Barkley tried to

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Speaker 1: minimize and we'll get more on Chuck in a bit

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Speaker 1: of what the Lakers have done to a good two weeks.

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Speaker 1: It's getting close to a good two months. From the

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Speaker 1: midway point of January to right now March seventh, this

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Speaker 1: has been the best team in basketball, and last night's

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Speaker 1: game against the Knicks was not even close to their

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Speaker 1: best game during this stretch, which is what made it

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Speaker 1: so impressive set on TV yesterday that this felt like

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Speaker 1: a game that the whole world was going to be

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Speaker 1: betting the Lakers. They were oddly only three and a

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Speaker 1: half point favorites. The everyone had caught up with the

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Speaker 1: fact that the Knicks were zero to eight going into

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Speaker 1: this game against the top two seeds in the East

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Speaker 1: Boston Cleveland and the top two seeds in the West.

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Speaker 1: The Lakers in the thunder, and there was real questions

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Speaker 1: about whether or not the Knicks could beat good teams,

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Speaker 1: the Karl Anthony Towns coming off missing the game for

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Speaker 1: personal reasons, the Lakers flying high, getting Austin Reeves back.

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Speaker 1: It felt like the whole world would be betting the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: and I said, ah, feels like a game the Lakers

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Speaker 1: can lose, especially with the Boston game coming up on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: And through three quarters it looked like a game the

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Speaker 1: Lakers were going to lose. And then in the fourth quarter, yes,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers hit some shots, but they only scored twenty

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Speaker 1: three points. The story of the game, and Lebron said

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Speaker 1: it afterwards, was going into down thirteen late in the third,

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Speaker 1: down eight going into the fourth. The Lakers held the

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Speaker 1: Knicks to fifteen fourth quarter points and that was before

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson. Story on the Knick side is Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 1: suffered a bad ankle injury in overtime and you worry

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Speaker 1: about him for the Knicks purposes for the next few weeks.

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Speaker 1: Luckily for the Knicks, and they have a decent cushion

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Speaker 1: on Milwaukee up you know, three and a half in

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Speaker 1: the standings to where they could maybe give Jalen some

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Speaker 1: time and still hold on to that three spot. They

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Speaker 1: were never catching Boston as the two. They probably won't

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Speaker 1: drop to the four, so they should be able to

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Speaker 1: be cautious with Jailing as long as the injury is

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Speaker 1: not you know, a month, six weeks, something like that.

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Speaker 1: But the story for the game for the Lakers is

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Speaker 1: the defense was brilliant in the fourth quarter and they

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Speaker 1: held the Knicks to ninety nine points through regulation. They

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Speaker 1: then end up winning an overtime and a lot of

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Speaker 1: tentacles to this basketball game, but Luca going thirty two,

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Speaker 1: seven and twelve and Lebron going thirty one twelve to eight,

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Speaker 1: where they have almost identical points thirty one to thirty two.

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Speaker 1: Lebron twelve rebounds, Luca twelve assists, Luca seven rebounds, Lebron

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Speaker 1: eight assists, the both taking twenty three shots, both hitting

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Speaker 1: their free throws, both struggling a bit from three. Somewhat

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Speaker 1: mirror image games, except Luca's got the ball in his

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Speaker 1: hands more so he's gonna be doing more distributing. Lebron

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Speaker 1: guarding carl at than he towns. More on that in

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Speaker 1: a second, and getting clutch rebounds late hitting his free

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Speaker 1: throws again, the Lebron free throws are a thing. They're

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Speaker 1: like a leap year. Once every three or four years,

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Speaker 1: when he misses a big one, we talk about him

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Speaker 1: the whole rest of the time. It's not a concern

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Speaker 1: for anybody made all four down the stretched dice the game,

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Speaker 1: and this Austin Reeves was shaky. He was russ. He

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Speaker 1: was two of thirteen worse than shakey Dalton connect was

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Speaker 1: the only Laker other than Lebron and Luca in double figures.

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Speaker 1: You Jackson Hayes came back down to earth after his

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Speaker 1: really good stretch, gave Vincent eleven minutes, zero points, zero's

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Speaker 1: across the stat board except for one rebound and one foul.

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Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt didn't do much for you. He played some

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Speaker 1: really good defense to his credit, but I'm talking offensively.

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Speaker 1: None of it mattered because Lebron and Luca were that

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Speaker 1: good on offense and defensively. The Lakers once again were great.

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Speaker 1: And before the game, if you were watching inside the NBA,

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Speaker 1: and like I said, we'll get to the Chuck piece

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Speaker 1: of it in a bit. But Kenny Smith smart said

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Speaker 1: what he was most interested in was when the Knicks

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Speaker 1: played a center and Lebron was matched up on Carl

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Speaker 1: Anthony Towns. Would the Knicks be able to take advantage

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Speaker 1: of Karl Anthony Towns having a size advantage being guarded

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Speaker 1: by a forty year old And the answer to that

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Speaker 1: question was no. Carl Anthony Towns finishes the game three

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Speaker 1: of thirteen from the field two of eleven. I believe

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Speaker 1: on possessions where Lebron James was the primary defender and

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Speaker 1: Lebron as he has his entire career from year two

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Speaker 1: to year twenty two, what do you need from me tonight?

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Speaker 1: I got you? And this all of this stuff I've

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Speaker 1: heard for years about the questions about, well, when you're

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Speaker 1: talking about the greatest players ever, what about the defensive

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Speaker 1: gap between Lebron and It is a defensive gap between

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Speaker 1: Lebron and Michael. It's a significant one in Lebron's edge

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Speaker 1: because he is and continues to be truly the only

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Speaker 1: superstar in league history who can credibly guard all five positions.

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Speaker 1: Whether it was the Eastern Conference Finals a deck more

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Speaker 1: than a decade ago guarding League MVP point guard d Rose,

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Speaker 1: or whether it was the first round of the playoffs

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Speaker 1: last year guarding Nikola Jokic at times when no other

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Speaker 1: Laker could deal with him. Now, obviously Lebron struggled with

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Speaker 1: Jokic as well, but Nikola Jokic, you know the peak

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Speaker 1: of his powers. The Lakers game plan yesterday was have

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Speaker 1: the forty year old at seventy thousand minutes guard Karl

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Speaker 1: Anthony Towns, and it worked. And I the JJ Reddick.

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Speaker 1: I continue to be wildly impressed by every time we

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Speaker 1: hear Reddick, even in those cliche in the huddle moments

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Speaker 1: when he's just telling the guys essentially what you want

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Speaker 1: to hear. Candae Parker said on the broadcast to what

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Speaker 1: you want to hear from the coach not getting spooked

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Speaker 1: by missshots instead saying they're good looks, We're gonna make

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Speaker 1: the shots. We gotta get the stops, and they got

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Speaker 1: the stops. They got the stops down the stretch. That

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Speaker 1: there was a play that would have thought that would

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Speaker 1: have been incomprehensible for any time really in Lebron's career

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Speaker 1: since Kyrie left the Calves, so since twenty seven team

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Speaker 1: where a critical possession down the stretch, Lebron is standing

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Speaker 1: as a floor spacer in the corner and Luca is

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Speaker 1: out there cooking, draws a double, makes the pass. Then

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Speaker 1: I forget we passed, or I think was Austin, It

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Speaker 1: might have been Gabe. Vincent finds Lebron alone in the corner,

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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, Lebron James down for critical situation,

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Speaker 1: has an open corner three, the best shot in basketball,

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Speaker 1: the type of shot he truly has not gotten throughout

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Speaker 1: most of his career, but certainly at almost any time

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Speaker 1: in the last decade, because he's been the guy drawing

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Speaker 1: the double team, he's been the guy creating the offense

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Speaker 1: that leads to someone else's open corner three, gets it,

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Speaker 1: nails it, Lakers go on to win. Jalen gets hurt

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Speaker 1: in overtime, which is a huge bummer, but healthier. No,

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Speaker 1: the knick side of this is very simple. Despite trading

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Speaker 1: for McHale Bridges and despite trading for Karl Anthony Towns,

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Speaker 1: this team is not a real contender. This team does

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Speaker 1: not live with the big boys of the rest of

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Speaker 1: the league. Right now, I would put the contenders into

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Speaker 1: three buckets. Oh my god, are the really this good?

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Speaker 1: Is okac in Cleveland? The record says they are the

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Speaker 1: advanced metrics say they are, you still feel like you

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Speaker 1: need to see either of those teams as currently put

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Speaker 1: together go on a real run in the postseason. And

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Speaker 1: that might not be fair, but in the NBA in particular,

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Speaker 1: it's just really hard to believe a team is gonna

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Speaker 1: win four rounds before you've even seen them in three

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Speaker 1: rounds or in Cleveland, Oklahoma City's case, even seeing them

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Speaker 1: win two rounds. So that's bucket one, are they really

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Speaker 1: this good? Bucket two is nobody wants to play them?

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Speaker 1: Probably the two best teams Boston and the Lakers. The

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Speaker 1: Lakers right now have the two smartest offensive players in

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Speaker 1: the league, two of the three. I gotta include Jokichen

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Speaker 1: that the right now in my opinion. Yeah, with respect

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Speaker 1: to Tatum, the two best wings in the league. I

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Speaker 1: don't consider Shave, you consider Shay a wing or more

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Speaker 1: of a guard. I in Luke and Lebron and a

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Speaker 1: great coach. And the rest of the lineup is busting

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Speaker 1: their ass on defense and hitting threes. And then there's

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Speaker 1: one more bucket to contenders, and that is can this ow?

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Speaker 1: This is not a really catchy title, but the argument

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Speaker 1: for these two teams, the Bucks and the Nuggets are

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Speaker 1: we have a top twenty all time player. Can he

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Speaker 1: go on a run that puts himself closer to ten

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Speaker 1: than to twenty all time, meaning Yannis and Jokic and

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Speaker 1: Yiannis has kind of been the forgotten guy having an

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Speaker 1: unbelievable season and having the Bucks right there. Can one

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Speaker 1: of those, either of those guys go on an all

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Speaker 1: time six week run like we saw them each go

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Speaker 1: on in twenty three and in twenty one, where they

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Speaker 1: were just for the better part of a couple months

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Speaker 1: thermonuclear weapons en route to a championship. No one else

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Speaker 1: is a can The Warriors, God loves Steph and he

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Speaker 1: is playing out of his mind and continued it last night,

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Speaker 1: are not contenders. The Knicks obviously are not contenders. And

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Speaker 1: I don't think there's anybody would even argue for Memphis

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Speaker 1: or Houston or Minnesota, which has taken a huge step

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Speaker 1: back this year, for anybody else. So that's Lakers Knicks

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Speaker 1: the basketball game. We'll get to Lakers Nicks the event

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Speaker 1: in a moment, But first, who's scoring big in the

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Speaker 1: gonna have. We gave you Steph over twenty five and

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Speaker 1: a half. What did Steph finish with? Forty? So Steph's

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Speaker 1: over hit by fourteen and a half. I also gave

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Speaker 1: you Austin Reeves under eighteen and a half. It could

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Speaker 1: have been under eight and a half and it would

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Speaker 1: For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dking dot

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Speaker 1: co slash b ball. All right, so I sent out

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Speaker 1: some tweets yesterday about Barkley. So Barkley went after Kendrick

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Speaker 1: Perkins bad in the pregame show, and you know that's

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Speaker 1: Perkins fight to make, you know, to have that's not

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Speaker 1: so much my business, and I, you know, Perkins then

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Speaker 1: basically was like, I'm easy to find. I'll stay out

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Speaker 1: of that one. But what I won't stay out of

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Speaker 1: is the hypocrisy of how some and again everyone loves Chuck.

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Speaker 1: Everyone loves Chuck hand up myself included. He is one

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Speaker 1: of the most universally beloved and hilarious, successful, awesome sportscasters

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Speaker 1: in history. All that is true. What's also true is he,

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Speaker 1: like a lot of others, has a real blind spot

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Speaker 1: if you want to call it that, when it comes

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Speaker 1: to lebron and in Chuck's case, more specifically, when it

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Speaker 1: comes to the Lakers. And I'm not some lifelong Laker fan.

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Speaker 1: People can criticize me for this, but I've always been

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Speaker 1: transparent about it. I'm the same high school class as

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Speaker 1: Lebron high school basketball team. My senior year, we would

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Speaker 1: all get together at my house and watch Saint Vincent

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Speaker 1: Saint Mary's play because we thought it was whenever they

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Speaker 1: were on ESPN. Because we thought it was so cool

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Speaker 1: that guys our age were on ESPN playing. We even

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Speaker 1: tried to like, like, maybe we can run some of

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Speaker 1: the plays they're running. Turns out, having you know, seventeen

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Speaker 1: year old future goat allowed them to run some offense

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Speaker 1: we couldn't run. For small, small Midwestern private school, I

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Speaker 1: went to neither here nor there. The reason I bring

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Speaker 1: that up is can'tsedon have basketball team. I actually grew

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Speaker 1: up as a little kid a Knicks fan because my

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Speaker 1: mom was from New York. But by the time I

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Speaker 1: was in high school, I didn't really have a team.

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Speaker 1: And I just said, at that moment, listen this guy

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Speaker 1: on Saint Vincent Saint Mary's, Lebron James. He's my favorite

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Speaker 1: player and wherever he goes is where all go. So

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Speaker 1: I have been one of those people who do I

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Speaker 1: root for whichever team Lebron's on, and people laugh at that, whatever,

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Speaker 1: say it's bad fandom. I don't care. I just my own.

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Speaker 1: What I owe the audience is honesty. Why did oh yes,

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Speaker 1: I was saying he had a blind spot for the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: The reason I even mentioned that is I'm not some

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Speaker 1: lifelong Laker fan, but I've been a Laker fan the

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Speaker 1: last seven years since the Bron's been there. And Chuck

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Speaker 1: all year long has said, basically, the Lakers are a

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Speaker 1: non story. The Lakers are you know, they are discussed

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Speaker 1: because they're the Lakers and because the media is obsessed

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Speaker 1: with Lebron and for no other reason. And listen, when

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Speaker 1: the Lakers started four and four, it's like, ah, maybe

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be right. And then when they were thirteen

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Speaker 1: and twelve, it's like, Okay, it's probably just a mediocre team.

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Speaker 1: And Lebron wasn't really at the first month the season

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Speaker 1: wasn't playing great. But then by before they traded for Luca.

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Speaker 1: The day they traded for Luca, they were twenty nine

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Speaker 1: nineteen and on a nice run. And that was with

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis having been out some games, and the narrative

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Speaker 1: was still the Lakers are not to be taken seriously. Fine,

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Speaker 1: they weren't a championship contender before they traded for Luca,

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Speaker 1: But then after they traded for Luca, some folks, none

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Speaker 1: louder than Chuck doubled down on it said the MAVs

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Speaker 1: would be better this season. The Lakers should consider for

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Speaker 1: as much as Chuck killed ESPN for nothing just talking

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Speaker 1: about the Lakers day after the couple days after the

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Speaker 1: Luca trade, Lebron went on or Sorry, Chuck went on

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Speaker 1: ESPN and started talking about that the Lakers should trade

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Speaker 1: Lebron to Golden State or to San Antonio, just fan

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Speaker 1: fiction Laker trades, but again set that aside, doubled down

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Speaker 1: that this team still was not a real threat. And

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Speaker 1: then last night before the game, when he's ripping Perk,

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Speaker 1: he says, because they've had a good two weeks, we're

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Speaker 1: all falling over ourselves about the Lakers. Guys. They have been,

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Speaker 1: by a record standpoint, off, by a defense standpoint, the

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Speaker 1: best team in the league for six weeks. They went

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Speaker 1: from twenty two to eighteen to forty and twenty one

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Speaker 1: in that stretch, beating Boston, Golden State, the Knicks, the Clippers,

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Speaker 1: Golden State, Denver, Minnesota, the Clippers, the Clippers, the Knicks.

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Speaker 1: Ten teams that are definitive playoff teams. I'm not even

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Speaker 1: including Dallas in that because Dallas. I shouldn't include Dallas

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Speaker 1: in that. So ten wins, their only losses. One was

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Speaker 1: to Philly, got beat badly, and then the loss right

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Speaker 1: before the break against Utah was and in just a

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Speaker 1: brutal game for the Lakers where Luca really struggled and

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Speaker 1: Lebron really struggled. And then the unforgivable game right after

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Speaker 1: the break to the Hornets. But they're eighteen and three

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Speaker 1: in the last six weeks, and so before the game

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Speaker 1: it was they've had a good two weeks. At halftime

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Speaker 1: it was a damn party. They're gonna be crying tomorrow

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Speaker 1: about the Lakers. And then after the game looked like

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Speaker 1: someone had just repossessed his car. And Kenny is trying

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Speaker 1: to talk about how the Lakers potentially match up up

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Speaker 1: against the Thunder and Charles won't even let him do it.

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Speaker 1: Charle's like, well, they got to get there, and that

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Speaker 1: is true, they got to get there. But it is

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Speaker 1: pretty common practice to talk about how the one seed

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Speaker 1: and the two seed would match up in the conference finals,

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Speaker 1: and folks can have wanted this to not work. Folks

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Speaker 1: can have just been loud and wrong. Again, Gotta be

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Speaker 1: fair here, even though I love him, as Chuck was

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Speaker 1: the loudest and wrongest about Luke and Lebron fitting together.

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Speaker 1: Everyone's wrong on stuff all that. You know. I said

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum was the fifth best player in his draft class,

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Speaker 1: like people are, and that's just one of a hundred.

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Speaker 1: But to in the face of being that wrong, to

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Speaker 1: not give an inch and to just keep moving the goalposts.

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Speaker 1: It's transparent and people do start to wonder what I

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Speaker 1: understood you saying. And one other thing I gotta say,

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Speaker 1: Chuck being like, we need to talk more about the

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Speaker 1: thunder and the and the Calves. I that's probably a

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Speaker 1: fair point. It's a weird messenger. When does anyone? Does

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Speaker 1: anyone really think that he's watching a ton of thunder

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Speaker 1: and calves? Like? Does? That? Does? Does? One of the

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Speaker 1: reasons everybody loves him is because things like who he

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Speaker 1: played for are so hilarious. Does anyone really think he's

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Speaker 1: naming more than four thunder or calves? Like it? Just

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Speaker 1: I it It feels disingenuous. And before I go, one

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Speaker 1: last thing. I mentioned this on Thursday's pot I'll mention

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Speaker 1: it again because the other thing Chuck did was rip

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Speaker 1: anybody who's engaging in the Lebron Jordan debate. You guys

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Speaker 1: have noticed, right, you guys have noticed how much ground

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Speaker 1: has been seated to where now people are just like,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to have the fight anymore. No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: let's just you know what, they're both great, not that

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Speaker 1: long ago from these same exact people. This is what

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Speaker 1: you heard Lebron versus Michael. When did Lebron pass Kobe?

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Speaker 1: A right? Five to four? You guys are putting them

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Speaker 1: against Michael. Whindy passed Kobe? You heard that. Then little

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Speaker 1: time passed and it became this. Listen, Now it's hating

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Speaker 1: on Lebron to call him the second greatest player ever. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we all know he's the second greatest player ever, but

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Speaker 1: he's no Michael Jordan. And now two different things have happened.

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Speaker 1: One is this, you know what, Let's just not have

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Speaker 1: the argument anymore. They're both great. You know, it's too

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Speaker 1: hard to parts. Let's just agree to disagree. That's happening.

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Speaker 1: And the other thing that started with the Steph conversation

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Speaker 1: is trying to muddy what. You know what, everybody's a goat.

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Speaker 1: STEP's a goat, Kobe's a goat, Lebron's a goat, Kareem's

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Speaker 1: a goat, Michael's a goat. They're all goats. They know

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Speaker 1: they've lost the argument, and so they're trying to say

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Speaker 1: now that I lost the argument. The argument's dumb, and

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Speaker 1: in fact, everybody, everybody's a winner in it. We see

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Speaker 1: what you're doing. Lakers might be the most dangerous team

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Speaker 1: in the NBA right now, and got a really tough

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Speaker 1: road trip in the next eight days at Boston, at Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: at Milwaukee, at Denver, at Milwaukee at Denver as a

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Speaker 1: back to back, and at Boston it's a huge game.

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Speaker 1: It's a potential finals preview. The Lakers beat them the

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Speaker 1: last time. The Lakers coming off an overtime game, that's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a tough one. But they're in great shape

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Speaker 1: right now. And I'm really interested in how the Western

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Speaker 1: Conference playoff bracket's gonna shake out, because the only thing

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Speaker 1: we know is OKC is the one. I understand folks

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Speaker 1: really want the Warriors to move up to that four

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Speaker 1: or five line, so the Warriors don't have to deal

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Speaker 1: with Oka. See the Lakers are Denver in round one,

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Speaker 1: and we could potentially get Oka. See Lakers Denver and

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Speaker 1: Golden State is the fourteens remaining in round two. But

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Speaker 1: Golden State right now is a true three back of

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Speaker 1: the five line and only a half game up on

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Speaker 1: the seven. So Golden State's got to keep rolling and

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Speaker 1: hope Minnesota doesn't get hot. With that said, Golden State

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Speaker 1: is about to enter as easy as tough as the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: Next week is Golden State's next week is Detroit, who's

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Speaker 1: actually pretty good. Portland who's playing better, but they should

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Speaker 1: be able to beat Sacramento and then the Knicks and

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Speaker 1: all those games at Golden State, so they should very

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Speaker 1: least stay the six, which could make the two to

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Speaker 1: three between the Lakers Nuggets all the more important. Who

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Speaker 1: can hold onto that two line. But all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: nobody wants to play that team in purpland goal, and

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Speaker 1: it is very very difficult for me to see them

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Speaker 1: not playing in the Western Conference finals, and in those

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Speaker 1: conference finals having the greatest playoff performer of all time

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Speaker 1: in Lebron James and one of the most prolific playoff

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Speaker 1: scorers ever in luk Adncic, playing against the youngest team

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Speaker 1: to ever make the conference finals in the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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Speaker 1: Tough matchup. Talk about it more, see you guys on

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Speaker 1: TV shortly What's right