Speaker 1: Let's start with the Philly Boston Series sixers tied things
Speaker 1: up to two raizor thin margin of going down three
Speaker 1: to one. I don't know why, but Marcus Smart is
Speaker 1: now in charge of hitting or just missing or just
Speaker 1: taking game winners. That's just what his role is now
Speaker 1: on this Boston Celtics team. Never Mind that there's Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum there, never mind that there's Jalen Brown there. Never
Speaker 1: mind that he's just one of the all time greatest
Speaker 1: chucker inconsistent shooters in the league. One miss three that
Speaker 1: could have won the Boston Celtics the game, and another
Speaker 1: May three of Marcus Smart's in overtime that he actually
Speaker 1: got off after the buzzer, so it went in. It
Speaker 1: was very close and it was not good. That was
Speaker 1: very very razor thin. But the biggest story, I think,
Speaker 1: to me, feels like James Harden. James Harden as a
Speaker 1: roller coaster is in full effect this playoffs. Usually we
Speaker 1: can somewhat expect a level of consistency for him in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and it's usually not great, but he has
Speaker 1: made headlines all series long. His fashion, whatever, the kind
Speaker 1: of electric factory type fashion that he has going to
Speaker 1: Vegas during an off day for a little baby party.
Speaker 1: Like James Harden and little Baby are like the best
Speaker 1: of friends. Like they're a little too close, if you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 1: But they are like white on rice. They are peas
Speaker 1: and carrots, James Harden and little Baby. And then to
Speaker 1: putting up the best and worst games of his playoff
Speaker 1: career in the same series, back to back to back
Speaker 1: to back. Yes, forty five points Game one without MBID
Speaker 1: at that point was probably his single best performance of
Speaker 1: his playoff career. He then followed up with the two
Speaker 1: worst shooting performances of his entire career playoffs and regular
Speaker 1: season combined. That's true as well. And then how did
Speaker 1: he follow that up? Forty two points, eight rebounds, nine assists,
Speaker 1: four steals, one block, and a corner three to win
Speaker 1: the game? Catch and shoot, James Harden, Who are you?
Speaker 1: James Harden? He had a game tying three in regulation
Speaker 1: and a game winning three in overtime. So two best
Speaker 1: games of his career bookending the two worst shooting performances
Speaker 1: of his career. That is the James Harden experience, folks.
Speaker 1: Another fun fact about James Harden. He has now hit
Speaker 1: two game winners in the same series, which is absurdly rare,
Speaker 1: and the only other player to do that. The last
Speaker 1: player to do that was his teammate, former teammate Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant back in twenty twelve against the LA Lakers. Been
Speaker 1: that kind of playoffs for James And the funniest part
Speaker 1: to me was that James Harden got the strangest inspiration
Speaker 1: for that performance from none other than Doc Rivers, in
Speaker 1: the form of an inspirational song sent to him via
Speaker 1: text message before he got to the arena, An eight
Speaker 1: minute gospel song sent to James Harden. I didn't think
Speaker 1: James Harden was into that kind of thing, but I
Speaker 1: guess whatever works, right. Harden said he was in the
Speaker 1: car with his friends, probably a little baby, and and
Speaker 1: got the text message from Doc Rivers and then asked
Speaker 1: his friends to put the song on. Hey, let's just
Speaker 1: put the song on. Let's listen to the whole thing
Speaker 1: through was little baby driving. It gets unclear does he
Speaker 1: have a chauffeur, because nobody who's driving asks their friends, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's just put this on. They just put it on, right,
Speaker 1: That's just what you do when you're driving anyway, all
Speaker 1: these things run through my head. So he listens to
Speaker 1: it all the way through and he thought at that point,
Speaker 1: and he said this in his postgame presser, that he
Speaker 1: thought that this song had to have some good juju. Then,
Speaker 1: as we know, he went on put on a show,
Speaker 1: game tying three, game winning three, and PJ. Tucker said
Speaker 1: it perfectly in the postgame presser with James Harden, you
Speaker 1: better play that fucking song again before gay five because
Speaker 1: whatever that song did, it got it. Which brings us
Speaker 1: to PJ. Tucker, one of the more fascinating glue guys.
Speaker 1: I think in the league, big time dog, I would say,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest dogs in terms of the role
Speaker 1: player position. Like if you have the he's got that
Speaker 1: dog in a meme, that's PJ. Tucker and a guy
Speaker 1: that the Sixers have desperately needed in the post Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler era, because as we know, Jimmy was that guy
Speaker 1: that instilled confidence and grit and once he left, the
Speaker 1: team got soft as baby shit. Right, So it is
Speaker 1: time that we do break down a little bit of PJ. Tucker.
Speaker 1: I asked Philadelphia podcaster Ryan Rostein. I was asking him, Hey, like,
Speaker 1: tell me about PJ. Tucker and how impactful he is
Speaker 1: on this team. His response, in my opinion, was fascinating.
Speaker 2: Everything but points. It's you know, he's It was frustrating
Speaker 2: in the regular season because he did that often and
Speaker 2: the value couldn't be seen in the regular season because
Speaker 2: you know, those games don't matter and the style is
Speaker 2: significantly different. But he brings everything to this team. He
Speaker 2: brings toughness, he brings leadership. I look at PJ. Tucker
Speaker 2: as the leader. I talked about it for years about
Speaker 2: how this Sixers team lacked leadership and Beans not a leader.
Speaker 2: And Bean's not a grab your shirt, what are you doing?
Speaker 2: Let's go guy Like, he's not raw raw, He's not
Speaker 2: gonna say anything or lead. Neither really is Tobias or hardened.
Speaker 2: So Tucker's providing leadership and toughness that this Sixers team
Speaker 2: has been lacking for a long time.
Speaker 1: Facts has been lacked for a long time. And of
Speaker 1: course PJ. Tucker went out and did what PJ Tucker
Speaker 1: does six points, three rebounds, one assists, four fouls, impactful,
Speaker 1: probably hard fouls. Still managed to be a plus one
Speaker 1: in thirty one minutes in a game they won by
Speaker 1: checks notes one. That seems absurd, but no one has
Speaker 1: crazy stat lines like PJ Tucker. You look at Game
Speaker 1: one when there was no Embiid, when the Sixer stole
Speaker 1: Game one and TD Garden. Tucker in that game thirty
Speaker 1: seven points without attempting a single field goal, ubsurd, five
Speaker 1: and one, two steals, and in a four point win,
Speaker 1: PJ Tucker was a plus six, exactly the amount that
Speaker 1: they're winning by PJ Tucker is a plus of that
Speaker 1: same amount. That's how impactful and important PJ Tucker is.
Speaker 1: I think what we call PJ Tucker is Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: if Jimmy Butler couldn't score. That's what he is. He
Speaker 1: does all the same things that Jimmy Butler does, except
Speaker 1: for put the basketball in the hoop. One minute he's
Speaker 1: deflecting a pass, the next he's in bee ball Paul's
Speaker 1: face imploring him, just furiously telling him YO play defense,
Speaker 1: get some rebounds. One of the best moments I think
Speaker 1: that highlights PJ Tucker in this particular instance is so
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid has been known to be a little lazy
Speaker 1: in all moments, not just regular season moments. Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: sometimes doesn't have the most consistent motor in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter when they are razor thin in the fight. In
Speaker 1: the thick of the battle with the Boston Celtics, he
Speaker 1: watches Joel Embiid take multiple plays off. So what does
Speaker 1: he do. He gets into inside of Joel Embiid's asshole,
Speaker 1: just reaming him, just yelling at him, grabbing onto his
Speaker 1: jersey like that's not the MVP. And they ask him
Speaker 1: about it after the game, and this is what he
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 3: No Viking guard Joe one on one. There's no way.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, it's I dispected or anybody else. Bautguard him
Speaker 3: for a lot of years, and when he's aggressive in asertive,
Speaker 3: it's impossible. And I've seen him two or three plays
Speaker 3: in a row and not do that. And we can't
Speaker 3: add at. We can add at now with a season
Speaker 3: on the line, we can't have it.
Speaker 1: Can't have that he's taking plays off. Can't have that, No, sir.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid one of the most dominant scores. Physically imposing,
Speaker 1: has some of the best footwork you'll ever see, like
Speaker 1: very light touch around the rim, hits, his free throws,
Speaker 1: can shoot threes. You're not stopping that man. The only
Speaker 1: thing stopping Joel Embiid is Joel Embiid's motor. So if
Speaker 1: the motor is going at full blast, Sixers could win
Speaker 1: a title. That is what PJ. Tucker is there to
Speaker 1: wind a little Joel Embiid up and to get the
Speaker 1: motor to restart in critical moments when he is taking
Speaker 1: time off. Also listen, if he didn't do that, Sixers
Speaker 1: are probably down three to one. That's just the fact.
Speaker 1: One final point though about the Sixers. Doc Rivers I
Speaker 1: ever thought I'd say it, folks. Doc Rivers has been
Speaker 1: really good. His coaching has been on tippy top shape,
Speaker 1: the type of Doc Rivers coaching that we thought he
Speaker 1: was when he was in Boston, right handling things perfectly,
Speaker 1: adjusting the lineup to make up for no and beating
Speaker 1: Game one, keeping some of the players out from the
Speaker 1: lineup that we thought might get significant minutes using Harden
Speaker 1: in a catch and shoot situation. What has James Harden
Speaker 1: ever done that? Looking at the film to get this
Speaker 1: team to have better spacing, better ability in the pick
Speaker 1: and roll Game four, you see this changing. He is
Speaker 1: having some of the best coaching playoffs I've ever seen,
Speaker 1: obviously sending Harden the eight minute long gospel song. Something
Speaker 1: has gotten into Doc Rivers. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: just because of how bad Joe was is, but Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers is coaching circles around Joe Mizula. Another thing that's
Speaker 1: impressive in terms of Dox's coaching. He is doing something
Speaker 1: very underrated. Kerr does this. Spoe does this even after
Speaker 1: a win. He's just moving the chess pieces, calling out
Speaker 1: the refs, getting very mad because Jason Tatum pushed off
Speaker 1: on a three point that he made that could have
Speaker 1: lost the Sixers the game to set up more favorable
Speaker 1: calls in Game five.
Speaker 4: Jason Tatum's three was awful. That that wasn't called awful?
Speaker 4: Did you did you think it was a push off?
Speaker 4: I'm asking you no, no, be committed. Did you think
Speaker 4: it was a push off? It was a push off?
Speaker 1: You can't.
Speaker 4: And the reason that it bugged me because at the
Speaker 4: end of the game they were the touch files. You know,
Speaker 4: Jason Tatum has a three sixty foul. Uh Marcus Smartin
Speaker 4: Tuck gets tangled up touch foul, So we're gonna call
Speaker 4: it that way. Then you have to call that to me.
Speaker 4: You got to call that play. I know it's a
Speaker 4: big play, and I'm a big fan of res not deciding,
Speaker 4: but that could have decided the game.
Speaker 1: That could have decided the game. Good job, Doc, Is
Speaker 1: he wrong?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: That was an absolute push off, And I love the
Speaker 1: fact that Doc Rivers forced the reporter to also admit,
Speaker 1: do not be going both sides of the line with me. Reporter,
Speaker 1: did you think it was a push off or was
Speaker 1: it not? Okay? Doc is on one in this series.
Speaker 1: Is that enough to put him over the top? I
Speaker 1: don't know. Probably maybe. Joe Mizula continues to be asked
Speaker 1: at the end of games and came out and admitted that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I fucked up. At the end of game four, he
Speaker 1: had this to say after the game, hindsight is twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I should have called the time out at the end
Speaker 1: of ot to help us go for a two for
Speaker 1: one situation for a couple more possessions. Obviously, fourteen seconds
Speaker 1: left down one you want as many chances as you can.
Speaker 1: So definitely learned from that. Ooh, Joe Mizoula, how Mike
Speaker 1: Budenholzer of you? That is something else, especially considering that
Speaker 1: Joe Mazzola literally just after Game three came out and
Speaker 1: was like, what about those adjustments? What about those adjustments?
Speaker 1: I had wow while walking out the door. Not just
Speaker 1: the end of the game management. It's what Marcus said
Speaker 1: also last week. Yeah, speaking of Bootenholzers, sounds exactly like
Speaker 1: Boodenholzer here too. Yeah, most of our offense is just random.
Speaker 1: We're just getting random out here. That's why Jalen Brown's
Speaker 1: postgame comments were so telling.
Speaker 5: I guess I got to demand the ball a little
Speaker 5: bit more. I thought good things happened when I had
Speaker 5: it in my ass, But I thought our offense was
Speaker 5: was was okay. I thought we we may, we chipped away,
Speaker 5: we made big tim shots, we got great looks all
Speaker 5: game long, and we just came up short.
Speaker 1: And that give me the fucking ball. Jalen Brown should
Speaker 1: like not be only shooting the ball through three times
Speaker 1: in seventeen minutes of any game. Very very like clearly
Speaker 1: let alone in a winnable game to go up three
Speaker 1: to one and take the sixers and put them to sleep.
Speaker 1: That is on the offense, and that offense is directed
Speaker 1: by who Joe Mizzoula. If this series comes down to
Speaker 1: who's coaching better, Doctor Joe. I hate to say it
Speaker 1: because it is a wild thing for Doc rivers to
Speaker 1: have a coaching edge in any series, in any playoff
Speaker 1: series at all, but listen, I think Doc is head
Speaker 1: and shoulders a better coach right now than Joe Mozia Azula.
Speaker 1: So that means Boston may be out, and that is
Speaker 1: saying a lot about the Eastern Conference.