Speaker 1: We're back.
Speaker 2: It's episode one oh seven, and Lebron and Luca continue
Speaker 2: to do amazing things, things that have some people saying.
Speaker 3: No, no, no.
Speaker 2: Uh and some people saying yes, yes, define a physit,
Speaker 2: define the laws of science, geometry even and Booker has
Speaker 2: placed himself in quite rarefied air, and we're going to
Speaker 2: get into the State of the Clippers and Planny Moore
Speaker 2: with NBA writer Law Murray on today's episode.
Speaker 1: I'm Miles Gray and I'm Jack O'Brien, and this is Miles.
Speaker 4: And Jack story Got It and Luka Dotic.
Speaker 3: Hits ta Okay, there you go.
Speaker 5: Indeed, driving Spinny d.
Speaker 1: From Bron's Got It with five is gonna try another three,
Speaker 1: mister Kron James.
Speaker 2: To be honest, I can't grab net just so you know,
Speaker 2: fIF you can't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I tried the other day.
Speaker 5: I almost tore my hamstring and calf at the same time.
Speaker 3: I don't know how on my left leg that's my You.
Speaker 1: Grabbed it so hard.
Speaker 5: Yeah, let's say that because I almost I almost.
Speaker 2: I almost grabbed it so hard I blew out my
Speaker 2: hamstring and calf.
Speaker 3: No, because I'm out of shape.
Speaker 1: Saturday slapped backboard, so hard On exactly.
Speaker 2: Right, trying to show up for my nephew, and he
Speaker 2: was not oppressed. But anyway, we got law Murray here
Speaker 2: for the athletic law. You are a fan of the.
Speaker 5: Clippers and you cover the Clippers, I'm gonna get me
Speaker 5: in trouble.
Speaker 6: I'm not a fan of anybody, Okay, I'm I do
Speaker 6: cover the Clippers.
Speaker 5: You cover the Clippers. Obviously have journalistic integrity.
Speaker 6: I literally rewrote in my bio that I am not
Speaker 6: I am not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not carrying water for nobody, just saying.
Speaker 2: Of course in private it you know, does it does
Speaker 2: it warm your heart to see the white, red, and blue?
Speaker 5: We're talking about the American flag, not the Clippers.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of red, white and blue teams in
Speaker 4: the league though.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, we.
Speaker 2: Just we'll keep it there and you just that colorway, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you just like the colors.
Speaker 4: I'm a mercenary. I'm not really known for my loyalty, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 6: I feel like there's a lot of writers, reporters, uh,
Speaker 6: fan media if.
Speaker 4: You will, that are very.
Speaker 6: Open about being moved by one particular team, whether they
Speaker 6: grew up with them or because they're on.
Speaker 4: Their payroll, and I'm not, so I try to let
Speaker 4: people know that straight up.
Speaker 3: No, that's that's good.
Speaker 6: I am around them an inordinate amount of time, and
Speaker 6: that's been the case for most of the past ten years.
Speaker 2: So what did you grow up who did you grow
Speaker 2: up being a fan of before became a professional journalist?
Speaker 6: You got you gotta remember, I'm from Philly back when
Speaker 6: Sean Bradley and Clarence Weatherspoon were an.
Speaker 1: NBA J white, Red and blue.
Speaker 3: Yeah, team was, and.
Speaker 6: That team was garbage. So local local ties didn't do
Speaker 6: for me. And and I know, Miles, you'll appreciate this.
Speaker 6: I mean, eventually my favorite team became whoever was playing
Speaker 6: the Lakers, So.
Speaker 3: Wow, there you go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I love that. I love that for I
Speaker 2: love that for everybody, you know.
Speaker 6: Even for me though, It's like I just I was
Speaker 6: fans of players and the team lies on.
Speaker 4: I was my first favorite player, you know, and.
Speaker 6: Glass and and and then you know, I just wanted
Speaker 6: to be like appreciative of players and certain teams. So
Speaker 6: I fall out of love with teams, man, And that
Speaker 6: was really the case for me, even even early. So
Speaker 6: I'm appreciative when Alan Irison was good or me the
Speaker 6: Sixers good as you say, a, I was.
Speaker 4: Good at at the box, but like you know that.
Speaker 6: That associated me with Philly more than any other time.
Speaker 6: But man, when they traded him, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like all right, I'm off, y'all single tear drop pretty much. Yeah,
Speaker 2: It's easier to be a fan of players too than teams.
Speaker 2: I mean, like, granted, people understand I'm from LA and
Speaker 2: I have an illness called being a Laker fan, but
Speaker 2: also I do love I mean like I'm also I
Speaker 2: love Kevin Durant too, and then.
Speaker 5: I try not to get too bogged down.
Speaker 2: But let's be real, you know, I've I'm I'm definitely
Speaker 2: can be in my bag when the Clippers are doing
Speaker 2: well because I'm insecure.
Speaker 5: And you know what, how many people could say that
Speaker 5: out loud? Right, And that's not in a therapy session,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 4: Hey, you remember that Kevin Durant commercial.
Speaker 6: I think it was when he was a rookie where
Speaker 6: I think from A or whatever up until he was
Speaker 6: with the Sonics, he's like taking taking the jerseys off,
Speaker 6: that's yeah, I mean, yeah, the.
Speaker 2: Texas one right before and then he comes out on
Speaker 2: the Sonics one.
Speaker 3: Yes, I remember that on.
Speaker 6: One of the best commercials ever made. Bill, don't think
Speaker 6: we do commercials like we used to. No, I'm not
Speaker 6: even kidding.
Speaker 1: Because nobody watches them because nobody TV.
Speaker 3: No thrill.
Speaker 4: People will be cutting, core, cutting or whatever.
Speaker 6: You know, you can throw your commercial on some thirty
Speaker 6: second YouTube spot in between ski.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Remember when, like, you know, Nike commercials, especially like Nike
Speaker 2: basketball commercials were like appointment viewing. They're like, yo, they're
Speaker 2: doing that basketball commercial where they're making beats and stuff
Speaker 2: by squeaking their sneakers and dribbling the ball.
Speaker 6: Commercial doing that commercial game or the fun Police.
Speaker 2: The Fun Police was a great That was a was
Speaker 2: like a perfect Nike basketball commercial.
Speaker 5: I have to say The Fun Police was fantastic.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about a commercial later because I
Speaker 1: think Luca modeled his game after a commercial. Well, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about commercial in a moment.
Speaker 5: Yeah, iconic commercial nonetheless. But since law you're here, we've
Speaker 5: got you here.
Speaker 2: We got to talk about the state of the Clippers
Speaker 2: forty seven and twenty seven heading into tonight's matchup against
Speaker 2: the Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 5: You know, forty three and twenty four with Harden, been
Speaker 5: you up your day?
Speaker 3: You're up, you're down, But overall.
Speaker 5: I think, you know, it looks like things are coming together. Well,
Speaker 5: what do you think?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 5: I just want to posit this right.
Speaker 2: December and January twenty three and five, February and March
Speaker 2: sixteen and twelve. Now, some people like me rub their
Speaker 2: hands and they go, yes, it's coming apart. But then realistically,
Speaker 2: there were some injuries and things like that that would
Speaker 2: if you're being a little bit more objective, that would
Speaker 2: explain those kinds of things. What should we expect from
Speaker 2: the Clippers when we head into like when we get
Speaker 2: to mid March or mid April, Sorry, what do we expect?
Speaker 6: I can't wait to see what the postseason field looks like,
Speaker 6: both going into the playing tournament and obviously coming out
Speaker 6: of it, especially like this Clippers team is to me,
Speaker 6: matchup dependent.
Speaker 4: You know, if they get a team that they can score.
Speaker 6: On, they're scary that their confidence might have been shaken
Speaker 6: a bit. But I honestly just think that they've just
Speaker 6: had so many games. Guys have been pushing it all
Speaker 6: the top. You know, they were mocks at the end
Speaker 6: of last year because they were all said to want
Speaker 6: to compete more. You know, try harder, whatever you want
Speaker 6: to call it, but no, that's what happened. That's how
Speaker 6: you get twenty six and five over the course of
Speaker 6: like you said, the beginning of December through the Grammy trip,
Speaker 6: because they won the first three years of February, which
Speaker 6: is the last games of that road trip, the season
Speaker 6: one trip. So that happens because you are, you know,
Speaker 6: instead of doing what you did the previous year years,
Speaker 6: you know, low advantage guys with valid reasons. Then you know,
Speaker 6: one of those guys literally towards damn Aco. You know,
Speaker 6: there's a reason he wasn't playing back bets. You know,
Speaker 6: people lose jacket app the other has soft issue injuries
Speaker 6: every damn year. Like, no, they tried harder, and they
Speaker 6: might have peaked a little too soon, but at the
Speaker 6: same time, they secured or they're at the point where
Speaker 6: they just have to play five hundred basketball, please secure
Speaker 6: a top succeed.
Speaker 4: That's where we're at now.
Speaker 6: So the very thing that made people go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 6: that team can be a problem is the very thing
Speaker 6: that has them running on themes a little bit at
Speaker 6: this time of the year. It's probably why Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 6: is not going to play Tuesday night at Sacramento. But
Speaker 6: if they get a matchup where they feel like they
Speaker 6: can score, they're going to be a problem. If they
Speaker 6: get a matchup like the New Orleans Pelicans, that's they're
Speaker 6: going to have to shift.
Speaker 4: Their narrative a little bit too.
Speaker 6: Oh, we're experiencing we have another level because that Pelicans team,
Speaker 6: I feel like, can take away the things that make
Speaker 6: the Clippers comfortable on that offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 4: And then the Pelicans are big, like their.
Speaker 6: Size is going to be a real challenge or a
Speaker 6: Clippers team that I think has size at every position
Speaker 6: except for power forward.
Speaker 4: It just so happens that their power forward is their
Speaker 4: best player, Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 6: So the sacrifice that Kawhi has made this year is
Speaker 6: he's had instead of having some body like Marcus Morris
Speaker 6: or Nicholas Batum getting those bigger being in the small
Speaker 6: line of holding things down. Now you're asking, you know,
Speaker 6: the guys who are playing two three for most of
Speaker 6: the last four years, to be the three fours every again,
Speaker 6: that's takes a bit of a physical compromise. So I
Speaker 6: think the Clippers do have another level. They have guys
Speaker 6: who've been there in the playoffs. They have a head coach,
Speaker 6: you've been there in the playoffs. It shows that he's
Speaker 6: got stuff that.
Speaker 2: Even the player you know, we had the Finals as
Speaker 2: a player, you know, storied, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: But they're not going to be rattled or intimidated by
Speaker 6: the moment. We've seen them be down oh two and
Speaker 6: may comebacks. So that's the team where it's like, the
Speaker 6: Clippers should probably be better than the team that you've
Speaker 6: seen post All Star Break because they know what time
Speaker 6: of the year it would be and the desperation level
Speaker 6: for that team and that franchise will be a lot
Speaker 6: higher than a lot of these other teams as But
Speaker 6: for sure.
Speaker 1: The West, there's no there's no safe first round series
Speaker 1: in the West. But there's not a single matchup. Like
Speaker 1: assuming we get Lakers and Sons out of the play in,
Speaker 1: then we've got Pelicans, Dallas, Clippers, Mini Denver. Okay, See,
Speaker 1: like any of those teams could beat the other team
Speaker 1: in a seven game series. I feel like like just
Speaker 1: depending on how hot.
Speaker 6: They are, right, and someone's going to miss the playoffs,
Speaker 6: you know, yeah, yeah, either the Rockets or Warriors obviously,
Speaker 6: you know, two more teams in the playing tournament, Like
Speaker 6: there are going to be good teams that are playing
Speaker 6: reasonably good basketball right now for several weeks that will
Speaker 6: not even make it to the playing tournament, and then
Speaker 6: you got two more that won't make it to the
Speaker 6: postseason field overall, Like there's no team that you're going
Speaker 6: if you're a top four seed, and it's like that's.
Speaker 4: We want game one at home, Like okay.
Speaker 6: All season you are for your home court advantage just
Speaker 6: to lose that job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like the only team that, like Denver
Speaker 1: is probably the one that everybody has on their list
Speaker 1: that they're just like no thing, thank you. But other
Speaker 1: than that, I don't see like I feel like any
Speaker 1: of those teams would feel good about playing any of
Speaker 1: the other ones. Other than so you were mentioning for
Speaker 1: the Clippers, the Pelicans are a kind of counterintuitively bad
Speaker 1: matchup for them, Like they just don't make Yeah.
Speaker 6: I've just seen too many as weapons over the past
Speaker 6: several years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So here's my question, because what we
Speaker 1: recorded an episode after I think it was like the
Speaker 1: first game of the playoffs last year, and I was like,
Speaker 1: is Kawhi Leonards still the best player in the league
Speaker 1: at like based on how he played, and I think
Speaker 1: it was like the first two games, maybe got hurt
Speaker 1: in the second game, but he still looked so dominant.
Speaker 1: Where would you put him as like he is the
Speaker 1: blank best player in the league, like top ten.
Speaker 6: Man, that's tough because I mean, I'm guessing we're having
Speaker 6: this conversation for playoff Kawhi, not you know, the Kawhi
Speaker 6: that just has to get through the damn season, right,
Speaker 6: and again, all the credit to him. This man, this
Speaker 6: is the most games, the most minutes, the most dunks
Speaker 6: that we see out of Kawhi since he was in
Speaker 6: his twenties with the San Antonio Spurts. You know, like
Speaker 6: that is I'm excited to see what what he has
Speaker 6: for the playoffs.
Speaker 4: I mean, if you say ten, then that sounds.
Speaker 6: Disrespectful, but there's a lot of good players and a
Speaker 6: lot of.
Speaker 4: Players that have levels, you know, come playoff time. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'll say ten.
Speaker 6: I don't really do player rankings like that, try to
Speaker 6: position rankings in September when everybody is sleep, But yeah,
Speaker 6: I mean at his position, he's top three and.
Speaker 4: Overall, I would I think Tim's a good spot.
Speaker 1: I think I would like put him right now regular
Speaker 1: season ten. But like I said last year, in the
Speaker 1: first game of the playoffs, he was I thought, the
Speaker 1: best player in the league. Like he was unbelievable, like
Speaker 1: you know, in the playoffs. So maybe we get another
Speaker 1: Kawhi playoffs and you know he's able to play for
Speaker 1: the whole time, and then the sky is the limit
Speaker 1: for the Clippers. I feel like at that point.
Speaker 4: That's all, that's all anyone wants to see.
Speaker 6: You know, who's never finished the playoff series as the
Speaker 6: Clippers head coach with both of those guys playing in
Speaker 6: the final game.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, yeah, And then you know, just looking at
Speaker 2: potential matchups, do you want it with the maps or
Speaker 2: would you rather not?
Speaker 5: Based on what we're seeing with Dallas right now.
Speaker 6: I mean, look, man, as someone who again I'm gonna
Speaker 6: beat it regardless, sure, but like gonna get booked. Shout
Speaker 6: out to the athletic Here's how the Clipper should feel.
Speaker 6: If you got to play a team like New Orleans,
Speaker 6: it's going to be a physical nightmare. You might win
Speaker 6: this series, right, your job is not to win one
Speaker 6: playoff series for that team. They're trying to win a championship.
Speaker 6: It's going to be hard either win. Let me tell
Speaker 6: you something about Dallas. They are they are They're beating
Speaker 6: teams the way they're supposed to be beating teams.
Speaker 4: They are already a powerful offense.
Speaker 6: They got more talent at the trade deadline. In a
Speaker 6: playoff series, you might want to play Dallas. And this
Speaker 6: is not disrespect to you know, the Dallas Mavericks or
Speaker 6: the team or the whatever.
Speaker 4: It's just let's just be objective here.
Speaker 6: Dallas is an offensively led team, much like the Clippers are,
Speaker 6: and so in that kind of matchup, we know Luca
Speaker 6: what Luca can do. But in the game of basketball,
Speaker 6: your game is deciding on stops, and if you're the Clippers,
Speaker 6: it's going to be hard to stop them.
Speaker 4: But you are familiar with them.
Speaker 6: You are super familiar with Luca, You're super familiar with Kyrie.
Speaker 4: Considering who the head coach of the Clippers is right.
Speaker 6: And literally nobody else on that team concerns you on
Speaker 6: any level. Don't concerns you from a shooting perspective, don't
Speaker 6: concerns you from an interior offensive perspective. You don't think
Speaker 6: any of those dudes can really stop any of the
Speaker 6: guys that you have. So yes, Dallas is covered up
Speaker 6: in a big way. Luca has been come of age.
Speaker 6: He didn't play in the playoffs last year. He will
Speaker 6: have an edge. He legitimately hates the Clippers. I can
Speaker 6: tell you that, like Luca does not.
Speaker 4: No, he's not.
Speaker 6: He's a guy who's had his season end multiple times
Speaker 6: against the Clippers, dammit. Like that's the reality. He does
Speaker 6: not like that team. He don't like dudes on that
Speaker 6: team because they get under his skin and they're not
Speaker 6: afraid of him. So you know it's going to be
Speaker 6: very It would be another plus series that.
Speaker 4: A lot of people want to see.
Speaker 6: I personally do not give a damn, you know, Like,
Speaker 6: but if your Clippers are, like yeah, if you see Dallas,
Speaker 6: you're you're you're not as bothered as right as the Pelicans,
Speaker 6: because again, the Pelicans have won like ten out of
Speaker 6: the last twelve Dallas. You literally even this year they
Speaker 6: beat they beat the mass who had three times and
Speaker 6: the one time they lost they were in the state
Speaker 6: of their version of the team that doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and then we're
Speaker 1: gonna step back and take a look around the League
Speaker 1: and we'll be right back, and we're back.
Speaker 4: We're back.
Speaker 1: Let's stay on the Mavericks for a second. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: snapped Houston's eleven game winning streak. Luca was making scoop
Speaker 1: shots from three point From the three point line, he
Speaker 1: scored forty seven points, twelve boards, six times, nine threes,
Speaker 1: one nineteen foot scoop shot. Wow, that like didn't doesn't
Speaker 1: even like he's got a skill set. I don't even
Speaker 1: know how to describe. Like, you know, we talked about
Speaker 1: shot making, but his is like shot making plus tricks making.
Speaker 1: Like he's got touch both around the rim and touch
Speaker 1: not around the rim, you know, Like that's there's just
Speaker 1: like there's also a clip from Miles that you were
Speaker 1: sharing from the was it the warm up to that game?
Speaker 5: Yeah, the warm up the yeah yeah, yeah of that.
Speaker 1: Game where he made the nineteen foot scoop shot where
Speaker 1: he shot off the JumboTron. Uh and it Rick shatte
Speaker 1: off the JumboTron and went in and not like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I made that, Like he shot it. He
Speaker 1: goes off the JumboTron and he's already walking away, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because he knows it's going in. What I truly. It
Speaker 1: feels like he saw that McDonald's Larry Bird versus Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: like horse commercial, right, and.
Speaker 3: He saw it.
Speaker 5: He's like, yeah, okay, off the JumboTron, like that.
Speaker 1: Feels like his game is. It's just it doesn't it
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. It's wild he has He is like
Speaker 1: some of the best shot making we've ever seen. And
Speaker 1: his teammate is the other person who we always talk
Speaker 1: about having some of the best shots making with Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 1: So they're they're gonna be fun to watch, regardless of
Speaker 1: who they're matched up against.
Speaker 2: It was it was fun just to hear the reactions
Speaker 2: that different different play calling teams are just their reaction
Speaker 2: to that scoop shot. This is the first one from
Speaker 2: the Mavericks side, He's about to hit it and a
Speaker 2: little bit of excitement.
Speaker 5: Well, Adrica has done this to many teams his years.
Speaker 2: What little John was there, I think doing a color
Speaker 2: commentary and then this is what it sounds like.
Speaker 3: From the Rockets broadcast when he made that shot. It's
Speaker 3: just sort of like denial.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you gotta go.
Speaker 1: He's he's unbelievable. Yeah, you haven't seen the clip he
Speaker 1: does step through and then just does a underhanded layup
Speaker 1: but from the three point line and yeah, it goes in.
Speaker 5: I think it's just like a literacy with them.
Speaker 2: It's like jazz, right, you know, like some like players
Speaker 2: can read like the notes, like yeah, I can execute this,
Speaker 2: but some people like I know the scales so well,
Speaker 2: like watch mean, just do anything and like work with it.
Speaker 5: And I think that's just like why you see.
Speaker 2: Those kinds of shots too, because he's not he's not
Speaker 2: even like limiting himself. He's like, yeah, yeah I'm having that.
Speaker 2: Let me try that one too. Yeah, and yeah.
Speaker 5: He's got he's got the touch. But yeah, he got
Speaker 5: the touch, I mean exactly. Shout out to the Booge Knights.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, you know, we were talking about
Speaker 2: the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3: Boston and Milwaukee seems pretty much.
Speaker 2: That's that's fine, It's really about the places underneath them.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, with the Western Conference, it's interesting to
Speaker 2: see six seven eight how that battle plays out. You know,
Speaker 2: we got to talk about book the fifty two points
Speaker 2: in a win over the Pelicans on Monday, and now
Speaker 2: with that fifty two points, he has joined Wilt Chamberlain
Speaker 2: as the only players in NBA history to have three
Speaker 2: consecutive games with at least fifty points against a single opponent,
Speaker 2: which is pretty wild. That just yeah before he was
Speaker 2: fifty two then I think fifty eight in the one
Speaker 2: before that. So one hundred and sixty two points in
Speaker 2: his past three games against the Pelicans, So.
Speaker 1: He's probably looking for that matchup. He's not, he's not
Speaker 1: scared of them. If I guess, there's no no world
Speaker 1: where they're meeting in the first round.
Speaker 5: But that's food brov as they say in London, that's
Speaker 5: what he's saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he got the memo of like how many points
Speaker 1: you're supposed to score if you want. Jalen Brunson did
Speaker 1: not get the memo. Unfortunately, he put up sixty one
Speaker 1: and unfortunately anything in the sixties means your team is
Speaker 1: going to lose this season.
Speaker 3: That's seventy to what you need.
Speaker 1: Went up against the Spurs, wembing Yama had maybe his
Speaker 1: best game. Aren't Brookie is supposed to like wear down
Speaker 1: as the season goes along. He put up forty twenty
Speaker 1: seven assists, three blocks, just all sorts of highlights of
Speaker 1: like just weird things, you know, like those Wemby highlights
Speaker 1: that give you chills a little bit, but like kind
Speaker 1: of make you feel like you have the flu because
Speaker 1: you're just like, what am I even watching? And yet
Speaker 1: one of the stars. The Spurs beat the Knicks and
Speaker 1: Brunson put up sixty one, and you gotta score seventy.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna score sixty, you gotta you gotta get
Speaker 1: to seventy or how you're gonna lose. Those are just
Speaker 1: the rules of the season. Scoring to short yourself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I do feel like, so the Knicks are in
Speaker 1: fourth right now, they would be facing Orlando in the
Speaker 1: first round. I just I feel like whatever team Jalen
Speaker 1: Bronson's on, whatever round you intuitively think they're going to
Speaker 1: go to, just give yourself one extra round. That seems
Speaker 1: like where it nets out with him, right, for whatever
Speaker 1: reason he's got that, he's got that plan. The sixers
Speaker 1: rule is second round or not, but like second round
Speaker 1: is the absolute maximum they've been allotted, so purgatory. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so the Knicks are going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't know that They're probably not gonna make the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference finals, but I could see them get into
Speaker 1: the second round.
Speaker 3: I would I mean for the city of New York.
Speaker 2: That would be just for the videos that I would
Speaker 2: see outside of Madison Square Garden. I would like to
Speaker 2: see that because they they go off even when they
Speaker 2: just like get into the playoffs recently. So I want
Speaker 2: to see the fanfare from the fans for sure if
Speaker 2: that were.
Speaker 1: But the other great performance from this week Lebron tying
Speaker 1: his season high with forty on thirteen of seventeen. That's
Speaker 1: not free throws?
Speaker 4: Good?
Speaker 1: Is that a typo seventeen field goals?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh? But nine from ten from the nine for ten
Speaker 1: from the free throw line. Oh no, that's no three,
Speaker 1: the three the three throw line, the three throw Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know he that. That has been the question
Speaker 1: is like, is he pacing himself? Is he going to
Speaker 1: suddenly like turn it on towards the end of the season,
Speaker 1: And that game certainly looked like it.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that that corner three is just a heat
Speaker 2: checked three. He had it the last one he took.
Speaker 2: I was like, that's the Lebron James that we need
Speaker 2: If I'm going to keep this delusion going for another
Speaker 2: few weeks, Please please Lah, what's well, what's your perspective?
Speaker 2: What do you what do you think what's going on
Speaker 2: going on with Bron?
Speaker 4: Is it just a it?
Speaker 3: Is it like?
Speaker 2: Is it just that part of his career where we
Speaker 2: get these flashes or you think he's doing the thing
Speaker 2: like now he's being more sort of intentional about where
Speaker 2: he's when he turns up the dial and turns it
Speaker 2: back down.
Speaker 4: I Mean, look, if it wasn't for like every national
Speaker 4: broadcast reminding you how old Lebron is, wouldn't know base
Speaker 4: off of how he's playing, right, Like, dudes only shot
Speaker 4: forty three one year of his entire career, and that
Speaker 4: was his tenth NBA season in Miami, when you know,
Speaker 4: he was basically on top of the world right about
Speaker 4: winning second Street Finals MVP.
Speaker 6: Obviously that comes with the championship after the Olympic gold
Speaker 6: medal that.
Speaker 4: He got with with the twenty twenty twelfth team, So.
Speaker 6: He was you can really say, like, if you wanted
Speaker 6: to say that was the best version of Lebron, you
Speaker 6: can say that, right. I mean, he's shooting a career
Speaker 6: high from three while shooting more threes than he shot
Speaker 6: that year. That to me is a player who understands
Speaker 6: that they don't have, you know, as long to play,
Speaker 6: but at the same time, it's still the goat. You know,
Speaker 6: like Bron's got more ducks this year than he did
Speaker 6: last year. Okay, he's playing with so many offensively skilled dudes,
Speaker 6: Like this is the team Maggic Johnson probably thought he
Speaker 6: wanted to put together when he was like, we don't
Speaker 6: need shooters, we need ball handlers. Well, they got ball handlers.
Speaker 4: Who can shoot. So this is one of the this
Speaker 4: is it's a hard team to defend right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Now, on the other end, their food and you know.
Speaker 3: That's there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's going to be a that's going to.
Speaker 6: Be something they got to figure out depending on their
Speaker 6: playoff matchup. But the benefit there is Lebron also doesn't foul.
Speaker 6: I think we've noticed that all right, Right, Like those
Speaker 6: guys him and Ad they can play thirty thirty five.
Speaker 4: Minutes and they won't pick up multiple thousand in the game.
Speaker 6: And they're playing the biggest positions on the on the floor.
Speaker 4: So it's just funny how that goes.
Speaker 6: But yeah, Lebron, he's reached a point where he knows
Speaker 6: he's a computer, right, you knows he's supposed to be.
Speaker 6: He knows where the defense is supposed to be, he
Speaker 6: knows where his teammates supposed to be. He can make
Speaker 6: threes at this high clip. And then because you have
Speaker 6: so much attention on all these other guys who can
Speaker 6: make shots, who can handle and pass the basketball, he's
Speaker 6: still getting his stuff easy, right, And I mean that
Speaker 6: I don't think there's a pace to it, like that's
Speaker 6: your pace. Your pace is Lebron's not the guy who
Speaker 6: has to create every damn play. You know, this isn't
Speaker 6: the twenty eighteen finals. Cats like Lebron can chill pretty
Speaker 6: much and get his stuff and again, it's gonna be
Speaker 6: fast and to see who they mass up in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: But you saw what last year they were seven.
Speaker 6: That Memphis Grizzly team didn't have the size, or the experience,
Speaker 6: or the poise or darkly the coaching, and they wound
Speaker 6: up taking care of a high seed pretty easily. It
Speaker 6: can happen again this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what if you had to pick like two dark
Speaker 1: horse teams from the West, because I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: even know if it's dark horse, right, not one of
Speaker 1: the top so not one of the top three seeds.
Speaker 1: That you could see making a run. Who would you pick?
Speaker 4: I mean, I gotta go with the Clippers.
Speaker 6: They're not going to be a top three seed, and
Speaker 6: they are going to get a lot of we don't
Speaker 6: believe in them, you know, And I could see them
Speaker 6: making a run.
Speaker 4: I really could see them making a run.
Speaker 6: The other team that I would have to that I
Speaker 6: would have to pick, it's tough because I mean, shoot,
Speaker 6: I probably would go with the Lakers. We saw it
Speaker 6: last year. We saw it last year. I really feel
Speaker 6: like that team in a seven game series is going
Speaker 6: to be a real problem for somebody, possibly multiple teams,
Speaker 6: And if they can avoid Denver somehow, they're going to
Speaker 6: have a path where they can feel like, well, we've
Speaker 6: beaten these teams multiple times, Like the Nuggets are probably
Speaker 6: the only team that has given the Lakers.
Speaker 5: A real challenge.
Speaker 6: And so that's weird to say for a team that
Speaker 6: right now needs to win two games in the playing
Speaker 6: tournament just to qualify, right right. I would have said
Speaker 6: the Pelicans if Brandon was healthy right now, but I
Speaker 6: just I can't do that with Brandon not guaranteed to
Speaker 6: be ready, Like I think he'll be re evaluated this week,
Speaker 6: but we all know what that does not mean.
Speaker 4: It does not guarantee that he'll be ready.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the East in.
Speaker 4: The East, man, I wish the Magic had more experience.
Speaker 4: I really like that team.
Speaker 6: I really like how their defense. First they're huge, Uh
Speaker 6: they can't shoot and they still be cheating. The East
Speaker 6: is is like I really don't like talking about the East.
Speaker 6: The Celtics something.
Speaker 3: It really is.
Speaker 6: It's something to anybody else, Like, you know, everyone's going
Speaker 6: to give the Heat undue, you know, respect, because of
Speaker 6: the well that they've been on. Will the Heat make
Speaker 6: the playoffs? Are they making it out the playing tournament?
Speaker 6: Like we gotta see. I mean, the Sixers are going
Speaker 6: to get Joel back, And I actually am excited if
Speaker 6: Joel is truly healthy because he's coming back to a
Speaker 6: better team than he left. Like he didn't play with
Speaker 6: Buddy gild he played with Marcus Wurtz.
Speaker 4: Okay, there's a big difference there.
Speaker 6: He's going to be, you know, like Tyreee is going
Speaker 6: to get a lot of relief. They have they have wings,
Speaker 6: they have size. That killy you Bray was you know,
Speaker 6: finding his way after that weird accent in in Center
Speaker 6: City Philadelphia. Now, like guys have been playing. Uh, and
Speaker 6: Joelle's coming back to that team. I think that could
Speaker 6: be a team that can make a run. So and
Speaker 6: it's a different head coach. So but right now, the
Speaker 6: East just doesn't They don't do it for me as
Speaker 6: far as dark horses like I just yeah, it feels
Speaker 6: pretty set.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure, So two teams with the red, white and blue
Speaker 1: color way trutier origins the Lakers, you know, so the
Speaker 1: true American, true American appreciate that. Appreciate Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Mbat's coming back. I didn't even want to mention it
Speaker 1: because it's uh, you know, I don't want to jinx it.
Speaker 1: We don't know all the details, but yeah, it'll be
Speaker 1: it'll be very interesting like that first came back just
Speaker 1: to see because we have where his body is so
Speaker 1: big that it often takes him some time to like
Speaker 1: get used to moving it get around basketball court.
Speaker 4: So he's got a good two weeks to figure that out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, sure, so that shouldn't be a problem. Uh,
Speaker 1: Sixers going going to the finals. That's my prediction there.
Speaker 1: It is here first.
Speaker 5: A Lakers Sixers.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be
Speaker 2: back and We'll put Law in.
Speaker 5: The hot seat for the hottest questions right after this.
Speaker 3: And we're back long. Wow.
Speaker 2: Always good to have you, man, Always great to have you.
Speaker 2: But it is time to put you in the hot seat.
Speaker 2: It's the fourth quarter. It's the rapid fire round of questioning.
Speaker 2: This is the fastest questions and answer segment in all
Speaker 2: podcasts sports history.
Speaker 5: We're gonna ask you uestion he just chest pass answer
Speaker 5: right back. Don't think too hard.
Speaker 2: And if you take too long, we will be very
Speaker 2: rude and telling you to keep it moving, sir.
Speaker 3: So please don't take it personally.
Speaker 5: It's just about It's just it's the game. Don't hate
Speaker 5: the player, hate the game, don't hate the host, hate
Speaker 5: the segment.
Speaker 3: Okay, are you ready to Yeah?
Speaker 6: I'm not as ready as James Harden with a catch
Speaker 6: and shoot three wow.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: And he's doing it this year, right, he's actually doing catching.
Speaker 4: Shoot sometimes sometimes I've.
Speaker 1: Not seen it in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the TVD TVD.
Speaker 5: Shall I go first?
Speaker 1: Or shall you?
Speaker 3: Miles?
Speaker 1: Why don't you go first?
Speaker 5: I shall go first?
Speaker 3: Love Murray?
Speaker 1: What wait, Brian does Brian know.
Speaker 4: Bryan? Start the clock?
Speaker 5: All right, La, here's the first question. Man, so you
Speaker 5: got me off my game.
Speaker 2: It's because he was talking as Spice, as a as
Speaker 2: a Clipper journalist, you know what I mean, completely throwing
Speaker 2: me off.
Speaker 5: I'm fragile, man, I'm a snowflake.
Speaker 3: But here we go.
Speaker 4: You got to stay in the fight. Man.
Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that you had me
Speaker 5: believing again.
Speaker 3: Man, thank you.
Speaker 5: Really, you know, you lift me up.
Speaker 2: When I would look back on the sand, there was
Speaker 2: only one set of footprints because you were carrying me.
Speaker 1: And we just cut out a five minute rendition of
Speaker 1: you you raise me up by Josh Grobin that Miles
Speaker 1: just performed.
Speaker 3: You're streaming down my faith.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: First question, more likely to happen and look, we'll let
Speaker 2: you expand a little bit.
Speaker 3: And why Okay, more likely.
Speaker 2: To happen to why Clippers finals run or Bucks finals run?
Speaker 4: Clippers finals run? Why head coach?
Speaker 3: Wow? Simple?
Speaker 5: That was That was an efficient answer.
Speaker 3: Not for us to go up.
Speaker 1: Uh huh yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we'll take Yeah, we're taking that. We'll take
Speaker 5: We'll take that one.
Speaker 1: All right, take that one. Well, you can go back
Speaker 1: in time to personally witness any of the following. You
Speaker 1: can take your pick two thousand and four Western Conference Finals,
Speaker 1: Game five, Dfish game winner twenty nineteen Kawhi game winner
Speaker 1: over the sixers with the ball bouncing. This was my
Speaker 1: pick because I feel like if I had shouted at
Speaker 1: that moment, he might have like it might have been
Speaker 1: off like a spot.
Speaker 2: Would you have shouted like like super masculine or just
Speaker 2: like yeah, like you gotta do it. I remember doing
Speaker 2: that like basketball games and school has been like whatever
Speaker 2: you had, like yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: Just a sheer desperation. Yeah, as you said before we recorded,
Speaker 1: I'm Mark Wahlberg.
Speaker 4: This.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't have gone down like that if I had
Speaker 1: been in the crowd there, Yeah, and the difference would
Speaker 1: have been I would have been crying too, just like
Speaker 1: Joe LMB all right. Jordan's sixty three versus Boston in
Speaker 1: the playoffs Game seven, twenty sixteen Finals, lebron block le block.
Speaker 1: Which of those? Where are you going back to watching person.
Speaker 4: M J sixty three?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that just just the.
Speaker 4: Scene the one I remember where I was for the
Speaker 4: other three? Yeah, Like I wasn't there for that one.
Speaker 1: That's a good place you could be smoking a pack
Speaker 1: of cigarettes the whole time in the Boston garden.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was cigarette night. I think everybody got one
Speaker 2: unless you were under twelve.
Speaker 3: Then you can get them. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Hey, by the way, another another sixty point game that
Speaker 6: you know the score didn't win the game. Well, yeah,
Speaker 6: it just comes back to Jordan shouts to my guy both.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lot of land.
Speaker 2: Okay, rank these current duos in terms of your expectations
Speaker 2: in the postseason Jannis, Dane, jok Murray, Luka, Kyrie k
Speaker 2: d and Book, Kawhi and Playoff Pete.
Speaker 4: All right, that's five of them, so you're gonna have
Speaker 4: to help me out.
Speaker 6: But I know number one it's gotta be Jamal just
Speaker 6: out of respect, uh, Luca, Book, Kawhi PG.
Speaker 4: Gotta go Kawhi. Uh. Out of the rest remaining, gotta
Speaker 4: go Kawhi, Paul.
Speaker 6: Okay, then I gotta go Katie Book, Johannis Dame Actually
Speaker 6: switch that. We're gonna go Giannis Dame over Katie Book.
Speaker 6: And the last one is going to be the Mavericks duo.
Speaker 5: Got it?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: Wow, we do not fear the Mavericks on this podcast, No,
Speaker 1: not at all.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 5: That's good.
Speaker 3: That's good news.
Speaker 5: That's good news.
Speaker 1: Finally, who's the most underappreciated, the truly all time greats.
Speaker 1: Give us a guy that deserves to be mentioned but
Speaker 1: often left out of the all time debates, and make
Speaker 1: a rhyme like those two sentences.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't have a great rhyme, but the first
Speaker 6: person that comes to.
Speaker 1: Mind, he there, he is, He's a poet.
Speaker 2: And don't you know it is Alex English.
Speaker 1: Wow, the Englishman.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Harry Kane massive. I had that Nuggets throwback jersey.
Speaker 4: It's a great jersey.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're talking about a team that was consistently good,
Speaker 6: made a conference finals run, didn't obviously break through. I
Speaker 6: mean that man scored more points than anybody in the
Speaker 6: eighties from thank and eighty in ninety so people talk
Speaker 6: about points and that dude, all the dudes who played,
Speaker 6: he was the one who got the most, who scored
Speaker 6: the most.
Speaker 4: And we talked about out seeing the show.
Speaker 1: Shout out English, Yeah, shouts out to English.
Speaker 5: I didn't even realize that.
Speaker 2: I mean I always knew he was like a score,
Speaker 2: but then when you when you put it like.
Speaker 6: That, put it like that, Yeah, respecting his name.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, put pour out all the respect onto that name.
Speaker 2: That was a great answer. Well, law Murray, thank you
Speaker 2: so much for joining us on Miles and Jack a
Speaker 2: mad Boosti's where do the people find you and follow you,
Speaker 2: read your work and support your work.
Speaker 6: Yeah, shout out to the Athletic they put me on,
Speaker 6: they still put me on. It's your season four cover
Speaker 6: and mostly the Clippers. I promise you I'd cover more
Speaker 6: than just the Clippers. So there's that too. And I'm
Speaker 6: at I'm at all the social media sites that I
Speaker 6: need to be on. So yeah, you know, fight wherever
Speaker 6: they got that at? Yeah, lot Murray the New and yeah,
Speaker 6: like as long as y'all know I'm not here to
Speaker 6: be you know, your favorite player's voice of reason, just
Speaker 6: my own voice of reason.
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, I'm objective.
Speaker 6: Y'all gonna get mad at me because y'all emotional. But
Speaker 6: once I'll get over that, I feel like I help
Speaker 6: y'all out exactly.
Speaker 4: Need to let I just need to say that perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: You can follow the show on Twitter hashtag mad Boosti's
Speaker 2: bwsd i E as as you can find the show
Speaker 2: links and notes and all kinds of things like that,
Speaker 2: updates what have.
Speaker 5: You can follow me on Twitter at Miles of Gray.
Speaker 1: I'm at Jack Underscore, O'Brien, I'm just looking at alex
Speaker 1: English started fourteen playoff games one year and put up
Speaker 1: thirty a game for Denver. They made it to the
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals in eighty five and lost little. That's
Speaker 1: thirty a game in fourteen playoff games. That's unbelievable, and
Speaker 1: shot fifty three percent from the floor. That's wild. H Yeah, yeah, yes, wild, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there it is.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, guess what we're going to be back because the
Speaker 2: season isn't ending, and either is this show, and we
Speaker 2: will be back.
Speaker 5: Now next week. We're just getting started, folks, and we'll
Speaker 5: have a better idea of what the playoff picture looks like.
Speaker 2: And maybe I will be sweating or crying or celebrating.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but we'll find out next week when
Speaker 2: we see you. Then bye bye,