Speaker 1: Welcome in What Driving Nick Wright Episode three nineteen, Huge Show,
Speaker 1: Huge Day, fresh off the Masters, NBA Playoffs starting and
Speaker 1: fresh potentially with a new what Big Day for What's Right,
Speaker 1: maybe a new partnership. And today, if not today, certainly
Speaker 1: this week we're gonna two hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube.
Speaker 1: So shout out to everyone works on the show, Shout
Speaker 1: out to Demand myself, everybody, Blue Duck, volume, all the folks,
Speaker 1: and shout out to my friends at Seat Geek. More
Speaker 1: on them later in the show. But I had a
Speaker 1: big meeting a few weeks ago and they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: who are some brands you actually use? Like things you
Speaker 1: actually use. I'm like, well, you already took care of
Speaker 1: the sports betting with my DraftKings. That's a check. And
Speaker 1: I was like Peloton every day, five days a week
Speaker 1: during the NBA playoffs, but that's fine, five to seven
Speaker 1: days a week. I said that cars, I said, Mercedes,
Speaker 1: still looking at them. Sharpie's Sharpie. I've been trying to
Speaker 1: get you guys for ten years. I mean your number.
Speaker 1: They're probably like, we don't need to pay to endorse it.
Speaker 1: He he advertises us more than anyone ever and Seat
Speaker 1: Geek because I had just when they had talked to me,
Speaker 1: I had just bought those courtside tickets to Lakers Grizzlies
Speaker 1: hadn't gone yet on seat Geek. I bought my theater
Speaker 1: stuff on seat Geek, and guess what, seat Geek's now
Speaker 1: a part of the What's Right team and so more
Speaker 1: on them in a bit, but appreciate them as always. Demanse,
Speaker 1: how are you. I know you've been a little under
Speaker 1: the weather.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good. Good at sea pops still a lot
Speaker 2: better these days, but we're on the.
Speaker 1: Okay, good, you sound good. You sound better than I thought.
Speaker 1: Your mom talked to you this weekend. She was like,
Speaker 1: Demansey's sick, he's coughing and all this stuff. I was
Speaker 1: like Tuesdays and she'd show because listen, we can't do
Speaker 1: and I understand. Warriors Clippers happened. We have Lakers Thunder
Speaker 1: or Lakers Timberwolves. My NBA Awards ballad is today we
Speaker 1: are pre emptively bumping our NFC over Unders. Instead of
Speaker 1: during the show, as we've done three straight shows before
Speaker 1: the show, We're now doing that Thursday because Wednesday night
Speaker 1: we're not gonna need to talk Thursday, we're not gonna
Speaker 1: talk a lot about the Wednesday Night nine ten muck
Speaker 1: play in games. So Thursday when doing NFL over unders today,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do awards ballots. But you know, we also
Speaker 1: have to do the producers. You know, the producers all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they care a lot about the utube algorithm,
Speaker 1: about what goes viral, and they're like, eh, Clippers, Warriors,
Speaker 1: was Sunday Lakers stuff does really well. Maybe we can
Speaker 1: trick Nick into not talking about the Masters by putting
Speaker 1: in what missed the cut. So here's what missed the
Speaker 1: cut and including what's gonna be a five to twenty
Speaker 1: minute missed the cut segment. It won't be twenty, but
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a few minutes. Dallas drafts Pagebeckers number one.
Speaker 1: That was obvious. Max Crosby's new assistant GM in Eastern Michigan.
Speaker 1: That doesn't matter. Here's what does matter. Rory freaking McElroy
Speaker 1: in an all time Masters Sunday, an all time Masters tournament.
Speaker 1: In the last six years, Demons, there have been twelve
Speaker 1: people to walk on the moon. There have been two
Speaker 1: people to complete the career Grand Slam and Golf Rory
Speaker 1: just became one of them. It's just facts. Since the
Speaker 1: advent of colored television, you up until Sunday were twelve
Speaker 1: times more likely to walk on the moon to complete
Speaker 1: the career Grand Slam. Just fact, and Rory had been
Speaker 1: trying and trying and trying. The five people who had
Speaker 1: completed it before they completed it, it was Sam Sneid,
Speaker 1: Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. Fact
Speaker 1: checked me on that producers. But I'm ninety percent sure
Speaker 1: those were the five. Sarahzn Sneed Player, Nicholas Woods. Those
Speaker 1: five guys all completed it either on their first try
Speaker 1: or their second or third try. Rory was on a
Speaker 1: had eleven tries tries, couldn't get it done, and then
Speaker 1: this weekend he goes into Sunday with the lead. So
Speaker 1: let me back it up a little bit. Thursday, Rory
Speaker 1: having one of the best masters. Oh, I gave it
Speaker 1: to Sam Snead. It was Ben Hogan. My apologies, my goodness, gracious,
Speaker 1: terrible job by me, Good job by Sam Snead for
Speaker 1: me thinking it was him, but obviously it's Ben Hogan.
Speaker 1: I got Sarah and Wright Snead wrong. Doesn't matter. Back
Speaker 1: to Thursday, Rory announcing himself, this is gonna be my tournament.
Speaker 1: He's on his way, cruising to probably a sixty six
Speaker 1: round one in Augusta and then double bogie fifteen, double
Speaker 1: bogee seventeen. All of a sudden, a majestic round turns
Speaker 1: into even part. What happened? Rory? How does that happen?
Speaker 1: But then he rebounds Friday with a great round Saturday,
Speaker 1: despite having another double I'm sorry, no. Saturday, another great
Speaker 1: round and then we're like, okay, he's the leader. Bryson
Speaker 1: hits a huge putt on eighteen. Bright It's gonna be
Speaker 1: Bryson and Rory, the two most popular golfers in the world,
Speaker 1: both polarizing for their own reasons. Final pairing at Augusta National.
Speaker 1: When just last year, when Rory was looking like he
Speaker 1: was gonna win a major, Bryson up and down from
Speaker 1: the bunker at eighteen to steal it from him. Rory
Speaker 1: crestfallen leaves without talking to the press. Everyone gets mad
Speaker 1: at him. Sunday though he's got the lead, two shot
Speaker 1: lead going into Sunday. At the Masters first hole, another
Speaker 1: double bogee, it's now three double bogeys on the round.
Speaker 1: Only one guy ever has won the Masters with three
Speaker 1: double bogies. He then follows that up with a terrible
Speaker 1: second hole, and all of a sudden, Bryson is in
Speaker 1: the lead and the Rory meltdown is on. It would appear,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't. He then rallies over the next ten
Speaker 1: holes takes a commanding lead. I think it was a
Speaker 1: four shot lead at that point. Demonsay on DraftKings he
Speaker 1: is minus twelve hundred to win the tournament, minus twelve hundred.
Speaker 1: All you gotta do, Rory is cruise. Just relax, chill,
Speaker 1: don't worry. Cruise. So we get to the thirteenth hole. Sorry,
Speaker 1: my phone's playing the sound because I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: highlights so excited. Get to the thirteenth hole. He is
Speaker 1: a four shot lead. Bryson has melted at this point
Speaker 1: to par five. He's been going for par fives and
Speaker 1: two all weekend. Is you know what, I'm gonna be smart? No,
Speaker 1: Jean van der veldeing here, I'm gonna lay up, leave
Speaker 1: myself a beautiful eighty yards to get on the green
Speaker 1: and he duffs it. One of the worst pitch shots
Speaker 1: you'll ever see a professional golfer hit right into the creek,
Speaker 1: right into the creek from eighty yards out, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he has his fourth double bogie of
Speaker 1: the day. All of a sudden, it's a tournament again,
Speaker 1: and nobody can believe it's happened. So we but very
Speaker 1: next hole another Bogeye is the Rory meltdown complete? It
Speaker 1: is not an amazing fifteenth and seventeenth hole, And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he gets to eighteen. Justin Rose holds
Speaker 1: the butt. He gets to eighteen, demansay, we just need
Speaker 1: a four, a four, and you put on the green
Speaker 1: jacket a four and you're a legend forever. Rory McElroy,
Speaker 1: who was such a prodigy in Northern Ireland, his dad
Speaker 1: and his buddies pulled money when he was like ten
Speaker 1: years old to bet with the bookies in Ireland. One day,
Speaker 1: my son's gonna come back to Europe, to the United
Speaker 1: Kingdom and win the British Open. The bookie was like,
Speaker 1: give me a break. He's like nope. In fact, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you the exact details on that. Rory McElroy
Speaker 1: dad British Open bet. This is an all time story
Speaker 1: So Rory's dad walks in to a bookie shop in
Speaker 1: the UK. He says, I got a fifteen year old son.
Speaker 1: He's gonna win the British Open one day. Me and
Speaker 1: my friends have uh, me and my friends have pulled
Speaker 1: together two hundred dollars. Guy's like, well, all right, I'll
Speaker 1: give you five hundred to one on it. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, two hundred bucks to win one hundred grand,
Speaker 1: I'll take it. And ten years later Rory does it.
Speaker 1: Twenty six years old. Dad walks back in says, hope,
Speaker 1: you spent that two hundred dollars wisely, give me my
Speaker 1: hundred racks. But then Rory went a decade without winning
Speaker 1: a major. Shortly after that, still no Masters, no career
Speaker 1: Grand Slam. He walks up to eighteen knowing a four
Speaker 1: and I win the Masters. Puts it in the sand.
Speaker 1: That's okay, just get it close, Rory, get it close.
Speaker 1: He gets it to six feet this putt to win
Speaker 1: the Masters, pulls it left missus. Oh my god, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be the most crush loss in golf history.
Speaker 1: Playoff hole. Justin Rose been steady, Round one leader, Round
Speaker 1: two leader, just chillin. All of a sudden crazy putt
Speaker 1: for him on eighteen to get in the playoff. Rory
Speaker 1: hits his second set on eighteen in the playoff hole
Speaker 1: within four feet shot of his life, drains the putt,
Speaker 1: puts on the green jacket, weeps, sobs the stuff dreams
Speaker 1: are made of. Now one of the fifteen greatest golfers ever,
Speaker 1: one of the ten greatest golfers of the last one
Speaker 1: hundred years, Rory Dan McElroy And oh yeah, have you
Speaker 1: looked at the other majors this year? One is the
Speaker 1: PGAs that of course he crushes. The US Opens, that,
Speaker 1: of course he's won at. And guess where the British
Speaker 1: Open is? Demons in Northern Ireland where he's from. Oh my,
Speaker 1: what a what a weekend of golf. All of that
Speaker 1: took place on me and your mom's anniversary. And I
Speaker 1: was sitting in a sports book in Philadelphia, where man
Speaker 1: sometimes being in Philadelphia being Nick Wright can suck. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if your mom gave you this story.
Speaker 1: It was I disarmed everybody all day. Everybody that came
Speaker 1: up to me, I could see in their eye like
Speaker 1: they want to talk trash to me. So every single
Speaker 1: person that came up to me. I said congrats on
Speaker 1: the super Bowl before they could say anything, and I
Speaker 1: disarmed everyone. Everyone because of that was quite nice, except
Speaker 1: for one person who was a little drunk at a
Speaker 1: bar and really got in my face and was really
Speaker 1: quite rude to me. And here's the tricky part about that.
Speaker 1: That one person happened to be a female, and your
Speaker 1: mom was sitting right there and I was like, oh boy,
Speaker 1: this is not going to go well for anyone involved.
Speaker 1: Her boyfriend's recording I'm like, oh, she like really played
Speaker 1: this whole confrontation. I'm like, hey, I congrats leaving you
Speaker 1: win the super Bowl, and she was like, in this
Speaker 1: stupid South Jersey accident, like stop talking all that shit.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I didn't talk any shit. I second congress
Speaker 1: to one of the super Bowl. I'm just having a
Speaker 1: good time. She was like, then, why'd you come up
Speaker 1: and talk to us. I'm like, okay, you're a hammered
Speaker 1: I'm just listening. And as soon as she said that,
Speaker 1: your mom stood up and I was like, oh boy,
Speaker 1: time to go. Nice to meet you. See you guys later.
Speaker 1: We're out of here. But so that was Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker 1: Your mom's out shopping. The reason I even said any
Speaker 1: of this in the sports book. Sportsbook folks know me
Speaker 1: and they actually like me. So they're like, hey, Nick,
Speaker 1: we have a we have it's a ten TV setup,
Speaker 1: two giant ones and then eight good ones. They basically
Speaker 1: gave me the remote for Sunday. They're like, you picked
Speaker 1: the games, you picked the sound. What a dream? Here,
Speaker 1: I'm signaling them when to go from the sound of
Speaker 1: the Masters to Warriors Clippers. We've got the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the bottom corner because bronis playing. I've got a bet
Speaker 1: on the Nuggets to beat the Rockets. We got that going.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, what a dream. So all that was Sunday,
Speaker 1: capped off by Rory McElroy and capped off by the Warriors,
Speaker 1: potentially wrecking their whole season. Now to the part of
Speaker 1: the show. Everyone who has a financial incentive on the
Speaker 1: show wished I would have led with which is the basketball?
Speaker 1: But I care too much about the golf to leave
Speaker 1: it out. Go ahead? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yes, The play in tournament starts tonight. On the West.
Speaker 2: We've got Golden State in Memphis. On the East, got
Speaker 2: Orlando and Atlanta. There's lots unpack in Orlando.
Speaker 3: And Atlanta. So I don't think we're gonna get to
Speaker 3: it today.
Speaker 1: You wrote, you wrote, you said there's a lot to unpack. Yeah,
Speaker 1: another one who gives it? We're not talking about Atlanta?
Speaker 1: Go ahead?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the big story is Golden State's in the play
Speaker 2: in and the bigger stories. What did you think of
Speaker 2: the game that knocked them into the play in? They
Speaker 2: obviously took an ounce of the Clippers.
Speaker 1: All right, So I think a lot of things. I
Speaker 1: think the first thing is I owe Draymond Green an apology.
Speaker 1: Nine years ago, demonse, the Golden State Warriors were playing
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. It's
Speaker 1: a very famous series because in those Western Conference Finals,
Speaker 1: the Thunder were up three games to one, and the
Speaker 1: Warriors came all the way back, most famously because of
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson's Game six, a brilliant Game seven, and then
Speaker 1: the Warriors, of course went on to lose their own
Speaker 1: three to one lead in the NBA Finals. Many people
Speaker 1: falsely believe the reason they lost that series was because
Speaker 1: Draymond Green got suspended four game five. Now, that reason
Speaker 1: that belief is so absurd is because not only did
Speaker 1: the Cabs blow them ount in Game five, but the
Speaker 1: argument was, well, Lebron wouldn't never scored forty one if
Speaker 1: Draymond was on the court, and so in Game six,
Speaker 1: when Draymond was on the court, Lebron scored exactly forty
Speaker 1: one one. Again, but that's neither here nor there to
Speaker 1: the apology. So in those NBA playoffs, the reason Draymond
Speaker 1: Green got people falsely believe Draymond Green got suspended for
Speaker 1: punching Lebron James and the groin. That is not We're
Speaker 1: slapping him in the groin, however you want to put it.
Speaker 1: That is not quite right. Draymond Green got suspended for
Speaker 1: accumulating four flagrant foul points. He got a flagrant foul
Speaker 1: in round one against the Rockets for body slamming Michael
Speaker 1: Beasley as the game was ending, in something that no
Speaker 1: one quite could ever figure out why he did. He
Speaker 1: got a flagrant foul point for slapping at Lebron James.
Speaker 1: But in the interregnum of that, he got a flagrant
Speaker 1: foul point for attempting a layup and kicking Steven Adams
Speaker 1: dead in the groin. And so all that accumulated, and
Speaker 1: I was very vocal that that was obviously intentional, because
Speaker 1: no human being ever has ever shot a layup and
Speaker 1: had part of the layup motion b their left leg
Speaker 1: go at a ninety degree angle into the air towards
Speaker 1: the baseline. So obviously he was trying to do it.
Speaker 1: Nine years later, I'm here to tell you, Draymond, I
Speaker 1: apologize I was wrong. Turns out you sometimes just spaz
Speaker 1: out on layups because with the game on the line
Speaker 1: down two in overtime, Draymond Green had a wide open layup,
Speaker 1: no one to kick, and in some weird failed attempt
Speaker 1: to draw a foul. I guess kicked the air, fell
Speaker 1: backwards and smoked the layup. And that was only one
Speaker 1: of his two grievous late game mistakes. So the other
Speaker 1: one is this, and the broadcast I think screwed this
Speaker 1: up end of regulation. The Clippers get the ball, tie game,
Speaker 1: thirty one seconds left. So what that means is make
Speaker 1: or miss. The Warriors are going to get the last shot.
Speaker 1: You play solid defense for twenty twenty four seconds, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have seven to ten seconds if you're Golden State
Speaker 1: with a timeout. Kawhi gets the ball with four on
Speaker 1: the shot clock and now eleven on the game clock
Speaker 1: and Draymond panics and takes a foul to give, which
Speaker 1: the broadcasts like, oh, that's no problem, they're not in
Speaker 1: the bonus's foul to give. It was a problem because
Speaker 1: now the shot clock resets to fourteen, there's only ten
Speaker 1: seconds left it Now the Clippers get the last shot,
Speaker 1: and now the worst thing that worst case scenario for
Speaker 1: the Clippers is overtime as opposed to worst case scenario
Speaker 1: being losing. So Draymond messed up the end of regulation,
Speaker 1: smoked the layup at the end of overtime, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the Warriors are in the play in.
Speaker 1: There's another part of that game that I must address
Speaker 1: because Steph Curry. Listen, Steph was utterly brilliant in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter of that game, hit hell hit a shot
Speaker 1: that he thought was the game winner. I know because
Speaker 1: he did his shimmy afterwards in the end up losing.
Speaker 1: And I even can not ding him too much for
Speaker 1: the eight turnovers in that game, even though those were rough.
Speaker 1: But when Kawhi' is locked like that and held, Chris
Speaker 1: Dunn is real impressive defensively, all of a sudden, you're
Speaker 1: gonna force some turnovers find so be it. But the
Speaker 1: other thing that happened at the end of that game
Speaker 1: is something that has happened to Steph Curry at the
Speaker 1: end of close games, particularly close, high leverage games for
Speaker 1: his the majority of his career, which is Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: takes him off the court because he is a defensive liability.
Speaker 1: And I understand that people get so enraptured by Steph
Speaker 1: Curry's offensive brilliance one of one shot making, the gravity
Speaker 1: as on the game, all of it and sustained excellent
Speaker 1: at age thirty seven, that people sometimes get a little
Speaker 1: over their skis and they're like, not only is he
Speaker 1: top ten? Why is he not in the goat conversation?
Speaker 1: And I have been hesitant to have him quite officially
Speaker 1: crack my all time top ten, so my all time
Speaker 1: top twelve in order. Longtime listeners know this, viewers know this,
Speaker 1: and I will do this off the top of my head.
Speaker 1: I will know I will get it right if we
Speaker 1: end with twelve. Is lebron Kareem, Michael Magic, Russell, Wilt Duncan,
Speaker 1: Kobe Bird, dream Shaq, Steph so Shack and Steph are
Speaker 1: right on the outside barely. They are both one of
Speaker 1: one unique forces in NBA history. They both, however, have
Speaker 1: one feature that no one in the top ten does,
Speaker 1: which is, in the some of the biggest games of
Speaker 1: their careers, their team took them off the court because
Speaker 1: of a flaw in their game that they were never
Speaker 1: able to quite correct. For Shaquille O'Neill, it was late
Speaker 1: game free throws if they had a lead late and
Speaker 1: the other team was definitely going to foul. Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: would say to Shaq, we're better off with you not
Speaker 1: on the court this possession. And Steve Kerr, for STEP's
Speaker 1: entire career, if given the opportunity to go offense defense,
Speaker 1: we'll have one of the greatest players of all time
Speaker 1: stand next to him rather than be on the court.
Speaker 1: It's not disqualifying from anything other than jumping guys like
Speaker 1: Dream and Bird and Kobe and Donky, So it's not disrespectful.
Speaker 1: You still have him ahead of doctor j out of Jokich,
Speaker 1: out of Jerry West, out of Oscar, out of Jiannis,
Speaker 1: hat of Durant, head of all those guys. But you
Speaker 1: saw it again, and so those were my initial takeaways,
Speaker 1: and then my further out takeaway was, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: Kaminga wasn't under the weather, Kaminga wasn't dinged up, Kaminga
Speaker 1: was a fully healthy DNP coaches decision, which again maybe
Speaker 1: that was covered during the broadcast, but I was toggling
Speaker 1: sound masters to the NBA, and so I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that that is a huge story and what that means
Speaker 1: for the Warriors vibe check going forward and the Warriors' chances.
Speaker 1: So Golden State had it all out in front of them,
Speaker 1: where if they had just taken care of the Spurs game,
Speaker 1: which they blew in a horrific fashion. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if we've talked since then, but that Spurs loss,
Speaker 1: just like I think we did it on Thursday. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it doesn't matter. Really echoes through
Speaker 1: this season, much like the Spurs win over the Nuggets
Speaker 1: last year cost them the one seed. Echoed through that
Speaker 1: season when the Nuggets all of a sudden, they are
Speaker 1: blowing a game seven to the Timberwolves. So that loss
Speaker 1: made it to where the Warriors weren't going to be
Speaker 1: able to get to the four or five line. This
Speaker 1: loss puts him in the play in and we have
Speaker 1: seen the Warriors have issues in the play in, Lebron
Speaker 1: hit the three over steph their first game ever in
Speaker 1: the play in. Draymond then smoked a layup as time
Speaker 1: expired in their elimination game of the play in. They
Speaker 1: went to overtime and the Grizzlies beat them. And then
Speaker 1: last year, Clay has the worst game of his career
Speaker 1: and they lose to the Kings in the play in.
Speaker 1: That's over three And while no one has been less
Speaker 1: impressed by the traveling circus that is the Memphis Grizzlies
Speaker 1: than me, as of late, the Grizzlies can win tonight,
Speaker 1: and if the Grizzlies win tonight, demand the Warriors season ends.
Speaker 1: Not because the Warriors won't beat the winner of MAVs Kings,
Speaker 1: but because the Warriors, having cost themselves a week off
Speaker 1: dealing with Jimmy Butler's quad contusion, Jonathan Kaminga's ego contusion,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden heading into Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: will get absolutely cooked.
Speaker 3: What's going on with Jonathan Mingo? You're saying the egle thing.
Speaker 3: What's well Curb sounds like.
Speaker 1: For the first time in three months. Kerr was like, no,
Speaker 1: you're just not in the rotation, And.
Speaker 2: I mean by the X factor for that team. Maybe Pods.
Speaker 2: I could see Pods being that.
Speaker 1: But whatever it is, Man, Kerr just decided in our
Speaker 1: biggest game of the year, we are better off giving
Speaker 1: you zero minutes, and it was and according to the
Speaker 1: people who've covered that team, the closest the players are
Speaker 1: not mad about it. So that's like, now Kamingo's kind
Speaker 1: of been on the ounce. He wanted a big contract.
Speaker 1: I didn't give it to him, but still you thought
Speaker 1: that he was going to be important. And so now
Speaker 1: the Warriors' best case scenario is they go into a
Speaker 1: two week all out death match with the email Udoka's
Speaker 1: Rocket squad, with Amon Thompson fresh off holding Steph Curry
Speaker 1: to three points, putting him in jail for two weeks.
Speaker 1: And if you're lucky enough to get out of that
Speaker 1: series only bruised and battered, you have the Lakers waiting
Speaker 1: for you. So none of that's good man. So I
Speaker 1: think this weekend was disastrous for the Clipper or for
Speaker 1: the Warriors, and I think they absolutely could lose tonight.
Speaker 1: I know they're seven point favorites. I like, you know,
Speaker 1: Jah is a live grenade and he can go off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so I think that is very dangerous. I know
Speaker 1: you have another play in question. Do that and then we.
Speaker 2: Can uh yeah, So how do you feel about the
Speaker 2: play and do you think that it should maybe be
Speaker 2: taken or should they leave it to give you know,
Speaker 2: teams like players like Steph the opportunity to make it
Speaker 2: if you're like kind of hanging out in the back.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. I like it under the original premise,
Speaker 1: which was the Bubble created the play in but it
Speaker 1: was only going to exist if teams were with an
Speaker 1: X amount of games in the standings. This year, it
Speaker 1: isn't fair for the Warriors or the Grizzlies that one
Speaker 1: of them is going to be in a win or
Speaker 1: go home game against a Kings or a MAVs team
Speaker 1: that they The Warriors and Grizzlies both won forty eight games.
Speaker 1: The Kings and MAVs won forty and thirty nine, respectively.
Speaker 1: So that's where I don't like it. Where So last
Speaker 1: year's standings are a better example of when it could
Speaker 1: be good. Last year, the Bakers won forty seven. The
Speaker 1: Kings and Warriors both won forty six, So it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: they're a game apart. The Pelicans won forty nine. They
Speaker 1: were the seven. Initially the Lakers beat them, and then
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, and then the Warriors played the Kings in
Speaker 1: the nine ten. The Kings went on obviously to play
Speaker 1: the Pelicans in the in the final playing game. But
Speaker 1: the point being under those circumstances where teams are that close.
Speaker 1: But last year, for example, in the East, the Sixers
Speaker 1: won forty seven, the Heat won forty six. Those were
Speaker 1: the seven eight, and then the Bulls won thirty nine
Speaker 1: and the Hawks won thirty six, and they're in a
Speaker 1: play in So I do like it. I don't think
Speaker 1: it should be guaranteed that we're getting it. I think
Speaker 1: we should only get it if teams are within say,
Speaker 1: three games of making the playoffs without it. By the way,
Speaker 1: like rate, subscribe Review, especially since I said I think
Speaker 1: we might be able to hit two hundred thousand today
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Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Now, let's get to the Lakers side of this.
Speaker 2: Lakers locked up the three seed and now they are
Speaker 2: facing ant in Minnesota in round one. Luca obviously took
Speaker 2: care of business, but against against them last year he
Speaker 2: averaged thirty two, thirty two, nine and eight. How do
Speaker 2: you think these teams stack up against each other? Are
Speaker 2: you a little worried there?
Speaker 1: No, this is the ideal bracket for the Lakers. Okay, So, like, listen,
Speaker 1: everything's hard in the West, and everyone wanted Memphis. But
Speaker 1: once it was clear Memphis wasn't going to climb out
Speaker 1: of the play in part of it, then this was
Speaker 1: the best you could have hoped for. Like, you want
Speaker 1: to play the Nuggets right now? I don't. Jamal Murray's back,
Speaker 1: joker is joker. You want to play the Clippers right now?
Speaker 1: Holy shit, that team looks unbelievable. The Warriors, because of Steph,
Speaker 1: are always dangerous. So again, the best possible path for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, in my opinion, was having the Thunder, Nuggets
Speaker 1: and Clippers on the other side of the bracket. And
Speaker 1: they do they are they might. By the way, also,
Speaker 1: if the Warriors lose tonight, they'll If the Warriors lose tonight,
Speaker 1: the Lakers road to the Conference finals is Timberwolves and
Speaker 1: then either Rockets Grizzlies, and even if the Warriors win
Speaker 1: tonight and then Simbols in either Rockets Golden State and
Speaker 1: so Aunt might average thirty to a game in this series.
Speaker 1: The Lakers do not have anyone that can guard Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: but that's fine. Here are the other things that are
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I don't know how you can credibly play
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert the amount of minutes you probably want to
Speaker 1: play him. Luca just told us a week ago. He
Speaker 1: was like, what moment from your from the MAVs video
Speaker 1: got you choked up the most? And it wasn't when
Speaker 1: they drafted him. It wasn't, you know, one of his
Speaker 1: crazy buzzer beaters. It wasn't the seventy point game. It
Speaker 1: was hitting the step back over go Beer in the
Speaker 1: Conference finals, then cursing him out in Slovenia. Luca has
Speaker 1: tortured Rudy Gobert on multiple count nicks in the Olympic
Speaker 1: Slovenia against France. He's done it when Gobert was a Jazz.
Speaker 1: He did it when Gobert was a Timberwolf, he did it.
Speaker 1: So that is a rough spot for the Timberwolves to
Speaker 1: start with. You then add that the Lakers are getting
Speaker 1: They no longer have to deal with playoff D'Angelo Russell,
Speaker 1: which is a disaster, and instead get to go against
Speaker 1: playoff Julius Randall, which is a different type of disaster.
Speaker 1: That's nice. They don't have Darvin Ham with his hands
Speaker 1: in his pockets or drawing up on the whiteboard contest
Speaker 1: without fouling. They've got JJ who's been up for thirty
Speaker 1: nine straight hours figuring out how to blitz Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: All that's good. You also have a series that because
Speaker 1: Luca is going to want to make Rudy Gobert cry,
Speaker 1: Lebron's gonna be able to sit back the first three
Speaker 1: quarters like he did in that MAVs game. So again,
Speaker 1: I think it is a hard fought five games for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, maybe six. I will tell you guys my
Speaker 1: favorite round one bet. Shout out to my friends at DraftKings,
Speaker 1: by the way, like we should. I would like to
Speaker 1: can DraftKings. Can we start getting some boosts or something?
Speaker 1: I just if there's something I really like. I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is plus one twenty. Maybe they can throw my
Speaker 1: face on it, make it plus one twenty five for
Speaker 1: what's right, listeners. But the Lakers minus a game and
Speaker 1: a half in the series, meaning is plus one twenty.
Speaker 1: So the Lakers for the series is minus two hundred.
Speaker 1: So question is, do you think the Lakers are going
Speaker 1: to win the series? Yes, okay, you bet them at
Speaker 1: minus two hundred. You win if they win in four
Speaker 1: or five, six or seven. Or you can get them
Speaker 1: at minus a game and a half at plus one
Speaker 1: twenty and you win if they win the series in four, five,
Speaker 1: or six. So yes, you cost yourself if it's a
Speaker 1: seven game Lakers win. But I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be seven games because I think Luca is gonna light
Speaker 1: this team on fire, and I think that, uh, listen,
Speaker 1: nas Reed's gonna be a problem. You got credit where
Speaker 1: it's due. Jaden McDaniels is an excellent defensive player, but
Speaker 1: they got We saw Luca with a worst supporting cast,
Speaker 1: beat this team in five to go to the finals
Speaker 1: last year. Now, Aunt said I got tired, which was odd,
Speaker 1: and Aunt won't be tired this time. But you also
Speaker 1: have Lebron with eight days off coming into it.
Speaker 2: On the Lebron side, are like, obviously not trying to
Speaker 2: speak this in the existence, but are you worried at
Speaker 2: all about his growing?
Speaker 3: So I know that was kind of acting up last.
Speaker 1: Night week he saw Yeah, so it looked like he
Speaker 1: kind of tweaked it in the game against Houston game
Speaker 1: eighty one. He didn't seem too concerned. And this is
Speaker 1: also why you know having eight days off is going
Speaker 1: to be so incredibly useful and helpful. So no, I'm
Speaker 1: not obviously if he truly reaggravates his growing, if he
Speaker 1: has to miss time, then that would be a problem.
Speaker 1: But this is where I remind you guys of one
Speaker 1: of the single most remarkable stats in basketball history, which
Speaker 1: is Lebron James' teams have played in two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty seven playoff games. Demanse in his career two hundred
Speaker 1: and eight, So teams Lebron has been on have played
Speaker 1: in two hundred and eighty seven playoff games. Of those
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty seven, Lebron James has played in
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty seven. He has never missed a
Speaker 1: single playoff game in his career. So yes, fingers crossed,
Speaker 1: knock on wood, whatever you gotta do. But also that
Speaker 1: number is.
Speaker 3: So bananas, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: It's three and a half full seasons. Yeah, he's played.
Speaker 1: This will be his fifty fifth career playoff series, fifty
Speaker 1: five series. He's forty one and thirteen in his career
Speaker 1: in playoff series, And so yeah, I mean, I you hope.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's got to stay healthy. He's done a good
Speaker 1: job of that through his career. One more question before
Speaker 1: we move on to some other stuff.
Speaker 2: So if Minnesota ends up winning this series and at
Speaker 2: shows out as he moved closer to become in the face.
Speaker 1: So yes, I Ant needs to tighten up his off
Speaker 1: court life, but he's got everything else. And if he
Speaker 1: were to outduel Lebron and Luca in what is going
Speaker 1: to be the highest rated Round one series, yeah that will.
Speaker 1: But I kind of look at Ant. Here's the optimistic
Speaker 1: look of Ant. He's on the Luca trajectory. Luca made
Speaker 1: an early conference finals run. The next year, the team
Speaker 1: made a big trade and then took a bit of
Speaker 1: a step back for Luca was Kyrie. They end up
Speaker 1: missing the playoffs. For Ant, they trade Carl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 1: You know, they end up down at the sixth line,
Speaker 1: probably bouncing round one and the next year for Luca,
Speaker 1: they made the finals, so that like it's not like
Speaker 1: Ant is behind schedule at all. But yes, this would
Speaker 1: scutt This would Winning this round one series would do
Speaker 1: more for Ant's notoriety and facing the league stuff than
Speaker 1: winning the round two series they did last year against Denvers.
Speaker 3: Sies.
Speaker 2: Probably super important with this year, like if he won
Speaker 2: this one, if they beat the Lakers and then they
Speaker 2: just lost in round two.
Speaker 1: Correct, No, no, no, you beat the Lakers, everyone's then gonna
Speaker 1: expect you to beat the Rockets or the Warriors or
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies. That that part's definitely true. All right, before
Speaker 1: we get to the other round one series, guys, this awesome.
Speaker 1: You guys know that one of my favorite things to
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Speaker 1: speaking of Lakers tickets, pal, So here's the deal. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe we got to keep our fingers crossed on the
Speaker 1: bracket falling right, and we have to keep our fingers
Speaker 1: crossed on the dates working. But if there is a
Speaker 1: Lakers Round two game in Houston, kind of midway point
Speaker 1: LA to Houston, maybe we do a little what's right
Speaker 1: family meet up? Oh yeah, that Rockets playoff game if
Speaker 1: because the I'm not gonna it's just too hard for
Speaker 1: me to get to LA and do the show and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But Lakers Rockets would be awesome.
Speaker 3: That would be really awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're listen, this is something you'll learn because
Speaker 1: demands filing his taxes today because today is the deadline. Uh,
Speaker 1: since you're a professional broadcaster, Now that's what if you
Speaker 1: were to do that, that's a tax right off work.
Speaker 1: I had to go, oh, yeah, it's a rite off,
Speaker 1: like Kramer, just write it all off. All right, let's
Speaker 1: go to the other playoff series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're waiting for the play in to figure
Speaker 2: out what the rest of the series are going to
Speaker 2: look like. Across the league, but the rest of the
Speaker 2: list set in the first round on the on the
Speaker 2: West side, we've got the Lakers versus Minnesota, We've got
Speaker 2: Denver versus the Clippers, and then on the East you've
Speaker 2: got the Knicks versus Detroit and Indiana versus Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm gonna spend the most time on Denver Clippers.
Speaker 1: We already did Lakers, Timberwolves, and by the way, in
Speaker 1: about ten minutes, we're gonna do my full NBA Awards ballot,
Speaker 1: so stick around for that. Let me go to the
Speaker 1: East first. I just want Milwaukee to win. I don't
Speaker 1: Indiana should win. That they should, and Indiana has been
Speaker 1: the more consistent team. Indiana's been, honestly, the more impressive team.
Speaker 1: Indiana right now is the healthier team. But do you realize, demons,
Speaker 1: that Jannis has not won a playoff game, has not
Speaker 1: been on the court for a playoff win since that
Speaker 1: unbelievable forty and eleven to go up three to two
Speaker 1: on the Celtics in twenty twenty two. Yeah, the next game,
Speaker 1: Giannis was just as good forty four and twenty, But
Speaker 1: that was Tatum's best game of his career up to that. Point,
Speaker 1: then they lost Game seven. Then the next year he
Speaker 1: got hurt during the playoffs and miss games, and then
Speaker 1: last year was out. He has not won a playoff
Speaker 1: game since that game when it looked like they were
Speaker 1: going to defend their title. Not a game, forget a series,
Speaker 1: a game. He is having another unbelievable year. I would
Speaker 1: like to see him if he could just throw the
Speaker 1: team on his back and get them back to round
Speaker 1: two and then throw a scare into Cleveland. So I
Speaker 1: the anally, go at, what did you say?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know that he'll leave this summer. Maybe,
Speaker 1: I mean maybe maybe, I don't know. I so Indiana
Speaker 1: is the smart pick, but I'm going with my heart
Speaker 1: and just saying I want Giannis to do it, and
Speaker 1: I'd go with Milwaukee there nixt Detroit. I disagree with
Speaker 1: the DraftKings odds on this. So they have the Knicks
Speaker 1: as huge favorites. Oh that's funny. They that's sorry, I
Speaker 1: just got an email that was not meant for me.
Speaker 1: I well, that's no, it's it's it doesn't matter. I
Speaker 1: so they are. Look, I was looking at my phone.
Speaker 1: I wanted to pull up the exact line that is
Speaker 1: really sorry that the exact line. I think the Knicks
Speaker 1: are minus four hundred in the series. Let me make
Speaker 1: sure that is correct. But series markets on DraftKings Knicks
Speaker 1: or minus four hundred Detroit's plus three ten. I think
Speaker 1: that's too at that price. I think Detroit is a
Speaker 1: better bet, but I think the Knicks are gonna win.
Speaker 1: I just don't think that Detroit is a push over
Speaker 1: the way that market would say it is. But I
Speaker 1: expect the Knicks to win. And then we have what
Speaker 1: should be an absolute all out war in Round one
Speaker 1: Denver against the Clippers. Now it struck me as noteworthy
Speaker 1: demands that Jamal Murray's hamstring was just lingering, and Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray's ham was such a problem that Michael Malone all
Speaker 1: of a sudden was like, listen, we hope he's back
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. And then Michael Malone got fired and
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray's hamstring was healthy enough to play a couple
Speaker 1: days later. That struck me as like nobody if people
Speaker 1: are surprised by the Malone firing and nobody, And again
Speaker 1: I'm not making any allegations, but the sequence of events
Speaker 1: there to me is a noteworthy one. But with Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray back, and with Joker playing like this, and with
Speaker 1: the Nuggets seemingly, you know, having I guess a bit
Speaker 1: of a cloud lifted, maybe they feel scary. The Clippers,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, look abjectly terrifying. Hardin was the
Speaker 1: best player on the court for Clippers Warriors. He was
Speaker 1: unbelievable in overtime. He was thirty nine and ten, and
Speaker 1: Kawhi was sensational on both ends. Zubots has been great
Speaker 1: all year, all year, and uh Norman Powell was the
Speaker 1: guy everyone was playing their tiny violins for because Lebron
Speaker 1: stole his All Star spot and they've gotten excellent coach
Speaker 1: in Tyler. So this is the hardest series to pick. However,
Speaker 1: when you add to the fact that Denver has home court,
Speaker 1: Denver has the best player in the world, and the
Speaker 1: Clippers have playoff Harden, I'm going to go Denver in
Speaker 1: a seven game classic, Denver to win the series. And
Speaker 1: let me check again. Let me check this as well.
Speaker 1: I hadn't looked at it yet. The Clippers plus a
Speaker 1: game and a half, meaning the Clippers to either win
Speaker 1: the series or lose in seven, is only minus two twenty.
Speaker 1: That's somewhat attractive to me because I do think that
Speaker 1: the Clippers could win, but I if they don't, I
Speaker 1: do think it goes seven, but I probably would just
Speaker 1: take Denver. Denver to win the series on DraftKings is
Speaker 1: minus one thirty five. That feels about right, very very close.
Speaker 1: But best player in the world gonna get rested. I'm
Speaker 1: not even gonna bring up the Qui injury stuff because
Speaker 1: you're just not rooting for it. Uh. But it also
Speaker 1: makes them a harder team to bet on, and Harden
Speaker 1: in the playoffs is a real thing. So that's that's
Speaker 1: to me. I like the Lakers and a hard fall
Speaker 1: but relatively quick series. Denver in an absolute classic, the
Speaker 1: Knicks to win, but not in four or five, and
Speaker 1: the Bucks in seven, because why not. That's how I
Speaker 1: feel about the matchups that we have right now. All right,
Speaker 1: let's do the Suns real quick and then get to
Speaker 1: my awards ballot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, after just one season, head coach Mike Budenholzer has
Speaker 2: been fired from the Suns. They finished this year thirty
Speaker 2: six and forty six and have now had three coaches
Speaker 2: in three years. Do you think that this Phoenix stint
Speaker 2: is gonna hurt Katie's legacy, which surely didn't help it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this man, basketball is so crazy, and
Speaker 1: this is one of the things I love about it.
Speaker 1: But I was just talking about Janice's You know how
Speaker 1: quickly it happened for Yannis like that. They just went
Speaker 1: from being the defending champs, up three to two one
Speaker 1: Boston home Game six, Giannis drops forty. They lose. Anyway,
Speaker 1: he hasn't won a playoff game since then. Think about
Speaker 1: if you are the Phoenix Suns. You're the Phoenix Suns,
Speaker 1: you're up two one in the NBA Finals. You're it's
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, You're in Millwall like you're up two
Speaker 1: oh technically, but get you get throttled in game three.
Speaker 1: That's supposed to happen. You're up to one in the finals,
Speaker 1: and you have a chance to win game three and
Speaker 1: go or game four, pardon me, and go up four
Speaker 1: games to three games to one, and it goes Booker
Speaker 1: missed jumper, Giannie is huge block on eight and Chris
Speaker 1: Paul turnover, Devin Booker miss lay up and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, it's a two to two series. And then
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, it's a two to two series. We're
Speaker 1: all right. We're not exactly where we want it to be,
Speaker 1: but we're all right. Game five, it's it's coming down
Speaker 1: to the final minutes. You make a furious comeback after
Speaker 1: being down twelve in the fourth quarter. You have the
Speaker 1: ball down one twenty seconds left, Holiday rips, Devin Booker
Speaker 1: throws the oop to Yana, the Bucks win. Giannis drops fifty.
Speaker 1: Then a madman buys your team, and now you're just
Speaker 1: on your fourth coach in three years. You've traded away everything.
Speaker 1: You're on an apron. Hell, Bradley Beal is pissed because
Speaker 1: budenholtzers like play like. Drew Holliday's like, how dare you?
Speaker 1: I'm Bradley Beal. Kevin Durant, You've got to trade him
Speaker 1: just to You were this close the year after winning
Speaker 1: the championship, you're the one seed. By the way salign
Speaker 1: immediately went away, you're the one seed. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to that real quick. What happened there again? You're this
Speaker 1: close to winning a championship. You don't you come back
Speaker 1: the next year you're even better. You find yourself, uh
Speaker 1: up three to one on the Dallas Mavericks. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: up three to two, you blow them out in Game five,
Speaker 1: by thirty, by thirty, you blow them out. You're gonna
Speaker 1: go back to the conference finals. You're gonna play the Warriors,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul, Steph Curry. It's gonna be great. And then
Speaker 1: Game six, Luca goes crazy, thirty three, eleven and eight,
Speaker 1: All right, doesn't matter. Game seven's in our building, no problem.
Speaker 1: And Game seven the score is fifty seven twenty seven
Speaker 1: at halftime, and Luca has twenty seven by himself, and
Speaker 1: Devin Booker won't look him in the eye. And now
Speaker 1: you're just ruined. So it's less about Durant and more
Speaker 1: about that franchise just falling off a cliff. And as
Speaker 1: far as where Durant's gonna go, We're gonna have plenty
Speaker 1: of time to talk about that over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get into it right now, but it
Speaker 1: this did not go the way he had hoped. He
Speaker 1: forced his way to a team that had just been
Speaker 1: to a finals and the previous year the best record
Speaker 1: in basketball, and the team won one playoff round. Ever,
Speaker 1: they lost in round two, they lost in round one.
Speaker 1: They missed the playoffs just brutal, just absolutely brutal. The
Speaker 1: NBA eighty two game grind is done. Now the real
Speaker 1: fun begins. The NBA Playoffs are here and it's time
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Speaker 1: co slash b ball. All right, demanse, let's do our
Speaker 1: NBA awards ballot and as much as we can, and
Speaker 1: then we'll get to our f one minute and some
Speaker 1: listener questions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you still don't have the ballot, but we're just
Speaker 2: gonna do this for practice sake, but we'll get you
Speaker 2: there someday. For first, off, you've got your MVP at one,
Speaker 2: You've got SGA two yek.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll go through who I have. But the the
Speaker 1: so MVP to me is quite simple, and I have
Speaker 1: been sorry, Daniel, really, I have found it unbelievable the
Speaker 1: number of people who have just decided all of the
Speaker 1: rules that I laid the groundwork for last year no
Speaker 1: longer apply. And so for me, the only question for
Speaker 1: MVP is the fifth spot. One through four are pretty obvious.
Speaker 1: Shay is the league MVP. He's thirty three a game
Speaker 1: on a sixty eight win team. Joker should be the
Speaker 1: unanimous second place MVP guy. He's thirty a game with
Speaker 1: a triple double carrying a team that is terrible defensively.
Speaker 1: Some of that's on him and just fired their coach.
Speaker 1: Giannis is third, Tatum is fourth, and if you want
Speaker 1: to say Tatum's third, Giannis is fourth, that's fine. I
Speaker 1: think what Giannis has done, especially despite Dame being out,
Speaker 1: is remarkable. But that's a debate. And then for fifth place,
Speaker 1: it was a debate between the following Donovan Caid Edwards
Speaker 1: and Lebron and I still want well, I'll talk about
Speaker 1: All NBA first team because my one through five, my
Speaker 1: MVP ballot is not my first team All NBA, and
Speaker 1: I'll explain that in a minute. But my fifth place
Speaker 1: spot goes to Lebron. And it goes to Lebron because
Speaker 1: despite the injury, still played seven games. He seamlessly did
Speaker 1: what a lot of people thought he either wouldn't be
Speaker 1: willing to or able to. Which is fit with Luca.
Speaker 1: People are recreating history that, oh, the Lakers were headed
Speaker 1: for the play in before the Luca trade. The Lakers
Speaker 1: were the four seed the day Luca made his debut
Speaker 1: with the team. They stayed even though Anthony Davis had
Speaker 1: gotten hurt. They were on a winning streak when Luca
Speaker 1: first got to the team. They're only real losing this
Speaker 1: year happened surrounding Lebron's injury. Lebron was a Swiss Army
Speaker 1: knife defensively once they got Luca and honestly once Ad
Speaker 1: went down. They are the three seed in a loaded
Speaker 1: Western conference. They were only Oklahoma. The city was better
Speaker 1: this year against the best ten teams in basketball Lebron's
Speaker 1: been the through line of it all. I have him
Speaker 1: his fifth place in MVP now to the top of
Speaker 1: the ballot. So here's why I find these folks who
Speaker 1: are now saying they are going to vote for Joker
Speaker 1: to be so disingenuous, and what they simply should say
Speaker 1: is he's my favorite player. He's the best player in
Speaker 1: the league, so I'm voting for him. Last year, the
Speaker 1: numbers for Joker v. Luca were not close. I will
Speaker 1: remind you of them. Okay. Last year, Luca averaged thirty
Speaker 1: four nine and nine. He won the scoring title on
Speaker 1: good efficiency. He averaged thirty four points, nine point two rebounds,
Speaker 1: nine point eight assists, so basically thirty four nine to ten.
Speaker 1: The league MVP was Nikola Jokic, who averaged seven fewer
Speaker 1: points twenty six and a half, three more rebounds twelve
Speaker 1: and a half, and one fewer assists nine And it
Speaker 1: wasn't close. Luka got four first place votes, and the
Speaker 1: argument was purely well, Jokers team won fifty seven games,
Speaker 1: Luca's team won fifty and Luca was not very good.
Speaker 1: Even though the team was fine defensively, Luca was not
Speaker 1: very good defensively. Those same people now this year are
Speaker 1: saying throw those rules out. And even though Shay's team
Speaker 1: has won sixty eight games and Jokers team won fifty,
Speaker 1: the same exact number Lucas team won last year. I
Speaker 1: think Joker's gonna get it because I've never seen an
Speaker 1: offensive season like this. And my question is, didn't you
Speaker 1: kind of see an offensive season like this last year
Speaker 1: by a guy who got four first place votes? Again,
Speaker 1: Luca last year was thirty four nine and ten. Joker
Speaker 1: this year is thirty Let me get yeah, twenty nine
Speaker 1: point six called thirty thirteen and ten. So four or
Speaker 1: fewer points four more rebounds on a team that won
Speaker 1: the same amount of games. And so that now you
Speaker 1: might say, Nick, last year were aren't you a guy
Speaker 1: that was arguing for Luca. Wouldn't that then follow that
Speaker 1: this year you should be arguing for a Joker one
Speaker 1: hundred percent if one of two things were true. One,
Speaker 1: I had an actual vote and it was impacting it,
Speaker 1: so I must vote with consistency or two. And this
Speaker 1: is more importantly and really the reasoning. I do feel
Speaker 1: like the previous winner winners, but certainly the most recent
Speaker 1: year continues to set the precedent for the voting public
Speaker 1: because it is an undefined award. So last year when
Speaker 1: a guy with fifty wins who's playing in the four
Speaker 1: to five game, who averaged thirty four to nine to ten,
Speaker 1: got four of one hundred votes because we said best
Speaker 1: player on the best team with really good stats is
Speaker 1: going to run away with it, to then not give
Speaker 1: Shay when Shae is again, it's like Shaye's averaging twenty
Speaker 1: five a game, He's thirty three, five and six with
Speaker 1: excellent defense on a sixty eight win team. And the
Speaker 1: history of guys on teams who have won sixty eight
Speaker 1: plus games, all of them every team that has ever
Speaker 1: won sixty eight plus. Steph won MVP, Jordan won MVP
Speaker 1: the sixty nine win Lakers did not have the league MVP.
Speaker 1: Kareem won it in seventy two, but that is because
Speaker 1: two Lakers split votes. Wilt and West finished third and second.
Speaker 1: That's why the Lakers didn't have one. The who are
Speaker 1: the other ones? Dave Cowen's on the sixty eight win
Speaker 1: Celtics won MVP, Jordan won sixty nine games and shamefully
Speaker 1: didn't win it ninety seven as the voters got sick
Speaker 1: with giving it to him, gave it to Carl Malone.
Speaker 1: But it's just folks need to just say I like
Speaker 1: Joker the most, so even though his coach got fired
Speaker 1: and his defense has been bad, and even though last
Speaker 1: year was about wins, this year it's about raw stats.
Speaker 1: I'm just not gonna lie. I just think it's I
Speaker 1: think Shay's the MVP, not to All NBA. So again
Speaker 1: I don't have an actual vote, but and I know
Speaker 1: they changed the rules. I want my All NBA First
Speaker 1: Team at the very least to be two guards, two
Speaker 1: forwards in a center, and I want all of my
Speaker 1: All NBA teams to at least be credible teams you
Speaker 1: could roll out on a basketball court. So even though
Speaker 1: I had Lebron as my fifth place in MVP voting,
Speaker 1: I do not have him as All NBA First Team.
Speaker 1: I gave that to Donovan. So I want my two
Speaker 1: guards to be Shayan Donovan, my two forwards Gihonnyson Tata,
Speaker 1: my center Joker. Second team All NBA for me was
Speaker 1: very simple. My two guards are Stephan ant Cade's technically
Speaker 1: a guard, but he's tall enough we can just put
Speaker 1: him in kind of that point forward spot. He and
Speaker 1: Lebron are second team and alburn Shingoon, who was the
Speaker 1: best player on a Rockets team that was the second seed.
Speaker 1: He is second Team All NBA, Third Team All NBA,
Speaker 1: with apologies to Tyrese Halliburton. Halliburton had his spots stolen
Speaker 1: in Game eighty two Demons by James Harden thirty nine
Speaker 1: to ten to lock up the five seed and stay
Speaker 1: out of the play in. So it's Jalen Brunson, James Harden,
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams as a forward. Because your team wins sixty
Speaker 1: eight games, it's not just one guy. Carl Anthony Towns
Speaker 1: is the other forward and Evan Mobley as the other center. Again,
Speaker 1: that team wons what sixty four they need someone other
Speaker 1: than just it. My Defensive Player of the Year was
Speaker 1: not difficult for me. I think Draymond really hurt himself
Speaker 1: at the end of the year. It is Evan Mobley,
Speaker 1: my sixth man.
Speaker 3: Of the year. The mobiley thing.
Speaker 2: You have him as your defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 2: but he's only in your third team All NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that happens sometimes. The where in hell there
Speaker 1: have been years defensive Player of the Year didn't even
Speaker 1: make any All NBA Team. I don't think Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: made an All NBA team when he won it, I
Speaker 1: don't think. I don't know if Tony Allen. Did Tony
Speaker 1: Allen ever win Defensive Player of the Year. I don't remember,
Speaker 1: but that happened sometimes. But I think he's the defensive
Speaker 1: player of the year. Sixth Man of the Year is
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley. Just an absolute flamethrower off the bench, and
Speaker 1: I guess somewhat controversial. Most improved. I think it's if
Speaker 1: it's a zubots I almost had zubots On as my
Speaker 1: on my All NBA team. He jumped his scoring by
Speaker 1: fifty percent over his career. He's been great eight defensively,
Speaker 1: Clippers have been excellent, He's been huge. I think he's
Speaker 1: the most improved player, even though he's old and it
Speaker 1: usually doesn't go to old guys. Clutch Player of the
Speaker 1: Year is Lebron. Lebron's four the only player in the
Speaker 1: league with four hundred, one hundred, one hundred and the fourth.
Speaker 1: Lebron's fourth quarter plus minus and the Lakers record in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, and his assistant turnover ratio is better
Speaker 1: than either of the previous Clutch Player of the Year
Speaker 1: winners and Stephan Ant and I understand Jalen Brunson's clutch
Speaker 1: numbers are going to probably make Jalen Brunts win this award.
Speaker 1: That is in part because they do not have clutch
Speaker 1: numbers for defense in the clutch, where Jalen was lacking
Speaker 1: obviously because of his size. I think Lebron's clutch Player
Speaker 1: of the Year Rookie of the Year is very very simple.
Speaker 1: Stefan Cassel is going to be close to unanimous. Well,
Speaker 1: Resa Chale gets some votes, and I think Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year demons is Ima Udoka getting this Rockets team
Speaker 1: to the two season when Jalen Green's a nice player.
Speaker 1: Amon Thompson's gonna be an awesome player, but he's very young.
Speaker 1: I think im Udoka deserves Coach of the Year. So
Speaker 1: those are my ballots and my full NBA awards, all right,
Speaker 1: it makes sense to everybody?
Speaker 3: Makes it makes sense?
Speaker 1: I uh so? I before we get to the listener
Speaker 1: questions back after her spring break with our F one minute,
Speaker 1: if you're a new viewer listener, my goddaughter Sierra Fidel
Speaker 1: is our F one correspondent. She is back updating us
Speaker 1: on what has happened in Formula one over the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Here is Sierra.
Speaker 4: Hey, guys, welcome back to the F one minute with
Speaker 4: me Sierra, so let's talk all things bor Rain GP.
Speaker 4: So it's been called the best race of the season
Speaker 4: so far, even with the chaotic technical difficulties, but before
Speaker 4: down twenty more to go. Unlike the circuit last week
Speaker 4: in Suzuka, here in Moraine, the track seriously promotes overtaking
Speaker 4: and that's pretty much what we saw throughout the entire race.
Speaker 4: On the first lap, a big headline falling quality was
Speaker 4: Oscar Piastre, starting from pole position for the second time
Speaker 4: this season. He was able to keep his position, but
Speaker 4: the rest of them pretty much played musical chairs around
Speaker 4: the first corners, but it was pretty entertaining to say
Speaker 4: the least. The conditions and the tire strategies were a
Speaker 4: big talking point of this race. With the cooler conditions,
Speaker 4: most cars started with sauces, but the Ferrari boys started
Speaker 4: on mediums. It kind of sucked for them at first,
Speaker 4: but after a few laps around the track, the tires
Speaker 4: came alive for them and they were doing pretty good.
Speaker 4: Piastre controlled this race pretty much the entire time, however,
Speaker 4: with sizeable gaps to the front at times Russell leclerk
Speaker 4: and for a small fraction of a moment Hamilton was
Speaker 4: even fighting for a win. Notice how I did not
Speaker 4: mention Verstapan however, Yeah, that's because he was struggling pretty
Speaker 4: much the entire time with no grip, going into the
Speaker 4: pits multiple times to switch out time and reporting issues
Speaker 4: with his car. And there was even a safety car,
Speaker 4: but it was from debris, not exactly a crash, so
Speaker 4: it wasn't all that notable. But at the restart Pastree
Speaker 4: was still ahead, and Norris on fresher tires managed to
Speaker 4: pass both mcclerk and Hamilton, but not Russell in the
Speaker 4: good old Mercedes. In the end, PS three got another
Speaker 4: win under his belt, finishing fifteen seconds ahead of everyone else,
Speaker 4: Russell and P two and Norris in P three. Some
Speaker 4: honorable mentions that I cannot leave out is the fact
Speaker 4: that has finished with double points this weekend, which is
Speaker 4: a big accomplishment for a team that maybe scores one
Speaker 4: or two points here or there between two drivers. Alpine
Speaker 4: showed promising pace pretty much throughout the entire weekend, and
Speaker 4: Yuki Sonoda bagging points for Red Bull Lets Go, has
Speaker 4: the second Red Bull seat curse lifted just yet. Only
Speaker 4: time will tell. But key takeaways McLaren is a team
Speaker 4: to beat. That's pretty obvious. That's been so for a
Speaker 4: while now. But McLaren is a team to beat. Pastre
Speaker 4: is supposed more of a threat than ever, especially to
Speaker 4: his teammate now he has he has more wins than
Speaker 4: Lando and he's threatening his position in the Drivers' championship.
Speaker 4: Little by little, Ferrari is showing better days. Hopefully within
Speaker 4: the next few races they can have their breakout performance
Speaker 4: and maybe, just maybe one of them can be on
Speaker 4: the podium.
Speaker 1: Please.
Speaker 4: But that'll be all for this week's f one minute.
Speaker 4: Next week, this circus is headed to Saudi Arabia to
Speaker 4: close out the triple header. So until then, I'll catch
Speaker 4: you next week.
Speaker 1: Great job as always, Sierra. Can't wait to hear from
Speaker 1: you next week. The producers demnse really want to get
Speaker 1: the Lil Wayne tweet in the show. I didn't do it.
Speaker 1: During the Master's thing the chol Wayne was tweeting that
Speaker 1: he couldn't watch Bryce, and so I texted him, was like, hey,
Speaker 1: use the Masters app. Here's how you do it. And
Speaker 1: then he sends out this tweet. I mean, listen, he's
Speaker 1: got thirty three million followers. Throwing me a little tag
Speaker 1: in there would have been nice, but it's all right,
Speaker 1: no problem, weezy. If you have the same issue I
Speaker 1: was having, all you gotta do is download the Masters app.
Speaker 1: Thanks my right, he's the nicest person in the world.
Speaker 1: People would be shocked at how nice of a guy.
Speaker 1: Even if you think he's a super nice guy, you'd
Speaker 1: be shocked by it. Save these listener questions for Thursday's episode.
Speaker 1: We're having a few technical issues, and more importantly, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be late to do Cowherd show, so I gotta go.
Speaker 1: Today's show went long. You did great. Enjoy the playing tonight.
Speaker 1: Go Royals against the Yankees. Thank you to seat Geeks,
Speaker 1: shout out to them. Thank you to DraftKings. Thank you
Speaker 1: to everyone watching. See if we hit two hundred thousand
Speaker 1: by the end of the day. Thank you to Volume
Speaker 1: and Blue Duck. Thank you to Demanse. Talk to you
Speaker 1: guys soon, See you on Cowherd in about ninety minutes.
Speaker 1: What's right