Speaker 1: I know we just did a playoff picture on the
Speaker 1: Western Conference last week, but that's how much it changes.
Speaker 1: So if you're not pulling up the NBA standings on
Speaker 1: a day to day basis, and you don't are not
Speaker 1: aware of how the tie breakers work, what games are
Speaker 1: coming up, let me help you out. We got to
Speaker 1: continue to go through it because right now there is
Speaker 1: a wildly tight race for the five and six spot
Speaker 1: in the West, that is between the Clippers, Lakers, and
Speaker 1: the Warriors. One of those three teams will be in
Speaker 1: the plan. If you recall, these are the two spots
Speaker 1: above the play in tournament and the ones that guarantees
Speaker 1: you a winnable best of seven series against the three
Speaker 1: and the four Seeds got it with just a handful
Speaker 1: of games to go. We have no clarity. Zero Warriors
Speaker 1: currently tumbling down the standings.
Speaker 2: Man, they suck right now? Are Dubs? What is going on?
Speaker 1: They threw up all over themselves on Sunday against Denver
Speaker 1: without Jokic. They were giving you that game. They gave
Speaker 1: it to you, and what did you do? You found
Speaker 1: a way to Dennis shrewder it. Fumble the bag, baby,
Speaker 1: fumble the bag could not muster up the strength to
Speaker 1: win a game that was given to you, like the
Speaker 1: championship caliber team that you're supposed to be. Clay blew
Speaker 1: two open looks in the final five seconds to win
Speaker 1: the game against the Nuggets, and now they pretty much
Speaker 1: gotta win every single game left in order to avoid
Speaker 1: that playing spot.
Speaker 2: Lakers somehow, some way control their fate.
Speaker 1: They have an equal amount of losses of the Clippers
Speaker 1: and the Warriors, but one less game played. So Wednesday,
Speaker 1: which is today, is a collision Well it should be today,
Speaker 1: and we're recording this Monday, but it.
Speaker 2: Is today for you.
Speaker 1: Is a collision course between the Clippers and the Lakers.
Speaker 1: At the crypt winner one hundred percent makes the top
Speaker 1: six one hundred percent with just a couple of games
Speaker 1: to go. Loser potentially drops into the play in tournament,
Speaker 1: although given how bad the Warriors have been and their
Speaker 1: schedule and how many games are left, probably not as likely.
Speaker 2: Very confusing in these streets. Here's what we know.
Speaker 1: Lakers currently hold the tie break over the Warriors. The
Speaker 1: Clippers currently hold the tie break over the Lakers. The Wolves,
Speaker 1: why are they involved, I don't know. They hold the
Speaker 1: tiebreaker over the Lakers, But then what do they do.
Speaker 1: They suffer the worst loss in thirty years. That was
Speaker 1: the largest line, the largest favorite that we have seen since.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 1: Nineteen ninety three, there were nineteen and a half point
Speaker 1: favorites at the crib to my egregiously tanking Portland Trailblazers,
Speaker 1: where again they are load managing Trendon Watford and you
Speaker 1: know what, somehow found a way to lose that game,
Speaker 1: which means that if the Warriors, Clippers, and Lakers all
Speaker 1: finish forty three and thirty nine, which given how many
Speaker 1: games are left to go, the teams that they play against,
Speaker 1: that kind of is what it looks like. That would
Speaker 1: mean that the Clippers would get the five spot, the
Speaker 1: Lakers would get the sixth spot, and the Warriors would
Speaker 1: our Dubs would be in the playing tournament at seven.
Speaker 1: In fact, given the fact that the Clippers play the Lakers,
Speaker 1: the Warriors must win every single game that they have
Speaker 1: left to avoid the inevitability of finishing in the seventh spot,
Speaker 1: unless the Lakers were to do something like lose twice
Speaker 1: to the Utah Jazz, who are also egregiously tanking, which
Speaker 1: I don't think is going to happen.
Speaker 2: But listen, look at the Wolves.
Speaker 1: Anything's possible, so damn complicated, and technically the Suns who
Speaker 1: are currently locked up on the fourth spot, not mathematically
Speaker 1: at this very second, but really it is. There's four
Speaker 1: games left, their four games behind the Kings. They decide
Speaker 1: who is the five seed because they play the Lakers
Speaker 1: and the Clippers before this whole thing ends. They could
Speaker 1: either sit out stars let that team beat them, or
Speaker 1: that they could treat that game as a playoff game
Speaker 1: like against the Lakers. If I'm the Suns, I do
Speaker 1: not want to play Lakers in the first round, no shot.
Speaker 1: I would much prefer to play the Clippers without Paul George.
Speaker 1: Let Kawhi and Nick Batoom do their very best. See
Speaker 1: how that thing shakes up. Here's another little wrinkle in
Speaker 1: the playoff picture. The Dallas Mavericks must be listening to
Speaker 1: the heat check because after their dismal overtime loss to
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks, where JaVale McGee had two free throws
Speaker 1: at the end of the game in order to win it,
Speaker 1: decides to only make one free throw and they go
Speaker 1: to overtime. They lose to the Atlanta Hawks, who are awful.
Speaker 1: They are now down to the eleventh spot in the West,
Speaker 1: and rumor has it they are going to shut down
Speaker 1: Luca and shut down Kyrie for the rest of the year,
Speaker 1: trying to get a top ten spot in the NBA
Speaker 1: Draft and deciding they are going to take themselves out
Speaker 1: of playoff consideration altogether. That in the West only impacts
Speaker 1: the Kings, who only need one more game to win
Speaker 1: in order for them to win the division and seal
Speaker 1: up the three spot. My ideal matchup, My ideal ratings
Speaker 1: matchup one eight. I want to see Denver play the Pelicans.
Speaker 1: So You've got Zion versus Jokis. That's a fascinating matchup.
Speaker 1: You've got Brandon Ingram against Michael Porter Junior amazing. You've
Speaker 1: got Jamal Murray against CJ.
Speaker 2: McCullum. You got Aaron Gordon being.
Speaker 1: Defended by skinny ass Rangy amazing defender, Herb Jones. Fun matchup,
Speaker 1: Fun watch out Nuggets two seven Warriors Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, oh my, I need it. I need
Speaker 2: it so bad.
Speaker 1: Jaw and Dylan Brooks and Jaron Jackson chirp and Clay Chirping.
Speaker 1: I mean the energy, the emotion, the aggression, that is
Speaker 1: top tier first round matchup, top tier Clippers versus the Kings.
Speaker 2: Three to six. I mean, I just want that. I
Speaker 2: just want it personally.
Speaker 1: I want to go down to La see the Crypt
Speaker 1: without worrying about the Kings having to face the Lakers.
Speaker 2: It's a good matchup.
Speaker 1: They have no Paul George's the King's best shot in
Speaker 1: order to win a first round series and continue to advance.
Speaker 2: And then four to five Suns.
Speaker 1: Lakers, Oh boy, fireworks, Lebron James against Chris Paul Banana
Speaker 1: boat brothers facing off against one another. Anthony Davis trying
Speaker 1: to soun DeAndre Ayton Kevin Durant now in the mix.
Speaker 2: Do you remember the last time these two teams.
Speaker 1: Play, Anthony Davis sprained his ankle, Lebron James got hurt,
Speaker 1: and the Suns advance and then ended up in the finals.
Speaker 1: This is it, folks, Oh my god, this is the
Speaker 1: best stretch of final regular season games we've ever had
Speaker 1: in life. In life, because the play in tournament. That's
Speaker 1: why I didn't like it at first, But I tell
Speaker 1: you what, it does make this very intriguing and out
Speaker 1: east a lot more clarity, a lot more boredom, let's
Speaker 1: be honest, not much things that are fun going out
Speaker 1: in the East. The one thing that we know for
Speaker 1: sure is that the Knicks are going to play the
Speaker 1: Calves in the first round. Incredible matchup one, two, three Seeds, Bucks, Celtics, Sixers.
Speaker 2: They don't care who they play, doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: You can play Uh, I don't know Heat, you can
Speaker 1: play the Raptors, you can play the Hawks, you can
Speaker 1: play the Bulls.
Speaker 2: Who cares.
Speaker 1: None of them pose any real threats to them in
Speaker 1: the first round. We know those three teams are going
Speaker 1: to advance further, doesn't matter. Zero drama, and the Nets
Speaker 1: aren't gonna beat the Sixers unless Embid goes down.
Speaker 2: So zero drama. Who makes it out of the play
Speaker 2: in in the East? Do I care?
Speaker 1: No, I give zero fucks why because they're all trash vomit.
Speaker 1: Some really sad news out of Utah. Apparently they are.
Speaker 1: Jazz are reportedly shutting down rookie center Walker Kessler. Nobody
Speaker 1: saw that coming, but there are legit people out there
Speaker 1: whose business it is to write about the NBA believe
Speaker 1: that the Utah Jazz won the Rudy go Bear trade,
Speaker 1: not just because of the Bonkers amount of first round
Speaker 1: picks that they landed from Minnesota or the young.
Speaker 2: Players that they got.
Speaker 1: But because Kessler they believe is already better or as
Speaker 1: good as Rudy at one tenth of the price, people
Speaker 1: are legitimately saying that they would not trade Walker Kessler
Speaker 1: for Rudy Go Beart straight.
Speaker 2: Up right now.
Speaker 1: That's how much of a fleecing Danny Ainge put on
Speaker 1: our man, Tim Connolly.
Speaker 2: Shame. Tim Connolly shame.
Speaker 1: Probably should not surprise anyone. He was a beast at
Speaker 1: Auburn seven feet one, seven foot five wingspan nine feet
Speaker 1: five inches standing range reach. That'ss He had one of
Speaker 1: the highest block rates in college basketball history ten blocks
Speaker 1: per hundred possessions. Jesus Christ, that seems like a made
Speaker 1: up stat. That's a Kenyan Martin stat.
Speaker 2: It is not.
Speaker 1: I promise you it is not a fake stat. Some
Speaker 1: scouts thought that this was the steal of the draft,
Speaker 1: considering his stats, his size, his upside, and the wild thing.
Speaker 2: He did not lose a step.
Speaker 1: Converting to the NBA in Utah, his seventy two percent
Speaker 1: field goal percentage this year is the best in the NBA.
Speaker 1: He won't win the title because He's a few shots
Speaker 1: short of the minimum amount of shots to the quality
Speaker 1: and one of the highest ever by a rookie.
Speaker 2: He's also averaging.
Speaker 1: An incredible two point three blocks per game on twenty
Speaker 1: three minutes per night.
Speaker 2: Let me say that again.
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler currently averaging two point three blocks per game.
Speaker 2: All not only twenty three minutes per night.
Speaker 1: Last twelve games, he averaged thirteen ten and two with
Speaker 1: three blocks and less than one turnover in twenty eight
Speaker 1: minutes of playtime.
Speaker 2: So pretty damn good. I'd say not really.
Speaker 1: Fair to call Walker Kessler a replacement for Gobert because
Speaker 1: they do different things, But in reality, oh my god,
Speaker 1: he's just so much cheaper for a center and thus
Speaker 1: so much more valuable to a team that's rebuilding than
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert could ever be. Honestly, keeping Rudy Gobert would
Speaker 1: have been bad for the Utah Jazz. You don't want
Speaker 1: to build around him with all these young guys and
Speaker 1: him making forty plus million dollars a year.
Speaker 2: No shot.
Speaker 1: What Danny Angel will Hardy have accomplished in Utah in
Speaker 1: their very first year, I think is going to go
Speaker 1: down as.
Speaker 2: One of the more remarkable transformations.
Speaker 1: In many years, the Utah Jazz were filled with oldies,
Speaker 1: guys who could not play defense, no athletes outside of
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, who by the way, hated
Speaker 1: each other and both were making thirty plus million dollars
Speaker 1: per year, and they had no real ability to get out.
Speaker 2: From under that.
Speaker 1: And now all of a sudden, they have this quote
Speaker 1: unquote conscious decision to tank, and they've got young guys
Speaker 1: like oh Shayok and Laurie Markinen and Walker Kessler.
Speaker 2: And and and and and a bajillion draft picks. Do
Speaker 2: not forget blocker Kessler.
Speaker 1: That's what we're calling him now, Blocker Kessler, who is
Speaker 1: going to be swatting shots in Salt Lake City for
Speaker 1: a long time, even though he is shut down for
Speaker 1: the next three games. Because let's be honest, Utah was
Speaker 1: always going to avoid being in the play in tournament
Speaker 1: or the playoffs.