Speaker 1: Welcome to This League Uncut rule of.
Speaker 2: Twenty four hour NBA News. This's hell, Chris Haynes, it's
Speaker 2: no time, Mark Stein.
Speaker 3: It's so time.
Speaker 2: This league and cut is underway inod on fire. This
Speaker 2: should be a good one. Here we go.
Speaker 4: Everyone, Welcome in at last to the first of this
Speaker 4: week's episodes of This League Uncut. Mark Stein, still in
Speaker 4: La Chris Haynes en route to Miami. We've had some
Speaker 4: travel challenges this week with both of us on the
Speaker 4: road covering different first round matchups. We've had some technical
Speaker 4: snaffoos that we had.
Speaker 2: To work through.
Speaker 4: We actually started recording the other day and had to
Speaker 4: abandon it because my hotel room was just not cooperating.
Speaker 2: But we've worked through it all. We are finally together again.
Speaker 4: And it's perfect timing now because last night Chris Haynes
Speaker 4: was in Boston to see the Mighty Celtics, who everyone
Speaker 4: thought were gonna absolutely roll through the short headed Miami
Speaker 4: Heat but oh no, heat culture goes wild from three
Speaker 4: twenty three threes from the Heat and Chris Haynes was there.
Speaker 2: What did it look like? What was it like to
Speaker 2: be in Boston last night?
Speaker 1: Boston's always won, I will say top three most rowdy
Speaker 1: crowds environments in the league, especially in the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: I love Boston Celtics fans. But I will say, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't tell an awful lot about a team's demeanor,
Speaker 1: especially how they're going to play, by just looking at
Speaker 1: a team before the game. But I saw the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat walk into the arena. They were laser focused, like
Speaker 1: there was just a seriousness about them that it just caught.
Speaker 3: My attention right away. And again I'm not I'm still not.
Speaker 1: Thinking like, damn, okay, they gonna they gonna come up
Speaker 1: here and put on the show.
Speaker 3: But it just caught my attention.
Speaker 1: Coach Spode, everybody, everybody, pat Riley, everybody's walking.
Speaker 3: They're laser focused.
Speaker 1: And they came out and put together a game plan
Speaker 1: and a performance that many didn't expect. I did predict
Speaker 1: that they would win yesterday.
Speaker 2: Didn't war. Where was that? Where was that prediction registered?
Speaker 3: I didn't predict the publicly? Is that okay? Start? Do
Speaker 3: I have Do I have to predictable thing? Publicly?
Speaker 1: I did, hold on, I will bring listen, I would
Speaker 1: bring Actually I did, I did publicly. I did do
Speaker 1: it public but it wasn't on any airways or on
Speaker 1: any podcasts. But Stan Van Gundy can vouch because before
Speaker 1: the game, Stan said he had Boston blowing him out,
Speaker 1: and I said, no, I think Miami is going to
Speaker 1: get this game. We're going to bring Stan on at
Speaker 1: some point, and he could vouch for me that I
Speaker 1: did say that Miami is going to get it.
Speaker 4: I'm going to ask him because listen, you you don't
Speaker 4: have to publicly make your predictions, but if you're going
Speaker 4: to take a victory lap, you have to have made it.
Speaker 1: Doesn't knows about it, so that that should officially count.
Speaker 1: They had the Garden quiet, and I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: Madison Square Guarden. I'm talking about TV Garden. They had
Speaker 1: them quiet, especially the latter part of that fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Miami was just making plays down the stretch. Tyler Hero
Speaker 1: was phenomenal. Bam out of Bio. He was hitting that
Speaker 1: mid range jump shot with so much consistency, the three
Speaker 1: point ball like they were flying on defense. They executed
Speaker 1: a game plan to perfection. So now off to Miami,
Speaker 1: where where things really get interested start Miami for games
Speaker 1: three or four.
Speaker 4: Well, look, I'm not gonna take too much of a
Speaker 4: victory lap. But I do feel somewhat vindicated because I
Speaker 4: did in France.
Speaker 2: I can send you the link if you need proof.
Speaker 4: I did say this series with those six games, and
Speaker 4: I think people thought I was a little crazy. But
Speaker 4: such is my respect for the Miami Heat. And you
Speaker 4: know what it isn't It isn't even just about these
Speaker 4: last few years, with three trips to the finals in
Speaker 4: a very short span. And last season, of course, we
Speaker 4: all remember Miami as an eight seed, looking so bad
Speaker 4: in the play in they lost to Atlanta, they barely
Speaker 4: squeaked past Chicago, and then they go on this magical run,
Speaker 4: starting with the first round upset of Milwaukee. It's not
Speaker 4: even just because that is so fresh in the memory.
Speaker 4: I have lived in fear of the Miami Heat since
Speaker 4: two thousand and six, when I watched them go down
Speaker 4: two zero in the finals.
Speaker 2: I was critical of that team all season.
Speaker 4: Dan Lebattard used to bring me on his radio show
Speaker 4: in those days, billing me as the Heat hater. I
Speaker 4: didn't like the construction of that team. I thought they
Speaker 4: overdid it by bringing in all the veteran stars. I
Speaker 4: never thought that group was going to flourish and man
Speaker 4: did they teach me a lesson? Down two Oho? In
Speaker 4: the six finals, they come back beat Dallas four in
Speaker 4: a row. It was the first comeback from two to
Speaker 4: down the finals that we had seen since the seventies
Speaker 4: and ever since then, since two thousand and six, I said,
Speaker 4: I am never writing off the Miami Heat again. So
Speaker 4: almost twenty years later, my respect for this franchise is
Speaker 4: still so strong that I said, even without Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 4: they're going to win at least two games in this series,
Speaker 4: and I'm sure they will be insulted even by that.
Speaker 4: Knowing the Heat, they probably think that they can this
Speaker 4: series without Jimmy, even against the mighty Celtics.
Speaker 1: It's funny that you say that, Stein, because I spoke
Speaker 1: to Bam right before the game. I didn't get to
Speaker 1: use this during the broadcast, but I asked him. I said,
Speaker 1: you guys are shorthanded, you're missing your best player, and
Speaker 1: you're missing your starting point guard tiros Year. What makes
Speaker 1: y'all think that y'all could come in here in TV
Speaker 1: Garden and do what most people think can't be done?
Speaker 3: He said.
Speaker 1: My whole tenure with the Miami Heat, we've been doubted
Speaker 1: and We've been to multiple NBA finals. He said, why
Speaker 1: would I think otherwise now that we can't do it.
Speaker 1: We've never been the favorites. So what he said, this
Speaker 1: is all we know. He said, So we're comfortable being
Speaker 1: in this position. And he said, and I'm confident and
Speaker 1: my guys can't come away with the win. I didn't
Speaker 1: get to use that. He said, they're comfortable in this position.
Speaker 1: I have to think about that. They're comfortable in this position.
Speaker 2: You buying that though you really think they are?
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean, look with the results shoot multiple.
Speaker 1: NBA Finals appearances over the last three four years, like
Speaker 1: they're accustomed to this. Whether it's the coaching staff or
Speaker 1: it's up from pat Riley on down. They get off
Speaker 1: of being discounted, like it motivates them. And some people
Speaker 1: can't function that way, but for some reason, this team does.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going I'm not going as far as
Speaker 1: said they're going to take down the Celtics in this
Speaker 1: entire series, but yeah, I do. I do believe that
Speaker 1: they feel comfortable like this is there used to being
Speaker 1: in this situation?
Speaker 4: Well, because the skeptic would say, okay, they made twenty
Speaker 4: three threes three point variants. There's no way they're going
Speaker 4: to shoot the ball that well more times to win
Speaker 4: this series. So I think there is still a healthy
Speaker 4: dose of skepticism that the Heat can actually find a
Speaker 4: way to the finish line in this series without Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 4: because we know we're not going to see Jimmy Butler
Speaker 4: in this series. Yeah, and again, I'm sure just me
Speaker 4: even saying that would insult Spoe and various members of
Speaker 4: the team and anyone else who hears it, because they
Speaker 4: are I mean, you might not like hearing about Heat culture,
Speaker 4: you might not like seeing it on their court, but
Speaker 4: they are stubborn and like you say, they believe it.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Stian, let me tell you this after the game me,
Speaker 1: stan Van Gundy, Brian Anderson, we're getting chauffeur back to
Speaker 1: our hotel.
Speaker 3: And this is why we got to bring him on.
Speaker 1: He made a very astute point and something that I
Speaker 1: didn't even recognize throughout the course of the game. He
Speaker 1: said the Miami he put Tyler Hero on Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: and we all know Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3: Loves to post up.
Speaker 1: He's a He's an excellent post up player for a guard.
Speaker 1: But by them making that switch. Boston started feeding Jayden
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown in the post. Okay, he had some success,
Speaker 1: but that there's some times he didn't, you know, forced
Speaker 1: up some shots. But that played into Miami's hands of
Speaker 1: getting Boston off of that three point line to where
Speaker 1: Boston will see, oh, we have an advantage over there.
Speaker 3: Let's go over there.
Speaker 1: Let's go over there, completely taking Boston out of what
Speaker 1: got them the one O League, which was the threat
Speaker 1: of the three point ball. That's what Miami, he kept
Speaker 1: saying before the game. We got eliminated three point shooting.
Speaker 1: We got to close out, liminate three point shooting, close out.
Speaker 1: And so just like one little tactic like that where people, uh,
Speaker 1: you might miss, even hardcore basketball fans you might miss.
Speaker 1: But a little tactic like that kind of went, you know,
Speaker 1: went away from what Boston did to get in, you know,
Speaker 1: getting to put themselves.
Speaker 3: In a bition to go up one.
Speaker 1: Oh and I'll say this before we transitioned out before
Speaker 1: game one, the day before Game one, the day before
Speaker 1: Game two, I should say I had dinner with the
Speaker 1: Stan van Gundy, Jeff van Gundy, Brian Anderson, and myself Stein.
Speaker 1: Hearing those two talk and When I say talk, I
Speaker 1: probably mean argue, you know, because that's just how they communicate.
Speaker 1: They communicate, might argue it having differences of opinions, but
Speaker 1: then they come back, you know, past that meat over there,
Speaker 1: stand past pass Negric over there, you know, get right
Speaker 1: back to that. It's very hilarious. Just watching those two interact,
Speaker 1: you can tell that really closed. So that was a
Speaker 1: good time to have. I told them that. I told
Speaker 1: them get they shout their own podcasts. They are very hilarious.
Speaker 2: The world according to the Van Gundies.
Speaker 4: And Jeff of course now working as a consultant to
Speaker 4: the Celtics, so he has a vested interest in this series.
Speaker 4: And yeah, that would I'm guessing that would be a
Speaker 4: rather entertaining evening.
Speaker 2: You're on this series.
Speaker 4: You got both the games in Miami, you just did
Speaker 4: game two in Boston.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's a little usual.
Speaker 4: Isn't it for you to have an extended run on
Speaker 4: the same first round series, isn't it?
Speaker 3: Yes? It is?
Speaker 1: But TNT has TNT has those games. So I think
Speaker 1: I think the higher ups Obviously I don't have a
Speaker 1: say on where I go, but I believe the higher
Speaker 1: ups felt like, okay, since we have all these games.
Speaker 1: We have these we have four. They actually have two, three,
Speaker 1: four and five. So I guess they figure just keep
Speaker 1: you know, just keep the same crew on those games,
Speaker 1: because usually you'll have TNT for game three, ESPN or
Speaker 1: ab SEE for game four.
Speaker 3: Five.
Speaker 1: It just happens that TNT has three through five, two
Speaker 1: through five, I should say. And so yeah, they're keeping
Speaker 1: me on. And I don't know if they know that
Speaker 1: I would love to be in Miami. I don't know
Speaker 1: if they listened to this podcast, but there was no
Speaker 1: complaints at all once I got my schedule.
Speaker 4: No, I have to think for you to be able
Speaker 4: to lock into one series, it has to be easier
Speaker 4: and give you a chance to really dig in. And
Speaker 4: these guys see you every day, makes the reporting better.
Speaker 4: So well, you tell me how is the Celtics mood
Speaker 4: before we move on to the other seven first round matchups?
Speaker 4: How did the Celtic I mean, again, with no Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 4: the Celtics were widely expected to just roll in this series,
Speaker 4: maybe win a game, maybe it's a gentleman sweep in five,
Speaker 4: but to be one one going to Miami, I don't
Speaker 4: know how many people really expected that So how shaken
Speaker 4: were the Celtics by this turn of events.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a shake for sure. I would say.
Speaker 1: I went to Celtics shoot around the morning of the
Speaker 1: game and Jalen Brown was the last player to leave,
Speaker 1: and I actually talked to him before I left that
Speaker 1: shoot around session, but he was the last player to leave.
Speaker 1: He was working on his free throws, and it was
Speaker 1: this free throw drill that they had where they were
Speaker 1: trying to cause all type of confusion, and there was
Speaker 1: an assistant coach behind him, like throwing a basketball in
Speaker 1: his direction as he's shooting a free throw. They're making
Speaker 1: a lot of noise, so they're trying to simulate just
Speaker 1: a Rockets environment. And I was wonder because I've never
Speaker 1: seen that before. And I started asking people around, like
Speaker 1: does he do this like this? They're like, no, this
Speaker 1: is not his routine.
Speaker 3: I'm like, huh.
Speaker 1: And I found out he missed like consecutive free throws
Speaker 1: in game one, but he ended up shooting pretty poorly
Speaker 1: from the free throw line in game two.
Speaker 3: You know, even after having that.
Speaker 1: Me see free throws, he was three or six from
Speaker 1: the free throw line in game two.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I guess they'll gotta keep doing those drills.
Speaker 1: But I was in there time out huddles a lot
Speaker 1: that night, and a lot of heads were down.
Speaker 3: A lot of heads were down.
Speaker 1: Our Horford was trying to keep them, keep those guys encouraged.
Speaker 1: I saw Horford on multiple occasions trying to like pep
Speaker 1: talk Christats Porzingis who had a horrible shooting night.
Speaker 3: He shot. Let me see, he scored six points. He
Speaker 3: was one of nine from the field, and.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of times I believe Christah Perzinger
Speaker 1: forced some shots. And I went into the timeout hull
Speaker 1: the very next break and Horford was telling Pazingis, like,
Speaker 1: when you get the ball, fake the pass this way
Speaker 1: to get the defense to shift, then shoot your jump shot.
Speaker 1: And so they was trying to help them and motivate
Speaker 1: them and encouraging them. You could tell they were rattled.
Speaker 1: They were shot. You know, you don't you don't expect
Speaker 1: Miami to come out and hit twenty three threes and
Speaker 1: take They made twenty.
Speaker 3: Three out of forty three, Lee shot.
Speaker 1: Fifty three percent doing so that was they didn't expect that. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit shaken for sure.
Speaker 4: Last night I was talking to one of my most
Speaker 4: trusted league observers, someone who I love to consult in
Speaker 4: situations like this, And the reaction that was shared with
Speaker 4: me was, you watch, this will be a great This
Speaker 4: will end up being a great thing for Boston. They
Speaker 4: rolled during the regular season, and this will snap them
Speaker 4: back into focus. They were probably feeling themselves too much.
Speaker 4: They probably didn't take Miami as seriously as they should
Speaker 4: have without Butler. But man, I am struggling to co
Speaker 4: sign on that one, to lose this early and give
Speaker 4: Miami even more belief than it already had. You know, again,
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to do too much of a victory lap,
Speaker 4: but I felt like I was somewhat in the minority
Speaker 4: to say that this thing could go at least six,
Speaker 4: and I think now will for sure go at least six,
Speaker 4: given that Miami already got that.
Speaker 2: Split in Boston.
Speaker 4: But I mean, man, I think the Celtics have been
Speaker 4: rocked here and it's going to be really interesting to
Speaker 4: see how they respond.
Speaker 1: Stein about two weeks. Should I even say this? Let Mestak,
Speaker 1: Should I say it?
Speaker 2: It's funny whenever you say should I say it? You
Speaker 2: usually go ahead and say it. I usually don't.
Speaker 3: You usually can I think I can. I think I can. So.
Speaker 1: About two weeks ago, I got a text message from
Speaker 1: a random number. It said, this is JT new number.
Speaker 1: Lock me in. And you know, during playoffs or whatever
Speaker 1: time it is, even like playing even in some of
Speaker 1: the last games of the season, light there. It's such
Speaker 1: a frenzy, like you're doing so much when you're covering
Speaker 1: this league, and so I didn't have time to investigate it,
Speaker 1: look into it or anything. And so during the broadcast yesterday,
Speaker 1: we are highlighting a player's shoes. His new colorways dropped
Speaker 1: yesterday on the day of the game, so we were
Speaker 1: going to highlight.
Speaker 3: So I got I got the shoes, and so we're
Speaker 3: highlighting during the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it ended up. So that's why I'm getting to
Speaker 1: So the selfiess come out into the to do their
Speaker 1: warm up, to do their layup drills, you know. Fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes before the game, Tatum sees me on the sideline,
Speaker 1: comes over, gives me that he said, Hey, you didn't
Speaker 1: respond back. I'm like, respond back to what? He's like, I
Speaker 1: got a new number. I text you. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: text me?
Speaker 3: What, Like, what are.
Speaker 1: You talking about? He said, Yeah, I text you JT.
Speaker 1: I was like, man, I said, Bro, you gonna give
Speaker 1: me a little bit more information than that. Man, Come on,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? JT's I know, like every
Speaker 1: people don't I told people don't refer to you as
Speaker 1: j T that much.
Speaker 3: I'm like, God, come on, man, Like all.
Speaker 1: You got to say this is Jason and spell your
Speaker 1: name that way JY, because you the only person I
Speaker 1: know spells the name j Y s O N.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I say you would think commercial thing he would
Speaker 4: know about confusion over his name. I amazingly did Notaly
Speaker 4: did not get the same text.
Speaker 2: I did not get the hey, here's my number, lock
Speaker 2: it in.
Speaker 3: Hold on, what what ESPN commercial? What you're talking about?
Speaker 4: You haven't seen that ESPN commercial When Jason Tatum is
Speaker 4: like there on you know, it's one of those Sports
Speaker 4: Center comercials and he's there getting his ID and he
Speaker 4: has to give you know that. He sits down to
Speaker 4: take his picture and the guy's asking for his name,
Speaker 4: and he goes through all his nicknames and finally says
Speaker 4: Jason with a Y.
Speaker 2: You haven't seen that one?
Speaker 3: No, I don't think. No, what else I forgot?
Speaker 2: Or maybe you just don't watch ESPN anymore.
Speaker 3: That's that's true, too cold blooded? That's true. Who watch games?
Speaker 2: You're even more cold blooded than me? I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll watch games.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we will continue.
Speaker 4: I suspect to be talking more about Celtic's heat than
Speaker 4: we ever imagined, especially with Chris Haynes on the sidelines
Speaker 4: upcoming in his beloved South Beach for games three and
Speaker 4: four of that series.
Speaker 2: And you said you might even end up on five. Yes,
Speaker 2: back in Boston.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's TNT game as well, So I predict that
Speaker 3: I'll be there for.
Speaker 2: Five and you're with Stan the whole time.
Speaker 1: Stan and Bia with them the whole way through up
Speaker 1: until the Eastern Conference Finals, and then Stan Stan for
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals. Stan will join Reggie and Kevin
Speaker 1: Harlan for the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: We need to get Stan on the podcast.
Speaker 3: It's don Dale, just lea, let me win, yes, Dundale.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 4: So look, there are seven other first round series that
Speaker 4: we could be diving into.
Speaker 2: I have been covering Mavericks Clippers. I was at the
Speaker 2: two games in La.
Speaker 4: I'm actually still in La as we record this, because
Speaker 4: before I fly back to Dallas for Game three of
Speaker 4: MAV's Clippers, and that's Friday night. I'm gonna at least
Speaker 4: drop in on Lakers Nuggets. I'm not going to be
Speaker 4: able to stay for the actual game, but I wanted
Speaker 4: to at least go to pregame later today after we
Speaker 4: finish this recording, so I can see the Lakes, see
Speaker 4: the Nuggets a little bit, see some people before again
Speaker 4: getting back on a plane, getting back to Dallas and
Speaker 4: resuming my coverage of Mavericks Clippers, which is another one
Speaker 4: to one series. We finally had some road teams win
Speaker 4: some games here, with the Heat winning in Boston, with
Speaker 4: Indiana winning in Milwaukee, with Dallas winning here in LA
Speaker 4: against the Clippers in Game two. But instead of and again,
Speaker 4: we're also recording this on Thursday afternoon, so by the
Speaker 4: time this drops Thursday early evening, there won't be much
Speaker 4: time before some pretty huge game threes Philadelphia and New York.
Speaker 4: That series moves to Philly now, but the Sixers are
Speaker 4: down two to oho to the Knicks. Of course, Game
Speaker 4: two hugely contentious circumstances. We'll get into that here shortly.
Speaker 4: The Lakers playing host to the defending champions from Denver.
Speaker 4: The Nuggets have a two to oh lead in that series,
Speaker 4: and now Cleveland and Orlando, that series moves to the
Speaker 4: Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom also down two to oh.
Speaker 4: And of course NBA historians and I think fans are
Speaker 4: pretty well versed in this stat because it gets circulated
Speaker 4: so often. When you go down two to oh in
Speaker 4: a best of seven series in the NBA, history tells
Speaker 4: us that nearly ninety three percent of the time you
Speaker 4: go on to lose. There have only been thirty three
Speaker 4: teams in nearly five hundred best of seven series with
Speaker 4: a two oho deficit, only thirty three that have managed
Speaker 4: to find their way back. It's really right around four
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty in league history. So I think the
Speaker 4: way we're going to try to laser in here instead
Speaker 4: of trying to deal with three of these other seven
Speaker 4: first round matchups that we haven't talked about three of
Speaker 4: them with games tonight shortly after we finish recording. So
Speaker 4: instead of doing a series by series breakdown, let's try this.
Speaker 4: I just did this on my sub stack as well.
Speaker 4: Our old friend Royce Webb, who has a substack of
Speaker 4: his own. He loves to curate these surveys where he
Speaker 4: talks to a bunch of different voices from all around
Speaker 4: NBA sub stack, and he posed the question this week. So,
Speaker 4: like I said, I just wrote my answers, but I'm
Speaker 4: going to give you the floor first. What team or
Speaker 4: player has impressed you most to this point of the
Speaker 4: playoffs basically five six days in.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with the Oklahoma City Thunder. I
Speaker 1: believe that going into the playoffs, I believe a team
Speaker 1: like the OKC Thunder, Minnesota Timbols, teams like that with
Speaker 1: little experience, I thought they could be rattled. I thought
Speaker 1: they can be taking advantage of And I know it's
Speaker 1: still halfway through the series.
Speaker 3: Anything can happen.
Speaker 1: But the way they're winning games, the win that they're
Speaker 1: playing with so much comm for this and swag, I
Speaker 1: am very impressed. Even though the New Orleans Pelicans are
Speaker 1: playing without Zion Willimson, I still thought New Orleans would
Speaker 1: put up a better fight. Yes, okay, see as a
Speaker 1: great home court advantage, but man Sga Jalen Check like
Speaker 1: they are playing together. They have so much energy, they're
Speaker 1: playing with so much confidence. They're playing with nothing to lose.
Speaker 1: You know, that's exactly the situation for them. They have
Speaker 1: nothing to lose.
Speaker 3: Period.
Speaker 1: They're number one seed, but they have nothing to lose.
Speaker 1: Their future looks bright, and so I'm very impressed with
Speaker 1: what they've been able to do thus far. And that
Speaker 1: looks like a series that can very well end up
Speaker 1: in a suite. Don't know going back to New Orleans now,
Speaker 1: but they're playing some really good ball. I'm very impressed.
Speaker 2: Well, let's be honest.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think the thunder were rattled in the
Speaker 4: first game of that series. They were not convincing and
Speaker 4: crunch time and found a way to escape with a win.
Speaker 4: But we saw turnovers from Shay gild just Alexander that
Speaker 4: are uncharacteristic. I mean, they did not look super comfortable
Speaker 4: in their first.
Speaker 2: Taste of playoff basketball for this group.
Speaker 4: But then Game two, they couldn't have been more impressive
Speaker 4: last night, just blowing New Orleans.
Speaker 3: Off the floor. And that's why I said stuff.
Speaker 1: I didn't expect them to come back like that after
Speaker 1: that game won. You know, CJ McCullum hiss the three
Speaker 1: at the end of game one. It's a different story.
Speaker 1: So I expected, you know, Okay, maybe that was a
Speaker 1: gut punch they took. Let's see how they bounced backward
Speaker 1: or if they even do bounce back. In the game two,
Speaker 1: they definitely did bounce back.
Speaker 4: And I'm going to keep it in the Northwest Division
Speaker 4: with my nomination because I'm going with Minnesota, and it's
Speaker 4: for a lot of the same reasons. I mean the
Speaker 4: Wolves fifth. It only got them the number third seed.
Speaker 4: They're in a matchup as the Phoenix team that swept
Speaker 4: them three to zero during the regular season, tough matchup.
Speaker 4: The Wolves are under massive pressure because, as we've talked
Speaker 4: about on this show a bazillion times, in the first
Speaker 4: thirty odd years of Wolve's history, this team had only
Speaker 4: won a playoff series twice before, both in the spring
Speaker 4: of two thousand and four, so twenty years without beating
Speaker 4: anybody in the playoffs. They're facing a hot Phoenix team
Speaker 4: all this expectation, and they have been sensational. They've won
Speaker 4: the first two games by nearly forty points combined. They've
Speaker 4: held Phoenix under one hundred points both times. Aunt Edwards
Speaker 4: was mortal offensively in Game two and it still didn't matter.
Speaker 4: And again, you don't want to overreact too much to
Speaker 4: a two to zero lead, but again history says, history
Speaker 4: tells you that if you take a two zero lead
Speaker 4: in the best of seven, nearly ninety three percent of
Speaker 4: the time you're advancing. So it's difficult not to be
Speaker 4: absolutely wowed by what we're seeing from the Wolves, who
Speaker 4: have shown us again that they are the best defensive
Speaker 4: team in the league.
Speaker 1: That was definitely a choice I could have made as well,
Speaker 1: but I had a feeling you a pick Minnesota.
Speaker 4: So I'm glad you made the choice you made because
Speaker 4: I was not expecting you to pick Oklahoma Sea.
Speaker 2: That's so, that's good.
Speaker 4: We do want to we don't want to have just
Speaker 4: the same answers, but this will be you know, this
Speaker 4: will be interesting to see if we can come up
Speaker 4: with a difference here, because I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: That we can.
Speaker 4: What team or player has most disappointed you through the
Speaker 4: first four or five days?
Speaker 1: The Phoenix Suns disappointment disappointment and yes, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I don't this is a team that's built or
Speaker 1: should I say, has aspiration.
Speaker 3: I'm not aspiration.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to be a championship contending team, period. And
Speaker 1: we can talk about, you know, how the team is structured.
Speaker 1: You know, you can we can have complaints or have
Speaker 1: gripes or how they were modeled. But point blank, you
Speaker 1: got Bradley Beal, you got Kevin Durant, you got Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: That is a team that is expected to win a
Speaker 1: championship and contend for a championship. They're not playing anywhere
Speaker 1: close to that type of a level. And it's a disappointment.
Speaker 1: Disappointment on all fronts period. Everybody has to take blame
Speaker 1: in this, from players to coaches, to management to ownership.
Speaker 1: Everybody has to take blame in what's going on. Have
Speaker 1: to take a part in the shortcomings. Again, don't want
Speaker 1: to overreact. You did point out to the stats with
Speaker 1: the teams that do jump out the two O leads,
Speaker 1: oftentimes they're going to move on to the next round.
Speaker 1: But shot, the series goes back to Phoenix now. But
Speaker 1: this is a disappointment for sure. This team should not
Speaker 1: be and is not expected to be underperforming at this level.
Speaker 2: Look, their season was all over the place.
Speaker 4: You know, I was constantly tracking how many games we
Speaker 4: would actually see Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal
Speaker 4: played together. It got so bad that I think at
Speaker 4: some point on our show, I said the over under
Speaker 4: will end up being thirty. Okay, they ended up playing
Speaker 4: forty one games, so they went way past my over under.
Speaker 4: My over under was too low. But they only played
Speaker 4: together in forty one games. The Sons were twenty six
Speaker 4: and fifteen in those games. But remember the Suns lost
Speaker 4: in San Antonio in late March, which just seemed like
Speaker 4: an unforgivable loss.
Speaker 2: They didn't even the Spurs didn't even have.
Speaker 4: Victor Weman Yama that night if I'm remembering correctly. And
Speaker 4: then the last ten games on the Suns schedule, we're
Speaker 4: all against teams with winning records. After that terrible loss
Speaker 4: in San Antonio, the Suns finished seven to three.
Speaker 2: More importantly, it was.
Speaker 4: The best Beal has looked all season, and the Suns
Speaker 4: came into the playoffs with real momentum. And I think
Speaker 4: we're a pretty popular pick to upset Minnesota in first
Speaker 4: round because of the inexperience that you mentioned. And now
Speaker 4: look where the Suns are down two to zero. They
Speaker 4: haven't been competitive really in either game. Grayson Allen is
Speaker 4: banged up now, and he's been such a huge.
Speaker 2: Part of that team's success.
Speaker 4: This is a team that doesn't have depth, It doesn't
Speaker 4: have a great amount of size and so an injury
Speaker 4: to Grayson Allen, if he's compromised in any way for
Speaker 4: the rest of this series, that's a huge problem. And
Speaker 4: they are going to be huge, huge, huge question marks
Speaker 4: about what this team does in the offseason because they
Speaker 4: they're in the second apron and it's not easy to
Speaker 4: make changes. It's not easy for them to do anything
Speaker 4: to really change this roster.
Speaker 2: And so man, they have gone all in on a
Speaker 2: team that.
Speaker 4: You know, they were to to two with Denver in
Speaker 4: the playoffs last year in the second round. Are they
Speaker 4: going to see the second round this year?
Speaker 3: How?
Speaker 4: How are they going to dig out of a two
Speaker 4: to zero hole against the best defense in the league.
Speaker 4: Can they win four out of five from here against
Speaker 4: the Wolves?
Speaker 2: I don't see it. I don't see it.
Speaker 4: And the Suns were clearly mine, but since since you
Speaker 4: have nominated them, and I don't want to just repeat
Speaker 4: what you've said, and I think I've pretty much made
Speaker 4: my son's stance pretty clear here. Just I'm still just bummed.
Speaker 4: There's just so many injuries. Giannis Antitokumpo. Are we gonna
Speaker 4: see him in this first round series against Indiana? Knowing
Speaker 4: Yannis I'm sure he's gonna do everything he can to
Speaker 4: try to find a way. A calf strain is such
Speaker 4: a tricky injury. It's such a potentially dangerous injury in
Speaker 4: terms of reaggravation and what it could lead to. Rushing
Speaker 4: back just does not seem like a wise idea. So
Speaker 4: I think it remains fair to question are we gonna
Speaker 4: see janus Antitokunpo in this round? We know we're not
Speaker 4: gonna see Zion Williamson in this series. We know we
Speaker 4: are most likely not gonna see Jimmy Butler in this series.
Speaker 2: Joel Embiid is playing, but is clearly compromised.
Speaker 4: I was there in La for Kawhi Leonard's comeback game,
Speaker 4: and I really thought the Clippers were going to wait
Speaker 4: until Friday's Game three to give Kawhi some extra time
Speaker 4: because Game one and Game two were in such a
Speaker 4: short span.
Speaker 2: But Kawhi is back, has the rust.
Speaker 4: Work through, and like I said, this is just it's
Speaker 4: just a disappointment for so many big names to either
Speaker 4: be out or less than full strength. And you could
Speaker 4: throw Karl Anthony Towns into this discussion as well, because
Speaker 4: Towns missed only a month after a meniscus injury and
Speaker 4: his back very very quickly.
Speaker 2: So it just.
Speaker 4: It's always a downer to see so many injury situations
Speaker 4: impacting the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Bee's not looking good.
Speaker 1: I covered that game two Nicks Sixers.
Speaker 3: Hey, let's get into that, stime.
Speaker 1: I know you have some news on what happened in
Speaker 1: the aftermath, but you know I was, I was working
Speaker 1: that game, and Beid is just not right.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: He's hobbling, he's pulling up. I feel bad for him.
Speaker 1: I really feel bad for him. The seat that I
Speaker 1: had in Madison Square Garden is a seat that's right
Speaker 1: behind the Sixers bench, and when at one point when
Speaker 1: in Bed got pulled out and he sat at his
Speaker 1: seat at the end of the bench, you know, probably
Speaker 1: about eight feet away from me. The physical therapist is misogynist,
Speaker 1: knee stretching it out, and at one point and b
Speaker 1: put a towel over his head. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he did that to cover up a painful expression he
Speaker 1: might be making, or.
Speaker 3: He was just tired, but it's not a good look.
Speaker 1: Man. He You can tell he's just trying to be
Speaker 1: out there for his team and give him everything that
Speaker 1: he has.
Speaker 3: But he is.
Speaker 1: Nowhere near himself, and I'm hoping that he doesn't get
Speaker 1: out there and further damage, damages anything, because he's trying
Speaker 1: to fight it out.
Speaker 3: But Stan, you.
Speaker 1: Had some news on on what the Sixers, the beef
Speaker 1: that the Sixers had with how the ending came about,
Speaker 1: and what happened in the ending of Game two, So
Speaker 1: I'll let you have the floor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did a story today earlier on Thursday that
Speaker 4: you know, when look, the Sixers were on the wrong
Speaker 4: end of more than one bad call in their Game
Speaker 4: two loss and late collapse in New York against the Knicks.
Speaker 4: I mean, multiple mistakes were cited in the last two
Speaker 4: minute report.
Speaker 2: But there was a lot of reporting after.
Speaker 4: That game that a grievance was going to be filed
Speaker 4: by the Sixers in this situation, And my story today
Speaker 4: basically explains there is no such thing as a general
Speaker 4: grievance about officiating. A team can call the league office
Speaker 4: and register complaints that way, and I'm told that the
Speaker 4: Sixers certainly did that, but the word grievance was widely reported,
Speaker 4: and that suggests that you can officially file some grievance document.
Speaker 4: There's no such thing as a general grievance that can
Speaker 4: be filed over officiating. Teams have the right to file
Speaker 4: a formal protest, and the Sixers, to be fair, never
Speaker 4: said they were going to file a protest over Game two,
Speaker 4: But that was the only official measure that the Sixers could.
Speaker 2: Have taken, and they did not do that.
Speaker 4: And again they never said they were going to file
Speaker 4: a Game two protest. But in terms of filing a grievance,
Speaker 4: I just wrote this story to stress and explain that
Speaker 4: there is no such thing. Teams call the league office
Speaker 4: all the time, they send video clips into the league
Speaker 4: office all the time, but there's no grievance language in
Speaker 4: the league's bylaws and constitution that allows a team to
Speaker 4: file a Quotevens. And the reason you see so few protests, look,
Speaker 4: there have only been six successful protests in league history,
Speaker 4: and this season the Knicks actually filed one after a
Speaker 4: loss in Houston, and that protest was denied because what
Speaker 4: the league always says in the protest situation is they're
Speaker 4: not going to overturn human error mistakes. The last protest
Speaker 4: to succeed in the NBA was way back in two
Speaker 4: thousand and seven, two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: When your TNT teammate Shaquille O'Neill.
Speaker 4: Playing for the Heat at the time, was fouled out
Speaker 4: of a game against Atlanta. Scorers Table said he has
Speaker 4: six fouls. He actually only had five fouls. So that
Speaker 4: was a real misapplication of the rules. And that's why
Speaker 4: the last forty odd seconds of that game had to
Speaker 4: be replayed because that that wasn't a judgment call, that
Speaker 4: was a scorebook airr and that's why that protest was upheld.
Speaker 4: But I'm sure you remember in January Portland, Chauncey Billups
Speaker 4: went ballistic, calling time out, time out, not granted, he
Speaker 4: ends up getting two texts. The Blazers lose a close game.
Speaker 4: The Blazers actually came out and said we're going to
Speaker 4: protest this game, and then there's a forty eight hour
Speaker 4: window to file a protest. The Blazers decided against it
Speaker 4: in that instance because I think they know you never
Speaker 4: win these protests. The Knicks did go ahead and register
Speaker 4: a protest from that February game in Houston, but the
Speaker 4: protest was not successful. And again, I just wanted to
Speaker 4: do this story today to clarify there was all this
Speaker 4: talk that a grievance would be forthcoming, and there's no
Speaker 4: such thing as a written grievance in the NBA by law,
Speaker 4: So that was really the story.
Speaker 1: Well good, so now people can move on and get
Speaker 1: ready for Game three because they spent so much time
Speaker 1: and I understood the Sixers point of view, but they
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time faulting the officials, which they
Speaker 1: had a right to, but they made costly mistakes. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you throughout that. You know, let's talk about Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 1: And they said Nick Nurse, they they acknowledging that two
Speaker 1: Many report that Nick Nurse is trying to get a
Speaker 1: call the time out.
Speaker 3: But you know, Kyle Lowry is right there. He's a veteran.
Speaker 1: You know he should He's supposed to have a five
Speaker 1: second clock in his head. On Okay, if I can't
Speaker 1: get a clean pass in, well I got to call
Speaker 1: it time out.
Speaker 3: He did it, and so he put you put the
Speaker 3: team at risk.
Speaker 1: And then just even that play, okay, even with you
Speaker 1: still want to talk about that play. The Sixers had
Speaker 1: multiple guys crashing offensive rebound, diving on.
Speaker 3: The floor for loose balls.
Speaker 1: But they've been doing that in those two games thus far.
Speaker 1: The Sixers are more to on it. But the Knicks
Speaker 1: have dogs who are going to crash boards. Josh hart Dante,
Speaker 1: Isaiah Hartenstein, isn't Hartenstein or hartenstein Stein?
Speaker 3: Which one is? And what?
Speaker 2: That's a great question because I've.
Speaker 3: Heard people say different Yeah, people, I've.
Speaker 2: Heard multiple different ways.
Speaker 4: Myself, I've been wanting to ask him for his preferred
Speaker 4: pronunciation because that will make it official.
Speaker 2: Harten Stein.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it's what.
Speaker 1: But he's a dog, and right now he smells blood,
Speaker 1: and the blood he's smelling is coming from Joel and Bid.
Speaker 1: Because he understands that he doesn't have he's not fully himself.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say, Isaiah, I
Speaker 1: don't want to disrespect him by saying the wrong last name.
Speaker 2: Offensive rebound or Supreme.
Speaker 1: The offensive rebound and Supreme is crashing, which is putting
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on Joeln Bid to box out,
Speaker 1: which Joel didn't box out, and know those last seconds
Speaker 1: got the office rebound, got back to Dante for a
Speaker 1: second three and that three went in. But all throughout
Speaker 1: that series thus far, the Knicks have had guys that
Speaker 1: are just willing to do the dirty work. And so
Speaker 1: Philly is going to have to identify some guys who
Speaker 1: are willing to do that, who're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: down and dirty in order to make this a series.
Speaker 2: Well, look, multiple things can be true.
Speaker 4: I mean, there is no question that Philly was robbed
Speaker 4: on multiple calls. Late Maxi had his jersey grabbed. There
Speaker 4: was a foul that landed him on the ground. Nick
Speaker 4: Nurse didn't get the time out. But I think what
Speaker 4: you said is true too. The Sixers also participated in
Speaker 4: their own demise.
Speaker 2: There was a Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 4: Miss free throw in there, And there's a couple things
Speaker 4: that work here. With all this talk about grievances and
Speaker 4: whether there's an official filing or not. Look, on one hand,
Speaker 4: it comes off as excuse making, and I don't know
Speaker 4: that it's healthy for a team. But on the other hand,
Speaker 4: and my sense is when it becomes so widely reported
Speaker 4: that a team is going to complain to the league
Speaker 4: about the officiating in the first two games, then it
Speaker 4: stays in the headlines, it becomes a story, and maybe
Speaker 4: it puts pressure on the game three, Game four referees.
Speaker 4: They know they're going to be watched super super closely.
Speaker 4: So I can see why the Sixers would also want
Speaker 4: that story to be known for their dismay to get
Speaker 4: more coverage. But we'll see what effect it has now,
Speaker 4: because again shortly after this podcast drops three.
Speaker 2: Huge game threes in the NBA.
Speaker 4: Tonight before we go. Philly down two oh to the Knicks,
Speaker 4: Lakers down two oh to the Nuggets, Magic down two
Speaker 4: oh to the Cavs. Do you think any of those
Speaker 4: three teams can win their series? Can they get out
Speaker 4: of a two to zero hole?
Speaker 3: Man, you said win the series? Wow?
Speaker 2: I would probably give Philly the best chance.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Probably.
Speaker 1: Well, if Joel is like how he is right now,
Speaker 1: I don't I can't see it.
Speaker 3: I can't see it.
Speaker 1: If Joel if this is how he's going to be
Speaker 1: all season with that knee, I don't see it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's gonna be tough. Yeah, that's a good call.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know who out of those other two old
Speaker 1: series leads Lakers.
Speaker 4: Can the Lakers dig out of a two to zero
Speaker 4: hole against the Nuggets, against the defending champs? Can they
Speaker 4: beat Nikola Jokic and co. Four times out of five?
Speaker 4: That is a hard one to imagine as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why they played the game, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: All Right, Well, I'm glad we finally connected.
Speaker 4: It has been a circus of a week not often
Speaker 4: that we're both on the road. I will not be
Speaker 4: traveling as much for the rest of the playoffs as you,
Speaker 4: so hopefully this was just a week one situation for
Speaker 4: the both of us. But I think something else happened
Speaker 4: in New York that you wanted to share with us.
Speaker 1: Yes, I did, Stein. This is a personal monumental feat
Speaker 1: in the history of me. This was something that I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to encounter, never had the chance to since
Speaker 1: I've been covering the NBA. My favorite player growing up,
Speaker 1: favorite player of all time growing up was Latrell spree
Speaker 1: Will when he was playing for the Golden State Warriors,
Speaker 1: and he was the reason why I really didn't growing up,
Speaker 1: I really didn't have a favorite team baseball.
Speaker 3: I liked the Atlanta Braves. That was it.
Speaker 1: But as far as that, like the NBA and NFL,
Speaker 1: I I liked players, and so I'm probably the start
Speaker 1: of the generation of fans who follow players wherever they go,
Speaker 1: because that's what I did with the Treil Spriwill. But anyways,
Speaker 1: growing up in Fresno, California. We got all the Warrior
Speaker 1: games televised, and this was when Michael Jordan had retired
Speaker 1: for the first time. I liked Michael Jordan like everybody else,
Speaker 1: but't I can't say I was in love with him,
Speaker 1: but I liked him like everybody else. Then he retired.
Speaker 1: I was looking for who's this next ballhead shooting guard
Speaker 1: type player that I can.
Speaker 3: Follow, and I Warriors game was on.
Speaker 1: I saw the Treil Spriull, who was probably in his
Speaker 1: second year at the time. He was doing these tomahawk dunks.
Speaker 1: Reminded me of Jordan a little bit.
Speaker 3: He was young.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm gonna follow him, and so I started
Speaker 1: wearing fifteen. I started wearing fifteen like Spree. Well, when
Speaker 1: I was able to dunk. My sophomore year in high school,
Speaker 1: I started doing the tomahawk two hand dunk like Spree.
Speaker 3: And I remember in junior high. Junior high was when
Speaker 3: I first started following Spreewall.
Speaker 1: So it's seventh grade and that was around the time
Speaker 1: where the NBA jersey started being popular. And at that time,
Speaker 1: Champion used to make the jerseys and they were around
Speaker 1: forty four dollars at that time and I couldn't afford
Speaker 1: when my parents wouldn't give me a jersey. And I
Speaker 1: remember me finding a surfing tank top around the house.
Speaker 1: It was like a surfboard on the picture on the
Speaker 1: front of this tank, white tank top, but it was
Speaker 1: empty on the back, and I wrote spree well on
Speaker 1: the back and put fifteen.
Speaker 3: And I wore that thing to school and I.
Speaker 1: Got talked about like crazy, but I wore the like
Speaker 1: I was just determined to have Spree wall on the
Speaker 1: back of my jersey.
Speaker 3: So I've always wanted the meat Spree.
Speaker 1: And I followed him when he you know, when he
Speaker 1: was when he went to the Knicks when the temblewles,
Speaker 1: I root it for him.
Speaker 3: Never met Spree will before.
Speaker 1: I've been covering to leave for what thirteen years now,
Speaker 1: running to him at our hotel that was staying. That
Speaker 1: was still at the Renaissance Hotel, which is across the
Speaker 1: street from Masison Square Garden. He actually walks out the hotel,
Speaker 1: so I had a chance to just talk to him
Speaker 1: for briefly because he was on the go, and I told.
Speaker 3: Him, man, man, Spree, I've been a fan of you.
Speaker 3: Spree for three. Spree for three.
Speaker 1: That was the call the broadcast call whenever he was
Speaker 1: shooting three back when he was playing for the Warriors,
Speaker 1: sprae for three and I just told a little bit
Speaker 1: how I felt Man.
Speaker 3: And he took a picture. I sent you.
Speaker 1: I sent you and our producer Tim the picture, and
Speaker 1: I was going to post about it. And I posted
Speaker 1: about it today and put on Instagram if anybody wants
Speaker 1: to see it on my Instagram. But I also put
Speaker 1: on Instagram like the moment I had with Spree. After
Speaker 1: that next game, ended up having a drink with Spree.
Speaker 1: Gave me a drink. You guys know I don't drink,
Speaker 1: but I felt forced to take drink was Spree. Chess
Speaker 1: was burning like crazy. Took a little drake. He was like,
Speaker 1: oh okay, I can see you don drake. That's okay, Christy.
Speaker 1: They gotta take no more. But he said this to me, Star,
Speaker 1: He said, listen. He said, I've been watching you afar
Speaker 1: for years and I'm a fan of what you do.
Speaker 1: He said, So for you to tell me I was
Speaker 1: your favorite player growing up, he said, Man, that touched me.
Speaker 1: And he said, I never knew we had that connection.
Speaker 1: He said, so thank you for telling me.
Speaker 3: Man. That made my day and Stein, to this day
Speaker 3: the house that.
Speaker 1: I grew up in. My parents still live at that house.
Speaker 1: In my room I got as I sent you pictures,
Speaker 1: sent you and producer to pictures. That is how my
Speaker 1: room is right now, still dirty. But you have three
Speaker 1: spree Well posters. They're really not posters. There are pages
Speaker 1: I took out of a magazine of a feature that
Speaker 1: I forgot what magazine was, a feature that was done
Speaker 1: on spree Well. But that's the way it looks in
Speaker 1: my room right now with those Spreewel posters. So and
Speaker 1: I showed you guys a high school photo of me
Speaker 1: wearing fifteen as well, so you know that was a
Speaker 1: real special.
Speaker 3: Moment for me to be able to meet him.
Speaker 1: And you know a lot of times people have bad
Speaker 1: experiences when they meet.
Speaker 2: There, that's what they.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but you had a good one, great one.
Speaker 1: And lastly, Stein, I want to say this, I was
Speaker 1: twelve years old when I put these posters up on
Speaker 1: my wall. That you see, Stein, go to the picture
Speaker 1: I showed you is go to the picture of the posters.
Speaker 1: The one poster I want you to pay attention to
Speaker 1: is the one where he's wearing the blue Warriors Jersey.
Speaker 1: Go to that real quick.
Speaker 3: If you can.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think I found it.
Speaker 3: Reminded everybody.
Speaker 1: I put these posters up when I was twelve years old.
Speaker 1: This poster has been in my room ever since. I'm
Speaker 1: forty two years old. Now you see that photo.
Speaker 2: Stein NBA on TNT in the corner.
Speaker 1: NBA on TNT on a corner of that poster. NBA
Speaker 1: on TNT is on a corner of this the Trails
Speaker 1: Spree World poster, the NBA on TNT. I would never,
Speaker 1: in my wildest dreams ever would have thought that I
Speaker 1: would be working for TNT as an NBA sideline reporter.
Speaker 3: I'm at twelve.
Speaker 1: I'm getting straight fs at this point, so I'm just man,
Speaker 1: that's to me. I don't mean to get religious on people,
Speaker 1: but you know, I believe that was God. Man, that
Speaker 1: was that had this in my room the whole time
Speaker 1: and had plans for me and I didn't even know it.
Speaker 2: So you know, I'm hopeless on Instagram.
Speaker 4: So did you post all the pictures you posted the
Speaker 4: stuff from your room.
Speaker 1: I post I post all those pictures. I posted up
Speaker 1: the pictures, all the posters and the picture of me
Speaker 1: wearing fifteen in high school. The picture of me and Spree, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll post it all man just came back full circle.
Speaker 3: So I had a.
Speaker 1: Pretty That was a great trip in New York Man
Speaker 1: to get the meat Spree.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 4: On that very warm note, we are going to put
Speaker 4: a bow on this edition of This League uncut As always,
Speaker 4: everyone please remember to follow us, rate the show, review
Speaker 4: the show.
Speaker 2: We would love to earn a five star review.
Speaker 4: And who can resist that heartwarming tale that Chris Haynes
Speaker 4: just shared about meeting the favorite player of his youth,
Speaker 4: Latrell Spree will Nicks legend. All right, Chris and I
Speaker 4: will get together again very very soon for another episode
Speaker 4: as we both continue to cover these playoffs. As mentioned,
Speaker 4: I'm headed back to Dallas to pick up mas Clippers
Speaker 4: Game three and Chris he's got games three and four
Speaker 4: in Miami and game five in Boston three of Celtics
Speaker 4: Heat after doing Game two in Boston the Heat's stunning victory.
Speaker 2: So stay tuned.
Speaker 4: We will be back together with you very very soon.
Speaker 4: Thanks everyone for listening, and that'll do.
Speaker 2: It for us. See you next time. This League un
Speaker 2: Cutters and iHeartRadio production. Chris Haines and mark Stein