Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. Here at
Speaker 1: the Volume, Happy Friday, everybody covers to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: Here at Hoops Tonight is brought to you by Chase
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Speaker 1: the very first place that you guys can get these shows. Well,
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets have proven so far through four games
Speaker 1: that they are significantly better than the Miami Heat, which
Speaker 1: I think most of us knew going into the series.
Speaker 1: I will say, though, I've been really impressed with the
Speaker 1: job that Miami's done in this series, just through everything
Speaker 1: that makes them great as a basketball team, keeping it
Speaker 1: competitive and keeping it interesting. But I do think this
Speaker 1: thing is over and I think the Nuggets are going
Speaker 1: to close this out in five. But I have a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that I want to get into because
Speaker 1: I think this Nuggets team represents the second team in
Speaker 1: a row of a good trend for the NBA and
Speaker 1: the direction that it's heading. I'm excited to dive at it.
Speaker 1: Dive into that a little bit, you guys know the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels.
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Speaker 1: so you guys know the drill. When I am covering
Speaker 1: these series, I love to dive into the nitty gritty
Speaker 1: of the adjustments and all the tactical things that are
Speaker 1: going on. But I also love big picture NBA basketball.
Speaker 1: It's kind of what I was raised on, you know.
Speaker 1: Before I started playing the game in college and covering
Speaker 1: the game and understanding it more on a tactical level,
Speaker 1: I was a fan just like everyone else, and I
Speaker 1: very much appreciated the history and the narratives and the
Speaker 1: storylines because that, to me, is part of what makes
Speaker 1: basketball great. It's never good when that's all we focus
Speaker 1: on when we focus solely on legacy, narrative and drama.
Speaker 1: That's bad for the game of basketball, but it is
Speaker 1: an important part and what it should be is it
Speaker 1: should be the thing. In my opinion, it should be
Speaker 1: the thing that frames what happens on the court, especially
Speaker 1: after the fact. And so I believe this series is over.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna spend a ton of time talking about
Speaker 1: tactical adjustments and things like that, because I don't think
Speaker 1: there's much more that Miami can do at this point
Speaker 1: to get back into this series, especially going on the
Speaker 1: road into Denver, where I expect them to play great
Speaker 1: and I expect them to close the deal and hoist
Speaker 1: the Lary O'Brien in front of their home fans. But
Speaker 1: I do think that there's a lot of really interesting
Speaker 1: storylines that have come out of this Finals as it
Speaker 1: has progressed, especially this particular game, because this was a
Speaker 1: game where Denver looked like a well oiled machine. They
Speaker 1: looked like a team that understood how to play with
Speaker 1: each other at a level that most teams in the
Speaker 1: league don't. And I think it's the second team in
Speaker 1: a row that kind of carries that vibe and it's
Speaker 1: a very interesting example to me of what is winning
Speaker 1: in the modern NBA, and it's kind of to me
Speaker 1: a logical progression as talent has increased. As we have
Speaker 1: more and more talent in the NBA. Every team has
Speaker 1: a good pull up shooter. Every team has a big
Speaker 1: slashing wing, every team has a you know, an excellent
Speaker 1: rim pressuring guard. You know, like the talent is spread
Speaker 1: around the league and everybody's got good players. You know.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of Nuggets fans that are like,
Speaker 1: you know that are are are like, hey, why weren't
Speaker 1: you saying these things about the Nuggets a couple months ago,
Speaker 1: And it's like because coming into this playoff run, it
Speaker 1: was like, take your pick. I've got the Nuggets one
Speaker 1: seed in the West, but I also have the one
Speaker 1: seed in the East. Jannis Antanakopo and the Milwaukee Bucks,
Speaker 1: who won a title in twenty twenty one and still
Speaker 1: have largely the same core players and made some improvements
Speaker 1: on the margins. I have the Boston Celtics that were
Speaker 1: two wins away from a title. I have Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: and James Harden and Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris in
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Obviously, this Miami Heat team
Speaker 1: that we can never take for granted again. And even
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference, it's like, you've got an interesting
Speaker 1: young Memphis Grizzlies team. You've got the Sacramento Kings team
Speaker 1: that kicked everyone's aster in the regular season. I've got
Speaker 1: the defending champion Golden State Warriors with the same six
Speaker 1: players from last year. I've got the Los Angeles Lakers
Speaker 1: reincarnated with Lebron James and Anthony Davis and good role players.
Speaker 1: And all of these great teams are in this field,
Speaker 1: and Denver has risen well above that pack. And at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the playoffs, especially given the way that
Speaker 1: they played over the last one third of the season,
Speaker 1: you were lying to yourself if you thought that they
Speaker 1: were head and shoulders better than everybody, because they just
Speaker 1: hadn't shown it to that point. They have shown it since,
Speaker 1: and that's a lesson that we've learned, and that's something
Speaker 1: we're gonna take into next season. But what I find
Speaker 1: is fascinating is what I just listed for you is
Speaker 1: a bunch of really talented basketball teams, a bunch of
Speaker 1: teams that have multiple stars, a bunch of teams that
Speaker 1: have spent draft capital and money and have made trades
Speaker 1: to bring in star players to fortify their rosters. And
Speaker 1: it's funny because as we look back from right about
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one, that five year stretch
Speaker 1: there was kind of like an age of mercenary team building,
Speaker 1: right Like we saw the Golden State Warriors go sign
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant outright and free agency thanks to a cap spice,
Speaker 1: a cap spike, and immediately win two championships in a
Speaker 1: row just by sheer force of talent acquired in the
Speaker 1: open market. And then in twenty nineteen we have the
Speaker 1: Toronto Rafts trade their continuity for Kawhi Leonard who comes
Speaker 1: into the building and overnight they become this juggernaut who
Speaker 1: wins an NBA championship. Twenty twenty, the Lakers ship off
Speaker 1: all their young players, bring back Anthony Davis, immediately win
Speaker 1: a championship. Twenty twenty one, the Bucks make a big trade,
Speaker 1: a splashy trade for Drew Holliday and immediately win a championship.
Speaker 1: So continuity was not what was winning in those years.
Speaker 1: It was sheer force of talent. But I don't think
Speaker 1: the league was deep with talent back then as it
Speaker 1: is now, and I think that's fundamentally what is different now.
Speaker 1: Every team has multiple stars. Now, every team has, you know,
Speaker 1: a stable of role players, and so I think the
Speaker 1: differentiator has become continuity because this is back to back
Speaker 1: seasons now. Whereas we looked at the playoff fields, the
Speaker 1: playoff fields were stacked, and it was older teams that
Speaker 1: had and I don't mean older by age, but older
Speaker 1: in construction, that have come together and risen to the
Speaker 1: top despite not having the overwhelming talent. To be clear,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets are awesome. They have a ton of talent.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about their players a lot tonight. The
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors had a ton of talent last year.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to sit here and pretend like they
Speaker 1: were bums winning a championship. That's not the case. But
Speaker 1: they are not the same type of stacked rosters of
Speaker 1: like that super team I hate that word, but that
Speaker 1: or that phrase, but that super team type of vibe
Speaker 1: that we said we had over the previous half decade.
Speaker 1: These were more organic basketball teams that were built over
Speaker 1: years and years and years with slight tweaks on the
Speaker 1: margins that supported their core players and pushed them over
Speaker 1: the top. The twenty twenty two Warriors, for instance, Right,
Speaker 1: it was Steph Clay Draymond, but they had a couple
Speaker 1: of savvy moves post Kevin Durant that brought them Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: And there was a rough year in there when they
Speaker 1: had some supporting players that weren't very complimentary, right, guys
Speaker 1: like Kelly Ubray and Cape bays More. Right, then they
Speaker 1: flip those guys for guys that are more complimentary role players,
Speaker 1: guys like Gary Payton, right, guys like Namaanya bi Elitza, right,
Speaker 1: and the Otto Porter Junior, And all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it all just clicks together, and that Steph Clay Draymond
Speaker 1: continuity carries them over the top as they go up
Speaker 1: against a young, talented Dallas Mavericks team and beat the
Speaker 1: hell out of them, and they go up against a
Speaker 1: freakishly talented Boston Celtics team and beat them three times
Speaker 1: in a row to win an NBA championship. With all
Speaker 1: of the things on the margins that win basketball games
Speaker 1: and all of the things that are associated with continuity,
Speaker 1: and that's what's going gone on with the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 1: like Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokics, Michael Porter Junior. These guys
Speaker 1: have been in wars, and they made an interesting move
Speaker 1: after Jeremy Grant left in free agency bringing in Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon to try to fill that specific role and in
Speaker 1: a way that was even more complimentary, right, but again
Speaker 1: an ancillary piece on the margins to improve the overall
Speaker 1: compatibility of that roster. And then two really really smart
Speaker 1: moves this summer, flipping a guy like Will Barton for
Speaker 1: Kntavious collwoll Pope. Right. And here's the thing. Will Barton's
Speaker 1: a good basketball player. He's a good basketball player, a
Speaker 1: solid starting two guard in the NBA. But Contavius Collwo
Speaker 1: Pope was a much better fit that had a better
Speaker 1: big game experience coming off of that championship run with
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty Lakers. Several specific fits with that made
Speaker 1: a ton of a ton of sense. He is an
Speaker 1: excellent lock and trail guard, which is super important defensively,
Speaker 1: and drop coverage when you need to keep Nikol Jokic
Speaker 1: at the basket right, excellent transition running guard right, which
Speaker 1: is so important with a guy like Nikola Jokic who
Speaker 1: can throw outlet passes so well offensively when he needs
Speaker 1: to create with the ball in his hands. He's great
Speaker 1: in dribble handoffs. I'm taking and making movement jump shots.
Speaker 1: That's a super complimentary piece with Nikola jokicch That was
Speaker 1: a really smart move that didn't seem like much, but
Speaker 1: was obviously going to dramatically improve the roster, just sheerly
Speaker 1: based on fit. And then Bruce Brown as that guy
Speaker 1: that could be that athletic guard defender, the guy that
Speaker 1: could be a guy who brings the ball up the
Speaker 1: floor with a different type of pace than Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: because he's more of a like a straight line athlete.
Speaker 1: How clutches it that Denver could just give the ball
Speaker 1: to Bruce Brown and be like, bring the ball up
Speaker 1: the floor. Oh and if you have Duncan Robbinson on
Speaker 1: you and he's he's and he's you know, giving up
Speaker 1: an angle, just hit the jets and go to the rim. Okay,
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell's on you. Just hit the jets and go
Speaker 1: to the rim. These were little moves on the margins
Speaker 1: that made a ton of sense. Christian Brown, a rookie
Speaker 1: that has great physical tools that can play a specific
Speaker 1: role off of your bench. They are very smartly put
Speaker 1: together team built in a organic in an organic format
Speaker 1: that allowed the Nuggets to capitalize on their continuity. And
Speaker 1: that's what I enjoy about this is we're seeing Denver
Speaker 1: win with the same guys they've had for years, right
Speaker 1: after we saw the Warriors win with the same guys
Speaker 1: they had for years, and instead of trying to trade
Speaker 1: salary filler for a star, they made small moves on
Speaker 1: the margins to put it all together. What was so
Speaker 1: interesting to me about this night, in particular was the
Speaker 1: playmaking down the roster. We talked so much about Jokic,
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna spend too much time talking about
Speaker 1: him tonight because I talked about him at length over
Speaker 1: the course of this series. We had our little four
Speaker 1: part bit on what makes them so unstoppable the other night,
Speaker 1: But it's everyone else that kind of keeps that engine rolling.
Speaker 1: How many teams have we seen where there's elite playmaking
Speaker 1: from one specific player and the rest of the team
Speaker 1: doesn't move the ball as well. That can be a
Speaker 1: significant problem, especially in playoff basketball, when teams are targeting
Speaker 1: your weaknesses. Look at the Celtics series for the heat
Speaker 1: where Jason Tatum is really the only guy who's a
Speaker 1: decent playmaker on the roster. You know, other than Marcus Marter.
Speaker 1: You're not putting the ball in his hands a ton
Speaker 1: and so the ball just tends to get stagnant for
Speaker 1: long stretches and guys aren't making those quick reads right.
Speaker 1: Look at Jamal Murray twelve more assists tonight. He's got
Speaker 1: forty two assists in the series. He had a couple
Speaker 1: of rough transition sequences where he missed guys I thought,
Speaker 1: But in the half court his playmaking was surgical, and
Speaker 1: it's been surgical in this entire postseason. He's up over
Speaker 1: ten assists a game in the finals, but he's up
Speaker 1: over well over seven assists a game for the entire playoffs.
Speaker 1: Contagious call what Pope throwing a beautiful lob from from
Speaker 1: almost half court to Aaron Gordon cutting along the baseline.
Speaker 1: There was that ridiculous pass from Aaron Gordon as he
Speaker 1: was on the right wing in the second second half
Speaker 1: when Jamal Murray cuts off of I think he cut
Speaker 1: off of a Jokic backscreen and Gorda just throw that
Speaker 1: like spinning bounce pass that bounced like twenty feet in
Speaker 1: front of him and just hit Jamal in stride for
Speaker 1: a basket. All of these guys know how to play together,
Speaker 1: and they are an old fashioned basketball team. It's not
Speaker 1: let's put three stars together in a bunch of veteran
Speaker 1: minimums and see what happens. No, it's a bunch of
Speaker 1: really good players that aren't necessarily stars, but are stars
Speaker 1: in their role. You know, I've gotten into arguments with
Speaker 1: several people over the course of this playoff run. I
Speaker 1: do think Jamal Murray's a star, but a lot of
Speaker 1: the counterpoints are like, hey, it's a lot of it
Speaker 1: is because he's playing off Jokic. Okay, fine, let's just
Speaker 1: acknowledge that it's because he's playing with Jokic. Regardless, he's
Speaker 1: producing at a superstar level. It's the same thing with
Speaker 1: Raymond Green. Hey, he's an offensive liability. Okay, fine, if
Speaker 1: that's what you believe. But within this Warrior system, he
Speaker 1: is a positive offensive player. It's been on the scoreboard
Speaker 1: for them every single year. They're better when he's on
Speaker 1: versus one he's off. So I get in a vacuum
Speaker 1: for the sake of your legacy debates. If you want
Speaker 1: to have a specific list based on talent and you
Speaker 1: want to put Jamal lower for one reason or another,
Speaker 1: fine be my guest. But the reality is this is
Speaker 1: a game of basketball. It's not a game of one
Speaker 1: on one, and it's about how you can contribute to
Speaker 1: a basketball team. And every single one of these guys
Speaker 1: is contributing to a basketball team at a level far,
Speaker 1: far superseding what their actual talent level is. Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 1: for instance, Yeah, if he's playing in a bigger crowd,
Speaker 1: do I expect him to dominate in the post the
Speaker 1: way that he has? Probably not, but who cares. He's
Speaker 1: on a team with a bunch of shooting and in
Speaker 1: his ability to capitalize on mismatches matters. Yeah. We talk
Speaker 1: all about what he does defensively, and he's been excellent
Speaker 1: defensively in this series. We talk a lot about what
Speaker 1: he does as a cutter off in Nicola. Jokich I
Speaker 1: tweeted out tonight, and I sincerely believe it. I think
Speaker 1: he's the best behind the head finisher in the game,
Speaker 1: which is seems stupid to say, but that's such an
Speaker 1: important NBA skill When you've got elite passers in front
Speaker 1: of you, in the basket behind you, and you need
Speaker 1: to be able to make eye contact, catch and finish
Speaker 1: behind your head. But even above and beyond that, he
Speaker 1: had a much much smaller offensive role in the Lakers
Speaker 1: series because the Lakers are huge. But now he's in
Speaker 1: this Miami Heat series, and there have been two specific stretches,
Speaker 1: the beginning of Game one and then the entire night tonight,
Speaker 1: where his ability to consistently punish mismatches, especially against a
Speaker 1: Heat team that was doing a lot more switching tonight
Speaker 1: than they did in earlier games in the series, that
Speaker 1: was a huge advantage. Everyone has been a star in
Speaker 1: their role, even Michael Porter Jr. Rough series. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing, that's what the Miami heater are gonna do.
Speaker 1: They're gonna identify weakness. He's one of the younger guys
Speaker 1: on the team and right now he's a little one dimensional.
Speaker 1: Not great when he puts the ball on the floor,
Speaker 1: not great defensively, but man, can he shoot the piss
Speaker 1: out of the basketball. So what have they done. They've
Speaker 1: stayed glued to him off the ball, and they've run
Speaker 1: him off the three point line, and so a lot
Speaker 1: of his weaknesses have been exposed and his minutes have
Speaker 1: been cut as a result. It's an important lesson for him.
Speaker 1: And they're so damn good it doesn't matter. And even
Speaker 1: then I thought he was awesome in the Lakers series
Speaker 1: when they were sending a lot more help at the
Speaker 1: Murray Jokis two man game and he was getting better looks.
Speaker 1: Everyone has been a star in their role on this
Speaker 1: particular team. Katavi's called well, pope. I told you guys,
Speaker 1: I loved rooting for him when he was on the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Back to back massive stops in the fourth quarter where
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler is trying to drive by him and play bullyball,
Speaker 1: and he knocks the ball free and then it gets
Speaker 1: down on the floor and rips it out of Jimmy's hands,
Speaker 1: and then he stonewalls bam Adebayo on a post up.
Speaker 1: Jeffrey absolutely awful first shift in the first half. Just
Speaker 1: was giving up back cuts, not paying attention to leaving
Speaker 1: shooters open. It was rough. Then he comes in in
Speaker 1: a vitally important stretch. Nikola jokicch picks up his fifth
Speaker 1: foul and a bullshit flop from bam Medebayo awful call,
Speaker 1: and so you have to play the majority of the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter without Nikola Jokic. Jeff Green's at center, critical
Speaker 1: late contest on a Duncan Robinson on a Duncan Robinson
Speaker 1: three at the top of the key where he was
Speaker 1: making a defensive effort he didn't make in the first half.
Speaker 1: Huge three on that swing back from Jamal Murray and
Speaker 1: pick and roll out of the left corner, like he
Speaker 1: just made plays everybody. This is an old fashioned basketball team.
Speaker 1: I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them again. Like I know,
Speaker 1: I know, Uh, this is kind of just the the
Speaker 1: the nature of the sports media business, where like I'm
Speaker 1: expected to make predictions and then obviously if I predict
Speaker 1: against your team, you're gonna take it personally. That's so
Speaker 1: not the case. I have teams I don't like. Wasn't
Speaker 1: a huge fan of the Memphis Grizzlies this year. A
Speaker 1: lot of talk, not a lot of winning in big games, right, Like,
Speaker 1: not a huge fan of of of you know, Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid and his foul grifting. I have things that I
Speaker 1: don't like, but I love basketball like I honestly do.
Speaker 1: I can't put it any more plainly than that. And
Speaker 1: so guess what, I love the Miami Heat, and I
Speaker 1: love the Denver Nuggets, and I love watching them play.
Speaker 1: I've had so much fun diving into the film and
Speaker 1: and going over all of these adjustments. I do root
Speaker 1: for your team in this It just in an organic
Speaker 1: sense as a basketball fan. The only team, like I
Speaker 1: said too, I had a legit rooting interest for was
Speaker 1: the Lakers because the Lebron and he's gonna retire soon,
Speaker 1: and so I I again, I if it feels like
Speaker 1: it's late for you Nuggets fans because I was harder
Speaker 1: on them earlier in the year, it's just because I
Speaker 1: was giving preferential treatment to teams that had won championships
Speaker 1: in the past, which will always be the way that
Speaker 1: I cover the game. And for the record, now that
Speaker 1: I god willing, if you guys finish it off on Monday,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be one of those teams that I give
Speaker 1: that same amount of preferential treatment to or that extra
Speaker 1: level of respect, because I think this is the ultimate
Speaker 1: achievement in basketball and should be respected as such. For
Speaker 1: Heat fans like look, I really thought it came down
Speaker 1: to at the end of the day that they're accepting
Speaker 1: the fact that there just wasn't enough talent. The one
Speaker 1: way they were going to win this series is that
Speaker 1: they got an incredible series out of Jimmy and Bam,
Speaker 1: and in Game two they decided they were going to
Speaker 1: unleash Jimmy and Bam on the Murray Jokic two man game.
Speaker 1: And they got a lot of stops in Game two,
Speaker 1: and they got a lot of stops in the first
Speaker 1: half of Game four. But the reality was is it
Speaker 1: wore them out. Neither of them could finish around the rim.
Speaker 1: Neither of them could make their pushots and their floaters
Speaker 1: and their hook shots and all those little things that
Speaker 1: they've been killing teams with throughout the entire postseason. Because
Speaker 1: that's what Denver does to you. They did it to
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Lebron, they did to Kevin Durant and
Speaker 1: Devin Booker outside of two games. So that's just what
Speaker 1: they do. I don't have any sort of adjustment or
Speaker 1: magic fix for you. The only way you're gonna win
Speaker 1: in Denver on Monday is if, in my opinion, Denver
Speaker 1: brings a trash defensive effort, which I don't believe they will,
Speaker 1: because that's the only way you're gonna generate quality shots.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked a lot about Denver and everything
Speaker 1: they did offensively in this game, but like I loved
Speaker 1: that quote for Mike Malone in the locker room before
Speaker 1: Game four, He's like, no one was talking about it,
Speaker 1: but defense is why you guys won. And if you
Speaker 1: guys remember at least those of you guys who listened
Speaker 1: to the AMP Show. It got cut off for YouTube.
Speaker 1: But in the AMP Show, when I first talked to Colin,
Speaker 1: I said, everyone's gonna talk about the Yoks two man game,
Speaker 1: but defense was the biggest reason the Nuggets won Game three.
Speaker 1: And it was this team that what do they have
Speaker 1: five steals in the first quarter tonight or five steals
Speaker 1: in the first fifteen minutes or so. They had super
Speaker 1: active hands, they were flying around in rotation, their defensive
Speaker 1: scheme work to perfection. I think the lesson here as
Speaker 1: it pertains to that top ten defense rule is, Look,
Speaker 1: you have to be a top ten defense if you're
Speaker 1: not unguardable offensively. NBA history has taught us that, but
Speaker 1: as long as you defend well enough. The best example
Speaker 1: I can think of for this particular team is the
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen Calves where they were just good enough defensively,
Speaker 1: but Kyrie Irving and Lebron James were operating at an
Speaker 1: offensive level that was high enough that it made up
Speaker 1: for that gap. But I don't see an adjustment available
Speaker 1: for the heat. The reality is is they need more talent.
Speaker 1: They need more size than any more athleticism. It's been
Speaker 1: a really fun run. They've say, sure as hell of
Speaker 1: maximized what this roster is capable of. But this is
Speaker 1: what happens when you run into a real bona fide
Speaker 1: NBA championship team, which the Celtics were not and which
Speaker 1: the Sixers were not for all of the reasons that
Speaker 1: we've discussed over the course of the season. So not
Speaker 1: gonna do a film breakdown tomorrow just because I think
Speaker 1: this series is over and it's not really necessarily worth
Speaker 1: the time. I am going on Sunday night with mister
Speaker 1: Chris Mannix here at the volume to break down everything
Speaker 1: that's happened in this series, and going into Game five,
Speaker 1: I will rewatch the game and watch the film at
Speaker 1: some point before then, so at least if there's something
Speaker 1: interesting that stands out, we can go over it. But again,
Speaker 1: I think this thing is over all right, guys. That
Speaker 1: is all I have for tonight. I will see you
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night with Chris Mannicks and then again on
Speaker 1: Monday night after Game five. As always, I appreciate you guys,
Speaker 1: and I will see you then. The volume