Speaker 1: Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes in moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show Enjoy.
Speaker 2: Lakers have the second best odds of the West to
Speaker 2: win the title right now at minus one ninety five.
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards says he loves the position that the time Real.
Speaker 1: Quick hold on there the second mess odds to win
Speaker 1: in the West to win the title minus.
Speaker 3: Won in round one.
Speaker 4: You're fine, go ahead and h yeah.
Speaker 2: So Anthony Edwards says he loves where the Timberwolves are
Speaker 2: at right now and saying I love the fact that
Speaker 2: everybody wants the Lakers to win. That's how it's supposed
Speaker 2: to be. They don't want the Timberwolves to win, and
Speaker 2: I get that. What is the key to this series?
Speaker 1: Well, the only chance the Timberwolves have is if Julius Randall,
Speaker 1: for the first time in his career, plays well in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And we've never seen that happen. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pull it up. I'm looking down if you're
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, because I'm pulling up on my phone.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall's playoff career is truly disastrous, and it's not
Speaker 1: overstated it's not being unfair.
Speaker 4: It is what it is.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one in the first round against the Hawks,
Speaker 1: that's the famous Trey Young series. You see, Oh, he
Speaker 1: was eighteen eleven and four. That that's actually good on
Speaker 1: twenty nine percent from the field. So his first playoff
Speaker 1: series ever, he was twenty nine percent from the field.
Speaker 1: Then two years later against Cleveland in Round one, he
Speaker 1: was fourteen and six a game that was after an
Speaker 1: all NBA season, on thirty three percent from the field,
Speaker 1: and then and they won that series. And then the
Speaker 1: next round against Miami he was eighteen and ten, which
Speaker 1: is much better on forty one percent from.
Speaker 4: The field, which is okay.
Speaker 1: In his playoff career is twenty eight percent from three
Speaker 1: and then last year obviously he was hurt for the
Speaker 1: playoffs and it didn't really seem like Knicks fans were
Speaker 1: all that bummed about it. And so he is yet
Speaker 1: to have a single great playoff series. And even if
Speaker 1: you go to individual playoff games, you are hard pressed
Speaker 1: to find more than one good one game. One last
Speaker 1: or two years ago against Miami he was really good.
Speaker 1: He was twenty five twelve and eight on forty four
Speaker 1: percent from the field, which is about as good as
Speaker 1: you can hope for from him. But in his playoff career,
Speaker 1: and he has one other game against Miami where he
Speaker 1: was twenty and nine on sixty one percent. But what's
Speaker 1: that joke everybody likes to make he is shooting. He's
Speaker 1: shooting tour dates or whatever.
Speaker 4: Like he's that thing.
Speaker 3: Three eleven.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So in his career, in ascending order, he is
Speaker 1: in the playoffs from the field two for fifteen, three
Speaker 1: for fifteen, three for fourteen, six for twenty three, four
Speaker 1: for fifteen, three for ten, five for sixteen, seven for twenty,
Speaker 1: seven for nineteen, eight for twenty one, and then five
Speaker 1: games forty percent from the field or better eight for twenty,
Speaker 1: eight for eighteen, four for nine, and then the two
Speaker 1: good games seven for thirteen and eight for thirteen.
Speaker 4: So that's a.
Speaker 1: Fifteen game playoff sample size. He's been good in two
Speaker 1: of them. So he's got to be what are you
Speaker 1: laughing about that, I'm being to me, No, No, after
Speaker 1: you said that, I just I whispered, go ahead and
Speaker 1: swing that rock, big dog.
Speaker 4: I don't think, oh yeah, I didn't hear it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So for real though, So that is he's gotta
Speaker 1: be good for them to have a chance. And by
Speaker 1: the way, gonna be tough because he's gonna be guard
Speaker 1: On the other end, He's gonna be guarding Lebron James
Speaker 1: a lot. So he is the absolute key now other
Speaker 1: than him, I am really interested in how much can
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, how much energy can Austin Reeves make Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards expend on the defensive end, because I know there
Speaker 1: have been some thoughts that ant is going to try
Speaker 1: to guard Lebron or Luca. That's a terrible idea. Ant's
Speaker 1: a very good defender, but he is simply too small
Speaker 1: for either one of those guys. Jaden McDaniels will spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time on Lebron and Luca. Julius Randall
Speaker 1: will spend some time on Lebron and Luca. Nazrid might try.
Speaker 1: Dante's not going to be able to do it. But
Speaker 1: point is Anthony Edwards is going to end up matched
Speaker 1: up on Austin Reeves a fair amount. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: think the Lakers have anybody who can slow down Anthony Edwards. Now,
Speaker 1: oddly they did well against him in the regular season,
Speaker 1: but I would just go ahead and pencil in. Uh,
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards for thirty a game. He's gonna average thirty
Speaker 1: in this series, just so be it. Can Austin make
Speaker 1: him have to defend enough and run around enough that
Speaker 1: he is a little tired on the offensive end at
Speaker 1: the end of these games, because you do remember that,
Speaker 1: I listen, I get it. You had to trade Luka
Speaker 1: Doncic because he's an out of shape alcoholic. I understand Nico,
Speaker 1: but it was Anthony Edwards, who might as well be
Speaker 1: chiseled out of granted, who said he was exhausted in
Speaker 1: the conference finals last year, not Luca. And so now
Speaker 1: it's a lot of time off and it's round one
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of days between the games. But
Speaker 1: how much energy can you make Ant expend on the
Speaker 1: defensive end? And then the only other real the only
Speaker 1: way for in my opinion, for the Timberwls to have
Speaker 1: a real chance, is if Luca's three is not falling,
Speaker 1: Because if Luca's three is falling, then what you are
Speaker 1: going to see is Lebron really picking and choosing his
Speaker 1: spots in the first three quarters of these games and
Speaker 1: then taking over in the fourth, something he has not
Speaker 1: had the luxury of doing much at all in his
Speaker 1: whole career, but certainly in his Lakers career. But you
Speaker 1: saw it in that Lakers MAVs game where Lebron you know,
Speaker 1: hand off the joystick for the first three quarters and
Speaker 1: then best player on the court in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: You've seen it a few times this year, and so
Speaker 1: Julius Randall's gotta be good for them to have a chance.
Speaker 1: Nas Reed's going to be super important. And I haven't
Speaker 1: even mentioned Rude go Beart because here's the thing. I
Speaker 1: think Rudy's in a really rough spot here. It's not
Speaker 1: just that Luca has tortured him on multiple continents. It's
Speaker 1: not just that Luca hit the biggest shot of his
Speaker 1: career over him, but it's also that the Lakers want
Speaker 1: to play small. His offensive limitations will allow them to
Speaker 1: play small, because they're not going to be able to
Speaker 1: just you know, dump the ball down to go bear
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, you have Dorian Finney Smith or
Speaker 1: Rudy Hachimura on you give us that sweet baby hook
Speaker 1: you've got. That's not going to be a thing.
Speaker 6: And defensively, we have seen if you play five out it,
Speaker 6: Rudy really really struggles and so I would guess that
Speaker 6: Ant is awesome and it doesn't matter all that much
Speaker 6: in this series.
Speaker 1: And I said it to you guys on Tuesday. I'll
Speaker 1: say it again. The Lakers minus a game and a
Speaker 1: half at plus one point twenty, I think is probably
Speaker 1: my favorite bet of this round of the playoffs.
Speaker 4: All right, what else you have.
Speaker 3: On this series? Do you think this could be the
Speaker 3: start of a Luca Ant rivalry?
Speaker 1: So I'd love that, and I do think that they
Speaker 1: have personalities that would mesh for a rivalry. I do
Speaker 1: think that both of these teams, you know, they should
Speaker 1: meet in the playoffs consistently moving forward. I don't look
Speaker 1: at Ant yet as the caliber of play player of Luca,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that there is much of an argument.
Speaker 3: What demons You don't see them as the same caliber
Speaker 3: of player. I get like that better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I look at Luka as a guy I expect
Speaker 1: to win multiple MVPs. That's that's There's only two other
Speaker 1: guys in the league in that caliber, and they both
Speaker 1: already have multiple. As far as prime guys, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, in Giannis and Jokic, and I look at
Speaker 1: Aunt as a guy who might win one you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So, like, I, if you set luca
Speaker 1: career MVPs number one and a half, I would immediately
Speaker 1: say over. And if you set Ant's number of career
Speaker 1: MVPs at a half, I would say I needs, like,
Speaker 1: I got to really think about this so that you
Speaker 1: know that's the eight And I think it's I think
Speaker 1: it's an almost impossibility that Luca never wins a league MVP,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a coin flip of Ant does
Speaker 1: so again, it were in the margins here, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I do look like and I think a good evidence
Speaker 1: of that is if the Lakers had traded Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: Max Christi and a first round pick. I'm sorry, if
Speaker 1: the Lakers had traded Anthony Davis, Max Christi and a
Speaker 1: first round pick for Anthony Edwards, we wouldn't two months
Speaker 1: later still be like, that's the dumbest shit I've ever
Speaker 1: seen in my life? Is it because they want to
Speaker 1: move the team? Like the you would have legitimately, you know,
Speaker 1: debates on each side like okay, who got better?
Speaker 4: Like does it make it?
Speaker 1: And I understand for the way the Timberwolves are constructed,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't even make sense.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that's how I.
Speaker 1: So, and I really like it, but I think he
Speaker 1: needs to level up a tiny bit.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: He's not as old as Luca, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been in the league quite as long. And so, uh,
Speaker 1: there is that go ahead?
Speaker 3: Do you well, were you done with the with the
Speaker 3: first follow up?
Speaker 2: I was, I was gonna ask you if you see
Speaker 2: JJ reddicks stock rising or how much you see it
Speaker 2: rising this offseason?
Speaker 1: Well, it depends on the playoff run. I mean, if
Speaker 1: they get bounced in round one, it won't. People like
Speaker 1: Darvin Ham made the conference finals his first year. But
Speaker 1: I I think it's already pretty obvious that JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: has done an excellent job his first year as a
Speaker 1: Lakers head coach. Now we'll see how he handles the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I know there's some in some circles there is a
Speaker 1: belief that the Lakers have been kind of using a
Speaker 1: playoff style defense in the regular season and to deal
Speaker 1: with their lack of size, and that that might have
Speaker 1: been a mistake by JJ because now they're not going
Speaker 1: to have an extra gear and more people have seen
Speaker 1: it so they can prepare for it. I'm less concerned
Speaker 1: with that than others. But yeah, I think JJ's done
Speaker 1: an excellent job. I think that there was a legitimate
Speaker 1: argument to include him on Coach of the Year ballots
Speaker 1: this year, and so credit to JJ, who people know
Speaker 1: I historically not the biggest fan of as far as
Speaker 1: a media presence, but he did a really good job.
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Speaker 1: The so MVP to me is quite simple, and I
Speaker 1: have been sorry, Daniel, really, I have found it unbelievable
Speaker 1: the number of people who have just decided all of
Speaker 1: the rules that I laid the groundwork for last year
Speaker 1: no longer apply. And so for me, the only question
Speaker 1: for MVP is the fifth spot. One through four are
Speaker 1: pretty obvious. Shay is the league MVP. He's thirty three
Speaker 1: a game on a sixty eight win team. Joker should
Speaker 1: be the unanimous second place MVP guy. He's thirty a
Speaker 1: game with a triple double, carrying a team that is
Speaker 1: terrible defensively. Some of that's on him and just fired
Speaker 1: their coach. Jiannis is third, Tatum is fourth, and if
Speaker 1: you want to say Tatum's third, Yanis is fourth, that's fine.
Speaker 1: I think what Yannis has done, especially despite Dame being out,
Speaker 1: is remarkable, but that's a debate. And then or fifth place.
Speaker 1: It was a debate between the following Donovan Caid, Edwards
Speaker 1: and Lebron and I still want well, I'll talk about
Speaker 1: All NBA first team because my one through five, my
Speaker 1: MVP ballot is not my first team All NBA, and
Speaker 1: I'll explain that in a minute. But my fifth place
Speaker 1: spot goes to Lebron, and it goes to Lebron because
Speaker 1: despite the injury, still played seventy games. He seamlessly did
Speaker 1: what a lot of people thought he either wouldn't be
Speaker 1: willing to or able to, which is fit with Luca.
Speaker 1: People are recreating history that, oh, the Lakers were headed
Speaker 1: for the play in before the Luca trade. The Lakers
Speaker 1: were the four seed the day Luca made his debut
Speaker 1: with the team. They stayed even though Anthony Davis had
Speaker 1: gotten hurt. They were on a winning streak when Luca
Speaker 1: first got to the team. They're only real losing this
Speaker 1: year happened surrounding Lebron's injury. Lebron was a Swiss Army
Speaker 1: knife defensively once they got Luca, and honestly, once Ad
Speaker 1: went down. They are the three seed in a loaded
Speaker 1: Western conference. They were only Oklahoma City was better this
Speaker 1: year against the best ten teams in basketball. Lebron's been
Speaker 1: the through line of it all. I have in his
Speaker 1: fifth place in MVP now to the top of the ballot.
Speaker 1: So here's why I find these folks who are now
Speaker 1: saying they are going to vote for Joker to be
Speaker 1: so disingenuous and what they simply should say is he's
Speaker 1: my favorite player. He's the best player in the league,
Speaker 1: so I'm voting for him. Last year, the numbers for
Speaker 1: Joker v. Luca were not close. I will remind you
Speaker 1: of them.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: Last year, Luca averaged thirty four nine and nine. He
Speaker 1: won the scoring title on good efficiency. He averaged thirty
Speaker 1: four points, nine point two rebounds, nine point eight assists,
Speaker 1: so basically thirty four nine to ten. The league MVP
Speaker 1: was Nikola Jokic, who averaged seven fewer points twenty six
Speaker 1: and a half, three more rebounds twelve and a half,
Speaker 1: and one fewer assists nine.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't close.
Speaker 1: Luka got four first place votes, and the argument was
Speaker 1: purely well, Jokers team won fifty seven games, Luca's team
Speaker 1: won fifty, and Luca was not very good. Even though
Speaker 1: the team was fine defensively, Luca was not very good defensively.
Speaker 1: Those same people now this year are saying throw those
Speaker 1: rules out.
Speaker 4: And even though.
Speaker 1: Shay's team has won sixty eight games and Jokers team
Speaker 1: won fifty, the same exact number where lucas seen won
Speaker 1: last year, I think Joker's gonna get it because I've
Speaker 1: never seen an offensive season like this, And my question is,
Speaker 1: didn't you kind of see an offensive season like this
Speaker 1: last year by a guy who got four first place votes? Again,
Speaker 1: Luca last year was thirty four, nine and ten. Joker
Speaker 1: this year is thirty let me get yeah, twenty nine
Speaker 1: point six called thirty thirteen and ten. So four or
Speaker 1: fewer points four more rebounds on a team that won
Speaker 1: the same amount of games. And so that now you
Speaker 1: might say, Nick, last year, weren't you a guy that
Speaker 1: was arguing for Luca. Wouldn't that then follow that this
Speaker 1: year you should be arguing for Joker one hundred percent
Speaker 1: if one of two things were won, I had an
Speaker 1: actual vote and it was impacting it. So I must
Speaker 1: vote with consistency or two. And this is more importantly
Speaker 1: and really the reasoning. I do feel like the previous
Speaker 1: winner winners, but certainly in the most recent year continues
Speaker 1: to set the precedent for the voting public because it
Speaker 1: is an undefined award. So last year when a guy
Speaker 1: with fifty wins who's playing in the four to five game,
Speaker 1: who averaged thirty four to nine to ten, got four
Speaker 1: of one hundred votes because we said best player on
Speaker 1: the best team with really good stats is going to
Speaker 1: run away with it to then not give Shay when
Speaker 1: Shay is again. It's like Shay's averaging twenty five a game.
Speaker 1: He's thirty three, five and six with excellent defense on
Speaker 1: a sixth win team. And the history of guys on
Speaker 1: teams who have won sixty eight plus games, all of them,
Speaker 1: every team that has ever won sixty eight plus Steph
Speaker 1: won MVP. Jordan won MVP the sixty nine win. Lakers
Speaker 1: did not have the league MVP. Kareem won it in
Speaker 1: seventy two, but that is because two Lakers split votes.
Speaker 1: Wilt and West finished third and second. That's why the
Speaker 1: Lakers didn't have one. The who are the other ones?
Speaker 1: Dave Cowen's on the sixty eight win Celtics won MVP,
Speaker 1: Jordan won sixty nine games and shamefully didn't win it.
Speaker 1: Ninety seven of the voters got to Sickle giving it
Speaker 1: to him, gave it to Karl Malone. But it's just
Speaker 1: folks need to just say, I like Joker the most
Speaker 1: so even though his coach got fired and his defense
Speaker 1: has been bad, and even though last year it was
Speaker 1: about wins, this year it's about ross stats. I'm just
Speaker 1: not gonna lie. I just think it's I think Shaye
Speaker 1: the MVP now to All NBA. So again I don't
Speaker 1: have an actual vote, but and I know they changed
Speaker 1: the rules. I want my All NBA First Team at
Speaker 1: the very least to be two guards, two forwards in
Speaker 1: a center, and I want all of my All NBA
Speaker 1: teams to at least be credible teams you could roll
Speaker 1: out on a basketball court. So even though I had
Speaker 1: Lebron as my fifth place in MVP voting, I do
Speaker 1: not have him as All NBA First Team. I gave
Speaker 1: that to Donovan. So I want my two guards to
Speaker 1: be Shayan Donovan, my two forwards Jonason Tata, my center Joker.
Speaker 1: Second Team All NBA for me was very simple. My
Speaker 1: two guards are Stepan ant Cade's technically a guard, but
Speaker 1: he's tall enough we can just put him in kind
Speaker 1: of that point forward spot. He and Lebron are second team,
Speaker 1: and Alp Shingoon, who was the best player on a
Speaker 1: Rockets team that was the second seed. He is second
Speaker 1: Team All NBA, Third Team All NBA. With apologies to
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton. Halliburton had his spots stolen in Game eighty two.
Speaker 1: Demons by James Harden thirty nine to ten to lock
Speaker 1: up the five seed and stay out of the play in.
Speaker 1: So it's Jalen Brunson, James Harden, Jalen Williams as a forward.
Speaker 1: Because your team wins sixty eight games, it's not just
Speaker 1: one guy. Carl Anthony Towns is the other forward and
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley as the other center. Again, that team wants
Speaker 1: what sixty four they need someone other than just Donovan.
Speaker 1: My Defensive Player of the Year was not difficult for me.
Speaker 1: I think Draymond really hurt himself at the end of
Speaker 1: the year. It is Evan Mobley, my sixth man.
Speaker 3: Of the the Mobley thing.
Speaker 2: You have him in as your defensive place the year,
Speaker 2: but he's only in your third team All NBA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that happens sometimes. The where in hell there
Speaker 1: have been years defensive Player of the Year didn't even
Speaker 1: make any All NBA team. I don't think Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: made an All NBA team when he won it.
Speaker 4: I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Tony Allen, did Tony Allen ever
Speaker 1: win Defensive Player of the Year, I don't remember, but
Speaker 1: that happened sometimes.
Speaker 4: But I think he's the defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: Six Man of the Year is Malik Beasley. Just an
Speaker 1: absolute flamethrower off the bench, and I guess somewhat controversial
Speaker 1: most improved. I think it's if he's a zubots I
Speaker 1: almost had zubots On as my on my All NBA team.
Speaker 1: He jumped his scoring by fifty percent over his career.
Speaker 1: He's been great defensively, Clippers have been excellent, He's been huge.
Speaker 1: I think he's the most improved player, even though he's
Speaker 1: old and it usually doesn't go to old guys. Clutch
Speaker 1: Player of the Year is Lebron. Lebron's the only player
Speaker 1: in the league with four hundred, one hundred one hund
Speaker 1: in the fourth Lebron's fourth quarter plus minus and the
Speaker 1: Lakers record in the fourth quarter and his assistant turnover
Speaker 1: ratio is better than either of the previous Clutch Player
Speaker 1: of the Year winners. And Stephan Ant and I understand
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson's clutch numbers are going to probably make Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson win this award. That is in part because they
Speaker 1: do not have clutch numbers for defense in the clutch,
Speaker 1: where Jalen was lacking. Obviously because of his size. I
Speaker 1: think Lebron's clutch Player of the Year, Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year is very very simple. Stefan Cassel is going to
Speaker 1: be close to unanimous. Well, Reesa Chale gets some votes,
Speaker 1: and I think Coach of the Year demons is emy
Speaker 1: Udoka getting this Rockets team to the two seed. When
Speaker 1: Jalen Green's a nice player. Amon Thompson's gonna be an
Speaker 1: awesome player, but he's very young. I think em Udoka
Speaker 1: deserves Coach of the Year. So those are my ballots
Speaker 1: and my full NBA awards.
Speaker 4: All right, it makes sense to everybody.
Speaker 2: Lakers locked up the three seed and now they are
Speaker 2: facing an in Minnesota in Round one. Luke obviously took
Speaker 2: care of business, but against against them last year he
Speaker 2: averaged thirty two, thirty two, nine and eight. How do
Speaker 2: you think these teams stack up against each other?
Speaker 3: Are you a little worried there?
Speaker 1: No, this is the ideal bracket for the Lakers. Okay, So, like, listen,
Speaker 1: everything's hard in the West, and everyone wanted Memphis. But
Speaker 1: once it was clear Memphis wasn't going to climb out
Speaker 1: of the play in part of it, then this was
Speaker 1: the best you could have hoped for, Like, you want
Speaker 1: to play the Nuggets right now? I don't Jamal Murray's back.
Speaker 1: Joker is joker. You won't play the Clippers right now?
Speaker 1: Holy shit, that team looks unbelievable. The Warriors, because of
Speaker 1: Steph are always dangerous. So again, the best possible path
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, in my opinion, was having the thunder
Speaker 1: Nuggets and Clippers on the other side of the bracket.
Speaker 4: And they do.
Speaker 1: They are they might. By the way, also, if the
Speaker 1: Warriors lose tonight, they'll If the Warriors lose tonight, the
Speaker 1: Lakers road to the Conference finals is Timberwolves and then
Speaker 1: either Rockets Grizzlies, And even if the Warriors win tonight,
Speaker 1: then Timberwolves in either Rockets Golden State and so aunt
Speaker 1: might average thirty to a game in this series. The
Speaker 1: Lakers do not have anyone that can guard Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: but that's fine. Here are the other things that are
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I don't know how you can incredibly play
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert the amount of minutes you probably want to
Speaker 1: play him. Luca just told us a week ago. He
Speaker 1: was like, what moment from your from the MAVs video
Speaker 1: got you choked up the most. And it wasn't when
Speaker 1: they drafted him. It wasn't, you know, one of his
Speaker 1: crazy buzzer beaters. It wasn't the seventy point game. It
Speaker 1: was hitting the step back over Gobert in the conference finals,
Speaker 1: then cursing him out in Slovenia. Luca has tortured Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert on multiple continents in the Olympic Slovenia against France.
Speaker 1: He's done it when Gobert was a Jazz. He did it.
Speaker 1: When Gobert was a Timberwolf, he did it. So that
Speaker 1: is a rough spot for the Timberwolves to start with.
Speaker 1: You then add that the Lakers are getting They no
Speaker 1: longer have to deal with playoff D'Angelo Russell, which is
Speaker 1: a disaster, and instead get to go against playoff Julius Randall,
Speaker 1: which is a different type of disaster. That's nice. They
Speaker 1: don't have Darvin Ham with his hands in his pockets
Speaker 1: or drawing up on the whiteboard contest without fouling. They've
Speaker 1: got JJ who's been up for thirty nine straight hours
Speaker 1: figuring out how to blitz Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 4: All that's good.
Speaker 1: You also have a series that because Luca is going
Speaker 1: to want to make Rudy Gobert cry. Lebron's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to sit back the first three quarters like he
Speaker 1: did in that MAVs game. So again, I think it
Speaker 1: is a hard fought five games for the Lakers, maybe six,
Speaker 1: I will tell you, guys, is my favorite round one bet.
Speaker 1: Shout out to my friends at DraftKings, by the way,
Speaker 1: like we should. I would like to can DraftKings. Can
Speaker 1: we start getting some boosts or something? I just if
Speaker 1: there's something I really like.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is plus one twenty. Maybe they can throw my
Speaker 1: face on it, make it plus one twenty five for
Speaker 1: what's right, listeners. But the Lakers minus a game and
Speaker 1: a half in the series, meaning is plus one twenty.
Speaker 1: So the Lakers for the series is minus two hundred.
Speaker 1: So question is, do you think the Lakers are gonna
Speaker 1: win the series? Yes, okay, you bet them at minus
Speaker 1: two hundred you win if they win in four or five.
Speaker 4: Six or seven.
Speaker 1: Or you can get them at minus a game and
Speaker 1: a half at plus one twenty and you win if
Speaker 1: they win the series in four or five or six.
Speaker 1: So yes, you cost yourself if it's a seven game
Speaker 1: Lakers win, but I think it's gonna be seven games
Speaker 1: because I think Luca is gonna light this team on fire,
Speaker 1: and I think that, uh, listen, nas Reed's gonna be
Speaker 1: a problem. You got credit where it's due. Jaden McDaniels
Speaker 1: is an excellent defensive player, but they got We saw
Speaker 1: Luca with a worst supporting cast, beat this team in
Speaker 1: five to go to the finals last year. Now, aunt
Speaker 1: said I got tired, which was odd, and ant won't
Speaker 1: be tired this time. But you also have Lebron with
Speaker 1: eight days off coming into it.
Speaker 2: I on the Lebron's side, are like, obviously not trying
Speaker 2: to speak this in the existence, but are you worried
Speaker 2: at all about his growing?
Speaker 3: So I know that was kind of acting up last year.
Speaker 1: I saw it, yet so it looked like he kind
Speaker 1: of tweaked it in the game against Houston Game eighty one,
Speaker 1: he didn't seem too concerned. And this is also why
Speaker 1: you know having eight days off is going to be
Speaker 1: so incredibly useful and helpful. So no, I'm not obviously,
Speaker 1: if he truly reaggravates his growing, if he has to
Speaker 1: miss time, then that would be a problem. But this
Speaker 1: is where I remind you guys of one of the
Speaker 1: single most remarkable stats in basketball history, which is Lebron
Speaker 1: James teams have played in two hundred and eighty seven
Speaker 1: playoff games demanse in his career two hundred and eight.
Speaker 1: So teams Lebron has been on have played in two
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty seven playoff games. Of those two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty seven, Lebron James has played in two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty seven. He has never missed a single playoff
Speaker 1: game in his career. So yes, finger cross, knock on wood,
Speaker 1: whatever you gotta do. But also that number is so.
Speaker 4: Bananas, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: It's three and a half full seasons. Yeah, he's played,
Speaker 1: He's this will be his fifty fifth career playoff series,
Speaker 1: fifty five series. He's forty one and thirteen in his
Speaker 1: career in playoff series, and so yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: you hope. Obviously he's got to stay healthy. He's done
Speaker 1: a good job of that.
Speaker 4: Through his career.
Speaker 1: One more question before we move on to some other stuff.
Speaker 2: So if Minnesota ends up winning this series and Ant
Speaker 2: shows out as he moved closer to become in the face.
Speaker 5: So.
Speaker 1: Yes, I Ant needs to tighten up his off court life,
Speaker 1: but he's got everything else. And if he were to
Speaker 1: outduel Lebron and Luca in what is going to be
Speaker 1: the highest rated Round one series, yeah, that will. But
Speaker 1: I kind of look at Ant.
Speaker 4: Here's the optimistic look of Ant.
Speaker 1: He's on the Luca trajectory. Luca made an early conference
Speaker 1: finals run. The next year, the team made a big
Speaker 1: trade and then took a bit of a step back.
Speaker 1: For Luca was Kyrie. They end up missing the playoffs.
Speaker 1: For Ant, they trade Karl Anthony Towns. You know, they
Speaker 1: end up down at the sixth line, probably bouncing round one.
Speaker 1: And the next year for Luca they made the finals.
Speaker 1: So that like it's not like ANT is behind schedule
Speaker 1: at all, But yes, this would scut this would Winning
Speaker 1: this round one series would do more for Ant's notoriety
Speaker 1: and facing the league stuff than winning the Round two
Speaker 1: series they did last year against Denver.
Speaker 2: That's the greatest Denvers probably be super important with this year.
Speaker 2: Like if he won this one, if they beat the
Speaker 2: Lakers and then they just lost in.
Speaker 1: Round to correct, no, no, no, you beat the Lakers, everyone's
Speaker 1: then gonna expect you to beat the Rockets or the Warriors,
Speaker 1: or the Grizzlies. That's that part's definitely true.