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Speaker 1: The Action Network podcast, named best vetting podcast or radio

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Speaker 1: show by the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association and the

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Speaker 1: number one show for the invested sports fan.

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Speaker 2: Without further ado, that's what the game's all about.

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Speaker 3: All of a sudden, you feel like you can't miss.

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Speaker 4: I'm there.

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Speaker 5: If you try that again, absolutely, Welcome to the Action

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Speaker 5: Network Podcast Special NBA Edition. I'm your host, Matt Moore,

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Speaker 5: Senior NBA writer for the Action Network. You can find

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Speaker 5: me on Twitter at HP Basketball. Make sure to follow

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Speaker 5: us on Twitter at Action Network. HQ sports are back.

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Speaker 5: Baseball is back, except for the Marlins. The NBA resumes

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Speaker 5: on Thursday. The NFL is heading somewhere in the general

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Speaker 5: direction of probably playing sports have returned, which means sports

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Speaker 5: betting is back, which means you want to be following

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Speaker 5: all the action on our app. Download the Action Network

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Speaker 5: app wherever you get your applications, and you are going

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Speaker 5: to thank me later. It is the most awesome, most incredible, fastest,

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Speaker 5: best way to track your bets but also to follow

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Speaker 5: the games. It's got the fastest API in the business.

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Speaker 5: I have never seen anything like it. It's got all

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Speaker 5: of our great content. There's so much cool stuff. Check

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Speaker 5: it out download the Action Network app. All right, on

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Speaker 5: today's show, I have a whole I have a smortgage

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Speaker 5: board for you. I have a plethora for you. That's right,

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Speaker 5: a plethora, I said it. It's a plethora of guests.

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Speaker 5: So the NBA season approaching, I was like, who's a

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Speaker 5: good guest? Who I want to talk about? All these

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Speaker 5: different things? Who could get And then I was like,

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Speaker 5: wellhy settle. I have Ben Golliver from the Washington Post

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Speaker 5: who is inside the bubble down in Orlando.

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Speaker 6: I have Yovan Bouja.

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Speaker 5: Who covers the Los Angeles Clippers, to talk about their

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Speaker 5: chances of winning the NBA title. I have Sean Hiken

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Speaker 5: from Bleacher Report to discuss the Portland Trail Blazers and

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Speaker 5: they're over under on the season in totals. I have

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Speaker 5: Tony Jones from The Athletic talking about the Jazz and

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Speaker 5: whether or not that team can get it together. All

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Speaker 5: this and more on the Action Network podcast. We'll start

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Speaker 5: with my conversation with Ben Golliver, a dispatch from the

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Speaker 5: bubble in Orlando. Here's Ben Golliver from the Washington Post.

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Speaker 1: The NBA is back.

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Speaker 3: Can we get serious?

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Speaker 1: So let's bet the bubble.

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Speaker 2: It may sound easy, but it will test your head

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Speaker 2: and your mind and your brain too.

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Speaker 6: Okay, Ben, So, first question, you've been in the arena.

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Speaker 6: What's the difference between being in the arena and being.

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Speaker 5: And like watching on TV? What what's the experience like,

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Speaker 5: how does the arena feel when you're in there?

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Speaker 4: Well, it's funny because they actually do call it the arena,

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Speaker 4: but I think that they should actually they should call

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Speaker 4: it the set to me, because it feels like it's

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Speaker 4: a television set. It's got the bright lights, similar to

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Speaker 4: how the Lakers, you know, do the studio lighting for

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Speaker 4: their games. It's similar to that. It really like makes

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Speaker 4: the court, but you feel like you're kind of walking

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Speaker 4: out on a set like at the Warner Brothers lot,

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Speaker 4: you know, or like you're behind the scenes at Seinfeld

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Speaker 4: or something like that. That's sort of what it feels

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Speaker 4: like the way they put this thing together. The video

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Speaker 4: boards are big, but they do just kind of lend

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Speaker 4: into the background when you're watching the game. The biggest,

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Speaker 4: most obvious change for writers is that we're so close

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Speaker 4: to the action. I mean, you know, basically, you know,

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Speaker 4: in one of the buildings, were like eight feet away

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Speaker 4: from the sideline, you know, so when guys are inbounding

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Speaker 4: the ball, they're not very far away from us. You know,

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Speaker 4: basketballs are flying into the media section during pregame warm ups.

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Speaker 4: I mean that kind of feels. So it's even more

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Speaker 4: intimate of a setting than Summer League. It's very quiet

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Speaker 4: other than the soundtrack and the rap music. You know,

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Speaker 4: Paul George hit a buzzer beater at the end of

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Speaker 4: the first half of the Clippers' first game, and one

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Speaker 4: woman clapped three times. That was the only noise when

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Speaker 4: he hit it in the entire building. So obviously that's

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Speaker 4: a lot different than Staple Center, where you know, you

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Speaker 4: would have had Steve Balmer chess bumping somebody and two

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Speaker 4: mascots running around, T shirt cannons going in the stadium

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Speaker 4: and all that kind of stuff. But you know, the

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Speaker 4: basketball seems surprisingly similar to me. You know, I expected

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Speaker 4: uglier stuff after the long layoff, but I think they've

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Speaker 4: set up a nice situation where the game itself will

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Speaker 4: be the show. I should also mention the the audit

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Speaker 4: the audio standpoint. They've got a lot of mics in

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Speaker 4: these buildings and basically to enhance the audio, so you

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Speaker 4: really hear the sneaker squeaks on TV. You also hear

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Speaker 4: in Verson as well. You can also hear all the

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Speaker 4: chirping back and forth between the benches, the players, the

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Speaker 4: referees and everything else. I mean, I've already heard Wesley

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Speaker 4: Matthews tell one referee, hey man, you missed that call

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Speaker 4: because you've been off the job for four months. I

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Speaker 4: know you're still working back into shape.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 4: I heard Frank Vogel, you know, kind of tell Lebron

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Speaker 4: in a very passive aggressive way that he needs to

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Speaker 4: remember not to fall for Luka Doncic's fakes because he's

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Speaker 4: the best at selling contact in the entire league, saying

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Speaker 4: it very loud, you know, trying to make sure that

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Speaker 4: the referees for his points about you know, Luca kind

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Speaker 4: of flopping. So you're you're hearing these kinds of moments

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Speaker 4: that we wouldn't normally get, and I think that those

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Speaker 4: are some of the biggest changes.

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Speaker 6: That's really interesting. That's just that's super interesting. The quiet thing.

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Speaker 5: Is it is one thing that was said yesterday by

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Speaker 5: Yanescu for the Liberty. She was saying, look, it's so

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Speaker 5: quiet in here, and that seems to be kind of

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Speaker 5: the thing that nobody really understands. Uh, that's not coming

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Speaker 5: across on TV because right now the scrimmages, the audio

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Speaker 5: is pretty high on the broadcasters, Like it seems like

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Speaker 5: a normal game to me, where like the primary sound

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Speaker 5: that you're hearing is just the broadcasters. Like, so, uh,

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Speaker 5: it's interesting that you can hear all the defensive callouts

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Speaker 5: and stuff like that, because I don't know that's that's

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Speaker 5: coming through in terms of the television. So this is

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Speaker 5: a pretty I don't know, I don't even know how

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Speaker 5: if you know how to judge it. But I got

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Speaker 5: to ask, like, compared to what we're used to in

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Speaker 5: terms of defensive communication, do you think there's been more

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Speaker 5: or less or the same as far as like guys

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Speaker 5: making call outs.

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Speaker 4: Well, I'll say this, the Lakers were leaning into the

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Speaker 4: self talk very heavily in their first thing. I mean,

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Speaker 4: Lebron was calling out every defensive matchup anytime there was

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Speaker 4: a substitution when he was on the court, not only

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Speaker 4: for himself, like if he needed to switch on to somebody,

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Speaker 4: he was calling it out for the entire team. It

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Speaker 4: kind of felt like he was almost doing it for

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Speaker 4: our benefit as the media, just because you know, to

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Speaker 4: let us know that he could. But you know, Frank

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Speaker 4: Vogel has made comments all season long that's like sort

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Speaker 4: of a Lebron staple of his leadership, and so I

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Speaker 4: think that he's taken that seriously. We've seen some teams

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Speaker 4: who I think that they've probably had internal meetings and

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Speaker 4: just decided, like, look, our answer to the lack of

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Speaker 4: home court advantage, or the quiet arena, or just the

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Speaker 4: weird circumstances is that we have to talk more than

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Speaker 4: we've ever talked before. So if you watch that Lakers

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Speaker 4: bench in their first game, they're celebrating practically every single basket,

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Speaker 4: they're cheering for each other, they're all yelling, you know,

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Speaker 4: hooting and hollering almost the entire game. It was very

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Speaker 4: very loud and noticeable from them. Now, not every team

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Speaker 4: is like that, of course, you know, some teams are

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Speaker 4: you excited if there's a big three.

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Speaker 3: Pointer or a nice dunk or something like that.

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Speaker 4: But they really seem to be making a point that like, hey,

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Speaker 4: we're going to be our own cheerleaders, where our our

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Speaker 4: own you know, fan cheering section when we're on the bench.

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Speaker 4: And it kind of works because they've got you know,

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Speaker 4: thirty five people parties here, and so a lot of

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Speaker 4: those people are in that general bench area. Of course

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Speaker 4: they're spaced out in kind of an individual seating, but

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Speaker 4: you can make a decent amount of noise if you've

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Speaker 4: got twenty people watching your team from the sideline and

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Speaker 4: you're all cheering. And that seemed to be like a

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Speaker 4: real pointed strategy from them. We'll see if it keeps up,

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Speaker 4: but yeah, I know it's certainly like the The audio

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Speaker 4: part of it is fascinating, because you know, you've got

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Speaker 4: Lebron after a dunk, you know, kind of jogging by

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Speaker 4: the media table and saying, you know, I'm still the

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Speaker 4: baddest guy in the world. You know, you've got other

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Speaker 4: you know, Jannis going after a referee demanding that he

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Speaker 4: didn't get charged for an offensive foul because he dunked

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Speaker 4: on somebody. Even I don't know if you saw the

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Speaker 4: scary moment where Janis's brother crashed to the floor and

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Speaker 4: hit his head on the court. I mean that it

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Speaker 4: was a scary scene in any gym, right, But they

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Speaker 4: have these extra mics that kind of make the sound pop,

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Speaker 4: and we're so close to the action that I jumped

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Speaker 4: in my seat when that happened, because it was directly

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Speaker 4: in front of me and I you know, stood up

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Speaker 4: like it was it was that jarring. So again, that's

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Speaker 4: not what would normally happen at an NBA building, even

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Speaker 4: in the very best seats. You know, if you're sitting

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Speaker 4: courtside at Oklahoma City or you're sitting down in the

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Speaker 4: corner in stables, which is a great seat, it's just

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Speaker 4: not the same you know, overload type of sensory experience

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Speaker 4: that we've got here.

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Speaker 6: So are you guys? Do they have the media spaced

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Speaker 6: out as well?

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Speaker 4: They have the media spaced out, and we've got all

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Speaker 4: sorts of rules. It's pretty amazing. But like in the building,

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Speaker 4: the main rule is once you get to your seat,

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Speaker 4: don't leave your seat unless you need to, like go

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Speaker 4: to the bathroom. Like, you can't wander around. You're not

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Speaker 4: supposed to chat with people. They're encouraging us. Hey, Like

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Speaker 4: if you're seated, you know, three seats away from someone,

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Speaker 4: just text them like don't get up and walk over there.

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Speaker 4: We wear masks the entire time. We are socially distanced.

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Speaker 4: We've got you know, the hand sanitizer is basically everywhere

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Speaker 4: when we do the post game availabilities.

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Speaker 3: They've been very strict.

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Speaker 4: I mean the Lakers even said, look, if you guys

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Speaker 4: don't back up and space out, Lebron's not going to

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Speaker 4: talk right. And so they've limited the number of people

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Speaker 4: who can actually attend any individual game. They've limited the

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Speaker 4: number of people at least they've tried to in terms

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Speaker 4: of who can be in a scrum after the game.

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Speaker 4: They're really trying to keep a bubble within the bubble

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Speaker 4: to keep all the players safe in a way from

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Speaker 4: you know, outside contact, and that includes media members. I

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Speaker 4: should also say, like, these empty arenas are different for

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Speaker 4: me as well. I mean as an NBA writer, it's

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Speaker 4: the emptiest there's ever been by far, you know, I

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Speaker 4: think other than like high school scrimmages that I've gotten

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Speaker 4: to go see, like high profile AAU prospects when they're like,

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Speaker 4: you know, tenth eleventh graders. I can't remember the last

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Speaker 4: time I was covering action in a gym this empty,

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Speaker 4: you know, because it would just never play out that way.

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Speaker 4: And so there's an adjustment process for the writers to.

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Speaker 6: Well, I'm glad you're doing you're doing well. I'm glad

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Speaker 6: that you're hanging in there.

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Speaker 5: I'm glad that everything is so far working. It seems

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Speaker 5: from this perception, and this is my last question for you,

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Speaker 5: it seems from this from my vantage point, that the

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Speaker 5: players and coaches, especially the coaches seem to have like

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Speaker 5: a high level of confidence in this thing, holding like

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Speaker 5: there's gonna be debates about what lou Williams did and

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Speaker 5: all of these things, but all of the protocols that

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Speaker 5: they have are specifically to avoid risk if somebody leaves

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Speaker 5: and all these things. Does there continue to be like

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Speaker 5: is there a strong sense that like, yeah, this is

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Speaker 5: gonna work, this is gonna be okay, or is there

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Speaker 5: still a kind of sense of unease that you picked

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Speaker 5: upon on at all?

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Speaker 4: Well, I would say two things. First of all, it

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Speaker 4: does hang over everything, Like the virus.

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Speaker 3: The idea that like if there's one round of tests

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Speaker 3: that goes the wrong way.

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Speaker 4: Everything could be taken away definitely is hanging in the air,

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Speaker 4: and I think it's going to be hanging there the

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Speaker 4: whole time. Right at the same time, I feel a

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Speaker 4: lot safer and a lot more comfortable than I thought

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Speaker 4: I would. I mean, I was pretty paranoid about this

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Speaker 4: entire thing for the entire run up to coming down

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Speaker 4: to the bubble, I mean I was basically never leaving

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Speaker 4: my apartment in Los Angeles. I was having everything delivered.

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Speaker 4: I was like fully bunkered in, And so the prospect

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Speaker 4: of coming to someplace where there was a thousand other people,

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Speaker 4: I knew there was gonna be more social context for me.

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Speaker 4: Basically in one day when I arrived, then there were

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Speaker 4: in the previous four months combined. I mean, that's how

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Speaker 4: isolated I was, right, And so that part made me nervous.

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Speaker 4: But I think that part of what develops is a

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Speaker 4: peace of mind. When you get tested every single day

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Speaker 4: and then you get the results back within twenty four hours,

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Speaker 4: and you know you're participating in the medical health questionnaire

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Speaker 4: and you're submitting your temperature to check, and you're giving

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Speaker 4: them your pulse SOX reading and you're doing all these

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Speaker 4: other things. It just makes you feel like you're part

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Speaker 4: of this supported network rather than just sort of an

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Speaker 4: individual who just like doesn't know you know, like I

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Speaker 4: had never been tested before I got down here, so

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Speaker 4: that was just a change in and of itself. But

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Speaker 4: it gives you this peace of mind, this idea that

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Speaker 4: like there are people looking out after you. You are getting

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Speaker 4: real time results. If something were to happen, there's a

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Speaker 4: clear process for how they would handle it, and so

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Speaker 4: that part it does put your mind at ease a

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Speaker 4: little bit, you know, two weeks in mind. The mentality

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Speaker 4: right now is like, this has been so much fun

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Speaker 4: seeing Lebron James, you know, play head to head against

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Speaker 4: Luka Doncic, to watch him powerfully address to Breonna Taylor's stuff,

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Speaker 4: to watch you Giannis put on a dunk pread against

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Speaker 4: the San Antonio Spurs, To go to practices in these

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Speaker 4: crazy Disney ballrooms that have been turned into practice courts

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Speaker 4: and talk to different players who are adjusting my life

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Speaker 4: down here. It's a lot of fun, man, It's like

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Speaker 4: really really cool. It's basketball summer camp, it's basketball study abroad.

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Speaker 4: I'm watching refs play pickleball as I'm walking to get

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Speaker 4: my dinner. There's Brad Stevens on his phone facetiming. You

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Speaker 4: don't want it to go away at this point. Now,

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Speaker 4: it's just like please, like, let's play defense here. Let's

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Speaker 4: make sure that everybody just locks down and we don't

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Speaker 4: have any you know, strip club incidents or postmads incidents

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Speaker 4: or anything else that could kind of threaten this thing

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Speaker 4: because they've got a very stable start. The games are

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Speaker 4: right around the corner of the real games start on Thursday,

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Speaker 4: July thirtieth, and you know, it feels like it could

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Speaker 4: be sustainable. It feels stable, it doesn't feel thrown together.

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Speaker 4: Of course, there's adjustments being made on the fly, but

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Speaker 4: for right now, I'm feeling good about it. And there

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Speaker 4: definitely is a level of confidence and a greater degree

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Speaker 4: of confidence than I thought I would feel before I

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Speaker 4: came down here.

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Speaker 5: That's Ben Golliver from the Washington Post. You can follow

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Speaker 5: him on Twitter at Ben Golliver. G O L L

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Speaker 5: I V e R. Next up, I want to check

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Speaker 5: out on the Blazers. The Blazers are a fascinating team

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Speaker 5: going into this thing. They get used of Nurkice back,

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Speaker 5: they get Zach Collins back, and of course everyone's very excited,

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Speaker 5: and there's Dame and Dame is Dame, and so there's

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Speaker 5: a lot of expectation that maybe they can pull this off.

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Speaker 5: The Trailblazers are plus three point forty actually to make

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Speaker 5: the playoffs, which they're getting a lot of buzz in

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Speaker 5: all of these conversations about who it is it's gonna

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Speaker 5: come out.

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Speaker 6: Everyone kind of thinks the Pelicans.

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Speaker 5: And Grizzlies, But all of a sudden, the Blazers are

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Speaker 5: getting some of that conversation. They've got an over three

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Speaker 5: and a half win total, and I want to get

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Speaker 5: a sense for exactly what to think of him, So

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Speaker 5: I checked out with Sean Hikens. Sean Hiken writes for

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Speaker 5: bleacher Report, amongst a couple of other places. You can

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Speaker 5: follow him on Twitter at hiken h I g h

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Speaker 5: K I N great information. Here here's my conversation with

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Speaker 5: Sean Hiken from bleacher Report. All Right, Sean, so the

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Speaker 5: Blazers have become this kind of sexy pick to make

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Speaker 5: the eighth seed. They're over under for wins in this

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Speaker 5: restart is three and a half. Their odds for making

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Speaker 5: the playoffs are a very tasty plus four to twenty.

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Speaker 5: They are a very, like I said, very popular pick

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Speaker 5: to reach the NBA playoffs during this restart. So I've

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Speaker 5: kind of noticed that going into the tournament or the bubble.

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Speaker 5: Rather going into the bubble, there was a lot of

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Speaker 5: noise that like, I don't know if Portland really wants

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Speaker 5: to be there, Like executives were making comments like, I

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Speaker 5: don't know if Portland really wants to be there now. However,

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Speaker 5: having seen a couple other scrimmage games and especially heard

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Speaker 5: their comments, it seems like there's a little bit more optimism.

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Speaker 5: They seem a little bit more engaged. They seem a

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Speaker 5: little bit more excited to be a part of this.

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Speaker 5: Do you get the sense that they are actually in

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Speaker 5: fact gunning for that eight seed?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 7: I do absolutely.

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Speaker 8: I think that some of the early trepidation about it

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Speaker 8: from their end, and we have to remember they were

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Speaker 8: the only one of the toy of the thirty teams

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Speaker 8: to actually vote against the restart proposal that the that

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Speaker 8: the league did. I think that was more out of

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Speaker 8: they didn't like the twenty two teams were in it.

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Speaker 8: They think they thought they could have done it with less.

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Speaker 8: And this goes back to what Dame told Chris Haynes

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Speaker 8: around that time also of saying he only wanted to

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Speaker 8: play if they had an actual chance to make the playoffs.

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Speaker 8: But now that they're there, I think, especially now that

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Speaker 8: they've had their training camp and they've had their practices

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Speaker 8: and they've had their scrimmages, and they've seen how good

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Speaker 8: Nurkice and Collins have looked, which was obviously the big

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Speaker 8: question mark and is the reason why a lot of people,

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Speaker 8: maybe not myself, but a lot of people are picking

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Speaker 8: them to actually maybe make a little bit of a

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Speaker 8: run here. Like I think now that they've seen those guys,

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Speaker 8: I think they're kind of getting back into it. Obviously,

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Speaker 8: you know, Dame is competitive, you know Dame. Once Dame

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Speaker 8: gets their Dame isn't going to be in here saying Okay,

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Speaker 8: well let's uh, let's just get through these eight games

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Speaker 8: and then go home. Like Dame, now that they're there,

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Speaker 8: he wants to actually do it.

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Speaker 5: So I have a pretty low opinion of not only

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Speaker 5: built off of his time in Denver and some of

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Speaker 5: the bad habits that I saw from him there, but

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Speaker 5: I never really saw.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah I saw him.

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Speaker 5: I didn't really Part of it was like I'm always

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Speaker 5: willing to give guys a chance to improve, but I've

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Speaker 5: never really seen like the idea of Nurkic is always

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Speaker 5: greater than what if you actually look at the data,

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Speaker 5: Like the numbers just don't bear out that he has

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Speaker 5: that much of an impact if you start separating out

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Speaker 5: actually exactly what makes them good. But part of what

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Speaker 5: I'm hesitating on with that is, look, just the replacement

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Speaker 5: value over Whiteside defensively, Even if Nurkic isn't good, he's

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Speaker 5: not bad defensively. He's still a big body that's willing

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Speaker 5: to block and give hard fouls. He will make some rotations,

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Speaker 5: he will give effort. Because of the way that Dame

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Speaker 5: is able to get into his head and motivate him.

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Speaker 5: This has been truly one of the most awful, horrible

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Speaker 5: defensive teams in the league this season. They are just

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Speaker 5: a depressing watch on defense. Do you think that Collins

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Speaker 5: and Nurkic coming back is enough to lift them to okay,

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Speaker 5: like six teenth to fourteenth level of defense?

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Speaker 8: It can't hurt. I mean, it can't be worse than

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Speaker 8: what they have already. And I mean, I think the

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Speaker 8: point that you made about nerk is a good one.

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Speaker 8: That you know he will give you effort, he will

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Speaker 8: make the rotations. He isn't just out here chasing blocks

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Speaker 8: and chasing stats the way that Whiteside has at times

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Speaker 8: this season.

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Speaker 6: So I think it's gonna help.

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Speaker 8: I don't know if it's gonna help enough for them

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Speaker 8: to actually get the eight seed, but it's certainly gonna

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Speaker 8: be an improvement over what they had been doing.

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Speaker 3: This whole year.

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Speaker 5: So a lot of it is in order to get

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Speaker 5: to the they have a game lead over They have

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Speaker 5: a lead over the Pelicans based off of win percentage

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Speaker 5: having played two more games, which means that for the

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Speaker 5: Pelicans to pass them, they have to finish with a

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Speaker 5: higher with a.

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Speaker 6: Better record in these games.

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Speaker 5: Even though the Pelicans won the season, series doesn't matter

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Speaker 5: because of that win percentage differential. So if the Blazers

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Speaker 5: go four and four, the Pelicans are gonna have to

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Speaker 5: go five and three in order to pass them. I

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Speaker 5: would say that having looked at the schedule, like I

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Speaker 5: like New Orleans over quite a bit after I looked

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Speaker 5: at the schedule and some of the stuff from there

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Speaker 5: from how they looked at full health, But the Pelicans'

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Speaker 5: health is always a question mark. I'm willing to go

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Speaker 5: ahead and say the Pelicans are gonna win five games

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Speaker 5: at least they're over unders five and a half. So

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Speaker 5: we have to find and in order to take the Blazers,

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Speaker 5: you have to have two precepts here. You have to

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Speaker 5: accept one they're gonna need to win at least five games,

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Speaker 5: and two they're going to have to be able to

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Speaker 5: beat Memphis twice in a row. They went zero and

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Speaker 5: two versus Memphis in the regular season. But of course

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Speaker 5: they've got Nurkic and Collins back in the ideas that

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Speaker 5: they're an entirely different team. Let's put Houston Clippers Houston Clippers.

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Speaker 5: Let's put into they're gonna lose those games.

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Speaker 8: So to think about that is, like, the Clippers are

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Speaker 8: pretty locked into the two at this point, right true,

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Speaker 8: So they're probably not gonna be and especially we already

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Speaker 8: know that, like they don't play Kawhi and like other

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Speaker 8: guys when they don't have to, the Clippers might just

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Speaker 8: not play their guys in that.

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Speaker 6: Okay, so let's move. Let's go ahead and go this way.

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Speaker 5: I'm willing to put Boston, Houston, Denver Clippers, and Dallas

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Speaker 5: those five in two coin flip games.

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Speaker 6: They can go either way.

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Speaker 5: Portland, that full strength is good enough to win or

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Speaker 5: lose those five. Philly, I kind of want to put

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Speaker 5: a little bit above the freight they're gonna have.

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Speaker 6: They're gonna have motivation to play. They're pretty good.

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Speaker 5: They look a lot better with Ben Simmons, So I

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Speaker 5: kind of want to put them in a that's a loss.

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Speaker 6: Boston. I kind of lean towards that's a loss.

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Speaker 5: Like I just feel like Boston's decided was better than Portland,

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Speaker 5: all right, so let's move Boston there. So we got

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Speaker 5: two losses out the gate, we've got four coin flips,

433
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,680
Speaker 5: and we've got two should wins in Memphis and Brooklyn.

434
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 5: They're favored versus Memphis and the opener by two and

435
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,200
Speaker 5: a half. Again, Memphis did beat them o in two

436
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,320
Speaker 5: oh and honestly was kind of a beat down. But

437
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,439
Speaker 5: Nur Kitchen Collins are back. So maybe the idea is

438
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,280
Speaker 5: that makes them entirely, entirely better. Brooklyn is a win,

439
00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,160
Speaker 5: that's no question, Like that's the last game of the season.

440
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 6: They can win those.

441
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:50,200
Speaker 8: They have, Like Brooklyn also had like no guys.

442
00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,760
Speaker 6: Right, So we got we've got two should wins.

443
00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:58,800
Speaker 5: They got to get three more out of Houston, Denver, Clippers,

444
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,040
Speaker 5: Dallas the model for them to get to that five wins.

445
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,040
Speaker 8: I think Houston is one of those teams where like

446
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,639
Speaker 8: there's they have such a high ceiling but such a

447
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,159
Speaker 8: low floor just because we don't know what a a like,

448
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 8: we don't know how healthy like all their guys are

449
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:13,399
Speaker 8: gonna because they've had so many different guys that have

450
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,000
Speaker 8: been in and out. And then also just like there's

451
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,399
Speaker 8: still there's still such little data that we have about

452
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,439
Speaker 8: you know how this current version of the Rockets has

453
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,280
Speaker 8: played basically since they made the Capella trade and went

454
00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 8: totally to the small ball. So I could see that

455
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:31,680
Speaker 8: being a game they could win. And then I guess Dallas,

456
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 8: I don't. I mean I think that I think the

457
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:36,119
Speaker 8: Clippers one. I think there's a chance that the Clippers

458
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:37,960
Speaker 8: just don't play any other guys because they're locked into

459
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:38,720
Speaker 8: two seed.

460
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:40,200
Speaker 6: Let's give them that that's.

461
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 5: Four, so they only get then they only got to

462
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:48,760
Speaker 5: take they gotta take one from Denver in Dallas. So

463
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,320
Speaker 5: those two, like if they get the if they go

464
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,119
Speaker 5: five hundred versus Denver in Dallas, that seems reasonable. Like

465
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,280
Speaker 5: five wins, I think seems doable. I do have concerns.

466
00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,040
Speaker 5: I just kind of think that Portland. I think I

467
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,040
Speaker 5: think New Orleans is probably gonna get the six. I

468
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 5: think they're probably gonna get the six wins because their

469
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,000
Speaker 5: schedule is just so easy. Everyone kind of talked about

470
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,439
Speaker 5: Portland schedule. They're like Portland schedule is really easy, And

471
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:09,679
Speaker 5: I'm like, how are you figuring this?

472
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:13,080
Speaker 8: See, because I I my first reaction to when I

473
00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:15,240
Speaker 8: saw the schedules where the Blazers got a hard schedule,

474
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 8: and I actually.

475
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 6: Think they also got this.

476
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,239
Speaker 8: They also got kind of a disadvantage because back like

477
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 8: before the season was shut down, the remaining schedule had

478
00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,480
Speaker 8: two games against Memphis, and the idea was they were

479
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,760
Speaker 8: three and a half games or whatever behind Houston. If

480
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:30,520
Speaker 8: they win both of those two games, they can cut

481
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,360
Speaker 8: it down significantly. Now they only have one of those

482
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,840
Speaker 8: games to me either, their playoff chances are just they

483
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,360
Speaker 8: have to get that first game against Memphis. If they do,

484
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:39,240
Speaker 8: then that cuts it to two and a half games,

485
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 8: and then from there it's a lot more doable to

486
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,479
Speaker 8: make up the gap, especially with Memphis has some guys

487
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 8: like Tias Jones. They even just announced today is going

488
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 8: to be out, So like they Memphis, I think that

489
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 8: like if they cut it down in the first game,

490
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:53,919
Speaker 8: then they have a chance. But if they lose that

491
00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:55,480
Speaker 8: first game then it's probably a rap.

492
00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 5: That's what's crazy is this first game versus Memphis, them

493
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 5: being two and a half point favorites, this is a

494
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:01,360
Speaker 5: must win for them.

495
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,720
Speaker 6: Like that's an absolute must win for them, and.

496
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,320
Speaker 5: If they lose that, there's a like like they might

497
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,639
Speaker 5: tail spin out, like they can make the playoffs and

498
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,960
Speaker 5: they might just tail spin completely away.

499
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 6: That's crazy.

500
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think that's I mean, I thought that the

501
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,919
Speaker 8: second they released the schedule, that first one. If they

502
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 8: if they don't win that first one against Memphis, I

503
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:21,880
Speaker 8: just I don't see the path.

504
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 5: Thanks to Shan for joining me. So we've talked about

505
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,160
Speaker 5: the Blazers. We've talked about what's in the bubble. We've

506
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 5: talked about a team that's trying to get from the

507
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 5: outside into the playoffs in Portland. Let's talk a little

508
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,880
Speaker 5: bit about an actual contender. The Los Angeles Clippers are

509
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:43,720
Speaker 5: an incredibly sexy pick to win the NBA title. They

510
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,400
Speaker 5: are the favorite of most of the wonks that I've

511
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 5: talked to. All the analytically forward people are very high

512
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,639
Speaker 5: on the Clippers. I myself have written about how I

513
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 5: can't really figure out where I should stand on them.

514
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 5: There's obviously talent there, but there are things about them

515
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:00,320
Speaker 5: that kind of concern me. You can find and their

516
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,080
Speaker 5: title odds anywhere between plus one seventy to plus two

517
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 5: to fifty depending on where you look, a lot of value.

518
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,360
Speaker 5: I guess you know, on the Clippers. I think they're

519
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 5: up there with the Lakers and the Bucks, but exactly

520
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 5: how close are they?

521
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 6: What's their chemistry issues?

522
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 5: I had a bunch of questions, so I reached out

523
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 5: to the athletics Jovann Bua, and he had some great insights.

524
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,480
Speaker 5: He's been covering the team for a long time. He

525
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,400
Speaker 5: had some really good insights on exactly what to expect

526
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:28,159
Speaker 5: for the Clippers for their performance inside the bubble. And

527
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 5: also I wanted to get a sense of this is

528
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 5: a chemistry going to be a problem and what about

529
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,120
Speaker 5: that over under for them of five and a half.

530
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,160
Speaker 5: I checked in on that as well. Here's my conversation

531
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 5: with Yovan Boua from the Athletic. My first kind of

532
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,399
Speaker 5: question for you is I have been debating this question

533
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 5: of continuity and chemistry, and I think those two things

534
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 5: are very different. And you had reported alongside your colleagues

535
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 5: at the Athletic back in January of some lingering tensions

536
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 5: with the team on the chemistry front. It seemed like

537
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,720
Speaker 5: those things improved as things went on and that things

538
00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 5: got better, But I still have kind of a measure

539
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:09,680
Speaker 5: of concern over what exactly this team's chemistry looks likely.

540
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,920
Speaker 6: Everyone's very focused on the continuity side, and.

541
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 5: They say, look, if you you know, yes, they guys

542
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 5: have missed time, but when they play together, they're awesome.

543
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 5: One of my issues has been, yeah, but like those

544
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 5: are very select circumstances, and it feels like that sample

545
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 5: I don't necessarily trust, but like that's the primary argument,

546
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 5: is that the Clipper's best ball is better than anyone else's.

547
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 5: Do you tend to lean towards that assessment or is

548
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 5: there something towards the idea that, like, look, the chemistry

549
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:41,439
Speaker 5: and continuity stuff, we don't know how this is going

550
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 5: to look.

551
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,960
Speaker 6: Once pressure kind of ramps up at the playoffs.

552
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 9: I tend to lean towards the former point, or you know,

553
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,160
Speaker 9: the former part of your question. I do think at

554
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,080
Speaker 9: their best, I mean, the stats that gets thrown out

555
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 9: there is they're ten and one when they have their

556
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 9: top eight or nine guys healthy, and again that's a

557
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 9: small sample. I mean, that's not even twenty percent of

558
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 9: the season. But this team, I think, in spite of that,

559
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 9: you know, twenty four and eight with PG and Kawhi

560
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 9: thirty three and eight with Kawhi and Pat Bev. Like

561
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 9: they have shown when they have their main guys, they

562
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 9: can beat every you know, basically anybody. Now they are

563
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 9: what I believe two and three against the Lakers and

564
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 9: the Bucks, and those are the two teams they're really

565
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 9: focused on. You know, they think that if they are

566
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 9: to win the championship, they're going to have to go

567
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 9: through the Lakers at some point, probably play Milwaukee in

568
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 9: the finals. But I'm with you, you know, obviously we

569
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 9: reported that story in January. I think things have gotten better.

570
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 9: I think the team has made it a point to

571
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 9: be more vocal with how involved Kawhi is as a leader,

572
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 9: and you know, I don't know how much of that's

573
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 9: in relation to the story, but it seems like that's

574
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 9: been more of a narrative that they've discussed openly, is

575
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,239
Speaker 9: how much Kawhi talks in the group chat and how

576
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 9: much he's leading in the locker room and stuff like that.

577
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:05,919
Speaker 9: So I think that situation has improved a lot. And

578
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 9: I think, you know, as our reporting kind of stated,

579
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 9: some of that stuff was was December into early January,

580
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 9: and then things had started to get a little bit better.

581
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 9: But it's it's a fascinating question because I think you have,

582
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,679
Speaker 9: you know, so many interesting dynamics with this team. You

583
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 9: have Kawhi and PG, but then you also have these

584
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:29,639
Speaker 9: role players that really I mean, if you were ranking

585
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 9: the most confident role players in the league, Lou Williams,

586
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,080
Speaker 9: Mantres Herald, and Patrick Beverley would be near the top

587
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 9: of that list. And and all three guys, I think,

588
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 9: look at themselves as better than role players. You know,

589
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 9: Lou and Trees view themselves as like all star type guys.

590
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 9: So I think the fascinating thing for me, and it's

591
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,119
Speaker 9: been the question for me since the preseason, is what

592
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,120
Speaker 9: does this team's closing lineup look like? You know, when

593
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 9: they're playing the Lakers or the Bucks and you know

594
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 9: there's seven minutes left in a game, who are the

595
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 9: five guys out there? We know it's going to be

596
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 9: Kawhi and PG, but aside from that, you don't know

597
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,160
Speaker 9: who the other three guys are going to be. And

598
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,639
Speaker 9: I think some guys on this team are going to

599
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,679
Speaker 9: have to swallow that. I'm you know, being benched at

600
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 9: the end of the day. You know, Lou Williams, we

601
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 9: saw what the Lakers did to him at the end

602
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,840
Speaker 9: of that game. Can he accept not playing the last

603
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:16,360
Speaker 9: seven minutes of a game seven and not have that effect,

604
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 9: you know, his psyche or just kind of the team

605
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 9: chemistry at all. Like, I'm fascinated by that, and that's

606
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 9: the thing I'm most looking forward to in the playoffs.

607
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 5: So Pat Bev got back on the twenty six We're

608
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 5: recording this on the twenty ninth, so that would put

609
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 5: him if he test every day negative and got the

610
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,200
Speaker 5: four day quarantine, that would get him out of the

611
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 5: day of Clippers Lakers on on Thursday. Do you expect

612
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 5: him to play? Has Doc said anything about expecting him

613
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 5: to play in that game or with him being gone,

614
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 5: is he going to need conditioning before he plays?

615
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:49,640
Speaker 6: Is?

616
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 5: It seems like Pat Bev could sure theoretically play, but

617
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,159
Speaker 5: I don't know if that means he's going to.

618
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 7: So it's funny.

619
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 9: Ever since Doc got fined that fifty thousand at the

620
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,280
Speaker 9: beginning of the season for kind of batching the messaging

621
00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 9: on Kauwhai's injury management, he's been very coy with the

622
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,920
Speaker 9: media with injuries, so he's always noncommittal. He did upgrade

623
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 9: Pat this morning from probably a maybe to a maybe,

624
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 9: So I read into that what you will came. If

625
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 9: I had to guess, I would lean towards him playing.

626
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 9: I think they're already shorthanded without Tres and Lou. I

627
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 9: do think that the seeding games are going to matter

628
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 9: more to the Clippers than the Lakers.

629
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:30,359
Speaker 7: You know, the Lakers pretty much have the one seed

630
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 7: locked up.

631
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 9: The Clippers have a comfortable lead for the two seed,

632
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 9: and they have an easier schedule than the Nuggets, the Jazz.

633
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 7: Some of the teams are competing with for the two seed.

634
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 9: But I do think for them it's going to matter,

635
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 9: and I do think that they are going to try,

636
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 9: so I would expect Pat to probably pay play. You know,

637
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 9: we don't have an official update on him, and it

638
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 9: will probably come out in a few hours or so,

639
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,720
Speaker 9: but yeah, I mean it's and.

640
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:57,720
Speaker 7: Pat also has something.

641
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 9: He has a vendetta against Lebron and the Lakers is like,

642
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 9: if we're being honest, like, you know, anytime they play them,

643
00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 9: he says something crazy in the locker room, and you.

644
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:07,960
Speaker 7: Know, that goes viral.

645
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,440
Speaker 9: So I think if anyone's gonna be motivated to play

646
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 9: in this game, it's pop everly.

647
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 5: So let's talk a little bit more of the trying thing,

648
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 5: because I think that's one of the big questions, especially

649
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 5: like as I'm trying to analyze that, I did a

650
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 5: whole thing on their team wins in Orlando, which is

651
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 5: five and a half as or six and a half,

652
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,239
Speaker 5: I believe, And I was just like, look, there's all

653
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 5: these reasons the thing that they can go over, but

654
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 5: I just don't know if they're going to care. Like,

655
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 5: I just don't know if they're going to care. What

656
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 5: leads you to believe that they're going to try, because

657
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 5: I'm very interested to hear that.

658
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 9: I think they want the two seed, you know, I

659
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 9: think that there isn't as much of a difference between

660
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 9: the two seed and the three seed now that home

661
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 9: court advantage is out, you know, facing Denver on the

662
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 9: road in a game seven versus you know, having that

663
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 9: at Staples Center would have been a key factor had

664
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 9: that been still in play. But I just think this team,

665
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 9: they were really confident and happy with the way they

666
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 9: were playing before the hiatus. I mean at the time,

667
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 9: you know, they went se and one. You know, going

668
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 9: into the hiatus, that a league best net rating of

669
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 9: you know, plus eleven point five. Really, outside of that

670
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 9: Lakers loss, which was one of their worst shooting performances

671
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 9: of the season, you know, they will steamroll Denver at

672
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 9: Staples Center. You know that Denver had a team meeting

673
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 9: after that game. They went into Houston, stayed big and

674
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 9: absolutely romped them and just you know, embarrassed them at home.

675
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 9: So I think they were playing great basketball and they

676
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 9: really want to recapture that momentum and go into the

677
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 9: playoffs with momentum. So I do think if it comes

678
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 9: down to it, they are going to rest guys, and

679
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 9: they've been conservative all season. We've seen that anytime a

680
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 9: guy gets nicked up, he tends to miss the next game.

681
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 9: So that's where I would probably agree with you. I

682
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 9: would take the under on the six point five. I

683
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 9: view them as like a five and three or six

684
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 9: and two team. I don't see them going seven and

685
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 9: one or eight Tozer, but I do think they're going

686
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 9: to try.

687
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 7: It's just you know, losing.

688
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 9: If Anthony Davis plays versus the Lakers and they don't

689
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 9: have lou and Trees like, they're probably going to lose

690
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 9: that game, you know, and then New Orleans is the

691
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 9: next game where they won't have lou And and might

692
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 9: not have tres.

693
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 7: I don't know, like you know, New Orleans is playing better.

694
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 9: So I could you know, their schedule is relatively easy

695
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 9: compared to some of the other West teams, which is

696
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 9: why I think they're a safe bet to probably stay

697
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 9: in the two seed.

698
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 7: But I you know, with the.

699
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 9: Injuries, with so many guys in out of the lineup

700
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 9: all season, like this team has just not been able

701
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 9: to have any semblance of consistency or health.

702
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 7: You know, they're still really good.

703
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 9: There's still the two seed, you know, top five offense

704
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 9: and defense in the league. But I am interested to

705
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 9: see how like their consistency in the bubble. But but

706
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 9: to go back to the six point five, like I

707
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 9: would take the under on that, I do again, I

708
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 9: think they're going to try. I just also think they've

709
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 9: been a victim of circumstance early on in the bubble

710
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 9: so far.

711
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 6: One thing I think is messed.

712
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 5: And I spoke to bookmaker about the line move because

713
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 5: the Lakers went from in that game tomorrow woe from

714
00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 5: a pick them to Lakers might as four and a half.

715
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 5: It's now bading between three and a half and four

716
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 5: as we record this. I'm not going to ask you

717
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 5: what the line, but one thing that I talked to

718
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 5: Bookmaker about is like, look, it's the cumulative effect. It's

719
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 5: not the Pat BEVs out and that takes off x

720
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 5: x points off the line, and then lose out it

721
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 5: takes x points off the line. But if Pat BEV

722
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 5: and Lou are both out and Shamant has been is

723
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 5: still getting back and you have all these things, that

724
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 5: cumulative effect adds up.

725
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 6: But then I remember, like, oh, yeah, do they have

726
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 6: Rigie Jackson?

727
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 5: Like isn't this like it feels like they might be

728
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 5: better better equipped for backcourt losses than maybe we think

729
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 5: they are.

730
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I know.

731
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:36,520
Speaker 9: Reggie Jackson has been a revelation for this team which

732
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 9: nobody saw coming. I mean, I was personally skeptical of

733
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 9: the move. I felt they had too many shot creators already,

734
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 9: too many you know, shoot first guys, and then adding

735
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 9: another one in Reggie Jackson and also demoting him, you know,

736
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 9: going from a starting role to hey, can you play

737
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 9: fifteen minutes a night off the bench and you're not

738
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 9: even the first or second option on the second unit.

739
00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 7: You have Low and Treds there.

740
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 9: You're at best the third option, and you're also sharing

741
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 9: that with Lander Shammitt, so I was kept goal to move.

742
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 9: But Reggie Jackson has.

743
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 7: Played really well.

744
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 9: I think he's currently posting a sixty seven percent true

745
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:15,240
Speaker 9: shooting percentage, which is not sustainable at all shot on thirties,

746
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 9: but he's he's played well, and you know, one of

747
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 9: the biggest things is he's unlocked Lou to kind of

748
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 9: alleviate him, have him play off the ball more, come

749
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 9: off screen, spot up, do different stuff. So I think

750
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,959
Speaker 9: you've seen a benefit for Lou Offensively, lou is kind

751
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 9: of quietly struggling. Known was really talking about that, but

752
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 9: he had not been playing well for like a month

753
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 9: month and a half before they signed Reggie Jackson.

754
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 7: So I do think they're well equipped.

755
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 9: And we saw it in a game in Minnesota in

756
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 9: December where Kawhi and PG combined for eighty eight points

757
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 9: and they just went super nova. I mean it was

758
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 9: the Timberwolves, so it's a little bit different than the Lakers,

759
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 9: but I do think that those two are capable of

760
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 9: having that type of performance. I don't love the Lakers

761
00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:00,959
Speaker 9: wings defending Kawhi and PG, so if necessary, and if

762
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 9: the Clippers really are going for it. You could play

763
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 9: those guys thirty five to thirty eight minutes and have

764
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 9: each of them go for thirty plus and make it

765
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,320
Speaker 9: a game. I do think Ad is probably the biggest

766
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 9: swing factor in that game. Of course, you know it

767
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 9: seems like he's going to play. But if, for whatever reason,

768
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 9: the Lakers are conservative, maybe they don't want to show

769
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 9: their hand if he sits out. I would favor the

770
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 9: Clippers regardless of Pat's status, but if Ad plays, I

771
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 9: mean you probably should favor the Lakers.

772
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 5: Okay, before we go to our last guest didn't want

773
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:31,320
Speaker 5: to tell you, guys, make sure that you rate, review

774
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 5: and subscribe, sign up, download our app. Really need those

775
00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 5: subscriptions and five star reviews.

776
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 6: Make sure they leave them.

777
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 5: Stay tuned on this channel for NFL, PGA, and NBA

778
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 5: episodes all through August. We're getting you set. Sports are back.

779
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,440
Speaker 5: We've got you set. So we've talked about the Blazers

780
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 5: that are on the outside trying to get in, the

781
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 5: Clippers that are at the top and in the middle.

782
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 5: You got a team in the Jazz, and the Jazz

783
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,360
Speaker 5: are very interesting. Everyone's kind of written them off after

784
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:55,879
Speaker 5: you know they were the first team to spiral into

785
00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 5: the pandemic. They're Obviously chemistry has been disrupted by Rudy

786
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,800
Speaker 5: Gobaert and Donovan Mitchell both testing positive for COVID nineteen

787
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 5: and some tension between the two.

788
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:06,240
Speaker 6: Over that fact.

789
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:10,840
Speaker 5: But there's been other problems like Bojan Bogdanovitch's injury, and

790
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 5: just generally speaking, there's not a lot of confidence for

791
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 5: the jazz to go deep.

792
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 6: So but I wanted to make sure on that.

793
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 5: I want to get a sense for where they're at

794
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 5: going into this thing, so I checked in with Tony Jones.

795
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 5: Tony's a long time, long time jazz beat writer.

796
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 6: With The Athletic Now.

797
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 5: He has some really good things to provide as far

798
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 5: as inside of what Royce O'Neil's going to bring to

799
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 5: the table, and Donovan Mitchell and where.

800
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 6: His game is at, as well as some of the

801
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 6: chemistry issues.

802
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 5: We'll wrap up with my discussion on the jazz with

803
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 5: Tony Jones. If we look at where the jazz are at,

804
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,759
Speaker 5: I haven't gotten to watch them in the scrimmages I've

805
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:45,960
Speaker 5: been seeing you tweet about Donovan Mitchell. I went back

806
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:47,759
Speaker 5: and watched a little bit of his clips. He does

807
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 5: look better in terms of his advancement on reeds and

808
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 5: some of the stuff that he's doing. How well positioned

809
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,239
Speaker 5: are they to be able to recover from losing Bogdanovic

810
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 5: offensively because they were a much better offensive team that

811
00:35:58,600 --> 00:35:59,799
Speaker 5: I think people realized.

812
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 3: In the regular season. The answer is really layered.

813
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 10: I think they won't have much of an issue replacing

814
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 10: the point but the offense. That still doesn't mean that

815
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,759
Speaker 10: the offense is going to be as good as it

816
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 10: was with Bogdanovic because Bogdanovic provided so much spacing and

817
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 10: he has so much gravity this season just because he's

818
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 10: a volume forty three point shooter and you know it.

819
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 10: So the Jazz have to There are different things that

820
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 10: the Jazz have to account for other than the scoring

821
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 10: with Bogdanovic. They have to account for uh spacing that

822
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 10: Bogdanovic provides, which may or may not be there depending

823
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,279
Speaker 10: on how well Joe Engles shoots the basketball or how

824
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 10: often he shoots the basketball.

825
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:46,799
Speaker 3: They have to.

826
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 10: They have to provide for Bogdanovic's ability to get into

827
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 10: the lane and score at the.

828
00:36:54,080 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 3: Bath and.

829
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 10: That I didn't account for when the injury. When I

830
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,759
Speaker 10: saw the Jazz actually play in the scrimmages is that

831
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:11,440
Speaker 10: they are really, really, really small without Vogdanovich. Vogdanovich is

832
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 10: bigger than people give him credit for. He's a full

833
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 10: six eight, He's a full two hundred and thirty two

834
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 10: hundred and thirty five pounds, and he's he's he's a

835
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 10: he's a physical specimen in terms of size for his position,

836
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:28,759
Speaker 10: and they just don't have that size for position right

837
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 10: now that Boganavish provides. So everywhere on the floor other

838
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,080
Speaker 10: than Rudy Gobert, the Jazz are a really small team.

839
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 3: So those are some of the things that they have

840
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 3: to account for.

841
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:44,879
Speaker 10: And I think that, and I think that how well

842
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,360
Speaker 10: or how how well they don't how well they account

843
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 10: for him, or how they don't account.

844
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 3: For him, is going to determine what the Jazz do

845
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 3: offensively without him.

846
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 5: Does Royce O'Neil give them a little bit better ability

847
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 5: to get back to the defensive identity that they've had

848
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,640
Speaker 5: the last couple of seasons. They a little bit on

849
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:03,400
Speaker 5: that end this season, and I'm really high on what

850
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 5: he can do on the edge. I know you talked

851
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,360
Speaker 5: about giving up some of the size and that's definitely

852
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,800
Speaker 5: a problem, but I feel like O'Neill is being underrated

853
00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:11,239
Speaker 5: a little bit in.

854
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,840
Speaker 6: Terms of what he brings as a versaal defender.

855
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:21,480
Speaker 3: Well, he's a really good defender, and he's switchy. You know,

856
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 3: he's he's.

857
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 10: Guarded all five, He's guarded all five physicians. The thing

858
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,440
Speaker 10: that I thought was was great that one of the

859
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,439
Speaker 10: best things that he did defensively this year is when

860
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 10: Houston went small against the Jazz. Instead of playing Tony

861
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,840
Speaker 10: Bradley in the non Rudy Gobert Minutes, Quinn Snyder played

862
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 10: Royce O'Neill at the five in the non Rudy go

863
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,479
Speaker 10: Bar mints and had him basically as the help guy,

864
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 10: as the rim protector, and he did a surprisingly really good,

865
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,279
Speaker 10: really credible job at it. So you know, he's for

866
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 10: sure the best defender outside of Gobert. He's for short

867
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 10: and most versatile defender probably period.

868
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 3: And even though.

869
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 10: He doesn't have by Donovic's size, he's he's a guy

870
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,080
Speaker 10: that that that really uh that really.

871
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 3: Helps on the defensive end of the ball. The problem

872
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,839
Speaker 3: is that it just can't can't be just him.

873
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 10: It has to be Mike Conley uh standing in front

874
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 10: of point guards. It has to be Donovan Mitchell, who

875
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:32,120
Speaker 10: has who has to defend as well as do everything

876
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,399
Speaker 10: that he does offensively, and it has to be Joe

877
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 10: Ingles as well. So it's it's gonna be interesting to

878
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 10: see how the Jazz defend on the perimeter because that

879
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 10: was really their their weakness this season. Uh and and

880
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,280
Speaker 10: and it put a lot of stress on Rudy Gobert,

881
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,640
Speaker 10: as good as he is. And and I don't think that,

882
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:55,239
Speaker 10: you know, the Jazz can be successful, uh if it's

883
00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:58,720
Speaker 10: just Rudy Gobert and and Royce O'Neill being plus defenders.

884
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 5: Everyone is obviously very keyed in on the dynamic. And

885
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,200
Speaker 5: you wrote about it with Sam Amon during the hiatus

886
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,200
Speaker 5: and everything that went on with this team. Like the

887
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 5: last time that we saw this team, they were literally,

888
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:18,319
Speaker 5: you know, the team that didn't kickstart like they you know.

889
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,640
Speaker 6: I thought Ridy Gobert's interview today with Watching.

890
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 5: Post is really insightful, and like his comments about how

891
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,440
Speaker 5: like I brought the everyone I talked like I brought

892
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,799
Speaker 5: the coronavirus to America, and I was like, yeah, that's

893
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 5: kind of I felt like he's got a lot of

894
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:37,040
Speaker 5: pro of blame for a global pandemic are you of

895
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,960
Speaker 5: the mindset, having written what you wrote at the Athletic

896
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 5: about their relationship, are you of the mindset that these

897
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 5: guys are professionals and the jazz organization have like that

898
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 5: they're gonna be able to just like get through this

899
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:50,400
Speaker 5: and be pros.

900
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 6: Is the locker room in a place where it can

901
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 6: do that.

902
00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:57,840
Speaker 10: I think it is, But I think it's going to

903
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 10: take some work. I think that those two can co

904
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 10: exist on the floor and and and be good teammates

905
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,480
Speaker 10: to each other, and that's what they really need for them.

906
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 10: They don't have to be best friends. They don't have

907
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 10: to be on each other's Christmas list, you know, they

908
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,359
Speaker 10: don't have to go to Benny Honah together. But they

909
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 10: do have to be good teammates to each other, and

910
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 10: and they have to be supportive of each other on

911
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 10: the floor. They have to be supportive in the of

912
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,879
Speaker 10: each other in the locker room when the subject has

913
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:36,359
Speaker 10: to do with basketball, and they you know, they have

914
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 10: to be guys that leave this franchise. I mean they

915
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:45,279
Speaker 10: have those two have you know, really awesome responsibilities in

916
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:49,920
Speaker 10: terms of you know, they are the two faces of

917
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 10: the of the Jazz franchise and when you're the face

918
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 10: of the franchise. Even even when you're the best player

919
00:41:57,920 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 10: when you're twenty three years old, that's difficult.

920
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,239
Speaker 3: Even when you're twenty eight years old, you still make mistakes.

921
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 10: So you know, those two would have to figure it

922
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 10: out together because the Jazz don't have any they don't

923
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 10: have any inclination of moving on from one guy or

924
00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 10: the other. So you know, they're kind of stuck with

925
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:25,719
Speaker 10: each other until they're not. And how they kind of

926
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,440
Speaker 10: grow up and figure it out on the floor, that

927
00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 10: that's going to determine not only the face of the

928
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 10: Jazz in twenty nineteen twenty twenty or the Jazz in

929
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 10: twenty twenty twenty twenty one, it's going to have far

930
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,960
Speaker 10: far reaching implications as to what the Jazz do down

931
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 10: further down the road.

932
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:48,839
Speaker 6: Then the season opener on Thursday night.

933
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,080
Speaker 5: The last time these two teams played, the Pelicans and

934
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,800
Speaker 5: the Jazz they can bind for two hundred and fifty

935
00:42:54,840 --> 00:43:00,120
Speaker 5: seven points, so they it was a scoring bit in

936
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 5: the last time that these two teams face each other.

937
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:05,480
Speaker 5: Do you think that this one is gonna be a

938
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:07,279
Speaker 5: little bit different? Do you think that the Jazz are

939
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 5: gonna have a little.

940
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:09,959
Speaker 6: Bit better defensive capability.

941
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 5: The Pelicans have been able to absolutely rack it up

942
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,000
Speaker 5: versus most teams as long as they have favors.

943
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,759
Speaker 6: In Zion and Zion's and maybe there. What are your

944
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 6: expectations for that game?

945
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 3: Well, I don't expect Zion to be a maybe.

946
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 10: I think I expect Zion to play, and I think

947
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:30,759
Speaker 10: that the Jazz are going to have major issues stopping

948
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 10: the Pelicans because of, uh, the way Brandon Ingram is

949
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 10: able to lift and shoot, uh over over oversized, and

950
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 10: the way he's able to lift and shoot in the

951
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:47,400
Speaker 10: mid range, and and the Jazz play a ton of

952
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 10: drop big you know. So it's it's it's gonna it's

953
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 10: a tough matchup defensively for the Jazz. It was a

954
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:58,400
Speaker 10: tough matchup with Bogdanovic, but now the Jazz are going

955
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 10: to be uh the sagnificantly smaller basketball team at almost

956
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:03,760
Speaker 10: every position.

957
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,360
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be really really tough.

958
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 10: Uh for for for them to defend the Pelicans. The

959
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 10: Pelicans are really talented. I mean they're they're talented, They're deep,

960
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 10: they can shoot, uh, they can go off the dribble.

961
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,319
Speaker 10: They have guys that can that that can make life

962
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,759
Speaker 10: difficult for Donovan Mitchell. They have guys that can make

963
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 10: life difficult for Rual to go bear. It's almost as

964
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:29,759
Speaker 10: if I think the Jazz are gonna have a really

965
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,239
Speaker 10: tough time winning this game tomorrow night. I also think

966
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 10: to you know, to answer your question, I do think

967
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,520
Speaker 10: that there are gonna be a ton of points score

968
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,120
Speaker 10: because I think this game is gonna be played a lot.

969
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,879
Speaker 10: In transition, I think that it's gonna be played in pace,

970
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:45,720
Speaker 10: and I think there's gonna be a lot of threes

971
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:46,200
Speaker 10: going up.

972
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: The n b A is back. We get serious, so

973
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:53,200
Speaker 1: let's bet the bubble.

974
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,320
Speaker 2: It may sound easy, but it will test your head

975
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,239
Speaker 2: and your mind and your brain too.

976
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,480
Speaker 5: Make sure to follow us on Twitter at Action Network HQ,

977
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:06,680
Speaker 5: download our app, rate review, and subscribe this podcast. Stay

978
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 5: tuned for NFL, PGA, MLB all the hits all throughout

979
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:13,400
Speaker 5: the month of August as sports return, you know all

980
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 5: their gloriousness, and you can track them all on our app.

981
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,760
Speaker 6: As we keep up with the action at the Action Network.

982
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 6: Until next time, I'm at moore. Thanks for joining me.

983
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 8: We're finished talking