Spurs Force Game 7 While Knicks Await | Real Ones

It's popping ruins Logan Murdock here. Howard Beck and Roger Bell in a second. We get to talking about O.K.C. and San Antonio, the series that's going to seven games and then we just kind of talk about where each team is going in a potential finals matchup against the nicks. How do they fare? Probably pretty well. I mean, we kind of know what the Western conference teams hold and how they play throughout the season and how the nicks have kind of had a cupcake postseason schedule. So we got a level set expectations on both sides and then Howard gets into his real one statement on what we feel as a collective about the lottery reform. So really, really good episode. Row one of the week takes a turn. It's pretty fun. Quick programming note though. We will have one episode next week and that will be a special episode with myself, Brian Curtis and Joel Anderson from Pressbox fame. We do our little collab. We're going to start an annual power rankings of NBA media. So we get into all of the streamers and networks and just see how they've fared this season. As a collective, it was really, really fun. I love those guys. I love the Pressbox. They do great work there. It makes you go check them out. Really, really fun episode. When we are back, me, Roger and Howard Beck on June 8th, we will be reacting off of game three of the NBA finals. So tap in with that. And we'll talk to you guys really, really soon all the bleep cliff, but let's see, I go play the team. The ringer NBA shows brought to you by Fandall. The conference finals are here. Think you know how it'll go down. Take your shot with Fandall and get closer to the action. Double is the best place to bet the team's players and plays during the NBA postseason. Build the same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off. Download the Fandall sportsbook app now and play your game. 21 plus select states, 18 plus DC can tuck your Wyoming gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER, call 1-888-78977 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut. What's popping? Real ones. Logan Murdock here. Howard Beck there. Roger Bell in the cut with the Texas football hat on. He's out here rapping. Yeah. Because that's looking like that's looking rough today. So like, I know you had a tie. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. All right. What the fuck are you going to do? Like, that's what the OKC Thunder we're asking after game six. What the fuck can we do? What can we do against this buzzsaw that happened? Um, the last podcast though, Roger, you were basically, I listen back to it. You're basically, um, putting OKC in the coffin and kind of digging the grave and, um, a little bit, a little bit, a little, that's a tiny bit of representation. Go ahead. A little bit. I'm going to let you, um, you know, restate your stance, but from what I remember, it was like, damn, it might be over with for them. And then they won game five and, um, it was honestly one of their most impressive wins of the season. And then, uh, JDub comes back into the lineup in game six, uh, but San Antonio and they get the breaks blown off of them. What did you like from game five from OKC and what did you see from OKC and San Antonio and game six that gives you maybe a guide to where the series is actually going to go in game seven. Look, what I said remains true. And I thought you saw it play out last night, which was in the absence of multiple other playmakers for OKC, shot creators for themselves or others. I thought that San Antonio would be able to do a really good job with taking shade out of the game. That did not happen in game five. Like, my dad asked me yesterday. He was over to watch the game and he asked me what I thought. And I said, you know what, dad, my confidence is a little low right now because I feel like I missed really bad in game five. I don't have a great answer for you home court. It seems to be a real thing in this series like some of those guys on both teams seem to be way more comfortable in their, in their more natural environment like they, they seem to play better at home. I think as when bees energy goes and his activity goes, uh, so does the game from time to time. So, um, when he's active and he's shadowing the ball and he's challenging at the rim without those multiple playmakers, OKC really struggles. I didn't think he was great in that respect in game five. And so, you know, a lot of people were able to kind of get going. I thought they did a fantastic job on shade last night. And he's an incredible player, but he was already coming into the series like, you know, we're trying to take him out and he was of games that is sorry, like, but, you know, you saw the lakers kind of shadow him in the back court and start doubling him and he was getting off the ball and he was already not like maybe playing up to his optimum level, but he had a supporting cast to a large part that was able to handle that series and, and, uh, produce. And as you level up, it becomes harder and harder for them. And so now you got a guy who hasn't like, he's not playing as best basketball ever, but he's also seeing a scheme that has given him a lot of problems. And he makes a lot of tough twos against one defender. He's able to create space. He's able to, you know, he shoots contested shots and he's really good at doing that. But now it's two defenders. It's, it's Wembee in a lot of instances and it's that primary defender. And what Wembee behind you frees you up to do, what DeKembae Motumbo freed me up to do. But, um, what's big Sean, what was Sean Bradley, you know, frees you up to do when you have that length and that shot blocking prowess around the rim is I can stay attached to you as a primary defender. Yeah. I don't have to worry about you going by me. A lot of where Shay is so brilliant at scoring is as a defender, you don't want him to go by you all the time. So you react to every little faint, every little fake and you, and you back up and then he's shooting his jump shot, right? Or like, he gives you a little bump and you don't want to like leave your feet or or come back and get, get, get attached to him again because of fear of him stepping through and laying you. And you don't have to have that fear when Wembee DeKembae, Sean Bradley are patrolling behind you. So as it relates to him offensively, if that defender doesn't have to go for any fakes because he's not worried about you going by him, it makes that contested to that much more difficult. And he's in any struggle a little bit with that. Now he was really good in game five. It's going to be a fantastic, like cinematic, hopefully, like moment because you're going to see either the dude who thought he should have got MVP, like stamp, why he should have gotten MVP or you're going to see Shay show you why he's a two time MVP in game seven. Like it's going to boil down to that. I don't know, I still maintain and I'm a little spooked off of it just because of how OKC looked in game five at home, they have championship pedigree, I've never doubted them, I've rode with them the entire season, but it wasn't under these circumstances with the lack of playmaking around him and I'm worried, I'm worried about them. Look, I'm sorry, I'm just rambling. You know what I don't want to hear from anybody on either side of the ledger? I don't want to hear no fucking crying. I don't want to hear crying, all right. Like for those San Antonio for you, I had to listen to now scream and cry and foul bait and now I'm watching segments on fucking your national TV with people breaking down foul baiting. Miss me with that bullshit, like San Antonio played fucking rugby last night. And I don't want to hear no crying from OKC fans either. I want to stay on this really quick, Roger. I'm not going to lie, one of the stories of the series is Wimby in the last moments of game five, whispering to his teammates, hard foul, and they're fucking Jared McCain up and then they're fucking Shay Gilkus Alexander up, right? I kind of like the gamesmanship, I'm not mad at it. I wasn't mad at it when he was doing that. Do we know, do we know what he said, or are we assuming what he said? The lip reader expert said that he was saying, hey, man, go, go, I don't know. I'm just saying people, people went wild with that. And it's like, I don't know that we have any reporting that makes that certain. That's also all I'm saying. I just, I hate when we start to make an assumption because we saw a fact pattern, ooh, he whispered next thing, you know, flagrant foul, Wimby ordered the fucking code, right? Do we know? I'm just, I mean, we don't think of what we assume. All right. The question is, what do you think about the spurs kind of fucking up? Jared McCain in the last just kind of, it seemed like they were trying to send a message. They did the push, formally did the push and then the other centered, I fucked him up too. You know, I respect that. You know, I'm not contrary to popular belief. Like I was never a guy that tried to hurt another opponent. Like that wasn't what I did. I do know some guys who did that, including people that you wouldn't want to hear it. But I do know dudes who practiced in that. I was not one of them. However, within the rules, as long as you're not trying to hurt someone, I'm okay with the physicality. I'm okay with the message sending. I'm okay with the tone setting. It's not a problem for me, on either side, I just, I don't love the discourse of just all the crying and the refs are on this side and the refs are on that side. Like I don't love that. If it's gonna be physical and that's the tone that the refs are allowing to be that game, then you have to adjust and you have to meet the moment and you have to figure out how to survive in that. And if it's gonna be touchy, nip and touch, then you have to scale back and be able to acclimate to that kind of environment. And that's just always been the game. I'm just, that's kind of, for me, been a bit of a turn off if I'm keeping it a bug. - Do you think that, first and how, when I was talking about it, I was just going off of what McCain said when, basically, not the lip reading necessarily, 'cause you're right on that as I'm reporting on that, but it hasn't been reporting from Jared McCain talking about how he was at the free throw line. And one of the guys were like, I got another one for you too. Now that was just normal banter, normal, normal NBA banter and basketball banter, but they very clearly look like they were going after him. But my question to you is, how are we going to remember this series, right? Because like what I don't want to, we tend to do this, especially with online discourse where we're just like, oh, it was about the files, the conspiracies, the third eyes are open for this, right? But I think that that in this case, it rises alluding to. It's really undercutting how great this series has been, the theater of this series, the two teams going at each other and I get it, right? When you talk about the national shows, they got to build in content and they have to field it with things that they think they're going to get clicks. But do you think that we're going to remember the bullshit, or are we going to remember how great this series is when it's all said and done? Yeah, and just to be clear, I have no doubt in my mind that the spurs were trying to send a message with the hard file on McCain. Whether or not Wembee was the one who like ordered it or whatever, that's the part of that I think is at least a little ambiguous and social media and everywhere else and traditional media runs a little bit wild in connecting the dots. And maybe that was what happened, I'm just saying. And I don't mind that as long as it's not too vicious, as long as it's not to hurt. If it's just like hard files that are message sending, going back to Raj's days in the league, like, dude, that's just part of basketball. And especially playoff basketball and that's fine. Like sometimes you're going to be a little bit over the line for other purposes. It's fine. As long as it's not to hurt anybody, as long as it's not too over the top, they did give plumbing the retroactive flagrant file one, not two. So they like the league recognized what it was and they're kind of like, all right, that's fine. But it wasn't it wasn't over aggressive to the point where they said a two or anything else like that. To Raj's point about the people whining, Raj, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like that's mostly the fan bases and some media members one way or another. Yeah, that's what I meant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of rage baiting going on. There's a lot of stupidity in general going on about this. And like, I'm like you, I don't give a shit about any of that stuff. These guys are everybody's playing hard. Sometimes the calls, you know, the refs don't catch everything. Calls go one way, they go the other way, whatever. I'm a big believer in it all evens out in the end. And the referees are not dictating the outcome of any particular game or the series overall. These teams are really evenly matched. We've had some great games. It's been weird because like on a composite basis, like I think the average margin of victory in the series is now like three. I think the average score is like one 13 to one 10 in favor of the spurs. If I'm scrolling reading correctly, quickly here. So it looks close, but we've had some a bunch of lopsided games. Like game one was fucking epic. And ever since then, it's been kind of like back and forth. But we've seen this before, right? Like one of these days, I'll look it up to remember which one it was. But one of those heat spurs finals, it went like this. Somebody win by 20 and we go, that's it. It's over. They figured it out. And then the next game, the other team would win by 20. We get these 20 13 NBA finals, 23. There you go. Thank you. Yeah. I think there was probably a lot of Danny green. Three is going on at the time. So there's, there's, you have this. You have these big swings sometimes, even if the teams are really evenly matched. It doesn't mean every game is decided by two points. It just means either team is capable of blowing out the other. We're capable of having everything go down to the wire over time, double over time. Shit man. Game seven may just be that. It may just be one big battle of attrition to, you know, down to, to, you know, it'll be like, you know, Rocky versus Apollo, whoever could stand up first before getting called for the knockout, like it's going to be like that. And that's great. We've seen some great basketball. The thing I'm going to remember most, I think at this point with the series, not quite over yet is Wembee and the way he has conducted himself for better and worse throughout that he had this like absolute dud of a game five. Looked lifeless out there had no pop what, what, so ever. And then skips post game doesn't do media, you know, a guy who, we at the Pro Basketball Riders Association gave our highest award to the Magic Johnson award for his, you know, consistent cooperation with an openness with the media and he blew us off. It's fine. Everybody does it at some point. It's not great. But it showed something about his mindset that night, right, like he was in a bad space. So he decided he couldn't do it. And he's been really curt during this series in general too. This is a guy who's usually very good natured, really open, doesn't mind telling a story here and there, giving some perspective. And he's like his, his quotes have been chopped, man. And he couldn't wait to get out of that post game with Ashley Shimati from, uh, from NBC the other night. Like, it was like two quick answers and bam, I'm gone. I take it as it's not, it's not about the media. It's just about him being like super focused, probably feeling the full weight of all this. He's 22 years old. He's in the conference finals for the first time in his life. He's in the playoffs for the first time in his life. And he's in a battle with the defending champs. And the guys got all the weight of the world on him. We go into like past greats and how long it took them to make the finals or even this stage. He's 22. And like the way he rallied in game six and just came out firing from the top. Couple of quick threes, a blocked shot, um, alley, whoop, like he was everywhere again. I'll go 10. I'll go 10. Whatever. Either way. The energy. I loved it. The energy was there. He was fucking awesome. But dude, this is exactly what we want to see from the greats, right? You're not going to be great every night. And then especially when you're 22 and like in this, this is the first time we're like, oh, maybe it's maybe the moment's too big for him or maybe he's just gassed. Maybe this is it. Maybe he's got nothing left to see him rally like that. You don't have to be a spurs fan or when he fan to go like, that was fucking awesome. That was really inspiring. That's really cool. This is what we want to see from the from the greats and the guys who are on their way to being as he probably is an all time great. So that was fantastic. So I'm going to remember that we're going to remember the injuries unfortunately on both sides, and especially on the thunderside of this. And Jalen Williams, uh, JW seemed like a kind of a, you know, shadow of himself in game six. We'll see. Roger was right. If there's much less. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I hope I hope he just they shut. I don't know. Yeah. Probably right. That injury sucks. You're just, yeah. You just want to shut everybody down. That's all. Um, all right. You want to just keep Jason Tatum on the sidelines. Now you want J. What's it? Was it? Yeah. We don't need to read it. It's not worth it. Roger's emails, but the emails are, uh, it's, um, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's an incredible series. I, we're going to remember that more than anything. Unfortunately, we're all also going to remember a lot of nonsense of people's like stupid Instagram reels of, you know, there's all the times that she filled out and all this crap, like fuck, I don't fucking care. You know, it's funny. I just looked at it. I was funny. There was a, uh, I was going to ask Roger's opinion on this, but it was, it was a real that just came out. It was one of the sites. I'm not going to give him credit, but it was like, oh, look at, um, all the times that, uh, Shay got Wimby going to switch. He's cooking them. Then I look at the stats and, uh, Shay's shooting like 37% against Wimby. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, that dissing, it's crazy, but I, I do want to, I do want to stay on, uh, I want to stay on Wimby for a second. It's weird Howard and Roger because, yes, he is 22, but the student has been playing competitive professional basketball for a very long time, right? And I was thinking like, you know, I had two thoughts on this. Like, yeah, this is his first postseason, but damn, two years ago, we saw the student on a national stage playing against the Avengers of Team USA basketball and playing toe to toe with them in a gold medal game, right? Like, he has the experience of playing in big time games. So like, he's not the normal superstar that we're used to where it's like they come into the fold and they're playing at this level and they may not be ready for the spotlight, right? And then the other end, I'm like, damn, he is 22 going up against this bus off. Okay, see, I don't know which one to, to trust at this very particular moment. But the question that I have for Roger right now is, what have you thought about the transformation that Howard has talked about with Wimby? What have you seen from him? And the other question that goes in with that question, I put in seven questions at one time for you, just throw it all the kitchen sink at you. The second question to that is, can you talk about how that, um, that transformation relates to the ups and downs of a series, right, where you're going, when game, you're going to get blown out and the other game, you're going to figure yourself out. What is a seven game series like this bring out of a guy like Wendy? Yeah, well Feel free to take your time on that. I gave you a lot. Yeah, look the The arc of anybody coming into the NBA in terms of their their experience arc and their acclimation arc Everyone has one when they're coming into the NBA Especially as it relates to playing playoff basketball like there's there's an arc of acclimation in the regular season And then there's one for the playoffs. I think that the European player that has pro experience Has a shortened arc, you know, like our grassroots basketball, you know, doesn't necessarily set you up For that pro experience the way that their model does so I you know, I think that you're Lucas and your wembees and your yokeaches. I think they're arc is shorter in in terms of being able to get from relative inexperience through the Failures and then understanding the level that they need to play at to thusly succeed, right? So I think you see wembees, you know, you said he played in the in the gold medal game and you know, he's had pro experience so He's gotten to a point really quickly and that's part of the reason like the spurs were Probably preseason a lot of people weren't really sure because you expected that arc to take a lot longer than it has Like he's gotten there relatively quickly and How it manifests itself through a seven game series is just what Howard said like you could You know Most young players find it difficult to rebound in high pressure situations that are coming at you pretty quickly and that's what this playoff round It is coming at you every other day and You know, the word that you use or that I always use with with younger players when you're looking for them to take that next step is consistency and consistency is is just You know being there being present being at us a benchmark level every night. That's going to give us a chance to be competitive and win and A young player's ability to do that Is ultimately what levels them up. They're always going to flash those superstars when they're babies. They're young They're going to flash. They're going to have games where they flash all over the place and you're like yeah That's it But it's can he capture that over and over again in a way that puts you in position to win four out of seven and so You know what you're looking for for a wimbee or anyone else for that matter that's kind of you know ascending into that that light is like You know how quickly can they bounce back does it take them two games the series is over Like if game five rolled into game six for wimbee. It's a fucking rat Yep, but if they can get over that and bounce back and be ready to go And and know that the responsibility lies with them to lead the charge in game six emotionally physically You know, I've been impressed with seeing him lead huddles and command his group. Put his arm around people Yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff has been really fun to watch and you know leadership is Organic and different for everyone. So like not everyone has the same style But you know when I talk about leaders I talk about guys that however they do it they connect people Yeah, you know, they they keep you They keep you tethered to the message and the goal because they believe it or not a lot of guys are wanderers, bro Like they're on a team. They're good players, but you know you snap your fingers and early on what And before you know, he's walking on a side quest and you're like, oh, you got come back over here like we This is what we're saying. Yeah, why are you in Austin? We're in San Antonio right now get back here get over here come here Yeah, physically or mentally right like hey buddy where where are you and I think he's done a fantastic job of that But you know obviously and and equally as important as what he's been able to do physically Into the weeds a bit about Being able to recover for a game six When you It wasn't I missed shots. They're different types of bad games that you would have to recover from right? There's a bad game that you look like your normal self, but you went three for 17 because of the ball wouldn't go in the basket Yeah, now that's that's a hard recovery because there's some mental like hey bro. I'm good. I'm this level of player That's let's flush that we're going to come out and be aggressive. I'm going to make shots. I trust my my work, right? Yeah, but The physical you don't look like yourself dud that was game five requires another level of professionalism to recover from because our body we have to find the body again and what goes into finding the body is unique to every player But like there's a there's a level of of of treatment that's required. There's a level of rest that's required There's a level of fuel that's required There are a lot of things that go into even just getting the body back from game five to game six And then obviously being able to play in and and you're flying You know, you're trying to get your mind right because you're flying back. No, but young players can struggle with that Young players can struggle with that Logan. So like you know, it's it's been impressive I mean, I don't know that I answered that great, but it's been pretty impressive Hey, how are you do the thing again? You did the thing again You know what I'm talking about I just get talking dog. I just get to talking. I Or you know what I'm talking about where he says oh shit, I probably said some dumb shit But he got some says like a brilliant. No, I just I don't know if I answered the question if I answered You know what I mean what you were looking for, but like Yeah, I love the leadership though of Wimby and I think the other thing leadership is a dance man Sometimes it's taking you know some arm around like a young player like how was it was it Carter Bryant that he Took a side and was like it's okay after Carter Bryant got yelled at right, but it's also the other thing where he's like He sees Harrison Barnes and he's getting he's actually getting leadership from Harrison Barnes on the sideline right in in getting game And he's also big in his coach up, right? He does feel like a connector even when he gets ejected I feel like you want to run through a wall for him even after he did some dumb shit Like you think about the elbow that he had on Nazaried. What was the first thing he did when he got ejected? He clapped his hands. He shook everybody's hand. He dabbed of the security guard And was like we got this still like I'm sure he apologized afterwards and in private settings But he it was always about team team team team and that also extends I believe to the San Antonio fan base, right? And like I think he's transformed that city in that fan base in a way right because it's more of a soccer environment Like if you look at San Antonio back even when you played Roger It's like it feels night and day The environment of San Antonio when you go on the road for a playoff series now with the colors with everything That's going on around where they you know go into the middle of the court and they the The team acknowledges the fans It just seems like he has his imprint on so many different things with San Antonio And that's been dope to see um And I don't know how long this is going to to last or what this is going to mean However, but I just really like what I'm seeing from a leadership standpoint from Wimbee Even as he goes through his ups and downs as a player both from a physicality standpoint and a game standpoint night to night No, okay. I was just anybody had anything that was are we good on that and is there anything? No, it was a statement on question. So you know, oh, okay. I listen. I don't know. I'm sorry Okay, so we go where else should we go with this? Okay, all right. We got um all right. All right. All right We got a can I just can I can I say one thing now like I just want to please has nothing to do with the Wimbee and the Is there any chance like as I'm watching some of these and the reason the discourse has gotten to me a little bit Howard from like the fans and the media It is is because You know a lot of my conversations deal with 17 and 18 and 14 year olds So like they're getting that information and then it's trickling up to me if you will right? So like their vision of what the player is is largely being shaped by all of these TikTok videos or whatever and and I find that to be really unfortunate because You know Shazah player that I would have ties study And shy had and tie my my my middle boy had a real affinity for his game and was trying to take some things and now it's Now like his his opinion of it is being shaped by this BS I just want to say one thing and I want to ask because I've watched him a bit And what I don't think anyone's talking about is there are times where You go to the ground because it's more beneficial to go to the ground To mitigate the risk of injury than it is to try to land in the actual plane that you would have to land in Given the circumstances and I saw one the other night where there was a clear fall on deer and fox where he went out And he just basically bumped both of Shazah's legs in the air But if you come down and try to land in your original space So high likelihood that you roll the shit out of an ankle Where if you just kind of give away with those legs and and accept the fall they do it with quarterbacks all the time right like sometimes It makes more sense rather than to fight that fall and wind up concussed or otherwise Like roll with the fall like embrace the fall As a quarterback when you do that when you stand up you invite other people to tackle you and get at your legs It's just like give up that's that's what you're saying right like as opposed to just standing up and like having like four different Lime and that wouldn't otherwise hitch you actually hitch yeah like well for instance They used to teach and I don't know like I'm not like maybe they're teaching Dia something different at Texas But they used to teach like You know stand in stand now sometimes they teach like you know release it and back and back out of there like get out of there You know what I mean like flip it and and retreat because someone might be coming at your knees or even Even as you're getting tackled Logan like they're teaching them how to like go with the actual tackle um and, and, and how to protect themselves in, in the role out of the tackle. So you're not putting your collarbone at risk or you're not putting the back of your head at risk, like slamming your head on the ground, and I just, I, I was thinking about it watching some of the TikToks and stuff, like, man, I wonder if some of that is like, let me, sure, there's an element of selling fouls. I'm not saying that it doesn't do that. But I've seen multiple ones where you're like, Hey, they're, I'm in a crowd. If I come down, I could roll it at my foot on any one of these six other feet that are in here, like, why don't I just go down and, and mitigate the risk? I was just a thought. I don't know. I, uh, no, when you were talking about that, I think one of the underrated qualities of Shay is just how much he can use his body, right? I think that we're so enamored with the, the, whatever you call foul baiting. But after his, um, the last postseason that he had, he gotten, you know, normal people are going to go back in the gym and work on the shots that they didn't, you know, the shots that they need to get better at or a part of their game where that they need to get better at is basically what they do. What he was doing was there was videos that were coming out about him just working on his balance, right? And his, all of his, his, um, it wasn't like weight bearing stuff. It was basically, I, I don't know the actual, like, movement that he was doing, but everything that he was doing was working on balance and working on his body and how he was going to, um, keep his body correct. And this is the guy that really knows his body and knows and just like how you were saying, where to fall, where to do things. And I think that's an underrated part of like him as a basketball player. The young kids should learn. It's not always just like, I got to work on my shot. I got to work on how to sometimes out of ball, how to figure out where I can get into the lane and get our shots, right? And how I can, you know, cerebral to get through the game. But one thing that you were talking about that was just that, that made me think about it was those videos just him. It wasn't like, I'm getting a gym and I'm going to get a thousand shots up. No, I'm going to actually just work on the balance of my body. And that was fascinating. One thing I want to, um, get to before we talk a little bit about the nicks. How do you see both of these teams against the nicks? Because I, we're not going to be talking until, again, until end of game three. And I want to make sure that, you know, our listenership, at least like, has a, has a gauge from us of what we think about a potential final series from either one of these teams. What the, Howard, what, what do you think, what do you, how do you think each team kind of matches up and what excites you about each team about the nicks? Um, and how do you kind of see it going with each team? Yeah. I mean, like, there's the obvious top line storylines here, right? If it's the thunder against the nicks, you've got the thunder trying to go for back-to-back to be the first back-to-back champions since 17 18 with the Warriors. The first team to even get to back-to-back final since 18 19 with the Warriors. And so there's like it just where we're at an interesting point in, um, testing the duration of this era of extreme parody where no one can repeat and no one can even get back. So there's that part of it. And then on the next side of it, if they're going up against the thunder, like what an incredible opportunity to go up against, you know, the defending champs with a stacked roster with three, three guys who have been all NBA, obviously J. Dubb did not make it this year because he'd been injured and is unfortunately hurt now as well, um, but Chatt and Shay and a really experienced crew there. Two incredible home crowds, like I haven't been to San Antonio in a while. I have no doubt that this person's home crowd would also be incredible. But I came out of those games in Oklahoma last year and trust me, Indiana was fucking loud. But Oklahoma was at a even higher level. I thought I was going to go deaf. I should have brought earplugs. Um, I didn't, and look, I've been to a lot of games at the garden. This is not on the garden. It was, it was louder in Oklahoma. I'm just telling you, man, like I've never thought like my brain was going to explode from how loud it was as local home. I didn't, you know what? Sometimes it's acoustics of the arena and everything else. There's other elements at work, but I'm just telling you. So we'd have a really super intense series there. If it's the spurs, look, I mean, and everybody's talked about this, um, in anticipation of this, the idea of Victor Wembenyama, who to a lot of us looks like that is going to be the new face of the league when Steph and LeBron and Katie step away and he has the, he has the game. I think he has a personality. He's, he's built for this. Victor Wembenyama at Madison Square Garden. I mean, could, could the, could the NBA want anything more could, could basketball fans want anything more? And NBA can't lose with these, with the, they cannot lose with these matchups. It's not a knock on Shane. Those guys either, by the way, but Victor is different. He just is. And we don't talk about Shane's potentially being the face of the NBA because he is so reserved and has given very little of himself personality wise Logan and I talked about this during, during all star with Tyler Parker. But Wembeny is like, and also because Wembeny's just like, you know, he's a physical freak of nature. He's seven five and, you know, you know, could shoot logo shots and then block shots of the other end. There's no losing here for, for any of us in the, the broader NBA community, like either way, it's going to be incredible. And I think either way we'll get to this in the next segment. But I think either way, I do think the next have a bit of an uphill climb. Like these two teams are young and stacked. What are you looking forward to, Roger? Yeah. No, I mean, what's that Howard? I do think that I would agree with what the sentiment about the next facing an uphill climb against either one of these guys. I think, you know, both teams have the type of personnel defensively that you could, you could find the best scenario on Jalen Brunson. You might not get it right the first time, but someone on your roster will slow him down better than the others. No one's going to stop him. But I think they have the personnel to kind of, you know, kind of work through until they found what the best look would be. Some people just don't have an answer for him at all. You know, they both teams have enough length and size where they present a problem around the rim with the two in Oklahoma City and then, you know, Wendy, obviously in San Antonio. So I think there's some formidable challenges for the next. I would say this though, and I just go back to, you know, a few things they have going for them. Most people feel this way about them and they'll have a week and change to stew on that. That's just an organically, you know, stoked internal fire and will to want to prove everyone wrong. The rest that they've banked, you know, through two series now. That's going to show up at some point, right, because we are seven games and this has been really physically a demanding series for both teams. And I would just, I would say this, there's a chance that the next come out of the gate after the layoff, a little rusty, having been the hottest team maybe in the NBA, right? But I do think that going on the road for that game is a win for them because if you're at home and you do that, like they did with Cleveland, let's say, came out, looked rusty, didn't play well. And you lose that home game while the series is flipped immediately. But if you're on the road and that happens to you through the first half of a game or so, well, you're supposed to lose that game anyway. So if you then just find it in game two, you've done what you went there objectively to do, which is get that one win and let's flip this series and get back home. So I think they have some things working for them, but it's going to be tough from just a physical, you know, on paper standpoint, you know, it's an uphill climb. But I think they got some things working in their favor. It's absolutely brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever find yourself scrambling to grab that special something for a last minute party, a spontaneous date, or even that in prompt to game night at home, that's when prime same day delivery swoops in that essential item you thought you'd miss delivered the planned save the win secured because with prime same game delivery, you can grab it and go before the moment passes you by same name delivery, it's on prime. Visit amazon.com/prime to find millions of items delivered fast available in select areas terms of life. You know we beat Joe me back with another edition of pack watch and this is a special one, ladies and gentlemen, because we're not packing an entire team. No, sorry, Bob. We're packing up one man and he goes by the name of James Jim Jim Beau Harden. It's that time of the year folks, listen, if you were a time traveler and you traveled back to any time post 2012 and you were like, yo, what year, what year am I? And then you was like, yo, did James Harden choke in the post season? You couldn't tell what you were you were in because he does this every year. Now, I know that he has great playoff games, he's got a lot of great playoff games by like friend of the pod, bomanic Jones always says, it's the last game of the post season. That'll get you with James, buddy. It was bricksville, okay? And it'd be one thing to go out on your sword, right? To fight and get to sweat, even, even if you guess what, even if you guess what you go, you laid on the line for the city of Cleveland, okay? That's what you supposed to do, right? If you get paid $40 million, you're supposed to die on that sword for your team for the match. And what did he do? He laid an egg, like he always does in the last game of the season because that's who he is. That's who James Harden is and it's a shame. He's so talented, the regular season, he's a workhorse, the man can play, but when you need In your dying moments, when the air is escaping your breath, well, you have nothing else left to believe it except for Jim. He won't be there for you. And it's a shame. It's a damn shame. So, Sarah, you Jim, horn fans out there. I know it's been hard pretty much every year since, you know, 2019. But this is, this is who he is. I try to fight it as long as you did. But the evidence speaks for itself. Jimmy. I'm going to pack watch. Start with rest versus rust, right? Because we've talked about this a lot in this postseason because the next keep blowing people out in four games and then they keep getting teams that have gone to seven, which is going to happen yet again here. The best reference point, of course, is the one that Roger was involved in and that I covered the Lakers were off for 11 freaking days between their last Western conference playoff series when they went. 11 to know because back then it was best to five first rounds. So they went, you know, three wins four four. This is in 2001. They face Roger's sixers. You guys win game one, Roger. I as a beat writer, I'm looking at that and going, yeah, the Lakers are like kind of like sluggish, you know, you guys, you beat him. It was over time. You know, I ever said an incredible game. Everything and then the Lakers, you guys the next four games. But I do think there was something to it. They've been off for 11 freaking days. Shacks on air the other night saying it was like 10 days. He's wrong. It was 11. He's saying that they had a parade at Disneyland in the meantime. I don't think that ever happened. Did you guys go in, Roger, thinking this team's gonna like, did you think you had an edge? The Lakers have been off for a week and a half. And did you, do you remember seeing it in them at all? I know it's a long time ago now. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I mean, they may have Howard. I don't know. That was never communicated to me. And I was so low on the totem pole. And so it was also foreign to me. Yeah, that I didn't have any thoughts about anything really. So I can't, I can't answer that one. Um, I, I didn't even know you were just staring into the bright lights. That's all that was happening to me at the time. Alright, figure those words asking since you've been involved, but if you, but what also happened and what people don't, you know, really remember about that series is I'm pretty sure George Lynch got hurt in game two. Like I wound up with the calf or something like that, like soft tissue injury in game two, like people, you know, not that that series would have changed, but that's what happens when you've played that much basketball, like my ass was probably just out of shape, because I hadn't played that much basketball. Like George Lynch had been holding it down for a long time. And that was a, that was an attrition injury, right? Like that was like, Hey, man, you got so many miles on you in these playoffs. And then we're asking you to get on a flight, go to LA. And now you're hurt. So, you know, to your point, yes, some rust and might have cost them up front. But once they got cooking us was knocked off, the bodies that that that we were throwing at them, like they were to a large degree spent. Yeah, you guys went through a lot. You guys went through a lot, bro, in that postseason, you guys said, you said a five game series, when it was best to five, a set in two seven games. There's you guys basically played all the allocated games that were there for you. Yeah, that final. Then you got a fly cross country for those games. Are we, this is the question that Howard have pre-pod. Are we given the nicks a little bit too much credit? Are we are we sipping too much of the cool aid of the nicks right now at this point? Do we think do we think the nicks are better than they are going into the series? Are you asking me? Yeah, asking you. No, no, I mean, I'm properly rating them at this point. I'm talking about as a collective. They're in the final. They're in the finals. What are we doing? No, I'm not. I don't know. No one on here. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, there are a few pods I've missed. Has anyone come on here and said that they're like, I mean, we're I think we've been pretty level excited about the nicks. I'll say this. I believe as a writer, I'm slated to go to game seven of the NBA finals. I'm not banking on going. I'll say all that. I'll say that I'm not banking on that trip. Roger, I was thinking about through this. The nicks when the playoffs started. I don't think we're favor to come out of the east and teams change teams evolve and teams teams get on a roll and like you're not the same team that you were in like February or March. And so that's fine. I think that they've shown that the sheer dominance, fucking just destruction. The way laying waste of the entire east that they have done over the last month, I think has projected the nicks now as a dominant force that when I write last week or was it earlier this week, whenever it was, I had a piece about how the whole league is trying to figure out like, oh my God, how do we even deal with the thunder and spurs. They're both young, super deep, super talented and could be great for years to come. And I'm getting some pushback from people going, whoa, whoa, hey, what about the nicks? And I'm like, it's a little different because it's the way these teams are built. People understand there's a most people understands the difference, but the nicks have been so incredible. There are 11 game streak that they're on right now. So they've only lost twice in the in the in the playoffs at all to, you know, two games in the first round of the hawks somehow. 11 game streak. They're margin of victory in that streak. Raja is the largest point differential of any 11 game streak in NBA history regular season or playoffs. And because of that, I think we're now putting them on this. pedestals, the wrong word, but they're projecting as this massive dominant force that's just unstoppable themselves. And I don't know that I'm quite, I, we're all swept up in it. I'm in New York. It's hard not to get swept up in it. I just think I want to tap the brakes a little bit. That's not, it's not that they're not great. It's just, I think they're, we'll get into this in a minute. I've got a few things I want to hit. I just think that this is a whole different challenge. They're about to. Yeah, look, I would, first of all, this isn't to disrespect or diminish anything that the nicks have done in any way, shape or form, but the east was a bit of a mess. There was, there was some real flawed teams there in the Eastern, it's one of the worst Eastern conferences I've, races I've ever seen. Yeah, it was a real mess. To compare it to like back when the nets went to back to back finals, the New Jersey nets, um, and like, they all they had to do was beat like the Paul Pierce Antoine Walker Celtics, all the respect to Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, but those were some shit. I shouldn't say shit teams. Those were not teams that anybody was fearing. And when the nets came out of the east against the Lakers and then the Spurs, it was obvious the Lakers and Spurs were going to roll them because the east was a dumpster fire. Howard, like to your point, I was on the O3s, uh, uh, maps team that lost to the Spurs to get a chance to play the sons and dark, you know, dark hurt his knee and Steve Kerr hit all those damn threes and we just Nelly kept us in a zone. But the point is, both teams were looking at the east, like, we wanted whoever gets out of this has won a championship. Yeah, like that, that was the sentiment at the time. Like I remember that you asked me about Philly. I didn't remember, but O3 because I was playing and I had been in the league a little bit more like I remember, like if we get out of this, we are, this is championship. And I want to make it to be clear. So back then we would always talk about the Western Conference finals was the real finals. And I think in this season, we were thinking as the playoffs began, the Western Conference finals, especially if it's Thunder Spurs will be the real finals. I don't think anybody's saying that now I'm not going to make that case now either. The next absolutely have a chance. It's not, it's not the way it was when you're talking about in the early 2000s or that I was talking about the early 2000s, right. We're not at that extreme. But there was a sense of that a few weeks ago before the next got on this role. Yeah, well, I mean, look, again, I thought the east was a little bit of a mess. Kudos to whoever could come out of that. It's not your fault. Like you got there and play and you did it. But I think I've always been careful with saying exactly who I thought they were, which was the hottest team in the NBA. I thought they got hot at the right time and they were playing the best version of basketball that they could play at the most opportune time to play it. That's completely different than being an all time type of championship or bus type of team. I've been clear. I think we have, I, you know, I know what markets do and my wife's a nix band and I got a bunch of nix bands that are that are family now. So I know how they can do, but clearly, I think whoever comes out of the west has a decided advantage from just team. The team that was built the overall record over the course of the season, like there are a lot of advantages, but I would be remiss if I didn't again say that I can see for a team if they can recapture the way they were playing prior to the break. But in like points of, of, of, of silver lining for them, the next that is right and there are some, but I would not have them pick to be, you know, I wouldn't pick this series to go seven necessarily to start right I'm with you Logan, I don't know that you're cashing in on that game seven opportunity. I don't think that's happening at all. Yeah, I think it'll be, I don't think we wrapped up and maybe I put, yeah, I'll put the Western conference team in five games six at the most. So now here, my bad, my bad, go ahead. No, so just here's the breakdown. I was, I was kind of like going through earlier before we got on, gone on air here. The next path, right. Yeah, and you can only play the teams in front of you. So this is not knocking it like and besides that they haven't. just beating these teams, they've absolutely destroyed them. And I think the, the margin of victory, just the absolute devastation, like it all means something. But in fairness here, or just to put it in perspective, the next did not face either the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. That was Detroit and Boston. The Hawks who they beat in the first round were a 46 win team, which is fine. The six were a 45 win team, which, okay, fine. The Hawks had never been to the playoffs before their best player in the series with CJ McCollum, Jalen Johnson. They're only all NBA player. Third team, all NBA was nowhere to be found. The six was for coming off a seven game series. And Embede was coming off of appendix surgery. The calves won 52 games. So the, their conference finals opponent, the calves won 52 games. That's more than respectable. But they made a massive mid season trade and a risky one at that, swapping Garland for James Harden. And they're anchored by two stars who like have a long history of of playoff flame outs in Harden and Donovan Mitchell. The Thunder and the Spurs, two best records in the NBA. Thunder was 64 win Spurs was 62. She goes as Alexander's the two time MVP. Wembe is the defensive player of the year and was third in MVP. Like these two guys, either one that they have to face the next are just miles better than anybody they have faced in the postseason to date. They're also both first team all NBA, of course. Chet was third team all NBA. Jaydub has been all NBA. The next face to all NBA guys in their playoff run so far. Donovan Mitchell, who made second team, Jalen Johnson, who I mentioned, had made third team. Not the same as facing a Spurs team that has Wembe flanked by Stefan Castle, who's going to make a lot of all NBA teams in the future. Deer and Fox, who's been all NBA Dylan Harper, who will probably make a lot of of all star and all NBA teams in the future. And then of course, we know who the thunder are. The Knicks have Brunson and Cronthony Towns and those guys are both great in their own right and have a lot of those accolades on their own resumes. OG and OB is awesome one of the greatest defenders in the league. Then lastly here, defensive ranks because the nicks have just not faced this. The Thunder were number one in the regular season. The Spurs were number three. The Hawks were 10th. The Cows were 15th. The sixers were 17th. The Knicks by the way were seven. So, you know, obviously a stout defense defense themselves. Offensive ranks. Spurs third. Thunder seven. Cows were sixth. So that was the best one the Knicks have faced. Hawks 14th. Sixers 16th. And look, that's the way it goes, right? When you're playing lower seeds, they're not going to chart out as well. But I'm just saying the Knicks have not faced anything near what they're about to face yet. This test is a whole other thing. And that's the way it's supposed to be. So I think we should focus more on who they're about to face and less on who they've beaten and how badly they've beaten them as we try to assess the series. You know what stuck out to me about that? There was a lot of statistics in there. But the one that I think it's the defensive prowess of the two teams coming out of the West. Yeah. That I think is the there was the biggest like, oh shit, like, you know, I should probably should have known that. But when you said it, it was like, wow, that's a real that's a real difference there in the numbers. And a large part of what the Knicks have found is their offensive stride, right? Like they've really hit. And when you're playing way more formidable defenses, like, you know, that's it's going to be really, really difficult task to keep that up. So yeah, I just wanted to follow up. Like those are interesting, all interesting points like, but like what stuck stood out to me about that was the defensive big difference. And it's like, you think about Brunson, like, just absolutely carving up hardened and Mitchell and picking on those guys over and over again. I'm sorry, but the Thunder are going to throw. It's like, Shay is a good defender himself, but it's going to be like, Dort and Kasin Wallace and just a wave of guys that we'll see if AJ Mitchell and Jada are healthy, but they've just got a lot and there's chat on the back line there too. And the Spurs, like, Stefan Castle could get into you Devon Vassel. By the way, we did not say Devon Vassel's name yet on this pod, we should have because the block and then getting into it was chat, right? He's like, come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Let him cook. Come on, please. Yeah. I need you to hold a fuck up. Man, I need you to stand up. Bro, push that motherfucker out of your doing. But like, all these guys can defend. So I'm just, we got to, we got to stay on chat really quickly because I, I'm feeling, I feel it, I feel it, I feel annoyed because in the group chat, when Chet went on that, the, the little run to start game five, I was like, yo, Chet legacy game. And he had like 14 and seven or something like that, man. And it's just they, the series is begging for Chet to just have a game, bro. He's just, it's literally there, man. And there was a cup even in game six. That's all wanted to go. Hold on, right. I'm cooking now. Hold on, hold on. You got your time. What second? I saw a play when he had an open lay of Saul, Wendy, it just passed off in game six. And I'm like, dude, they're, they're, they're pushing you around right now, man. Your seventh eight, Wendy's eight, too, but you're seven eight, man. Come on. Okay. Rousey, your turn. What do you, I'm just, I'm gonna talk good. And it's like, look, man, that was a, that was a baked in. I gotta shove you, bro. Like you, you fucked up. You yelled what he's like, what? He's like, yo, he's like, yo, come on, man. What the, what the, what kind of goofy, the goofy rye grin like, oh, I'm, and I get it bigger than this. I hate that thing. I'm bigger. No, you're not. There's a time and a place for that. There is. I didn't, like, Wendy has a moment. I don't feel like that moment was the time and the place for that rye grin. I'm bigger than this. You've never been here before response. Now, not everyone is wired like me. They're pushing your teammates to the floor. Bro, what are you doing, man? We need you to bow up, Chad. We need you to bow up in that moment. Like that is a tech. You have to take back up out of my face, bro. We're not about to do this. Like that is, that is a, I know it sounds crazy, right? Like, and if you've never been in that moment as a, as a, as a competitor, you, you have no idea what I'm talking about. And they're going to be some people who have been in that moment that were chat. And you won't feel what I'm talking about. But there are moments where you can look around. If you pause time, right? Just say top time out in a movie, right? And everybody just stay where they're at. And you can read everybody's mind. Just go through your teammates mind. One through 12 and your coaches. And if you could do that, every one of their mind reads would be, bro, you got to do something. Chad, you got to fucking up. Chad, we need you right now. Chad, where you at? Chad, how you going to handle yourself? And you just, like, I promise you, that's where they were all that. And you just missed the opportunity because something like that could spark. It could spark and ignite something within the, like, belly of your team. And I think he missed an opportunity to do that. Doll, I was disappointed in that. Raja, I'm thinking about Scottie Pippen in the 1990 playoffs against the pistons when they beat the shit out of him. And then the next year in 1991, he was just, he was, I say it in the last dance. He just was like, fuck that. I'm not taking this anymore, right? I'm not going to do this. And it changed the ceiling for the Chicago Bulls. It made it, it just, it made them a different team. Chad is at a current state right now. Chad is a really good basketball player. But if he gets some like him, right? Like, he gives you the 21 and he gives you just like a bow. Like, that's going to shit. Like Jared McCain is out here, get pushed to the ground by these people and still getting up. Like, was good. You need that from your footer, bro. You need that from your seven footer, doc. You need that. And that's going to galvanize the team. If you just get up off the bed and say, I'm not taking this shit anymore. And then the basketball stuff will take care of the basketball stuff. But that's the biggest overall thing that I see from OK, see right now is brought in. Just getting pumped and just getting soft whenever they play against San Antonio. It's annoying. It is annoying. It's very annoying. Look, you can have, we, we give a lot of credit rightfully so to, to, to, to, to, to, uh, Shay for his ability to kind of stay even killed, um, you know, not react in a way when people are trying to elicit a reaction from you. Yeah. And how that affects the, the calmness and the steadiness of his team. Um, so it's not his job necessarily on that team to be the overt. I'm with the shits fighter, right? Um, but you, you, you, when pushed, right? Like, maybe it's not shaved, but Shay's job, even when pushed because he's too valuable, but, but, but chat. This is, this is a crossroads for us, my boy. Like, we are, this is, this is game six, man. And you are not an indispensable piece of this right now. You have not conducted yourself as such. No. What are you going to do? When that man beats your shit up and walks down in your face, telling what he yelled. That is immediate. What's up? Yeah, man, you got to earn, I don't know how it's to point that. Hey, Chapman, you got to earn them a Louis Vuitton sneakers. You got to earn that du rag that you wearing dog. You got to earn them colligreens and, and, and line with these and all that stuff, bro, if you're going to do that, you got to pack it up, dog. You got to earn it. You, you feel me to rip, Roger, you got to earn them red beans and rice. If you're going to do all that, you got to earn it. You got to get there, right? I'm just saying, and to your point, really quickly, because I want to get to how, go ahead, go, go ahead. Yeah, no, no, no. It's a good point though. Howard was making a point that I thought was a really good one before we got sidetracked about, you know, Jalen, correct me if I'm wrong. Howard, you were talking about the defenders that they could throw at Jalen. Um, like, and you were weird off into red beans and rice. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the, the, the, the, the, the, the defender. San Antonio has some real like nasty looking dudes out there in a comp with all due respect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like they have some dudes that, that they look like they are with all of it. And it's crazy is that like Carter Bryant play was like last night. Um, what he came into the game with one thing on his mind and, and, and, especially the next you're talking about how hard it is for Brunson. They got people like that. And they will cycle through them to the point I made earlier in the pot. They're going to find the one that gives him the most trouble. And they have the, the wimpy of it behind as well. Which would make, you know, like, really, really be difficult. Um, the nicks are going to have to unlock some things in that way. But, uh, I just, I don't know, man, people don't always agree with me. Like, I've had, I coach youth basketball for a long time. I coach high school basketball. Um, you know, given apples to apples that were comparing skill sets and positionally and, you know, just the aesthetics of one's game. Always give me the player that is willing to fight for it. And so, I, I will forever feel that way. You, you, you, there are times where you got to meet that moment, my boy, you have to step up and do what it takes. That player is going to win and, and go get it more often than the one that doesn't seem to care about it. And so I, I will forever feel that way. Maybe it's, maybe it's not even a shove. Maybe it's a full layout. Every piece of the body, you got me to go get a ball. At least like you got me fucked up, and that's not going to, well, in that scenario, yes, but it might not always manifest itself in a physical confrontation. It might be in like, yo, this dive to get this ball is going to hurt so fucking bad that I don't want to do it. But one of you will and one of you won't give me the one that will. And the nicks, by the way, are that kind of team like they are built that way. I just think that the level of talent and depth that the spurs and thunder have exceeds what the nicks have, but like the nicks are exactly the kind of team. And this is how they've gotten here, right, Roger, because they are way tougher, also way smarter, way more tied together, better chemistry than any of the teams they just smoked, right? The sixers and calves are kind of fucked up teams. Let's be honest. You know, the hawks just weren't ready. They were young. The other two teams like had veteran talent and everything, but they're just that these were not teams that were tied together and didn't have that that requisite toughness and want all throughout. And they just like that. By the way, not for nothing. Jalen Brunson really thrives in the mid range. Obviously he can knock down the three, too. But like he's not the fastest guy. He's super strong, but like he's going to get to his spots. But man, we've just seen this over and over again. If you're at the elbow and when he's standing in the paint. Good luck getting that shot over him or having to like now, you know, reangle that thing with the highest arc pot. So like, I'm going to be very, like, especially if it's Wembee, even if it's champ, but more, more so Wembee Wembee versus Brunson. That's not a matchup, but it's going to be a thing. And I can't wait to see how that goes if that's the if that's the outcome. Really, really good point though, because he scores and Shay scores similarly. Yeah, you know, neither one of them is a pure like I want to shoot the three they want to work in these, you know, 18 foot ranges. And he Wembee is an antidote for that. It's, it's tough. Tough sledding in there. I think this is, I think this is Shay's, I'm looking it up, because Kyrithika had this stat last night. I think this is Shay's least efficient playoff series of his career. That's right. Yeah. So, um, actually, I was going to say Michael Pina had our Michael buddy Michael Pina had this heading into heading into tonight. So heading into game six. And it's probably still the case. His effective field goal percentage in the series was the lowest of his career by a wide margin. So, um, yeah. I had to think it would have been like 2019, but he was just he was a totally different player when they played against the words when he was with the Clippers. I think he played it. I actually had a decent series that year. Okay. Before we get to real one of the week, um, power. Can you just give the real one statement just like our statement for us on my own form? Just give the real one statement. We all agree with what you got to say and just go to real one of the week. So what do you think about a lot of reform? The shortest version of it I can give is I think that the league is doing what they feel they have to do because of just how absolutely of Horrent and off the charts and out of control it was this year, the tanking, they're doing what they feel they have to do. I'm worried. I respect the model they came up with, which the short version is this. If you're one of the bottom three teams rather than the past when you had the best odds, you're in what's now called a relegation zone. And you will have fewer lottery balls as the bottom one, two or three. Then teams that are behind you in the or the head of you with the standings. There will not be there will be not only not incentive to be one of the worst three teams. There will be disincentive. You would rather be fourth than one, two, three based on the odds now. That seems healthy. There are other versions or other tweaks and wrinkles to this. But the odds are going to be flatter. There's going to be more teams involved now. It's going to be 16 teams instead of 18. It's going to include like the play and losers. And I will that solve tanking. I think it'll go a long way toward it. I do think that this is a pretty good. Overall solution to take away any incentive to lose on purpose and to pull all your starters and all your stars and to make up fake injuries and have use of nirkech go get frickin deviated septum surgery. I do think it will it will it will go a long way toward addressing those things. I think the downside is now the teams that need the most help ain't getting it like I feel really bad right now. I'll just like there's others, but I'm just going to single out the Sacramento Kings who have been through it and a lot of itself inflicted because the owner. But they're in a really bad place right now and they've got a bunch of veterans on big contracts and in the past you would just offload those guys. It's already hard to do that. So then it's like well we're stuck with them until they expire, but at least we can get some high picks and maybe if we nail a pick or two, well now you can't do that either because you may be the third or fourth or fifth worst team and fall all the way back into the latter half of the lottery and maybe you're not getting the guy you really need. And on top of that one of the other rules is you can't you can't be the spurs the spurs got three top five picks in a three year span you will no longer be able to get multiple top five picks. As one of the other provisions of this so you can't build the way the spurs just built. So I do I feel bad for the kings I feel bad for some other teams that are like whether it's by intent or not it's just going to be a lot harder to turn your franchise around. By drafting talent you're going to have to find other ways and if people want to say look it'll make put more of a premium on scouting and development cool that's great we know there's a lot of stars to be found. The eighth pick the 15th pick the 22nd pick second round that we've had all stars and all NBA guys and MVP's come from everywhere now, but those are really low percentage plays and they're hard to do. And it's a lot of luck to so I do worry about the downside potentially here, but that's that's lottery reform and that shall I believe. There's a lovely chart I can send you guys that that shows them graphically I'm sure I'll be left on rate I don't think I don't think Roger will interact with that one in the chat I think. Let's get to row of the week, man I'm about to go somewhere I'm not trying to get no more homework hours so you can take that out I'm going to let's go to row of the week I'm going to give mine first I'll trickle it back down action Bronson who had a really really good record called the frog it's really good and I really love it I think it was great he has a really good song with Paul wall. And Howard's favorite rapper Lil Yachty and you guys to go check it out I really had a good good listening experience walking around the neighborhood is actually called planet frog not the frog. But yeah, I really love that album and it's been the soundtrack to my last two weeks so action Bronson. We're one of the week, okay, Roger who's you wrong week? I don't know I'll leave I'll pop my shit real quick I'm going to give it to my young my middle boy Ty Bell. All right, I'm going to give it to yourself. It's a real one of every week really hear it out me. Thank you. Think of what did I tell you all to pod yeah because I gave a shout out to under armor for being being g's about like the situation so as it was, you know, Ty decided he wanted to go to Nike right like they have tie ranked as number 24 I think on ESPN and like number 22 in the class of 20, 20, 28 on some other site not that rankings mean anything to me but like it does to these kids Ty does not see himself in that light. Ty believes unequivocally that he. is a top 10 kid in the class. So when asked by Nike, if he wanted to play in the class of 2028 or the class of 2027 in their league, Ty said he don't play 16U, which I was like, oh, shit, because everybody's like, yo, Nike's, yeah. So Ty's like, now I'm playing 2027 and they went to a team that has a lot of talent, but didn't have a PG because they've also taken him because he scored so much in high school and moved him from PG to shooting guard. They've just decided that he's a shooting guard. So this team needed a true point to bring their real talent together, and he went and played for Kenny Smith team, Jed Academy, EYBL, 17U's, while a lot of those other top 25 kids are playing fucking 16U, and he led him to a three and one weekend. They were coming off a oh and four weekend, I think, or one in three. He led him to a three and one weekend when 17 and a half, five and a half rebounds, four assists, and two fucking steals betting on himself, like, yo, this is what I'm here to do. And as is that, I respect that shit. So we were one of the weak, we're one of the fucking league, baby. Let's go. Let's go. You know, Roger, if you want us to go like full, like grievance culture on like the rankings and stuff, and we'll like start be like, like we could start like we could put up some instruments, like some tweets and stuff, whatever, like, he's been robbed. Like these guys are just fucking haters. He's obviously a top five talent. Like, let's go man. We'll get in. We'll get in all of that though. We'll get into all of that complaining shit, bro. We just show up and and knock you off the kill list. That's what we do. That's what you do. Like that's all that's that's the only way you could do it. You can't get caught up in the hole. He bring that act to temple. He bring that act to temple ain't he going to be right there right there right there. I respect the Roger. I expect nothing. I expect nothing less from a member of the Bell family. So like I love the fact that you guys do not. Yo, wait, there was a time when when when when Steph came on the pod. And I believe Ty was there. And I just saw looking Ty's eyes like, yeah, motherfucker. I'm coming for you. He sat right by. He sat right by you. I was like, yeah, motherfucker. Okay. I respect you. That's his guy, bro. Steph was really good with him, dog. Real talk. Steph was really good. I can't. Yeah. Don't mean you don't want to cross him up when you get to the show. But anyways, how are the motherfucking back? Who's your real one of the week? I swear, I'm not trying to bring us down again. I'm not going. That's why you're last. I want to make this uplifting. I'll make this uplifting. Now, my real one of the week is a combination of Terri Anglin, who I used to work with at the New York Times and also the entire New York Times sports section sports department that I worked with. We had a memorial this earlier this week for Fern Turquoise. And she should be my real one of the week. But it's just a combo thing again. Fern basically ran the sports department of the New York Times for decades. She was not the sports editor. She worked for all the sports editors, including the three that I worked for. But she ran the joint. Every credential, every crisis, everything, all of our expenses. Fern had that place on lock. She also was just an absolute saint dealing with all of us psycho reporters and our crazy editors. And just the number of ways in which at this moment of the day, I heard that she helped people in ways that I had no idea the ways that she covered for people, the way that she made sure that no matter what happened, you're on the road and like you lost all your clothes, your suitcase got lost, whatever the hell it was. And it was like, no, don't go to target, go to fucking Neiman Marcus, we'll take care of it. Like she was incredible. And I had the honor pleasure of getting to work with Fern for the nine years. That was at the times. But the reason I bring this up now, and this is the uplifting part, I've been gone from the New York Times for 13 years, fellas. Terri Anglin, who took over for Fern, like Fern made sure that no matter what happens, there's a retirement, there's, you know, it's a death among either a former staffer or their family, whatever, we are all still involved. There's a there's a network. The room was packed in the in the Times conference room the other day for this memorial. Then we all went out to the bar afterward. I've worked at a lot of places in my career. I've never been anywhere that is as connected as the Times Sports Department. And having that and the way that Terri Anglin has included us all made sure that we are all still feeling connected to that. So when something like this occurs, we're all there. It's incredible. It's really, really cool. And it's very rare in this world that you that you have this, you know, we're a lot of us fortunate enough to have those those ties in our personal lives. But in your professional life, especially in the era of Zoom, which we're on now and remote working and everything else, you sometimes don't get that. And it means a hell of a lot to me. And I told Terri Anglin this and a lot of my colleagues from the other night, this, it's just really great. It means a lot to me that I still feel like I'm part of that greater Times family, even though I've been going for like 13 years. So it was just really cool. And it was a really great event and a shout out and resting piece to Fern. Hell yeah. That's just so ruined. Okay. We will as a group, we will see you guys at the end of game three of the NBA finals. We're doing a live podcast. Next week we have we have a special edition pod with myself, Joel Anderson and Brian Curtis. So yeah, man, we'll see you guys. You guys have a great week. We'll talk to you guys really soon. I all the shits. Bye. 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