After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

We're glad to have you with us on what is now a Thursday morning, so rejoice! Hallelujah! We're getting so close to Friday.

Actually, this is so cool. My brother and sister-in-law had to postpone a visit to New Jersey, to me, in northern New Jersey, going back the weekend of the hurricane because they live in the DC area and they were worried about driving back on the Sunday in the rain and the wind, so they postponed their trip until a little bit later in fall. Now that weekend is here and I found, are you ready, the Great Pumpkin Festival in a different part of New Jersey where we are going to go this weekend.

I'm very excited. We also have a brand new hiking trail on a new mountain that I've never seen and they've never been to, so we're looking forward to that. Some leaf peeping western New Jersey style at a Great Pumpkin Festival. I don't know, Jay, that might be where I pick up the pumpkin. I'm going to be touching lots of pumpkins this weekend, finding the perfect pumpkin for us to use so that we can do the carving on Monday. That seems like an appropriate spot. I kind of want the pumpkin to come from there. The Great Pumpkin Festival? Yeah.

Could I tell you something really funny? My new group of kiddos that I'm teaching at church is specifically 4th and 5th graders and they are in a gymnasium. That's where we meet and so there's fun activities for them to do before. We've got inflatables, there's an obstacle course and there are multiple basketball hoops. So this weekend, here's the problem though, the hoop is really low.

It's about, oh gosh, it's 8 feet maybe. It might even be a little lower than that and so I can dunk on it and I told some of the boys that I would play basketball with them and then I felt like it was unfair because not only was I able to dunk the pumpkin, but it was throwing off my shot because it was so low and so instead I was serving as the rebounder for them as they were chucking the pumpkin. No, you got to dunk that ball.

No, it's showing off. You got to be like Vince Carter out there. On an 8 foot hoop or whatever it is. You're just playing the court that was given to you.

Not your fault. Yeah, but it throws off your shot. Have you ever tried to shoot either with a smaller ball or with a lower hoop? It completely ruined your shot. Yeah, the lower hoop definitely, because you're used to shooting the arc on the higher hoop so when it's lower it throws it all off. Yeah, it's very strange. You want a line drive shot, not like an actual shot with arc on it. So yes, I stopped shooting right away because I was worried it was going to throw off my famed shot. That's just, I don't even know what that is, that's me posturing.

Don't get over them. No, I'm not dunking on a little kid. Posterize.

I'm not postering a kid. That's just, that's not happening. They'll go home crying. Someone will have a broken nose.

It's not, it's not happening. You'll have a sick poster. No! On a 4th grader? What kind of street cred does that earn me? The right kind.

And there's this one little 4th grade boy who's very timid and so to get him to take some shots, I was very excited. If I go up there and dunk on his butt and he goes home with a broken nose, he'll never return to church. Just swat his shot. No.

Here you go. No, he'll cry. You know how it is. 4th grade boys, they're still in that, in that zone where crying is a definite possibility so.

Yeah, it's an option. Just admit it, you cried when you were in 4th grade. No, it wasn't much, never much of a crier. You had two sisters who no doubt, well one older sister who beat up on you I hope. Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. But I returned the favor.

I made my brother cry when he was that age and then at 9th grade, all of a sudden he went from being shorter than me to 6'4 and there was no more beating up on him. That'll do it. Yeah, that was the end of that. Yeah.

He got me back for a lot of beating up on him after the, after the time that he shot up. Yeah, 6'5 is what he finished at and he was not budgetable anymore. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Yes, pumpkin in the future. We are live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

You need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family. Rocket can. We've been talking about pumpkins. We've also been talking about dogs because every time I post a photo of my dog, you all respond with a zillion photos of your dogs and they make me happy. Dogs. So check out the post either on Twitter, ALawRadio. I mean it's just a sleeping dog. I'm not gonna try to sugar coat this at all but she is fuzzy and she is comfortable and she looks like Autumn and Penny is one month away from 13.

So please check it out on Twitter, ALawRadio or on our Facebook page and from our show Twitter account. I did just retweet a bunch of your dog photos including Maggie who's 15. She has a sweet face but it's got lots of gray hair on it. Penny has a few gray hairs under her chin but most people don't know. She's aging very well kind of like Grammy Helen.

You would never know that Grammy Helen was 100 when she was celebrating her birthday this spring. Well you wouldn't know Penny's 13 except when you hear her lay down. That's what she does.

Huge size. She goes down very slowly and then crash. I can't do it like her. I wish that I was coy enough and clever enough to be able to get a video of her when she's either standing up or sitting down and if I make her wait too long. For instance if I'm putting my shoes on to go outside and she has to wait longer than 10 seconds she sits down. No no no Penny stand up because when she stands up again it also requires major effort. So I try to get her to stand up but she only stands for so long. Then she's got to take a, she's got to cop a squat. She's got no time to wait.

No that's not it. She's too tired to stand up for longer than 10 seconds. She's a diva sometimes.

That's true. She definitely is a diva and stubborn and saucy still even at 13. She was running, she was moving away from me this week. She was actually going around the other side of a vehicle so I couldn't get to her.

She was like forcing me to chase her. Get out of here. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio 855 212 4227. That's our toll free line. Laugh if you must. It's okay.

We don't mind if you laugh at us. Now let's turn our attention to the games between the Padres and the Phillies, the Astros and the Yankees taking place on Wednesday. So it's a double header in baseball.

They're not going double header on Thursday because NFL the big bad is back on national TV. But we did get the opener of the ALCS and I got to tell you initially I thought the Yankees would have more runs against Justin Verlander. The way the first couple innings played out they had opportunities. Here is Verlander's pitch. Swung on it high in the air to deep left. That ball is high. It is far.

It is gone. Harrison Bader strikes again. You know who he is. Darth Bader.

And by the way, in case you wondered, I'm just wild about Harry. He homers to left center and the Yankees take a one nothing lead. Here it comes. Swing and a miss. Got him on a curve ball down and in. Rizzo strikes out. Verlander has struck out nine. And he has struck out two in this inning.

As Verlander continues to mow down the Yankees. Here's the 0-2 to Donaldson. Strike three call on the outside corner with a slider and Donaldson goes down looking. Striking out for the third time today. Carpenter no batting gloves.

Waiting for a 3-2. Verlander delivers. Swing and a miss. Got him on a slider down and in. Carpenter strikes out. Eleven punch outs for Verlander. Robert Ford on Astros Radio before that.

John Sterling and Susan Waldman. They were practically giddy when Harrison Bader got a, he blasted the ball off Justin Verlander. And the Yankees had chances early on.

The opportunity that stands out to me, wasted opportunity, is the third inning. He gave up a single and a double I believe and there were runners at second and third with just one out. But he strikes out Josh Donaldson. Then he strikes out Matt Carpenter. Carpenter was talking to himself.

He was talking to everyone else. And it turned out that the only run that they got off Verlander was the Harrison Bader home run. Now he had thrown 45 pitches through two innings.

But once he settled into a groove, the door to the vault was locked. As the game's going along, you know, you just gain more confidence as you start making better pitches. And once I started being able to execute my pitches the way I wanted, I feel like my confidence just kind of built upon that. And I felt like they had the momentum early as an offense against me, but I felt like I was able to kind of bring it back on my side and just kind of keep the pressure on them once that happened. And thankfully our boys came through with some big hits and the bullpen did their job like they usually do. And that's how we win a lot of ball games. Didn't start off that way, but it was big for him to pitch out of trouble, you know, when he got to strike out to Donaldson.

Boy, that was huge because like, I mean, this guy, he can get out of trouble. And then the strike out to Carpenter, you know, he dialed it up. He got it together. He was actually better between 80 and 100 than he was prior to that.

And he was dealing. Dusty Baker likes what he saw from his future Hall of Fame pitcher. I'm not sure if you all heard this after the fact, but Verlander, who said previously he wants to play until he's 45, wants to pitch until he's 45, I bet he stole that from Tom Brady, has now indicated that he will pitch until they tear the uniform off him, considering his track record in the postseason for the most part. How many times have we seen this Justin Verlander?

Well plenty. And he said it was a tweaked calf that prevented him from pitching well, threw off his mechanics against the Mariners. Early on, Yankees did not capitalize on their chances. They go 0-4 with runners in scoring position. And the deal with the Astros is that you do not have a great margin.

You've got to capitalize when they're there because you're only going to have so many chances. It's not just the starters. And Verlander pitched extremely well last night, but they have the best bullpen ERA in the majors. So even once the starters are done and they chased him after six innings, they chased him, that's probably the wrong word, they saw his backside as he departed after six innings and 103 pitches and 11 strikeouts and only three hits. The bullpen is so good. They get the Anthony Rizzo home run, but otherwise there's nothing. There's no openings.

There's no cracks in the dam. It's just lights out when it comes to their pitching staff post starters. Meanwhile, it's usually just a matter of time until their bats break through.

0-2. And Gurriel cranks it to left. Stanton is going back at the wall. Looking up.

See you later! And the Landry's Crocker boxes for Uli Gurriel. And the Astros lead it 2-1. Payoff pitch to McCormick.

And Chaz drives it pretty deep to right center. Judges going back at the wall. Looking up.

Kiss a goodbye! Chaz McCormick goes deep and the Astros go up 3-1. Once again, Robert Ford on Astros radio.

Jeremy Pena, he also homeward in the seventh. So once they had those three runs in the sixth and the seventh, they were on cruise control. I always say that's what makes us so good.

You know, we pick each other up on any given night. You know, sometimes when we don't put together quality at bats, our pitchers carry us. And when they don't have their day on the mound, we carry them with the lineup. There's just zero complacency ever. And you know, just because we won game one, we understand that there's a hard road ahead of us still. And you know, we expect everybody to come out tomorrow just like it was, you know, like we lost this game.

That's the sense of urgency that we always have. At the top of the order for the Yankees, you did get the Anthony Rizzo home run. He was one for two. He also got on base via the walk. And Sean Carlos Stanton was two for four in the cleanup spot.

Otherwise, Glaber Torres, 0 for 4 in leadoff. Chudge was 0 for 4 as well. Then you had Josh Donaldson, who was in the five spot. He was 0 for 3. Carpenter as the DH was 0 for 4.

And so they didn't have a whole lot of openings. And certainly, it's not the end of the world to lose game one at Minute Maid Park, but it was a tough outing against Justin Verlander. He made his pitches, hit his spots. You know, we just couldn't get anything going against him. We had a couple opportunities with guys on base, but just couldn't come up with that timely hit early in the game to kind of keep him on his toes.

You know, he got great arms out of the pen. You know, that can affect both sides of the plate. You know, righties and lefties. And you know, good starting pitchers that can work, you know, not only one or two pitches, but you know, mix in, you know, three to four pitches. So it's a tough matchup. That's, you know, you want to play against the best. You want to compete against the best. So that's what we got in front of us.

And we got to go out there and do our job. I'm sure you all haven't forgotten about the who's your daddy and the rocking the baby motions. Yegi stole that from the Guardians and Josh Naylor, who was initially making that motion to Garrett Cole. Gleibert-Torres is the one who did it at the end of the Yankees series against the Guardians. And I saw it in the stands in Houston because, you know, there is no love lost between the Astros and the Yankees or their fans. Still have one more game at Minute Maid Park before they shift to the Bronx, but you can imagine there were still be references to trash cans and cheating and all that kind of stuff. This team is not the same team. This is not a team that's cheating. Dusty Baker has the highest respect and is also full of integrity. There's a couple of guys still left though. Jose Altuve, who's in quite the slump so far in the postseason. He's not hit really at all. And Alex Bregman, to be sure.

And he was always so defiant. I'm sure Yankees fans will have fun with it. The problem is if you go back to the Bronx down 0-2, you shouldn't really be taunting. There can't be a whole lot of taunting if you don't generate something else against the Astros coming up in this second game, which will take place later on today.

It's the only game. There's no NLCS on Thursday. Instead, you've got a 6.37 central time first pitch.

So 6.37 at Minute Maid Park. And it's the two starters. What a framer Valdez is a ground ball pitcher. So the Yankees, it's not as easy to hit long fly balls. Not impossible of course, but he's really good at getting guys to ground out or hit ground balls. And then Luis Severino is the starter for the Yankees.

So we'll see if we get a pitcher's duel, if the Yankees can take advantage of their opportunities. Houston has largely remained out of the spotlight for the last several months against the Mariners and now certainly against the Yankees. You see why they were so damn good all season. They were boring. That's how good they were, right?

They got no attention. 50 games above.500 and nobody really talked about them much because there wasn't a whole lot of drama. Well, we're seeing that on the national stage. Six consecutive American League Championship Series appearances. And they desperately want to be able to prove that they're a title contender already.

We know that. That they're a championship squad without the trash cans, without the cheating. No doubt that is still resonating with the Astros who remain and certainly with Dusty Baker who took over when that whole scandal became public. National League Championship Series, we'll get to that one next.

Padres were on the ropes against the Phillies and one matchup that I watched actually multiple times. I rewound it to see it a couple times over again on my DVR. Good morning to you. Happy Thursday. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Here's the 0-2. Kim runs and a base hit into right field. Hit and run to perfection. Kim's on his way to third. He will turn on his way.

Segura cuts it. No throw home. And Austin gets Aaron again. It's a one-run game in the bottom of the fifth.

Here it is. And Soto swings hammers it towards the right field corner. That will get down and a fair ball bouncing up against the wall. Nola has scored. The game is tied. Brofar held it third and Soto an RBI double. 4-4 in the fifth.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Padres were on the ropes. They got down 4-0 at home against the Phillies in Game 2 of the NLCS. And it was 4-2 when they finally came off life support and showed what they had done over the course of the last month to be able to hit opposing pitchers, to rack up runs, to take advantage of the opportunities with runners in scoring position, to finally break through and string a bunch of hits together. But man, for a minute there, middle of the second game of the NLCS and I was worried about the San Diego Padres and the crowd was nervous too.

You could feel the tension. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Jesse Agler is the play-by-play voice of Padres Radio. Now one of the at bats that helped to really jump start the rally was Austin Nola, catcher for the Padres against his baby brother Aaron Nola who has been pitching lights out over the past month or so, both regular season and postseason. And all kinds of stories, even photos from when they were kids over the course of their at bat as Austin was able to get the RBI single that scored their first run there in that fifth inning.

I'm fascinated by this. As an older sister myself this is an individual battle even though it's obviously a team sport and I just kept watching them looking at their facial expressions. I know professional athletes are taught mentally to be able to lock in and it's muscle memory that that they rely on. They've got jobs to do and not looking necessarily at who's throwing the ball blah blah blah blah blah. These are brothers who not only played together when they were younger but if you heard the story that was told on the broadcast when Austin who struggled to make the major leagues he actually had to change positions finally broke in and was able to find a regular job, a place to really become a contributor in the majors with the Padres. His brother Aaron cried more about him getting into the majors than he ever did about his own breakthrough because he had been on a bit of a meteoric rise. And then to see their parents and how mom is kind of half-heartedly clapping as Austin hits the RBI single to right and gets the best of his brother in this at bat. Mom is clapping, dad is stone-faced, doesn't know what to do and then as the Padres rally continues people all around them are excited they're screaming they're freaking out there at Petco Park and dad just standing there because a lot of the rally obviously came against his son Aaron. So just the emotions I can only imagine what the two of them are thinking. Yeah you can say it's just another hitter or it's just another pitcher but I'm not even sure either one of them said that but it's so not true. It's like the Williams sisters who used to try to focus on winning a title but if it came at the expense of Serena or at the expense of Venus there was always this bittersweet element that was attached to it.

They didn't like to play each other they like to play together they didn't like to play each other because it was painful to beat younger sister or older sister. So it's interesting to hear Austin after the fact talk about facing his brother Aaron in the NLCS. It's a typical plate appearance versus my brother I'm 0-2. Typical I might as well just walk up there and tell him to put your strikes on me because that's what it feels like. I just battle you know I know the kind of pitcher he is I know he's not gonna give in and I know that he's gonna come right after me and give his best stuff so I just up there trying to hit something hard through the middle and you know good things happen. I replayed it multiple times on my DVR because that's how intrigued I am by the two of them facing each other in the NLCS. So ultimately as I say Austin starts the rally and then the rest of the Padres they keep it going in that six hit five run fifth inning. Runners go here's the pitch and Drury swings locks one into center field that'll get down at a base hit. Profar has scored here comes Soto a two-run single for Brandon Drury and the Padres have come all the way back six unanswered runs and they lead for the first time today. Runners on the corners two down two no to Josh Bell batting right-handed for the first time today and comes home and the sliders hit hard into right field and a base hit he got it past Hoskins. Grudenworth will score Drury's on his way to third another one and it's seven to four San Diego in the fifth. Definitely as they come out of it they've taken the lead and there's life and you can see depending on what happens moving forward now the Phillies have been in this position before but depending upon how they play in Philadelphia this could be a turning point to the entire NLCS.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio Bob Melvin that's exactly what the Padres had to do. That was big I mean you answer right back which is huge after giving up four runs and losing the first game but something we've shown here in the postseason we have the ability to put up a crooked number. I think we do a really good job of putting balls in play and you know not chasing a ton so when balls are falling for us we're getting hits back to back to back you know there's a stretch there we're lining out a ton so you know when the balls fall for us you know we're gonna score a lot of runs. We still have the mentality where we can score four or five runs we're right where we need to be with our pitching staff with our bullpen you know that's exactly what we need so offensively if we can do that we'll be in a good place. From down 4-2 to start the fifth to up 7-4 able to tack on one more run but this was a Padres rally that could serve as a springboard for them moving forward. Bryce Harper loves the way that they are positioned because this is what happened against the Braves of course they won the opener against the World Series champs and then lost game two but closed out the NLDS in Philadelphia. They're a really good team over there you know they got Musgrove going Friday night so it's gonna be a tough task for us but you know we're excited to get back home like I said and grateful for the opportunity to get home and then play in front of our fan base and I know the bank's gonna be rocking. Yeah it should be and that is the best thing about this NLCS is you've got two very hungry fan bases no one's taking it for granted these aren't ho-hum we've been here before been there done that and I know that fans are different the the fan base itself may become spoiled we talked about that actually with Brian McFadden the two-time Super Bowl champion Steelers DB and I asked him about Mike Tomlin always being on the hot seat despite the fact that he's never had a losing season and he said it's a hallmark of a spoiled fan base it's a blessing and it's a curse that you have high expectations because you've won a lot but at the same time it means that your fans are constantly looking for more if you don't win the Super Bowl in their case but to come back to the NLCS you don't have complacent fan bases or fan bases that are taking this for granted I guess would be another way to phrase it no you've got a Padres team that hasn't been in the NLCS since 1998 and a Phillies team which albeit had some great success going back a few years hasn't been there since 2010 I love the hunger I love the passion I love the fact that the fans are sold out and all in and so it'll be a lot of fun like it was at Petco once they finally put some runs on the board it will be the same in Philadelphia over the weekend so they've got the night off in the NLCS but looking forward to them rallying come Friday on the East Coast the fun series too because it's it's the West versus East though maybe not what people expected right people love it when it's the Dodgers Braves blah blah how many times I saw predicted yep you know what I feel about those predicted over the course of the regular season it would be Dodgers and Braves Dodgers or Dodgers and Mets actually for a long time the Mets had a stranglehold or had the lead I guess in the NL East yes sometimes things work out according to regular season and according to your guesses Astros Yankees but it doesn't always work out that way and thank God because if it always worked out the way you all predicted I would have given up watching sports a long time ago it would be boring as hell so glad that it doesn't I love the fresh blood I love the new storylines coming up speaking of new it's all new for a lot of NBA players who have done different uniforms to begin the 22-23 season also players making their debuts in the NBA Palo Bancaro impressive the rookie out of Duke it's after hours with Amy Lawrence you are listening to the after hours podcast Delo to his left the Noel inside go bear two-handed flush and a foul beautiful ball movement from Russell to Noel to a cutting go bear you couldn't draw it up any better top of the key out to Anderson pump fake step through in the lane back to Russell good pump fake freeze himself dribbles into the 17-footer in and out Rudy go back with a two-handed flush on the putback go bear 13 rebounds 21 points in his wolves debut this is after hours with Amy Lawrence Rudy go bear started what was this very odd offseason in the NBA remember where they trade for first round draft picks five first round I lost count the number of draft picks that the Timberwolves gave up in order to bring in what is one of the dynamic defenders in the NFL in the oh my gosh see this is what happens we get to October all of the leagues they all blend together and I'm having to more from one to the next no don't cry for me Argentina I'm just saying that's what happens it's pretty standard how about we go back to the name of the show let's see if I can remember that it's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio okay Rudy go bear in the NBA elite defender he's good for a double-double almost every time he steps on the court and the Timberwolves needed him it really hadn't had a player that they could build the franchise around I think going back to Kevin Love Kevin Garnett Kevin Love I mean those were the two guys but they've always hit a ceiling even when they've made the playoffs and so to bring in Rudy go bear and have their first game happen in Minneapolis is huge he goes 10 for 15 34 minutes on the court 23 points 16 rebounds that's what you're gonna get from him not to mention again he's a defender that makes a difference in the middle Alan Horton on Timberwolves radio Syracuse classmate by the way and so for go bear for the Timberwolves cool to be able to kind of get your feet wet and be ready for a long season in a new uniform it's great you know we we plan selfishly and I feel like we had a lot of open shots tonight that we didn't make and you know if we keep playing that way it'd be pretty good we also had former Utah Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell in a new uniform himself and this is still a head scratcher to me I don't get it I I know that this is Danny Ainge's mo and in in Utah Salt Lake City he decided he wanted to blow the whole thing up and start from scratch I still say you need a guy like Donovan to build around and it's not like the dude is old for heaven's sakes he's still 26 years old except that they decided they could get something for him and so they flipped him to Cleveland and I'm actually happy for Donovan because for him to be able to get a fresh start and and to clearly be the top option on the Cavaliers right away is great Jared Allen is healthy again we saw what this team could do last year with a bunch of young guys kind of interesting right Cleveland Guardians youngest team in Major League Baseball now you've got the Cavaliers with a ton of promise young guys and Kevin Love incidentally is still there so he's the veteran he's the old dude in the locker room but Donovan's debut 31 points to go along with nine assists and a couple of steals in there 35 minutes on the floor so he and Rudy Gobert come out guns a blazing so to speak for their brand new franchises he led us whether he was talking on the you know obviously at 31 points he shot the ball well just taking that out we know what he can do on the court but in terms of just getting us where we need to be telling us how to run the offense talking on defense did excellent then I'm proud of the way this group responded you know and then for me just just doing my job whatever that may call for us what I said before I came up that's if it's being more on ball off ball you know defending whatever may be so then you got the bigs man making hell of a this dude right here man making plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor mutual admiration society after a game one for the Cavaliers though they did lose in Toronto to the Raptors but Donovan Mitchell meet Jared Allen are we looking at one of the new power couples in the NBA we might be let's give it some time but I do think that they can help one another it always is a huge deal if on an NBA court you've got two guys that are dangerous two guys that can create for themselves that can score with the ball in their hands Donovan Mitchell's going to make life a lot easier for Jared Allen and the opposite but Donovan knows how to play with a big man who's competent a big man who knows what to do with the basketball in his hands who knows what to do when he's touching the pumpkin it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio really great to see Zion Williamson back on the court for the Memphis Grizzlies I'm sorry I just it's gonna take me a bit to get back into NBA mode okay I was thinking Grizzlies and Nets so the the all the Grizzlies played the Knicks they were hosting the Knicks that game went into overtime so I was sort of in the right market it was the Nets hosting the Pelicans all right I suppose it's time for me to say it right there goes the perfect show it's a good run we made it like 14 minutes left to go in the hour I was doing so well I was thinking I was feeling myself you guys no I totally wasn't it wasn't a perfect show but now that we're talking NBA it's just it's been a while so forgive me take three take four Grizzlies we're hosting the Knicks it was the Nets it was the Pelicans in Brooklyn and actually this game I see here's the crazy part is actually watch this game it started out like 22 to 4 in favor of the New Orleans Pelicans on the road they ended up winning by double figures mostly though it was really cool to see Zion Williamson back on the court and healthy that's the part that's awesome 30 minutes for him 25 points 9 rebounds he also had four steals three assists remember when this guy is healthy there isn't anything he can't do on the basketball court and so I love to see it it's been a long time for Zion just simply playing the game I love and I didn't get to play for a long time just it was a breath of fresh air it was like a lot of subtle things before the Nets ran out onto the court for warm-ups hearing the crowd chant like Brooklyn I was like oh man I forgot like the allure of just being in an arena especially in a way arena look healthy to me look good I mean got up 22 shots and I renounce 25 points so at this point just typical for him I mean it's typical when he's healthy it's not typical when he's not playing KD kind of forgot to point that part out do you think it's I don't maybe a week until he gets grumpy again or no did he yeah he's pretty happy when he's playing he loves to hoop but I don't know if they have a few more games like this one where they start out 22 and four and have twice as many turnovers as they do points in the first quarter a week might be generous I'm thinking he gets grumpy pretty quickly who cares but last night 32 points in 32 minutes for KD just the problem of course is that there wasn't a ton of help from his running mate Kyrie no place to go but up when you are touching the pumpkin except I don't know if you want Kyrie to care or at least show you that he cares if you are looking for Kyrie to exhibit any type of extra passion any type of extra sense of urgency after all he wanted to be traded to the Lakers that didn't work out he had no other option that would pay him as much money as the final year of his Nets deal so he opts in only to find out that KD is see ya don't want to be ya and wants out even tries to get the coach and the GM fired none of those things happen nobody got traded nobody got fired nope KD and Kyrie oh and now Ben Simmons who did have two buckets for the Nets last night now that's not what he does the best and actually that that may fit well with the Nets right because KD and Kyrie they're the ones they're gonna shoot you'll get a handful of shots spread out among the rest of the guys like Patty Mills still off the bench I mean Nick Claxton he might heat up here or there but for the most part this is KD and this is Kyrie and so Ben Simmons to me feels like the right compliment but back to Kyrie nothing happened the way that Kyrie wanted it to except for maybe KD not getting traded because once he realized that he was stuck in Brooklyn for another I'm just saying he wanted out once he realized he was stuck in Brooklyn for another season well misery loves company good just does not surprise me that he's not bothered at all by the way they started their season upset that we lost but I'm also glad that we got tested tonight by a great team because we need these and it's not time to put our heads down or anything like that but we have to show a strong resolve and so and show strong faces and not be swayed so much by our home crowd getting antsy because we were definitely very antsy tonight I just I don't there's is it bad it's the dark side embrace it is it bad that now whenever he speaks I kind of roll my eyes it's a little bit like Aaron Rogers these days okay what are you doing at home I'd rather talk about pumpkin carving seriously touch the pumpkin anyway it's just it's me I feel like the whole cry wolf situation with Kyrie Irving just maybe he'll surprise me this season we get this party started and I will be the first to admit that I was wrong but I don't know fool me once shame on wait shoot I suck at cliches there's a lot of things I stink at when it comes to talking we're on it fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me oh boom well can we just end the show right there we just stop right immediately right now Jay would you like to finish the last three minutes no no you wouldn't no what do you mean you talk about pumpkin carving and the gloves that you found that go up past your elbows the best pumpkin carving gloves the official pumpkin carving gloves really with you're forgetting the best part the elbow is like a great touch but the scoop we do not need your elbows in the pumpkins well if you really want to get in there and clean it out you got to get the elbows in how big is this pumpkin pretty big pretty big pumpkin I guess a pretty great pumpkin the great pumpkin Charlie Brown should we watch that when we do our pumpkin carving that would be nice it would be he doesn't carve it though does he I never knew that you were so into pumpkins it you weren't until you saw the gloves and the carving tools did you find a carry kit as well a travel kit for your pumpkin carving tools so I have one I'm between kits right now I'm still deliberate deciding which one I want to go with deliberating there's like this 13-piece kit there's like a 12-piece kit 13-piece kit what can we possibly need with 13 pieces for pumpkin carving I'm also between that and the 33-piece kit so with they both come with cases but if you buy a 33-piece pumpkin carving kit what it comes with you're fired no that's it no you'd use it don't what 33 pieces just list some of the 33 pieces how many knives are there with a 33-piece pumpkin carving kit let's see here it's looking like not as many knives as you'd think it's more of these like kind of cookie cutter things where you can make stuff in the pumpkin I guess if you wanted to and they have like a pizza cutter kind of thing I don't know what you do with that I got a hammer and a chisel oh my god all the essentials I do not first of all do not trust you with tools and second of all hey we're gonna make a huge mess in the kitchen here at CBS Sports Radio is gonna be fantastic in fact I feel that we should essentially just follow the mode of the people who use the studio during the daytime I won't name any names who leave their nasty cups sometimes food crumbs all over the I mean there's more odors in there than they're already here but either way yes we do keep glade in my locker for that reason should we pay them back just carve a pumpkin all over like the desk in here no because then I have to use it so no besides there's cameras in here so we'll get fingered for the mess but 33 pieces is too many Jay can you compromise why all of a sudden are you obsessed with pumpkin carving I don't know I see it the packaging got me sucked in it's 33 piece 23 piece the price isn't that different so I might as well just go big 33 pieces for $33 what is it it was actually like 20 bucks 19 okay that sounds cheap to me it might be cheaper maybe I'll go for the higher quality the gloves have plastic claws on the end yes yes they do what else can you use those things for a pumpkin carver for Halloween your friends will be so impressed I'll just do it I might never speak to you again it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio boom finding the perfect suits can seem impossible but finding one that's perfect for you is easy with Indochina choose your design and custom details then submit your measurements online or get measured in store for a custom made for you fit at an incredible price and shop their new fall collection for seasonal styles find your perfect suit with Indochina get $50 off any purchase of $399 or more with promo code fall update at Indochino.com that's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O.com promo code fall update.