4-3-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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45% off selected products at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. Why, when I hear this song, do I think of Angel Reese? Why do I think of the LSU women's basketball team that is making no apologies, no apologies for their spirit, their excitement, the way they play the game, the way they celebrate the game, the way they celebrate each other? And while trash talking and taunting is not my go-to, it's not.

Okay, that's not the kind of player I was, but I played with others who were. This morning, the number of people who are taking the opportunity to point to Angel Reese and call her classless and say that she is a poor sport, instead of celebrating what the Tigers just accomplished, is wrong. Number one. Number two, I would venture to guess that most of you missed the fact that in the Elite Eight, Kaitlyn Clark did the same exact thing against Louisville. So the reason that Angel Reese was waving her five fingers, her hand in front of her face, a la John Cena, is because Kaitlyn Clark did it. And it got all kinds of attention.

Why? Because she's the best player in college basketball. Trash talking, it's a part of sports.

And if you're going to criticize Angel Reese for it, and that is your prerogative, if you feel like it was classless, well then make sure you say the same thing about Kaitlyn. Because she was doing it to her opponents just two games before that. How about last year, when Steph Curry started the trend of putting teams to sleep, making a pillow with his hands, laying his head down? Do you remember how many college athletes picked up on that trend?

The number of times, and he would comment about it on social, because the videos would go viral on Twitter or Insta or wherever else he posts, and he would respond. He makes no apologies for his taunting strong. It's gamesmanship. But we judge women differently.

We do. Angel Reese took the opportunity to point to her ring finger like all the Tigers were. I mean, that's a fairly classic championship celebration, a gesture. She quieted the crowd in Dallas, and she walked by Kaitlyn Clark, and she used the same gesture to Kaitlyn as Kaitlyn had used against LSU.

I'm sorry, against Louisville. Again, it's your opinion, but just make sure you're fully informed that the reason Angel chose that particular gesture against Kaitlyn is because Kaitlyn did it to her opponents. Sometimes what goes around comes around. And what did Steph Curry tell us a few years ago? If you shimmy, you better be ready to be shimmied on.

If you can shimmy on somebody else, you gotta be alright getting shimmied on. Thank you, Producer J. Steph never takes it personally when someone shimmies back at him. Wasn't it Chris Paul?

Chris Paul gets so upset at Steph Curry. I think it was Chris. And he didn't do it with like a fun kind of shimmy nose, like the scowl on his face. It was a scowl shimmy.

Just be sure that you're informed, okay? Kaitlyn Clark, I can imagine there aren't too many people who can taunt or make a gesture like that to her and actually not have it come back to bite you in the ass because she's going to burn you. Most points ever scored in an NCAA tournament on the women's side.

But it was LSU with eight players and Angel Reese sitting out the second quarter because she was in foul trouble. It was the grittiness. It was the toughness. It was the aggressiveness. And that is a hallmark of Kim Mulkey's teams. For better or for worse, they are aggressive. And it's not so much about speed.

It's about attack. It's a style. It reflects her. She's tenacious. She's kind of crazy on the sidelines. And she knows it. Though I actually sat with her in a conversation once where she said, I lose my mind. I don't even know what I'm doing out there.

The stomping, the hands to the head, the hair flying all around. She's one of those players. Reminds me a little bit of an Andy Reid in Kansas City. As long as you're doing the work.

As long as you are. On board with what the team is doing. Andy Reid doesn't care what kind of personality you have.

He wants you to be you. I mean, there are many coaches like this, just one that comes to mind. Andy Reid, no one's going to call Andy Reid cool, right?

Nobody's going to call Andy hip. But the players are loyal to him. They're devoted to him because he allows them to be them. He gives them the freedom to be them as long as they are doing what they're supposed to when they're at work.

As long as they're professionals at work. Now, Angel Reese is a college student. Kaitlyn Clark's a college student. So maybe you take more exception when they're college players. But I would say before you step in it and make some comment about how LSU Tigers are classless and their poor sports. Just make sure this isn't the only game you watched. So you know what you're talking about.

Or not, because I guess truth is optional on social media. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Angel Reese had a message for the haters after this game. I do enjoy that platform that we get every now and then where it all comes together. We're winners and we can finally respond to the critics. Best you not respond to the critics when you're losing.

But when you're winning and you're on top of the world, well, there's your opportunity. You can find me on Twitter, A Law Radio. I am in awe of Kim Mulkey. I always have been. She's an acquired taste.

Let's be fair. She is. As our guest said earlier, and we'll bring back part of that conversation with Doug Feinberg, who is the AP National Women's Basketball Writer.

He was in Dallas. Great perspective on how Kim did this. How exactly did Kim Mulkey do this? She left Baylor and shocked the world once two years ago because that was a championship program that she built at Baylor. Again, for better or for worse, lover or hater, she inspires loyalty among her players. She allows them to be who they are and to do what they do as long as they're bought in. And because of that, because of how she inspires that loyalty and dedication, they play their rear ends off of her. Every player that I've ever seen on one of Kim's teams, from the best on the roster to the guys that come off the bench, women that come off the bench. They play their A-double curvy roads off of her. She's all in it.

Heart, soul, mind, body, spirit. Very few coaches on the planet could do what she just did. Take over a team with a handful of wins in her home state.

Why? Because she wanted to bring superstar, super caliber basketball to her state that she loves, to Louisiana. She played at Louisiana Tech. She won a national championship there. Actually, as an assistant coach, she was also part of a national championship. She's won gold with Team USA.

This woman wins wherever she goes. And a lot of her formula is about passion and tenacity and dedication. And something else that always jumps out at me about Kim and the best coaches on the planet, same thing.

And while we're just talking about women's college basketball, I think of Geno Auriemma at UConn, Pat Summitt the way that she was at Tennessee, Dawn Staley now at South Carolina, definitely Kim, and even Tara Vanderveer, who's a fixture at Stanford. These coaches, they have sky high expectations, to the point where a lot of times they seem impossible, to the players they seem impossible. But she believes in them and she inspires them to believe in themselves. And that's an incredible quality as a leader, but also as a coach.

And I'm telling you, she sky high expectations and she expects you to meet them. Do you know that Alexis Morris, who was the guard who was assigned to defend Kaitlyn Clark in this national championship game, actually got kicked off her team at Baylor. She dismissed her from the team. And yet there she was playing for her at LSU.

I don't know too many players who would swallow their pride, who would believe that this coach is still the best option. I mean, that's amazing. But that's Kim.

Again, love her or hate her. Congratulations. She now has four national championships in women's college basketball. And boy, this was one heck of a game. So much fun to watch. Kind of a feeling out process in the first quarter.

We got a back and forth a bit. But that's also early in the game when Angel Reese picked up her second foul. Now, LSU is not deep. So when Angel went to the bench, they had to bring reinforcements onto the court. And they were going to they were going to play the entire second quarter without Angel, who's their best player, one of the best players in the country. And so while she's on the bench, then maybe you need to know the name Jasmine Carson, because she comes out and saves the day for LSU.

Here come the Tigers. Johnson on the move. Right wing Carson shoots another three.

Got it again! Jasmine Carson with 16. And the LSU lead is 13. 49-36.

4-07 to go in the first half. Here's Johnson with it on the right wing. Be on the three-point line. Johnson gets it up top to Morris. Morris puts it on the floor. Dribbles right to the elbow.

Stops. Can't lose Marshall. Top to Carson. Takes a three over Clark.

It's good. Jasmine Carson with a three. Cole races up onto the left wing. Shovels it off Carson.

Turns. Puts up a three. Banked it in!

Oh, she banked it in! Jasmine Carson turns and banks a three from the left wing. It caps off an amazing half for Carson. A huge half for LSU.

The Tigers have a 17-point halftime lead. That was one heck of a moment. It was a buzzer beater banked three to end the first half. What?

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Jasmine Carson for such a time as this, girl. Five for five from three-point land in that first half. 22 points off the bench and her smile, megawatt. I mean, I wouldn't say she surprised herself, but you want to be able to do it on the biggest stage.

And her reaction to the fifth triple was amazing. And so that's Ryan Radke on the Westwood One NCAA Radio Network. Iowa does rally. So after being down 21, they use their own three-point shooting to fight and scratch and claw, to chip away.

And that lead is down to single digits in the fourth quarter. When, and this is again, it's a hallmark of Kim's teams, they are aggressive. They don't wait for the game to come to them. And even after they had foul trouble, Kim was interviewed. I think it was in between the first and second quarters and said, we're going to be aggressive.

That's who we are. We're going to stay aggressive and we're just going to have to deal with the foul trouble. Morris racing through traffic. Morris down the lane, drops it off Williams. Morris to Lanasia Williams who's got 18.

83-69, the lead back to 14. Timeout Iowa. Morris dribbling left. Morris drops it off of Reese. Left of the lane, four to shoot. Reese out to Poole. High on the right, steps into a wing three.

Got it! And Matt is going to put it in the books. LSU with 105 to go is up 98-82. With about a minute and 30 to go, I couldn't hold it. Got very emotional.

That's really not like me until that final buzzer goes off, but I knew we were going to hold on and win this game. And I don't know if it's the mere fact that we are doing this in my second year back home. I don't know if it was the fact that I am home. I don't know if it was looking across there at my daughter and my grandchildren. I don't know if it was looking across at Ellis. I don't know what it was, but I lost it.

So that should tell you what I think about it. I mean, she loses it a bunch, right? As I said, she stomps up and down.

She's got her hands to her hair. She's nuts when the officials make a call that she doesn't like, which let's be fair, happened a lot in this game between the two coaches. And so she's entertaining. You could have an ISO cam on Kim and the entire game you would be fascinated. I've seen her. I've done games opposite her across the court.

And you get mesmerized watching her, especially when she's wearing gold and black sequins. So yes, that was Kim Bulky. The tears were coming. She praises the defense, of course, Alexis Morris being the senior that she assigned to Kaitlyn Clark. Kaitlyn ends up with 30 points in eight assists, but she wasn't as locked in and didn't have the same number of wide open looks. And so it was up to her teammates to hit some threes, which they did in the third quarter and brought Iowa within striking distance. But too much of LSU. That purple was everywhere. As for Angel Reese, 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, another double double.

I think it's 34 in a row now, which is a new NCAA record. I'm happy. I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was. I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in the box that I want me to be in. I'm too hood.

I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y'all don't say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me. That's going to speak up on what they believe in.

It's unapologetically you. And that's what I did it for tonight. This was for the more it was bigger than me tonight.

It was bigger than me. Twitter is going to go in a rage every time. Wait, what? I mean, I'm happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year. I'm super happy and excited.

So I'm looking forward to celebrating in the next season. Kaitlyn Clark, Angel Reese. They've still got time in women's college basketball and they are stars.

They're turning into household names. As for Kaitlyn, Angel spoke about her on Sirius XM College Sports Radio. I play her in my Nike Nationals for a championship. So being able to play against her, I know what she brings to the table for sure. But you got to realize, we have Alexis Morris. She's a first rounder. Put some respect on Alexis Morris' name. You have to realize, Kaitlyn Clark is an amazing player. She gets way more shots than a lot of us. So just being able to be in a situation like that, I mean, you give credit to them when credit is due, but we also have great players just like her.

That is true. They went toe to toe and both top seeds were out, right? So Kaitlyn having her incredible performances to get to this point, the triple-double. Remember to make the Final Four. Iowa's first time in, what was it, 30 years. And then she and the Hawkeyes are able to knock out Dawn Staley and South Carolina in the national semifinals. So we're talking back to back 40 point performances for Kaitlyn, including the upset of South Carolina.

She did say that she thought she could maybe have attacked the rim a little more in this championship game. Ultimately, though, it's the emotion because you come so close and just don't quite achieve your goal. I want my legacy to be the impact that I can have on young kids and the people in the state of Iowa. And I hope I brought them a lot of joy this season. I hope this team brought them a lot of joy. I understand we came up one win short, but I think we have a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate. And I was just that young girl. So all you have to do is dream.

You can be in moments like this. Yeah, she's talked about the fact that her coach, Lisa Bluder, is the one that convinced her to stay home. Kaitlyn could have played anywhere. You saw her performance even starting the game yesterday. Two Steph Curry depth threes that barely touched the strings. She's got the most impressive shooting stroke.

It's quick and it's smooth. And when she is on, the ball barely touches the strings. And so to see her start out that way, and Ira was the favorite in this game, but the defense of LSU stabilized.

She does have at least one more year in college hoops before she would be able to depart to the WNBA. And she talks about the relationship with her coach and how the two of, well, Lisa made her believe. The two of them then convinced everyone else and both of them really emotional after the loss. Just gratitude. I am so thankful.

You know, I mean, Hawk fans that came here travel from all over and I look up. I see my family. I have the best family. I am so blessed. I don't know why I'm upset about this because I shouldn't be. I'm sorry. I just I honestly feel so much gratitude.

I can do this. What I love to do. The people that really, you know, make a difference in people's lives. And I get the best family in the whole world. I'm just so thankful. I'm not crying. You're crying. This is not good for me because when other people cry, I start to get emotional. And I cannot do a radio show if I sound like that, which I probably would. Actually, I'm one of those criers where I can't even get the words out. I'll get on the phone with my mom sometimes, like bawling my eyes out over.

I don't know what. I'm emotional, girl. And I'll be crying so hard trying to talk. And it's incoherent.

So I'm actually really impressed with Lisa that she could she could get the words out. We'll do a little more now. Doug Feinberg was there and one of his colleagues was the pool reporter who spoke to the lead official. Lots of people complaining about the calls. You don't have to like how tightly these officials were calling the game. OK, I'm not I don't like that.

I would prefer that. It's no blood, no foul. Theoretically, that's the defense I grew up in. I always wanted to be a physical game. I think basketball is a contact sport and it should remain that way.

I don't love the way these new rules have made it impossible to play contact defense a lot of times. But the officiating did not determine the outcome. Here are the numbers. LSU charged with 18 fouls. Iowa charged with 19 fouls. LSU 21 free throws. Iowa 20 free throws. That did not determine the outcome of the game.

Angel Reese spent a full quarter on the bench. The best player for LSU late in the game. The two bigs for Iowa fouled out. And Kaitlyn Clark was hamstrung because she had four fouls, so she had to be really careful about how she was defending. But that's not what determined the game.

It's a story as old as time, right? If you're an athlete, you have to adjust to how the officials are calling it. The only thing I ever cared about as an athlete is that they were fair. They were equitable calling it the same way for both teams. And these officials were.

Again, you don't have to like it. But it's not as though they gave an unfair advantage to one team over another. On Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page. So Doug was with us from Dallas last night. We'll bring back a part of that conversation. And yeah, definitely there was a conversation and a topic around the fouls.

And I did ask him what he saw and heard in Dallas. Good morning to you. Happy Monday. Our first show in April. I can't believe it. It is the second busiest month of the calendar in sports. It's my favorite month of the year.

So, yay. It's After Hours with Amy. This is Flee for This Little Light, a podcast about falling in love with music. I started a nonprofit music school about 20 years ago called the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music. The reason that I started doing this podcast was music education. I'll be speaking with Rick Rubin, Thundercat, Stewart Copeland, Margo Price, Corey Henry, Cynthia Erivo, Sheila E, and Patti Smith. Please listen and follow This Little Light, a presentation of Cadence 13 on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Lawrence CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The Tigers have a 17-point halftime lead. I would definitely say this is the game of my life because, I mean, I won a national championship on the biggest stage possible, you know, in college. But when I woke up, I just wanted to win. I wanted to do anything that, you know, my team needed in this game. You know, whether it was defense, you know, rebound, and just anything supporting them. And, you know, I scored tonight, and that's what, you know, pushed us and got us momentum, and I'm just proud of my teammates.

I was just super excited for Jazz. As the PG, I always, like, temperature check my teammates just to see, like, where they're headed. So in practice, I was like, you want to get some extra shots? Because, like, we usually get extra shots in, just me and her.

And, yeah, I feel like I can be a trainer some days, so I love, like, you know, working with Jazz. But in practice today, I asked her, I said, you want to get some extra shots up? She was like, no, I'm good. I said, so you ready for tonight?

So she hit her first few shots, all you would call the timeout. I said, stay right there. Stay locked in.

Whatever head space you're in right now, do not check out. And just stay ready. And, you know, she gave us a huge spark off the bench today. She was a game changer tonight. And thank you, Jazz, for being a senior and being who you are, too.

Appreciate you, bro. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Every game, every championship game especially is an opportunity for a player or players to step up. And Jasmine Carson did exactly that, 22 points.

She goes five for five from beyond the arc in the first half. And since Kim Mulkey only uses eight players, they needed her desperately when Angel Reese was on the bench and was unable to play with foul trouble. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Had a chance to catch up with Doug Feinberg, who was covering the women's tournament in the Final Four in Dallas for the Associated Press, former broadcast partner of mine.

So good to welcome him back. And I started out by asking him, how unlikely, how improbable is this resurrection under Kim Mulkey from a program that had a handful of wins two years ago to now national championship in her second season back in Louisiana? Well, Amy, I'll tell you, I think if you asked me this question five years ago, I'd say there's no chance this could happen for a team. But the way the transfer portal works now and the way that Kim was so able to use it, getting Angel Reese and Katari Poole, you can build a team very, very quickly now in women's college basketball and men's college basketball. So it's unlikely in the sense of you need to have everyone gel and play together well and all that sort of thing. But to get the players now, you don't have to wait and recruit the right ones.

You can just sort of through free agency pick up the ones that you think are going to work for you. And sure enough, it's worked out great for LSU and Kim this year. What is it about Kim that just makes her a winner? Because everywhere she's gone, everything she's done, she wins. She's a great coach. I mean, she's 4-0 now in championship games. I think she's third all-time behind Geno and Pat for overall championships of four. She just, she's a great accidental coach. She gets the most out of her players because I think she's loyal to them.

I mean, there's people either love Kim or hate Kim, it seems. But seeing her players on the podium tonight, they would run through a brick wall for her. Alexis Morse was with her at Baylor five years ago, got dismissed from the team. And you would think, okay, I'm never going to play for that coach ever again. But when she was looking for a spot to land, Kim said, come back to me.

I want you to play for me. And they seem to be very well together. And obviously, she had an unbelievable tournament, had a great game tonight.

That's the thing. You think of a player that she threw off the team for some issues, would never want to play for her again, yet comes back, plays for her at LSU, and has an unbelievable tournament run. Definitely does inspire loyalty. You can see that with those players who have played for her, and I would say most of the great coaches do that. From her antics on the sidelines, and I've heard her, I mean, she's actually said to me before that she kind of loses her mind there on the sidelines, to the way that she has such high standards for her players because she has such incredible belief in them.

You can see the spirit just completely changes. What does it mean to have her as a Louisiana native do this for LSU? I asked her today actually in the postgame press conference, what does it mean to do this, to go to your home state and win a championship, the first one ever for LSU men's or women's basketball. And she's like, you know, I teared up about 90 seconds left on the clock.

I never do this. I started getting emotional. I don't know if I was thinking about coming home and doing this, or just that it's the title, and another game wasn't over at that point.

Something about it made me get emotional. She started weeping on the sideline if people were watching the game on TV. It meant that much to her to be able to win a championship in her home state, and to get the first one for LSU with all the great players that have gone through there, Simone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, it meant so much to her, and it's a great story. I mean, coach goes home wins title. That's a really, really good thing. If I would have won, you'd have hometown player in Kaitlin Clark wins title for coach who was an Iowan.

So like, you have, either way, a great storyline for someone coming home or staying home and winning a championship. We're excited to spend a few minutes with Doug Feinberg, who covers women's basketball on the national stage for the Associated Press. With us from Dallas, where the Women's Final Four just wrapped up and LSU winning its first title.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Let's talk about the game itself. There were a lot of fouls called. What did you see, Doug, yourself, and what did you hear about the number of fouls that were called in this game? I mean, Amy, I think when I go to sleep soon, I'm going to sort of have whistles in my head from the amount that were called tonight.

Here's my issue. It seems that social media has pluses and minuses, and I'm sure people can weigh their thoughts on it, but there are more people talking about the officiating in this game than they were talking about the game, and that's never good for any game, let alone a championship game. Were things called fouls probably that they weren't used to? It seems that way. It was both sides.

That's a very important thing to say. It wasn't like they were favoring one team or the other. I mean, Andrew Reeve getting two fouls in the first quarter was not good. You don't want a few on the court. He's one of the most electrifying players in women's college basketball right now.

You don't want a few on the bench. And then, obviously, on the other side, Kaitlin Clark taking on fouls. And the technical foul she got from my co-workers, the pool reporter, asked the official why she got a technical foul in that game. And the rule, and again, I don't know the exact rule, but basically the team got a delay-of-game warning earlier in the game, early in that quarter, and then Clark threw the ball or swatted the ball away, which is another delay-of-game, and she got the technical foul for that. If that's the rule, that's the rule. I don't know if that's a smart rule to have, but that's what the rule is. You would think they would be like, hey, you know, don't do that again, or something to sort of like know the situation that it's your fourth foul because you get a personal foul on you if you get a technical foul.

It just didn't sit well with a lot of people. And I just think there needs to be a little better accountability for things when officials are done. Listen, the first time ever they had 11 female officials officiating in the final four, which is a great thing.

They said for Title IX, the 15th anniversary, so I understand that. But you've got to wonder about a lot of things when you can't really question officials on calls. You can question coaches on calls. Why did you make that call?

What was going on there? You can't question officiating, and I think that's a little bit of an issue that the NCAA needs to look at going forward. Doug, how would you describe the tournament that Kaitlyn Clark had?

It's the best one I've ever seen. I mean, I've been covering this sport now for 16 years, and the only one I can think is comparable is before I started covering it, I was in college back then, with Cheryl Swoop's run when she helped Texas Tech win the championship in 1993. She had 47 points in the title game, and she had an unbelievable run, and actually Kaitlyn broke her record for points in the tournament. I think Swoop's had 177 and Clark had 191 when you add them all up. But a triple-double, the first ever 40-point triple-double to get them to their first final four in 30 years, and then throw in, oh, the next game I'll have 41 points again to beat the unbeaten team in South Carolina that was trying to chase its own history of a 10th team to go undefeated through the tournament and back-to-back title. So the bigger the stage got, the better Kaitlyn played, and that to me is unbelievable. Doug Feinberg, on Twitter, at Doug Feinberg, covering women's college basketball for I think 16 years now.

He and I did games together at Columbia for a while, and he's right in the center of all of the action. And we also talked about the transfer portal, because the portal is having the same impact on women's basketball as it is on men's basketball at the college level. And now there are concerns that coaches can say to a player, and I'm sure this is happening, not every coach is ethical, coaches can say to a player, hey, enter the transfer portal, I will grab you.

Which is not supposed to be the case, right? The transfer portal is supposed to be an open forum, and instead coaches are telling players that if you get in there, we'll grab you. So it's a blessing for the athletes because they don't get punished anymore, at least not right now, for the fact that they're transferring, and I don't think they should. It's their college education, it's their college careers. What is the purpose of taking a year away from a student athlete simply because they feel like a school is not a particular fit for them or not a good fit for them?

I just think that's a harsh penalty, and it never really made much sense to me. But the transfer portal has changed the game now, so same as men's college basketball, where we have three first-timers in the Final Four. In the women's game, you've got two teams who had never won titles before. Now, at least, well, I shouldn't say at least, Iowa had been to the Final Four 30 years ago, but we're talking about brand new fresh blood, an incredible show, and some of the best players in the country no longer simply play for UConn or for South Carolina or for Stanford or for Duke or for Tennessee. Now you've got a great kind of dispersal of the talent across the country in college sports, and that's only good for all of these various schools and coaches, but certainly does come with its own challenges, some ethical and some just logistical. You can find our full podcast is posted every weekday morning on Twitter or Facebook. All of our guests are posted separately. So I did ask Doug about the transfer portal and how that has changed college hoops.

It was good to hear his response. Of course, Monday is the men's national championship, and for those of you who think that Monday Night Football is too late, starting at 8.15 Eastern time during the season, well, this game doesn't tip until an hour after that. It's 8.20 Houston time, maybe even 8.30 Houston time by the time they get underway, the national anthem, all that jazz.

I mean, it's a late start for people on the east coast, excuse me, but certainly right in the wheelhouse for west coast basketball fans. But man, if you're a fan of Connecticut and you live in the northeast, just make sure you brew some extra coffee or plan to call in. It's harder than ever to find clothes that will stand the test of time, but if you're looking for pieces designed to last, you can't go wrong with American Giant. From hoodies and t-shirts to denim and more, they've got everything you need to build a wardrobe that you'll be proud of for years to come. Shop wardrobe essentials that last a lifetime at American-Giant.com and use LT23 to get 20% off your first order.

That's 20% off your first order, American-Giant.com, code LT23. Sick tomorrow morning. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Curry fires away for three. Front rim tipped out by Lamb. Grabbed it to Clay. Clay dropped it, picked it up. Feeds Payton. Touch pass, Curry. Left side, three on the way.

Got it! The Warriors stayed with the play, and they trail by one. Murray has it. The ball reported mid-court circle. High right side over to Aaron Gordon. Gordon hands it off to Murray for three. Go in.

Got it! That's big. 102-96 Denver. Loose ball comes down to Aaron Gordon. Denver's got the numbers. Five on three. Murray three.

Let's go! 105-96 Denver's big lead of the night. They're up by nine. Here we go. Three-pointer wins the basketball game. Clay Thompson for the win.

Missed it. Rebound Thompson. Two seconds left. Blocked at the three-point line.

But you balled Murray. And the Golden State Warriors can take that L on the way out. Denver survives without Nicole Jokic. And they take down Golden State 112-110. Oh man, what a game.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Oh, you guys are not going to believe the tweet I just got. That is Jason Kosmicki on Denver Nuggets radio. And beforehand from the Golden State Warriors, Tim Roy. Man, if you did not see this finish.

Jay, do you have a chance to put the videos up? Okay, so check out our Twitter, After Hours CBS, because the finish alone was worth the price of admission. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Okay, so the Golden State Warriors road woes are going to bite them in the arse when it comes to the playoffs. They've lost 38 games. 30 of them are on the road.

Are you kidding? Win half of those and you're the top seed in the freaking Western Conference. But they do not play defense generally with the same tenacity on the road. And they turn the ball over. That's the part that drives Steve Kerr batty is that they turn the ball over unforced errors. Now, couple that with the fact that they also had a poor shooting night from Steph Curry.

It doesn't happen very often. Missed his first, I think it was his first five from deep and then finished two of 14 from three. So they cough up a 15 point lead. They still have the opportunity to win at the end, but it was one incredible sequence. They're down five points. So it's 112-107.

In the late stages, we're talking under a minute to go. There's this wild play where Steph, from the top of the key, fires a three. He's open, fires a three. It's an air ball, as in it doesn't even touch the rim. It goes short of the rim. It comes down below the hoop where Dante DiVincenzo just happens to be running the baseline. The ball literally falls to him. He gets it. He's underneath the hoop.

He can't do anything with it. Shot clock is running down. He chucks it to Klay Thompson in the corner. Klay has got a defender who's rushing at him. He falls on one foot as he's firing the ball from behind the plane to the backboard. So the shot goes in. It's one of those crazy moments that you'll see. Larry Bird used to do this a lot, which fascinates me.

The physics don't work. He fires the three pointer on one foot while he's falling out of bounds from behind the backboard, swish. So now the Warriors are down by just two. There's a jump ball with about 10 seconds to go. The Warriors win the jump ball, and that's what you hear at the end. It's not Steph Curry. It's Klay Thompson.

He's a really good look, dead eye, but misses it. I can remember if it went off the back of the rim or what, but he misses it. The ball comes right back to him. And then when he takes his second attempt, Jamal Murray blocks the shot. Of all people, Jamal Murray blocks the shot.

It was pretty incredible. What do you got in there for me, Jay? So Jamal Murray and a lot of the Nuggets afterwards were talking about the defense being the key to beating the Warriors. I think our energy, honestly. We just brought the right mentality. Even when we did mess up, we looked to fix it and communicate it out. And we just did it all game. We made adjustments defensively, and I thought that was the key, to be honest with you. Most of the questions I know, and when we lose and we got to kind of point a finger at what went wrong, if we obviously knew what to do about it, we wouldn't do it. So it's just a matter of executing, being mindful of what it takes to win that particular game that night, maintain our momentum that we've worked hard to create in the first half, but weren't able to do it. Still, the grit and the fight allows us to be one shot away from stealing a game that we had no business being in, but we got to come to a realization. If we're going to win or do anything in a playoff kind of scenario, a game like tonight can't happen. I don't think they're going to do anything in a playoff-type scenario.

I could be wrong. Right now, they are tied with the Clippers, exact same record in the fifth and sixth spots, but the Lakers and the Pelicans are a half game behind them, and Lakers are playing their best basketball in a long time. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Believe it or not, it's the last week of the NBA regular season. It's also the last night of college hoops. We've got UConn, the big bad, looking for its sixth national title in men's basketball.

Couple that with all the women's. It's a basketball power, to be sure. San Diego State in its first ever national title in men's hoops. Lamont Butler had that buzzer beater on Saturday night, and they're flying high. They've got great confidence. I feel like we've been underdogs this whole tournament. That's the mentality we went into it. The mentality we went into every game, so we're going to keep that mentality and keep on proving people wrong. UConn's a really good team. We've been seeing what they've been doing throughout the tournament. The wins they've been having are really impressive, but I think we match up with them really well. They're really physical. They're a big team, and we just got to stick to our game plan.

We're our own biggest competitors. If we just play our game, I think we should come out with the win. Crazy that UConn, they're a really good team. We're definitely going to have to do some scouting and preparation for them, but we've got to do what we've been doing to get to the championship game. That is Matt Bradley, along with teammate Lamont Butler, and as I say, flying high.

It's a great point that Matt makes. They're veterans. They are experienced. Some of these guys are in their mid-20s because of the COVID year and the transfer and all that jazz.

And so for Brian Dutcher, it's lightning in a bottle, if you will. This is a team that has worked and stayed together for this opportunity, and it's paid off, but can they topple UConn? That's going to be a huge challenge because the Huskies have beaten every team by double figures, and honestly, once they get started and find their groove, it seems no team can keep up with them.

It really hasn't been close once they settle in, and they can beat you a variety of ways. By the way, and we're not going to celebrate it just yet, but it is worth watching this week and through the rest of the NHL regular season, the Bruins are on pace for 133 points. They're at 125. They're on pace for 133. It would shatter the NHL single-season record.

They are now just the fourth team in NHL history to win 60 games, and they still have five to go, so all kinds of records could be a fall in. Have a great Monday. We'll talk to you after the game. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!