After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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40% off selected products right now at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. I'm JR of the JR Sport Reef Show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm also the host of the new podcast, Agents of Inclusion. We talk to a different Special Olympics athlete every week to learn how sports can bring us together. We're bringing both the disability and non-disability community to one community.

All one people, one family. It took me a little while, but I decided to claim autism as my superpower. When you hear the word autism, don't let that hinder you from doing whatever it is that you want to do. That's what Special Olympics tells you. You get involved in sports, but then you take it from the playing field out into real life. Family means to me community, acceptance, love, embracing a person just as they are. That's what Special Olympics did for me. It's all about family.

Subscribe to Agents of Inclusion on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It is very strange, but not a bad strange if there's such a thing as a good strange. It's a good weird. It's a good odd to be back in the CBS Sports Radio studios for the first time in 11, 11 days. What?

Crazy. But it's good to be home, if you will. I will say this, I really appreciated the 30 second commute from my hotel over to Syracuse University campus and the Newhouse II building, which is where I hosted my show 24 hours ago. It was kind of nice to walk across the street and be in a studio.

That's not how it is in the New York City area. So the commute is back, but it was nice. It was nice to return to the routine.

And even though I do have two more trips to Syracuse on the next two Mondays, I am okay with not traveling for a couple more months. I miss my routine. I miss my house.

Oh my goodness, so much yard work to do. I missed my bed. I just missed my dog and my cat.

Well, not really the cat, but the dog. I miss Jay. It's good to be back. I miss my church. I miss all kinds of stuff about being gone and being out of my routine the last 11 days.

It was a wonderful trip. But now it's done and whew, back to normal. I don't know what normal means for you. Normal for me is pretty hectic and chaotic and upside down, but it's my kind of crazy baby. It is our hump show, middle show of the work week. Glad to have you with us.

A lot to get to, of course. I've got a list of names, if you will. That's what I've got, a list of names. Everything from Draymond Green, breaking news from the NBA in the last couple hours. Darius Garland, Devin Booker, Derek White. Who? Who is hearing MVP chants in Boston? Clayton Kershaw, DeMar Hamlin, Josh Allen, Deshaun Watson, Jared Goff. Anyone for some QB news? Oh yeah, the NFL has to insert its voluntary OTAs.

I want to make sure I get it right. It's voluntary OTAs right into the middle of the first round of the NBA and NHL playoffs. And speaking of that, history for the Seattle Kraken as they get their first ever Stanley Cup playoff win. So we have a lot to talk about. Really excited to be back in the studio and really excited to connect with you. I can actually get on Twitter again, which is kind of funny.

I mean, it was fun while it lasted not to have access, but here we go. If you would like to send your questions for Ask Amy Anything, we'll get back to that as well. You can send them to our show Twitter, After Hours CBS, or my Twitter, ALOL Radio, since I did retweet.

And also thank you for the response to just the few pictures I've posted so far from the Grand Canyon trip. If you missed them, they're on Twitter. And so it's hard to be scrolling and somehow not see the bold blue, the emerald green, and these flashes of purple.

So yeah, if you missed it, actually I'll retweet it now for you. But I still have a lot more to share. I just haven't yet gotten my photos organized.

At least my thoughts are organized now, but I haven't yet got my photos organized and we'll do that coming up this weekend when I have an opportunity to take a breath after yard work. On our Facebook page, same thing, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, you can find that bright orange box. I don't know what a boss is. Well, I know what a boss is.

Nope, not going to make any Starkey comments. I know what a box is and a boss is. We have a bright orange box so that you can send your questions for Ask Amy Anything. And I appreciate all the welcome back messages.

So you are very kind. The time away was necessary, but it's over now and I'm all in. Rejuvenated, re-energized, and set to go. This time last night, we were talking about Draymond Green and DeMonte Sabonis and we were breaking down their altercation in the heat of the moment. Sabonis getting assessed a foul, regular foul, oh no technical foul, technical foul, which did come with a free throw for the Warriors. As he hits the ground, slips and falls, hits the ground, he grabs onto Draymond Green's foot and ankle and as Draymond is forcefully attempting to shake him off and get his foot free, he steps right onto the chest of Sabonis and puts a whole lot of extra juice into letting Sabonis know that his foot is free.

Not quite in Damakansu, but pretty darn close. Gary Gerald on the Kings Radio Network. Now this was a major turning point for the Warriors. While they were able, I'm seeing it right now of course, this is how it happens. Every time I talk about something, it happens that I see it on TV.

It's the power of suggestion if you will. It was Draymond Green bringing that foot down hard on the chest of Sabonis and then kind of hopping away from him. But there was extra emphasis there. It was a turning point because even though the Warriors were able to tie, without Draymond, they are not the same defensive team. And after Draymond was ejected, picked up a flagrant two foul was ejected, the Kings put together a 17-8 run and they had some wide open triples that they were able to hit. The defense is so much better when Draymond is on the court. Not to mention, he's the cog in the wheel, he moves the ball around, he's got a major role in that passing game, plus he runs the court. So the Kings are able to pull away.

And now, as the series shifts back to the Chase Center, 90 miles south, I don't know if it's directly south, but shifts to San Francisco and the Chase Center, different part of the Bay Area. Once again, Draymond has left his team high and dry. Now, as I said to you last night, it's impossible to consider Draymond's actions in a vacuum. It doesn't work that way. Draymond's reputation precedes him.

His rep goes before him. And so as I was looking at it and watching it last night, I'm thinking, I didn't love the fact that it was inequitable punishment and discipline from the officials. It was clear that Sabonis was intentionally grabbing his ankle and maybe, this is just a maybe, you know how what ifs are, but maybe if Draymond falls and he's down on the ground and he is needing medical attention or the training staff, maybe Sabonis gets assessed a different penalty.

Because it was clear that he did it on purpose. So I didn't love the fact that one got a technical foul and one got a flagrant too. Because Draymond could have gotten hurt as well. But the difference is, DeMontez Sabonis does not have a rep. DeMontez Sabonis does not have a rap sheet with the NBA. Sabonis does not have a long file in the NBA disciplinary offices. He doesn't have suspensions because of too many technical fouls. He doesn't have, well he's never been to an NBA final so there's part of the problem, but he doesn't have a previous suspension in an NBA final series.

That's Draymond Green. Not only did it impact the way that he was judged last night because officials know, he'll take liberties. His emotions get the best of him. He has in fact, punched, kicked, or now stomped on different players over the course of his playoff tenure and his resume. Now I'll go back to that series against the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron James was posturing and standing over him.

I kind of think if you stand over a guy you deserve to, well you don't deserve it, but there's a good chance you're going to get punched in the little Cavaliers. But the fact that Draymond Green has this rap sheet, this resume, this reputation, of course the NBA is not going to stand by and allow him to get away with this without sending a message. So the NBA has suspended Draymond Green for one game for landing his big ol' foot on the chest of Demontius Simonis. Here's the statement from the NBA.

The suspension was based in part on Green's history of unsportsmanlike acts. Yes, every now and then your host is extremely smart. Now I just know how this works. These things accrue. Not every incident is judged in a vacuum. And so in this case, Draymond's reputation not only preceded him into Sacramento, but it preceded him to the NBA disciplinary offices. So he will miss Thursday night's game as the Warriors get back home and host the Kings for game three. And that is a must win for the Clippers for the Warriors. They cannot fall behind the Kings 3-0.

They're a crappy road team. They cannot fall behind the Kings 3-0. So it was a turning point with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter of that Kings win by single digits. And now it casts a shadow on game three. Draymond's heart and soul, his emotion, his spirit, his energy, his intensity, all of those qualities are major reasons, major pieces of the puzzle for these Warriors and why they have four rings in the last 10 years, eight years, really. But it also comes back to bite him in the ass. And Draymond, in the heat of the moment, doesn't often consider that. So now his team will have to bear the brunt.

Being home is helpful. But again, without Dray, their defense is not nearly as effective. I'm sure we'll get some reaction coming up on Wednesday when we hear from the Warriors. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, also in the Western Conference on this Tuesday night. It was the Clippers and it was the Suns and it was game two. And Russell Westbrook picking up where he left off in the opener. Forty two thirty four Clippers six fifty five to go in the second Westbrook will walk it from left to right.

He's got a game high 12 and a chance for one more as Aiden is going to be called for the foul. Noah Eagle with the call on the Clippers radio network near 20 points in the first half for Russell Westbrook and the clips built a 13 point advantage in that first half. But man, their defense either took a step back, took a time out that the Suns did not, got tired, maybe all of the above in the final five minutes of the first half. The Suns not only found their footing, but they erased that 10 point deficit so this game was tied at the half and the Suns were a locomotive at home coming out of the halftime locker room.

The switch defensively for the clips. Booker now makes his way in the lane, goes in the corner to Paul who's bunked. Back he comes to Booker, a three.

Shazam! Booker 92-85. Chris Paul brings the ball up into the front court. Ball drives down the left side, comes across the lane, has a 14 footer. Good as it goes, it's gone! Chris missed those shots in the first game, that high pick, going left, back to the right side of the lane, makes that mid range jump shot.

And you know the crowd like this one. It is over. Suns win. The Suns win. The final score here tonight, the Suns 123 and the LA Clippers 109. It was obviously a point of emphasis for us to have a better start, but you know you're still not promised that you're going to make all your shots.

And just felt the game out, settled into it, seen what they were doing and just went from there. Devin Booker, he was the fire starter in quarter number three. 18 points in the third quarter alone. He finishes with 38 and 9 assists.

And how about this? Once these Suns found that rhythm, not only did they shoot nearly 60% for the game, but they had 30 total assists. It's a huge disparity between the Clippers and the Suns in terms of how they were distributing and sharing the basketball tonight. 30 assists for the Suns, 17 for the Clippers. And then when you compare assists to shots made, 30 assists on 50 baskets.

I say this often. I don't love today's NBA brand where it seems like teams get down the court and jack the first open shot and usually it's a three. They don't pass the ball around as much. The Warriors are great at sharing the basketball.

That's one of the reasons why they've been so effective the last 10 years or nine years. This was a great example of the Suns sharing the basketball. Now they are in a situation where they've got four guys who log a ton of minutes. If you include DeAndre Ayton in that.

Now he had foul trouble tonight, so he wasn't on the court quite as much. But Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton log a ton of minutes. The Clippers, even without Paul George, are going to have a better bench production pretty much every game. Because the Suns are so heavy on their starters. That may be a problem later in the playoffs. If it gets to the point where they match up against deeper teams who are better teams right now that that top four has great firepower.

Will they run out of gas? Chris Paul's older. Kevin Durant's got a lot of miles and a bunch of injuries. They also got a big assist from Torrey Craig in this game.

He had five triples every single starter in double figures. But yeah, for Monty Williams, your core is KD, Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Just having the balance of him and Kevin being able to get to their spots with a live ball helps. But I thought Chris did a really good job of just putting the ball in Book's hands and saying, you go. Chris was on the second side.

Book scores in a number of ways. When he's going like that, I think the team feeds off of his high level play, if you will. Booker, KD and CP thought they really did a good job of just controlling the game. Like I said, in that second half and fourth quarter, they really took over. We tried to blitz. We tried to fire.

We did a lot of different things. And like I said, they played great. I was just proud of our guys because we wasn't satisfied with just coming in and winning one game. I thought our guys scrapped and we gave everything we had. Missed some shots.

Had a couple key turnovers. But other than that, I thought we came in with the mindset that we wanted to win this game. And so that's all you can really ask for. And so we did that.

Some things we got to be able to clean up. Going into the next game. And we'll be ready. We know it's going to be a tough series.

They came back and took up business tonight. But I thought we gave ourself a chance. We came out with the right mindset throughout the game. We made a lot of tough jumpers. Shot the ball really well from the field.

So with all that, we still gave ourself a chance to win. Russell Westbrook with 28 points in this one. And this is definitely a series in which Russ rides again. I do love the fact that even though it's ancient history for a lot of people, he and KD are on the court together. And in fact, in a lot of cases, it's Russ's job to guard Kevin Durant, which is kind of fun. Depending upon where Durant is and if he's on the wing, blah, blah. So yeah, I love this series.

So far, I've been really captivated by this particular series. Clippers are not at full strength, but Kawhi Leonard is playing great basketball. And Russ is filling in admirably to this point to try to make up for the production of one Paul George. But it seems like this is always the case with the Clippers. Those two superstars very rarely seem to be on the court together and in sync at the same time and at full strength, full throttle, if you will. So the Clippers and the Suns are tied at one game apiece. That's also the case for one of the Eastern Conference playoff series.

We will get to it next to the shores of Lake Erie we go. Plus, another milestone in the Hall of Fame career of one Clayton Kershaw. And yes, he is one of my favorites. I never miss. Well, I miss.

I shouldn't say I never miss a start. I never miss following his starts and I watch them as often as I can or listen to them on the radio. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can find us on Twitter. After Hours, CBS. Send your questions for Ask Amy anything that's a little bit later on the show.

Also on our Facebook page. Glad to be back in studio. I had to clean it.

I did have to clean it, but it fits like a glove. Thanks for hanging out with us here on CBS Sports Radio. With two hands. Donovan Mitchell with another assist. One oh one seventy six cabs by twenty five. Getting you to the good half of your week.

It's the Hump Show on After Hours. Darius Garland, welcome to the big time. Or should I say welcome back to the big time? This is a group of primarily young calves with very little playoff experience. So maybe cut them some slack when you consider the opener in which they lost to the New York Knicks and really did not look like themselves. One area that was noticeable and one area that caused Darius Garland to beat himself up over was the fourth quarter of the opener in which he didn't even try a shot. He didn't even attempt a shot in the fourth quarter. And so his teammates liked Donovan Mitchell. Share that backcourt. We're encouraging him to be more aggressive.

From the jump. Be the player that we know you can be. And boy, did Garland set the tone. On the Cavaliers radio network, Garland with thirty two, including twenty six in the first half as the Cavaliers were able to provide not only a nice cushion, but really find a rhythm that carried them through the rest of this game at home. Yeah, that was something for me.

I wasn't expecting it for myself, but I don't know. The playoffs do something to me, I guess. I mean, everybody in the building told me to go be aggressive, go shoot the ball. So I mean, I watched it feel from the first game and seeing some opportunities where I can go go get mine and go be aggressive.

And that's what I just tried to do today. That's the all star we all know. And it was it was great to see. And I told them at the end of the day, like that's what we're going to need to continue to be aggressive. I think it showed a level of maturity, you know, I think in a lot of different ways to come out and do it the way he did it. You know, obviously he can score in bunches, but, you know, it was really within the flow of the game that there was forced different things.

But, you know, he came out with a purpose, you know, and I think that's that's something that, you know, I said a lot about him. Donovan Mitchell with a career playoff high 13 assists in this game to win for Cleveland. And it certainly does help when your teammates are knocking down the shots. Also, the defensive game plan was executed exceptionally well, nine Knicks turnovers in the first half. So the word that came to mind harassing the Cleveland Cavaliers, J.B. Bickerstaff harassing the Knicks early. This is what we talked about pregame. We asked how our guys would respond to a little bit of adversity. We talked about what they've done all year long. All year long is they've learned lessons the hard way sometimes.

But the next time they stepped on the floor, they figured it out. And again, you know, it's a credit to them. What they did defensively tonight was phenomenal. You know, the way they competed on that end of the floor, the way they scrapped every possession.

You know, that's a phenomenal effort by our group. Back and forth the first quarter. So I think they shot 38 percent in the first. And then they, you know, they got on that run and, you know, you let a team go on a run like that, it's going to be a problem.

You hear the voice of Tom Thibodeau after J.B. Bickerstaff and the other two coaches with decidedly different perspectives. It was a 34-17 second quarter. So if you do the quick math, which I'm sure that you can, the Cavaliers doubled up the Knicks in the second quarter. Julius Randle had 22 and this one took a late hard foul.

Some people questioning why he was still out there. Yada, yada, yada. The Knicks were able to take one of the games in Cleveland before heading back to Madison Square Garden. We came and took care of business game one and they responded. You know, we weren't expecting the series to be over in four or whatever it is. We just taking a game at a time. So we just got to adjust and we'll be fine.

We'll be fine. I do love it when the series split in the first two games because then you know what happens. We've got potential for game sevens all around. I'm already salivating over it. I know I jumped the gun looking forward to it. How many game sevens do you think we might have?

Oh my goodness. Coming up, we've got history. History in L.A. History in Colorado for Seattle. The Kraken get their first ever playoff win out there somewhere. I don't know that we can use Wikipedia as an example, but out there somewhere on the interwebs, there is a list of all time playoff wins for NHL franchises.

And right now at the very bottom, Seattle Kraken won. You got to start somewhere. Marco Belletti is here in studio. Do you remember me? I do. I'm not a new host. I'm back.

Yes. Hello. Good to have you here.

Physically here. I spoke last night, but it's good to have you in studio. I was a little bit worried that you were going to forget what I look like and forget that it was me.

But here I am. Actually, when you deserted us and we went on and continued to work the overnights for years without you, I didn't forget what you look like. Do you know? We went like years without working together, a couple of years when you deserted us. And so for that reason, I remember I would I would hear you on the local news stations. And you know that I would text you.

Right. And I would say, hey, Marco, remember me? Miss you.

How are you? It feels like revisionist history. I feel like there's things that have been altered. Isn't that what men do most of the time? Yes.

So it's altered. OK, fine. We move you. You and I worked together on weekends for two years when we first started. We did the well, we had Friday, Saturday nights together. Right. Right. OK. Then after hours moved to five nights a week.

Right. You you you went somewhere else. What happened to you? I stayed on the Friday and Saturday night. You shifted.

I stayed where I was for some reason. I'm the bad guy. No, you're not the bad guy.

I just am revisionist. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I just am pointing out that we went years without seeing each other crossing paths. So I would text you, say hello, ask how you're doing. And now we're together again. But I didn't forget what you look like all of that time. I still remember the flannel shirts, the rock and roll T-shirts, the Yankees hat and the gray in the beard.

Those things have not changed. No, not even a little bit. I have a tendency to, I don't know, I guess, burn into people's brains. You do what I look like. That's good.

It doesn't change much. So everybody has a tendency to remember exactly what it is, except that when you were younger. And I only know this because you told me to or you told me. I don't know if you ever showed me a picture because I think your phone was one of those like flip phones that you couldn't even really text on when we first met. I'm assuming you have a better phone now because you have children. Yeah, I don't think it was the children that made me get the phone. All right.

So you used to have this old phone that didn't even many years ago, didn't even have photos on it. But you told me about how when you were younger, you had a long ponytail. No, no, no, no, no, no. Long hair, not a ponytail.

OK, sorry. Long hair. You never put it in a ponytail. The only time I ever did was when I was working in the supermarket where they forced you to do that. No, other than that, no, it was never in a ponytail.

Right. So you did change styles over the course of the last several decades. I guess I grew the hair out.

I then cut it and everything else is the same. What's worse, though, you going through a phase where you had really long hair or me having bangs that were hairsprayed straight up in the air about four inches. I was part of the bangs phase when in the 80s and 90s. So I had bangs. Do you remember that? Did your wife? I don't know if your wife had bangs that she had. You know what? If she did, I've never seen the picture. Oh, OK. It's possible.

Doesn't mean that I, you know, I've never seen it. Mysteriously, those need to disappear before Bob gets a hold of them because he may change his mind about me. Seeing me with bangs.

Come on. I actually kind of regret it. I don't take pictures. I don't want to see myself. I do kind of regret, though, there's only like maybe five or six pictures, period, of me with the long hair.

I probably should have documented that a little bit better. What about baby pictures or pictures when you were a little chunk? I do not have that. I know my mom has that. Your parents do?

Yeah, they've got it somewhere. I don't have any of those. I do enjoy those pictures of me because I was a toadhead, as in white blonde little cutie patootie. I had this this cute straight haircut. Yeah, I was much cuter then. I'm not so cute now. I was actually a pretty cute baby. There's things changed around. Were you a chunk?

No, no, not until about four or five years old. So no, I was actually really cute. And then things just went way downhill, just straight downhill, right around five years old.

Can't get it back. What are you going to do? You're a famous network radio anchor.

It didn't go that far down. All that to say, I missed you, Marco. My life is not the same without you. I know I have a funny way of showing my affection. I did, in fact, miss you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence and my best friend Marco. Here's our latest sports update. Just don't worry.

He still loves me. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The 105th pitch of the game from Kershaw to Tommy Pham, hung on and missed strike three. That ends the inning.

Kershaw screams in satisfaction. He has struck out the side. The Mets leave two. We're at the seventh inning stretch. The Dodgers lead the Mets three to nothing.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Congratulations to one Clayton Kershaw on what was a gem. A longtime Dodgers pitcher. Can't call him an ace anymore, though he is still he's still old, reliable, old faithful in many ways. And he's still chugging along and forever a Dodger. So much to love about Clayton Kershaw, who is a first ballot future Hall of Famer. This was a gem of a pitching performance, even in that seventh inning in which he struck out the side, though he had to throw 32 pitches. This was exactly what the Dodgers needed. Turns out it was also a milestone win for Kirsch.

On the Dodgers radio network with Charlie Steiner, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Congratulations to Clayton on earning win number 200 in his big league career. Over the course of the last basically 10, 11 years now, we've gone to the playoffs. We've had great teams.

And so there's been a lot of pitchers that have pitched well, but maybe not had the team behind them to get those kind of wins. So just reflecting on that, just thankful for being a part of great teams. I mean, I think that's what tonight signifies for me is just looking back on all the different groups of guys that I've gotten to play with over the years. And, you know, maybe it hasn't ended the way we wanted to in the postseason, but ultimately winning all those games with that groups with those groups is special.

And I think this one's going to be the same. I think it's going to be really special. And I think it was really the guys had a toast for me in the locker room, which was which was really cool.

And people even said some stuff that made me uncomfortable, which is great. And so, yeah, I mean, being able to celebrate with your teammates, different accomplishments is is really, really special. It's hard to imagine, you know, the company that he's in, and it took a lot of hard work and for us to be a part of it and to watch it happen in real time is really special.

And certainly it's it's individual in the sense that it's 200 wins and something that, you know, very few have ever achieved or will ever achieve. But, you know, Clayton even said it's a compilation of a lot of very good teams that he's been a part of. And that just shows his humility. But tonight, tonight's performance really kind of. Epitomized you know who he is as a competitor, you know, just overcoming a three base air with a team that's swinging the bats really well and the punch three to give us that confidence, that momentum going into the bottom of the first inning that was Clayton, and he essentially put us on his back today. And I was really excited to see him get through that seventh inning when it starts to became become a little stressful and frisk for him to get that 200 at home.

I know that it's something he was really excited about, man. He's had some incredible moments in Dodger Stadium over the course of his career. But even just thinking about last year, remember getting to start the All-Star game in front of the hometown fans there at Dodger Stadium.

And yes, the fact that this happens at home in front of the fans who adore him. He goes seven innings, scatters just three singles, strikes out nine. And while he does have to work and he does face some adversity in that seventh inning throwing more than 30 pitches, he knew that was going to be the end of it. What a cool way to punctuate win number 200.

Plenty of run support, yes. This is what Clayton Kershaw does. There are times when he gives opposing hitters no room to breathe and there are times when he has to work out of jams.

And honestly, I enjoy watching that. Him get into a jam and having to work out of it even more. Now the stress level goes up. But you can see all the experience and the wisdom that comes into it. The patience a lot of times.

The cerebral approach. 200 wins, 88 losses, and he had 405 career starts. 16 years now in the bigs. And he's often said in recent years that it matters so much to him that his kiddos are able to be around and understand a little bit of what he's doing or a little bit of what daddy does for a living. I remember a couple years ago I saw this headline in which he said the only thing that kids care about is going to the stadium and going to the ballpark and being around the team. Every single day they pester him and ask him, are we going to the stadium today?

Are we going to work today with you? And so we really need that his wife Ellen and his kiddos could be part of this occasion. You've got to give credit to Ellen. She left the kids. She left the kids stay up late and maybe play a little hooky from school.

So it's really, really special to have them here and be able to see it. And, yeah, emotions wise, I mean, that at bat that Hannah had was ridiculous. And I was pretty wiped out after that one. And then, you know, I needed to refocus after giving up that hit to McNeil. So after getting that last strike out there, definitely had some emotions going.

I knew I was pretty much done for the night at that point. So kind of felt like we had a good chance of wrapping it up. And Evan and Zooks did it, scored a lot of runs.

J.D. had a couple of homers tonight, which was huge and just a great game. We needed a win tonight, too, as a team. So this was great all the way around. Just Clayton being Clayton, honestly. He's a pit bull, I feel like. He goes out there and he's hungry and he takes every start exactly the same. You know, it's one of those guys that, you know, every fifth day he's going to go out there and he's going to give you a chance to win a ball game every time. And, you know, to be on this side of the dugout now and seeing it on this side is a lot nicer.

J.D. Martinez, new teammate to Clayton Kershaw there on Sportsnet LA. So, yes, congratulations to Clayton. It's really more nostalgia now than it is reality, right, that we have one team for an athlete of his caliber. And yet he's forever a Dodger. I know there are a lot of athletes that we feel that way about.

Then they move on to other teams and you kind of have to make room for a different uniform, maybe a different hat. Clayton Kershaw, forever a Dodger. He's a throwback.

This man is a throwback. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So a piece of history for Clayton and for the Dodgers and a different type of history, as in starting from square one for the Seattle Kraken, their first ever playoff game. Up the left side, gets it up for Jaden Schwartz. He'll walk into the high slot, fire it across, scores! Alexander Wennberg comes into the zone, down the right side, into the circle, and the Seattle Kraken regain their lead. It's 2-1. Ties it up in the near corner. Three seconds to go on the board. Bergstrand against the wall, gets it out to Gordon.

There it is! The Game 1 horn will sound, and the Seattle Kraken have their first playoff win. They have a 1-0 series lead over the Avalanche going into a pivotal Game 2 right back here on Thursday night. It's a big task, and that's one game. Like I said, there's a lot of areas that we can play better in and that we'll work to do. We're going to stay off the ice tomorrow. We probably won't practice, so we've got to do and correct some of that through a couple meetings and some video.

We've just got to make sure that our energy is good, and we're going to have to come back and play better two nights from now. True NHL form, Dave Hextall does not get poetic. Is it wax poetic or emotional about the Kraken getting their first playoff win? I dare say the task at hand is really prominent in the focus.

Why? Because these are the defending champions, the Colorado Avalanche. But this was a big deal. Not only was it the first ever playoff win for the Kraken, you hear it with Everett Fitzhugh on Kraken Radio, but it was also the end of the streak of 10 consecutive first round victories for the Avalanche.

And so these guys are swimming uphill. Ellie Tolvenan scores the first goal in Kraken playoff history. Oh, it's awesome. We talked a lot about the first 10 minutes, and I think we showed up tonight. We really got in the first 10, and I think that carried the whole game. On Root Sports Northwest, a lot of adrenaline there for Tolvenan. This is kind of neat.

I love this history, and we get both sides of it. With Clayton Kershaw toward the end of his career, the Seattle Kraken just getting started. They draw well. The fan base is energized, and this can only help the fact that we will see the Kraken host playoff games with the defending champions in town. And actually, the Kraken had a record of 46-28-8 and were above.500 on the road, way above.500 on the road. And so to be able to go into Colorado and grab this first win puts even more pressure on the defending champions, who obviously aren't as dominant as they were a year ago, but are still trying to defend the throne. One hour down, it's the Hump Show. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.