5-8-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Find out more at T-Mobile dot com slash cy. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. Good morning to you. Happy May 8th. Are there any of those days that we need to celebrate this week? Last week it was not only May the 4th, but also Cinco de Mayo. It seemed like, oh, May Day was taking place last week as well.

This week of May might be relatively calm by comparison. I know my life just got a lot calmer with my insane, chaotic, hectic month behind me. I feel like I can breathe now, but actually I can't breathe too deeply because it hurts.

And getting out of my chair and sitting down in my chair also hurt because not only did I decide to run a half marathon to cap my insanely busy month of April, but I also didn't have money for the subway. So it's a long story. If you missed it, I told it last hour. Actually, did I tell it the hour before?

Last, no, last hour. So you'll have to go back and catch the podcast, but I lost my five dollars, so I didn't have money for subway and instead decided that I would walk the 30 plus blocks back to my car after running 13 miles. I saved myself some money, but let's, let's, so actually we were, when we would stop at street lights, so I had to wait across the street, I would stretch while I was stopped at street lights to try to help. But yeah, the metal got so heavy I had to take it off and carry it. It was too heavy around my neck and actually I should have known what I was in for when I came out of the park after running the half marathon and grabbing a bagel with some peanut butter and just kind of extra water where I could. There was a really steep hill to get back up into the Upper West Side along the river, so New York City, the Upper West Side is up. It's a higher elevation and so I had to climb this hill after having run 13.1 miles. No, it was painful. That was probably the most painful experience of the entire day.

Nothing really going my way on Sunday, though I did get to the race with five minutes to spare. I have a t-shirt that I'm wearing now as well as a medal of gaudy green and pink to show for it. It's, it's fantastic.

Maybe I'll share a photo of it actually. I'm really proud of it. The medals and the t-shirts, that's why I do this. No, it's because I love the accomplishment. I love the goal.

I love accomplishing a goal. The swag doesn't hurt though. No, I mean the swag is fine. They also give you free food and I had, are you ready for this? Post-race meal. A hand-tossed medium supreme pizza and, and I didn't even eat the whole thing. Jay, how's the pizza?

Jay's eating leftovers for breakfast right now. It's very good. It's good pizza. So I love supreme pizza. Bob and I realized we have that in common. His favorite pizza is also supreme, although that's not helpful because that'll mean we'll be more tempted to eat pizza as opposed to healthy foods. It is helpful though, so when you do get it, there's no debate, just supreme. Right, right, right, right.

Got you. And then ice cream with chocolate chips. I didn't have chocolate chip ice cream, so it's that I had ice cream with chocolate chips as well as a few of the M&Ms that Jay gave me for my birthday, which are, what were those called? Fudge brownie M&Ms.

Yeah, I'd never seen them before. So I put a few fudge brownie M&Ms as well as some chocolate chips on my vanilla bean ice cream. That was my dessert. That was beautiful.

It was well earned. I know that Andy Reid would have preferred cheeseburgers, but I had pizza and ice cream and I just kept, continued to guzzle water. I grew up on In-N-Out, but I've had a few Five Guys. Take it out of context.

That's just, it's not appropriate for this family show. And the Shake Shack, you know, I don't turn any of them away. That is my favorite, Shake Shack.

Shake Shack, any time of the day or night, I'll take some Shake Shack. I guess I could have done that. Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and your kudos now. If you missed the photo, it's on Twitter, A Law Radio, also on our Facebook page. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, I should not be surprised that many of you are commenting on my hat. I didn't really think about it, but yes, the hat is special and it is also my running hat. You can see that it's been torn up a little bit on the bill of the hat because I've washed it so many times, but it makes me happy. It's my girly pink, even when I feel disgusting after running.

And in this case, it matches the medal, so you can check that out, as I say, on Twitter or Facebook, but thank you. You all are very kind. I appreciate the support and yes, I am still smiling, though this morning I am incredibly sore, my entire lower half, and I don't think I'll be exercising until, maybe I'll take a walk on Wednesday, but I'm not mowing the lawn until much later in the week. Jay, how's the pizza? Jay's in there chomping away.

It's very good. I'm hungry and I just got hit with like a hunger pang and it's nailing it. Are you dropping cheese and pizza particles onto the soundboard? No, I'm very neat back here. I got my napkins. If I one time catch you looking over at the pizza instead of looking at me, we're going to have a problem.

I gave you the pizza. You could not use it as a distraction during the show. Multitasking is at work. Okay, let's be fair. You're not great at that.

Well, when it comes to pizza. When Jay and I are on the phone sometimes doing show prep, he is texting a potential guest and tells me I can't talk because he's texting. Yeah, I need laser focus for that. Laser focused? Is it a text?

Laser focus. That I suppose you better never send a text while you're driving. I don't. I usually don't. I try not to. I usually don't.

Oh, you did so well until it was almost like Pinocchio and his nose got longer, so he had to clarify. I try not to. I usually don't.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Again, thank you. You all are very kind and you keep me going with your encouragement. Plus, I love to share my stories of outrageous predicaments that I get myself into. To be fair, this was Penny's fault. Mostly Penny's fault. She was so mad at me. She was so mad at me.

If you missed the story, just go check out Hour 2 into Hour 3, and it's there for you in all of its glory. You will laugh. I promise you will laugh. Speaking of laughing, the Sixers, they weren't laughing at all when the Celtics rallied from double figures down in the second half of their Game 4. Man, this was looking like a wasted opportunity for the Sixers. Cross-score.

Niang. Three in the air. Boy, bricked it badly. Rebound comes to Tatum, moves it ahead, and Derek White is all alone for a two-hand slam. And the Celtics on the counter-strike cut it to seven. And Doc Rivers isn't going to wait. He's calling a timeout right now. Sixers have not scored in the first 2-0-5 of the quarter. And straightaway moves it to Jaylen Brown against Harden. Nine on the shot clock. Jaylen switches to the left hand, attacks the paint, makes the extra pass into the corner for a Marcus Smart three. Five-point game. This is as close as the Celtics have been since early in the second quarter. Jaylen Brown moving to the left side, so Tatum going to keep the dribble alive.

Then floated to Jaylen. Pretty good look. Left side three. Now got it. It's a two-point game four.

And it's gotten awful quiet in here now. Joel Embiid. Horford's hands on his face. Embiid. One dribble drives, stumbles towards the paint, runs it off the glass.

No good. Al may have gotten a piece, but he certainly got the rebound. And the Celtics, who have not led since midway through the first quarter, have an opportunity now with 456 to go in game four.

Oh, they definitely did. So that entire 16-point lead for the Sixers disappeared. Sean Grandy, Cedric Maxwell on Celtics radio.

Get this. At home in the fourth quarter, the Sixers managed all of 15 points. They were taking shots early in the shot clock. A lot of threes.

A lot of threes, which shouldn't surprise you at all. And as it turns out, Joel Embiid admits that he was a little out of gas in the late stages of the fourth quarter. I struggled a little bit that fourth quarter, but I got myself back and going. And I just had no lift in the fourth quarter, like you say, obviously.

The other day was my first time really going up and down. Tonight, playing a lot of minutes kind of got to me towards the end. But got it back in overtime and started being aggressive again. Oh, did someone say overtime? Yes, it required 46 minutes for Joel Embiid, 47 for James Harden.

And good thing for the Sixers that James Harden was in search of some redemption after two of the worst shooting performances of his playoff career. Get this. In games two and three combined, he had, are you ready? Five baskets. Five.

That's it. He was two of 14 in one of the games, three of 14 in the other games. So he's five for 28 combined in back-to-back games. And this is coming off, what, a 48-point performance in the opener when they did not have Joel Embiid.

And so, yes, he was searching for a little redemption. He got opportunities late in this one. Horford switches out on Harden. Harden with a dribble. Harden backs up. Now driving to the line. Into the lane with a floater.

Rimming good. Harden scores to tie it at 107. And Boston is going to inbound. They still have two timeouts left. The ball rolls toward mid-court, and they are not going to take a timeout.

So it's tied at 107. Just under 16 seconds to go. Boston going for the lead here. Marcus Smart brings it across. The final possession of game four. Smart outside left.

Six seconds to go. He goes to Tatum against Maxie. Tatum drives all the way into the lane.

Back out to Smart. Three-point shot up. Rimming short. No. Overtime.

That's Tom McGinnis on the Philadelphia 76ers radio network. So yes, James Harden has a floater that ties the game late in the fourth quarter. And the Celtics looked unorganized to me.

According to Jill Mazzulla, there was no need for a timeout. That was the play. We just had to play a little bit more pace. We had the right matchup.

Jason got downhill and made the right play at the rim. We just had to play a little bit more pace there. But that was the play. We did it times last year.

We played Brooklyn in game one. We didn't call a timeout. We got a layup on the last play. Sometimes the ball goes in. Sometimes it doesn't. But we got a good core group of guys that know how to play under pressure in those situations.

And it just doesn't always go your way. We were just trying to get the right guys in the right spot. We just went a little slower than expected. We wanted to go really fast.

They did a good job of getting their guys on the right people and making the play. We just got to see what was going on. See the timing.

We got to understand the timing. So you hear the perspective of first Jill Mazzulla then Jason Tatum with an inappropriate word. Well a word that's not radio usable.

Radio friendly if you will. He seems like he's doing that a lot more lately. Salty. I like salty Jason Taylor. Is that what Charles Barkley called him? Still drunk from vacation. That's how I played the night. There's no way that's actually what's happening. But maybe his alter ego coined by Charles Barkley. Good name is Jason Taylor. And then Marcus Smart after that.

So yes they're all in concert. But it wasn't that they didn't have a play. It wasn't that they didn't have the play they wanted. It was that they didn't get into the formation and get down the court quickly enough and ran out of time. Funny enough that would come back to be the story late in overtime as well.

Oh yeah kind of a similar theme. Think about this. James Harden has the last bucket for the Sixers in the fourth quarter. The Celtics have an opportunity.

They've got plenty of time. They run out of time. Marcus Smart gets the shot up.

It's no good. But it was harried there at the end. Keep that in mind as you get the final few seconds of OT. And beat guarded by Tatum. Left hand dribble into the lane at the dotted circle. Double teamed out to Harden. Three point shot for the lead is good.

Harden converts. 18 seconds to go. James Harden for three.

He's got 42. Boston ball no timeout. Celtics trail by one. And now the Sixers need to stop. Philadelphia 116.

Boston 115. Eight seconds to go. Tatum comes to get the ball.

Game four in the balance. Here's Tatum to the left side. Driving on Maxey. Double lane. Passes out to Smart.

He doesn't get it off. It goes in but it doesn't count. And Doc Rivers signaling to the Sixers.

This is incredible. Smart made the field goal but it appeared as though time expired and it did. The Sixers win the game. Marcus Smart got it off but not in time.

Are you serious? What a game. Oh man. Boston throwing it out. Smart nails a three but the game had ended. Once again Tom McGinnis on Sixers radio. Yeah so similar theme.

Similar progression. Harden has the go ahead three with about 18 seconds to go. Celtics have plenty of time but in this particular case once Smart actually jacks the shot up and it goes in it's after the red light and after the clock hit zeros. And it's funny actually because you hear it behind Tom on the radio call. When they show the replay on the big screen the eruption inside the arena to me as much as it was joy, euphoria, I kind of felt like it was relief from the Sixers fans as well as an emotional release of all the tension that they'd been feeling that had been building up since they blew the 16-point lead.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. James Harden 42 points in 47 minutes. He had 16 buckets in this game. So remember five total in games two and three.

16 baskets in this game to go along with nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals. That's what playoff basketball is about and you know we did that tonight. Of course we don't want to give up like we're not trying to give up a 15-point lead but it happens as a part of basketball we you know you see it a lot so you know it's like next play how it will control what you can control and and and keep fighting to you know zero zero on the clock.

Give me a game of runs. We got to sustain their runs. We got to keep our composure you know I was proud of our guys. I thought we lost our pace and part of that was due to fatigue. We we really shortened our rotation tonight and you know I thought that was the right thing to do. When we were playing at our pace all game we were getting whatever we wanted and that that was great. I thought our defense was good overall too. Tobias on Tatum for most of the game. For most of the game talk so a lot of good things.

Some things still to clean up. If you weren't watching on TV then maybe you missed the frequent shots of James Harden's special guest. This was really cool. Going back to February I believe it was late February maybe early March James Harden struck up a friendship with a survivor of the Michigan State campus shooting. It's a student. His name is John Howe. Because of his injuries he is paralyzed and he's in a wheelchair. Although I was so happy to see him at the game because the last time that we had seen any video or photos of him he was lying in a hospital bed. Not only was he there attending game four in his wheelchair but he was there as James guest. And there was video of Harden meeting him hugging him over the ropes before the game. And then afterwards bringing him onto the court allowing him to have the experience of being surrounded by all the media the photographers. I know Cassidy Hubbard a friend of mine she was going to do the interview postgame on court for ESPN. And she had to wait for James to sign his sneakers give them to John take some photos and at one point you could see James signaling for the team photographer to come and make sure that he got a photo of James and John together. As much as I poke fun at James Harden and I do I take every opportunity.

I will give credit where credit is due. He's had two incredible series saving performances for the Sixers especially this one. And this is so compassionate of him. The joy that he gave that young man and has given that young man apparently they've been communicating regularly on FaceTime.

He doesn't have to do that. He's gonna have to spend his time staying connected and supporting and encouraging this young man. And yet he gets outside himself recognizes what an opportunity he has to make a difference. And to see John there with his family cheering and laughing and having a good time meant so much to me. Think about the pain both physical mental and emotional that he's been through over the last two months. And yet there was joy on his face. He's not doing this to be the center of attention to have his 15 minutes of fame. Nah, this is a genuine friendship sparked by James. And the two of them get to meet in person and get to enjoy what was a really incredible afternoon for James.

He's my good luck charm. Your points are worth more than you think. This first class flight to Tokyo you can book it in your credit card portal for 1.4 million points. Yowzers. With PointMe you could redeem just 120,000 points for that same flight.

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That's point.me. Attention listeners. I'm pleased to announce that Radio Rental is returning for another installment of Terrifying Tales. If you happen to be new here, I'm Terry Carnation, current proprietor of the Radio Rental video store where I possess a collection of the scariest true stories you've ever heard all told by real people. Mark your calendars for... Oh, apparently it's available right now. I'm a little late with this promo.

Listen for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Obviously like any of us in here, the tragedy like that to happen, you know what I mean? It's like it's a lot of nonsense that's going on in the world. So for him to be a victim of that is heartbreaking. You know what I mean? But he's strong. He's bouncing back. He's recovering very well. And I feel like it's my job to just give him that smile that he deserves, that he needs.

And hopefully today was one of those days where, you know what I mean? He's smiling and that's all I'm here for. Bravo, James Harden.

Yes, John Howe is an inspiration. He's tough. He's resilient. He's determined.

He's adjusting to a life that he never expected as a college student. But to have you, James, as an inspiration to him, no doubt you are his hero. That is a great example as a role model. We need to highlight more of that.

And many, many athletes do this. It's just this morning, we get to talk about James, his 42 points, and not only serving as a light for his team and inspiration, a spark for his team, but also for John Howe. You can find me on Twitter, A-LOL Radio.

Our Facebook page too. Love the playoff conversation. Love the hat conversation.

You just got to go check it out. You all crack me up. I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you enjoyed my story. It's okay that you laugh at me. I have no problems with it. My life is comical.

I might as well use it for other people's amusement. But I'm telling you, the dog did it on purpose. She backed up. She backed up, she put it in reverse. Stubborn dog, 13 and a half years old, and she still has a toad.

What is that about? Oh, she knew what she was doing the whole time. I had to push her. Imagine like just seeing that from a window.

Yeah, no doubt. My neighbors are behind their curtains. Oh my, plus I told you she's half deaf. So in order to get her attention, I have to yell. I'm not yelling at her. I'm yelling to her.

But she ignores me selectively. And then she was trying, the little poop, she was trying to back up. She knew I was in a hurry and she refused to go any faster. In fact, she went slower on purpose. It's her Sunday morning stroll. She wanted it. She looks forward to that.

Oh, she was so mad at me. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Cameron Payne gets the ball over to Kevin Durant. Durant's double team.

He breaks loose. Keeps coming. Keeps coming. 15-footer. Looks good.

Is good. Durant swings it over to Shamath. Another three.

Shazam, Landry, Shamath making a believer. And Denver says, hold it. Time out. Booker waiting on the distance. Four shots.

Four ticks to the clock. They're going to Shamath in the corner for three. Landry, Shamath, Shazam. Another triple. Durant over on the right side. Back to Booker. They swing it in the corner to Shamath. Another three. Shazam.

Well, he's hot. He has found his spot. Landry, Shamath just keeps knocking down three.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Landry, Shamath to the rescue. Phoenix survived a pretty serious charge from the Nuggets in the fourth quarter, though the Suns did not trail in that final quarter. And a big reason why. Shamath with his four triples in the fourth quarter alone.

This is the stuff that I love. This is where I tell you, analytics cannot measure heart. They can't measure determination. They can't measure how a player will step up under pressure on the biggest stage in his sport.

They also can't measure opportunity. Can't measure how a defense is going to play a particular player, or whether he makes otherworldly shots with hands in his face. Landry had 14 total points in all of the Suns playoff games to this point. Total 14 points.

19 last night. These are all NBA players. I know that sounds redundant. These are all world-class athletes. Sometimes it's about opportunity. And when you play on a roster with Kevin Durant, even when he's not out there. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton, Chris Paul, generally. Chris Paul's out, but there are so many different athletes who pose different looks for this Suns team. This is why as soon as Kevin Durant joined them, a lot of the odds were in favor of the Suns winning the NBA championship. And Landry's a role player, but he was required to step up and he did. It's cool that when we get this deep into the playoffs, we'll get this theme over and over. A player stepping up here or there.

Sometimes it's unexpected, but I love that because heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears. These guys prepare, they work, they train. In some cases, if you're not a superstar, you never know when the opportunity will come. And as I say, analytics formulas, they can only gauge so much. They can't tell you who it will be on any given night. And over the course of a potentially seven game series, how often that changes, right? Because the defense is the just. Players, it's almost like AI, except it's not artificial.

It's really, it's a learning process of getting to know your opponent, how they might play you. Whether it's an individual matchup or whether it's team overall. So Landry ends up with 19, both Devin Booker and Kevin Durant with 36. And Katie played 44 minutes, but he feels like he's right in his wheelhouse.

I felt great. I mean, 19 shots, that's pretty much how I could tell I was in the flow of the game, you know, not trying to search for shots, you know, not rushing shots. So great win for us. As for the Nuggets, they waste 53 points from Nikola Jokic.

53 points. He essentially was able to get toward the hoop, get in the lane, a lot of points in the paint for the Nuggets. So they were taking higher percentage shots, but the Suns were able to withstand.

He's a two time MVP. He can score every way imaginable, but I still think our guys made it tough on him. DA was physical. Jock was physical, and that's all you can do. And there are times where you have to trust the contested hand and hope he misses.

It's a tough matchup. You know, he's either scoring or he's getting his teammates involved or he's doing both. So, you know, every possession, just try to make it hard on him, make it tough on him. I mean, he can have 50 all he wants as long as we get the win.

That's all we're going for. He can have 50 all he wants as long as we get the win. That's Devin Booker on the NBA on TNT.

So Booker with a playoff career high, 12 assists. So he was really the facilitator, especially in that fourth quarter for Landry Shammett. Both teams shot over 56% in this game. You may think there was not a lot of defense. That's not necessarily the case. The Suns were making a bunch of contested shots, and so they, I felt like, really shot well under duress.

Now, later in the game, the rotations weren't there. Mike Malone didn't love the way that his team was doubling, but then not getting back with a sense of urgency to find the open man, because when you double, obviously, there is going to be an open man somewhere on the court. So we'll hear from the Nuggets and Mike Malone. But the moment that I say most fans will be talking about on Monday, in fact, the reason that Nikola Jokic is trending on Twitter is not because of his 53-point performance.

That's not the reason. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Saved by Akogi and out of bounds. Last touch by Phoenix, says Tony Brothers.

That's not going to sit well. And we got a fight in the corner. All Jokic wants is the ball. He's trying to get the ball. All he wants is the ball to inbound it. And the fans are like, grab it and take it. He's trying to get the ball. They're pulling Joker for some reason, but Denver security.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The call on Nuggets radio. It is the reason that Nikola Jokic or Jokic is trending on social media.

Not because his 53 points, though I suppose that's a nice piece of the story. Nah, instead it's because he gets into a altercation would be too strong of a word. He exchanges words and even elbows, maybe flailing of arms. There's things flailing. He's flailing with the owner of the Phoenix Suns. He actually responded to the owner of the Suns who put his hand on the waist of Jokic only to get a forearm shiver to the chest, to the upper chest. So in this particular case, if you watch the video, the owner makes contact with Jokic before Jokic responds. Now it looks a lot more forceful when Jokic does it. And he receives a technical foul for that incident.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You'll hear from Jokic as well as Mike Malone here momentarily. But there was a loose ball that went into the corner. Josh Okogie ends up in the front row of the stands trying to save it. Jokic is one of those guys who does this on a regular basis when there's a ball that's out of bounds and he thinks the Nuggets can retrieve it, give it to the officials, and get an advantage by pushing it up court.

He wants to do that. I mean, this is something you see with Jokic fairly often. But in this case, the ball ends up with the owner of the Phoenix Suns. And so Jokic attempts to grab it away. And in doing so, the ball squirts free and it ends up kind of two or three seats over to the right.

So as he's trying to get the ball back, these guys are standing in really close quarters. And the Suns owner kind of puts a hand on his back around his waist area. And that's what Jokic took exception to. Jokic ends up with a technical foul.

And yes, the Suns do actually end up with the extra point. He told me I was elbowing the fan. So but the fan put the hand on me first. So I thought the league supposed to protect us or whatever. So but maybe, maybe I'm wrong.

So we will see. Did you happen to know who the fan was? He's a fan of, he's a no, no, no, no. I know who he is, but he's a fan, isn't he? Phoenix Suns owner. Sitting on the court and he's a fan, isn't he?

That doesn't mean that he's whoever it is and he's a fan. He cannot influence the game by holding the ball. I think it's crazy that Nicole got a technical foul in that situation. He's going to get the ball and some fan is holding on to the ball. Like he wants to be a part of the game. Just give the ball up, man.

They deemed Nicole doing something that was excessive, I guess, and they gave him the tech. But I still don't really understand it. Do you think the fans, the owner of the Suns made any difference? I don't give a s***. I really don't care. I know that Malone was making a point there by saying he doesn't care whether or not this was the owner of the Suns.

But I do think the larger point rings true. Sure, he's got a lot of money. He's the boss. He signs the checks.

Maybe, maybe not. Yeah, he's courtside and he's really important there in Phoenix. However, if you're not a player or an official, you are there in a fan capacity. He has no official role with the team while they're in the middle of a game.

He's cheering, correct? He's not working. If you were a member of the media, you'd be working. If you were a photographer, that's completely different. Not that you are supposed to insert yourself into a game, but you are there on an official capacity.

So as a photographer, you're lined up and you kind of know that you're in a potential landing zone, if you will. I understand Nicola's point, which is the NBA supposed to be protecting us from contact by fans, not the other way around. And just because he's an owner of the other team, doesn't mean that he should be allowed to make contact with a player. Now in this, it seemed relatively benign. It seemed harmless what this owner was doing, but I understand why Jokic would take offense.

Like you're heightened, you're full of adrenaline. This is a critical point in the game, kind of. I mean, it's late first half. You're trying to make a push here.

You're in hostile territory, so keep that in mind. Jokic knows he's in an arena full of Suns fans. And while he didn't necessarily need to take exception to this guy putting a hand on his waist or kind of on his back near his waist, I don't think I would love it either. And the larger point is that the NBA actually will kick fans out. Not that you're kicking out the owner of the team from his own arena, but the fans who touch players get removed. So we'll see what we get from the NBA today, if anything. But he did receive a technical foul.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As for what went wrong, Nuggets made a push there late, but... We lost. I don't know if it got away from us. They beat us. You did lose, yeah. Close game, lost by five. Give credit to Landry Shammet. You know, I mean, knocks down five threes and, you know, we were trying to make other guys beat us, not named Booker, not Durant. And so now both those guys got 36 and Shammet got 19 off the bench.

Yeah, it definitely was an opportunity for Landry Shammet to step up, to shine, and he took full advantage. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. So if you look at the NBA schedule for... I just hiccuped. I'm sorry, I don't know why. I can't really be responsible for bodily functions after what happened in the last 24 hours. I still can't believe that I overslept on the morning of a half marathon and made it with five minutes to spare.

Five minutes. Didn't eat. Didn't eat. Didn't eat. Didn't get to go to the bathroom. Ran a half marathon without eating or using the bathroom. Dog just giving you a hard time.

Dog refused to cooperate. I lost my five dollars. I had to walk 30 blocks because I didn't have subway fare.

Link in tunnel issues. Oh my gosh, it makes this half marathon even more of an accomplishment and achievement, I guess, because I literally ran a half marathon without eating. Who does that? I'm telling you, you did a whole triathlon before you even started your half marathon that morning, yesterday morning. Oh, the stress too, the stress level. It was through the roof. Monday's gonna be so much calmer compared to my Sunday. So coming up on this Monday, we've got game five.

Nope, I lied. Game four between the Warriors and the Lakers. We've also got game four between the Knicks and the Heat, and that's the early game.

And holy cow, Jimmy Butler. Now you can look at these two teams and recognize that the defensive intensity in this series is greater than any other. And actually in the two Eastern Conference series, you're getting far more physical tenacious defense than you are in the West, which stands to reason.

That's pretty standard. But Jimmy Butler and the Heat are being aggressive. They use defense to spark offense and they get to the free throw line. In the blowout of the Knicks in game number three, 31 free throws. They made 28 of them. Hello, 28 points on the free throw line alone.

And then 28 points from Jimmy Butler, although nearly half of his points, actually more than a third of his points come from the free throw line. I work extremely hard at my craft and I'm very grateful to be able to play for an organization in the city like Miami. I mean, then my teammates got a lot to do with that. They're always making sure I'm catching the ball in spots where I'm comfortable and letting me be aggressive, taking great shots, taking bad shots. They're always in my corner.

They're always in my corner, so a lot of that actually goes to them. You can always get the ball to them and know that we'll get something efficient and coherent. But in the meantime, we have a bunch of guys stepping up. We're more dangerous.

A lot of guys are putting their fingerprints on the wind and that's both ends of the court. But you need a guy like Jimmy also. OK, I love Eric Spolstra.

I believe he is the most underappreciated coach in the NBA and he's been there forever. But coherent? And know that we'll get something efficient and coherent. Coherent is a word that is an adjective that is often used to describe conversation or anyone who might be speaking. Is his speech coherent? If it's incoherent, a lot of times it's because there's the influence of something or a medical emergency, one or the other. So Jimmy Butler does like to talk, but I don't think that's what he means. It's coherent.

It makes sense. Well, I guess that could be the application, what you get from Jimmy Butler, because when you're coherent, it means you're making sense, you're making a point, you're understandable. That's kind of a wider definition of the word, but maybe that's what he meant.

That's what I think he means. Like Jimmy Butler, when he's got the ball, he's sound. Like you can trust him. You don't have to worry about him being chaotic. He's just, he's sound. All right, but that's not what coherent means.

No. I'm going to go with it makes sense. What Jimmy Butler's doing makes sense with the basketball. So Knicks have got to figure out their stuff, as do the Warriors. 27 points off turnovers against the Lakers on Saturday night. That was a 30-point blowout. So yeah, 27 points. Well, there's your ball game, but also Anthony Davis, just a monster game again. Even if it's not 30-plus points, he's really efficient with the ball in his hands in game number three. 25 plus 13 rebounds. Three assists, three steals, four block shots.

All right, on and on and on we go. So yeah, we should have some good stuff tonight in both hoops and hockey. We didn't even get to all of what happened over the weekend. A little bit of football we didn't even talk about.

How about that? That's so out of character for us. But this week we will talk about football because the schedule release is Thursday. I normally don't care. I don't know why.

Oh, I know why. It's because Jay and I have done an over-under on the number of Jets games that are on national TV. I set the line at nine and I went over. Jay went under. How many do you think?

I'm thinking I'll go seven. This includes Amazon Prime. Correct. Are you kidding me? The Broncos with Russell Wilson last year were scheduled to be on TV, national TV, more than half their schedule.

How did that go? I hope they learned. Well, it's not the NFL's fault. They want to showcase Aaron Rodgers in gang green. In green. In Jets green. Let's see it first before we plug in 10 not prime time. National games there. We'll talk to you tonight. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom.