After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Good morning to you. It's a Thursday and we are now through four whole games in the NBA playoffs, but don't get used to it because typically the postseason does not move this quickly. But we are on the cusp of the whole bracket, tipping off on Saturday and Sunday, and then we'll have all eight series set by the time we get through Friday night. So there's still a lot to be decided and we're going to get to not just the Bulls and a career game for Kobe White, who finished with 42 as they dispatched the Atlanta Hawks, but also the Miami Heat, the defending Eastern Conference champions. Right now could be missing Jimmy Butler or not have a healthy Jimmy Butler for their game against Chicago that comes up on Friday, so there's a lot of injuries that are making news in these first couple of days. We know Zion Williamson will not play Friday. He got hurt late in that game against the Lakers the other night, so he's out.

Don't think Giannis will be available for the beginning of the Bucks series either when we get to the full bracket over the weekend. So there are injuries that are affecting guys, and honestly, that's always the case. You end up with a long season like this one, and not only have teams been through the ringer, losing guys and getting guys back. In some cases it goes well, like Philadelphia and Joel Embiid comes back, but they're not likely in the situation they're in right now if Joel Embiid had been playing all season. So injuries are always a part of the equation in sports, both professional and college. Some of these, though, that have happened in the last couple of days can really impact what we see moving forward.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on the Infinity Sports Network. Another storyline on this Thursday, it could happen sometime in the next 24 hours, is that the Arizona Coyotes. The fans bid farewell to their team. The Coyotes could be on the move to Salt Lake City, and there are a lot of fans. Every time a move comes up, and this particular franchise, I wouldn't say the Arizona fans, but if there are longtime fans of the Coyotes, which has had multiple stops. I mean, that's just the most recent iteration of it, but if you're a longtime fan of this particular franchise that's like the Washington commanders and has had multiple names over the past few years, well then I understand that it hurts and it can be a problem.

You can feel like you are getting treated like the gum on the bottom of the new owner's shoe. His name, by the way, is Ryan Travis. No, not Ryan Travis. Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. He's also the owner of the Utah Jazz. Ryan Smith, yes. Do you think that's an alias? Smith? It might be an alias. It's very generic. There are a lot of Smiths in the world. He's generic, but he owns the Utah Jazz and is about to own the Arizona Coyotes and move them to Salt Lake. Anyway, like I say, that news could happen.

It could be reality in these next few hours on Thursday. But yeah, you're talking about a franchise that has moved multiple times and has already probably left a trail of sad fans in its wake. But it's a team that has had some real tough seasons.

It's been tough to support. And it's had, well I guess depending upon who you ask, either an owner who wasn't committed to winning and who had a quick trigger, lots of changes, front office, coaches, all that stuff, or just no consistency because of the fact that it's been moved all around. And it's been a fight now, similar to what's happening with Oakland, though that franchise is far more established and has been there longer, the Oakland A's.

But you're talking about players and fans who were not in the best situation anyway. It's a small NHL arena, right? And so it's not a place that's really conducive to an NHL team that can compete with the best of the rest in the league. But the problem is when owners, now that's one aspect to it, just like the Coliseum for Oakland and how bad the facilities and the resources are there, why would free agents want to go to a place that's run down and has leaks and rats and just all kinds of stuff, right? The Oakland Coliseum is a dump. I can understand why free agents wouldn't want to go there and I can understand why fans don't want to buy tickets to go there, especially if the team sucks, right?

So what comes first? The team's sucking or the fans not supporting the team, which makes the owner want to leave and also makes the owner less likely to sink money into it because the team's not winning, if that's the mentality of your owner. Now, not every owner is like that. Some owners will spend, spend, spend until they put a winner on the field, the court, the ice. But in the case of Oakland, I mean, they've had some really good teams in the past. They definitely have.

They've obviously got World Series in their history and playoff spots. The whole Moneyball thing, it worked for a while. But when the winning goes away or when the winning isn't as consistent, well, then fans are less likely to spend the money. And when that happens, well, then there's less revenue coming in for the owners. So see what I'm saying? It's a cycle.

But what comes first? The team stinks and starts losing and the fans go away or the owner is not investing in the team. So the team stinks and the fans go away.

It's a harsh cycle. So that's Oakland, another team that's on the cusp of moving. In the case of Arizona, again, you're talking about a small arena, a really small arena. There are college arenas that are larger than what they play in. It is really a college arena, honestly.

Yeah. But there are, think Frozen 4 and the passion for hockey, college hockey and other places, or even college basketball. Gosh, there are college baseball and softball stadiums that draw more people than this. And so you've got kind of this team in limbo, I suppose, though the reports are that they're headed to Salt Lake.

And you've got fans who now in the final hour, after all these questions about relocation, are upset about it and showing up and in fact, expressing their displeasure to the point where you could hear it over the radio mics. Groberg again, and it goes over the glass and out of play. Let's take one more look at that last goal, Matias Michelli. Ratu with the pass. Down low, 16, 19. He's heating it up.

Matias Michelli with the hands to knock that down on a mid air, get it to the forehand, then to the backhand and elevate that pump. Salt Lake sucks. Salt Lake sucks. Maybe that's their ode to the new owner who is determined to move them to Salt Lake City, along with his other team, the Jazz, and in doing so, really at this point only needs the approval of the Board of Governors for it to be a done deal. Now, the team's only been in this arena for a couple of years, but it's not a great situation.

It's not a good home. It's like the Chargers playing in a soccer stadium. And so you've got this long saga that impacts fan interest and certainly impacts the product they put on the ice.

And what do I tell you all the time? Constant change equals constant losing in sport. And here's another example. Now it's different because we're not talking about a roster necessarily. We're talking about ownership changes and arena changes and constant questions about whether or not the team would stay put.

All of that has created or led to the creation of a product that's not as easy to support. Apparently, there was a very emotional tribute delivered by the TV voice of the Arizona Coyotes, and it's pretty long so we can't use it, but maybe we'll retweet it from our show account, at Amy After Hours, because it's been viewed, gosh, a million plus times. And it was by their TV play-by-play guy who apparently left viewers in tears. So there are some passionate fans, I suppose. They showed up last night. What a tough situation. Maybe they'll get hockey again in the future, or maybe they won't. But you kind of hate it when it comes down to that last minute and then fans show up.

But I certainly understand why you don't want to spend your hard-earned money for a product that isn't worth supporting, but that's kind of the catch-22 that I'm talking about. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can find me on Twitter, A Law Radio, as I mentioned, our show Twitter, Amy After Hours. Also on our Facebook page, Todd Walsh. That's the guy you want to search for.

Either Google him or find on social. And it was his farewell to Coyotes hockey and the fans. And certainly there's uncertainty.

That sounded funny. Certainly. Uncertainty. There is obviously uncertainty for the players as well, like the rookie Josh Doan, who has a connection to Arizona beyond just his own career because his father Shane's number has been retired by the franchise.

Thank you to them for everything that they've done for us. And obviously it's something that there's a lot of disappointed people out there and people that are upset and it's going to hurt and it's going to sting for a while. And that's something that as a player you want to feel apologetic for everything. But as someone who's grown up in the Valley and grown up with it, you kind of feel the pain as well. But I think it's something where tonight you just focus on the game and enjoy one last game and then who knows what's going to happen down the road. But for now, the Coyotes are still Arizona's team for one more day.

So just kind of embrace it. You know, interesting. His tenure or his relationship with the Coyotes goes back a lot longer because his father was the captain.

So he's been dealing with this kind of in the larger context of his family for years. Where would they land? Where would they play? Will they relocate?

And so because he grew up in the Valley, right, where his father was there with the Coyotes for years, he's kind of got a different perspective. But yeah, it does seem inevitable now that they're headed to Utah. Obviously it's hard to move and there's a lot that's going on. I think at the end of the day it's something that we don't want to take anything away from Salt Lake City. And the people there, obviously, they've done nothing wrong. They're embracing us with open arms and it's hard moving away from home. Now here's the deal.

The NHL has indicated that if a new arena, an actual arena dedicated to the NHL team that meets specs and standards for the rest of the league, if it's built in the next five years, they will get an expansion team. But that always is, to me, is just kind of a slap in the face. You couldn't keep your own team but we're going to give you another team.

It's just, yeah, it's a little odd. But you can expect that news sometime today. And Josh Stone and the rest of the Coyotes and the fans will then have to deal with it. Similar to what A's fans are dealing with. Chris is in Sacramento. Chris, thank you for your patience. So what's your perspective?

Well, thank you for taking my call, Amy. You know, Sacramento fans have been campaigning for a baseball franchise since the 1980s. And what gets me is now that they're finally going to be getting one, there's been talk on local radio, even among the host and the fans that, oh, once the A's come here, we're not going to bother seeing them because they're putting a subpar product out on the field. And, you know, it kind of reminds me of the videos you see on YouTube when that kid gets a new BMW for their birthday but they're disappointed because it's not the color they wanted. It's like, hey, you're getting this wonderful opportunity to host a franchise and maybe it'll dovetail into something a little bit longer than the initial three or four-year term.

But, yeah, you're ungrateful and you haven't even received the team yet. Interesting perspective. You're right. Sacramento is getting the A's for a time until the stadium in Vegas is done. That's what we think will happen.

I guess there's always a chance there could be an 11th hour type of move. But, yeah, I wonder how Sacramento fans will react since it's not their team, quote, unquote. It's a team that belongs to another city and they're just getting them on loan. Yeah, you know, and they've been really supporting the Kings fervently for years and the Kings have had many bad years.

Yes, they've always had the fan base, but what makes the A's any different? I mean, things can turn around once they get to Sacramento. It's a shame they have to share the stadium with the River Cats, but it could be temporary. You never know. There may be the possibility within this time frame that A's will be here and another stadium can be built. I don't know where the location is.

I don't really know its room, but you never hold it out against hope. Briefly touching about the Oakland College team itself, number one, I feel sorry for the fans for losing their franchise. But it is kind of run down. But you mentioned how winning makes a difference. When the 49ers were a candlestick, it was often seen as a dump, but affectionately known as our dump. But because they had that winning history, it made all the difference in the world. That is so true.

It really is true. And when there's winning, I still say the fans will show up. For the most part, I mean, there's questions about the Rays, for instance. No matter how they win, it doesn't seem like fans want to fill that stadium, you know, Tropicana Field. It's just such a bad place to go watch a game anyway. So yeah, I think that A's fans are passionate and I feel badly that the city, the ownership couldn't ever come to an agreement. But at the same time, there are very few fans that are showing up. Now, I'm not saying they should. I wouldn't want to spend money on a crappy product either, but that's what I mean.

What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Yeah, it's kind of a tough argument to work out and I think a lot of it had to deal with the mismanagement by A's ownership. And I feel like if they wouldn't pay the dedication to try and improve the facilities, they would have kept the Raiders.

And well, in this case, the A's. So it's just a shame to see this coming to an end. Right. Agreed with you. It always is hard for fans who really care. But there's also the segment of the fan population that only cares when it's about to leave, too.

Although it's hard to know the percentage of that. But I appreciate your perspective, Chris. Thank you so much. Thank you. 855-212-4227 remains our number coming up.

The wild ride that has been the Chicago Bulls season continues with a blowout win, kind of, against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. We'll talk with David Haugh, who's from our Chicago affiliate AM 670 The Score. He's co-host of Mully and Haugh. Of course, they'll have plenty to talk about after Kobe White's career performance. And we'll talk to him next here on After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Kobe all the way to the cup. Saw an open lane, lays it in with the right hand, and Kobe with 34. 13 of 18 from the field. 116-98 pulls and a blowout.

Kobe lets it fly. Call from mom. Answer it.

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Shopify.com slash Odyssey podcast. ID three. Got it. Put them in the hole.

Put them in the hole with fame. Timeout Atlanta. Kobe White has been unbelievable tonight. In 36 minutes, he has just over and over and over responded. Kobe with 37 on the night.

Timeout Hawks. I didn't come into the game saying I was going to put the team or whatever. But I just wanted to be aggressive and take what the defense gave me and, you know, just try to lead. Coming to the games, I just want to impact winning on both ends of the ball. And that's what I focus on. And just tonight, like, I just was aggressive and, you know, thinking it was going my way.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Aggressive might be an understatement for Kobe White. He's flying around, dazzling us with the moves. Like his pants were on fire or his hair was on fire. Either way, something was on fire. And the Bulls go from being up. What was it? 18 after one quarter to allowing the Hawks back into it in the second quarter to then pulling away in the second half.

So as always, the inconsistency could have been a microcosm of their season. Chuck Swarovski on Bulls radio. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. And we're pleased to welcome David Ha. Our friend from Molyneux Hall, our Chicago affiliate, AM 670. The score will get ready for his morning show. And so we appreciate a couple of minutes. David, how infuriating are these Bulls sometimes? Well, they're always entertaining.

Good morning, Amy. And that was the guarantee that we knew going in. We said before the game on our show on Wednesday morning, this Bulls team, you easily could see them losing by 15 or winning by 15. There was almost going to be no in-between.

And certainly when you hit your threes at the rate they did, and you get the clutch performance from a guy like Kobe Wise who came ready to play in attack mode, this is what happened. So they earned the right to get back to where they were a year ago at this time, when they won the first play-in game, and now they play the Heat in Miami, just like they did almost exactly a year ago. Why, though? Why does it have to be so inconsistent?

Well, that's a great question. And I think part of it is because they have had, you know, every team deals with injuries. The Bulls are one of those NBA teams that when they hit those threes, and, you know, they shot 57, 58 percent from the field last night. So when they are hitting, then they're going to be a team capable of beating a team like the Hawks by 15. And when they're not, they look slow. What's been most maddening about the Bulls is that they play to the level of their competition. They are good enough on any given night to beat some good teams. And then I think they lost to the Pistons twice.

So they have a lack of focus at times that, you know, if I knew the answer to that, I think, you know, I'd have Ph.D. at the end of my title and not radio host. Nice. 42 points in 43 minutes for Kobe White. DeMar DeRozan has a nice game as well.

And then Vucevic ends up with a double-double. But there's now concern about Alex Caruso. How much would it hurt if they don't have him against Miami?

It would hurt a lot because he is the guy that I think does all the dirty work. And he's going to be on the All-NBA All-Defensive Team, I think, for the second year in a row. The only thing that balances that potentially this year that makes it different is that the status of Jimmy Butler is just as murky. And I think when you see reports that Jimmy Butler might be dealing with an MCL issue that is more pronounced than maybe you'd like it to be through the Heat, that could balance out the loss of Alex Caruso. Alex Caruso was a tough guy, but he didn't return and they missed him because not only, you know, can he hit the occasional big shot, but he's the guy that gets the big steal and rebound when you need it. So, David, Billy Donovan ends up coming out and saying, Hey, I'm staying here.

I'm not going to Kentucky, not taking that job. There are a few other guys that did that, too. But Donovan, one of the first, if I remember correctly. What's your reaction?

Is that a positive or a negative? Well, I'm a big Billy Donovan guy. What's been really hard to reconcile this year is that the Bulls have been so inconsistent with their approach. And Billy Donovan has never wavered in terms of the way he deals with the media publicly, the way that he handles his players internally, and he's the most consistent guy you're ever going to meet. And I think when the Kentucky news came, or the speculation began after Cal left for Arkansas, it was legitimate because of the way that Kentucky offered him the job basically when he repeated at Florida. And I think that made sense, but it wasn't a distraction. It wasn't anything other than a story that he needed to address. And one thing about Billy Donovan, if you've got the time, he'll give all the answers to you. He will explain in vivid detail what his commute is like, what the last possession was like, and why he is flattered by the interest in Kentucky, but wants to stay in the NBA.

So there was no ambiguity and there was no mystery. With Billy Donovan, what you see is what you get. And I think that a lot of people in Chicago appreciate him and can't figure out why his team is so inconsistent when he is the same guy every day.

Well, that's what I was going to ask you next. Under Donovan now, this is the fourth season that they've completed, at least the regular season. There's been just one year in which they were above.500, so why should he continue coaching?

I guess that's the question. It's a fair question, Amy, and I think from the outside you realize too with the NBA and turnover the fact of life. I would offer this, and not necessarily the strong defense of Billy Donovan, just as an explanation, I don't think the roster has been put together in a way that's always made sense. The Bulls, they don't have shooters that make them conducive to play in today's NBA. Last offseason, they embraced the status quo after finishing with a loss to the Heat and blowing a lead late in the second play-in game.

They did nothing. They relied on Lonzo Ball coming back, which was a full errand, and Zach Levine to be your max player. He's been out, and they've actually been better without Zach. I think when you look at the roster that Billy Donovan has dealt with, it's lacked shooting, it's lacked some other factors that make the Bulls play in the way that he would like to. I think he hasn't done a great job, but I don't think he's done a poor job either.

I think the way that he has approached it has been good enough to justify why he still has two years left on his contract. I think he's got job security in Chicago. David Haugh is with us from our Chicago affiliate, AM 670, the score getting ready for his morning show.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. We're also just over a week away from the NFL draft, and I know chatter has died down just a little bit because there was so much of it around combine and pro days, but what is the bigger story? Is it the Bulls potentially getting into the main bracket, or is it what the Bears finally do with their number one pick?

There's no doubt it's still the Bears, Amy. There's no doubt that it's still the anticipation of Caleb Williams and the expectation and the reality, really, that the Bears are on the verge of something special. They also have the ninth pick. When you have the first and the ninth pick in a draft this deep, you are going to get two impactful day one players. The Bulls, great win last night.

They may even win Friday night in Miami because Jimmy Butler's status is iffy, and they may go to Boston on Sunday as a real legitimate playoff team, but they earn the right to get swept by the Celtics. That's the way Chicago is looking at the Bulls postseason, whereas the Bears, it's a Bears town. Caleb Williams is the quarterback they've never had, and there's a ton of excitement about the NFL draft. A week from today, we'll be going to work, and we'll be talking about the Bears changing the course of their franchise. How much did the chatter about Caleb, his personality, how he did an interview well?

I don't know. Him being a diva, how much did that matter in Chicago to fans? Well, back to that end with, as you well know, the groundswell of support that Justin Fields had, and I think that for months it was a full-fledged controversy, and there were some legitimate questions about whether or not the Bears would find something doing their due diligence that would keep them away from Caleb Williams as the quarterback. His dad made a lot of noise last summer. A lot of people re-reported false impressions of what Caleb Williams was really like, but after the trade of Justin Fields to the Steelers for basically lawn equipment, I think that you look at what they're doing now, and they haven't found anything but praise for Caleb Williams. He is a guy with high football maturity.

The tape speaks for itself. And now there's, I think, legitimate excitement that outweighs the maybe bad feelings that existed with people who really, really supported Justin Fields. What was your reaction, I haven't had a chance to talk to you, when he ended up in Pittsburgh?

I understood what was going on. We've seen this around the NFL, addition by subtraction, and that's not a slight of Justin Fields, but there was no way you were doing either quarterback, you would be doing them a disservice if they were both on the roster the moment that Caleb Williams was drafted, because it wasn't tenable to keep both guys in the building. It wasn't conducive to the best environment for a rookie quarterback. You had to get rid of Justin Fields just because he was so popular, and he wasn't going to beat out Caleb Williams.

The notion of competition was flawed, so I knew what they had to do. You don't always get the best return in a trade when everybody knows you've got to a motor guy, and Ryan Polis did what he had to do, and I think he basically cleared the deck, opened the locker room, and he made his commitment, full-fledged one, to Caleb Williams. And where do the Cubs factor into all of this?

Very exciting. They went two out of three in Arizona. They went two out of three in Seattle. They blew a game in San Diego.

They would be coming home from a West Coast road swing in very good shape. They've had injuries, and they've started to overcome them. Craig Council is very deliberate.

He's very monotone. He's very thoughtful, but he's also very smart, and the Cubs feel like they have an advantage. They've had injuries to their ace in Justin Steele, their best hitter in Seiya Suzuki, and they're still above water, so once things get going, I think there's an excitement level.

And where do they fit in the landscape? I think you know it's Bears, Cubs, and then everyone else, and the Bulls are getting their share right now. Even with Connor Bedard in Chicago, the Blackhawks?

Well, you know what? They are finishing the season tonight out in L.A. It's going to be a late one, but Connor Bedard will probably win the Calder Cup. It's going to be a tough couple years. They recovered from, or they're trying to dig out of the hole they created for themselves with the scandal, and then they had to tank for Connor, and then they got Bedard, and now they're starting to add some pieces.

They've got a really interesting collection, exciting collection of young talent under 23 years old. The Blackhawks will be back. It will just be a matter of time.

Well, it's good that it's a completely different regime, a completely different roster, so that fans can start fresh and support. I'm just going to assume that right now there's not much chatter about the woeful White Sox. Oh, my gosh. Who? Who? The team on the south side? You know what?

They split a doubleheader yesterday, and by the end of the game, there were probably fewer than 1,000 fans that guaranteed late field. Holy cow. That's not an exaggeration.

Wow. All right, it's bad there. Oakland White Sox are struggling. I was just about to say that sounds a lot like Oakland. Great minds think alike. All right, you can find David on Twitter at DavidHaugh, H-A-U-G-H, part of Mullion Haw on our Chicago affiliate, AM670 The Score.

Take the North podcast because there's so much to do on the north side of Chicago, not to mention the NFC North. I like the play, David. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. It's always good to talk to you. Anytime, Amy.

Thanks a lot. The Oakland White Sox. That's where I was going, actually. Wow, that sounds a lot like what the A's have to deal with, though the A's have actually put together a few series wins, and fans seem to be a little more excited, but it's the wrong time. All right, coming up, we've got so much to cram in. First of all, even with all of this reporting about why Belichick did not get a head coaching job in 2024, and what Bob Kraft may have had to do with Bill remaining on the sidelines, that's not even the most shocking thing about Belichick, at least for me, on Wednesday. Was it Wednesday?

Yeah, Wednesday. But in addition to that, in addition to that, I told you that Kaitlyn Clark was introduced by the Indiana Fever. That happened on Wednesday as well, and boy, I don't know if you heard about her endorsements. Forget what she's making in the WNBA. She's rich already, okay? And she has earned it.

She deserves it. So, we'll wrap up. Doors take us to summers away, or winter adventures, and afternoon getaways. Your dedicated Fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential, because doors were meant to be opened. Visit fidelity.com slash wealth.

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Hyundai. There's joy in every journey. With a quirky mix coming up here after hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Music Sixteen on the shot clock. Twenty-eight to go in the game.

Hero for three at a time. It's blocked by Batum. Maxie knocks the ball and he's fouled.

Nick Batum has done it all. He blocked him. What a play. He's made six-three-seven field goals and the defense right there. Tyler Hero rejected on the perimeter.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It was quite a night for the Philadelphia 76ers. Down 14 points in the second half.

They wait and wait and wait and bide their time. Now it's partly the Sixers fault that Joel Embiid was relatively quiet in the first three quarters of this game against the Miami Heat. But once they started to find him inside, he had a couple of big threes from the perimeter, including one that was accompanied by a crotch chop.

And Nicholas Batum, he was wide open. He did have an air ball in the fourth quarter, but wide open for a couple of huge triples as well. He has 20 points and an enormous block on Tyler Hero late in the game.

Under 30 seconds to go. The big story is not only the Sixers rallying to win, so that they earn now the seven seed and a date with the New York Knicks in the next round, or I should say in the first round. But also that Jimmy Butler may be dealing with an MCL injury and that he was in a lot of pain and that he never really felt right. He tried to play through it, 40 minutes for him, 19 points, 5 assists, 5 steals, but at this point they have no idea if he'll be available for Friday.

And he's feeling terrible because he let the team down. Honestly, I thought the adrenaline would kick back in and I would be able to move and it just wasn't the case. I wasn't able to do anything on either side of the ball and I think I heard that's what helped us actually. We will do this the hard way. That has to be the path right now. We're going to rest up, treat up, rally around each other up, get ready for Friday, and again, embrace these competitive games. It will be competitive in front of our home fans and then we're going to bring a hell of a game on Friday night lights and do this the hard way. That's just the way the deal is right now. Is there any other way for the Miami Heat? This is pretty appropriate for them, I think. It's pretty on brand, if you will, for the Heat, who last year barely survived the play-in tournament and then had to get to the Eastern Conference Finals via the 8 seed.

So yeah, this is pretty typical for Eric Spolstra and his team, but if they're without Jimmy Butler, the road becomes that much harder against the Chicago Bulls. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We'd love to connect with you on our Facebook page, which right now is kind of under construction. The page is there. We're tweaking photos.

We've got a funny one up there, actually, if you want to check it out for our photo header. As well as just some different graphics that Jay's playing with, so we're not quite done with it, but we think it'll make you smile. And then our Twitter, my Twitter, ALawRadio, and our phone number remains the same.

Nothing's changed there on the Infinity Sports Network. So tracking the play-in tournament as well as the end of the NHL season, couple of notables, Nikita Kucherov, who very well could be the league MVP, becomes the fifth player in league history to record 100 assists in a season. And the reason that this is significant is because we just talked about Connor McDavid becoming the fourth ever to have 100 assists in a season and to join the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr, and now we've got two in the same year.

I mean, that's a huge deal. And so to have a pair of players who both go over 100 assists in the same season, it comes on the heels of nearly three decades without anybody accomplishing this. So you're talking about some pretty incredible talent in Connor and Nikita.

And again, we'll see who walks away with the MVP. But on a down note, Austin Matthews, who'd been on track for a 70 goal season, does not get it. He was not the ninth player in league history to have that plateau in a single season. The Maple Leafs lost to the Lightning in their regular season finale, and he actually had seven shots in the first period. What are the chances that Austin Matthews gets denied by a rookie goalie? A rookie goalie. His name's Matt Tompkins, if you want to watch out for him.

But Austin doesn't end up reaching that 70 mark, and he had plenty of shots early on, just couldn't get them to go into the net. I wanted it, for sure, but it just wasn't meant to be. And for myself, we look forward. You turn the page, and the most important thing is the team and the team's success and making sure that I'm pulling my weight and doing what I can as a leader on this team and individually to help the team win, especially as we go into the postseason.

So that's where my focus is at, and I think that's kind of where my mindset's been all year, as far as getting prepared for the spring here. So it would have been nice, but it wasn't meant to be. So I think it's refreshing that, as an athlete, he admits that he actually did want it, and he's disappointed over it. And for him to go scoreless in back-to-back games to wrap the regular season, maybe there's some pressure there. Reminds me a little bit of Aaron Judge when he was attempting to get that record home run in the American League a couple years ago, and the pressure that was on him.

Now, a little bit different, of course, because he was trying to make history, and it wouldn't have been the first time a player had had 70. But for him to take 12 shots, so he had 7 in the first period, 12 overall, against a rookie goalie who was making, it was like his fifth or sixth start, something like that, for the Lightning, that's definitely not what you would expect. However, the Maple Leafs have bigger fish to fry, so to speak, and that becomes a series against the Bruins. Ooh, this is going to be a good one. I'm really looking forward to Maple Leafs and Bruins. There's a lot of history there in that series. And of course, we're back to the point in the year where Canadian hockey fans come out in droves to try to root for any of their handful of teams to get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. I'm sorry, the Stanley Cup final is what I meant to say, to finally hoist the Stanley Cup again for the first time in what feels like forever.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. There's so much we did not get to. It's funny because people will say to me, how do you fill four hours?

And my first thought is, I could fill eight easily with all the stuff that we find interesting and routinely. So Rory McIlroy, funny stuff with Rory and the story that he's been pitched by Liv for $850 million and he is violently denying it. He doesn't raise his voice a whole lot, but he is adamantly saying that this has never happened, and yet somehow the rumor is out there. I wonder if someone with Liv started the rumor just to trash him. I have no idea. He had Liv.

Because he doesn't get along with Greg Norman. Anyway, so there's that. There's also Klay Thompson talking about his future, which we did not get to. We'll do that on tonight's show. How about Kaitlyn Clark getting introduced by the Indiana Fever and it was some kind of wonderful.

Fever fans packing the arena. She gets a huge hand. She's already feeling like she's home in a way because she said I'm not a big city girl and so this kind of feels like home. So we'll have to do that coming up tomorrow as well. Unless you think we can squeeze one in, Jay.

Maybe one. Okay, so her talking about how she's not a city girl I think is kind of fun for the Fever fans. This might sound very like small city of me, but like it seems like a bigger Des Moines in a way. Obviously a little bit bigger than Des Moines, so that's what I'm most excited about. I'm not like a huge big city girl, so I feel like this is a perfect spot for myself. A place that loves basketball, but more than anything like this is in the Midwest. People might think I'm crazy for wanting to stay in the Midwest, but like that's just who I am. That's where my roots are. I love the people here, so I think that's what I'm most excited about of, you know, having an opportunity to come to an organization like this and being a place where there can be a lot of support for it and have a lot of people around me that I really love.

We'll hear more from Caitlin, no doubt, as they get set for training camp and then preseason and boom right into the season in the next month, but they're excited there in Indianapolis. Finally, and I gotta end with this because it's the most shocking thing I've heard in weeks. I love Bill Belichick as a football coach, but I'm not sure we could ever be friends based on what he told Pat McAfee on McAfee Show. Never had a cup of coffee in my life. I'm speechless.

How is that even possible? You are a football coach who works nonstop, a championship football coach, one of the greatest football coaches of all time, long hours watching tape in the facility all the time. You've never had a cup of coffee. I appreciate the question.

I really do. We're going to have to revisit this. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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