After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Hyundai. There's joy in every journey. Listen as Delenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter. I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons, the diseases that I am protecting my child against. They're still here and at the end of the day, it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe. Talk to your child's doctor and learn more at yvaccines.com.

Brought to you by Merck. She is. She can be such a problem.

Oh, that girl is a problem. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. We're heading toward a Monday. We are marching toward a Monday, moving toward a Monday. Are you miserable going into Monday?

I hope not, but it is hard sometimes. People ask me every week, how do you handle your weekends on this schedule? And it's a choice that I made a long time ago. I cannot sleep all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I need to have a life of some sort and especially now being married. But even before that, I would never have been able to sleep all day Saturday and Sunday because I go to church. I like to teach my kiddos at church. Saturday's the one day where there are no, there are no hours on the radio, right? Because we work into Friday morning and then we start Sunday night and so really Saturday's that one full day where I wake up and I have all day and go to bed. I try to be social. For the early stages of this schedule, I don't think I was very social because it was hard to get used to, but generally Sundays turn into a really long day. So as we're marching toward Monday, I can feel it. Not that I'm miserable because I do love my job and I do like Sundays, but awake before eight o'clock in the morning and then pretty much awake all day into the night.

Sometimes it can be 24-25 hours by the time I get to bed on Sunday, excuse me, on Monday morning after the show on Sunday night and this month I sleep about three hours on Monday and then turn around and drive to Syracuse for my class. So wait until I tell you guys about what happened with a student. I've never had this issue with a student before. Of course, this is just my second time doing the class, but I'm blown away by the, hmm, I'm blown away by the lack of awareness, number one. Number two, by the gall of this student to do what he did this weekend.

Seriously, I have talked to my director. I don't want to dock him 25% of the class or of his grade because he's a grad student. If I had gotten a C when I was a grad student, I think I would have fall, well I never would have gotten a C as a grad student. You have to work hard as a grad student to not get A's because the whole point is kind of hands-on learning and training. You're not going for numbers there and I want to give everyone A's in the class. The majority of my grading structure is based on attendance and participation. That's, and your assignments that you present in class. I'm not grading you on whether or not I agree with how you, you know, your conclusions and how you came up with what you came up with, your research and that kind of stuff. It's more about did you do them and can you present them in a way that's intelligent and that the rest of the class can relate to. And yeah, this student is asking me to take 25% of his grade.

I'm stunned though by the way that it's played out. So I'll have to tell you, I guess they didn't know that when they started class with me that they might become examples on the radio of what not to do. Fair warning. Fair warning.

I mean he sat in the control room last week for the first part of the show too. So yeah, anyway, I'll tell you about it. It's pretty crazy. Students.

Man, we got a lot of warts. You think the world revolves around you when you're that age, when you're in your early 20s. It doesn't.

It does not at all. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can definitely find our YouTube channel.

Lots of goodies there. Not just videos with Jay and I, but also some of our best interviews, including more recently a conversation with Todd Walsh, the longtime coyotes broadcaster who told me privately that he doesn't know whether or not he has a job with the new Salt Lake NHL franchise. And that's actually part of this conversation with teams relocating to new cities that people don't think about maybe unless it affects you. You got a lot of employees of these franchises that don't know if they'll be asked to move with the team, but also maybe they don't want to move with the team. Maybe there are people who live in Arizona who have zero desire to go to Salt Lake City, or there are people who live in Oakland or the Bay Area who don't want to move to Las Vegas. I mean that's also a challenge. And so there are broadcasting friends who work for various teams that either have moved or are moving and they actually don't know, well the ones that are moving, don't know their job status and how this plays out.

And there's a lot of uncertainty there as well. So I hope you'll check out that conversation with Todd Walsh who joined us last week after the news finally broke that the coyotes would definitely be leaving the desert. Our phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Boston Celtics first game in 10 days against the Miami Heat, a familiar playoff foe. Celtics had their largest lead and the ball with three minutes remaining in the third right now. Jaylen for Horford, another time. Time out.

Copy. Eric Spelstrom and the Miami coaching staff said our only chance here is for the Celtics to miss threes. They haven't in game one.

Taylor wins the jump ball from the bigger Jovovich. Derek White forces a three, sticks it and the Celtics who ran through the entire regular season and both raced the league building 20-point leads and 30-point leads and beyond have opened the playoffs the exact same way. 31.9 to go in the third quarter.

Boston by 32. Oh yeah, it was one of those days for the Boston Celtics and when they shoot from downtown the way that they did in this game one against Miami, there really is no beating them. I don't think there's a team in the league that can beat them when they shoot 22 of 49 from beyond the arc. Now I get it, they made a ton of threes and they started out like a house on fire.

Forget any idea about rust or not having that rhythm. Oh no, they were primed and ready. They started out on a 12-nothing run and the Heat never recovered. Again, they maybe got within single digits but this was, it was over early. Even though the Heat outscored them 20 points in the paint. Now consider that. 20 more points in the paint than the Celtics had but they're firing from all cylinders deep.

It was I mean, pick your poison. As Sean Grandy says there on the Celtics radio network, it was everyone from Jason Tatum who only had one actually. Kristaps Porzingis hit four of them. So did Derek White.

Peyton Pritchard comes off the bench and hits a couple. I mean you end up having a bunch of different guys. In fact, every single guy who played for the Celtics, even Sam Houser, and there were only eight guys that played in this game which I thought was an interesting strategy for Jason, for Joe Mazzulla considering that they had such a large lead on the Heat for all of the second half. But I can understand because they hadn't played in 10 days wanting to make sure that that they were going hard and they were back into that sense of urgency which they haven't felt for a long time. So every single one of their guys makes triples. And it's all hands on deck and kind of bombs away if you will. But 49 threes, even when they would get offensive rebounds, they would just chuck the ball back out and take another three.

I don't know. It's mind-numbing actually and at times it can be really boring. Now it's worse when they're not making the threes.

That's worse. Think about James Harden and how awful he can be at times when he just loses his shot, loses his stroke. And it happens to all of them. But when you take 49 threes in a game, it just seems to, at least in my opinion, be so one-dimensional. Just not a huge fan of that kind of basketball. The ISO, everybody spread out around the perimeter, take a bunch of threes. Now I know that is the direction that basketball has gone and there are so many players in both pro and college who can hit threes.

I mean that's where people start now. It used to be that you learned first by making a layup and then you would work on the mid-range jumper and then you would start with the threes. Oh no, kids walk into a gym now and it's the first thing they do is chuck up threes. And I was having a conversation with some basketball fans, or maybe they're not fans, but some listeners on Twitter and one guy responds to me with this the Kaitlyn Clark, Steph Curry argument. And he makes the point that people love watching their style of play. But Kaitlyn Clark led the NCAA in assists this season. She didn't just shoot threes. Steph Curry is a point guard technically, even though you would think he's more like a shooting guard, but he's a point guard. He sets up his teammates too and what the Warriors are predicated on is ball movement. So yeah they shoot a lot of threes, but it's not dribble dribble shoot a three, dribble dribble five feet the other direction shoot another three.

Okay there's ball movement and the idea behind Steve Kerr's offense is that everybody touches the ball and that you find the open man. And then you have these situations in the playoffs which can be so bad and the Celtics ran into it last year against the Heat. The Sixers have run into it. Really any team that James Harden has played on has run into it. Where if your entire game is threes, at some point you're going to have a really bad performance.

It's just how it goes. And so yes, I understand you can crush opponents if you're shooting threes at a clip of 50% and you take 50 of them. But the Celtics also know very well what happens when the shots are dropping. And if you have no other elements to your game, and this doesn't necessarily apply to the Celtics, they've got guys who can get to the hole. They've got guys who can drive the lane. But there are some teams that just they just keep shooting assuming that it's it's gonna come back.

And also it just it seems vanilla to me, lacking in variety. So as much as I think the Celtics are a terrific team, that the team that I grew up with in New Hampshire, not these guys obviously. And I know they're an iconic franchise and they've had a lot of playoff disappointment. And yeah, the style of play, it's after hours with Amy Lawrence. I did retweet my post about basketball with nonstop three-pointers.

So if you want to respond to it, it's up on my Twitter, A Law Radio. So what about all this time off before they get to the playoffs, 10 days, and then before that, really having not a whole lot of incentive to play hard or to have a great sense of urgency. That can be tough. I worried about it with the Bruins last year or I mean we talked about other teams, you know, along the way that just they're not pushed at all. They don't feel that sense of playoff urgency. They're not fighting, scratching, clawing for every last game. And so I mean the Dodgers and the Braves last year, I felt the same way about them.

They just really weren't pushed at all. But the Celtics didn't seem to have that issue. That was an emphasis for us, just knowing that we've been off for a little bit and we've kind of secured our you know place. And so it was like difficult for us to trick ourselves to maintain this like, you know, crazy mindset of like, you know, winning every regular season game after past that point. But knowing that we have the real thing coming soon and I'm glad that we came out the way we came out tonight and we just, you know, set the stage for the rest of our path.

Yeah, they definitely did. 18 points for Kristaps Porzingis. He has been everything that Brad Stevens wanted when he traded for him and then some. And as much as it's hard to think about trading away Marcus Smart, a guy who was so instrumental for the Celtics and had been there for so long, Kristaps Porzingis, I don't know if he's the missing piece yet because the season's not done, but they did need KP. Now he has a tendency to get hurt, but when he's healthy and he's out there, he is a game changer for them. He's exactly what they need in terms of length and reach and inside presence. Also, he stretches the defense because he will pop out and take threes and he forces you when he's healthy and moving well, he forces you as an opponent to guard him all over the court. You can't just let him, like some centers, I guess Giannis can hit threes now and then, but you're not worried about Giannis Antetokounmpo everywhere he goes on the court, although he can get that ball and he can drive. But Kristaps will shoot it from anywhere on the court and so he really does create another wrinkle for the defense, plus the wingspan, the length and the reach. I mean he also covers side to side in the paint without really moving, so that changes the shots that the opponent will take as well.

So he's been great. Now there was a moment and I kind of wondered, is it going to be like this with the Heat? The Heat are attempting to frustrate their opponents, to take them out of rhythm. They don't have Jimmy Butler and he's the master at that, but they're physical and they're tough and they're trying to agitate you as much as they can.

Like their mental toughness is a part of their game. This was not intentional though. Late there was a rebound and Jason Tatum goes up for the ball and gets undercut by the Heat's Caleb Martin and he ends up coming hard down on his back.

And again, it was not intentional. If you look at it, Caleb reached over to him right away to try to help him up and Jason kind of turned around and walked away, but some of his teammates took exception, right? So Jalen Brown ends up getting a technical foul because he goes after Caleb and kind of gets in his face, but this was late in the game when it was out of reach. I feel fine. I mean, I didn't see I went to go get the rebound, got knocked out there, fell, and I got right up. Let me go shoot some free throws. It's not the last time I'm probably gonna get hit like that or fouled in this series. So, you know, it wasn't hurt.

You know, you get hit like that. You know, just get up and I knew he was in the bonus, so go down there and knock the free throws down. Good to see JT's good and okay. I mean, KP and JV got his back and you gotta love that. I am certainly hoping that we will see Jimmy Butler in this series because it's a better series and he's just a different cat.

He's so good and he does really everything well even despite the fact that he's not as tall as some other wing players. He's a guy that sets the tone for them and so I am hoping that we're going to see him back. It's kind of a bummer to not have Zion Williamson out there, to not know when Giannis is going to return. I haven't heard an update on Jimmy Butler, only that at this point with a physical game they have to wait and see how, you know, how he comes along. So, if it's an MCL injury it could be a while and maybe they don't even see him back in the playoffs. So, I'm disappointed that we're missing a couple of key guys.

That's a bummer. I know that the Kings were missing a starter as well. Wow, talk about a fizzle by the way. We won't go back to Friday but wah wah wah. You take out the Warriors, you're all excited. It's a big step for the Sacramento franchise and then nothing really on Friday night. A Pelicans team without Zion Williamson and kind of a fizzle to end the season. Anyway, Celtics start out on a 12-0 run. They really, even though the Heat pulled themselves back into it a little bit because of what they do, they had no trouble in the opener. I thought there was, Bam out of bio, the veteran leadership with this team and it's Bam, it's Tyler Hero.

I know Jimmy Butler wasn't out there but you've got guys who've been through this with Miami before. They never do it the easy way. They always do it the hard way. Coming through the play-in tournament again, getting the eight seed, taking on the best team in the NBA, the one that they're not going to be intimidated by and you can hear that with Bam out of bio. We don't get off to a start like that. We fall back into this game. You know, so I feel like it's a different result if we don't let them get off to a hot start.

How about that? We don't let them get off to that hot start where they're up 12-0 before we even shake off, before we even start to sweat, before we even shake off our warm-up jerseys and the issue of course is you cannot let them get hot from beyond the arc. They shot almost 53s tonight and we knew that coming in. You know, they, they're... Call from mom. Answer it.

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Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. Volume three-point shooting team that get a lot of threes up per game you know that's their game plan um you know for us just watching the film or coming up with new or different ways to limit their open threes and who we're giving their threes to. And so that's the idea is you know they're all going to shoot threes. Who do you most want taking the the shots? I almost said a bad word. Also Tyler Hero started the answer to that question so someone asked him about the Celtic shooting threes.

They shot almost 50 degrees tonight. And he starts with a word that we can't play on the radio. I almost said a word that we can't say on the radio on accident. Jay would have had to use the old dump button on me. I think I've only been dumped one time in my career. I've never had to dump you. No you haven't but right there was a moment earlier in my career where a caller was just or he was being an a double curvy Rhodes and I actually did say a swear word to him. And probably it was dumped which I knew it was going to get dumped I guess.

I just he was awful and I just maybe I needed the excuse to dump him. No that's yeah so he heard it no one else did it was worked out perfectly. Anyway uh Tyler Hero starts the question about the threes with an expletive.

But I think Bam out of bio speaks for the team that they can compete with Boston. They know they can. They've done it before.

And it's just a battle about don't put yourselves in a 12 nothing hole when you begin. You know what just happened on my TV screen in front of me? Very weird. I was watching NBA TV and the end of whatever whatever game was on. And now all of a sudden it switched to true TV and there there's a bunch of dudes on park benches with women's shoes.

They're looking at women's shoes. Are they the jokers? The jokers. You practical jokers? Oh maybe. Probably. Maybe but why are they playing with women's shoes?

Heels. Yeah that sounds like that sounds up their alley. Oh okay do you watch this show? I have. I used to watch a lot more than I do now but they just kind of go around Manhattan and prank people.

But like at this point I don't know how now everyone knows who they are. With women's shoes? Yeah they get in women's shoes get in there now and then.

Oh so so I'm just watching it. There's a they're sitting on either side of a guy and they're passing the women's shoes back and forth and and they're being they're being told what to do by guys who are in their ears with a microphone. And so now they're sitting on park benches on either side of a female and they're talking across her and they're talking across her and she's wearing one headphone and kind of looking at them strangely. Oh okay so this time they're not passing women's shoes they're passing um propane tank back and forth over the top of her. It's normal in a park. Like they're just passing it back and forth and having a conversation like over the top of her with a propane tank.

She is laughing. I don't know if I'd prefer the women's shoes or the propane tank. The propane tank is scary. I mean just the funny is that the other two dudes who are telling them what to do are howling like hyenas. So I don't know where they are. They've obviously got to be far enough away that they can't the camera crew can't be spotted in the park. But it looks like they're in central park and on a sunny day I wouldn't know who these guys were if they sat down next to me.

So I think it works because there are a lot of people who don't watch tv. She finally is like hey can you stop? So it's funny you mentioned the laughing in the background because my dad can't he hates this show he can't watch it because he says they're they're cackling and they're howling after every five seconds just drives him crazy so he can't do it. Oh they leave the propane tank with her just like leave it there and get up and walk away.

All right enjoy it. Right and then they come back with like a a towel and give it up to her. Anyway Murray, Sal and Joe. Those are the impractical jokers. Never seen the show before. There's one more. Oh so this has got to be old because they're now at city field with Noah Syndergaard. Yeah. So this is an old have you seen this one?

I have actually it's very fun. So they're all wearing Mets uniforms. One guy's wearing a headband because you know that's helpful and uh they're hanging out with Noah Syndergaard. All right so I don't know what happened to my basketball but this is this is now with somebody here in the show. Yeah uh do you think somebody changed the channel on someone who loves New York decided this is what they want to do? It's either that or the game was on true tv and then they just decided to go back.

No you won't. No one watches true tv except for during the NCAA tournament. That's that's absolutely right. I'm telling you it was NBA tv or maybe it was TNT and they're throwing up true tv after. That's weird. No they usually go to some crime drama like cold case or something old. Someone changed it to the jokers. Yeah. I think I know who.

Of course oh my gosh well leave the tv's alone in there goodness. Okay way late so late way late so late uh let's see what do we want to do next. Well James Harden he was the the good James Harden in the playoffs but this is generally how it starts. He's got a huge game to begin and then wah wah wah. I'm not a system player. I am a system.

Oh I so forgot how much I dislike his ego. Clippers and Mavericks coming up. You can find me on Twitter A Law Radio. Do you know the Impractical Jokers?

And also on our Facebook page. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. The Clippers up 18 wins 10 17 to go in the second. Brooks skies for the rebound. Clippers right to left up by 25. Here comes Russ through the teeth of the defense. The layup high off the window and in. Westbrook's got 10 and the Clippers lead 56 29. Finds Terrence Mann with three to shoot. West corner three. Straight music. There is Mann from the corner and the Clippers up 87 61.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. On the Clippers radio network they led wire to wire against the Mavericks. Not really sure what happened with Dallas.

You got some Luca. You got some Kyrie. They seemed kind of lackluster out of the gate and it hurt them and Jason Kidd was was not excited about it. So James Harden was he was good James Harden in this one. 50% from beyond the arc for the for James Harden which is big right and then six actually 50% for the team from beyond the arc six of 11 from from him from deep. But to be able to get the contributions not just with the points but also with the assists is what you need from Harden especially without Kawhi Leonard and I would I would think that if you put a lie detector test on James Harden that he would tell you he's still the best player out there.

But they've compiled this group of veterans who all have that same mentality. Kawhi, Paul George, James Harden and Russell Westbrook who's coming off the bench and without Kawhi you still have enough of that veteran presence and leadership and star power. Westbrook came into the game and provided some energy because he still does that. He came into the game and he provided some pop which I think is what they need from him and I love that he's willing to accept this role. I like the fact that these veterans what they care most about is winning a title now Kawhi has two obviously two or three did he win two in San Antonio? I'd have to go back and look no just one definitely the one in Toronto and then well of course right um all right so anyway at least two yeah but obviously Paul George and Russell Westbrook and James Harden for sure they all want to win titles so at this point they're willing to do whatever it takes and for Ty Lue he obviously understands that himself. James is James and so we need him to be aggressive you know um no matter if Kawhi's playing or who's on the floor and so you know when he's getting 10 11 threes up like usually it's gonna be a good night for us you know so just you know attacking the basket making the right play but also getting his threes getting his one-on-ones um isos and um getting our space and you know we gotta do a better job with that which we didn't do a lot of slot cutting but you know overall like we know you know James was scored a high level and tonight he was really good. I can score with the best of them you know I mean like Liv still can score with the best of them my role for this team is just you know generating really good shots and making guys shots easier and then when my number the score is called you score the basketball obviously Kawhi's out so my playmaking and me my volume is going to go up a little bit more and take advantage of it. I like the balance from the Clippers in this game where they've got five different guys who are in double figures including four in their starting lineup and that's without Kawhi Leonard and we have Paul George Kawhi I'm not they might be the same guy they're never on the court together it's a little bit like now there's a much smaller well maybe not a smaller sample size it's like KD and Kyrie and Brooklyn never on the court together they enjoyed seeing each other in the locker room and saying hi or the training room but they were never on the court at the same time so they might be the same guy Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but Paul George Kawhi Leonard as I say James Harden Russell Westbrook they've got enough veteran leadership and I think they've also got enough pop for the most part now they have to shoot it a pretty high clip but I do believe that they can because of the guys that are leading them and because of the skill sets whether diminished or not they can match up with the likes of Aluka Doncic and a Kyrie Irving and Paul George sounds pretty confident even with Kawhi on the bench we want uh Kawhi back when he's ready um but I still think we have enough to you know continue to push forward and and uh win games when we need to best first half for James Harden as a Clipper my favorite part of watching Clippers games though is Steve Ballmer I mean I know it's a postseason game and so I would expect a little more energy from him but he cracks me up. Toilets!

1,106 toilets! He's that excited about toilets imagine how excited he is in the first minute of a game where it's clear the Clippers have come out firing and the way he claps is like a walrus it's so funny it's like a you know walrus clapping his fins together and I'm not making fun of him I just am so tickled by his animation he is he's so animated it cracks me up and he's so happy I honestly as much as I dislike most of what I know about James Harden not all but most I would love for the Clippers to win a title first of all that fan base is just they've been through the wringer but because Steve Ballmer might spontaneously combust he might just good stuff have you ever seen the video of Steve Ballmer and like Bill Gates a couple other people like in that field it's like 1990 they're releasing Windows 95 and they're dancing on like this stage to the Rolling Stones how did you see this it's I don't know I saw it on like Instagram or something it's amazing and how is Steve Ballmer then he's clapping doing walrus claps and he's sweating profusely it's hilarious oh poor guy he just loves his team so so much and he's all in and as much as you could say that about a Mark Cuban or Jerry Jones I mean Steve Ballmer adores the Clippers just adores them I think he might have a really bad day when they lose just to get he he's so tied to them emotionally but I'm glad I mean it's got to be great to have a boss that is that invested and is so happy when you do well yeah I don't know what that's like not a not recently all right coming up next what do we still have to do here from this first day well we want to get to the defending champions the Denver Nuggets and also Michael Porter with some comments about this emotional time for his family not just his brother John Tabe but another brother who's also found himself in trouble and so I appreciate that Jay was able to find that audio too oh the first weekend of the NBA playoffs is in the books same thing with the Stanley Cup playoffs we'll get to some of those games as well oh my gosh I looked up just now Steve Ballmer's like double fist pumping and punching the air and clapping he's a hoot can we adopt the Clippers as like the lovable losers just because of Steve Ballmer yeah we can I like that mm-hmm we've got a fun I would enjoy seeing Steve Ballmer at a trophy present listen as Selenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons the diseases that I am protecting my child against they're still here and at the end of the day it's my job as a mother it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe talk to your child's doctor and learn more at yvaccines.com brought to you by Merck selling a little or a lot Shopify helps you do your thing however you cha-ching Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business from the launch your online shop stage to the first real life store stage all the way to the did we just hit a million 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your business no matter what stage you're in Shopify.com slash Odyssey podcast this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance whether you love true crime or comedy celebrity interviews or news you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue and guess what now you can call them on your auto insurance too with the name your price tool from Progressive it works just the way it sounds you tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law Asian can you imagine oh my gosh that'd be audio for days that would be gold you are listening to the after-hours podcast Murray gets it back seven on the clock Murray's one-on-one against Davis here step back three yes 94 to 81 Denver throws it to Jokic on the pick and pop Joker picks up this dribble back behind him over to Reggie Jackson turns the corner of the left hand back behind him Joker big bucket three yes Denver back in the lead by 10 throws it off over to Jamal Murray back over to Joker dribble handoff behind him to Murray Murray faked the pass throws it right side to Porter in a three that was good three seconds left to go in Denver there's the horn Denver wins game one round one they take care of the LA Lakers final tonight 114 to 103. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The Lakers were in playoff mode to start maybe took the Denver Nuggets a little bit longer in fact Lebron James had 19 points in the first half and a deep three that put the Lakers up by three points at the break they had 60 points in the first half which is not what the Denver Nuggets defense wants to be given up. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence you hear there with Jason Kosmicki on Nuggets radio that they were able to settle in and really match the intensity in that second half and when they did that they had the opportunity to take advantage of their crowd which is always really good in Denver. Remember they've been so good they've been so good at home during these playoffs especially last year obviously with their championship and so maybe they I don't want to say they're caught off guard because they know the Lakers well but maybe just kind of having that initial pop in the face or punch in the mouth if you will force them to you know to kind of come face to face with hey they're not just going to lay down in as we try to defend our title this is still Lebron James Anthony Davis and and D'Angelo Russell and they can still be formidable.

So Nicole Jokic ends up with 32 points 12 rebounds seven assists. Jamal Murray did not shoot well he was just nine of 24 from the field though he did have a double-double and he actually says it's the other side of the ball the Nuggets are focused on. I don't think we're ever worried about offense man I think you know I didn't shoot well but I didn't think I had a bad game. I think when we're not making shots as a group you know we got to buckle down on defense that's got to be a focal point which it was and you know I think everybody you know Jokic played great defense DJ came in the game did a good job P-Walt was ready to play. Four times in the playoffs last year three times this year they're pretty much the same team aside from a few players and same for us but I think more more important than that regardless if we're comfortable or not I think our guys understand against that team if you turn the ball over you allow Lebron to get out and run a transition and there's no answer for him in that regard so that's one thing we harped on all week is not fueling their break with costly mistakes. Michael Malone he's not salty yet he'll get salty the deeper the Nuggets get into the playoffs and the less sleep he has.

We're some greedy bastards baby we're some greedy bastards. Lebron with 27 points and eight assists and actually worried about how they rebound how they match up under the glass or off the glass with the Nuggets. I just get bodies hit bodies and you know it's challenging at times obviously Aaron Gorin does a great job of playing that younger spot and you know we get corner rotation sometimes and the smalls on them you know obviously Joker his ability to rebound his misses or just rebound in general it's a big team.

AD also had a double double but for the first time in quite a while D'Angelo Russell did not shoot well he was just one of nine from downtown so the Nuggets take the opener and Michael Porter ends up with a real good game 19.8 rebounds considering what has happened in his family over the last week in fact he missed practice on Friday because one of his younger brothers Coban Porter was getting sentenced for a fatal DUI. I think this happened in the over the winter time and he was over the legal limit so he's driving drunk and he killed a woman with his car and he was facing sentencing so he's now in prison and then think about what else happened last week with the Porter family if you didn't know John Day Porter the Toronto Raptors forward is another one of Michael's younger brothers and so you've got two guys in the NBA from the same family but now one has been banned for life for betting and throwing bets in in hoops and the other one is in prison for killing a woman and driving drunk and I'm impressed that he can go out there and play at all because I don't think I could if that were my brothers. Definitely tried to compartmentalize you know some vests and sad stuff happened to a couple of my brothers but I got you know 15, 16 more brothers in here so I know I had to be here for them and come in here and do my job and try to prepare to do it at a high level. And he says his Nuggets teammates have been there for him which I think is critical he points out I've got family that I'm related to so family by blood but also family by virtue of basketball.

Each one of them texted me separately and just uh told me they got my back if I need anything they got me um yeah a lot of people were reaching out friends family um you know so to have these guys um understand you know why I missed practice uh yesterday and just uh how my back has been big for me. Right so again he missed practice because he had to be at his brother's sentencing hearing and was testifying actually on his behalf maybe a character witness. Everything he's he's feeling all those emotions we hear about athletes and we watch athletes who often can put aside a tragedy like this. I think about the Warriors and the fact that they lost an assistant coach this year he died right in front of them in a team dinner. Brett Favre is a classic example loses his father on a weekend and then goes out and has one of his best games of his career on Monday night football despite the fact that there are tears and there's so much emotion. So yeah I think there is something to be said for pro athletes who know how to compartmentalize that mental toughness finding some solace in basketball.

We're humans so we carry our emotions and things that go on off of the court onto the court but you know I'm mentally tough I've been through a lot through uh you know my whole career so you know it was just another one of those things I had to try to play through. So the case of Michael Porter it's two of his brothers that have gotten in serious trouble and have seen some major life calamities. For Derek Lively of the Dallas Mavericks he just lost his mom about a week ago and she had moved in with him when he was drafted and she would attend as many games as she possibly could. She wanted to be around him as much as she could but she's been battling cancer off and on for years. Finally passed away and now here he is into the playoffs with the Mavericks and trying to deal with all of that emotional fallout and just the the waves of grief that hit you. I mean we all recognize that those have been through those before. Yeah two NBA players who are dealing with some real life pain and real life grief and are yet going out there and being part of their team's playoff push. It speaks to their mental toughness but also the family and the teammates they have around them.

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