After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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The all new season of the Kardashians premieres May twenty third streaming on Hulu. slash get your own for the only trip to Texas that matters. Yours. Hey, happy start to your work week or not. Maybe you're just up with insomnia or you love the radio show so you can't sleep because you have FOMO. Either way, if you're up and you should be sleeping, well, we're happy to keep you company. If you've already started your work week and you're in the same boat as we are, here's the good news. We're heading into a holiday weekend. Wow. Is it really almost Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer?

I think it is. If my yard is any indication, my lawn that's growing 80 miles per hour, it's very much about to be the summertime. Note to self, next time you take a two week vacation, make sure to have someone mow the lawn while you're gone unless it's in the wintertime.

Or maybe there's the key. Take your two week vacation in the wintertime. Oh my goodness. Spent three hours trying to mow the lawn on Saturday. And keeping in mind, I have a postage stamp for a lawn. Three hours trying to mow the lawn. My hubs was doing other things, edging, weeding, that kind of deal. And I could really only run the mower and I have a handheld, handheld, I have a push mower and it's not a real big one. Again, postage stamp for a lawn.

I could only run the mower for maybe 60 to 90 seconds at a time because the grass was eight to 10 inches tall and so wet from all the rain we've had that it would clog up the mower within 60 seconds and half filled the bag. Yeah, it was, it was crazy. I was, whoa, I was losing small objects in the lawn. Anyway, managed to get through three quarters of it.

Still have a little more to go. Decided we would let it dry out a little more before we finish up this week. But yeah, the price you pay for taking two weeks of vacation and then coming back and it's raining for another week. I hope your weekend was not full of aches and pains and yard work that seemed impossible to keep up with. I hope your weekend was exactly what you needed if you are a Pacers fan, if you are a Mavericks fan, if you are a Wolves fan. The final four in the NBA is complete. Every ticket has been punched and got to tell you, this Wolves nugget series was enough to make my head hurt. The type of twists and turns that you almost wouldn't believe it was, if it was scripted. But the type of seesaw affair that makes me wonder what the Wolves have left for the next round.

Now it won't start for a few days, so they do have a couple of days off. And as the higher seed, the Timberwolves will get to host the opener of the Western Conference Finals after taking out the defending champs. And there's a lot that we can say, a lot we will say about the Wolves. The defense, absolutely terrific.

I don't know where it was in the first half against Jamal Murray, primarily against Murray. But in the second half, we saw the best that the Wolves have to offer. That is the reason the Wolves were nearly the one seed themselves in the West and why they sat in the top spot in the Western Conference for a good portion of the regular season. If you're wondering, they did win three of four games against Dallas this season. Now in the playoffs, all bets are off.

It's a different animal. But I am wondering how much the Wolves have left after going against Joker and Murray. And again, the emotional and mental toll that a series like this takes.

But for now, they are flying high, baby. You know how much we love fresh blood on this show. And this is the first Western Conference Finals for the Wolves in 20 years.

How about that? Lions fans, I know your road has been longer, but you can probably empathize. Anyone who is a Minneapolis sports fan or a Minnesota sports fan can understand why this is a big deal. And to do it against the defending champions, it's even louder in the statement. And so we'll hear from Anthony Edwards, who's always a good postgame comment. Chris Finch, who's still on crutches, but is there. I had totally forgotten about his injury from earlier in the playoffs until I saw him limping off the court at halftime of this one.

Oh, poor guy. And yet there he is answering questions. Not answering questions quite the same way as Mike Malone. You know, salty Mike Malone was out last year when he got tired and things were taking their toll, the long hours, everybody coming at the nuggets, blah, blah, blah, trying to chase their first title, all that jazz.

I thought salty Mike Malone was only going to appear finals, Western Conference Finals and beyond. Oh no, after the defending champs swallow and choke away a 20 point lead at home in game seven, he just wasn't really interested in the questions. How hard is it just to absorb a loss like this after after going ahead by 20?

Next question, man. The season's over. That's what's hard. Being up 20 seasons over. You don't understand that.

The season's over. It's hard. Stupid ass questions.

Honestly, I thought that was a really smart question. How much does this hurt? How much more does it hurt? What's it feel like?

Now, that one probably would have been tough to even voice because it's pretty obvious, at least some of what this feels like. The fans inside Ball Arena certainly reflected the shock, the surprise, how much of a stunner this was. But even having watched it and now I'm watching it again, it's on my TV, TNT re-airing this game seven. A 32 to 9 run by the Wolves in the second half. They were down 20 early in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter that lead was gone. And then they go from being up 20 to down 10 against Minnesota. And this is with Anthony Edwards really struggling offensively. This is with, as we say, a red hot Jamal Murray.

Problem is in this particular game, it hasn't been this way all series and it certainly wasn't this way all year. But one major issue for the Nuggets in this game is that they got nothing offensively from anyone other than Joker and Jamal. And against the defense for the Timberwolves, clamping down on the two stars, making life difficult for those two guys, someone, anyone else needed to step up, Kentavious Caldwell Pope, he missed five shots of the seven he took, Michael Porter Jr. had wide open looks. He was one of six from deep. Aaron Gordon, four points. And I'm not saying you need Aaron Gordon to score 50, but just enough to keep the defense honest. Christian Brown off the bench, five points in his 20 minutes. And they really didn't go deeper than that. Just a handful of minutes for anybody other than the top six.

So this was tough. Even as Joker's struggling from beyond the arc and every time he threw up a three, I know he made a couple in the second half. Actually, I think they were both in the fourth quarter, but he made a couple in the second half. Actually, I think they were both in the fourth quarter, and they were critical and the crowd went wild.

He was much more effective when he battled inside the paint, but they made him battle and that was the key. So the Timberwolves rally past the Nuggets, make their first Western Conference Finals in 20 years, only the second game seven of their franchise history, if I remember correctly. And I'm anxious for you to hear what they have to say, but they did not make it easy for themselves.

Not at all. And they will take on the Dallas Mavericks coming up in the Western Conference Finals. In the East, the Indiana Pacers also set a record. So just to clarify, the Wolves have the single largest halftime rally in NBA playoff history.

They were down 15 at the break. No team has ever come back from this many points down in a playoff game until now, or play a game seven I should say, until now. So this was the greatest game seven rally we've ever seen in the NBA postseason. In the earlier game, even though the Knicks tried to rally, the Pacers set their own record. Highest shooting percentage for an entire game. And the first half alone, 76%. The Pacers shot 76% in the first half against the Knicks, and this is on the road at Madison Square Garden. They posted a big lead, they quieted the crowd. What we know about the Knicks, they're always gritty though. They tend to fight back, fight scratch claw.

It may not be pretty, they may be running out of bodies, but they are not going without a fight. That's the Knicks radio network, and multiple times they pull within single digits. Huge, huge game for Dante DiVincenzo. This guy is turning into, forget role player, he's turning into a mini star all by himself. Now next to Jalen Brunson, he's never going to be the man, but he can light it up.

39 points for Dante in this game in 41 minutes, and he was 9 of 15 from beyond the arc. So when they needed a big shot to try to pull them back into it, they got it. Especially with Jalen Brunson breaking his hand. Both Jay and I were stunned to hear that report on the broadcast because it didn't really seem like anything had happened. There was nothing notable to look back on. Josh Hart was out there doing the best he could. OG and Inobi played five minutes, but that was all he could manage. They were running on fumes, but doing the best they could. And they had guys playing huge minutes that otherwise wouldn't be out there at all, especially not in a game seven. But the Pacers are really the story here.

As much as the Knicks were shorthanded, not only did they remain calm, cool collected, continued to shoot the lights out in the second half, but they answered every challenge by the Knicks. Seacombe sends it outside to Halliburton. Seven seconds to shoot. Halliburton drives it to the right wing and from there hits another one. Tough shot there. Here comes Hart to set that middle screen. Pick and roll pass is knocked away by Halliburton.

Stolen by McConnell and he gives it to Halliburton who takes it home. Timeout New York. 5.33 left of the third quarter. The lead is back up to 12. Pacers up 15. 3.39 left in the third. Halliburton dances to his right. Wheels at the edge of the arc and drops a three from the right side, his sixth of the game.

My, oh my. What a response here pushing this thing back to 18 by the Pacers. We're not all perfect players or perfect coaches, but this group really, when things get tough, got tough today, they just problem solved their way through it and really kept the energy from within, so I'm really happy for them. Not only did they stick together after a couple fairly embarrassing games against the Knicks, but they were able to do it in the face of what is a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden. It's been a long time for the Knicks to have this kind of success. They did not get back to the conference finals, but what you hear from most fans is this is just the beginning.

The team is finally coming together. They were playing with house money quote unquote and so a lot of fans seem to be proud of these Knicks for how much they battled and how far they got despite the fact that they've lost major pieces to injury and again even in this series. But the Pacers were on the ropes. They got blown out on their own court. Oh no, I'm sorry, at Madison Square Garden was game five. They got blown out by 30 at Madison Square Garden and so for them to be able to take a hit like that, take a punch, maintain their poise, get the victory over the Knicks at home and know they have to go into a game seven, they come into that game seven on Sunday afternoon at MSG doing exactly what they need to do. Efficient offense, taking the shots as they come, no hesitation, a lot of different guys pitching in, multiple options that the Knicks have to guard and what happens is they quiet the crowd which takes essentially another opponent, another enemy right out of the equation. There was like a, I think it was like a third quarter, it was like a pump up the crowd type of thing and the volume was up and all that type of stuff on the jumbotron and I hear a word, you can hear a pin drop and you know that was a moment for me because you know to come into this environment you know the garden in a game seven and to be able to keep the fans out the game I mean that's unheard of. I just told our team when you win a game seven in Madison Square Garden you've made history.

It's very very difficult to do. This is the most raucous crowd in the NBA. So the Pacers can add that to the resume as they head into a date with the top seed, the best record, the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and that series begins on Tuesday.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. We were talking about this late last week, but the Pacers while they are a lot of fun and they've come together so well and when they play like they did on Sunday, it's jaw-dropping. Tyrese Halliburton 26 points. He hits a half dozen triples, but every single guy in the starting lineup is in double figures. Miles Turner 17 points and he's obviously not a guy who shoots a ton of threes. The defense on the interior, humongous. Pascal Siakam really gave a boost to this team when he joined them mid-season. He has 20 in this game. There are a lot of likable players and they can be stars in their own right, but when they come together, think of a TJ McConnell off the bench a dozen points. When they come together, it's a special formula. You want to talk about a team that wasn't expected necessarily to get to the Eastern Conference Finals and we're talking about the Knicks and how they outkicked their coverage, how they got farther than a lot of people expected. Well, I think that applies to the Pacers as well and they do tend to fly into the radar again because they're not as flashy and while basketball is Indiana country, the NBA actually moved one of the home games for the Pacers in this series to accommodate Kaitlyn Clark and the Fever in their home debut.

That should tell you the priority level in Indianapolis. Halliburton sporting a Reggie Miller hoodie post game. We text every day. I mean, this has just been a good mentor for me, but I mean, I'm just wearing a hoodie.

I like to be comfy on the plane. I have no idea. I honestly don't know.

I got this hoodie like two days ago, so appreciate whoever gave it to me. I got sent to my house. I wonder if Reggie Miller got the news or heard about it because he was actually working the Western Conference Finals or the, sorry, the West Game 7 for the Finals along with Kevin Harlan and Jamal Crawford. They were the trio doing the game in Denver and maybe nobody else expected the Pacers to still be standing at this point, but Tyrese said that does not include their locker room.

Pre-season camp in Nashville, just players, no coaches. And that was what we communicated from the jump that we expected to be here. This ain't a surprise for us. You know, it's no fluke. We expect this from our group. And then once we added P, we knew that we could really take off.

P meaning Pascal. I'm sorry. I know this is not the story, but Jay, if you wouldn't mind just going from one Tyrese Halliburton cut into the second one, we still find it very hard to believe this is the same dude. We text every day. I mean, this has just been a good mentor for me, but I mean, I'm just wearing a hoodie.

I like to be comfy on the plane. I have no idea. I honestly don't know.

I got this hoodie like two days ago, so appreciate whoever gave it to me. I got sent to my house. Pre-season camp in Nashville, just players, no coaches. And that was what we communicated from the jump that we expected to be here. This ain't a surprise for us. You know, it's no fluke. We expect this from our group.

And then once we added P, we knew that we could really take off. How is that possible? Jay's fascinated by this. It's amazing. He will not give me two cuts from Tyrese Halliburton in which he sounds the same. He only gives me cuts from Tyrese in which the voices are opposite because it blows him away. I honestly don't know.

I got this hoodie like two days ago, so appreciate whoever gave it to me. Pre-season camp in Nashville, just players, no coaches. It's when he gets excited, I think.

The second one sounds like it's like a higher voice register than the first one. That's the same person. Yeah, pretty impressive. All right, coming up, we'll hear from the Minnesota Timberwolves. And at the top of the hour, Matt Moore will join us from Denver after covering this Game 7 as the defending champs are ousted in fairly shocking style by the Timberwolves.

I like it. I like that we've got some fresh blood. Now the Mavericks are back in the West Finals for the second time in three years, so no strangers. But their team looks different than it did. Kyrie wasn't on this roster two years ago, or yeah, 22.

He wasn't on the roster. He was still busy blowing up the Nets. And so you got a different matchup between the Wolves and the Mavericks and then the Pacers into the Eastern Conference Finals. So the big bad, the been-there-done-that is the Celtics, who've been waiting around for the Knicks and Pacers to finish up.

What's the latest with Kristaps Porzingis? Another question that I can ask Matt when he joins us. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Facebook. You can also find me on Twitter, A Law Radio. I meant to get a blog post done this weekend with some photos from Hawaii. I really did, but I actually got sidetracked by another blog idea.

I had to ask my mom for permission to write it, but working on it, hope to have it out there on Monday as my mom marks a pretty incredible milestone in her life, and I want to, yeah, I want to honor her in that way. And then photos from Hawaii, but there is a different photo actually on my Twitter. My babies. You're just, you're gonna have to go look. A Law Radio.

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Kick off your summer and shop in-store or online at Whole Foods Market today. A three-point opportunity for Rudy Gobert. Timberwolves take the lead.

The run continues. It's now 30 to 9. Timberwolves have possession.

There's only five to shoot. They get it into Rudy along the baseline. He's got a tough fall away. It's up. Oh, it drops in.

It could be your night. Conley picks the pocket of Jamal Murray. Conley feeds it to Nas down the lane. Extra pass to the corner and sets himself.

Fires the three. He hits it. It's 92-82. The wolves lead by 10 with 3.05 left to play. An unbelievable turnaround here in the second half. From down 20 to up 10 in a game seven with everything on the line. Now this wolf foul here with seven on the shot clock.

Conley left angle. Drives on Michael Porter Jr. Runs it up.

No. Slam follow. Karl Anthony Towns.

He soared in from the wing. He puts the wolves up seven with 39 seconds left. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of Alan Horton on Timberwolves radio. Stunning even to watch it.

I'm watching it again right now. Early fourth quarter the Timberwolves and the Nuggets are tied. Now it was a low scoring affair because the wolves defense really kicked in. In the second half it sparked what was a 32 to 9 run from early third quarter when Minnesota was looking at a 20 point deficit. Staring that deficit in the face on the road in Denver but by early fourth quarter they had taken charge.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That is Kat. Kat had 23 points a dozen rebounds and part of the reason why they flipped the script. Sorry hit some shots playing some defense. Even better at a higher level I thought and um just this is Timberwolves basketball. I think I think this was just a a real showing of Timberwolves basketball is finest you know where it's a team effort.

Kept looking at the field goal percentage and we were in the 40s and the 30s. Our defense was there and then it went to a special place in the third quarter you know where where we've been able to take it at times and you know just everybody just kind of you know bucking up and making plays and executing the game plan. Yeah defense, defense, defense is where it started and a bunch of a mind-numbing turnovers by the Denver Nuggets they seem to come unglued but it's one thing to come unglued and give 10 points up on a lead that you've got. They came unglued and then they fell apart and then the number of times that their three-pointers I say ill-advised three-pointers they were not dropping but they kept shooting them. Michael Porter really struggled from beyond the arc. They had wide open looks for him as they're swinging the ball around.

Joker insisted a good portion of that collapse on taking those shots from beyond the arc that are low percentage anyway and he just wasn't shooting very well. When he went to the hoop, when the Nuggets were building that 20-point lead they were dominating. Offensive rebounds, points in the paint but that was completely different by the end of the game.

Now Anthony Edwards did not shoot well but boy did he have a ton of energy in the second half. It showed us who we who we are because the coaches believed in us even though at halftime even in the third we was down 20 they like just keep making runs keep making runs and it showed us who we are man once we really lock in on the defensive end because offensively we played okay but once we really lock in on the defensive end man we're a hell of a team to beat. Special moment man this is a hell of a team with the best player on the planet and this series was wild and this game was just a microcosm of the entire series you know teams getting a big handle on each other and just you know trying to fight through it. I'm telling you the series made my head hurt the number of wild swings remember in game six they lost by 35 the Nuggets lost by 35 they were never really in the game but that one was at Minnesota the crowd was fired up I don't like to think that they waved the white flag too early but I'm not sure now I know it's the NBA I'm not sure they had enough in the tank to be able to rally so it seemed like they saved what they needed for game seven and it was going exactly the way they needed it too so what the heck happened we will ask Matt Moore when he joins us from Denver at the top of the hour it's after hours here on the infinity sports network.

Jamal Murray 24 points in the first half he was hitting everything but he was in single digits in the second half and seemingly was taken out of the game plan or out of that offensive rhythm by the defense Anthony Edwards being one of those guys. I feel like we should have won tonight that's that's that's the tough part you know they beat us but we had so many great opportunities including myself so it's just tough man I'm just excited for next year. That's what happens you know sometimes you make shots sometimes you miss shots and today I think we didn't miss shots I think we miss a lot of good shots but you know that's not just on us they played some good defense that's why the number one defense in the NBA you have a seven game so over a best of seven so if someone beats you I think they're the better team.

Congrats to them like we we did we have our chances of course we did but if someone beats you I mean they're just better. Doesn't seem like much emotion there from Nikola Jokic. Partly his personality. He certainly does have emotion when he's asking for calls but I don't know I prefer that we get authenticity following a game like this or maybe it really wasn't that painful for Joker. Certainly Mike Malone as we said he was salty even telling a reporter from the local Denver area one that he knows well that he was asking stupid-ass questions use the f-word in response to one of his questions.

Stupid-ass questions. But he was passionate about not getting enough support or not getting enough production outside of Jamal and Joker. I think so much is being placed on their shoulders I mean it was uh we're expecting Nikola and Jamal to continue to continue to pull rabbits out of their hat man and somebody else got to give some help. They were the only two guys in double figures both of them with 30 plus so Jamal finished with 35 Joker had 34 and 19 rebounds but he was only two for 10 from the outside it was clear that he was tired and so I can understand why you would I'm gonna use my air quotation settle for the outside shot he can be he can be lethal from deep when he gets in that run however or that rhythm I should say but he wasn't in this game and I felt like the more effective Joker was the one who was going inside. They did miss a lot of easy shots shots that rolled off the rim or dropped down and then seemingly spun back out but still their best offense is to be aggressive and take it to the rim and I felt like they maybe got lazy or got tired in the second half when that was how they built the 20-point lead.

So now what? All right they were the defending champs it doesn't sting quite as much when you just had a ring for which you were playing for which your finger was sized but how do they move forward? Go from training camp all the way through and then it comes to an abrupt halt and that hurts so use that feeling as motivation to come back a better player we won it last year teams in the west they regrouped they retooled how are we going to beat the champs and teams got better. Teams definitely did I saw from Aaron Gordon in which he said I'm exhausted we're exhausted we've had the target on our backs all season long and this is what it's like now think about it just for a second the Warriors were the best team in the Western Conference for at least six years if not more right I mean they were the most consistent we'll say about an eight-year stretch where they were the ones with the target on their backs and maybe you can understand how heavy is the head that wears the crown especially in sports when everyone is coming after you everyone's taking aim so I do appreciate the honesty and the candor from Aaron not so much from Joker I'm sure they're somewhere in there he does care but it didn't come out in the postgame press conference we'll ask Matt more about that Denver Nuggets press room when he joins us at the top of the hour from the Mile High City what a bad press room by the way meanwhile the Knicks they lost pretty much every star on their roster to injuries including Jalen Brunson with a broken hand he lamenting what could have been there's a guy that you know is taking it hard however I think the Knicks are one of those teams on the rise if they can keep this group together and get healthy they were also a lot of fun to watch maybe where the Timberwolves are now we'll see the Knicks next year that's always one of my favorite themes to come out of the playoffs who's run out of opportunities or seemingly gotten through their window and not capitalized on those opportunities or the teams that are just getting started teams that maybe you didn't expect to be in this place and from this point on everything that happens every step they take is a building block and his experience that they can use for the future and I feel like that's the case about the wolves probably the thunder as well because they were so young even though they did lose to the Mavericks so our final four is set now in the NBA also on this edition of the show another first-time major winner in the golf world pretty dramatic finish at the PGA Championship in Valhalla but you want to remember that PGA Championship in Valhalla but you want drama well that was Friday morning right after we get off the air I'm sure by now you know about Scottie Scheffler getting arrested hauled off in handcuffs booked and then released meanwhile the PGA changes his tee time so he can show up at the course and get to work and he was in the mix on Friday though he faded a bit on Saturday you'll hear from Scottie Scheffler man it was jarring to see a lot to cover a lot to talk about on Twitter a law radio also on our Facebook page hope you enjoyed your weekend it's after hours with Amy Lawrence you man that sunset is gorgeous grill patio sunset hard to get better than that unless you're browsing Carvanas inventory while you soak it all in oh burger time so sit back get comfortable Carvana's got thousands of cars under twenty thousand dollars just waiting for you I can stay here forever Carvana where car buying meets comfort meets convenience download the app or visit Carvana.com today 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 investment minimum supply fidelity brokerage services llc member nys e s i p c after the end of a good fight you deserve an ice cold reward medella is the mark of a fighter you've earned this rich golden lager with a crisp refreshing taste because you know the bigger the fight the better the reward you put in the hours the energy the tough labor you are a fighter and medella is your reward medella the mark of a fighter trick responsibly beer imported by crown and port chicago illinois who are listening to the after hours podcast well this was a splendid performance when the nicks did make that run the pacers could not have responded any better than they did that response was so impressive in the third quarter this building was as loud as could be really getting the the next team going and the pacers were able to put them back to sleep the indiana pacers are in the eastern part of the state and they're going to be a great team and they're going to be a great team and they're going to be a great team sweet the indiana pacers are in the eastern conference final this is after hours with amy lawrence on pacer's radio yeah they beat back every challenge by the nicks and to be fair next players were dropping even in this game they lost jaylen brunson their fearless point guard to a broken hand honestly i never saw it it was fairly nondescript though he was feeling it and was declared out in the third quarter i want to swipe the ball on tyrese and i hit his leg and yeah oh tyrese halliburton not only knocking down a bunch of shots and dramatic shots at that but also his leg takes out jaylen brunson with a broken hand don't that is the the danger it's one of the inherent risks with pro sports but what a way for the nicks to finish up at home at madison square garden the place is ready to erupt if the nicks could get back to the eastern conference finals for the first time in forever and they did cut it to single digits multiple times but every single time the pacers had an answer it's after hours with amy lawrence was the season a success tom vibrato the thing that uh you as a coach you always measure okay what what does the group have and are we getting everything out of the group and and the only thing you could ask for is everyone puts forth their best effort and we got that all year from these guys did we win the championship did we get close so no that's just that's my mindset this is how it is so you won't get that same optimism at least not right now from dalen brunson heartbroken over how close they got he answered the question of whether this season is a success for the nicks with a flat out no although tom his coach has a lot more experience he's been in these situations before he's seen a lot more basketball it's up to him to see big picture anyway and to watch these nicks grow together as a team the chemistry i think the villanova thing is part of it of course they take pride in that but man they gave it their all i said to you last week the one thing you can always expect with the nicks they're gonna fight to the bitter end and sometimes that fight because they do have talent on their roster sometimes that fight results in a big dramatic win but it doesn't always right if you're out of bodies and you've got no i think the pregame described it this way there are there are no more men to to step up that whole next man up thing they got nothing left i think spike lee was ready to jump in oh no we do not want to be responsible for spike lee getting injured on the basketball court but yeah i do love the fact that they will respond as a team they play for the guy on the left the guy on the right their coaching staff they take pride in that and there's just a certain grittiness with the nicks that's a good team i'm not going to discredit them i'm not going to disrespect them at all that's a good team with a good coach and they they fought you know they they came back from down 2-0 um you know they had the chance to quit they did it um 3-2 so give them credit but you know for us um extremely proud of what you know we did this season um you know through through all the injuries we continued to fight we didn't make excuses now julius randall without og and anobi for a good portion of the playoffs well and going back even as a regular season josh hart was dealing with an abdominal injury though he was out there you don't want to talk about gutting it out and then the loss of jaylen brunson davey divincenzo leaves absolutely everything he has out there on the court but man how do you compete with a team that shoots 76 in the first half there's only so much you can overcome um but i can you know you can start from you know every single guy in this locker room honestly there's you will be here all day talking about each one of them um the way the guy stepped up this year and then jay reminds me mitchell robinson also missing so yeah they were they were as a team down to the bare bones but that takes nothing away from the pacers because they did shoot an nba playoff record 67.1 percent and they really cooled off in the second half as you can see but that's that's impressive good for the pacers and for rick carlisle as they head into the eastern conference finals we'll get an update on cristops portzingis with the celtics has not played in three weeks now what about the start of the east finals and also next hour we'll get to the golf in zander chafle his first ever major win pga championship was dramatic for all kinds of reasons but how about the dallas mavericks you've got a mavericks team that also rallied in a game six at uh the at the the moment at which they had no more chances right this is it it's do or die it wasn't quite the same rally as what we saw from the timber wolves but i do like the the idea that the mavericks are gaining in confidence and you've got now all hands on deck around luca i think we just stay together we always talk on the bench staying together our positive energy and today was a pure pure example of it so they were home against the thunder on saturday and it was a one-point game it was incredible the atmosphere there in dallas a lot of fun it was the two free throws at the very end that were the deciding factor if you haven't seen this this is a lot of fun to watch the end of this game as i say they rallied from a bunch of points down against the top seed thunder they were trailing by 17 in this one and yes you had luca and you had kyrie luca had another triple double you have kyrie doing what he does but it was pj washington with a pair of free throws two and a half seconds to go so they're essentially clinging to their last hope they're down one when he steps to the free throw line for three so he got fouled on a shot from beyond the arc he makes the first two he intentionally misses the third to start the clock oh man that was clutch that's why they call him free throws but i love it when when guys make them with all that pressure on their shoulders all right matt moore joins us from denver coming up next it's after hours with amy lawrence