JR SportBrief Hour 1

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It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Thursday night to you folks. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next four hours. This is when I get started.

10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I hope you had a tremendous Thursday. I hope you're having a great night. I'm glad that you're here. This is the beginning.

This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm super producer and host Dave Shepherd.

He is coming to us live from New York City. And we got a busy, busy night. Kawhi Leonard is out tonight. Got a busted up knee. He will not be playing against the Phoenix Suns. Russell Westbrook is about to go absolutely wild. In a few minutes from now, there's another game that's going to start. The Golden State Warriors are going to be hosting the Sacramento Kings.

There'll be no Draymond Green to stand out there and stomp on the chest of anybody. And then we also have a wild, wild game going on right now. Seconds away from completion. Five seconds left in the game. And the Philadelphia 76ers, they currently lead the Brooklyn Nets 102 to 97. And there we have it. The game is over. It is official. It is a final Philadelphia. The 76ers now take a 3-0 series lead against Brooklyn. The final score 102 to 97. This game had a little bit of everything.

This game might have had a little bit of too much. Let me just just try to break it down for you. Very quickly. And if you follow me on social media at JR Sport Brief, you'll already know about everything that we will discuss tonight, including this, this Sixers victory. Let me take a breath. Hey, Shep, it's good to have you back, man. I got to take another breath.

It's good to be back with you, JR. How you doing, man? I'm out of breath. Did you see this game here? It was back and forth. And there was an ejection from what I heard.

Oh, my. Well, let's talk about this. This was so absolutely nutty of a game. And before I tell you about this game, we're going to talk about Tom Brady tonight. He didn't announce a comeback, but he didn't announce that he's staying away. The Oakland Athletics look closer to dumping or leaving Oakland, which is terrible. Otani reports that he's ready to bail if they suck.

Dylan Brooks is a big old jerk. We know that. And then we got a lot of great basketball coming up tonight. But this game that just ended, the Sixers are currently celebrating on the court, on the floor right now in Brooklyn. 102 to 97 is the final score.

Now let's all be real and let's all be honest here. As Joel Embiid points at fans and goes, it's 3-0. Shut up. That's, that's what Joel Embiid is doing right now to fans as he gets ready to talk to TNT. The 76ers led at halftime 58 to 47. In the first half of the game, I'm not going to tell you that we had one of these Draymond Green-esque penalties or fouls or flagrants.

Some people will tell you that is the case. Nicholas Claxton decided to dunk on Joel Embiid, or he attempted a dunk. Joel Embiid was in the vicinity and Embiid fell. Nicholas Claxton then decided to step over a fallen Joel Embiid. A fallen Joel Embiid decided to lift his leg and kick it between the legs of Nick Claxton.

I personally don't believe that he was trying to aim for his jewels, but he just flat wanted to kick him. Joel Embiid was given a flagrant one. Nicholas Claxton was given a tech, and then the world went on. Joel Embiid did not get ejected. We then go into the third quarter. The Brooklyn Nets start off on fire. A 23 to 7 run to start the second half, and then a 3 to 7 run to start the second half, and then James Harden has the ball. James Harden is looking like he wants to drive to the basket, and on his way he kind of pushes and nudges Royce O'Neal.

It just so happens to be Royce O'Neal. His groin was in the way, and don't take my word for it. This man James Harden was ejected before hitting this man in the groin, which I could not believe. James Harden got the lead in the third quarter.

A matter of fact, nobody knew what the hell was going on. Joel Embiid looks shocked. He's like, I kicked the guy in between the legs. James Harden does a regular basketball move. This guy probably gets hit accidentally, and Harden got the boot.

Take a listen on the 76ers radio network. Harden outside right. O'Neal steps into him defensively.

Five on the shot clock. James Harden dribbling with the right hand. Bangs into O'Neal. Offensive foul. Harden with his second foul, and the 76ers now with eight third quarter turnovers. O'Neal is down.

He's on all fours. Harden dribbled and pushed off, and that's what the foul was. Tony Brothers explaining it to the official scorer. He's going to speak into the microphone.

I don't know if we're going to be able to get this, but here he goes. Oh my God, he's not just got a flagrant one. James Harden, it's a penalty two, and he's ejected. A flagrant foul, penalty two, and James Harden on his return here to Brooklyn has been ejected from the game. And they're waving the rally towels into the distance like, good night, goodbye SIA to the Sixers star guard James Harden.

Oh man. The foul, the ejection made no sense to me. None.

None. I've seen guys push off a million times. He's trying to put a shoulder into him. His hand is trying to push away. There's nothing in there where he wants to hit the guy in the groin.

Come on now. James Harden finished up his night with 21 points, five rebounds, and four assists. It looked, it looked like maybe the Brooklyn Nets were going to put up enough of a fight in the fourth quarter to hold on to the game. Joel Embiid picked up his fifth foul. He already kicked the guy. Nicholas Claxton was also ejected. He dunked on Embiid, taunted Embiid again, didn't step on him this time. He got the boot. Nicholas Claxton at that point in time held Joel Embiid to nine points.

And so things got real interesting. Are the Sixers going to bounce back to win? Can the Brooklyn Nets hold on and maybe move this series to 2-1?

The answer's no. Because Tyrese Maxey, becoming the primary ball handler with James Harden sitting in the back, he decided to light it up. He finished tonight with 25 points and at one point in time he scored 10 consecutive 76ers points. He even got them close.

How about we listen to this? Tyrese Maxey knocking down a three to get the Sixers to within two points. The crowd roaring Brooklyn. Maxey for three. Shot up.

It's good. A dagger from the left side by Maxey. 96-94. He's got the last five.

He kept on going, folks. This time with a layup. Dorian Finney-Smith back to Dimwiddie.

On the drive. Kick out. Royce O'Neal. He throws it away. Maxey with a steal. Three on one. Maxey drives it. Puts it up. Tie game.

Ty game. Royce O'Neal had it slip out of his hands and Maxey converts. Maxey with seven in a row.

The Sixers and Nets are tied at 96. What happens when I add seven points and he knocks down a three? This happens. Melton comes to screen for Maxey. Maxey driving to the right side. Off the switch guarded by Dimwiddie. Find the shoot. He shoots a three. It's up. He made it. It's up. He shoots a three.

It's up. He made it. Tyreef. Maxey makes a three. The Sixers go up.

99-96. He has scored 10 in a row for the Sixers. Sixers took control.

Maxey took control. The Brooklyn Nets still had a little bit of a chance, but the man with five fouls, the man who maybe probably should have gotten ejected for the game, kicking a guy in between the legs, Joel Embiid. He said, you ain't scoring in my house.

Here's Dimwiddie on the drive. And Embiid blocks it. And Embiid blocks it. And the Sixers get the ball. Tucker with it. Joel Embiid denies. Dimwiddie. He came down.

And Dimwiddie is blocked. He wants a replay to see if it's goaltending. It's not.

It's not. And after a little bit of back and forth and some additional turnovers and some shots, Philadelphia ends up winning 102-97. DeAnthony Melton got in on the action to put the final scorer up on the buzzer, scored, or excuse me, stole the basketball and decided to put a little bit of a punctuation mark there.

O'Neal looking for cutters, faking, looking, looking, looking. Finally throws it away. The Sixers steal the ball.

Here's Melton with a jam. The Sixers stuff it. Royce O'Neal panicked and threw it away.

Are you kidding me? He pulled a Freddie Brown. The Sixers by five. They just lost the series.

Unbelievable. He just threw the ball to the Sixers. And the Sixers are up by five.

The crowd is walking out. What did we just see? I love the storytelling here on the Sixers radio network. Here, let's hear what the final call has to sound like. I'm sure he's putting a nail in the coffin for Brooklyn. Dimwiddie doubled to the right side. Finney Smith, three-point shot.

Remi, no. Rebound, Sixers. Harris pulls it down and the Sixers grab victory out of the jaws of defeat. Brooklyn throws it away. The Sixers lead three games to none.

102-97. Hey, Shep, who's their announcer? Who is that guy? He's the great tomogatus.

Oh, my God. Did he ever work for Vince McMahon? He might have. Yeah, he might have, right? I mean, the way he's selling this basketball game, I'm like, wow, this is pretty fun.

And he is correct. Brooklyn is done, okay? The 76ers are up 3-0 in this series.

Now, the Brooklyn Nets don't stand a chance in hell. Joel Embiid running around with five fouls at the end of the game, ended up with 14 points, 10 rebounds. You heard about that gigantic block that he had to seal the game. He had two blocks total. Tyrese Maxey going on a 10-point tear to help put the nail in the coffin for Brooklyn.

Maxey ended up with 25. I told you about James Harden's 21 points before he was ejected. I don't know if that was a makeup call. I have no idea what that was. It was just kind of ridiculous to see just James Harden giving the boot for that.

Maybe it was a makeup for not giving Embiid the boot. Mikel Bridges for the Brooklyn Nets. He did his thing. 26 points. Spencer Dinwiddie, he showed up tonight, had 20 points. Nick Claxton, 18 points. He didn't know how to leave Joel Embiid alone.

He got kicked out of the game. And then Cam Johnson, 17 points. I got to give the Brooklyn Nets some credit here. They didn't quit. They didn't lay down. They didn't give up. They fought. They've been they've been competitive.

But we knew we knew this already. The Philadelphia 76ers were going to walk away with the victory. 134 to 105. The first game or excuse me, 121 to 101 in the first game. 96 to 84 in game two. And tonight, Philadelphia smacks Brooklyn again.

102 to 97. And a lot of the conversation that you're going to hear over the next 24 hours is whether or not Joel Embiid should have been ejected from the game. There's a lot of comparisons to what took place a few nights ago to Draymond Green stepping on DeMonte Sabonis. We know Joe Dumars told the world the reason that Draymond Green is suspended for tonight's game, which is getting ready to tip off momentarily, is because a history of unsportsmanlike conduct. Draymond Green was also ejected from that game. Sabonis is actually playing. He's lining up right now with center court to go ahead for the opening tip. So let's see how Sabonis performs of whether or not Kavon Luni wants to give him an elbow to the chest.

I doubt it. But I think what Draymond Green did in his history is just ridiculous. There is such a thing as your reputation preceding you. If Draymond Green was ejected from that game, if Draymond Green kicked Nick Claxton, I'm sure Draymond Green would have been ejected. And I know all is fair and love and war and and you're supposed to treat everybody fair and that's true.

But what's also true is you can't shake your reputation. And so Draymond Green, who has a history of being dirty, you know, going out there and swinging and kicking. Yeah, Draymond probably he would have got ejected. Joel Embiid for all of his flagrant fouls flying around as big as his asses and people beat the hell out of him.

Joel Embiid, I wouldn't have kicked him out. I think it was fine for him to get a flagrant one. And I don't know what the hell they were doing with James Harden. I don't know if it was a makeup call.

I don't think it was. I just think it was absolutely ridiculous for him to be ejected. At least James Harden was able to save himself a few minutes at the end of the game. Matter of fact, Charles Barkley talked about this.

Charles Barkley said he believes Embiid should have been given the boot. What we're going to do is get ready to take a break. When we come back on the other side, the phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. The Brooklyn Nets, they lose to Philadelphia tonight. 102-97. Philadelphia has a 3-0 series lead. Joel Embiid is kicking guys.

Harden got ejected for hitting a guy in the groin. And Charles Barkley, we're going to hear what he has to say on the other side of the break. The phone lines are open if you want to give me your thoughts. We'll ask super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And we got a lot to do because Sacramento and Golden State, they just got underway. It's the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. Don't go anywhere.

We're just getting warmed up. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, they are just underway. I'm sure they're going to have another track meet of a game tonight here in the first quarter. Golden State currently leads 13-8. Plenty of time to left or plenty of time left in this game. Well, this is late as hell. The Suns and the Clippers, they're actually going to tip off in another, I don't know, 10 to 15 minutes, which is late as hell.

I don't care if it's Los Angeles. And then on the other hand, right before we went to break, we talked to the NBA game or we talked about the NBA game that just completed. The Philadelphia 76ers beating the Nets 102-97, the final score there.

This was an absolutely nutty game. The Philadelphia 76ers were in control. Nick Claxton ended up dunking next to Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid fell. Nick Claxton stepped over Embiid. Embiid took umbrage with it and kicked him. Okay, Joel Embiid was not ejected from the game. Joel Embiid was assessed a flagrant one foul and Nick Claxton picked up a technical foul for taunting.

The world continued to move on. The Brooklyn Nets, they went on a little bit of a run to start the third quarter. And then you had James Harden. He was assessed a flagrant two foul and was ejected for trying to drive to the basket and he did a little swing out push off that hit Royce O'Neal in the groin. He went down to the ground and after a review, James Harden was ejected and it didn't appear that anybody, anybody could understand why. And then after withstanding a Brooklyn Nets run, Tyrese Maxey lost his mind at the end of the game, scored 10 consecutive points and the 76ers ultimately won this game 102 to 97. And so there will be a lot of conversations about why did Joel Embiid stay in the game when he kicked out another player and why did James Harden get the boot for what appeared to be, I'd say an incidental contact when it came to, you know, hitting Royce O'Neal in the groin.

Nobody could really believe it. The folks at TNT, Charles Barkley, Ernie, Kenny Shaq, they talked about this. This is pretty much what Charles Barkley had to say. I thought he should have been ejected. I thought that was a flagrant two. I think his, I think his was worse than Draymond.

Thank you. Worse than he tried to kick a guy in his junk. Yes. Just cause the guy's a bad shot. I mean, he tried, you know what he would try to do. I mean, so what's the law?

Yeah, no, I just, just my, listen, we can, we don't know. Well, listen, we all have our own opinion. I thought he tried to kick him in his private parts. He should have got ejected.

That's just my personal opinion. Whatever the law is, we go by the law. So if one guy gets his pin in the game, I'm not saying kick the man out. I'm just saying like, that's supposed to be the law. Draymond did the same thing.

And listen, in my personal opinion. So are you saying Embiid should have been ejected from the game? I don't want to say that because I don't want that to be the headlines. I'm just saying I seen something like this the other day and a guy got ejected and suspended. So how come it's not the same thing?

It looks similar. Basically saying that you just don't want to say, well, I'll say it. I should have got ejected.

All right. I happen to be with, with Kenny Smith who didn't say too much there, but he just said, kind of you, you're crazy. If you want to look at what Draymond Green did and Joel Embiid and think it was the same thing. I don't think so. On the other side, Charles Barkley sounded, uh, you know, just, just really convinced that Joel Embiid meant to kick Nick Claxton in the, you know what?

And I don't think that was the case. Nick Claxton was standing over him and Joel Embiid just kind of raised his leg. I don't think he had enough time to say, Hey man, let me, let me aim right here.

There was only one place for him to aim. And that was in his legs in between him because he was standing over him. A matter of fact, let's listen to the play from TNT. Was standing over Embiid.

What a pass here from Bridges to Claxton. Now look at the stare down. It's kind of hard to tell there. There's the finish. And there's the stare down in the step.

Look like one of the Rockettes with that kick. Wow. See Embiid, he took offense to this, the stepping over right there. Well, Hey, we saw that Sacramento golden state, that little entanglement between Sabonis. Well, we, we did. He was Reggie Miller was getting into that whole Draymond stomping on Sabonis.

There's a difference here, folks. 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. I don't think it's as, as black and white. Let's throw James Harden in his flagrant too. Let's throw that out of the window. I think it makes it easier for people to get a little confused because I think that that call was just ridiculous. But when it comes to what Joel Embiid did to Nick Claxton, yeah, he went to kick him.

But there's a big difference, I would say, between him getting kicked or Joel Embiid kicking and the other dude stomping. I know that sounds crazy, but I will explain. John is calling from South Carolina. You're on CBS sports radio.

What's up, John? Yeah. I mean, it's this Draymond syndrome now where everybody's kicking, everybody's fighting in the NBA. It's not just basketball. And you know, the thing of it is too, yeah, he kicked him and, you know, that was the only spot to kick him kind of, but they should have slapped him hard just to put down on the whole thing. Draymond's history is bad, but Draymond's history is dragging everybody else into it.

And, uh, that's not good for anybody or you know what I mean? I mean, he should, you know what I mean? He, there was no doubt he had the choice, I think, so I, if that's the word you use, to wear the mat and lift his leg or not and really hurt him. Oh yeah, well, we, we, we know that. And there's a reason why Draymond, and thank you, John, for calling from South Carolina. There's a reason that Draymond Green is not playing basketball right now and Sabonis is.

And let me, let me be clear here. This is, this is from the NBA, the NBA rule book. A flagrant one foul is unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent. Okay, whatever Joel Embiid did, we know it was unnecessary. He didn't need to kick the guy. This is what a flagrant two is.

Unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent. Okay. This is the key word. Excessive. You doing way too much.

You were already wrong, but now your ass is doing way too much. Our last caller, John from South Carolina, made the point of, well, uh, you know, this is, uh, he kicked him. Where else was he going to kick him? And yeah, he kicked him. And sure, the kick was unnecessary.

That's the whole point. The kick was unnecessary, but it's not like Joel Embiid decided to reel back and kind of put all of his fight and all of his power and all of his might and just say, I'm going to kick this SOB in the kneecap. That would have been a flagrant two. He just kicked him. Nick Claxton was standing over over him and he lifted his leg and he kicked them away. Like, man, get off of me.

What are you doing? That's not excessive. If you ask me, we see people, this is not an order out of the ordinary to have NBA players pushing, shoving, tripping, kicking. We may not see all the kicking and tripping as often because guys are utilizing their arms. So we see more shoving and pushing and locking. But when guys are on the floor, you'll see dudes try to slow somebody down with their legs. You'll see somebody be a little bit of a Grayson Allen and, you know, try to impede their progress or kick the ball.

And so this is not unusual. It happens. Nick Claxton dunked. Him and Joel Embiid have had their own history throughout the course of the season and Joel Embiid wasn't having it and he kicked at him.

It's it. No comparison to Draymond, who I think anybody watching, regardless of what Sabonis did or did not do, Draymond Green was doing way too much. I'm not going to put what Embiid did tonight in the same category. Just kind of kicking him as if to say, man, get the hell up off me.

Have some respect here. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. John is here from Ann Arbor. You're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's up, John?

Hey, JR. How are you doing, buddy? Yeah, I think it's true. History is with Draymond. Okay, he's got history and he's from Michigan State anyway. But look, Embiid just reacted, okay? Whatever it was, he's in his zone. He's too close to him after the dunk, whatever. You know, that's not sportsmanship trying to show him up. Like, you know what I mean?

Like Barry said, Barry's dad said, act like you've been there before. Just give him the rest of the ball. Embiid, he should have gotten from over Embiid, all right?

And then Draymond, he's just a problem child. So, you know, he's from Michigan State, so that's why I look at it. But hey, it is what it is. Go, Brooke. Okay, thank you, John, for calling from Ann Arbor, representing from Michigan.

Yeah, it wasn't all that crazy, not all that complicated. I have more question marks about James Harden being ejected than I do Joel Embiid staying in the game. Because I think Embiid should have stayed, and I'm still kind of dumbfounded that James Harden was given the boot. Hey, Shep, what do you think about Embiid, the kick, and also James Harden, the ejection? Well, JR, I agree real hardly with you. Because what Embiid did, I don't think he was I don't think he was intentionally trying to hurt and harm Nicholas Claxton. I think Nicholas Claxton did something that was very disrespectful to one of the two or three best players in the world. Joel Embiid, more importantly, doesn't have the history that Draymond Green has, whether it's five flagrant fouls, even before what we saw earlier this week. And so you said it best, his reputation precedes him. And that's a problem for Draymond.

And it's also the aftermath of everything. It's that he didn't go over to Damonta Savonas and check on him and tap himself and say, my bad, didn't mean to, you know, listen, I was out of line, but I didn't mean to have you on the ground in pain, potentially missing game three. There was none of that. There was no remorse. And even how he handled himself after the press conference, like, you know, we obviously we haven't heard from Embiid at the podium yet. I guarantee you, Embiid is not going to be antagonistic in describing Nicholas Claxton. He's not going to be the one pretending to be the victim in this case where Draymond was. Now, I would also say when it comes to James Harden, to your point, I don't know how Harden, what he did is worth a flagrant to. That is very dubious, that call. And the reality is you can only surmise it to being a makeup call for the crowd reaction for not spending, or I should say, ejecting Joel Embiid. But I'll tell you what, JR, I can't remember a time in NBA playoff history where the refs have been under this kind of heavy scrutiny before.

Hey, it happens, especially when you have these calls. For the life of me, I will never understand throwing James Harden out of the game. It's not like he balled up a fist and punched Royce O'Neal. It's not like he balled up a fist and tapped him.

It's not like he swung his hand into the nether regions. Mani McCutcheon, the VP for referee development, talked about this ejection of James Harden. And he said, during TNT, he said, hey, the contact was to the groin. And as such, the referees made the decision that it was both excessive and unnecessary, which is the definition of a flagrant foul two. A flagrant two. And no, it wasn't. I'm sorry. I got two eyes.

They work OK, thank God. And no, James Harden did not, did not deserve to get the boot. That was ridiculous. The only thing it could have been was a makeup call.

And if that were to be the case, that makes it even worse. That was a disaster. Nonetheless, the 76ers walk away with the victory, 102 to 97. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Joel Embiid spoke to TNT about the victory. We'll play that for you on the other side of the break. Speaking of dirty, we have more to discuss. We're going to talk about Dylan Brooks. We're going to talk about Max Scherzer. Max Scherzer suspended 10 games for funny business with his hands. Shohei Ohtani's in the news. The Oakland Athletics are in the news. Not for good reason.

Tom Brady is in the news. And I wonder who else will get kicked in the nuts today. I have no idea. The night is still young. Maybe you.

Hopefully not. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR, man, it's gonna be cliche as a mug, but long time, long time listener. First time calling, man, and I appreciate your show. Big time. You know what?

you have so much insight. I just want to give you props on that. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. We have talked about this madness in Brooklyn tonight between the 76ers and the Nets. Brooklyn winning or excuse me Philadelphia winning 102 to 97 taking a 3-0 series lead. Joe Lembide who kicked Nick Claxton in the groin while on the floor did not get ejected.

I don't think it warranted an ejection. Joe Lembide, he spoke to Ali Lafleuris. Shep, what's her name? Ali Lafleuris, yes.

Man, it's too many. Lafleuris. Is she French? Is she French Canadian?

I don't believe so. She's done a wonderful job for the NBA. She's been doing this for over a decade and she's still like in her like early 30s. She's unbelievable. Oh, I can't keep up. Well, Joe Lembide spoke to her.

I probably met her in the past. I'm sorry, Ali. Anyway, Joe Lembide spoke to her in Brooklyn and he talked about how they got the victory.

Listen to this. Well, Joe, all congrats on the win. We saw technicals, flagrances, ejections. There was a lot going on there but how did you gather yourself and how what do you have to tell yourself in games like this to get through it and get the W?

To stay together. You know, keep going at them offensively and defensively. Stay true to our principles and I think I think we did that and that's how we got the win but like I said we we stayed together. We kept playing through you know everything that was going on that I'm just glad we got the win.

Without James Harden, Tyrese Maxey had to be a playmaker. He had to step up. I saw you talking to him after the game. You gave him a little shove and a smile. What did you say to him? Man, big big shock.

You know, they're saying the triple team at half court, he took over. You know, that's what we need from them. You know, if they're going to keep playing like that, you know, we got too many good players to take advantage of that and tonight was probably our worst night. We're going to play way better than that. I wasn't good at that so I'm going to be better. We'll see you on Saturday.

Thank you. Yeah, Saturday, game four, Philadelphia with an opportunity to sweep the Brooklyn Nets and then at that point, we get a little bit closer to the series and game that I'm looking forward to. Can we just just go to Philadelphia and Boston already? Tomorrow night, here in Atlanta, Georgia, Celtics will be here or they're already here but they'll take on Atlanta and they have a chance to go up 3-0 in their series and on Sunday evening, the Boston Celtics have an opportunity to sweep and so let's see who finishes their series off first. Will it be Philadelphia or will it be the Brooklyn Nets? I'm not so sure about Philadelphia beating the 70 or excuse me, Philadelphia beating the Celtics and for whatever reason and I guess the reason is to entertain all of us.

There was a rumor that came out today, I believe via Woge, who pretty much shared with everyone that whenever Philadelphia's season is over, okay, it could be over against the Celtics, it could be over here against Brooklyn, highly doubt it, Philadelphia might win the whole damn thing. I'm not counting on it but whenever the season concludes, James Harden is going to be a free agent. James Harden has the option of signing a new deal, he has an option of going elsewhere, we knew that he basically took a 15 million dollar pay cut to stay here this season with the Philadelphia 76ers. It allowed them to bring in PJ Tucker and his toughness and his three-point shooting in the corner when they actually fall and we know James Harden isn't the player that he used to be, he's not as athletic, he can still run around and dribble the ball until there's no air in it, he can still take his step back, he's not going to the basket with the same explosiveness and part of that is likely age and then also the leg injuries that he's had over the past few years and you do have to give James Harden credit. This man played a lot of ball, tons of it, about nine seasons worth with Houston and he didn't really miss no games.

He was out there saying, I'll play 40 minutes every single night, I will take every shot. James Harden was the Houston Rockets and it's caught up with him and so the rumor is unless the Philadelphia 76ers can really go deep and and James Harden really feels appreciated and loved that he might go back to Houston and I get it, he's an older dude, he's a vet now. A lot of the players that he trashed on the way out the door when he was sent to Brooklyn, a lot of those dudes are now gone. If I'm Houston, why do I want to bring in James Harden?

Why do I want to take the ball out of the hands of some of the young dudes that I want to go out there and develop? Why do I want to take the ball out of the hands of Jalen Green, Jabari Smith and James Harden is a very good playmaker leading the NBA in assists this year, almost 11 a game but that just sounds ridiculous to me and so GM of the Philadelphia 76ers, Daryl Morey, Daryl Morey spoke about a month ago and he pretty much said, James Harden as far as I know is thinking about now and if we want to keep him, yeah no duh, we're gonna have to win. I know he's just focused on this season and not the off season but I know that he's focused on winning the championship. He's gonna be wherever he feels like he has the best chance. Obviously his pairing with Embiid is very very good and we feel like it's a great pairing for the long term.

What? So if that is to make any sense and maybe Daryl Morey is crapping on the Rockets because God knows they ain't in no position to win anything and where else or yeah I'm not gonna say where else could James Harden go? He ain't getting one of these massive deals. James Harden before the injuries and before the Sixers, he could have had a four-year deal 233 million dollars.

Then happened. Now he's about to be a free agent. He's already made tons of money throughout the course of his career on and off the court especially with his Adidas deal. He ain't going broke but seeing James Harden back with the Rockets to me would just be be a waste of time. Hey Shep, if you're the Rockets, would you even touch this guy?

No. He left them high and dry when I felt like they still had pieces around him. I mean Eric Gordon was on that team. Christian Wood was on that team. Like they had pieces to really compete and contend. They made him happy in bringing in Chris Paul. Then they go and get Russell Westbrook who could still be effective. He's still effective now but he was coming off MVP season. You know, two years removed that. So JR to me, Houston went above and beyond for him and he just quit.

Came in, we know what kind of shape he was in and he quit on them. And not to mention, I mean they have a, I wouldn't say outside, they have a very probable opportunity to get a generational player. Something we've never seen before in the great Victor Winbin-Yama and you think that's going to be a good influence to bring in a 15-year over the hill out of shape veteran despite the fact that, like you said, he is a great facilitator. But that's not going to lead an impressionable impact on the young stud, right? No. I don't know.

I don't know what, look, Woge knows something and this might be... He's just a mouthpiece for all these franchises, man. Well, I don't know if it's so much the team as it is James Harden trying to put pressure on the Sixers to ante up. James Harden has his player option for next year. We know he didn't get a lot of pressure from James Harden for next year. We know he didn't get that gigantic contract this past offseason because of his injuries and his age. And so he might be trying to push the Sixers to say, hey, can we scrap my player option? Can I get a longer term deal? And I just don't know.

And I do know. I don't believe James Harden is going to age gracefully. Is he always going to be one of the better dribblers, a point guard, a dude who's six foot five? Yeah, I think he will be. But from a scoring perspective, is he still going to be worth one of these maximum type deals? He's already 33.

The answer is no. Good luck, James Harden, man. I just... him back with the Rockets, disaster. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. When we come back from break, I want to tell you about somebody else who might return.

His name is Brady? What? Get some damn sleep.

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