5.4.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

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That's point.me. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Somebody better guard Klay Thompson, man. What are they doing? Los Angeles Lakers are getting smacked by Golden State right now.

99 to 77. Klay Thompson just going off. His dad, Michael Thompson, broadcaster here for the Lakers.

He's watching his son whoop that ass. Klay Thompson has 8 threes tonight. He's 8 of 11 from downtown. Klay Thompson has 30 points, Steph Curry has 12, and Anthony Davis who basically went 30 and 20 last game. Anthony Davis, man. He's at 11 points right now, okay? It's Anthony Davis, folks. 30 and 21 game.

He's like, hey, I got 10 for you next. Sorry. Anyway, we'll keep you updated on this game.

God knows if the Lakers can bounce back. It doesn't look like it. Anyway, we got a lot to do. This is the JR Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to everybody listening all over North America. There is no show without you.

Broadcasting to hundreds of stations and hundreds of markets. And just thank you. I don't care what pocket of the country you're in, I appreciate you. Whether you're listening on one of those local stations, whether you're tuned in on the free Odyssey app, A-U-D-A-C-Y, Sirius XM Channel 158, or a smart speaker, thank you very much. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host, Dave Shepherd.

He's coming to you live from New York City. And we've already had a busy night. We'll continue to have a busy night. We'll update you on this Lakers and Warriors game whenever it does conclude.

Last hour we talked about a few things. The Alabama baseball coach, Brad Bohannon, who got the boot. He officially got the boot.

He may never have a job again. Suspicious wagering activity. It seems that he was in cahoots with someone placing a bet at a sports book in Cincinnati.

And he was kind of telling the guy, yeah, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to try to lose this game on purpose by screwing up the pitchers. And you should probably put money on LSU to beat us.

Whoa. We talked about that. Gambling is going to just continue to blow up at every level that you could think of. We talked about the NFL. Once again, under investigation, workplace discrimination in the NFL's league offices. You have the attorney generals of both Los Angeles, or excuse me, of California and New York who are digging into the NFL and its workplace practices.

And then the big story that took place this afternoon. We learned head coach Mike Budenholzer is now the former head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. Budenholzer has been given the boot. It doesn't matter how many coach of the year awards you got.

It doesn't matter. Winning an NBA championship in twenty twenty one doesn't matter that he's owed 16 million dollars over the next two years. He's gone.

And so that's where we started off the show as we continue on. Yeah, we'll get into this Lakers Golden State, as I mentioned. I do want to talk to you about Lamar Jackson. He has some some lofty goals now that he has a little bit more help. Hopefully they stay healthy with the Baltimore Ravens.

We'll get into Jokic. Aaron Rodgers is seemingly everywhere in New York City. We even have some news on Lionel Messi for all of my football fans out there. So if you want to talk to me, it's simple. The phone number eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS.

You can find me everywhere online at JR Sport Brief. I do want to hit on this theme and I'm going to I'm going to hit it in a second on Giannis comments. You know, this went viral last week. Giannis on failure. Giannis, did you fail? Giannis, did the team fail?

And I got a simple question. Why did Putin holds to get fired? Did he fail?

Did the Bucks fail? Why does he no longer have a job? I want to get into that momentarily. We do have a caller here. Brad is from Raleigh in North Carolina.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Brad? Hey, bud. How are you?

Excellent. Hey, man. So, yeah, I'm just curious what your thoughts are on what impact actually coaches in the NBA have on a team. Well, you need somebody a to be accountable and be accountable to either lead you or get fired. We know that head coaches and I'm sorry, Brad. No, go ahead.

Go ahead. Yeah, well, I think and we know this coaches don't get a lot of credit when they actually win. It goes to the stars as it should. And then when things go bad, they can obviously go out there and be scapegoated. You do. They're a figurehead. I'm sorry, Brad. Brad. Brad, hold on. You're asking me.

LeBron James coaches his team. You're asking me. Oh, my God. Why are you going to ask me a question and not at least be quiet so I can answer. It took it to night two of the week to get a caller on hold. It took what can tonight to to get a caller on hold for the week.

Oh, my God. This guy's like, hey, J.R., I got a question for you. And I'm answering it. You're talking with me like like wait for me to finish and then feel free to retort or respond.

When I bring him back, he's going to be upset, which is going to be a fun listen. Here's the deal, people. You need a leader for a team. Coaches are not moot. We know in every single sport you can only go as far as your players take you. But you do need someone to be just a leader.

It doesn't matter. You're going to have some coaches. You know, if Coach Budenholzer gets a new job, probably be with a young team. He's going to be tasked with laying a culture.

This is how you win, because this is how I've seen it done. Whether it's Coach Greg Popovich working under him or whether it's his own experience with a Giannis Atetokounmpo, you need a leader. If you want to simply go back and look at someone like Phil Jackson, you say, OK, you know, fine.

He got a triangle offense. He also had Michael Jordan. He had Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rob. He coached some of the greatest players that you will have ever seen pick up a basketball. But his job, I would say more importantly, was to try to organize and manage egos. You can look at a Joe Torre with the New York Yankees organizing egos. So coaches, managers, they all have different jobs.

They all have different roles. But for the NBA specifically, yes, coaches matter. Let's have no coaches. Let's have LeBron James be the coach.

You know, it might be a misnomer. For all of the influence and power that LeBron does have, he has to work with the coach for the betterment of the team. You can't remove his influence. It's there.

So it's always going to hover above you. But as an overall, there's one LeBron. You just heard Giannis has influence. Giannis Atetokounmpo said publicly, I didn't go ahead and tell the coach what he should do. Out of respect for him.

So there's not a one size fits all here. Coaches in the NBA, they do matter. You need somebody to lead. It's just a hard knock life.

If you don't have success, I don't care if you won a championship. Ask Nick Nurse, ask Frank Vogel, ask Boudinhoser. You're going to go ahead and you're going to get the boot.

Really that simple. And so Boudinhoser got the boot. And I'll kind of flow into this now. Boudinhoser failed, right? We know about the tragedy that took place with his brother and the accident. Absolutely terrible. Don't want to wish that on anybody.

Cannot ignore it. He didn't get the job done. OK, he won a championship in 2021. They beat the Suns. Giannis just went ape.

You know what? And he won a championship. The Atlanta Hawks got rid of Boudinhoser. They make adjustments.

Terrible. I mean, he gets to Milwaukee and even in the bubble, they're like, oh, well, they lost. The last two games, inexcusable, they had leads.

And then they just completely fell apart. Giannis wasn't even out there defending Jimmy Butler. Like, come on now. This is what Giannis had to say. He's like, well, what happened with Jimmy Butler?

This is what this came out of Giannis' own mouth. Do you guys feel you? Do you think you made enough adjustments over Jimmy? We didn't. We didn't. We didn't.

We didn't. I think Drew did his best, man, but at the end of the day, like, he gets tired. You know, he got to he got to rebound the ball. He got to pass the ball. He got to score the ball. He got to guard Jimmy. Like, get tired. You know, maybe we could have done some, I don't know, maybe double teaming more. Try to make it pass the ball. Maybe, I don't know, switch the match up for a little bit.

Maybe Drew will break two, three minutes. But I don't think as a team we made the right, or we didn't make as many adjustments as we could against him. Well, he was honest. And now, Putin holds it doesn't have a job. And so, if you're going to ask me, did the Milwaukee Bucks fail this year?

I think the answer is yes. What does management think about the Bucks' season? They failed.

They didn't win a championship. If they did a good job, if they did an okay job, if the results didn't matter, then Putin holds her and still be here. They looked at the last five years. It doesn't matter what took place two years ago. They're looking at the now.

They're looking at the full breadth of the results, and they feel that they need a new voice in there. And so, I know we know about Giannis and his comments last week about failure. What's wrong with failure? And I can understand from Giannis' perspective, if you want to look at the big picture from an organizational standpoint, if you have to look at it from a personal standpoint, is Giannis a failure? Hell no. Are the Milwaukee Bucks expected to win every year and fail, or they failed this year from a huge picture picture? No. But the season is real simple. Every team has a goal. It's kind of black and white.

Did you achieve your goal this year? It's yes or no. If the goal is to win a championship, if you're the Milwaukee Bucks, you win 58 games, you flame out in the postseason. I know about Giannis and his back. You still blow these games. The coach stinks. You fall flat.

Jimmy Butler absolutely annihilates you. The season, if it's a goal, was a failure. If I got to ask Derek Jeter, and he said it plenty of times, Derek Jeter's just like, Yeah, well, we didn't win a championship.

The goal was to win a championship. The season was a failure. I think everybody gets so afraid of the word failure. If you say you failed here, that doesn't mean that you are overall a failure. If you have a goal and you did not attain it, you failed. Try again. In that life, things don't always go your way.

You got to pick yourself up and you got to keep going. That's it. That's what it boils down to. Question for you, JR.

Yes. So, I'm trying to really understand and empathize with Giannis here. When you talk about Michael Jordan and you talk about the all-time greats of the sport, not many of them, in fact, none of them, outside of Kawhi Leonard, but he's the exception, were drafted 15th overall. There were no expectations for Giannis Antetokounmpo coming in, in terms of being an all-time great. There was a ceiling, but no one knew exactly the greatness of Giannis. We knew what Michael was going to be, Kobe, LeBron, etc. You talk about this all the time. Giannis knew who you were well before CVS Sports Radio on YouTube.

And when you were with him, there was no kind of entourage around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Is he speaking about this from a much broader perspective? A guy that didn't grow up in the greatest of circumstances, lost his father in his early 20s, saw his share of hardship, and that's where he's coming from, looking at this as a macro level. And then secondly, when you look at the question, do you think he was trying to bait Giannis, where he maybe should have said, hey, you fell short of expectations, what could you have done differently, as opposed to really trying to get that great soundbite? Yeah, well, we know we got a lot of reporters out here who are just jackasses.

I'm not going to say that this reporter is a jackass, maybe he is or is not. We heard Giannis say it, and we'll play that for you momentarily. He said, hey, man, you asked me the same question last year. Now you're asking me again. And hey, I think the question is justified. But is it necessary?

Probably not. Like, why are you pushing buttons here? You see Giannis lost. We all know that there were expectations for the Bucks to compete for a championship. Personally, I picked the Bucks to come out of the East. I thought that we would have a Celtics and, excuse me, a Celtics and Bucks finals in the East, and one of those two teams would come out and we move on.

Not happening. And so, yeah, disappointment, failure, I don't care what word we put there, if Giannis is going to look at it from an overall perspective, it's like, yeah, man, nobody's calling you a loser. Nobody's calling you a failure. But did you lose this year? Yes. Did the Bucks fail this year? Yes. I think if you would ask Giannis, maybe in a different way, you know, hey, did the team fail to reach his goal? Like, how can the answer not be yes? Giannis is correct in the big picture.

The big, huge, gigantic picture. Giannis from selling watches on the street to where he is now, amazing. There is no failure here about him in life. Think about this season, yeah, if I look at each individual season, failure. Houston Rockets, was this season a failure? You can't say that. What the hell are they playing for?

You know, not a championship. Everybody has a different set of goals. I'm pretty sure the Rockets woke up and say, man, can we actually develop these dudes?

Can they wake up and be professionals? You know, what are some of the incremental moves that we're doing as an organization? There are your goals. And it's up to them internally to say, did we advance? Did we fail? Did we get better?

And you go from there. But the Lakers trying to win a championship, man. Celtics trying to get a title. The Warriors trying to get a title. Can you look at the Kings and say the Kings this year were a failure?

No. They've been to the postseason 0-6, 0-7. Kudos to them. But for this squad, the Bucks, you guys failed. You don't win a title. This is what Giannis had to say last week. This was that whole back and forth. Giannis and the failure. Here it is again. I'm curious for you.

Do you view this season as a failure? Oh, my God. Okay, because I'm not that up. You asked me the same question last year, Eric.

Okay. Do you get the promotion every year? On your job? No, right? So every year you work as a failure. Yes or no? No. Every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal.

Right? Which is to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, to be able, I don't know, provide a house for them or take care of your parents. You work towards a goal. It's not a failure. It's steps to success.

You know, and if you've never, I don't want to make it personal. So there's always steps to it. You know, Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championship.

The other nine years was a failure. That's what you're telling me. No, I'm actually your question. Yes or no? Okay, exactly. So why are you asking that question?

It's a wrong question. There's no failure in sports. You know, there's good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful, some days you're not. Some days it's your turn, some days it's not your turn. And that's what sports is about.

You don't always win. Some other people are going to win. And this year, somebody else is going to win.

Similar as that. We're going to come back next year, try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better, not have 10-day stretch with playing bad basketball. You know, and hopefully we can win a championship. So 50 years from 1971 to 2021 that we didn't win a championship, it was 50 years of failures. No, it was not.

It was steps to it. You know, and we were able to win one. Hopefully we can win another one. Yeah, well, there are plenty of opportunities there where the goal is certainly different. But if the goal is to win a title that year, you lost.

There isn't. He mentioned Michael Jordan, okay? I'm sure you've heard this quote attributed to Michael Jordan. I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed. What's wrong with failure? Nothing. It's normal.

Get used to it. It's what you do after the failure where you can go ahead and you can certainly go out there and grow. And I heard what Giannis said, and from an overall big life perspective, he is correct. But for the Bucs' season, was the season a failure? Ask Budenholzer. 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 4 CBS.

It's 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 4 CBS. Like, what's wrong with failure? Do you agree with Giannis? I think the evidence is right here in Budenholzer. And you know what?

As a matter of fact, I'm going to come back on the other side of the break. I'm also going to tell you about somebody who failed. I'm going to tell you about a team that failed.

Failure's not so bad, folks. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Don't move. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Music You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I've got to tell you, JR, the only highlight of my night is being able to talk to you. One of the best and most underrated in the business, I've got to tell you.

You're amazing. Call in now at 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 4 CBS. 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 4 CBS. Talking about failure in sports.

Hey, here's one. Los Angeles Lakers, they're failing tonight. They're failing to win the basketball game. Golden State leads 121-92. There's about six minutes left in the game. And the benches have been emptied. I am talking about folks who you may have never heard of. Max Christie is playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

You can go ahead and take a look. Right now, Anthony Lamb is on the court for the Warriors. And so welcome to the world where everybody can now play. Game three will go down on Saturday night in Los Angeles. It's a nice primetime game for America to sit down and watch. As Golden State is about to tie this series up against the Lakers at one all.

8-5-5, 2-1-2, 4 CBS. Before we went to break, we talked about Budenholzer. And then we took a look at the Bucs' season. And I said, yeah, they failed.

There's no way around it. They were trying to win a championship. They didn't get the job done.

He is now gone. And that's just the nature of the beast. And speaking of a failure, it's still early, early in the season right now for baseball. And specifically right now, the New York Mets have hit the skids. Alright, they got two aging pitchers. You got Max Scherzer and they're both going into the Hall of Fame.

Like tomorrow, whenever they retire. Max Scherzer pitched yesterday in a double header against the Tigers, one of his former teams. And he gave up six earned runs.

This is coming off of his 10-game suspension after using the quote-on-quote sticky stuff. And then today, Justin Verlander. In his debut for the New York Mets, we know he also got one of these $44 million contracts.

These dudes are about 40 years old each. Justin Verlander, he gave up back-to-back home runs in the first inning to put them in a hole, 2-0. The Tigers ultimately won the game. A lot of people showed Verlander a lot of love knowing that he spent the vast majority of his career there, MVP, Cy Youngs, etc. And Verlander settled in.

He only pitched 79 pitches, gave up two runs, struck out five guys, but not how you want to be remembered in your first game. And the New York Mets are stinking it up right now. They have lost nine out of their last 11 games after winning 14 of their first 21. And Verlander, muscle strain in his back. Max Scherzer at this stage of his career, you expect him to get hurt, tired, have a strain, or have a dead arm. And the New York Mets now fall to 16-16. Still early to call him a failure, but not looking good. I didn't even get into their offense. Justin Verlander, he talked after his loss and he said, OK, folks, let's relax here. It's not time for everybody to think the sky is falling.

You don't like to lose like that, but it happens. I mean, it's majorly a baseball team. Just because they haven't had a hot start to the season doesn't mean they're not good. And Rodriguez has been pitching well all season long, so I don't think it's anything to panic about.

Nothing to panic about. OK, it's early. It is the Tigers. They started off like crap and they've been pretty good recently. And so the New York Mets will go home. They're going to host the Colorado Rockies tomorrow.

And then maybe they'll go out there and find some life. Or maybe the New York Mets fall below.500 and maybe their fans will just completely lose their minds. Between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees, I don't know which team is in more of a, that's a terrible spot. Hey, Shep, which fan base would you say is just more disappointed? Is it the Yankees or the Mets or is it equal, you say?

I don't want to come off as a jerk, right? But if, listen, in our lifetime, I mean, when do the Mets ever really win? Right. The Yankees. Now, I know it's 2009, but most of us remember the Jeter days.

The Cone, David Wells, Paul Neil's. Most people don't remember, you know, Keith Hernandez and the Straw Man and Doc. And so for me, Yankees are still synonymous with winning. Mets are the lovable losers in New York.

And so there's always this expectation that the sky is going to fall and you don't get too bent out of shape about it. Where if the Yankees, there's a lot higher expectations. So therefore, in that logic, it's more disappointing of what the Yankees are doing because the expectations are significantly higher and more realistic. Did I ask that or I think I asked, I forgot what I asked.

That's definitely what you asked, yes. I thought I asked which fan base is more miserable. Well, the Yankees fan base because the Mets understand that they just, they're the Jets. They're the Jets of the MLB. Is that fair? The New York Mets are the Jets?

I'm not just saying that because it rhymes, yes. Like you, you just have, it's like James Harden in the playoffs. It's like Anthony Davis every other game.

Except for James Harden in game one versus Celtics. They're going to always fall short. Always. The Jets are always going to fall short in the NFL. The Mets are always going to fall short in the MLB. I mean, them and the A's. They're always going to disappoint you.

Always. And the Angels recently too, by the way. So the New York Mets are just. I mean, they've gone, they've won a World Series. Most people don't remember that though.

But most people, okay, so those are the Miracle Mets. I believe it was 60, I should know this. 69. 69 with a young Seaver and Nolan was on that team, I believe, believe it or not.

Right? But people don't, most people don't remember that. And most people don't even remember 1986.

Well, what does that have to do with anything? I mean, we got to go back almost 40 years and now they're cooked, I mean. But that's what I'm saying is most people associate the Mets with always being losers. I understand they made a World Series in the last.

They were just there at 15. I know and they got trounced by the Royals. Yeah, and then they were there and the Yankees beat them in the Subway Series. And they got dominated in the Subway Series too. I mean, they barely got a game. That was a gentleman's sweep. Well, one day they'll win another one.

The Mets are break. It's going to be a long one day from now. But they will. It's already been, it's already been long. We're moving on to like 40 years now, so. That's the point.

All right. I guess their fans are just going to be miserable in perpetuity. Don't listen to Justin Verlander. He said it's not time to panic.

Shepherds saying, go ahead, panic. Panic like the Yankees. Yankee fans are pretty spoiled anyway.

We know that. Right now the New York Yankees happen to be in last. They're above 500. American League East is so competitive. The Yankees are in last place with a record of 17 and 15. It's still early.

Don't panic. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Lee is calling from San Diego. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. What's up, Lee? What's up, JR?

Live on the radio. What's on your mind? Hey, I want to predict my NBA Finals prediction.

All right. It's not a prediction. It's like the matchup I want to see. I want to see the Lakers against the 76ers in the Finals. Why?

Because I'm SoCal. I like the Lakers. I'm actually a Clippers fan. And growing up, I was a 76ers fan. All right.

Back in the Joel Dawkins days. Yeah. Okay.

I like to see that matchup. And real quick, I want to touch on San Diego sports and what's wrong with this town when it comes to sports. Okay.

Go for it. This is a town that people live here that don't give a crap about San Diego sports. And I had 20 years of season tickets for the Chargers. And I saw it, man.

It's like, they went that way. I'm still rooting for my team. What I'm going to do is I'm going to send you a hug through the airwaves. Is that okay? I don't want to hug you after you laugh like that. That made me uncomfortable. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Hey, Shep, do you want to see the Lakers and the Sixers in the finals? Yes or no? You want to see that?

No. Hey, Emmanuel Babari, do you want to see the Lakers and the Sixers in the finals? You want to see that?

No way. That's the least matchup I want to see. Yeah, nobody wants to see that. That's the worst matchup I want to see. Yeah, nobody. Only Lee. Hey, Lee, I like you.

I hope it doesn't happen. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, Alex Rodriguez is at the Warriors game.

That's the only way he's going to watch a team win. Partial owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I'm at work doing security, man, and I listen to your show every night. Hey, man, I am new to your show, but I absolutely love it. It's awesome. This is the best sports talk radio show on the air for sure, bar none.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Seconds ago, we got a final in San Francisco. The Golden State Warriors have tied up their series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The final score 127-100. Klay Thompson, he was the one out there just beating everybody down. He finished tonight with 30 points, 8 of 11 from downtown.

Steph Curry could relax just a little bit tonight. He had 20 points. Draymond Green, you ain't hear too much about him. He was an assist away from a triple-double. 11 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis, who just went 30-20. Anthony Davis said, hey, guys, tonight I got you 11-7. LeBron James, 23 points.

And Rui Hachimura said, here's 21 points off the bench. It really doesn't matter because we suck tonight anyway. And so at the top of the hour, we'll spend more time talking about this Warriors and Lakers game.

They're going to get back in action on Saturday night in LA with the series now currently tied up 1-1. But you know what? Here's a teaser. I told you about Klay Thompson. He hit eight threes. This is one of his eight in the third quarter that said, you know what? Let's just go up 23 points. This is courtesy of the Warriors Radio Network. Thompson curls off a loony screen. The jumper.

It's up. It's good for Klay Thompson. He's got 28.

97-74. Yeah, and at that point, he poured in two more points. And then they sat Klay Thompson because they were whooping that ass. Congratulations to the Warriors. I guess when they go back to LA, Anthony Davis will just be an aggressive basketball player again. I don't know if he's going 30 and 20.

Anthony Davis is going to do better than 11 points. Shout outs to Mr. Glass. What an interesting dude. 855-2124 CBS. That's 855-2124 CBS.

We got a gentleman. His name is Rob. He's calling from North Carolina.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, Rob. Hey, JR. Yes, that's me. Hey, sir.

Hey, I'm going to tell you, man. He should just play hurt, man. How he play tonight. Who? Oh, Anthony Davis? Oh, yeah, maybe. He should say his acting hurt or something. I'm pretty sure Anthony Davis is hurting somewhere. It's his M.O.

What else you got? Hey, man. I don't know what other people are talking about there, man. Like I say, man, hey. You got to lose sometimes to win, man. You got to understand. You got to lose to win.

To understand and to win, you know? And then Harden finally showed up. I couldn't believe it. Excuse me, James Harden?

I don't know. He showed up that game. I apologize. He showed up that game.

Oh, yeah, I was going to say. One game and then he crapped the bed last night. So, yeah, he went from 45 points, James Harden did. And then last night, I think he went, I think I said two of 14? Last night, he was crapped. Yeah, man, he know how he be, man.

He's hot and cold. Hey, everybody sleeping on them Denver Nuggets, man. They got two teams, man. They got a starting five and a bench.

The bench can be a starting five on another team. Half and one, you know? I don't know. You know what? As a matter of fact, thank you for bringing that up, Rob. We'll get into the Denver Nuggets later on in the show since you bring up the fact that people are sleeping on the Nuggets.

And thank you for calling from North Carolina. People sleeping on the Denver Nuggets? Really? I know Mike Malone, and they did. At the end of the season, the regular season, the Nuggets were out here. They were just coasting. Jokic is like, ah, my calf hurts and Mike Malone is calling them out for being soft. They're not doing a damn thing.

I don't think anybody's sleeping on them, man. Let's go to Michigan. Let's talk to Renae. You're on CBS Sports Radio, Renae.

What's going on? Yeah, hey, J.R. I'm always listening to you. You had a fantastic top six list last night. But anyway, what I want to tell you real quick is that I like the Denver Nuggets. And I'm hoping that Mike Malone can get it done because he has come so far and then, you know, they just don't make it.

And they're a good team. But for the end, J.R., I would like to see the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets because I think to me that would be a better matchup than the 76ers. And, you know, I'm happy that Joe, he's got the – That would be – those are two teams in the West, though. I mean, you mean – we can't have that matchup in the Finals. The Western Conference Finals, yes, but not the Finals.

Yeah, that's what I mean, the Western Conference Finals. And I'm happy that Joe got the MVP finally. I'm glad they gave the toy. And so, you know, J.R., that's what I'm hoping, you know, when it's all said and done. Because I like the Denver – he got firepower. And, you know, I'm just hoping, you know, for once, you know, that he can get it. Okay.

Hey, look, I said this last night and thank you so much, Renae, for calling from Michigan. It's tough to root for – for me personally, I don't care. It's tough to root for – I got – there's so much positive things to root for. Like, I'd love to see Steph Curry win another ring, and I'd love to see LeBron win another ring. I want to see Jokic get a ring.

I would love to see Embiid get one, but I don't think that's happening this year. And then I think I can throw the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat just pretty much out of the mix. Hey, Renae, thank you for calling from Michigan. Okay, J.R. You take care.

Hey, Shep, am I – I'm not out of line, right? If I have to look at the teams that I don't think would win, I don't see the Knicks winning a title, I don't see the Heat winning, and I don't see the Sixers winning. Would you agree with that? It's – so the knee of Joel Embiid, obviously that's imperative. I'm not going to rule any of those three teams out because all three have proven they can win significantly, overwhelmingly on the road in this postseason. You could see Julius Randle hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy. Did he not look like a champion in Game 2 after missing a game and a half with that ankle? That's one game. That's a big game, J.R. Before that game, coming off of the ankle injury that crapped him out at the end of the season, he has looked like crap this postseason. Yes, but he – I mean, compared to what he was two years ago in the postseason, where he looked like he didn't belong in the All-Star conversation, let alone the NBA.

Sure, but two years ago don't matter right now. No, but the point is – Could you – so you can see Julius Randle hoisting the Larry O'Brien, and you could see the New York Knicks this season as the – just in comparison to every other team remaining in the playoffs, you could see the New York Knicks going down Broadway with an NBA championship. Could I envision it?

Hell yes. Is it likely? No.

Well, that's what I'm asking. But, J.R., but I'm not ruling them out. Like, I'm not saying the Knicks have no chance.

Like, if you get to this point in the season – Well, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yes. We could save part of the conversation. Of course, everybody has a chance. What I'm saying – Do they have a realistic chance?

Is that – When you look at – everybody has a realistic chance to different degrees. Okay. When you look at the remaining teams in the NBA playoffs, I would say the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat and the Sixers, for the reason you just said, and B'd, and then you could also put Harden in there, those are three teams that I would say – and the Sixers better than the last two – I'd be hard-pressed to see them win in comparison to everybody else.

They're at the bottom of the totem pole. Right. And I trust Jason Tatum in fourth quarters, and I trust Marcus Smart with a ball in his hands with the game on the line, and I trust first-year head coach Joe Missoula. Come on, J.R., like, you're giving the Celtics such a significant chance. I'm not putting the Celtics in the same category as the New York Knicks as regards to who can win a championship. I take the Knicks before I take the Celtics. I would not. There is a pecking order here for the teams that are remaining.

There's a pecking order. Okay? I can look at the Boston Celtics, and I can actually look at a team that has gone to an NBA Finals and has experience there. I can look at a New York Knicks team that is hurt. I can look at a Sixers team that is hurt. I can look at a Miami Heat team that is hurt. There are better teams here. We got the Nuggets. You got the Warriors. If any of the teams that we just mentioned went up against either one of these, they get smoked. They get smacked. It will be competitive.

See, that's the good thing. This season, this current playoff structure and format, it's wide open. Teams, there's even things a little bit more even.

There isn't one team that you look at and go, oh, my God, the overwhelming favorite to destroy everybody. There's no Kobe and Shaq. There's no Michael Jordan here. There's no Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. No. It's a bunch of good teams, a bunch of flawed teams, and that makes it a fun watch.

Hey, make my day if the New York Knicks went on some magic run to the NBA playoffs. But in relation to some of these other squads? Well, they're low on the total poll.

I mean, there's a reason why if you look at the odds in Vegas, they kind of say, yeah, yeah, don't bet on them. A little bit of a long shot. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Man, how about this? Lakers got destroyed tonight. 127 to 100, the series has tied one all. We're going to hear about Klay Thompson on the other side.

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