JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Rules and restrictions may apply. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Tuesday night to you. I hope you had a tremendous day on Tuesday. I'm going to be here with you for the next four hours, regardless of how your day went.

And this is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. A big thank you and much love to super producer and host Dave Shepherd. He's coming to you live from New York City.

And we got a busy night. We already know the Western Conference is pretty much set for the NBA Finals. We got the Denver Nuggets and I guess in about an hour or so, we're going to find out whether or not the Miami Heat move on, whether or not they are going to officially join the Denver Nuggets in the finals. Because right now, the Heat are taking on the Celtics down in Miami. About halfway through the third quarter, the Boston Celtics currently lead 65 to 61. This has been a little bit of a close game, all things considered. No one is having a ridiculously explosive game.

And so they're staying close. Tatum has 16 points. Derek White has 14.

I don't know. Brown is having a better game. He has 11. And Jimmy Butler has nine. Caleb Martin is the leading scorer here for the Miami Heat.

He has 14 points, which is still absolutely ridiculous because if Caleb Martin walked through your local mall, you would have no idea who the hell he was. And so let's see if the Boston Celtics decide to stay alive. I guess for one more night, we'll find out soon enough.

And we have so much more to get into. The NFL off-season training camp activities are pretty much underway at this point. People in New Jersey taking a look at Aaron Rodgers trying to figure out whether or not he is really dealing with a calf injury or whether or not he just wants to take some time off. Lamar Jackson.

Everybody in Baltimore can relax. Lamar Jackson is back to work or somewhat. We learned that Roger Goodell, he's going to be the commissioner for the NFL for the next several years. We thought he would have retired by now.

The NFL has changed some rules when it comes down to the kickoff. Denver Nuggets, they're waiting for the NBA finals to start, except for it won't get started until next Thursday. And then I guess the biggest news that even came from from last night doesn't have so much to do with the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Nuggets 113 to 111. The biggest news is what LeBron James had to say after the game, just pretty much about his future. And so we got a lot to do, a lot to talk about.

I'm going to talk about LeBron James a little bit momentarily before I move on. Dave Shepherd, how are you? I'm doing well.

Thank you for asking, Jayar. How are you, my friend? It's good to be here.

I am a-okay. Just hoping, not that I have a rooting interest in any of these teams, but I'm really hoping that we can just get it over with with the Boston Celtics. I hope that the Miami Heat get them out of here. There's no need to delay the inevitable. And we'll see if the Celtics can hold on to win this game right now. They are leading 68 to 61. And so we'll get there.

But let's get this out of the way first. We were we were here, right? Live on the radio, CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Brief Show, when the Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic with another triple double, when they came through and they beat the Lakers and didn't just beat them, eliminated the Lakers 113 to 111, despite 40 points from LeBron James. LeBron James had 31 points in the first half of the game, only finished with nine on the back end. The Nuggets came out at the second half and said, here, we got 36 points. Can you keep up?

And the answer was was no. And the Lakers go home. And LeBron James, he goes home. He might have four championships. He might have four finals MVPs. He might be a four time MVP. He might have won championships with the Cavs and then also the Heat and then also with the Lakers. He might be the NBA's all time leading scorer.

And he's done a lot of this since coming into the league in 2003. LeBron James has been very clear about his aspirations. I want to play with my son. I'm chasing the ghost and the legacy of Michael Jordan.

And so those are some cool aspirations to have. His son is a year away from getting into the NBA. He's already passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He's two titles away from Michael Jordan. But he has some things that Michael Jordan doesn't have. Longevity. All time scoring record minutes. I mean, you can go on.

He has things that MJ does not. And so it was a little surprising. Just a little shocking.

When LeBron James met with the media last night and he had to he had to share these comments about his future, specifically about his own future and his own offseason and whether or not it involves basketball. Take a listen to this. We see what happens going forward. I don't know.

I don't know. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. I got a lot to think about, to be honest. And just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I got a lot to think about.

Oh, wow. A little surprised to hear that last night. LeBron has made very clear everything that he wants to accomplish, everything that he wants to do. And to believe that he's just going to walk away or that he might walk away.

Just it doesn't feel or seem authentic. I mean, for the past several seasons, I want to say two, three, four seasons. LeBron James has made it very clear he wants to play with his son. His oldest son, Bronny, that's closer to happening than it ever has been before. He's one season away.

Bronny just committed to USC two weeks ago. LeBron is going to get this close just to walk away. The opportunity to do something that has never been done before in the NBA. This isn't Major League Baseball, OK?

This is not Ken Griffey Sr. sitting on the bench with Ken Griffey Jr. This has not been done in the National Basketball Association. That'd be another feather in the cap for LeBron James and his legacy. You know, last night we talked about Carmelo Anthony stepping away.

And he said he is comfortable stepping away because of the legacy that he has left here for his own son, Kyan. So LeBron James has been very clear. And so I'm left to believe after LeBron James gets swept, the Lakers more specifically, because it wasn't just LeBron.

LeBron actually carried his share of the weight probably more than he should have. I'm supposed to believe LeBron James is going to end his career on a sweep after everything that he's laid out that he wants to accomplish. And let's understand this for his career. He's exceeded. He has a lived up to expectations and then B, he's exceeded them. We're supposed to believe that LeBron James is just going to quit now.

I don't see it. Not everybody gets that walk off into the sunset. How about Michael Jordan didn't even get that. Michael Jordan walked off into the sunset against Byron Russell. And then he decided to come back a couple of seasons later because he thought he was laying the groundwork for the Washington Wizards.

How did that work out? No, he was still an All-Star as an old man. But it wasn't the same dude. It was Michael Jordan in the Wizards jersey, nothing that anybody wants to remember. You think LeBron is going to leave with a sweep?

I don't think so. And so today, we didn't specifically hear from LeBron James. But we heard about, we heard from management, we heard from the people that actually employ him. The GM, Rob Palenka, who helped turn around this entire Los Angeles Lakers season. From a too intense start with a Russell Westbrook, to getting them the hell up on out of Dodge, to bringing in a DeAngelo Russell, a Rui Hotchimora, to looking at the development of an Austin Reeves. Rob Palenka helped turn this season around. And Rob Palenka says, we hope LeBron is back next year. LeBron has given as much to the game of basketball as anyone who's ever played.

And when you do that, you earn a right to decide whether you're going to give more. And I think sometimes we put athletes, entertainers on a pedestal, but they're humans. And just like us, they have inflection points in their career. And our job as a Lakers organization is to support any player on our team if they reach a career inflection point.

Obviously, our hope would be that his career continues. But we want to, again, just give him the time to have that inflection point and support him along the way in everything he does. I guess this is an inflection point for LeBron James, right? His entire life as an adult, his entire life as someone with, not even as an adult, but as an understanding of a human being and having control over himself and his decisions. His entire life, LeBron James has been playing basketball.

Look at everything that it has brought this man. Basketball. LeBron James is a billionaire. LeBron James dribbles a basketball and has been able to open up schools. LeBron James is a billionaire and he's not even on the other side of 40. He has a whole life in front of him. He's had an impact not just on himself, not just on his family, on his community, people in Ohio and school. What a hell of a life that this guy's lived, right?

And so, yeah, he is at an inflection point. He has businesses, sports businesses. He has a sports agency.

Okay, his name can't be on it, but we know it is. This man has moved into entertainment. He was in Space Jam. Come on. I hated Space Jam, by the way.

I thought the movie sucked, but I can't take nothing away. He produced House Party, another one. LeBron James, when he stops playing basketball, he's going to have to look in the mirror and he's going to have to live through his sons, Bronny and Bryce. And so, yeah, he's at an inflection point, but I don't think he's done. This is the same LeBron James who spoke to Dave McMenamin from ESPN and LeBron made it very clear, even at this stage of my life, even at this stage of my career, I'm better than 90, no forget it, I'm better than 95% of the dudes in the NBA.

Who's going to argue that? Can LeBron James go a full 82 games? Probably not, but if I want to take a look at the season, if I want to take a look at who's going to drive me, who's one of the best point guards, point forwards, one of the most experienced dudes in the league, then you can't look no further than LeBron James. And so the Los Angeles Lakers as a team, as an organization, they have invested a lot into LeBron.

They want to strike while the iron is hot. No one could have predicted COVID. Nobody would have thought the Lakers would have won a title in a bubble, let alone the NBA going into a bubble. And so they got a ring, right? They got a title. They didn't get a parade.

They didn't get a celebration. There's been a lot of investment here. You've gone from Frank Vogel, you now have Darvin Ham, and Darvin Ham, he says, look, for everything LeBron James has done in his career, we're basically looking at two decades here. What do you think about him retiring? You want him back? Should he come back? What about his career? This is what Darvin Ham, coach of the Lakers, had to say.

Were you caught off guard at all by that? You're around him more than any of the rest of us. Did you know that that was something that he was considering or would be considering? You know, coming off a tough loss like that, you know, the work we put in this season, I think I was ready to retire after last night, too. But in all honesty and seriousness, I mean, LeBron has earned the right, you know, to do whatever he wants to do, to make whatever choice. You know, I'm not one to speculate, but I just want to thank him, AD, the rest of the crew, but especially him for being a consistent resource for me this year as a first-time head coach. I've been around the game for a long time, but transitioning into this seat, he was one of the most, if not the most supportive, knowledgeable, communicative resources that I had all year.

Okay. Yeah, well, we know LeBron James got a whole lot more experience playing than Darvin Ham does coaching. I think at one point in time, whether it was with the Detroit Pistons or maybe the Milwaukee Bucks, LeBron James was still playing basketball while Darvin Ham was active or maybe inactive on the bench. And you'd be hard pressed to look at anyone in NBA history who has had more experience out on an NBA court than LeBron James.

And so here he is last night making that statement that he has to mull his future. He doesn't know how basketball fits into it. He has two boys. One is going to college.

One is in high school. He has a little girl. He has a wife. He has more money than he will ever need in his lifetime.

Enough for generations. Why does LeBron still have to play basketball? He doesn't have to.

It's because he can't. There's more to do. There's more to attain. There's more to achieve. It is achievable. It is attainable. Is it guaranteed?

No. There's more to do. If you look at this man, if you look at his life, it's not about resting on your laurels. It's not about entering into the NBA and saying, oh man, I got enough money. The expectations were here.

Now I can go home and quit. The man has been chasing greatness from day one. The man has looked to be the best of all time since day one. And it doesn't matter how you feel about LeBron James. You could love him. You could hate him. You could think he's a little bum. You could think he's a hater. You could think whatever you want about the man.

He is one of the best ever at what he's done. And you don't get that by rolling out of bed and accidentally falling into the spot. You do it by getting up and you do it by working. And even when you're here at the end of the line. LeBron James ain't at the middle. He's not at the beginning. We know that. It's not 2003. He's here at the end.

I don't think you get this close to the end. And just leave things on the table to just let it sit. LeBron James said what he said last night. And maybe it's emotions. And maybe it's after the loss. And maybe it's understanding that his foot hurts. Maybe both feet hurt. Maybe it's to put pressure on the Lakers.

Whatever it is. I don't think you have the drive of a LeBron James. And maybe he feels this way in May. But come June, July, August, September. And maybe it'll take October, November, December.

Maybe he won't start playing until Christmas. I don't think you leave it on the table. And just walk away. Not when you really and wholly feel and I think it's true. That when you have to look at nine out of ten players in the NBA.

You're better than them. I don't think LeBron is done. I don't think we've seen the last of LeBron in the NBA. And I don't think he's ready to quit.

I think we'll see him again in that purple and gold. And oh yeah sure if he walks away, if he retires tomorrow. One hundred million dollars in cash gone. What's two years and a hundred million dollars when you are already a billionaire?

Everybody likes money. I don't think LeBron is hurting for it. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. A simple question. Do you really think LeBron James is done? Do you really think that we have seen the last of LeBron James on a basketball court in an NBA uniform?

I think not. I think it's emotions and maybe, just maybe, it's a matter of manipulation to get the Lakers to move. To make additional moves.

To get them over the hump so an almost forty year old LeBron James doesn't have to carry the load. The phone lines are open to you right now. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. LeBron James hinted at it. It's been reported.

But do you really feel he's going to quit, retire, and step away? I don't think so. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. We got a whole lot to get into tonight. I'm just getting warmed up.

So don't you move. 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. That's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Right before we went to break we talked about LeBron James. We know about the comments he made last night. A little ambiguous about his future. Not certain or sure whether or not he was going to return. And then we got additional reports from Chris Haynes from TNT about LeBron and his future. It's like, hey, LeBron might retire. LeBron James, and it was carefully worded, he might not start the season with the Lakers. It's like, okay, so he'll get going in Christmas.

So there's a lot to be said. I don't think we've seen the last of LeBron James in the NBA. And speaking of the NBA, we know the Western Conference Finals all set. The Denver Nuggets got rid of those Lakers last night, 113-111. Right now in Miami, Florida, they're in the fourth quarter. A little less than 10 minutes left in a game. The Boston Celtics lead the Heat 88-83. Now all things considered, the way this series is going, are the Boston Celtics going to scratch out one win, one victory, out of this series where they've just choked everything away? Or are the Miami Heat just going to get them the hell up on out of dodge? And I'll tell you this, it doesn't matter if the Boston Celtics win tonight.

I feel like we are facing and looking at the inevitable. And that's, they've thrown in the towel, they've decided to quit. Don Missoula might as well be chopped liver to his own players. His own players seemingly can't stand each other. Grant Williams, did you poke the bear?

I don't even want to talk about whether or not he poked the bear. And so here we are. Celtics might live to fight another day if they hold on to this lead, 88-83.

Now, I'm not the only person that feels that way. You could have watched the game this past Sunday, and you could have watched some of the expressions from Tatum on the bench. You could have listened to Brown dating back to Friday when he didn't want to comment on his teammate Grant Williams.

We could have looked at Joe Missoula on Sunday just falling on the sword, taking all of the blame for how terrible the Celtics have looked so far this series. And we could have all drawn the assumption and drawn the conclusion that they quit. That there was nothing else to see here. That the series was pretty much done.

Miami is up 3-0, and Boston is eventually going to go home even if they are not swept. That's just me. Joe Schmoe, who sits on his couch and I watch from at home. There's an NBA player who decided to chime in as well. And he's not just an NBA player or a NBA player.

He's one of the most successful, I guess you could say, and decorated over the past decade. It's Draymond Green. And of course Draymond Green would chime in here on the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals because Draymond Green is not playing basketball.

The Golden State Warriors were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers. And so Draymond has more time than ever to sit around on his own podcast. And that is where he was. He was on his podcast, on the volume, and he said that the Celtics quit. And he took a look at Grant Williams and that just altercation with Jimmy Butler this past Friday. And he looked at Grant Williams' response.

He looked at the responses of some of his Celtic teammates. And Draymond Green basically said, oh yeah, y'all quit. Especially when Grant Williams started defending himself and standing up for himself, dating back to family values.

This is Draymond from his podcast on the volume. You know when you know it's not going well for something? After the game, Grant started talking about, man, my mama and my daddy taught me. My man started talking about the morals and values that he grew up on. Like bro, you just got dropped off by Jimmy Butler.

Like, we didn't question how you was raised, my dog. They were losing the league. Energy was gone. Like he hit Trey and started talking crazy. As much as we all want to blame Grant Williams, that ain't Grant Williams' fault. Like, Grant Williams supposed to do that. Like, when you do that, yeah, you do got to stand on that.

And of course, you're going to hear it. Like, ain't no passes. But you then need JT and JB to like, come on now.

Turn it into gear and cover your man. After the game, they asked JB about Grant and poking the bear or whatnot. And he said, next question. To me, I'm like, oh, they done.

You can't next question it, JB. The Celtics quit. Yeah, they quit. And right now, they're still playing. 92 to 83, the Boston Celtics lead the Miami Heat. There's still nine minutes left in the game.

Plenty of time and opportunity for a turnaround. You think about a Heat team that was not expected to be here. They weren't expected to get through the play-in. Damn it, they almost lost both games. They lost the first one against the Atlanta Hawks. Hung in there to beat the Chicago Bulls. They beat Milwaukee. They beat the New York Knicks. And now they're trying to get the hell, or trying to get the Boston Celtics the hell up on out of here. They got nine minutes to do so. But I'll tell you this, I don't care if the Boston Celtics pick up one victory here in this Eastern Conference Finals.

It's going to take a whole hell of a lot for me to look at this team and to think that they did not quit on their head coach, Joe Mazzola. Who was basically handed over the team because Emay Udoka didn't know how to carry on an affair. Hey Shep, I said that wrong. There's no proper way to carry an affair, right? I'm not supposed to say that, right? He was wrong on multiple levels. He shouldn't have carried on anything. There you go. Well, damn Shep, I'm just a terrible human out here, am I? I didn't say that.

Okay. Emay Udoka carried on an affair, would she? Well, they're not married. They're in a relationship, though. They were partners. There you go. Is it still an affair if you're partners?

What is it called? Cheating? Yeah. I mean, I've never spoken to Nia personally about this, but I think she preferred monogamy. Was she?

Yeah. Listen, you didn't hear anything about an open relationship. And I don't think the Celtics encouraged him to do things with women in the organization. That's just my hunch. Yeah, I don't think the Celtics woke up and said, hey everybody, just sleep with your subordinates.

I don't think they have those type of days in a corporate structure. Hey Marco, we don't have that at Odyssey, do we? Is that wrong? Should we not have done that?

Do we need to implement that strategy in Odyssey? Is it missing? Yeah, I think that maybe you have to go in some of the bylaws. I feel like that should be in some of the fine print, yes. Is it a given or does it something that needs to be explicitly stated? You know, I feel like when you do things that are supposed to be a given, not everybody gets that memo. So we should probably put that down in writing somewhere. I think everybody should probably put that in writing somewhere.

Yeah. Well, I think they told Ime Udonka to his face to cut it out and he still didn't... He didn't have to read no bylaws. He still didn't get it. But hey, what do I know? He has a new job with the Houston Rockets, so it worked out for him, I guess, all things considered. Hmm.

What a wild world that we live in. Anyway, it's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. Draymond said the Celtics quit, and I think they did. But right now, the Boston Celtics, they hold the lead.

And they're playing in front of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. I'd pay to see these dudes sit next to each other during a basketball game, but they are on opposite sides of the court. We'll talk about that. And speaking on opposite sides, the NFL continues to adjust rules. We'll talk about that. We're going to get into the Lakers more. And then we're going to get into this game whenever the hell it concludes. 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. Thanks very much. I really admire you and your show. You do such a good job, and these questions are real important. What do you say, JR, man?

I love what you do, and just keep doing it, bro. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. All right, here we go now. The Boston Celtics are just out here wasting everybody's time. 104 to 89, the Celtics lead the Miami Heat. A little less than four minutes left in the game. And this is what you call a waste of time. Now everybody has to go ahead and travel and go back and forth and back and forth just to see if Boston picks up another game.

105 to 89. Could we not have just closed the door? Now we have to entertain whether or not the Boston Celtics are going to continue on and pick up three more victories and just win this series. Highly unlikely. And so they can celebrate tonight. But who cares? And so they win like game seven.

I don't think it's going to happen. Hey, Shep, they're wasting everybody's time, man. What are they doing out here? Yeah, to some degree, and it just kind of sheds light on how inconsistent and disappointing they were the first three games when they can put up 105 this easily. And Tatum can score at will whenever he wants, and Jalen Brown can actually attack and finish, and Marcus Smart can actually make threes. And if you're Miami, this is a big disappointment.

This is embarrassing. I mean, honestly, JR, if you're Jimmy Butler, you played like crap tonight. You played like crap. He was missing wide open layups.

Well, at the same time, the whole team, and everybody's entitled to lay an egg. Nobody just is great every time out. Jason Tatum right now with Boston up 105 to 89, about 330 left in the game. Tatum has 27 points. Brown has 16, and Jimmy Butler has 25 points on eight of 20 shooting. Bam Adebayo, now he's had the crap night.

Ten points for Bam Adebayo. And so we'll see, you know, how long the Boston Celtics can hang in here. I was expecting a loss, and I still do sooner than later. And we'll see, unless, unless the Boston Celtics climb out of some type of hole here.

I think there's a full expectation that Joel Missoula will be on the hot seat. And we just have to see how all of this bears out. This is interesting news.

It has nothing to do with sports. Hey Shep, Jeff Bezos is engaged. You hear about that?

No. Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, are engaged. That was quick. Wow. Yeah, they've been dating since 2019. This is after Jeff Bezos divorced from his wife of 24 years.

She took half of everything. Yep. Wait a minute. Oh, well, that would be true, right? Right.

She got a lot. I mean, Jimmy Butler's still missing layups. Sorry to divert that, but like, this is, I've never, I have not seen Jimmy Butler play this poor in a long time in a playoff game. It happens.

It happens. It's going to cost them though, because they're going to lose game five. Well, they've already, it's not all his fault. Bam Adebayo got 10 points. Yeah, but no one's writing Bam Adebayo's ticket into the Hall of Fame. If you're Jimmy Butler, this has got to be a closeout.

We cannot give them anything. It happens. Nobody is Jesus Christ every basketball game. Bam Adebayo is having a worse game. He has 10. Jimmy Butler is shooting eight of 20 from the field. And no, he's not having the greatest of games.

He has 27 points. It's, it happens. It's not, it's not a big deal. Nobody wakes up and just whoops ass every single game. And so they'll, they'll be fine. Jimmy Butler will be fine.

Don't worry about them. Playing with fire for the next series though, JR. Like, I understand they're going to get through this. Nobody, nobody has a great game every game. But JR, you're watching the same game I am.

How many wide open layups are you going to allow Jason Tatum to score in the second half? Like at some point you have to have this mentality of finishing the deal and Miami just did not take this game seriously. And it's a shame because this is a veteran team. They know better. That's not the case.

Any, it's, forget any given Sunday. You step out onto the basketball court. Sometimes things are going to go, go your way. Sometimes they're not. And so I'm not going to beat up on the Miami Heat for, for not closing things out. It's not a matter of not being competitive. They've, they've just missed. And it happens.

I mean, you can go on the court one day as all the fans have started to, to pretty much exit. Whatever they hell they call this. What, Kaseya Center? What is this place called? You are, you are correct.

Kaseya Center. Yes. Yeah. Because the, what was it?

FTX doesn't exist anymore? Right. It was at Continental at one point, I believe.

Well, well, well. American Airlines. American Airlines. Yes. Good call.

And then FTX threw the name on it and we found out that FTX was a bunch of scammers with the crypto. But, but JR, but in all seriousness, like, like I understand, listen, this is a game of, of, of, you know, hits and misses. And so obviously everyone's going to have an off game. The issue I have is not the fact that Miami laid an egg on offense. It's what they did on defense, allowing uncontested layup after layup after layup in the second half. JR, they were in control of this game.

And so it just really makes you question how bad do they truly want it? I mean, because they're busy calling timeouts for the Boston Celtics game three thinking this series is a complete wrap. It happens. It's shut up. It happens. You're very kind tonight. No, I'm not kind.

It happens. Yeah, you are giving. Hey, are you, you bat, you bat 1000 every day of life? JR, I speak for me and I speak for you when I say this.

Every single show you do and the shows that I do, we give a thousand percent. It may not always be a perfect game. It may not always be a no-hitter. It's the same basketball. It's not basketball. But JR, but you can control effort. You can control getting in front of a guy in basketball. You can control getting a hand in a lane. You can do those things.

You do those things in high school. You've played basketball. I've played basketball. Yes, have you? Yes. You let every, there's not a time where you're just going to hide me and shoot.

I hope you miss. It happens. It's basketball. JR, if I have an opportunity to get to an NBA Finals and Jason Tatum is sixth for date and all-NBA first team forward, I'm not allowing him anything easy in the second half. I'm not going to give him an uncontested wide open layup.

It's just not going to happen. And the Miami Heat, they gave him an open red carpet to the basket every single time in the second half. It's embarrassing to watch. And this whole notion of Spoelstra being the best coach in the NBA, please. The Miami Heat have handled them here in this series. Except for game four, yeah. I'm not going to look at one game. One game. And then talk about how they don't, they're not fiery enough to close things out. It's one game.

If they go down into the toilet and they stink and now they blow it, then I think that's a conversation worth having. But tonight, today, because they didn't close things out, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not ready to go down that route. And right now, with about a minute left in the game, the Miami Heat lead 112 to 95. Jason Tatum has 34 points. Jalen Brown has 16. Derek White has 16. Every starter has double figures, is in double digits. And then even Grant Williams, the guy who poked the bear. He has 14 points right now.

Four of six from downtown. Jimmy Butler, 29. Bam Adebayo, 10.

Gabe Vincent, not too shabby, it's still Gabe Vincent. He has 17 points. Max Struce has nine. And Caleb Martin has 14 off the bench.

I'm not going to beat him up. Draymond Green is still right though. The Celtics did quit. Not tonight. And by the way, I can't blame the Miami Heat fans. They have certainly quit tonight in their arena.

And we have seen this before. Go ahead and ask Ray Allen. When it looks all said and done, the Miami Heat fans, they're leaving. And if you've been down to that arena, if I didn't think we were winning, I'd leave too.

Trying to get out of that area is just, it's pretty terrible. Alex Rodriguez, hey Shep, A-Rod been living a life, man. A-Rod looks like he has aged about 10 years in five days. Yeah, well listen, when you're married to one of the world's most, or engaged, excuse me. Alex Rodriguez is engaged to somebody? Well, he was.

He was. And that takes its toll. And Jennifer Lopez? Yeah, I mean I know she's been with Ben for a while now, but that takes its toll.

It's like being with the Kardashians. Oh. Every time I see A-Rod, it looks like he's been hanging out in Tiger Woods, neck of the woods. Oh yikes.

I digress. Derek Jeter is there too. He's married with kids, so he has an excuse to look like life has beat him up a little bit. But I thought A-Rod was living a life. He owns part of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and I guess he's just miserable. Hey, good luck to Alex Rodriguez. At least he's not the, I don't know, at least he's not the Lakers. Let's put it that way.

It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. It's only a matter of seconds here. The Boston Celtics are avoiding elimination. The score right now is 114 to 97. We're going to take a break. And when we come back on the other side, we're going to have a final score.

It's just a matter of formality. The Celtics stay alive. They avoid elimination.

I'll give you the final score on the other side of the break. It's the JR Sport Reef Show, CBS Sports Radio. T-Mobile's network can help keep you connected to all your favorite podcasts when you're out and about. Whether you're an early bird looking to dive into a daily news podcast or a night owl who wants to catch up on the latest reality TV drama, T-Mobile will keep you connected on their strong and reliable network. T-Mobile covers more highway miles with 5G than anyone. So if you need great coverage, especially when you're on the go, check out T-Mobile.

Find out more at T-Mobile.com slash CY. That's S-E-E-W-H-Y. Get some damn sleep.

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