It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you are amazing.
I'll be hanging out with you for one more hour. This show gets started every weekday, 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, our super producer and host Ryan Higginbotham. He is in New York City and we've discussed a lot the NFL Draft. The guys who might be moving up the Draft board, individuals like Jhelen Milro, guys who might be following.
It's a door Sanders, Jonathan Jones from CBS. He doesn't even have him as a first round pick. Right now, we have some teams that might be moving around like the Browns and the Giants.
And we've discussed it all. Kirk Cousins showed up to work today, wants to be traded from Atlanta. Brock Purdy, he showed up to work today. Is still waiting on a new contract from the 49ers.
They still think they'll get the job done. Meanwhile, Damian Lillard, back at work for the Milwaukee Bucks after suffering a blood clot being out of action for basically more than a month. He returns tonight.
And it hasn't really helped all that much. At this moment, this second, the Indiana Pacers lead the Bucks, 99 to 87. It's the end of the third quarter. Damian Lillard and his return from the clotting in his leg, not a surprise. 11 points, three of nine from the field. One of four from deep, Giannis by himself on an island.
24 points, 14 rebounds. The Pacers lead the Bucks, 99 to 87. Meanwhile, for the Indiana Pacers, all five of their starters are already in double figures. Earlier in the show, we talked about Tyrese Halliburton, the New York Times, and the Athletic. They did a full survey, an anonymous survey of NBA players. About a third of the league responded. I want to say, what, 15% of those responding said that Tyrese Halliburton is the most overrated player in the entire NBA. Right now, he has 21 points, 10 assists through three quarters of basketball.
Now, maybe he's not so overrated. Meanwhile, it's not a blowout this time. The Oklahoma City Thunder, they still have a lead against the Grizzlies. It's 79 to 70. They smoked them by.
Hickey, I know my voice and brain is cooked right now. They beat them by 51 points, is that correct? 51 points, fifth largest blowout victory in playoff history. I was getting ready to say it, and I'm like, that still sounds too good to be true.
That sounds nutty. The 51-point blowout. OKC leads 82 to 72, a little less than halfway through the third quarter. We'll keep you up to date on both of these games as long as we're here on the air. Of course, at the end of the show, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history.
And how about this? In about 15 or so minutes, we're going to have a chat with someone who played in the NBA. He won a championship with the Heat. He's a Miami Heat legend, Georgetown legend. His name is Alonzo Mourning, and Alonzo is still the player development man in player development for the Miami Heat working with Pat Riley. And so, Alonzo, we can't have a big old chat about everything going on in the league or with the Heat right now. But I do want to ask him about Pat Riley's famous drills and emphasis on player health, physicality, and fitness. But then also, Alonzo is trying to share some health information as well, as last year, if you weren't aware, he had cancer, prostate cancer, and then almost 20-plus years ago, he had to retire at the peak of his career, just about still in his prime, due to kidney disease. And so we'll be joined by NBA legend, Heat legend, gold medalist, seven-time All-Star, Alonzo Mourning. He'll be here with us in about 15 minutes. You want to be here with us too? You can do so. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. Now, I did give you some news and updates as it relates to the world of the NFL. And we don't know, some teams are going up, some teams could be going down when it comes down to the draft.
A lot of this information, we can surmise. So for instance, Mike Borgonzi of the Tennessee Titans, he spoke today and I feel like without saying it, but you can feel it, it looks like they're going to end up taking Cam Ward at number one overall, not a shock at all. This is Mike Borgonzi telling everybody we ain't traded.
No, we've come to a consensus. The entire organization is to stay at that pick. And I guess you'll find out Thursday night who we pick. Ooh, fancy, fancy.
We've got to find out Thursday. Hickey, this is like, I don't know, this is like grandma getting your socks every year for Christmas. You know, it's just like, wait until like, wait until y'all see what you get.
Oh, more socks like that? We know what we're going to get out of this. But it's, I mean, sure, yes, it's already a done deal and there's going to be no shock come like 805 Easter when the picks are announced, but it's still exciting.
I mean, Cam Ward's more excited than a pair of socks. What, for, yeah, for people in Tennessee? Yeah, not for me.
Not for you? There's no surprise here. No, I like surprises. So last year when the Bears drafted Caleb Williams, is it the same thing you felt like you were just getting socks again for Christmas?
Yes, yes, yes. When was the last time we had a, was it when the Texans drafted Mario Williams over Reggie Bush? Was that like the true last surprise at number one? What was that, 03, 04? It was that. I think 06, I want to say. Six? I think it was 06. Yeah, not that early, you're right.
Damn. But like the Jaguars a few years ago, we knew they were taking Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars also, I mean, I guess maybe, okay.
It's easier on the quarterbacks, you know? Trayvon Walker versus Aiden Hutchinson. Okay, that was crazy. That was, well the Jacksonville Jaguars are just, they are nuts. I mean, do we got to go through that history again? No, I think it's well litigated.
Yeah, we don't, I just like to bring it up. They got robbed by their own guy. They hired Urban Meyer as their head coach. Urban Meyer's kicking the kicker, yeah.
He's hanging out with people who's not his wife, women who aren't his wife. Yeah, I mean, come on now. Here we go. History of our first round picks. Oh, wow. I mean, there haven't been many, like at least at this point, like a day, two days before the draft of like, oh wow, we have nobody here they're gonna take. Yeah, yeah.
Usually by this point, it's done deal. Wow, let's look at the 2013 draft. Eric Fisher, number one overall, wow. Wow. Kansas City Chiefs. Who else is in that draft?
Okay. Whoa, wow. Luke Jochel, I forgot about that guy. A&M guy, he was like a top five pick, right? He was number two to the Jags.
Wow. Yo, the beginning of this draft, what year is this? The beginning of this draft sucked, 2013.
Here, listen to this, you ready? If you like offensive linemen, knock yourself out. Eric Fisher, number one to KC. Luke Jochel, number two to the Jags. Deion Jordan, defensive end. Number three to the Dolphins.
Lane Johnson, God bless him and his career. He went to the Eagles at four. Ziggy Onsa, is he retired? He's gone now, right? Isn't he retired?
I think so. I remember he was on the Lions most recently, but I think he's hung it up. Yeah, cause he got hurt. He went somewhere else and there was like curtains for him.
I don't know. Where did he go else? Oh yeah, Seahawks. Wow, he hasn't played since 2020.
No way. Ziggy Onsa was on the 49ers in 2020, which means he may not have even played in 2020. He played two games for San Francisco in that COVID year. He was last seen in 2019.
Wow. Yeah, Ziggy Onsa, he just fell off the face of the earth. Barcavius Mingo went sixth to the Browns. Jonathan Cooper went seventh to the Cards. Tavon Austin went eighth to the Rams. Dee Milliner went ninth to the Jets. Chance Womack, guard, went to the Tennessee Titans. DJ Fluka to the Chargers. DJ Hayden to the Raiders. Sheldon Richardson to the Jets. Hickey, where the hell did all these guys go? Like, were they all cursed?
Like what happened to all these guys? Tavon Austin, I feel like was in the league in like 2000 and was out like in 20, like the fact that he got drafted in 2013, I feel like he's been a guy that's been long forgotten about for like a decade now. And he's only drafted basically what, 12 years ago?
That's crazy. Yeah, Sheldon Richardson, how did he, wow. Yeah, he last played in 2021. I remember him being great on the Jets.
And then I remember him driving like 100 miles per hour with a kid in the back seat and that just. Oh, that's right. That's right, that was not good. Yeah, he was defensive rookie of the year in 2013. Wow.
Yeah. Yeah, that draft sucked, man. Okay, did D Miller not feel like he just always was hurt with the New York Jets? He just can't make some of this stuff up.
But no surprises is my ultimate point here. Although we are hearing more and more, and this could be trying to, this could be a setup that Shadore Sanders is no longer worthy of a first round pick. Maybe that's one of the reasons that the word is pretty much out that he's not going to attend the NFL Draft in Green Bay. And then we're starting to hear a lot of positive words come out about Jalen Milro, how fast he is, what an athletic freak he is.
And so his stock is going up and apparently Shadore Sanders stock is going down. You know, Jalen Milro was even praised by Andrew Berry, the GM of the Cleveland Browns. And the Browns obviously hold a number two pick.
This is what Andrew Berry had to say about Milro. You know, Jalen, he's got rare physical talent. You know, he may be the only, when he gets in the NFL, he may be the only quarterback who's faster than Lamar. Don't tell Lamar I said that, please. He's got rare physical gifts. You know, he's strong, he's fast, he's got a really strong arm and any system that you build around him, you want to take advantage of the fact that he has things that no other players at the position have. Okay, all right. They ain't taking Jalen Milro on number two.
So that's great and that's terrific. Yeah, here's a little bit of news in the meantime, not NFL related, related to the NBA. We learned that Peyton Pritchard was named sixth man of the year in the NBA for the Boston Celtics for the entire league.
Peyton Pritchard is your sixth man of the year. Dropped more than 15 points a game. They were almost all threes. This guy jumped off the bench and just said, here's a bunch of threes. Tatum Brown, give me a break and y'all finish the job.
And that's what they did. Now, you might recall in game one of the Boston Celtics playoff series here against the Orlando Magic, they beat them 103 to 86. The news isn't that Peyton Pritchard won sixth man of the year. It's been reported right now that Jason Tatum is doubtful for game two versus the Orlando Magic tomorrow evening in Boston. You might recall Kentavious Caldwell Pope knocked him out of the air, charged with a flagrant foul. Jason Tatum falls to the ground on his wrist, has an MRI and X-ray after the game. It says that he's okay.
There's no wild sensation. A pretty crazy situation when he actually fell down because this head coach must have seen this. Joe Mazula has probably seen him whine and cry a million times. Joe Mazula stopped the trainer from going to check on him and actually yelled at Jason Tatum straight down the court to get up. Hick, you think Joe Mazula regrets what he did?
I'm gonna say so, yeah. Actually, I take that back. He does not seem like a man of regret. I don't think so. He doesn't. He doesn't care, no, he doesn't care. He does not care. He's like, I wouldn't have yelled that to him if he didn't lay down like a little baby half the time. Right? Like if he didn't lay down like a baby all the time, I wouldn't yell at him to get up. We tell the guy he's gotta be tough every single day, mentally, physically tough, and Jason just sometimes is not mentally tough and that's why I always get yelled at him and get mad at him.
Yeah, that's it? That's kinda crazy. It's still crazy. Imagine if he really broke, imagine if he broke his wrist and Joe Mazula was just like, no, don't run out there and they found out he broke it. Joe Mazula would catch some heat for that one. Imagine he's playing. Playing with a broken wrist, it gets worse because they didn't know the severity at the time and then he told the trainer not to go out there, still plays with it. After the game, they find out, oh, jeez, this is a lot worse than we thought.
Yeah. Not good. Yeah, they would, yeah, Joe Mazula would catch heat for that. Lucky for him, he's only doubtful. I would think Jason Tatum, like, they don't need, let's be real, they don't need him to win. The Orlando Magic, I think, would, you know, if they were gone, if he were gone for one game, Boston Celtics would still be okay and throughout the course of the season, without Jason Tatum, the Boston Celtics have a record of eight and two, those two losses are against the Orlando Magic. I don't think too big of a deal here in the post season. Heck yeah, if Jason Tatum needs a day, give the guy a game, okay?
They're not beating, the Magic are not beating the Celtics in the seven game series. Give him a game off. Give him two games if he needs it.
I would agree. Yeah, this is the time to do, and really, even when they face the Knicks, probably can do the same thing, or honestly, maybe the Pistons with how they're playing as well. Either way, you can really save them until the conference finals.
Oh damn. We can't treat him like he's Porzingis from last year now. We can't do that. I mean, no, he's not as fragile, but like, hey, if the guy needs some time and it's like, do you rush him out there, have him play through a pain, probably the risk does not get better until the season's over, or set him down for a game, two games, three games, and you feel good about his chances going to round two and three at a lot higher health in the finals.
Yeah. Tempting, I think very tempting right now if you're the Celtics to set him down. Listen, man, what you do is you insert Peyton Pritchard into the starting lineup. Since he's the sixth man of the year, tell him to go out there and get some buckets, okay? And when he does, What? Gotta give him praise, J.R. His star will be born.
Oh boy. Maybe they'll ship out Jason Tatum and they'll build the duo around Pritchard and Brown. Is he the guy who would replace him in the starting lineup though? Wouldn't that be, I don't know, who replaces Tatum in the starting lineup?
That's a good question. Because don't you still want the points to come from him off the bench? Yes.
But yes, yes. So you put a bum in the starting lineup because you don't need, we got enough bums on the bench, let's put one in the starting lineup. The starting lineup doesn't need anything. I mean, you definitely lose some length and size if Tatum's out and you replace him with Pritchard, but. Sam Houser is 6'7", put him out there, okay? Just stand there in the corner.
If we kick the ball to you, shoot. That's it. That hurts my case though for Peyton Pritchard getting his respect. Ah, nah, but you wanna keep, don't you wanna have continuity? You're right. No, I mean like in the actual team sense, I would agree. Yeah, you don't need, the starting lineup doesn't need a boost. It's just, this is Brown's time to go, this is why I'm better than Tatum, right? That's it.
Again, let me do it again. Yeah, look, Peyton Pritchard, he played in 80 games this year. He only started three of them. They gonna make sure, they gonna keep that man on the bench. Just come off the bench, shoot threes, and sit back down. It's really that simple. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
Of course, we got a few more things to do before we roll out. On the other side of the break, we're gonna have a chat with Alonzo Mourning, who's trying to make sure that everybody gets their health all situated and perfect. Why? Because Alonzo Mourning, just a perfect example of prime health. He's just like an Adonis when he played basketball.
I had a health issue that nobody would ever thought about. He's trying to make sure that me, you, an athlete, non-athletes, we learn a valuable lesson. So we'll have a chat with the Miami Heat legend, Olympic gold medalist, multiple time All-Star, Alonzo Mourning on the other side of the break. Of course, at the end, we'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history.
And I wanna share this as well. I think sooner than later, we might have history. I think Jason Kidd might be like, fire me or I quit.
We'll get into that before we roll out. It's the JR sport re-show. Alonzo Mourning on the other side, the infinity sports network. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network.
We know the NBA playoffs are going on, but right now we gotta talk about something much more important. And we have a legend who's joining us right now. We also have another legend working with him to get out some words, some positive words about things that you need to be aware about in the health community. Right now, we're being joined by Laverne Addison-Burton, the CEO of the American Kidney Fund. And this other gentleman, you might be familiar with him. Blocked a couple shots, won a championship, was beating people up in a good way.
It's Alonzo Mourning and Laverne Addison-Burton. How are y'all? Good morning, how are you doing? Good morning, J.R., thank you.
Absolutely. Zo, we're gonna get to you, because I think a lot of our listeners know exactly who you are, but we're gonna wait on to chat with you. Ms. Laverne, I appreciate you taking the time to join us. Please fill us in on your role as CEO of the American Kidney Fund. Well, in my role as CEO of the American Kidney Fund, I lead one of the greatest charities in the world. And we are there for people who are dealing with kidney disease wherever they are in their journey, from prevention to transplantation.
We wanna support people who are dealing with this disease and help them achieve the best outcomes. Now listen, Alonzo, I know your heat are currently in the playoffs right now, and it was what now, 22 years ago, that you were coming off of a gold medal and you had to pause your career. You actually had to retire because of kidney disease. How are you feeling all these years later? I don't even understand, last year you had a cancer scare, how you feeling?
Yeah, by the grace of God, I'm good, J.R. Thank you for asking about that. I'm grateful to be here in partnership with AKF and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to really amplify and get the message out about kidney disease and to help people understand that they have to be a little bit more proactive with the health and going to the doctor. And especially if there are some health symptoms that they're dealing with, to not ignore them, to not ignore them at all, to really just go to the doctor and identify if there is a potential issue. And a lot of times, especially in the black community, it could be kidney disease. Because diabetes and hypertension are very rampant in our particular community, that's something that we can't ignore and understand that we lead in a lot of those things, especially as it pertains to kidney disease.
Over 30 million Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease, and yet another 30 million who are at risk. So I'm very grateful to have an opportunity to create awareness today to help educate the community to be a little bit more aware. Alonzo Mourning is here with us, as well as Laverne Addison-Burton as the chair of our sport reshow Coast to Coast. Alonzo, to watch you play throughout your career, you were chiseled out of stone, you were one of the most highly conditioned athletes.
It's really a testament to humans and human beings. You would never look at you and just go, hey, something is wrong with Alonzo. It was shocking when you had to retire.
What messaging do you wanna convey? It doesn't matter your level of fitness, it doesn't matter who or what or where. Yeah, well, you know, at that particular time, you know, I was a pitcher of health, man. You know, I was in excellent shape. I could leap tall buildings in a single bound, you know, as a professional athlete, you know, and then I was humbled that I was diagnosed with kidney disease, you know, and at a particular time, you know, I noticed some symptoms. I noticed lethargy, I was extremely tired, worn out.
This was during the Olympics in Australia. And then I noticed some swelling in my legs, you know, and I just chalked it off through because of rigorous training or the travel that I was going through during that summertime. And then I come back routine physical with the Miami Heat at that particular time, you know, notice I had some abnormalities in my body chemistry and then eventually I was diagnosed with FSGS, focus of mental glomerulosclerosis, you know, which we later learned that it was a form of AMKD. APOL1 mediated kidney disease. And when you think about kidney disease, you know, you don't realize, you know, that, you know, there's over 30 million Americans who suffer from chronic, that's a lot of people, man.
You know, it really is. And unfortunately, a large portion of those folks are people of color, you know. So I just wanna encourage people just to let them know that, hey, you know, that you could potentially be a candidate for kidney disease and it's important for us to develop better relationships with our doctor and change that narrative as it pertains to the mistrust and not understanding the healthcare system, you know. And historically, there's been some mistreatment, some injustice, you know, in the healthcare system, especially towards the black community.
You know, I want us to kind of change that, develop a better relationship with our doctors in order for us to kind of change these statistics that we're dealing with. Alonzo Mourning is here with us on the JR Sport Reshow. Ms. LaVarn, how important is it to have advocates like Alonzo working with you to get this message out? Yeah, it's really critical because people look at Alonzo, as you said, and you would not guess that here's somebody who's dealing with something that is life-threatening, let's put it plain where it is. And we've thrown out a lot of initials, APOL1, AMKD, all those things.
Let me see if I can break down and leave something with the audience. We're talking about a disease that's caused by gene variants or mutations. Each of us has two APOL1 genes. And if both those genes have mutations that puts you at higher risk for kidney disease and a form of kidney disease, as it was in Alonzo's case, that is moving very quickly and that quickly can lead to kidney failure. Now let's look at who gets this disease. This is a disease that is basically a genetic-based disease. It occurs in people of African, Western and Central African ancestry. Those of us who identify as Black or African-American or Afro-Caribbean or Latino are at higher risk for this disease. And in this country, 13% of Black Americans have two gene mutations of this APOL1 gene. And we estimate that about one in five of those people are gonna get kidney disease. And this is a form of kidney disease that moves rapidly as it did in Alonzo's case.
Here's somebody who seemingly is at perfect health having the time of their life and the bottom falls out. So we wanna make people aware of the risk so that if you got a family history, if you have kidney disease and you may not know the cause, you can look into that. We're talking about being APOL1 aware, being that gene aware of what's going on with you. And the way that we're trying to highlight this is through conversations like the one that we're having today with Alonzo and me. And next Tuesday, we will observe the second annual AMKD day to draw attention. It's a congressionally proclaimed day to draw attention to this disease.
By the way, is only fairly recently discovered so that people can have the conversations that they need to have with their healthcare providers determine whether they need to do genetic testing. And we wanna make people aware that particularly in the African-American community, access to healthcare or lack of access to healthcare, high blood pressure, diabetes, all those things can factor into whether a person gets kidney disease. And so we wanna improve on that. We wanna make people aware to push the system. We invite people to come to the website and take a look at the information that's available to help increase that information and awareness. It is kidneyfund.org backslash amkd. And we wanna share all of that information with people so that they can get what they need to have those conversations and to take action to protect their health.
The CEO of the American Kidney Fund, LaVarn Addison-Burton. Thank you for dropping that information and knowledge for our audience. Alonzo, I appreciate you for your time as well to see you still rolling and now Player Development with the Miami Heat. They always got you on TV looking clean. You gotta tell people where you get those finely tailored suits, Alonzo, okay? They've accumulated over the years, man.
So I've got them from different places, you know? So I gotta keep myself in good shape so I can continue to fit my suits, you know? You know what, Alonzo, when you talk about good shape, we always hear about the Miami Heat and Pat Riley's amazing conditioning.
I know you work on the Player Development side. How much of a factor, if not, were your own health issues 20 years ago? Did that play a part in what we have today with the Heat or was that always the way? Yeah, well, it plays a part in life in general, man. Health is wealth, you know? Without it, you have nothing, you know? And I tell you, Pat Riley, he kinda emphasized it, you know, being in Olympic athlete shape, you know, in order to perform at your highest level or when you step out on that court, you know?
And I kinda, there's some symmetry in that in life. You know, I'm not encouraging everybody to be in Olympic athlete shape, you know, but I'm also encouraging everybody out there, all the listeners out there to stay on top of the health, to eat right, to exercise, to consider, to consider, you know, speaking with their doctor and find out what works best for them as it pertains to taking the right vitamins and what have you daily and to take better care of your health. You know, we can't wait for nobody to do it for us.
We gotta do it ourselves, you know? So we gotta be proactive with our health, you know? We can't wait till something devastating happens before we go to the doctor.
You know, we have to at least get a checkup at least once a year, you know, to potentially identify something that could possibly be escalating in your body that could later turn out to be life threatening. Hey, listen, I appreciate you guys for coming through and sharing the information. Olympian, NBA champion Alonzo Mourning here with us, the CEO of the American Kidney Fund, Laverne Addison Burton. I appreciate the time.
Please tell everybody where they can go one more time. Okay, they can come to kidneyfund.org backslash amkd. Hey, I appreciate it. And I think Alonzo has a second one.
Yes, or you can go to powerforwardtogether.com to find out more information about AMKD as well. Hey, Alonzo. We want as many ways as possible for people to get information. Hey, Alonzo, the next time you do it big down in Miami, I'm gonna have to swing from Atlanta and help get the word out, man. We gonna make that happen.
We'd love to, love to have you. Absolutely, it's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, thank you so much to Alonzo Mourning for coming through and sharing information that's good for everybody. We open up the show by saying this. We'll say it again, health is wealth, man. You ain't got health.
I mean, you ain't got nothing. Like try your best. Try to take care of yourself, okay?
Take care of yourself, take care of others in the process. Kudos to Alonzo Mourning for utilizing his own career and story to just kind of share what can happen. He's a human being. Guy is one of the most physical, physically impressive freaks of nature I've ever seen in my life. And then when he announced he had kidney disease, like what, how?
This guy looks like he eats a salad and people and nails and moves heavy weights and he's sick? Like you never know. So I always appreciate Alonzo for sharing his story.
Thank you again for coming through and sharing that. It's official. We got a final with the Pacers and the Bucks. The Pacers finish them off 123 to 115. Pacers go over the Bucks. So now the Pacers now have a 2-0 series lead. Damian Lillard, 14 points, seven assists in his return.
Only 413, not a surprise. The big question was how he was gonna look on the basketball court after more than a month off on blood thinning medication because of that clot in his leg. Giannis Atteracumpo with 34 points, 18 rebounds. Bobby Portis off the bench with 28 and 12. Not a lot else. I mean, even Brook Lopez only had eight points.
Oh my, here we go again with this crap. Hickey, I see Brook Lopez only played 16 minutes. How are you seven feet, one inches tall and only have one rebound?
That's a great question. And I would assume part of the calculus, most of the calculus as to why he was stapled to the bench. Oh my God. Hickey, he was doing this with the Brooklyn Nets when he wasn't shooting threes. It's like how you only got five rebounds in a game and you're parked under the basket the whole damn time.
Like, what are we doing? How? I just... His game, transformational wise, has been incredible.
It has. Inside to out and in someone his size to still have, I don't want to say the athletic ability. He looked like he was anchored to the paint and now he's a seven foot one jump shooter at almost 38 years old? Or he just turned 37.
It's just, it's amazing. I mean, that's also why he only had one rebound. He's parked in the three point line.
You're not getting those balls down low. Right. Well, I mean, even when he was younger, it's crazy. It's also nuts he started his career in New Jersey. Hickey, he's pushing 20 years.
I was about to say like him, I think he's way older than just 37. He feels like he's been in a league too. Like, honestly, he feels like he's been in a league longer than LeBron James. Hickey, he was playing in the Meadowlands, okay?
That's when you know, man, you're old. He started his career in 2008. It's 2025. He went from New Jersey to Brooklyn, had that one year with the Lakers.
It's been in Milwaukee all of these years. He's 37 years old. Even his brother is cooked. I don't even know. His brother's been gone for what, three, four years now? Yeah, it's been a while.
It's probably not true. He's probably been gone a year just on a bench somewhere. Let's see, Brook Lopez. He doesn't even pop up.
There he is. Milwaukee, no, wrong one. What is his brother's name, Robin?
Robin Lopez, yes. I'm looking at actually. I'm looking up the one that, here we go. Sacramento Kings, when? When?
Oh my God. He last played two seats? No, 23 to 24 was last year, right? That was last year. He was in the league last year? He played 16 games, guess who, for the Bucks.
Yep, this is it. No, didn't play this year. Was on the Sacramento Kings, I guess, and never played.
I don't know, didn't play one game this year. Anyway, Brook Lopez will be here for another 20 years. Let's go back in time and talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. ["Back in the Days"] Back, back, back, back, back in the days when I was young, I'm not a kid anymore. But some days I sit and wish I was a kid again. It's time for This Day in Sports History. You see, back in those days, we had radio and you couldn't see anything and it was primitive and lousy and we liked it.
On the JR Sport Brief Show. I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass. It is April 21st, 2025, and if we go back in history, let's go back to April 21st, 1996. Oh my God, this feels so recent to me. It sucks.
Oh my God. Anyway, 1996, April 21st, the Bulls won their 72nd regular season game. At that point in time, it was the best regular season record in NBA history. We know the Golden State Warriors came by, they had 73. But this year in 96, you know what, before we get to a few things else that happened that year, let's take a listen to the, well, this is the final call of the Bills, the Bills.
There's so much going on. The Bulls winning 72 in 96. Gets it back, Lewis back to Price, no shot. The Chicago Bulls have finished the regular season where they've had such a great year on the road. The Bulls finished the regular season, 72 wins, just 10 losses on the year.
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls now will move on to the playoffs. Well, that's 72 win Chicago Bulls team. They went to the post season. They went 15 and three in the playoffs. They beat the Seattle Supersonics four games to two in the finals. They only lost one other game to the New York Knicks. They swept the Miami Heat in the opening round. And then they lost one game to the Knicks. They went to the Eastern Conference Finals. Michael Jordan got some get back against Shaquille O'Neal. They swept the Orlando Magic and then beat Gary Payton's team to win a championship. And then at that point in time, Michael Jordan says, I got 96, I got 97 and 98 against the Jazz.
And the rest is pretty much their history. The Golden State Warriors, well, they won 73 games in 2016. And then they ended up losing in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers, that great finals. Yep, that was in 1996, the Bulls won 72 games.
Let's hit the fast forward button. April 21st, the year, I can't believe this is only five years apart, 2001. Because yeah, we were sitting right up on the NFL draft and someone was selected number one overall here in Atlanta. Michael Vick went number one. Let's listen to Michael Vick talk about his biggest fear after being drafted number one overall.
This is what he said on the It Needed To Be Said podcast. But I get drafted number one and the only thing that's in my mind is like not becoming a bus. I seen so many quarterbacks get drafted in the first round and just like after three years, they labeled a bus. I'm not gonna be labeled a guy who made it this far and then couldn't take it a step further. Well, all things considered, was he a bus?
I don't think so. Did he have to serve time for the dog fighting? Yeah, and he was still able to bounce back from that and even add on to his career. God only knows what his career would have looked like if he didn't have to go away. Michael Vick, all things overall, yeah, he was selected number one overall this day in 2001. 13 full seasons, a four-time Pro Bowler, went to the NFC Championship, 04, 05, lost to the Eagles at that time.
He had to spend two years locked up, 07, 08, finish his career in New York with the Giants and then Pittsburgh, excuse me, the Jets and then Pittsburgh. 2010 Comeback Player of the Year, not a bust. Hickey, not a bust? No, not a bust, no one else. Career unfortunate choices and decisions made by him stopping his career, Michael Vick, not a bust. Also, outside of football, outside of the NFL, video game legend, Hickey, if you picked him in Madden, you just, it's like a cheat code. You're right, he was untackable.
Yeah, just go, just run. And how about this? I didn't know when this record would be broken. Michael Vick led the world in quarterback rushing yards until Lamar Jackson just broke the record. So as it stands right now, Lamar Jackson, 6,173 rushing yards as a quarterback. Michael Vick is 6,109. And Michael Vick now number two behind Lamar Jackson. It took some time, took some time. Anyway, those are a few things that took place this day in sports history. The Bulls win in 72 games, Michael Vick being drafted number one overall in 2001. There we have it.
And how about this, Hickey? We said it's unlikely the Knicks are trying to go on a run, now down 90 to 82. You gotta chip away when you get the chance of the opportunity, just a little bit of a chip away, right? Yeah, I think maybe the comeback in game one could be in the Pistons head a little bit, crowds getting loud, inexperienced team, crumble under pressure a little bit. Well, they got, well, now 90 to 84, less than five minutes to go.
So if they're gonna make a move, then they gotta go ahead and do this now. We got some more news that I've seen here. Maybe the, we talked about this earlier in the show, Nico Iamaliava officially a UCLA Bruin.
Apparently his brother, who was playing over at Arkansas, is gonna join him as well. You can't make this stuff up. I don't know, maybe you, I don't know. I don't think the Iamaliavas know what they're doing.
I don't think UCLA knows what they're doing. Well, I guess they do. Why you bring on the brother, I guess, but I don't know. Just ridiculous, I don't know.
Hickey, does this make sense or am I bugging? I'm surprised because in his recruiting, he was committed to UCLA, then on signing day, flipped to Arkansas without telling anybody. And a lot of people felt like they were kind of backstabbed by this. Yeah, yeah.
And so now they're doubling down and when you get backstabbed by one brother, might as well bring both back when you can, I guess, right, JR? Yeah, double up on the Iamaliavas stuff, wild stuff. We'll get into that more tomorrow. Hey, listen, if you missed a minute or a second of the show, go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Thank you so much to Antonio Daniels for joining us, NBA champion.
Thank you as well. Also Rylan Stiles joining us to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tomorrow, Alonzo Mourning, Miami Heat legend, he's gonna come through and have a chat with us. If you missed a minute, JR Sportbrief Show on the Odyssey app. You can find me everywhere at JR Sportbrief. Now it's time for me to go here on the Infinity Sports Network. But don't move, Bart Winkler is coming up next. Please be safe, be well, be amazing. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you to Ryan Hickey.
