It is. The JR Sport Brief Show here on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
So much love and thanks to everybody tuned in all over the country. I'm in Atlanta. Thank you to our producer in New York City, Ryan Botcher. We've been hanging out for an hour. Where have you been?
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You got a smart speaker. Ask the speaker to play. The Infinity Sports Network. Hey, we talked about Tyrese Halliburton. Pacers are up against the wall, backs against the wall.
They're in a 3-2 hole. And now, Halliburton. is going to have an MRI. On his calf, not looking good. for people who are fans, of the Pacers.
Shohei Otani, he was hurt. He had Tommy John again. He came back, made his debut on the mound last night for the Dodgers. And speaking of debuts, in a few minutes we'll talk about Raphael Devers. who showed up today at his opening press conference, With the San Francisco Giants.
We'll talk about this man and how he'll fit in. We got Matt Moore joining us to talk some hoops from the Action Network. He'll be here in about 20 minutes from now. Hey, we got the Stanley Cup finals. It could be over tonight.
For the Edmontons and Oilers, the Florida Panthers could go back to back. And so we have a lot to discuss, a lot to get into. Hey, you want to call me up? You could do that too. 888.
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I am everywhere. At J. R. Sport brief. Man, the National League West is packed.
Got the Dodgers, the Giants now have Devers. I don't think it's going to make that huge of a difference. If you're the Dodgers, you probably go, who cares? Got the Padres out there, Diamondback, and then forget them, but uh The Rockies are just a massive punching bag for everybody in that division.
So, yeah, everybody just feasts and eats and beats up on. Of the Colorado Rockies, and now we have Raphael Devers, which was a crazy trade. We learned about it on Sunday evening. This man would be moving. From Boston, all $313 million, or now less than that.
Uh is going to be heading out. towards San Francisco, where he will be under contract. until twenty thirty three. It's one of those things that's like a massive gut punch. A massive adjustment when you think about the current sports landscape.
that a man who initially signed a ten-year, three hundred thirteen million dollar contract could be moved. And Devers did not want to move from third base when they brought in Bregman. He did not want to go to first when Cassas went down, Casas. He just wanted to do his own thing. I think, regardless of how the Red Sox addressed him, I think he was being a jerk.
I think they're paying you that much money. At minimum, you could at least. Try. He's a jerk, and now he's gone. Raphael Dever is a man of few words, also a man of a Well, speaking of translators, I know his translator's not stealing from him.
Raphael Devers was a asked about His new situation, his new job, is His new space. And uh he had to answer questions about being back in Boston. Listen to what he had to say about bad communication. with the socks. Like I said before, that's in the past, but moving forward I really don't want to talk about it.
I really like his answers, by the way. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Wow. This a while listen, man. Typical athlete playbook.
Force your way out. Go to a new place. Don't want to talk about the past. And quite frankly, the guy that you just heard who was happy with it used to play for the team. He's now the president, still can't believe it.
I'm expecting him to sit behind the you know home plate right now, crouch as Buster Posey. This is what he had to say about how this trade took place and when. Yeah, it's something that has been in the works for three or four weeks. You know, Zach had conversations with their group and then eventually myself and Craig Breslo the last week to 10 days. And it was good.
It was obviously negotiations. Things are going to go back and forth. But I was texting with Craig today and we're just thanking each other for the candor and the respect that went into this negotiation. Oh, wow. At least this wasn't like uh Luca, just let's do it in the Quiet of the night An' get her done.
By the way, Craig Breslow had to answer things a little bit different. He didn't acquire the star player, he got rid of the star player and brought in some prospects. He was asked. Craig Breslow. If he needed to improve his communication with his players based on whatever happened with Rafael Devers, and this is what he said.
I don't know if if this outcome would have played out any differently. I think that there's a decent chance that it wouldn't have, but I absolutely need to have the humility to think back on the interactions and figure out what I could have done better. Oh boy, here we go. They got this man eating humble pie now. Because Rafa and I I get it Two wrongs don't necessarily make a right.
The Red Sox could have done better with their communication, and Raphael Devers most certainly is a guy getting paid. He could have done better by, I don't know, just going out there and trying. I think nine out of ten baseball players would have said, you know what, I like my job. I'm going to. I'm gonna go give it.
Give the best shot I got. Raphael Debra said No. He said, I'm not doing that. And we heard via rumor That in the offseason, still in spring training, Raphael Devers, even that far back, was asked. You know, hey, do you want to leave?
Or he went to management and said, if you don't want me here, you don't want me to do this, then. Just go ahead and and trade me. This is what Craig Breslow had to say about whether or not Rafael Devers wanted A trade out of town. There were times during the course of conversations with Rafi's camp where they had indicated that perhaps a fresh start would be best for both sides. And we were committed to trying to work through this.
And like Sam said, ultimately we weren't able to achieve that. And so the answer is yes. He said I don't want to be here. And they got him the hell up on out of here. Maybe that's why by the time Costas went down, he was just like, nah, bro, I'm not going to first base, I'm going to a new team.
I'm not doing this at all.
Well, Raphael Dever says he doesn't want to think about The past, he's focused in on the future. Raphael Duvers was asked Why being in San Francisco is better than being in Boston for him. Listen. I'm moving forward from the situation in Boston.
Now I'm looking ahead with being a San Francisco giant and I think that I'm just going to compete.
Okay, alright. Man, I'm translators. You get some words out of the actual athlete. He's speaking for 45 seconds. A translator, he's like, nah, here's Cliff Notes, brother.
The comments section too on the press conference, because it was on YouTube. I don't know if they're being completely honest, but they were roasting the translator for not being completely accurate what he was saying. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, I can tell I Look, I'm not fluent in Spanish, and certainly I'm not hearing the Spanish and then the translation.
But man, 30 seconds does not equate to, you know, five in Spanish. It does not work that way. And but here at the core I'm like the translator's like, listen, man, I don't get paid by the hour, so just uh Let's get this over with. Yeah, let's hear his translator again, Mr. Duma Job and quit and leave.
Rafael Devers. He was asked where the hell he was going to play. Is he going to play at first? Is he going to play at third? I expect him to be a DH.
And Devers, no longer a Red Sock, basically said. I'm going to do whatever they ask me to do. What a world. I'm here to give my 100%. I don't put any butts.
They're the men in charge. I am here to play whatever they want me to play. Um, yeah, he was just trying to stick it to them in Boston. That's it. Look, it boils down to.
He did not appreciate them bringing in Alex Bregman to take his spot. That's it. And the Red Sox, they have to own that part about it. He also has to own being a complete jerk. By refusing the way that he did.
Well, y'all promised me this and this, and this is baseball, this is sports. Guys get hurt. Every day. People get asked to move positions. Not every day, but frequently.
I mean, man, as a young player, you're asked: hey, you learn how to play this position, you never know, or we may need you here, you never know. I know now every now every league had both leagues have the DH. It doesn't matter as much who's playing defense and and defensive substitutions and what have you. But man, there used to be a point in time where even a guy like Big Poppy had to Yeah, to pick up the glove.
Okay? It's it's a different world. Manny Ramirez, who's just, I don't know, he's globetrotting and saying crazy things. He thinks that the Boston Red Sox That they're the ones who screwed this up and they were being. Disrespectful.
I mean, David Ortiz basically said the same thing, which was Just kinda nuts to me. Yet you have to communicate with your players. But if I'm paying a guy three hundred and thirteen million dollars I I don't think asking you to switch positions is the worst. possible thing. I want you to listen to Ken Rosenthal.
He was on foul territory. And this is what he had to say about David Ortiz. Saying that Devers is, you know, being disrespected. This all started when they failed to Include him in the communication when they were going after Gregman. That's how it all started.
And they turned a kid who.
Well, he's not a kid anymore, he's 28, but they turned a player who They've known since he was 16, who has always had a reputation as kind of a sweet guy, into somewhat of a sour puss. And that is on them. And this whole situation that they determined they had to rectify, because of course, He was going to pollute the minds of their young players. That's on them too. They Initiated this with their actions, with their lack of communication.
And that is one thing that Ortiz acknowledged: that there was a lack of communication here, quite obviously. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out, but. To me This is as much, if not more, on the Red Sox than it is Raphael Devers. Damn. Yeah, possibly.
No, I'm not going to go that far. And I'm not sitting in a room. You don't get these stories often. Damn it, we've never had a guy get moved with a $300 million contract like this, unless your name is Alex Rodriguez. And his situation wasn't so much about uh, you know, I'm not doing this.
I'm not playing here. Alex Rodriguez went to the New York Yankees. He's like, Derek GD, you play short. I play third. Fine.
Alex Rodriguez is probably like, I'm better than you anyway, so it really doesn't matter. I don't think we'll have anything like this take place. In a long time, there are that many guys running around with $300 million contracts. That are malcontents. This is just a.
A special situation for Rafael Davis. And I'm pretty sure, like, all of a sudden, now he has bosses and he listens to his bosses and. He's gonna be happy in San Francisco. Just stay out of uh Stay away from Union Square. Stay away from the Tenderloin district.
No reason for him to be over there at all unless he's going shopping, but uh Good luck. The Rafael Devers. I love San Francisco, by the way. Anyway. Yeah, he didn't want to go thinking about the past.
Rafael Devers, he did go into the past, and he decided to thank the fans. In Boston. Oh, how sweet I just want to my message is I just want to thank the Boston fans. They supported me throughout my whole time there and that I just want to give them thank you. Yeah, Boston Red Sox fans get to look at another dude just gets shipped out the door.
No Margarciapara and his O C D. A Moki Bats. And now Raphael Devers. They do have prospects. They don't have to pay them a three hundred and $13 million over the next 10 years.
And so I guess you could consider that a good thing. And that's what the general manager said for the Red Sox. Credit Breslow said, Listen, man, I kin move my money around now. The opportunity to maybe repackage some of the resources and fill some voids in the roster as early as approaching this year's deadline and being really intentional about the environment that we create for these young players to thrive in. Then I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we're looking back and we've won more games than we otherwise would have.
Yeah, look, i people will say anything. Anything. Like, he's like, okay, I've already admitted I kind of screwed up potentially with the communication, or at least I could. Humbly evaluate my communication tactics. He could say that.
Now he's like, I don't gotta pay a guy a lot of money.
Well Is that is that getting you all any close to a championship? He just traded away one of the best hitters in the game. For maybe an an error that you had. I will still say, man. What a poor attitude just to not give it a old college try.
He can try as much as he wants now. in San Francisco. Johns will probably go to the playoffs and maybe possibly be eliminated if they can muster more offense around him. We'll see. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, Coach DeCosta, on the Infinity Sports Network.
Rafael Devers, all he wants to do. is look forward. He wants to leave the past. In the past, Well, we're going to look forward as well. We'll talk about some basketball in the next break.
We're going to have a chat with Matt Moore. from the action network. Man, he could talk to us about everything from Denver also well the well, the Nuggets, obviously, everything to the national side as well. We're going to have a chat with Matt Moore about this NBA Finals, which appears to be over. We'll talk about this ongoing Kevin Durant saga, where he might end up.
Man, we even had Desmond Bain get traded. on Sunday as well. And the NBA's been very, very busy. including those Nicks. despite the fact that the NBA Finals are going on right now.
We'll have this chat with Matt Moore on the other side of the break. You're locked in. You're listening to the JR Sport Re Show 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 Infiniti Sports Network.
The NBA Finals are going on. Man, they may end pretty soon. We got coaches that have been fired, teams looking for coaches. We got players who have been traded. We got free agent destinations and guys.
It's just a lot going on. in the league right now. To talk about what we've seen, what we might see, what we can expect over the next few weeks is someone who covers all things basketball, writing for the Action Network. Locked on NBA, locked on Nuggets National. It is Matt Moore.
Matt, good to have you back, man. How are you? Doing well, man. How are you? I'm very well.
Thanks for taking the time and joining us. How are you enjoying the finals so far? A great series, man. It's just been really high-level basketball and It's been fun to see these teams that haven't been on national television as much get a chance to really shine. You're seeing what makes OKC so special with their defense, and the future of Jalen Williams is so bright.
And you're seeing this Pacers team that just manages to stay in these games. It's been a very hard-fought series. It's been a close series. I've had a lot of fun watching this one. When you think about what we saw last night, and even earlier on in the series with Halliburton going down with that leg.
Yeah, he's going to get an MRI. There's only two games left in the season, if that at all, if we get past Thursday. What are your thoughts on allowing him to push it or play? Is he going to be the world's greatest decoy? What do you think?
Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's hard to tell. You know, we'll get the results back of the MRI, maybe. We'll see if they release it or if they leak it. If it's a grade two, he can be at best a decoy.
If it's a grade one, you know, he might be able to actually play and give him. A little bit of a burst. The fact that he was able to play in that second half, even though he had a rough one, obviously, two days of treatment, two full days of treatment, they can work wonders. And we've seen guys like Aaron Gordon off the hamstring be able to actually go out and perform. It just kind of depends on how bad.
the severity of the of the strain is and the fact that It's not described as a tear, which trains just a minor tear, but the fact that it's not described that way is positive. We'll see kind of what he's going to look like. He's obviously not going to be 100%. Big question is just going to be, you know, can he be able to shape the game with his passing? Is he going to be able to hit open shots if he's a decoy kind of situation?
How much of the Thunder going to adjust knowing he's not 100%? There's, I think, a lot we don't know right now going into this game six. We are being joined by Matt Moore from the Action Network. Just this time last year, it looked like the Boston Celtics would be running the NBA. For quite some years, you got it.
Seems like the New York Knicks, who appear to be building up just to compete. against the Boston Celtics. What are your thoughts on OKC, though? I mean, they're even younger than the Celtics, and they seem like they got nothing between them but more opportunity and championships. Yeah, that's kind of the invoke thing to say right now: is like, how many championships are they going to win?
And I'm like, let's get them won first. You got to do the thing once. And then, you know, look, we haven't seen a repeat champion since 2018. And on top of that differential year to year, We also have seen this new CBA come in and really wreck teams' ability to keep guys together. And you're going to see this summer they're going to hand out big extensions to Shet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
And after they do that, you know, we'll see how long they can stay in that level of tax, how long they can stay at the second apron, because it's going to get real restrictive really quickly for that team. And so I'm not necessarily just like sitting here going, oh, yeah, they're going to win three in five years.
Well, you know, we'll see. I think the best chance of them is next year before those extensions kick back in. But this league is really built for us not to have dynasties right now. And I'm skeptical, even if OKC, even with that upside. Too many things, there's too many plot twists in the NBA for me to think it's that simple.
Oh, man, you talk about what we've seen in the league and people spending money. The Phoenix Suns have been a complete disaster. And we've started to hear about destinations that Kevin Durant would go to, where he would not want to go, who's not interested in a team like the New York Knicks. Where do you think he ultimately would end up, realistically? I mean, I think Houston's the most likely outcome here.
Because Houston doesn't have to give up a premium value for him, but is able to give up enough to make it worth it. for the Suns. The Suns really want to center back in the deal. And they're not going to provide Alper and Shangoon. They're not going to, they've just signed Stephen Adams to an extension.
But. They're able, I think, to be able to put together an offer, whether it's Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, Fred Van Blit, to put together an offer that gets Phoenix enough for them to be able to go forward both with a good team around Devin Booker, if not a great team, and then the ability to trade out of it later. Plus, they own all of Phoenix's draft capital so they can send back a little bit of alleviation under that deal. The question is going to be: you know, the way I understand it is that. Front office wants to be more patient, wants to find the right star with their young core.
Coaching wants Kevin Durant, wants to try and go for it immediately. And so, that kind of battle I think is going to be interesting. If it's not Houston, I think Miami is going to be the second most likely, given that Durant leaked that he doesn't want to go to Minnesota last night. Oh, Matt, I know you're based in Colorado. Keep up with the Nuggets, cover them as well.
Russell Westbrook saying, I'll leave the 3 mil here. It's still a possibility that he returns. Is he waiting to see if the dust settles amongst free agency over the next month or so? What's the deal with Russell Westbrook as he just continues to chase a ring somewhere? Yeah, I think there's a possibility he comes back to Denver.
You know, I think for him, he's hoping that Denver runs out of options and then giving him the taxpayer MLE is their best. kind of their only real choice that they can make. Um, if not, you know, look, he's still going to have Cedars around the league, he has had interest. I've been told from several. Overseas teams doesn't want to do that, wants to continue his NBA career, but like the money's going to be pretty substantial and for him to turn down in that kind of a spot versus the NBA.
Now, he's made enough, I think, he can bypass that. But it'll be interesting, you know, given that. Both LLA teams, where he's from, not an option.
Now with Denver, it's just going to be very interesting to see where he decides is the right fit for him to try and make another run at it. No, yeah, Russell Russell Westbrook is just, uh Well, we'll see what happens. This is the fun part. What are you looking forward to the most?
now that we are almost done with the NBA Finals. Obviously, we have the draft coming up and this Kevin Durant situation and who knows if Giannis will move. It seems kind of quiet on the Western front there. What are you looking forward to the most?
I mean, this draft is going to be super interesting because you've got teams like Philadelphia. You've got teams like San Antonio with the number two pick. You've got teams like New Orleans looking to move up. You've got teams trying to move into the Rocket spot at 10. You've got Washington trying to move up.
You've got Charlotte open to moving back. There's going to be a lot of action, I think, on draft night as everyone kind of tries to clear their books and get themselves ready for that free agency that starts on July 1st.
So I think this NBA draft is going to be. Pretty exciting, not only with who goes where, but with all the trades that go along with it. Should be a very active week next week, even as the NBA finishes up actually playing games. Matt Moore joining us here from the Action Network. It seems like on Sunday we got ahead of that with Desmond Bain moving on to the Orlando Magic.
It seems like he's going to be a great fit out there with them. What the heck is going on in Memphis, though? Yeah, Memphis, I think, is just simply dealing with the realities of the CBA. You know, a lot of executives I've talked to have said: you could have two guys, you can't have three. You can't have three guys making huge money long term.
It ties you up too much. The repeater is too prohibitive, and the second apron limits you too much.
So they're playing space to give Jaron Jackson his extension. They're going to build around John Morant. And Jaron Jackson, unless Jock comes to them and says, that's it, I want out, which they're working very hard to try and get that relationship in a good place. They've got Jalen Wells and Zach Eady, young guys. They want to kind of build from there.
I don't think this is a teardown. I think it was just the realities of what you have to do under the current CBA. Man, it stinks. I mean, is John Morant reliable, though? Forget all the off-court stuff.
Even from a physical perspective, he plays so hard, he's so athletic, he's up in the air, he's down on the ground. Like, is he? Can you trust him? I don't know if I would. Yeah, I mean look I think that's a that's a big question And when he comes up for his next massive deal, there's going to be a lot of Questions about whether or not Memphis is willing to commit that money because it's no longer like an automatic.
You just give the best player on your team that money. It's no longer like that.
So it's going to be, I think, a big question, March. I think he's motivated to reclaim a spot amongst the elite. I think he's had. Obviously, you know, I think things started to go sideways with the off-court stuff, and that led into his conditioning, and that led into his injury problems. But a lot of his injury stuff has been random.
It hasn't been like a knee issue consistently. It's been a lot of different things for him, and he is going to have to adapt to playing less. Physically, and not being as breakneck, but I think he can do that. He's skilled, he's gifted enough, he's a great passer. I still have a lot of confidence that Jaw is going to have a great career.
And Matt Moore is joining us from the Action Network. I don't know what the New York Knicks are doing, Matt. It's like they woke up one day, made a decision, didn't know what they were going to do after that. It's like they're rolling around. Looking at a map, it just everybody's pointing in different directions.
They don't know where the hell they're going. Yeah, the whole situation seems really fraught. You know, I think the players were ready to go to move on from Tibbs, not Josh Hart, but a lot of the other guys. They got some chemistry stuff that they got to work out too. And that's one of the things that I think is going to be really interesting is the new coach can't just come in and try and give them better X's and O's.
He's got to manage a lot of egos. There's a lot of money, a lot of egos on that team. And they've got to balance a lot of it with a lot of politics under a very big magnifying glass in New York. That's why I think it's very difficult to kind of find the right guy for them to hire. And we'll be interested to see whether, you know, who's willing to take on that challenge.
They continue to leave out guys that I think they should be looking at. Frank Vogel, Michael Malone. These are guys that have dealt with those kind of situations and won championships with a lot of big egos. It's weird to me that they continue to exclude those guys as they're looking for the next head coach.
Well, Matt, you talk about the parody that currently exists in the NBA. And knowing that we haven't had a team repeat since the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant. Is there a team that you look at for next year and go, oh man, they could make a good jump up? Or is it too early given the roster movement that's going to take place? Yeah, I think it's a little early.
I mean, look, I think Orlando is going to be better next year. Obviously, Add and Desmond Bain getting healthy is a big part of the equation for them. But there's a lot of dominoes still hanging out there. Giannis isn't definitely leaving, but he's not definitely coming back. Golden State continues to kind of shop around for big moves.
Toronto is looking for big moves. Everyone wants to know what New Orleans is. is gonna do. There's all these teams I think Facing very uncertain directions with a lot of talent. And whoever comes out of, I think, what's going to be a pretty wild next three weeks in the NBA.
could have an opportunity, I think, to really contend for a title next year. Yes, absolutely. The NBA built for parody, not built for super teams at this point in time. Hey, Matt, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and find all of your work with the Action Network and elsewhere?
Yeah, you can follow me on social media at HP Basketball. I've got a sub stack you can find over there. I'm on Lock on NBA daily, Monday through Friday at youtube.com slash lock on NBA. You can catch my work on the Action Network app at action network.com. Hey Matt, thank you so much for the time.
Enjoy the next couple weeks and the next few days, okay? Anytime, man. Take care. No doubt about it. That Matt Moore from the Action Network Rider covering all things, NBA.
It's the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network, 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. Yeah, man, we got We got the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're trying to close out. and won a championship.
Two nights from now in Indianapolis.
Okay. How about this? We're about thirty minutes away. From another team. trying to close out.
And win a championship. We gotta hit the ice. And we're going to talk about the Stanley Cup finals matchup that's going to take place, well, about 30 minutes from now. To get an update on everything going on in the world of sports, it's Tom Ford Newsflash from the Infinity Sports Network. Here he is: it's Rich Ackerman.
You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast, on the Infiniti. is sports. Network. We are well damn it, we got a countdown clock.
It was thirty nine minutes away from The puck gettin' dropped down in Sunrise, Florida. Yeah, there's a VanderKane. Yeah, Edmonton Oilers, they're trying to stay alive here. And thank you so much to Matt Moore for joining us from the Action Network. To talk about what we might see in the NBA, which has just been ridiculously busy, despite the fact that the NBA finals.
Are you going on? Even Charles Barkley is like, man, I ain't doing no basketball right now. Charles Barkley is currently live. uh on the broadcast here as well. As the Florida Panthers are trying to go back.
to back and win another championship. against the Edmondson. Oilers. This is crazy. They can clinch the Stanley Cup on home ice.
They'd be the first team to go back to back since the Lightning did it in 2020 and 2021. And the Oilers, they're trying to be the team that uh That stays alive. They're trying to avoid being defeated in consecutive years. Stuart Skinner. He's going to be back in action here for the Edmonton Oilers.
I don't know if that means that the Panthers are going to come out and score like three goals and four goals right out of the damn gate. But this this is what Stuart Skinner had to say about being returned to the net. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah, feeling good coming into tonight. Definitely know that I have the confidence in my teammates and coaching staff.
Uh yeah, I think there's uh obviously a lot of belief belief still. Oh, there's a lot of belief. Look at that. If If you don't win, you're done. You cooked?
This is what he had to say about being benched. Might sound weird. I felt like I played well. But uh Sometimes that happens. It's just life, uh especially as a goalie, can be hard sometimes.
Um But I mean, the process after that is try to shake it off as quickly as I am able to. I wasn't able to for a little bit, I was a little bit frustrated, but. It kinda took me a day and was just back to work. Backed, backed well, yeah, what what else is he gonna do? He can't do anything but go out there.
Yeah, let's listen to somebody else. I can't call this guy a loser, but he could be again. In the Stanley Cup finals again for the second consecutive year. Connor McDavid. He talked about their ability to bounce back.
I'm excited about the opportunity. You know, as you said, we've bounced back. A lot's been made about that. We talk about that all the time. For whatever reason, our group doesn't like to make it easy on ourselves and put ourselves in another difficult spot, and it's our job to work our way out of it, and I would expect that to fall.
Oh well. We'll see. They just show Connor McDavid. He's out here warming up, leads everybody this postseason with six assists. Ugh.
Are we getting more? Is he actually going to go out here and get some goals? Bach, are we getting a seventh game here? Are we getting ended tonight? I sure hope we get a seventh game.
It makes it more intense, especially because I have no. No real rooting favor in this. I don't really care who wins.
So I'd like to see some good hockey. I don't care. You Islanders fan? Islanders fan.
So Panthers not the the greatest. But I'm I don't hate them.
Well, why? Because of the stupid divisions that they have now? That they should have never changed? We played them in 2016. We beat him then in the playoffs.
Other than that, they've just been good the last couple of years, and we've been average at best.
So there's been no real competition there. Yeah, I got no dog in the fight. I don't care either. I just send them back to Edmondson. get going again and start it up.
Chris Knobloch, The head coach here. Damn, they give Charles Barkley more airtime and FaceTime than anybody else. Why not, I guess? Chris Knobblock, this is what he had to say about his team. Turning things around and even putting Skinner back in the net.
Stu's been in a lot of high pressure games. He's played really well. Um you look at the amount of elimination games he's played, I think there's six last year and um every single game that he played in were really solid, if not spectacular, performances. Um so the game season's online. Please have a lot of confidence in him.
Yeah, well We'll see what he does. Three goals here, four goals there. If he starts to stink, he is getting. The quick hook. It's going to be that massive hook that they have at the Apollo Theater.
They just bring out the cane and just drag the guy. Right off. The stage. Paul Maurice knowing that they have a chance to go ahead and get this one done. looked at their record.
Six and seven. In closeout games. That means they're doing the most. That means that they're not getting the job done. That means they're doing extra.
That means that Edmonton, obviously, they still have a chance to turn this around and take things back to Canada. This is what he had to say about his team needing to do better. You've played well and you've put yourself in a position to eliminate the other team.
Well it's not guaranteed because the other team's pretty darn good.
So there's nothing learned where you'd say, okay, now we've figured it out, because if you figure that out, you'd win next year you'd win 16 straight, right? You just... It doesn't work like that. Yeah. Maybe maybe in about three or four hours from now.
He'll sound a little happier. And we get it. Job's not done. You still have more work to do. They didn't win the Stanley Cup.
They won it last year. That has not a damn thing to do with this go-round. They have another opportunity and a chance to.
So go out there and do it. When you think about this, They won the Stanley Cup. on their home ice. Last year. They have an opportunity to do it again.
This year That hasn't been done. My apologies to everybody in Canada again. That hasn't been done since the oilers did it. in eighty seven, in eighty eight. Hey, well, it it'd be nice to do so.
If you're a fan in in South Florida and Flor and Sunrise, you've experienced this already. Why not do it twice? If you're an Edmondson fan, you want to make sure that they get on that plane another eight hours.
So make it back. It's a Canada. This is what Matthew Kachuck had to say about trying to finish this one off at home. Yeah, we have that advantage. You know, playing an elimination game at home here again in the situation.
It's no secret, Cup's in the building. It's going to be the toughest test, biggest game. We're just excited to be back home. Yeah, we've seen a lot of goals here. A lot of them.
Hey, give me seven games. I got no rooting interest in either one of these. I I just think Connor McDavid dry side or one of these guys are going to step up in a A big way, like we've seen here throughout the course of the series, the puck is going to drop. in about thirty minutes from now as it's starting to warm up. And Henrik London.
Bacha, what the heck is lunk what is in his hair? Like how m how much time are they spending in that guy's hair? But he doesn't I feel like he's the the the A1 candidate to do just for men, right? Get rid of the gray hair. No, gr gray hair?
What? I can I see gr okay, I haven't seen him yet, but I'm assuming it's like slick back and looks nice. I see Gretzky, yeah. Nice. Yeah, light.
Yeah, but Henrik Lundquist's not not hair coloring. The hair, the product to keep, I bet you, if a strong gust of wind blew by. his hair would not move. It's just they his hair is very metic It is very meticulously uh I gotta watch my words here. I just saw it.
It looks solid, to say the least. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. A whole can of hairspray. Is that what it is?
Maybe. Yeah, my God I know he has watches. When he was with the Rangers, he was selling watches. He didn't do any hair products. He might have.
New York, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. Like, Lungquist did probably does a ton of stuff. Maybe he invested in some hair brand that solid, like solidifies your hair for a whole day.
Okay. Yeah, that guy's um He looked like Johnny Bravo. That's what it is. Get the blonde wig or the blonde hair in there? No blonde hair.
Just Johnny Bravo's hair just sat up there on the top of his head, and you knew it wasn't. gonna move. Didn't Johnny Bravo every five minutes he was combing his hair? Yes, 100%. Yeah, that's Henrik Lundquist.
And is he even a full-time part of. Is he just here for the finals, or what's he doing out here? I think he jumps in every now and then. He's like one of the. He's like.
For NBA side, I think he's more like Vince Carter, Dwayne Wade, or kind of like that. Oh, okay. I'm like, what the heck is he doing out here?
Now, I've seen Wen Gretzky, who always looks like he wants to take a nap. I think at this stage of his life, he's just like, hey, they fly me out, they take care of me, they pay me, I'll just show up and say whatever they need me to do. But I think they just they they they caffeinate Wayne Gretzky. before they go out here and and and and start things up.
So Wayne Gretzky, God bless him. We still see him. He's rolling. To me, he will always be the great one. I don't give a damn how many goals Alexander Ovechkin has.
I wish he just would quit while he's ahead. And stay home. I don't know, but here we have it. I still appreciate it. Wayne Gretzky.
I don't think he adds or says anything that's too uh Ground breaking, but neither does shack. It's beyond. And Shaq also, by the way, is. He seemed to funny, I don't think Have you ever heard Wayne Gretzky say anything funny? He's he he's funny when he makes fun of other people.
So when he makes fun of Bizanti? Bizonette, I don't know how to say his name, really. But he's on the the booth, so they make fun of him for having seven curric goals and getting benched.
So he he's Kind of undercover funny on the booth. Yeah. I've always found Wayne Gretzky to be as interesting as uh A slice of bread. But hey, the the the more you know there. And let's see how interesting he is tonight.
We certainly hopefully have a good one. I I'm tonight, I'm gonna well. I'm going to say, hey, I'm going to root for Edmondson. Why not? Give us seven.
We got no hope for it really, it sort of slim to none. uh hope for a seventh game in the NBA Finals. Might as well try to get a little bit more action out of the NHL because when it's done. is done. We're not going to have basketball.
We're not going to have hockey again. Until September, really October. And so we can wait on the NFL or go through training camps and Yeah. We can get through the baseball season, which is still going to go on. By the time all these things finish up, they'll be moving towards their World Series.
A sign Me up. I'm rooting for the Edmondson Oilers. About twenty-five minutes, twenty-seven minutes away. From Puck Drop. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4. four I S N. Got the Florida Panthers looking to go out here. And go back.
Yeah. We're going to come back on the other side of the break. And I I want to talk to you. about some comments that have been made uh by LeBron James about Championships and even Stephen A. Smith about championships and who's good and who's not good and how many championships equate you being great.
It's. Everybody wants to be a winner, right? If you remember a few years ago Yannis just said Everybody just can't win the championship every year. It doesn't mean. You're a failure.
Well does it? People look at LeBron James and go, hey man, four and six in the finals? Loser. And numbers are not always what they seem to be. We'll talk about that on the other side of the break.
We'll be joined by Bob Nightingale as well from USA today to talk about Some of these big moves with some of the moves we already have seen. in Major League Baseball. Talk about some football as well. A lot to do. It's the JR Sport Reshow, coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network.
