JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Subscribe to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. This has been a wild, wild game. Shoutouts to Mike Conley.

He's kept them alive here. 23 points, six of eight from downtown. But Minnesota has basically fallen asleep here all the way through the fourth quarter into overtime as the Lakers have made the big shots despite their own turnovers. And it looks like they will go ahead and hold on. When this game goes final, I will let you know it's going to take a little bit, not even a little bit.

It's going to take a massive miracle for Minnesota to overcome this as they are only seconds left on the clock. Thank you to everybody locked in all over North America. This show gets started at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app. You can tune in on Sirius XM Channel 158. You can lock in on your local station as well as a smart speaker if you have one. Just ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Super producer and host Dave Sheppard is coming to you live from New York City. And as we, and now it's over, it's done. It's official. The Los Angeles Lakers come out on top 108 to 102. The Lakers advance as the seventh seed in the playoffs and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They're going to get another chance, a small chance, another opportunity. They're going to take on either OKC or New Orleans. But the Lakers advance into the playoffs. This was a hell of a game to sit down and watch. I'm sitting here in the studio trying to watch and enjoy the game because it is it was absolutely nuts, especially when you you got there to the end. So the Lakers are moving on here as the seventh seed.

I want to run you through some of the numbers as I pull up all the stats and information here. They're going to take on the Grizzlies, as we mentioned earlier on in the show. I know you want to know about LeBron James. Forty five minutes tonight, 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis, 24 points to go along with 15 rebounds. If you want to know who was absolutely cold tonight and not for good reasons, D'Angelo Russell. He did not show up tonight.

Only two points. He was on the bench a good majority of the game. Only played 24 minutes. D'Angelo Russell was one of nine from the field. He was all four from downtown. But someone who did step up. Dennis Schroeder, Dennis Schroeder finishing with 21 points. He was three or four from downtown, including the go ahead three that ultimately gave the Los Angeles Lakers the lead.

Let me try to best summarize this game for you as we sat down and I watched it live. The Los Angeles Lakers basically had to play catch up this entire game. They were only up, I'd say, the Timberwolves by 15 points and then they fell asleep in the fourth quarter. In the last six minutes of the game, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Mike Conley hit a three halfway through the fourth.

And there was no other score by Minnesota until Mike Conley went to the free throw line. The Lakers were able to go ahead and tie the game up. LeBron James drove to the basket. Went ahead and kicked out and gave them the lead.

A matter of fact, let's go ahead and take a listen to that. LeBron James. This is on the Lakers radio network. Hit a late three to tie things up at 95 all.

Hotchamora on the right elbow. Hands it to LeBron. LeBron guarded by Torian Prince. Three pointer for the tie.

95-95. Two minutes. Two minutes left. And how about the drama of this playing game? This playing game was nuts. The Lakers come back down from 15 points. LeBron hits a three to tie the game. LeBron James got the basketball back on the other side on the next possession. It's now game time. Everybody's thinking, LeBron, is he going to take the shot? How are the Lakers going to win? What's going to happen? LeBron James drove baseline and he found the German guy.

Take a listen to this. Seven seconds. LeBron driving to the rim. Gets outside. Schroeder for the win. Good. Dennis Schroeder for three.

1.4 to go. How? How did the Lakers do that?

The place is going nuts. It was a pretty cool scene. 1.4 seconds left on the clock. Dennis Schroeder hit the shot directly in front of the Timberwolves bench.

We're talking about guys who don't play. Luca Garza was standing right there. The whole team, the coaches, he's posing in front of them.

He's looking over. It's one of the greatest trash talking scenarios or photos you will ever see. You think the Lakers have it. There's no way that Minnesota is going to tie this game with 1.4 seconds left. But then they did via a technicality. Or should I say, a foul.

Take a listen to this. Maybe a dribble, but it better be a quick one. Wolves are down by three.

1.4 left. Anderson with it. Surveys the scene cross court. Conley in the corner, lets it fly.

It's off the side of the backboard, but there's a whistle and a foul. Conley got run over by Anthony Davis. There's one tenth of a second left to play. Free throw, good! Mike Conley steps up, knocked down all three free throws, ties the game, and we're headed to overtime.

Clutch! Mike Conley if you need him. That was the Minnesota Timberwolves radio network. I don't know about running Michael Conley over. Anthony Davis got a little too close for comfort in trying to contest the corner three.

Slapped the hand of Mike Conley. Mike Conley kind of falls over and he gets the three free throws, he knocks them down, and we are now going into overtime. And even in overtime, Minnesota still had some difficulty out here scoring the ball. Anthony Davis, he was down low, and I got to give them credit for putting in some work. Take a listen to this score, giving the Lakers a decent lead in overtime. Anthony Davis, muscling up down low. LeBron Aliuk, AD caught it, goes up, lays it in. Towns couldn't foul him because Towns had five fouls.

1.40 to go. Lakers by five, time out Minnesota. Minnesota Timberwolves were able to put two points up on the board.

The Lakers are up three now. LeBron James, he's inbounding the basketball. Torian Prince gets his hands on the ball. Torian Prince puts up a three, and this happens. LeBron to bring it in. LeBron brings it in, he's thrown away. There's a turnover.

Here's the three by Prince for the tie, and he missed it. Rebound Austin Reeves and they foul him. How did the Lakers dodge a bully?

Wow. Austin Reeves had his own turnover earlier on in the game as well towards the end, and this time it was LeBron. Some of these turnovers would give you a heart attack. Ultimately, the Los Angeles Lakers would hold on, play the free throw game, and win the final score, 1.08 to 1.02. This is the final call from the Lakers radio network.

That pointer by Edwards, no good, and that will do it in an absolutely thrilling play-in game. The Lakers escape 1.08, 1.02 in overtime. They advance to the NBA playoffs where they will play the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in Memphis. This was a crazy game. The Minnesota Timberwolves, there's no other way to say this, and this sucks, because Anthony Edwards had an amazing season. I'm not putting this season into the ground, although Minnesota ain't going anywhere.

Even if they go into the playoffs, they're going to have one more chance taking on the winner between Oklahoma City and New Orleans. Anthony Edwards, nine points tonight, three of 17 from the field. Anthony Edwards took nine threes.

He missed every single one. Having Mike Conley here tonight saved their ass. Karl Anthony Towns started off in this game ridiculously hot. Karl Anthony Towns had 17 points in the first half of this game. He started off five for five, and then the entire team basically fell asleep. Zero points scored in about six minutes. In a six-minute span in the fourth quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves just went absolutely blank. And the Los Angeles Lakers, yeah, they were down by 15, and they fought back. And is this going to work all throughout the NBA playoffs?

Probably not. I'm not so sure. But I think between the Memphis Grizzlies, this should be a decent matchup.

Let me tell you one more time. LeBron James, yeah, we had someone call up earlier in the night. LeBron is overrated.

LeBron doesn't win games. LeBron James was still tonight the best player on the court. Oh, LeBron James, he had 30 points, 10 rebounds, six assists. He was three of six from downtown. He had five fouls. He picked up a foul late trying to dive to get a turnover and ended up fouling Torian Prince that helped take the game into overtime. Anthony Davis showed up, 24 points and 15 rebounds. So can we relax for just a little while, please?

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. As some of the players start to chat it up with the media, we'll hear from them. Let's hear from you. Charles is here from Baltimore. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Hey, JR. How you doing?

I'm very well. What's on your mind, Charles? Anthony Edwards. All I've been hearing is that this guy is going to be one of the next studs. And I know it's only one game, but I think he has, what, seven points?

What's up with that? Seven points against the Lakers? He had nine points. Nine points? I mean, if he would have gave them just maybe 20, Minnesota would have walked out there maybe with the win. But, man, nine points?

That ain't good. Yeah, I mean, I think we all know that, but you said it. It's one game. Yeah, but, you know, it was a spotlight game. This was maybe one of the biggest games of his career, and the jury's going to be out on him. I don't think so, Charles.

It's, like you said, it's one game. And so, yeah, Anthony Edwards went out there. He laid an egg. I don't think this takes away from anything that he's already done in the league. He is 21 years old. Anthony Edwards is 21 years old. He's already in the NBA.

He's the type of dude who can give you 25-5 and 5, 25-6 and 6 a night. He's not going anywhere, and Anthony Edwards isn't the type of dude who's going to run away from this. I could hear the press conference in my head right now. Anthony Edwards is going to stand in front of the microphones at 21 years old, and he's going to tell everybody, yeah, I sucked. I need to do better. I can do better.

I will do better. That's his attitude. I've never heard this dude run from anything.

I think Anthony Edwards is going to be fine. He's from right here in Atlanta. He's a cool dude. He's an easy-going dude.

And so I'm not going to look at anybody, so I'll put it to you this way. Anybody who looks at this game and thinks that Anthony Edwards is a fraud or he's the next big hype thing, like this dude cares about his job. He cares about his work. He doesn't take himself too seriously. He understands it was a crap game. He ain't happy with it. He will bounce back. Is he going to bounce back in the immediate game to receive the eighth seed? I don't know. He ain't going nowhere, so get used to seeing and hearing from him into the future.

It's like a learning experience. Everybody has to go out there and take their lumps, and tonight it was Anthony Edwards, and he got picked up by a veteran. Would you expect this type of game from Mike Conley? Mike Conley is 35 years old, and in tonight's loss, 23 points, played 44 minutes, knocked down six threes.

He kept them alive. Otherwise, Minnesota, they'd have been done in this game a long time ago and wouldn't even hold up on this damn lead. It's the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The Los Angeles Lakers, they beat Minnesota 108 to 102. The Lakers have secured the seventh seed in the Western Conference. They will move on to take on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Minnesota, they're going to get one more shot, and that shot might be against the Oklahoma City Thunder or the New Orleans Pelicans. The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. This was an amazing game. Did you listen to it? Did you watch it? What are your thoughts on what the Lakers did tonight, and what are your thoughts on what this young Timberwolves team did? You got to give them some credit, especially with all the nonsense they've been through over the past several days. We'll talk more about this on the other side.

We'll also start to hear from some of the players and if they spoke to the media. This is the J.R. Sportbree show on CBS Sports Radio. Don't move. I'm at work doing security, man, and I listen to your show every night. Hey, man, I am new to your show, but I absolutely love it. It's awesome. This is the best sports clock radio show on the air for sure, bar none. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS.

It's the J.R. Sportbree show on CBS Sports Radio. The seventh seed in the NBA playoffs, the west and the east. It's done.

We got the answers here. The Los Angeles Lakers minutes ago, they just held on to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 108 to 102. That game went into OT. Earlier on this evening on the eastern conference side, the Atlanta Hawks, they held on to beat the Miami Heat 116 to 105. So Atlanta, they move on as the seventh seed in the east. They will take on the Celtics. And on the Lakers side, they beat Minnesota. The Los Angeles Lakers, they will move on as the seventh seed.

They will take on the Memphis Grizzlies. The Minnesota Timberwolves at one point led by 15 points. They went through a gap in the fourth quarter, or I should say the end of the fourth quarter, where they didn't really score for an entire six minutes until Michael Conley knocked down three free throws to tie the game up and send them into overtime. Minnesota choked this game away. 30 points off of 24 turnovers. It was an ugly game at the end. The Los Angeles Lakers fought back, but even they had their own turnovers. Bad inbounds passes and fouls. It was just an ugly way to end the game, but the Lakers, they come out on top. LeBron James, he spoke to TNT, Ali La Force after the game. And yeah, even Anthony Davis pops in and talks about his foul to take things into overtime.

Take a listen to this. Seven seconds on the clock. I'm seeing it in slow motion. You're driving to the basket. You could have went up for it. You decided to kick it out.

Explain the thought process. I've been playing a game like that since I was a kid. I drew the defense, trust your teammates, and he knocked it down. It's unfortunate that AD had a brain fart and messed his game-winner up.

He hears you. I messed his game-winner up. I apologize. I definitely apologize.

Apology accepted. Yeah, that game-winner was that big shot knocked down by Dennis Schroeder. That would have been real classic. I know Schroeder's still mad he didn't get his money. All that money he lost off on thinking the Lakers were going to pay him.

And then maybe he'll get his cash this go-round. On the Eastern Conference side, let's go back. This was a game that concluded earlier this evening.

Wasn't really competitive. It was like the Miami Heat were chasing the Atlanta Hawks throughout the entire course of the game. At one point in the first half, the Hawks led by 24 points. Trae Young got busy tonight. He had 25 points.

We know there's been a lot of conversation about whether or not he's going to be a Hawk deep into the future. De'Jaunte Murray had 18 points. And then for the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler had 21. Kyle Lowry had 33. I wouldn't expect that.

Too much more going into the future. And Bam Adebayo only had 12. Trae Young, he also spoke to TNT after his game. Spoke to Shaq. Spoke to Ernie Johnson. And they asked him about stepping up.

This is what Trae Young had to say. What was different tonight, total team effort? What was different tonight from your bunch? I just think we brought the physicality to them. I mean, they're known and around this league for being a very physical team and try to bully a lot of teams on the defensive end. And if you don't match their intensity and their physicality, you can get beat. And that's what I feel like has been going on these last couple of games against them, the last few games.

So tonight I think we really matched their physicality in a show. I got to make sure this is Trae Young. Let me hear it. Trae, look, I know you're going through a lot. What did you say to yourself today? Hey, I have to focus on this to, you know, play the type of game that you play because, you know, with all the stuff that you're going through, you could have went either way. But I felt you played a fabulous game. What did you say yourself to stay mentally prepared? For me, just all day, just been trying to think about tonight, just trying to focus on the next task. I mean, I can't control all the outside noise and what's going on everywhere else.

I can only control what I can control. And that's what I do on this court and for my teammates and making sure we come out with the win and let everything else take care of itself. So that was my mindset, not to get focused on anything else but today's game. Yeah, well, what's up next for the Atlanta Hawks are the Celtics. And the Celtics are 3-0 against them throughout the course of the season. And yeah, you can typically throw out, you know, regular season results, but the Atlanta Hawks all by themselves, they have been inconsistent up and down all throughout the year, even in bringing in Quinn Snyder.

It's, there's small adjustments, but it's going to take a whole lot more than that. From the Miami Heat side, the Miami Heat, they still have life. They can get into the playoffs as the eighth seed. They're going to take on the winner between Chicago and Toronto.

That game is Wednesday night. And then on Friday, the Miami Heat will get their second chance. Jimmy Butler, he spoke after the game as well and said, we should be OK.

I feel good. We still got to go out there and get the job done on Friday. Listen to Jimmy Butler. We have to stay confident. We have to know that we are capable of winning if we start out the right way. And if we rebound, obviously.

But it's just, I don't know, you know, shots don't go in. We don't we don't defend. We foul.

That's never the recipe for success with us. So come Friday, we got to play like legit. The exact opposite that we played tonight.

Yeah, well, it can't be this bad, can it? I don't know if Kyle Lowry can do this again tonight. Kyle Lowry or the ghost of him. He scored thirty three points off of the bench.

And this is the ugly part. Why he shouldn't have been the leading scorer. Well, outside of that, that's probably the wrong thing to say. Bam Adebayo had twelve. Jimmy Butler had twenty one. If Kyle Lowry has to go out there and be your your leading scorer every night off the bench, you're going to be cooked. They were also cooked on the boards. They were out rebounded.

Sixty three to thirty nine. Clint Capella grabbed twenty one rebounds and twenty eight minutes by his damn self. Kyle Lowry talked about the disparity.

Take a listen to this. Honestly, it was like the ball was bouncing right to them, but at the same time, they were double crash and triple crash. And, you know, it was tough to be out there and not being, you know, six nine to try to try to grab a little bit more rebound. But, you know, we have an opportunity to redeem ourselves Friday and I think we're looking forward to that. Yeah, Kyle Lowry, I mean, he's barely six feet tall.

It's crazy to think he's he's already thirty seven years old. We know damn well Kyle Lowry is not jumping off of the floor in too many ways. But he was able to step up tonight and have a throwback game. Unfortunately, they did not walk away with a W. Fortunately for them, they'll get another chance at the eighth seed this coming Friday. And so we've had a we've had some cool basketball tonight. Unfortunately, Miami not able to get back in there against the Hawks. And for the Minnesota Timberwolves, I'll give them credit. Let's go back to Sunday. Rudy Gobert out here punching his own teammate, Kyle Anderson, who had a big turnover at the end of tonight's game.

Think about Jayden McDaniels not available because he decided to go out there and punch a wall. Anthony Edwards had a crap game, only nine points, three of 17 shooting. Carl Anthony Towne started off hot and he finished that way.

Twenty four points total. And Minnesota was still able to stay in this game and not stay in this game lead. The Los Angeles Lakers were following them around and Minnesota choked it away. They could have got blown out.

They could have quit before this game started, given their circumstances. And I don't want to even believe that the results would have been different if Rudy Gobert was there. What the hell would he have necessarily added? We don't know. Maybe Rudy Gobert would have showed up and had 12 rebounds and in the two blocked shots and 10 points.

I have no idea. I know that Minnesota played well to start and they withered at the end. And it took an old Mike Conley to basically keep them alive. But the Los Angeles Lakers advance the final score one oh eight to one oh two. The seventh seeds are set. And by the way, the Minnesota Timberwolves head coach, Chris Finch. He just spoke. We'll talk more about the Wolves. We'll wrap up the evening.

The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. Eight five five two one two four CBS. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I appreciate you. I'm grateful for your brand of sports.

You are the best. And I appreciate you keeping us entertained, informed with your hard hitting and beautiful style of sports. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's right. It's the J.R. Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. All the words are so nice. It's so kind.

Thank you for the compliments. The compliments belong to the teams that secure their spots in the playoffs tonight. That's the Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Lakers. If you wanted to see more basketball from them, there won't just be one more game. They're going to have a series. Atlanta will advance to take on the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.

They will advance to take on the Memphis Grizzlies. The head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He just spoke.

Darvin Ham. He knew this was an ugly game. This was a game that the Lakers needed the fight to get back into. But he did give the Minnesota Timberwolves a whole lot of credit.

Listen. He struggled early. I think they were able to get out and run off of some of our turnovers. You know, we forced them into some turnovers early as well. But, you know, it was hard trying to get our defense set and we had made a plan to not.

We tried within our best abilities to try not to let Anthony Edwards get loose. And, you know, we double teamed them for the most of the game. You know, in our pick and rolls and DHOs, whatever, with our five man.

So that spreads you out a little bit. You know, the guys behind that blitz, that double team. You know, they have to be on their horse scrambling. They pinned in a few times.

They slashed and sealed. Got the ball to some of the shooters. Some of the guys came off hot. And, you know, they really made us work for this one. And, again, shout out to Chris Finch, Kat, Anthony Edwards, and specifically Michael Conley, Torian Prince. Those guys played with a ton of pride.

Yeah, I told you, Mike Conley kept them in this game. Twenty-three points. Torian Prince played his ass off as well. Fourteen points and three rebounds. Three steals coming up with a big one late in the game and then got fouled by LeBron James. He spoke to Chris Finch or he spoke of Chris Finch, the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And Chris Finch, he spoke as well a few minutes ago. And he said, yeah, we kind of fell flat at the end, but our team fought their asses off. You know, we ran out of gas. We got tired for sure. We kind of stopped cutting.

Ball dried up. A lot of holding. You know, the obvious things that you saw. And then, you know, that was basically it. What did you just think of the fight that you guys did show in the first three quarters? Yeah, we fought all the way through the end of overtime. It wasn't just the first three quarters. We just didn't play good offense.

We kept fighting. Yeah, I mean, this is what we've done for a lot of the season other than the first part of the season. We struggled to find ourselves, but right now we got a crew that really plays hard. Give ourselves a chance to win. We should have won this game. Yeah, they should have. And all credit to them.

I mean, even outside of the Rudy Gobert player aspect, like him on the court on the floor, they had all the reason given the distractions to just kind of hang things up and call it a day, but they did not. So they'll get one more chance to go in. That'll be Friday.

They'll take on the winner between Oklahoma City and New Orleans. 855-2124 CBS. That's 855-2124 CBS. Mike is here from San Francisco. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Go ahead, Mike.

Hey, JR. I have kind of an interesting take. I think Miami was fortunate to lose tonight. If they do get the eighth seed, they have to play Milwaukee and then the winner of the Nixon-Cleveland, whereas if they were the seventh seed, like Atlanta, you've got to beat Boston and then Philly and then Milwaukee if all the favorites win. And virtually impossible. Yeah, but none of that matters if they get their asses handed to them.

No, I understand. I'm just saying if you're looking at it from a standpoint of which gives you the better path to a championship, the eighth seed is a better path. Just like the seventh seed is in the West. Yeah, you can look at it that way. That's one way to look at it. Because the Lakers in the West, if they can happen to beat Denver, which I doubt, then they either have Phoenix, who's the best team, or the Clippers, who have beaten them 11 straight. So I think they're happier in the 2-3 bracket with Sacramento and Memphis. Yeah, correct. I would agree with you there.

There is a path. But I think in the East, when you look at the East, it doesn't even matter. I would agree.

For the Miami Heat. Theoretically is all I'm saying. Yeah, theoretically, you're correct. I appreciate you. If you're going to pick one, that's what I would pick. Okay. Thank you, Mike. I can dig it. That's a lot of thought.

I wouldn't give a damn. Like, you got to face the Bucks. What are you doing?

Somebody called me earlier. They match up well against the Bucks. Did you see them play tonight? I'm not going to expect that. And I expect Miami to fight in every game. They don't have the talent.

That's it. I don't care what happened last year or two years, a couple months. It don't matter.

Who are we fooling? Theoretically, tonight's loss was good for Miami. Tell that to Jimmy Butler.

I don't think so. Hey, there's another team that just lost. Speaking of old point guards, not Kyle Lowry. Mike Conley, who decided to keep on rolling and moving. He spoke after the game as well. He gave the Lakers credit, but then he also saw the bright side of things tonight.

Listen to this. Give them credit. First off, they did a good job of changing up their defensive scheme. They got to switching, you know, one through five and, you know, made it tough on us to get, you know, the ball to cat and positions where he could be effective.

And, you know, and and, you know, didn't have a great rhythm. And it forces it to taking some tough shots and, you know, more, you know, the ball kind of stuck a little bit more than than it had in the first, you know, three quarters. And but, you know, at the end of the day, I was proud of the way that we, you know, showed, you know, that heart going down the stretch all the way through the game through adversity. You know, this team is built to handle that. And we have a deep team. A lot of guys came out tonight and performed at a very high level. But we got to learn from it.

We got to get better at the, you know, last six, seven minutes of the game, which I think, you know, we got a couple of days to do. Yeah, I forgot. They don't even have Nas Reed out there.

This they then they kept on fighting. Carl Anthony Towns, who for the past several seasons is always, always up for criticism. Tonight, he started off hot. Then he kind of blanked out at the end of the game, had five personal fouls. This was a foul fest all the way through. Knocked down some big threes.

Carl Anthony Towns did. And so he showed up and he showed out. Didn't close things out. But you have to give him credit even after this, knowing that they have one more chance, one more opportunity. Carl Anthony Town says, yeah, we still got to get better. And we got things we got to just work on as a team.

And we were all together and we're connected. You know, obviously everyone disappointed, but we love the fight. And, you know, not much I can say right now without looking at the tape. I got to just watch it. How do you feel?

Yes. How do you feel in general about the way that the game went outside of the losses? The way that you guys battled, but maybe just also disappointed in not being able to close it out.

I mean, like you said, it's disappointing. You think, you know, I feel like we put a lot of effort in. I thought we fought. We were very scrappy.

I thought we did a lot of great things. And, you know, it's difficult when you leave without a win and you feel you played good enough to win, you know. Yeah, LeBron James is currently speaking to the media. We'll be the hell up on out of here. But by the time he finishes up, LeBron James, seventh seed getting. Wow, what's this getting ready to take on on Memphis? And now we wait for tomorrow's games or Wednesday night's games. And now these are the real losers.

I'm sorry. Chicago taking on Toronto. Whoever wins that game, they'll take on Miami, Oklahoma City versus the Pelicans. Whoever wins that game will take on Minnesota. I think we might have both of these games on Friday, whatever they end up being. Minnesota, Miami hosting the games. They should be competitive. But to be honest here, I got no interest in in Chicago and Toronto.

I have none. I mean, Oklahoma City, I want to see what they can do against you all. So they'll be interesting.

But these are like appetizer games. This is like just who's the who's going to win the race towards the bottom to get smashed around? And either way, whoever comes out on Friday, am I supposed to feel optimistic? I don't feel good about the heat. And that's before they they lost tonight to Atlanta.

And then am I supposed to feel good? Minnesota is just trying to it's trying to show up. New Orleans has no hope because Zion doesn't even want to necessarily go out there and play when he's not at full strength or feeling good about his capabilities.

And let's be real. What's OKC doing? Oklahoma City would rather be looking at Victor when Benyama in the face right now. And so we had some good games tonight to start off the play in Atlanta beating.

The Miami Heat, the Lakers beating the Timberwolves. And a matter of fact, even though he ended up with a big foul at the end of the game, I'm going to go ahead and say Anthony Davis. How about he's just the defensive player of the week?

Don't matter to me. And it's sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union, who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD veterans and their families. Their members are the mission.

You can learn more at Navy federal dot org. Anthony Davis. He had a basically forced Kyle Anderson into a turnover at the end of the game. And then he accidentally fouled Michael Conley. I want you to listen to that clip one more time.

Lebron James speaking to Ali La Force and then Anthony Davis saying, yeah, I almost screwed this one up. Seven seconds on the clock. I'm seeing it in slow motion. You're driving to the basket. You could have went up for it. You decided to kick it out.

Explain the thought process. I've been playing a game like this since I was a kid. I drew the defense, trust your teammates. And he knocked it down. It's unfortunate that A.D. had a brain fart and mess his game winner up. He hears you.

I mess his game winner up. I apologize. I definitely apologize.

Apology accepted. Lebron James, currently speaking right now, talked about how hard the Lakers had to fight back to win this one. Listen. Very resilient. Been able to stick with the game and, you know, find a way to gut it out and win, you know, either with slow starts or, you know, not finishing the game up how we would like to. But, you know, just always trying to find a way. And tonight was another instance of that versus a very, very, very good team.

Good luck. I think the Lakers have a good chance against Memphis. Let's see what this looks like. The playoffs should be damn, damn good. Listen, folks, the J.R.O.

sport reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. It's just about a wrap. Hey, Shep, you're holding it down tomorrow, right? I am, J.R.O. I very much look forward to it. You're going to be missed, man. Your top six is going to be missed, but I'm going to do my best, sir. You know that.

Not that serious, man. Shep, have a good time. Thank you, J.R.O. Everybody, make sure you tune in tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. Shep is holding it down.

Shep, where can people find you online? J.R., at the Good Shepherd underscore, we got an exciting top six, man. I look forward to you hearing about it on Thursday.

No doubt about it. The NBA play-in continues on. We're moving towards the playoffs. NHL is getting ready with the Stanley Cup in a few weeks.

It'll be the NFL draft. Busy, busy, busy. J.R.O. sport reshow here on CBS Sports Radio is done.

You can find me everywhere at J.R.O. sport brief. Congratulations to the Hawks. Congratulations to the Lakers. Don't move here on CBS Sports Radio. We might be done here. But Rich Herrera, he's coming through to hold it down.

He's coming up next. Who can take you on that journey of self discovery from wherever you are? Visit better help dot com slash positive today to get 10 percent off your first month.

That's better h e l p dot com slash positive. This is Flea for this little like a podcast about falling in love with music. I started a nonprofit music school about 20 years ago called the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music. The reason that I started doing this podcast was music education. I'll be speaking with Rick Rubin, Thundercat, Stuart Copeland, Margo Price, Corey Henry, Cynthia Erivo, Sheila E. and Patti Smith.

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