JR SportBrief Hour 4

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Price and coverage match limited by state law. What up y'all? It's your boy Danny Green, three-time NBA champ.

You either rooted for me or rooted against me. Join myself and my close Harrison Sanford on the Inside the Green Room Podcast. It's a podcast that brings you never before told tales from the locker room to candid interviews with basketball legends to breakdowns of what's happening in the NBA right now. Whether you're a diehard fan or casual about your hoops, this podcast brings you the game like never before. Follow Inside the Green Room on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It is the JR Sport Brief show here on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live on a Friday night from Atlanta, Georgia.

Our super producer and host Ryan Hickey, he's in New York, six city. And whether you happen to be on the East Coast, the West, shout out to all our friends in Canada, Mexico, you could be anywhere. I don't know where you're at. Hopefully you're not doing nothing illegal. I don't care what you're doing. I'm just happy that you're listening.

Okay. I'm going to be rolling with you for one more hour. I've been here for three. The show gets started every single weekday. That's 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you to everybody locked in on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate.

I don't know what radio station it is, but thank you for listening. You can tune in all the time on the free Odyssey app. You can hit pause. You can hit rewind.

If you've hit rewind, you can then hit fast forward. You can do whatever the hell you want. All my folks on Sirius XM channel 158, and if you got a smart speaker, just ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. You don't have to lift a finger. Just talk to the machine. We have already had a busy show.

I might as well let you know. Yeah, we talked some football. We talked some basketball. Right now, this minute, the second, the Miami Heat lead the Chicago Bulls. They're about to send them to an off season. Cancun, Miami leads 89 to 65. The Miami Heat look like they are on their way into the NBA playoffs as the eighth seed to take on the Boston Celtics. There is no Jimmy Butler tonight. Let me remind you, Jimmy Butler is out with an MCL.

We have no idea when he's going to return, if he returns, but it looks like the Miami Heat are going to go into the postseason. There's about nine and a half minutes left here in the game. So, Miami looks like they're going to take on Boston, and it's just a matter of when, I guess, or if a Jimmy Butler returns. Tylee Herro leading the way for the Miami Heat.

Tylee Herro has 24 points. This isn't the only play-in game for an eighth seed that we're going to have tonight. The Sacramento Kings are going to take on the New Orleans Pelicans.

Whoever wins that game will go on to the NBA playoffs in the first round to take on the number one seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. For the Pelicans, let me remind you again, if you forgot, there is no Zion. Williamson Zion is out.

God knows when he will come back, if at all, if they win. A Zion has a strained hamstring from going up to get a basket the other day against the Lakers. He had 40 points, played about 38, 40 minutes, and then missed the last couple of minutes of the game with a strained hamstring. Zion, you just, you can't make this stuff up for Zion.

He just got the worst of worst of luck. And so we've done a lot of talking about the NBA playoffs, and thank you to Law Murray from The Athletic. We talked Clippers. Thank you to Jim Ozarski coming through from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And in about 15 to 20 minutes from now, we'll have a conversation with a coach and someone who played in the league. Rex Walters is going to join us recently of the Charlotte Hornets to give us an overall view on what the hell is going on here in these NBA playoffs. If you want to participate in the show, it's real simple. The phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. We've talked basketball, and we just talked about Ryan Garcia chugging a beer at his boxing weigh-in. We talked about Jayden Daniels less than a week before the NFL draft. It appears via some liked social media posts by his agent that he's not a fan of Washington. It's been reported that he'd prefer to go to the Raiders and team up with one of his former college coaches in Antonio Pierce than be drafted by the commanders.

Well, if I'm the commanders, if I want you, I'm drafting you anyway. Tough. Get over it. We had that whole conversation last hour.

Go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Everybody wants to go and do what they want to, right? Everybody's moving.

Everybody's shaking. People got options for what they want to do. And here in the NBA playoffs, everybody got options. The Warriors aren't in the playoffs. They got choices and options. Klay Thompson has options. And I find it wild.

Well, not so much. Everybody's really going to bat to keep the Warriors together. I guess they really are going to, the only thing they can do to stay competitive is get Jonathan Kuminga the hell up on out of there. Or they'll also maybe trade Wiggins, but who the hell wants him?

It's like Wiggins doesn't even like basketball. I guess, I guess the best thing that the Warriors can do is keep the three of them together. Steph Curry and Draymond and Klay. Keep them together until the wheels fall off.

It just looks like the wheels have already gone. Listen to Steve Kerr. He told everybody, I want our trio. I want us all to stay together and be a happy family.

Listen. I do think there's tremendous value in the three of them being Warriors for life. It matters that Kobe was a Laker for life. That that's meaningful to the Laker franchise.

I think it'd be incredible if these three guys could play their whole careers here. That's meaningful. Matters to our fans. It matters to our franchise.

So I hope it happens. Well, there's only one guy who you could even put in the same category and that's just being a great player. That's Steph Curry. What the hell does Kobe Bryant stay in a Laker for his entire career have to do with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green? Draymond Green likes to hurt people and Klay Thompson looks like droopy. Not, not physically. He just is like miserable all the time. Took him a whole day to decompress before he spoke to the media.

It's tough. Klay Thompson might leave. By the way, we got official word. Speaking of leaving, Oakland Athletics aren't the only team that's bailing on their city. The Coyotes, all my friends who love the NHL, the Coyotes are bailing as well. They're moving to Utah. They're going to play in a Delta Center or whatever the hell they call this new thing.

Changed the name up so much. Hey, listen to this courtesy of ABC 15 Arizona. Breaking news.

Breaking news just into the newsroom right now. ABC 15 can now confirm that the Arizona Coyotes will be moving out of the Valley and heading to Salt Lake City, ending months of speculation and rumors that have really heated up in just the past week. Behind the scenes, we've been watching closely as the NHL's Board of Governors met and they voted just moments ago to approve that deal for Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith to come in and purchase the team.

Listen, man, ain't no damn hockey belong in the desert anyway. They have been in Phoenix. They've been in the Arizona area.

Glendale. They've been all over the damn place since 1996. Before that, they were the original Winnipeg Jets. And now they're moving north to Salt Lake City. It makes more sense. They got snow up there. It's just, I mean, I get it. People play hockey all over the damn place, but they couldn't find a place to play. You can blame that on the government officials, blame it on the ownership.

It's just it's a lot. People moving all over the place. Deion Sanders says, I'm not trying to dictate where my players go when they get drafted next year. Jayden Daniels, his agent is trying to dictate where he goes.

Clay Thompson, he don't want to think about free agency. This team is moving. Everybody wants to move. I'm not moving.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to the phone lines. 855-212-4227. It's 855-212-4227. In a few minutes, the Chicago Bulls are going to go on a vacation. 97 to 70, the Miami Heat are smacking them around. Allen is calling from Toronto, Canada.

You're on the JR Sportbrief Show. What's up, Allen? As bad as the Oakland A's are, the Arizona Coyotes are even worse. They are the Oakland A's of hockey. They won two playoffs series since they've been in the league in 1996, 97 was their first year. They won two playoff series and they made the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and they were eliminated. Every other time they get in the playoffs, they've been eliminated in the first round.

They won two playoff series in the past 28 years. They've got to get out of there. Gary Bedman, he just saw them through road colored glasses throughout his whole time there. He could have moved to Hamilton. He could have moved to Quebec City. He made them a very good offer in 2009. They've been drowning in a sea of red ink and losing their shirts forever. They should not have been there. It's a big mistake and Gary Bedman, he tried his best to keep him there.

Allen, I said it in two seconds, ain't no damn hockey team belong in Arizona in no way. Are you eating dinner? You call me while you're eating dinner?

No, sure. I'm back home now. I was on the road for a little bit. You feeling good? You ready for the weekend? What you doing this weekend? What you doing? Yeah, I'm going to a hockey game on the ball. I'm going to see the Marlies. I went to all three Yankee games, as a matter of fact. All three of them. They rallied in the ninth inning.

They got four runs in the ninth inning. Oh, well, maybe you need to be a relief pitcher for the Jays. Why don't you try that? Yeah, exactly. Last time I talked to you, I meant to ask you about Ted Turner.

He's not in the news very much. Oh, my God. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. Wait a minute. Wait, wait a minute, Alan. Hold on a second. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Hickey. Alan is he's joking, right? He's got to be.

I hope. Hold on. Hey, Alan. Yeah. What are you just going to ask me about old?

We've gone from almost deceased to old now, right? Yeah, because you're living in Tampa. So I thought I might ask you something to go on in Tampa. Tampa? Yeah. What am I saying? Tampa?

I mean, Atlanta. OK, OK. Yeah. Are you. Did you eat dinner already tonight?

Yes, sir. What did you eat for dinner? I had a pizza, a pizza. Oh, you had a pizza. Did you did you like a box of Ryan Garcia? Did you have a beer with your pizza?

You had Billy beer. Ah, OK, OK. So maybe that's why maybe that's why you're asking me about said Turner. OK. All right, Alan.

Do you use Google? Sometimes, yeah, I can find out where he is and what he's doing. OK. Yeah, he's he's old, man. He ain't doing nothing but being old.

I don't I don't got said, sir. You think Ted Turner comes and hangs out courtside? If Ted Turner hung out at the Hawks games, I'd see him. That's on his mind, his business being old. And another I want to acknowledge.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, Alan, are you about to ask me about another elderly person? Hank Aaron had his 50th anniversary of his 714th home run. Did they acknowledge it in Tampa? Did they have any kind of party or anything?

We didn't we don't we don't have let me tell you something. We don't have parties, but people here love Hank. OK, he it is it is newsworthy. It gets noted in the news.

He has certainly celebrated the Atlanta Braves do an excellent job of upholding his legacy and in many ways, Alan. OK. And thank you. Thank you. I said I said, OK, Alan, I asked, OK, like I'm asking you is what I just told you. OK. Do you understand? Yeah, sure.

Yeah. OK, well, thank you. Well, I'll talk to you later. OK. Have a wonderful weekend. Yes, I sure will. You too. Thank you so much. As a pleasure. Yes, sir.

Love you, man. Thank you. Yes. Wow.

Wow. Who else is down here? Who else is old and elderly that he can ask me about? God bless the soul of Hamron Hank. When he started when I heard Hank, I was like, he is not going to I'm like, he's not even here.

Was that his hickeys that his new thing? He's just going to ask me about deceased and close to deceased individuals. Alan, if you're still listening, I got one for you for next time. George H.W. Bush.

Oh, my God. Are you going to take me to Texas? Go ask me about people in Texas now.

We got to expand a little bit just from from Atlanta. He's going to ask me about Martin Luther King Jr.. That's what he's going to do. It's like Martin Luther King. If anyone who hasn't been to Atlanta, Martin Luther King has is he has a whole center here.

OK, it's about a 10 minute drive from where I'm at right now. He has him and his wife. God rest both of their souls. They they have a tomb outside.

It's in the fountain in the Martin Luther King Center. And the way that Alan is going at this point, he's going to be like, hey, J.R., what happened to Malcolm X? It's just like now I don't have updates on on their deceased. And if they're not deceased, they're just old.

What happens when you get old? You want to mind your business and stay at home. Alan is must think I'm in Atlanta. I'm just knocking on his dakembe here. You know, hey, where's Jimmy? Listen, man, where's Ted Turner home? Come on. Close as I get to Ted Turner, he got a and I think they might have closed him down.

He got like a Ted's grill. Come on, man. Alan, tell me about the coyotes. Ask me about Deion Sanders. Talk to me about basketball or Chador or J.R., ask me anything. Don't ask me about old people.

Unless they play in sports, ask me about Tom Brady. That's about it. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We come back. We're going to talk some basketball. We got some big old matchups that are taking place over this weekend.

And they're not all the games like tonight. Bunch of teams trying to fight for eighth place. We're going to talk to former NBA player and then most recently coach with the Hornets. Rex Walters is going to join us to talk some hoops.

It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Baseball is back. Basketball is heating up and the NFL draft is right around the corner. Listen to the latest on the teams you love here on the Odyssey app. The biggest sports radio stations in the country providing unrivaled local coverage of their teams all in one place. Exclusive interviews with players, coaches and team executives streaming live and always available on demand.

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The J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Looks like we're finally getting all settled for the NBA playoffs. Tonight is the final night of the play ends right now. Miami is wiping out Chicago. This game is going to come to an end. A 107-87 right now. The second in a matter of minutes. New Orleans is going to take on Sacramento to decide the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference to talk about the NBA playoffs. What's going on in the league? What we can expect over the next several months? We're being joined by former player and coach all over the place.

More recently, most recently with the Hornets, Rex Walters. Hey coach, how you doing? You good? Yeah, I'm good man. Thanks for having me.

No, absolutely. I appreciate your expertise having coached and played all over the world. I guess to open things up, what are you most excited about seeing with these playoffs? We have some great matchups, some great teams, great personalities and unfortunately some injuries.

Yeah, that is too bad with Giannis being out and you've got some other guys banged up. I guess the thing I'm looking forward to the most is Denver, LA, right? Because those are two teams. The Lakers obviously, they've got the coronavirus championship in the bubble. Then you've got Denver last year that won it all. And Denver is a different team this year.

They don't have the same bench that they had last year losing Bruce Brown, losing a guy like Jeff Green and LA is playing pretty good. And they've got a guy named LeBron James. They've got a guy named Anthony Davis. And when you got those two guys, you know, you've got at least a couple of double doubles in the bank. It's going to come down to whether or not those other guys, Austin Reeves, Tim Whitty, DeAngelo Russell, can those guys step up and make enough plays because you know, Denver's going to get easy shots.

They've got an unguardable guy in your kitchen. That's also a phenomenal passer that makes his teammates better. So that's the matchup right now that I'm looking forward to watching in this first round. Well, Coach Rex, let me ask you this. Do you think the Los Angeles Lakers have enough in them? Is there enough gas left in the tank to pick up a championship this year? That'll be interesting. Anthony Davis has always battled with injuries. LeBron being at his age now at any moment, you just like a ticking time bomb. Can he get through it?

He always has in a lot of different seasons. But at the same time, again, I think it's going to come down to those other guys. You know, Denver's done a number on them and they've still got last year on their mind and just the total domination that Denver put on them.

So they've got a lot to overcome. Rex Walters is here with us. The J.R. sport we show on the Infinity Sports Network. You've had to coach and have the watch and coach against and watch Nicola Jokic. And I've asked players about this and everybody talks about just how he moves a slow motion. He does what he wants. He gets to his spaces from a coach's perspective for guys not jumping out of the gym. What makes him so spectacular?

He just does it all right and does it efficiently. Yes. So, of course, you can score at all three levels. You can score from three.

You can score mid range. You can score off the bounce. You can score at the rim because he's great with his ankle.

And on top of that, he's a phenomenal passer. So now your double teams, you've got to be really intelligent with when you're doubling him, how you're doubling him and who you're doubling him with. It just presents a lot of problems as a coach and his guys know that if they're open, they're going to get the ball. So it just makes it an unbelievable challenge, especially in a seven game series. How are you going to figure out a way to do enough things to not only limit his scoring but limit his ability to facilitate the offense?

It's a unique thing. And again, because of his maybe lack of athleticism, he's a great athlete, but he's not going to win any Olympic decathlons anytime soon. But because of that, he does see the game so clearly.

He does know how to get to his spot and he makes you pay for every single mistake. Coach Rex Walters is here with us, the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. We got a final score here. Miami just knocked out the Bulls 112 to 91.

Miami advances to the eighth seed to take on the Boston Celtics. We know Jimmy Butler. We don't necessarily know the full status of his MCL.

Doesn't appear that he's going to be ready to go at the onset. And we know about the Celtics. They are and have been a preseason favorites in the east outside of the Bucks, which we'll get to. What are your thoughts about the Celtics and some of their execution issues? It's like they have the talent, but at the end of games it becomes real heavy on iso ball. Yeah, you know, they've been able to win and win at a high level just playing their base defense and their base offense. And it's been good enough in the regular season to be dominant.

64 wins. They've got great shooting and they've got great one-on-one defenders, so they don't have to make a lot of adjustments. That's different, though, in the playoffs, right? I still think that they'll probably come out of the east, no question, but there are going to be adjustments that are going to be made. You know, Miami's done a good job of throwing his own at them, throwing them different defensive looks and making them defend on the other end. If you're going to try to go one-on-one against Boston, you're not going to win.

All of those guys can lock down and guard the ball, especially in that starting five. So you've got to move them. You've got to play inside out. You've got to make them defend action. And then on the other end, you've got to continue to change up your coverages, change up your defenses and not let them get in the rhythm.

And if you do that, you're still probably going to lose, but you do give yourself a chance. Well, Rex, you like a lot of people, you look at the Celtics and it's easy to favor them out of the east, especially given some of the other issues that have gone down in regards to injuries. We see the 76ers with Embiid.

You always got to hold your breath every time he runs up and down the court. We certainly can look at the Bucks with Giannis and him being out. What are your thoughts on what the Bucks have done this season and what they can potentially do now? We don't know the status of Giannis.

He could be out there dropping 30 or he could be missing for a few games. Yeah, no question. They've really stumbled into the playoffs. I mean, think about this. Adrian Griffin, if he would have just kept his job, he would have got coach of the year votes. There's no question about it. There were 30 and 13 when he was let go.

That's crazy. Okay, number one. Number two, yes, the injuries. And I think the biggest thing is great as Damian Lilla is, and he is phenomenal scorer. He is game time. He is big in crutch situations, but they've gone from a number four defense, a top five defense last year to a top 20 defense this year. They're at 19. And you take a guy like Drew Holliday, right?

And let's be honest. If they have Chris Middleton last year, they probably won another championship and Boudinold are still the coach. Well, they didn't have Middleton.

Now they don't have Giannis. So this is going to be a tough stretch for them. They have a tough challenge ahead of them with their matchup and anything can happen. They're not the same dominant team. The Pacers with their pace, with their space, their shooting, they can present a lot of problems for Milwaukee in this first round matchup. A coach Rex Walters is joining us here.

The JR sport we show on the infinity sports network every now and then we get a team that just kind of pops up and shocks everybody. Obviously Oklahoma city is a young team. They also happen to be small and we can look at the wolves. Anthony Edwards has an opportunity to grow his game. Their defense has been amazing on the Orlando Magica young, probably too young, but is there a team that has a chance and an opportunity to really put their stamp on the league, this playoffs and say, Hey, we're going to be here for the next few years?

Well, I would say number one, you know, the job that Tom Thibodeau has done with the New York Knicks and then losing a guy like Julius Randall, right? They've actually like taken off as a team and it's all because of Jaylin Brunson, their defense, and they don't beat themselves. So they're always going to be in game. They play a, they play a heavy load, you know, Tom Thibodeau is going to play his guys and play them, you know, plan a long period of time and always have a chance. So it's really interesting.

There's a lot of talk. Can I get a small guy, take a team and lead a team to the playoffs like, to the championship, like a guy like Allen Iverson did when they lost the Lakers. That's what Jaylin Brunson is trying to do without the same athleticism with a fundamental super skilled game that again, makes you make mistakes to get off good shots and great defense around him.

So they have a chance. New York Knicks are kind of scary to me and it, and they're not, they're not beautiful to watch. If you don't like great defense, if you don't like, you know, just a great, younger, smaller, not a younger, but smaller player that nobody thought would be this good, they have a chance to do some special things and then next year they may get Randall back and hopefully earlier, they're a team that can really cement themselves as an Easter conference power.

Oh wow. Well coach, Nick fans listening to you right now, they probably shouldn't have heard you because they're just going to go overboard with your comments. New York fans tend to do that. They tend to do that. There's a lot of great teams.

You said Minnesota. They've got that huge front line. They've got great defense and they do. They have a dominant young player that's only going to get better than Ant Edwards.

That kid is phenomenal. He does things that you haven't seen since a guy like Michael Jordan play hitting his head against the backboard, hitting his head against the ramp, scoring at all three levels. I mean, there's a lot of, the league is in a good place right now. And you talk about OKC, very young team with, you know, Shay Gillis, Alexander and Chet Holmgren, who in any other year would be rookie of the year, no question. And people will be talking about what a great skilled four, five perimeter shooting three that can make plays. I mean, this league has some really good young players. When you see now some of our old guards starting to show their age a little bit, it's in a good place to see these young players stepping up. As an overall, who do you think is going to walk away with the Larry O'Brien in a couple of months? I think the one team that can beat Boston is Denver.

I really do. The way Jokic plays, the way that he can create havoc offensively against the team and get easy shots. And they don't play a one on one game. They play a movement game. They play a passing game. They make you make mistakes. And then they do have a solid defense on the other end where, again, Boston, they like to go one on one.

They love to isolate. Well, I don't know if they can beat Denver in seven games. I don't know if they won four games playing that kind of basketball against a team like the Denver Nuggets.

So if I had a gun to my head, I'm going with the Denver Nuggets to win it all. Well, coach, final question. You've played in the NBA. You've played around the world. You've coached on the college level.

You've coached here most recently with the Charlotte Hornets. You've seen the game and you've seen the game of all. Here in the States, there are so many international players who are dominating. There's so many conversations about how the skill level has changed the players or the fundamentals is reliance on athleticism, less reliance on skill and so much three-point shooting. What do you say to how the game has developed and some of the criticism that some folks have about the European players coming over and destroying the league?

Well, here's the difference between Europe and America. I'm at an AAU tournament, my son playing AAU right now, and they'll play three games. And overseas, when I was in Spain playing in Spain, they practice in the morning, a lot of skill development, a lot of shooting, and they practice again at night, usually two to three hours each. So that's six great hours of good fundamental work and then playing the game with coaches. And they're taking their younger players, right, their 17 and 18 year olds, and they play against grown men.

Like you look at Luca Doncic, that's what he did. And so when those guys come over here, they do, they play a completely different game than what the American kids are going up to. We're wasting time with some of our AAU stuff because we're not teaching our kids how to play. So we're letting them play, but we're not teaching them to play because at the end of the day, all you have are your habits as a basketball player. The European system does a much better job of building the right kind of habits. Are you comfortable that over time that things can be readjusted here or is the system to invest it financially to change?

It all starts at the top. So whatever the NBA decides to do to help the NCAA, to help high school basketball, to make it more uniform, to have more of a teaching environment. You know, my son's coach is a high school coach, so it's great for him, right? But a lot of these guys I'm watching them coach their teams. These guys haven't played. They're rolling the ball out. There's really no practice or structure.

Once the high school season is over, if kids don't like the system that they're in, they transfer and leave, and they wait to hear from someone that's going to tell them what they want to hear as opposed to what they need to hear. So it is an issue. We're still going to have the best athletes in the world, and we're still going to have a lot of the best players just because we have the numbers. But at the end of the day, though, we have to look at, like, the best player in the world right now is a guy named Jokic. It's not a Smith or a Peterson or a, you know, Walters, for that matter, right? It's a Jokic. And then there's a Doncic. That's scary. There's an Antetokounmpo.

That's scary to me that when you talk about the best players in the world, they're learning a system that helps them build the habits to be the best players in the world. Absolutely amazing. Hey, Rex, thank you so much for the great conversation.

Where can people follow you? And what a great basketball mind. Go ahead. Fill us up. No, I appreciate it. You can find me on Twitter, at Coach Walters, at Coach Rex Walters. You know, I'll be on Instagram, too. You can look me up. And if you ever have questions on anything, please don't hesitate. I love to talk about the game.

I'm 54 years old. So, you know, I don't know how much basketball has still left in me, but I do love coaching the game. I do love talking about the game. It's been really good to me.

It's provided for my family in ways I could have never imagined. And most certainly. Well, listen, coach, we're going to get you back on soon. It's such an amazing conversation delivered in such an excellent way. So enjoy the weekend and make sure you get up some threes yourself, OK?

Sounds great. Thanks for having me, my man. I thank thank you so much that coach Rex Walters most recently coaching with the Charlotte Hornets. He's literally played basketball all over the world. He has coached all over the place. He's coached in college.

He's coached the pros. So thank you to coach Rex Walters for taking time to come through and join us. It's the J.R. Sportby show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to come back, fill you in on a couple of things that have taken place this day in sports. You're listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief. Oh, no, don't don't collapse on the floor, man. Don't do that. Unless you got what a life alert life lock. Wait a minute. Hickey life life lock. Is that is that insurance? Life lock is insurance, right? Yes. Life alert is the button you wear that helps save your life if you call in floor, if you if you have fallen and you can't get up.

Boom. Yeah, we don't we don't want that. We don't want nobody collapsing on the floor. Look, I've been stuck on the floor before, not because I fell. It's having massive back spasms. It would have visual just me on the floor for like three hours. It sounds exciting, right? It's not.

I didn't want to be that close to the carpet. But anyway, eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. It's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven to keep things moving before I get in trouble.

Anyway, you can find me online at J.R. Sport Brief. We already told you about this and you also heard it from Marco Belletti. We already got one team that has solidified itself as an eighth seed to take on the Boston Celtics in the east. The Miami Heat beat the Bulls 112 to 91. Kings and Pelicans just underway. I haven't even played a full minute yet.

They are tied at zero zero. New Orleans Pelicans with no Zion Williamson. They ain't doing nothing but wasting all of our time. We know the Pelicans ain't winning nothing. We probably haven't seen. We probably won't see Zion for the rest of this year.

Might as well wait until next season. It sucks for them, right? Head coach Willie Green, he spoke earlier today, talked about his Pelicans and said this is what the hell he told the squad. The message to the team is that we've faced adversity before. And here it is again, staring us right in the eyes. And no, this is this is an opportunity that we can take advantage of.

An opportunity to take advantage of. Meanwhile, we got another team trying to take advantage of an opportunity. They just eliminated the Golden State Warriors from playoff contention. It happens to be the Sacramento Kings. Now they should be embarrassed if they don't wax the floor with the Pelicans tonight. I mean, we saw guys like Keyon Ellis step up. America is finding out more about who the hell he is. I haven't seen him really ball out since college. And so head coach Mike Brown, it doesn't matter if it's him or Sabonis, it don't matter who it is.

Mike Brown, he likes how the team is playing. My mindset has already been at a certain level. And so now to kind of bring everything together and see a versus good team was was gratifying. And it just helps add to the belief of what is already there. Okay. All right. Whatever's there.

Okay, whatever. Look, it's LDR and Fox to go out there and get some damn buckets. Tell him to be the guy to go ahead and get get 30 tonight. And then we have some games over the weekend as well. We talked about a lot of them talked about the Clippers and is this doesn't appear we have no idea to be honest whether or not there's going to be a Kawhi Leonard this upcoming Sunday when the Clippers take on the Mavs.

That's a matchup that I'm really looking forward to tie Lou. He was asked whether or not Kawhi is going to play on Sunday. This what coach had to say. We don't know yet. What was he able to do today?

We haven't done anything today yet. What will he do? What's he able to do today? We'll see. I'm not sure yet. We'll see once we talk to medical and the CIA came by yesterday. I mean, we'll let you know tomorrow. What do you look like yesterday?

I look here, man. He looked okay. He looked okay. We don't know what Kawhi's going to do. We don't know what he's capable of doing. We didn't do anything. I see no evil here, no evil.

I don't know anything. It sounds like Kawhi Leonard has him hostage to deliver those answers. And it seems like Kawhi Leonard, if you see him, he looks like he is to take somebody hostage. Well, he never looks pleasant. Hickey, have you ever seen him? Well, we've heard him laugh. Have you ever seen him like really smile?

Probably not, right? No, I've also never seen him mad. I've only seen him with one expression on his face, right? Have you ever seen him mad? Uh, no, never seen him mad. Never seen him happy. He's alive. He exists.

That's nice, right? He is breathing. We can't confirm that. Yeah, you got to breathe to run up and down the court.

Something that unfortunately he has issues doing because his legs suck. We'll see what happens. We got some good playoff games. Look forward to chatting them up with you, chatting it up with you about them on Monday.

Hey, how about this? Sacramento already put some points on the board. Seven of four of the Sacramento Kings lead the Pelicans. Yeah, nobody knows what Kawhi is going to do, but we can take a look back in time and take a look at things that have actually happened. It's time for this day in sports history. 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. 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. Yeah, we don't got to go back too, too far for this one. We can go back to the year 2021.

We can go out to San Jose. We can look at someone who has spent more time on the ice than anyone in NHL history. Because Patrick Marleau of the Sharks, this man finished up playing 1779 NHL games. But on this day, April 19th in 2021, he passed Gordie Howe's 1768th game.

You know what? Let's go ahead and take a listen as he broke the record. This is courtesy of NBC Sports California. And Patrick Marleau will start this game tonight. That right wing lined up against Max Pacharetti and career game 1768. There he is, Patrick Marleau.

It's official now. Played his first shift to the game is 1768 of his NHL career and he's gone past Gordie Howe for number one all time. Yeah, shout out to all the old guys doing it. Man was in his 40s at that point in time. Speaking of his 40s, let's go back to April 19th and 1991 as Evander Holyfield beat a 42 year old, George Foreman in 1991. Oh yeah, Evander Holyfield. He retained his heavyweight title.

Listen to this. The winner by unanimous decision and still the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the real deal, Evander Holyfield. Yeah, Evander Holyfield, he beat up a 42 year old George Foreman. If you know anything, a couple of years after that, the old man George Foreman, he beat Michael Moore. He became the oldest heavyweight champion at 45 years old. But I guess he had to take a little bit of a beating for Mr. Holyfield before George Foreman came out on top.

45 years old. All anybody did was call him fat and heavy and the next thing you know, boom, heavyweight champion at 45. They say the last thing that goes when you are playing or you don't play boxing, but when you fight, it's your power. And George Foreman was nothing to mess with. Hey, Evander Holyfield, he's here in Georgia. I see him every now and then. Nice guy. Very nice guy. He could still knock you out. I ain't messing with Evander Holyfield.

Not at all. Very nice guy, though. Got a statue.

He got a statue outside the arena. Good for him. Hey, Hickey, it's been a great time hanging out this week. This has been a fun week, even though, you know, it's a lot of waiting and anticipating.

It was a fun week, went by fast. And let me tell you, next week is going to be a lot of fun. Oh, yeah, we get towards the NFL draft. Hey, we got a special draft show next Thursday here on the Infinity Sports Network. Myself and Bart Winkler will be leading the draft coverage and giving you updates on everything going on as the draft takes place live. So make sure you tune in for that.

The JR sport re-show here on the Infinity Sports Network. It's done. It is over. We will be back with you on Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Hickey, when are you here over the weekend? 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern, Sunday night after all the NBA games.

We can break it down first. You gotta love it. Me? I'll be on WFAN in New York City making my way up there tomorrow afternoon after the New York Yankees. Can't wait to talk to all the wonderful fans in New York who love the Yanks. You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. Don't move here on the Infinity Sports Network.

Bart Winkler is coming up next. Y'all be smooth, be safe, and be well. Enjoy the basketball and all other stuff. Much love.